CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: THE MYSTERIOUS RITUAL

At the entrance to the fifth level, the mage stumbled into the range of the stairs.

He looked utterly miserable now.

Wearing only underwear, his magic robe and hat were nowhere to be seen, and even the magic staff and the two equipment rings on his hands had vanished.

As soon as he entered, he fell to his knees in despair.

"I can’t believe..."

"I can’t believe I was robbed by Puki!!!"

During the conflict at the cave, he, standing at the back, was the only one who saw—a faint light flashed in the sleeve of that woman.

In a moment, he connected it with Jini’s previous odd behavior.

However, the battle had already begun, and even if he jumped out to voice his suspicion now, who would believe him?

Would those temporarily teamed-up colleagues, who were played around until they were confused, believe him?

Or the adventurers on the other side, whom he didn’t know at all, believe him?

More crucially, he saw Jini turn her head and give him a smile.

Without much hesitation, he quickly made a decision—sell them out!

After all, it was just a temporary team, and he wasn’t willing to take risks for a few days of acquaintance.

Besides, it was those fools who were charmed by a woman who were in the wrong, not him.

Until this point, the mage felt that his decision was not mistaken.

The mistake was, in his haste to flee, he didn’t think to take one of the demon corpses carried by Wells as he left.

As a result, he was blocked by a group of Puki, who wouldn’t let him leave.

He tried to force his way through, only managing to kill two before being grabbed by tentacles.

He knew these Puki were not weak, but he didn’t expect them to be this strong, at the time he thought he was going to die.

Unexpectedly, the Puki, in their magnanimity, just stripped him and let him go.

It really was...

"Damn it! Boohoo..."

What the mage didn’t know was that he was considered fortunate.

————

Not far away, Ralph’s screams didn’t last long before they stopped.

Although due to the events along the way, Wells had no good impression of this captain.

But considering his own situation now, it was hard not to feel a sense of shared misfortune.

Soon, a figure pushed through the mushrooms and came over amidst the fluorescence.

"Jini?"

Jini glanced at him and smiled apologetically:

"You’re awake? Was that Ralph’s scream?

Sorry, I’m actually not very good at the sleep spell, didn’t expect him to wake up midway.

Don’t worry, I’ll give you a sleep spell soon to ensure zero pain."

With that, Jini tried hard to drag the bound Wells out, sweat dripping from her forehead due to insufficient strength.

Wells felt his mind could not fully grasp what Jini was saying.

He only felt that the current Jini was very different from his impression of her.

Gone was that sweet smile, replaced by a kind of... sincerity?

Wells didn’t know why he had this feeling.

But there was one thing he understood, he was likely going to be killed.

Dragged out, Wells saw Ralph and the dwarf teammate.

The two lay on the ground without a trace of blood, their faces peaceful, chests without the slightest rise and fall.

Wells wanted to struggle, but he had no strength in his body, not to mention he was bound, so he could only try to plead for mercy.

"Ji... Jini, we have no enmity, please let me go!

I swear I won’t say anything, I can even testify that the two of them died in a demon attack!

You have no reason to kill me, I even have savings in the Adventurer’s Guild, I can give it all to you!

I... I..."

Wells couldn’t continue because he realized Jini was not swayed in the slightest, just silently dragging him toward an unknown ritual array ahead.

"Cult... cult?"

After placing Wells on the ritual array, Jini replaced the eight cracked small pieces of demon crystal around him with new ones.

Then, she gently propped up Wells from behind, letting him lean into her arms.

Wells’ head sank into a soft place, but he couldn’t muster any interest now.

Despair and fear made him curse.

Jini, however, ignored it, only bringing a little bell up and shaking it lightly in front of Wells.

It was as if he could truly see layer upon layer of ripples, and no matter how much Wells resisted, his eyelids slowly drooped.

Before losing consciousness, Wells heard Jini whispering as if telling a bedtime story:

"The silver light washes away the soul remnants, the ritual forms a path home, no need for worry, no need for fear, Nevrilla will cradle you as you shed the shackles of the mortal world..."

Wells fell into a deep sleep, the ritual array lighting up with silver light under Jini’s control, and the surrounding demon crystals shattered one by one.

Lin Jun, who had been observing them, witnessed the miraculous scene for the third time.

On Wells’ status panel, skills vanished one after another, like someone was erasing them with a delete key.

At the moment the last skill disappeared, Wells, clearly still at full health, had his panel disappear just like that.

Or, simply put, he died.

After everything was done, Jini kissed the forehead of the peaceful-faced Wells, then dragged him aside.

She then leaned down and erased all traces of the ritual.

Afterward, she simply left, without taking a single cent of the three’s belongings.

Shortly after she left, several Puki emerged from the Mushroom Forest.

They picked up everything unwanted on the ground—the equipment of the three, a pile of demon corpses in the cave that hadn’t been dealt with, and even a dog that died from bleeding.

The woman muttered something incomprehensible.

But the whole ritual looked quite legitimate.

So... did these people truly lose all their skills?

Driven by curiosity, not caring about wasting magic power, Lin Jun directly controlled the mycelium to rapidly decompose a few people.

[Seven Sins of Greed Triggered]

[Plunder Skill: Human Universal Language LV2→LV3]

[Plunder Skill: Bite LV5→LV6]

Huh?

Bite?

Oh, the dog’s corpse was mixed in there...

Other than that, there was nothing.

The skills were truly deleted!

This is unheard of?

That’s no ordinary evil ritual!

From now on, that woman is unwelcome on the fifth level!

However, there really are a lot of strange and bizarre things in this world.

Shoving the recovered A Level Demon Crystal back into Fatty’s belly, Lin Jun went to find the Puki sealing the little yellow book.

The Puki had completely petrified, though there was a fine crack left on the outside.

At Lin Jun’s command, the little yellow book was spat out from the crack.

Finally seeing daylight again, it immediately began to express its loyalty.

[You finally let me out!]

[I definitely, definitely can help you!]

[Please don’t lock me back up, it’s so dark]

Hmm...

It seems like he can read one or two more characters?

Not very sure, let’s check again when it’s Level 4.

[???]

After testing the reading ability, Lin Jun stuffed the little yellow book back into the crack.

Next is the big issue.

...

In the Mushroom Forest, Xiao Hai was playing stomp the mushrooms.

Jumping up, kicking the mushroom tree down with one foot, and then stomping it into pieces from top to bottom.

Seeing this made Lin Jun cringe, it was already the third one today...

"Xiao Hai, do you want to go out and have fun?"

"I want to!"

Upon hearing he could finally go out, Xiao Hai immediately stopped.

His two feet covered in black scales stomped around excitedly, smashing the mushrooms on the ground even more.

"Go take a nap first, when you wake up I’ll let you go out."

Hearing he still had to sleep first, the scales on Xiao Hai’s face scrunched up immediately.

Only after several reassurances from Lin Jun did he finally be coaxed back.

With Hallucinogenic Spores flooding in, after giving Dylan 14 times the amount, only then did the hallucinogenic sleep status appear on Xiao Hai’s status panel.

Ensuring she didn’t suddenly jump up and cause chaos, Lin Jun began mobilizing the energy stored in the mycelium throughout the fifth level.

If someone were to activate magic perception now, they would see the magic power ebbing away from the fungal mats, continuously converging in the Mushroom Forest.

Installing Mimicry Level 4 for Xiao Hai consumes much more than with Dylan’s time...