Secretly The Overlord

Chapter 9

 Wait!" 

 Liam who was just about to take a step forward was forced to stop right on his tracks when he heard this exclaimation from behind him. Curiously looking over his shoulders, he noticed one of the party members behind him was in the process to weaving through a series of hand seals.

 "The Universe flows in Reverse.. All things are in perfect unity.. the ultimate eye of eternity ses all... Limitless Mandate!"

 Following this exclaimation, a visible burst of blue colored energy began rapidly leaking out, molding itself into the manifestation of an eye that silently hovered in the air above the party member.

 Julius Lombardi. Amongst the party of eight raiders, he was the only Shaman and served a role that was even more crucial than that of an Healer!

 As soon as the eye manifestation appeared above Julius, cold sweat slowly slid down his cheeks as he clasped all ten fingers together. Following his actions, a burst of light erupted that extended outward for over fifteen meters.

 "Cursed Spectres spotted! everyone get into formation!"

 Liam didn't even need to announce this warning because all the party members instantly entered a battle stance once they saw the creatures that were revealed under the rays of light emanating from Julius shamanic technique.

 Gi. Gi. Gi.

 Crawling on the ground as they rapidly approached the group was a swarm of disgusting looking maggot like creatures. However unlike regular maggots, these ones possessed eerily blood red scales, protuding horns and a chubby body possessing sharp spikes with a body length that was as large as the arm of a human baby!

 Gi Gi Gi!

 One of the maggots who was closest to Liam suddenly stiffened. With its horns tingling intensely, the maggot made a hair - raising sound before spewing out a dark purple liquid towards Liam's direction.

 Splat!

 Although Liam managed to dodge the liquid, the ground he was previously standing on wasn't so lucky.

 "They are Nether scaled worms. Everyone, be careful!" Liam exclaimed as his eyes landed on the decayed area of the ground he had previously been standing on.

 The ability to eject a purple colored poison capable of inducing necrosis — there was only one kind of Cursed Spectre with that category of poison!

 Weng!

 Releasing a low hum, a two edged blade appeared in Liam's grip. Grabbing the hilt of the sword, he made a downward slash towards the direction of the marching bugs. It appeared like a regular sword swing.

 Yet following the brief appearance of a sword light, about a hundred nether scaled worms were halted right on their tracks, their bodies cleanly sliced in equal halves . Yet even with their deaths, the swarm of bugs didn't appear to have taken any tangible hit — their match continued still!

 In the blink of an eye, nearly all the members in the raiding party erupted into intense combat. Despite the fact that their opponents were crawling bugs, none of them dared to act lax.

 "Huh?" Henri was was behind the group besides Vitoria, suddenly frowned. 

 At first he thought it was a coincidence but with time, he realized he wasn't actually hallucinating. Henri noticed that whenever a nether scaled worm was killed, an intrinsic miasma would erupt out from their corpses — the miasma was a complete demonic red and just staring at it caused Henri to develop goosebumps.

 "W--What are those worms?" mentally calming himself down, Henri inquired from Vitoria.

 "Oh? you really must be a complete noob if you don't know what Cursed Spectres are." Vitoria gave him an amused look.

 "Hngh." Henri awkwardly scratched his head. Although it had been his lifelong desire to be a Practicioner, he knew next to nothing concerning their way of life.

 "Well.. Cursed Spectres share a similarity with Feinds in the sense that they cannot be interacted with through physical means."

 "Huh? you mean they are invisible? then how --"

 ".. How are the others able to battle them? the only reason they are able to see those Cursed Spectres is due to the Eye of Enlightenment casted by our Shaman." Vitoria pointed towards the manifestation of an eye hanging above Julius. And that was when he noticed it--

 "Huh? what is he doing?" apart from the both of them, Henri finally noticed that Julius wasn't joining in on the rest of the battle like the others.

 Instead, he was currently seated in a lotus position, except he appeared to be floating an inch above the ground. Hovering around him were six wooden dolls like constructs. Henri had no idea if Vitoria could see it, but he clearly could!

  With his eyes firmly shut in intense concentration, Julius fingers moved rapidly as they formed a flurry of seals. At the same time, those demonic red miasma that appears whenever a nether scaled worm was killed, were like excited bees as they swarm towards the direction of the six wooden dolls, disappearing into them.

 [Foolish mortal. It is obvious that man is absorbing -- no, storing negative Qi.]

 [Why aren't your doing something about it.. mortal?]

 "N--Negative Qi? what is that?"

 [Geez. You really don't know anything don't you. Fortunately this Venerable One is gracious enough to pardon your ignorance.]

 "Tch.." Henri was stupified. The other party was nothing more than a ghost living in his head. He couldn't understand what warranted her haughty disposition.

 [There are Three categories of Qi according to the knowledge of you mortals. There is positive Qi, Negative Qi and Neutral Qi. What that man is storing is death Qi]

 [You can clearly see the flow of death Qi right? so why are you letting that lowly being steal from me-- I mean us?!]

 Henri was taken aback when he sensed Lilith's outrage. If this death qi was indeed those demonic red miasma, then he was indeed able to see them. But-&

 How did Lilith know that?!

 [Hmph. Don't just stand there, start absorbing the negative Qi around you. Although that much won't be able to fill the gaps in my teeth, they will benefit the current you.]

 "Ereh.." Henri scratched his head.

 ".. How do I absorb negative Qi?"