CHAPTER 306: BLOODIED GARMENTS

Rowan strolled back to his place with a solemn expression, still recalling the stories from Dragun and the masked man. So many thoughts crowded his head, he finally let out a sigh and decided to place his attention on developing the village to the next rank for now.

He walked faster, returned to his room to meet Riela, and gave her the water magic spells he had obtained from Dragun. There were three of them in total, each from a different category.

One was an offensive spell titled Torrent Surge, which allows her to control the water particles in the air to knock nearby enemies. It could be considered both an offensive and defensive spell.

The other was Aqua Dome, it was an improved version of the water bubble spell — it had stronger defensive effects and could cover a wider range.

The last was a movement spell.

"These..." Riela’s eyes widened as she observed the spells.

She turned to Rowan, plenty of emotion in her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, wrapping her hands around his neck.

Rowan planted a kiss on her forehead, "Dragun brought the spells, you can thank him later."

"Really?" she asked, and Rowan nodded.

The two of them spent some time going over the spell together.

==

Two days went by in Winterseed, and Eliman finally arrived with all the materials required for the evil spirit-invoking spell.

It was morning, and the people had woken up to the grand arrival of the blood mage. At that moment, everyone was gathered outside their houses, watching the interaction between the blood mage and their beloved Lord Rowan.

Dragun stood with the two young men as they discussed the procedure.

Their discussion lasted for a few minutes before Rowan went to speak with his people.

"A very dangerous procedure would be carried out today to free our brother and sister of the evil tormenting them," Rowan began.

The villagers exchanged concerned looks with one another.

"Because of how dangerous it is, I have decided to send everyone out of the village for a short while to ensure no one is affected," Rowan continued.

"Do not worry, Blaze and Black Drifter would go with you to ensure no harm comes your way," Rowan quickly assured.

Noise broke out as the crowd began discussing among themselves.

Riela strolled beside Rowan with worry on her face, but Rowan quickly assured her that everything would be okay. He called the crowd to a hush and also assured them that nothing would happen.

After he was done, he called out his captains and ordained them to take care of the villagers.

He then distributed foodstuffs from his inventory to them before sending them out of the village. The captains and his two pets led the villagers out of the village.

====

The sun hung in the sky over the empty and quiet Winterseed village.

At that moment, only six people—Rowan, Dragun, Eliman, Merla, Liara, and Ren—remained.

They were at the empty village square.

Dragun, Eliman, and Merla worked together to trace the intricate magic formation of the evil spirit-invoking spell on the ground.

Rowan stood beside the unconscious bodies of Liara and Ren, lying on a mat neatly placed under a tree.

Rowan watched the process with a calm expression on his face.

’I hope this counts as my third calamity,’ he wondered.

About two hours went by — the sun’s heat was already blasting down on the village square, but the three mages continued without pause.

"It is done," Dragun let out as he stared at his hard work.

On the ground, a big, intricate magic formation stretched over a few meters in diameter.

The four of them stared at the magic formation for a few minutes before Eliman revealed the items he purchased.

It consisted of several dozen high-quality magic stones, ancient-looking artifacts including a big bloodstained robe, several blackflame candles, couples of skulls from unknown origin and even plants of different appearance and colors.

Once the items were revealed, Dragun, Eliman, and Merla got to work right away. They grabbed and placed each of the items at different unique positions in the magic circle.

The positions where the items were placed seemed to be very important, as the three of them spent another one hour analyzing them.

Eliman even brought out an ancient-looking book and studied its text, passing it to Dragun and Merla to study as well.

Rowan could only watch, as he had no idea about the process. The only reason he even remained was because he possessed the weapons that could slay the evil spirits — and because it involves his territory.

After some time, Dragun, Eliman, and Merla came to a conclusion that the formation was ready.

The three of them debated amongst themselves and Eliman was picked to utter the chant for the final activation of the spell.

Eliman cleared his throat and began chanting.

As he began chanting, the lines of the formation gradually lit up.

The blackflame candles lit up afterward.

The bloodstained garment placed at the middle of the formation levitated off the ground, reaching a height of over ten feet.

The plants in the formation were suddenly engulfed in blackflame similar to the one burning in the candles. After a few seconds, they were quickly consumed and quickly dispersed into white smoke that gradually increased in size.

Within a few seconds, the white smoke had already formed into a thick fog.

"Ready your sword," Dragun whispered to Rowan.

Rowan obliged and quickly equipped the soul harvester, its unique appearance glimmering in the sunlight.

Merla’s expression turned serious as she took several steps back. A special part of her memory resurfaced, causing her to treat the magic formation more seriously.

Meanwhile, Eliman’s chanting continued, his voices becoming louder by the second.

SHHHHHHHHH

A deafening cry echoed from the formation.

The cry was high-pitched and loud, causing Merla, Dragun and Rowan to block their ears.

Eliman did not bother covering his ear and simply continued with his chanting.

At that moment, the evil spirits revealed themselves!