The Soul Surge and the Specters
The key to enslaving a corpse lies in the caster's soul; the stronger the soul, the greater the sentience imparted to the corpse.
In terms of soul strength, Luke was second to none. However, he hadn't anticipated such a dramatic change when he was only halfway through the incantation.
A fog began to roll in.
Despite the star-studded night sky, a dense, gray mist drifted in, lingering over the graveyard. Suppressed, low growls occasionally emanated from the fog. The sounds were deep and heavy, as if lamenting a grievance or struggling to break free, echoing in their ears and causing involuntary shivers.
Linda grabbed Luke's shirt, anxiously suggesting,
"Should we go back?"
Luke merely glanced at her and continued to chant the spell silently.
As the incantation progressed, his eyes unconsciously turned emerald green, and an incredibly powerful soul wave rippled outward. Where it reached, the low wails instantly vanished, as if choked off, only to erupt the next moment with even greater intensity.
The roars rose and fell, utterly savage, like enraged beasts.
The fog grew thicker, circling their bodies with a bone-chilling coldness.
Dozens of near-ethereal figures appeared in the mist. Their bodies were composed of the thick fog, with only their hideous faces revealing human features. Accompanied by ear-splitting screeches, the figures began to move, some upright, some crawling, surging toward Luke and Linda in the center like a tide of the dead.
At this sight, the color drained instantly from Linda's face. Her calves started shaking. Accidentally,
Riiip!
Luke's black shirt was torn cleanly in half.
The girl quickly apologized, "Sorry, I... I didn't mean to."
Luke was utterly speechless. A mighty Supergirl, afraid of ghosts!
What was so scary about ghosts?
Ever since his Green Flame awakened, he'd seen ghosts whenever he passed a graveyard. Initially, he was scared, but after learning that the so-called ghosts were merely clumps of special energy without self-awareness and were completely nullified by his Green Flame, his fear vanished. The ones who should be scared were them.
"Stop. Let's not test it anymore. If this continues, I'm afraid something bad will happen."
Luke ignored her. He ripped off the remains of his torn shirt and tossed it onto the ground. He spread his right hand, and green light swirled in his palm, transforming into faint, mysterious runes.
"Gather!"
Luke roared, slamming his palm onto the skeleton's sternum.
BOOM!
An incredibly powerful soul wave burst out, stopping the fog instantly. Then, like birds flocking home, the mist aggressively surged toward the corpse. In that moment, the corpse became a black hole, frantically devouring everything around it.
Luke's brow twitched. He released his hand and stepped aside. Linda quickly followed.
The two stood side-by-side, silently watching the sudden transformation.
As the mist surged, the figures hidden within it were also affected. Like fish in the ocean, when a powerful whirlpool forms, no creature but a whale or a shark can escape the fate of being swallowed.
Clearly, the figures in the dense fog possessed no such immunity. No matter how they shrieked or struggled, they couldn't escape the pulling force emanating from the corpse.
Dozens of figures were swallowed by the corpse, one after another. As the number of consumed figures increased, the corpse itself began to change. A tiny point of green light appeared in its empty eye sockets. The light slowly expanded, finally settling into two glass-ball-sized green flames. The dust on the body's surface scattered, revealing clean, gray-white bone. A white mist seeped out from within the bones, enveloping the body to form a special protective membrane.
CRACK!
The corpse moved, slowly sitting up on the ground. Its fleshless head began to rotate, the bones grinding together.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The eerie sound echoed through the graveyard. Luke couldn't help but swallow, feeling his legs go a bit weak. Linda was worse, hiding her head like an ostrich and pushing hard into Luke, nearly taking his breath away.
"Stop pushing, you're going to smother me."
Luke gently nudged her, his gaze fixed on the skeleton in front of them.
Though he had created this thing, he had no idea what the result would be. The magic he had encountered as a child was all orthodox; he'd never even seen black sorcery, let alone the forbidden necromancy.
The Skeleton's Commands
Under the night sky, the green flames in the skeleton's eye sockets looked like two wisps of ghostly fire. After scanning its surroundings, they settled on the two figures standing nearby.
It slowly got to its feet, planting its hands on the ground and rising in an awkward, strange way.
Tattered clothes hung loosely on its body, rattling in the night wind.
It lifted a foot, intending to walk, but as soon as its right foot lifted, it lost its balance and fell backward with a crash. It quickly got back up, head tilted down, seemingly thinking.
After more than ten seconds, it lifted its leg again. This time, its right foot landed steadily on the ground.
Luke watched this, frowning. This skeleton... can it think?
With just one attempt, the skeleton learned to walk. However, its gait—swinging the left arm and stepping with the left leg, then the right arm and right leg—was extremely odd. As it stepped forward, a white mist dispersed with each step, only to be immediately sucked back into its body.
The distance of over ten meters quickly closed. Finally, the skeleton stopped in front of Luke, its hollow, green-flame-lit eyes staring straight at him.
It was extremely tall, at least six feet five inches ( meters). Judging by its pelvis, it must have been a tall, strong male in life. When it looked down at them, it gave off a strange sense of pressure.
Linda secretly peeked, and when she saw the hollow eyes burning with ghostly fire staring at her, she let out a shriek, quickly pulled her head back, and dared not look again.
Luke cleared his throat and asked in a low voice,
"Can you talk?"
The skeleton remained silent. Clearly, it didn't have that function.
Luke thought for a moment, then pointed down with his hand.
"Squat!"
The skeleton tilted its head, the flame in its eye sockets flickering. A few seconds later, it placed its hands on its knees and slowly squatted down.
Luke felt a slight sense of relief. He continued,
"Stand up, turn in a circle!"
"High knees!"
"Jump in place!"
"Push-ups!"
"Shake hands!"
The skeleton completed all five commands accurately and without fail.
Linda whispered, "He seems to understand what you're saying."
Luke gently nodded. That seemed to be the case so far, but he needed to verify a few things. Thinking this, he turned to Linda.
"You give him a command."
The girl pointed to herself, surprised. "Me...?"
"Yes. Use English. I want to see how much human memory he has!"
"O-Okay!"
Linda cautiously poked her head out and tentatively said, "Lift your right hand and wave twice."
Ten seconds passed, but the skeleton remained still, seemingly unable to understand English.
Luke spoke, "Do as she says."
The skeleton immediately lifted its right hand and waved twice with force.
"It really works."
Linda was thrilled. "He really does understand!"
"However, he seems to only listen to your commands," Linda pointed out.
Luke slightly irritated. The thing I created doesn't listen to me? Who else would it listen to?
After confirming the skeleton posed no immediate harm, the group of three returned to the underground base.
Luke planned to run comprehensive tests on it to determine the full range of abilities this undead creature possessed.
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