Chapter 318 - Two Choices

He saw at his location a large number of translucent small creatures pouring out, quickly gathering into a swarm.This time, the translucent small creatures were not field mouse spirits but the ghostly spirits of rabbits, nearly twice the size.

Though there were fewer of them than the mouse spirits, their larger size made the gathering swarm look even more terrifying.

Their hopping and running speed far exceeded that of the mouse spirits.

Two wolves that couldn’t dodge in time were directly overwhelmed by the rabbit spirits.

Do not think that rabbits don’t bite, their large incisors are far more lethal than those of mice, especially their method of attack, which involves biting and kicking – in this respect, they rival the ferocity of dog demons.

Once the rabbit spirits swarm was gathered, they didn’t chase the wolves around randomly but bounced toward the east side of the manor.

Seeing the direction they were headed, Gaven’s expression changed drastically, "Stop them, we absolutely cannot let them get close to the wild rabbit breeding pit."

It’s more of a breeding pit for wild rabbits than a breeding farm.

Ten permanent pits each three meters wide, long, and deep had been made on flat ground.

This special sized permanent pit was the work of the dragonized gnoll Mayor Susie.

Apart from her, there is currently no other gnoll capable of making pits permanent.

The soil around was solidified using a stone shaping spell to prevent the rabbits from burrowing; just throw in some wild grass and water usually.

Such rough breeding was just to the taste of wild rabbits, which bred quite well.

More than two thousand wild rabbits of various sizes were bred in the ten pits.

A wandering spirit group composed of hundreds of mouse spirits was already troublesome enough.

If this wild rabbit spirit swarm were to break into the breeding pit and go on a killing spree, harvesting more rabbit spirits, the trouble they could cause would skyrocket. Even if they didn’t reach legendary levels, it wouldn’t be far off.

However, facing this unique enemy, many abilities proved ineffective, and charging forward recklessly was simply not an option.

Compared to the wild rabbit spirit swarm, the movement speed of Black Nanmu was simply too slow, and so was Daphne, the Dwarves Soulsnare.

"Flame Strike Spell."

With a clear rebuke.

A pillar of holy light descended from the sky.

The landing spot of the Holy Light Pillar was very precise.

It didn’t aim directly at the wild rabbit spirit swarm but accurately anticipated their speed and path.

A moment before the Holy Light Pillar crashed down, the wild rabbit spirit swarm had just leapt past, and it hit the middle-rear section.

The engulfed rabbit spirits were instantly vaporized without exception.

If cast by a druid, this would be a fourth-level spell. If by priests, a fifth-level spell, with its power depending on the spellcaster’s spellcasting level.

The difference is due to druids being more in tune with nature than priests, making it easier to combine divine power with the power of flame.

The eight-level Pikespirit druid named Bishop had arrived.

And where he went, naturally, his animal companion, the Dragonized Aircraft Carrier Insect, followed.

Three acid globes were hurled at the wild rabbit spirit swarm from three directions at the same time.

The effectiveness was disappointing – only a small part corroded into black smoke, and the rest fell to the ground.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Without wind or clouds, the sound of thunder echoed in the sky.

With dazzling light, two bolts of lightning one and a half meters in diameter and ten meters high struck the swarm of rabbit spirits, one after the other.

Call Lightning Spell.

A third-level druid spell.

The other two Pikespirit druids also made their move.

Compared to the preceding Flame Strike Spell.

These two lightning bolts appeared impressive but clearly lacked killing power.

This was not only because the Flame Strike Spell belonged to holy energy, which had greater restraint over the undead.

But also because the Call Lightning Spell was a continuous spell, with its strength more dispersed.

It was just the first strike of the spell, and if the two Pikespirit druids wished, they could call down another bolt of lightning every six seconds, continuing up to a number equal to their professional level.

Magic attacks kept coming, one after another.

Even though they did not obliterate the wild rabbit spirit swarm on the spot, they had slowed its advance.

This bought some time for the reinforcements that were hurrying to the scene.

The first to get entangled were the mouse spirit group that had just been controlled.

Without any sense of comradeship, they furiously gnawed at the wild rabbit spirit swarm.

But being spirits themselves, their attacks on each other were extremely ineffective, and they ended up entangled and mixed together.

Flame Strike Spell.

The eighth-level druid’s attack spell arrived again.

Two more bolts of lightning quickly followed.

This area-of-effect attack makes no distinction between friend and foe.

Both groups of wandering spirits were engulfed, causing their black fog to chaotically scatter.

When dealing with ghostly entities, the effect of the spell might be slightly reduced, but at least it had some effect.

Under the reckless and unbridled bombardment, both groups of wandering spirits were blasted into residue.

The two sudden swarms of wandering spirits turned Weizemay Manor upside down. Everyone was mobilized, and the scene was a mess, but in the end, nothing was left of them — not a single hair.

This is an inherent trait of the undead, especially spectral types of undead.

"Mr. Gaven, this can’t go on. The amount of negative energy in the manor is too dense, particularly from those ghost maids and soul prisons, which have become a source of negative energy dissemination.

Their influence on the surrounding land will become more and more serious, and such paranormal events will occur more and more frequently," the maiden priestess came forward with a worried heart and said to Gaven.

Now that I think about it, the group of wandering spirits made up of field mouse spirits still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my body shiver.

Forget about living in Weizemay Manor; now, she didn’t even want to get too close to it.

"I’ve also noticed this problem. Do you have any good solutions?" Gaven took the opportunity to ask.

In terms of research on the undead, Priestess Ilmater was his foremost recommendation, after all, he hadn’t yet established deeper connections with other churches.

Darnell from the Monastery of the Hammer of Justice was a reluctant option.

But after learning about the situation at Weizemay Manor, the first solution he would probably think of would be to pick up his warhammer and sweep through Weizemay Manor from top to bottom.

Including Estelle and her daughter, as well as the Black Nanmu, none would escape their fate.

After all, they are unadulterated undead, and even if their nature isn’t malevolent, they are still undead.

Anna, on the other hand, although a priestess of Ilmater, had a relatively moderate stance, particularly regarding undead who were not evil. At least she showed considerable sympathy after learning of Estelle’s special situation, rather than immediately shouting for their extermination.

Seeing that those Dwarves Elf Avengers who had been transformed into ghost maids and soul prisons were non-aggressive, she chose to overlook them.

Hearing Gaven’s question, Anna spoke as if it were the most natural thing: "We could establish a temple of Ilmater in the manor. I could try to channel divine energy to suppress the negative energy in the manor, preventing it from gaining the strength to expand further."

"Establishing a temple of a benevolent god in a ghost manor, you sure have some ideas," Daphne sarcastically retorted without politeness.

This host of the Dwarves Soulsnare hadn’t strayed far when she approached voluntarily and said, "The negative energy in the manor isn’t solely attracted by the undead inside. More importantly, the manor’s own close connection with the Shadow Plane means that suppressing the negative energy here is equivalent to weakening the manor’s own strength. I believe, Lord, you are most aware of this."

Being transformed into a soul prison hadn’t impaired her wisdom. In addition to that, she had contributed many things over the past ten days—Dwarves Elf Weaving Technique, Dwarves Elven Whip Technique.

This earned her quite a bit of freedom to move around.

She had spent a lot of time researching the very nature of Weizemay Manor, a place that had once preoccupied her goddess, the former goddess. It certainly had its unusual aspects.

This research indeed yielded many significant findings, allowing her to glimpse into the essence of Weizemay Manor.

In response to Daphne’s insinuations, Gaven couldn’t deny nor confirm, simply saying, "Do you have any better suggestions?"

"My suggestion is also to build a temple within the manor, but not one dedicated to benevolent gods. Instead, it should be dedicated to a deity associated with death, preferably the Undead Divine Office," Daphne answered. "With this temple as the core that draws in negative energy, it will attract and firmly hold all the negative energy. In doing so, there’s not only no chance for the negative energy to leak out, but the temple will even actively absorb the surrounding negative energy to sustain itself and the manor."

"A temple related to the Undead Divine Office?" Gaven’s brows involuntarily furrowed.

Apparently fearing that Gaven might misunderstand, Daphne hurriedly added, "There are many such temples, for example, Yego, the Recorder of the Dead, or Kranwo, the God of the Dead whom you humans just recently enthroned. No matter which of these Undead-related temples my lord decides to establish here, I can convert and become a sacrificer to that deity, serving my lord."

"Is it so easy to convert?" Gaven couldn’t help but glance sideways, especially since Daphne had already reached the Transcendent. Once converted, the trouble would probably be even greater.

I’ve already betrayed my own Goddess, what’s there to fear about conversion?

Daphne swallowed the words that had reached the tip of her tongue and said with a forced calm, "Under normal circumstances, conversion is indeed problematic. One has to face the pursuit of other followers, and it’s possible to face divine retribution from the goddess. But now, these aren’t issues for me at all.

No matter whether I convert or not, other followers will try to kill me. As for divine punishment, the goddess doesn’t even have the power to detect that I’ve betrayed her, let alone pursue the matter of my conversion."

In fact, this was also the reason why Daphne firmly believed that her choice was not mistaken: The plight of the Goddess of Undead Vengeance was worse than they had estimated.

She probably doesn’t even have the ability to perceive or strip away the divine arts of a betraying sacrificer, likely because her divine consciousness is deeply asleep or comatose.

Gaven nodded without asking further and paced back and forth, considering the two radically different proposals.

This matter, no matter which solution, couldn’t possibly avoid involving a temple or a deity.

Managing souls is, after all, the bona fide job of the deities in Felen.

Whether they are benevolent gods or evil deities.

People worship them, mostly as preparation for their own deaths.

Compared to Anna’s suggestion, Gaven was instinctively inclined towards Daphne’s.

Because what Daphne said was correct, the most unique feature of Weizemay Manor was its ability to connect and freely enter and exit the Shadow Plane.

And this ability is naturally endowed by negative energy.

Once a temple of benevolent gods is built in Weizemay Manor.

The negative energy might be suppressed, but Weizemay Manor’s ability to access the Shadow Plane would also likely be lost.

To maintain the characteristics of Weizemay Manor, one must choose a deity capable of manipulating negative energy; it doesn’t necessarily have to be an Undead-related deity.

When it came to this aspect, the first deity that popped into Gaven’s mind wasn’t the ones Daphne mentioned, but Shar, the Goddess of the Night.

Her main sphere of influence lies in the Shadow Plane and her various divine portfolios which include darkness, night, and the unknown secrets, all related to darkness. Although she doesn’t have death or Undead-related divine offices, among her followers are no lack of the Undead.

But as soon as this thought emerged, Gaven dismissed it.

This lady was akin to a big BOSS lurking behind the scenes, one of the main sources of turmoil in Felen for the last few decades. Through the hands of the God of Conspiracy, Shylock, she was plotting against the Magic Goddess’s divine office, and their conflict was basically irreconcilable.

To build her temple on my own territory, wouldn’t that be like delivering myself into her hands?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet