Chapter 59: Weak Sacrifice

Weak! Too weak!

Rod looked at the Wraith Butcher, who couldn't even take a single strike before being seriously injured. Without hesitation, Rod reached out and grabbed the Wraith Butcher by the throat.

"Sacrifice!"

With a flash of light, the Wraith Butcher let out a blood-curdling scream before disintegrating into nothingness.

Rod squinted slightly, feeling the rewards from this sacrifice. His spirit had grown significantly, though his physical strength hadn't changed much. The power of wraiths comes from the soul, and his soul was much weaker compared to his physical body. Therefore, sacrificing a wraith resulted in a noticeable increase in soul power.

The body is the vessel of life, while the soul is the source of spirit. Enhancing the soul strengthens the spirit, and right now, what Rod needed most was spirit power. After all, whether it was magic, alchemy, or potion making, they all required sufficient magical energy, which depended mainly on the strength of one's spirit.

Feeling the trembling Chaos Blade in his hand, Rod paid it no mind. Wailing of the Dead grows stronger by devouring souls after slaying the living. But right now, even wraiths were scarce, so why let the weapon take the reward?

No matter how powerful an external tool is, it will never be as strong as one's own self.

Buzz!

With the soul's aura dissipated, the trembling weapon slowly calmed down.

"Was that guy... a chef?"

Rod's expression became slightly strange. After sacrificing the Wraith Butcher, in addition to enhancing his soul, he also inherited some of the wraith's skills from its past life. Most of it was trivial, but the cooking knowledge was interesting.

Digesting the complex culinary knowledge in his mind, Rod's eyes lit up slightly. While he wasn't a professional chef, he could tell that this guy's skills weren't bad. The wraith knew how to prepare various top-tier Western dishes Rod had never even heard of. The instructions and experience were all detailed in the inheritance.

This Wraith Butcher must have been a chef in life. And quite an impressive one at that.

Even though he had no interest in becoming a chef, mastering a new skill was always useful. Who knows when it might come in handy?

"What was that just now?"

A trembling voice came from behind him. Tasha, who was practically glued to his back, looked ahead with wide, terrified eyes. She couldn't see the wraiths, but the piercing scream just now was loud and clear.

"Just an ordinary wraith," Rod replied calmly.

Feeling the softness behind him, along with the noticeable trembling, he remained unfazed. After all, he wasn't some inexperienced novice anymore. A man who's seen the world develops immunity to such minor distractions.

"Is it... dead?"

Receiving a definite answer, Tasha's eyes widened, and her whole body seemed ready to leap out of her skin.

"Yes, it's dead," Rod said, continuing forward.

He knew how to make the wraiths visible through magic, but there was no need. It would be problematic if adults were fine but children got scared.

Swish!

After taking just two steps, Rod suddenly swung his chain blade. A sharp wail echoed as another wraith was instantly slain.

"Sacrifice!"

"There are quite a few wraiths," he muttered, after slaying more than ten wraiths while searching every room. Even Rod was a little surprised—how could there be so many wraiths in such a small villa? Had all the people who died in this villa been turned into wraiths?

After confirming that no other wraiths were present, Rod turned toward Tasha and her daughter, who were huddled behind him.

"I've cleared out all the wraiths, but the evil energy in this villa hasn't been completely purged. It's possible that new wraiths will appear later."

"What... what should we do?" Tasha asked, flustered. Having witnessed Rod cleanse over a dozen wraiths, she no longer had any doubts. But the thought of new wraiths emerging in the house terrified her. No one wants to live in a house that could turn deadly at any moment.

"It's not a big problem. As long as we find the source of the wraiths and purge it, no more will appear," Rod said, his gaze turning toward the stairwell. In his spirit vision, thick black smoke was seeping up from the ground below. This was the source of all the strange occurrences in the villa—the birthplace of the wraiths.

With that in mind, Rod walked over. A detection spell revealed a large basement beneath the floor.

"There's a basement under here. Do you know where the entrance is?"

Tasha was taken aback. "Basement? No, there isn't one!" She had lived here for days and had personally supervised the renovation. If there was a basement, she would have known.

Seeing that she really didn't know about the basement, Rod cast another detection spell.

Swish!

A ball of light the size of a fist appeared in his palm. It flew out of his hand and darted around the house, moving as though it had a life of its own.

Tasha's eyes widened, watching the ball of light zoom past like a flash of lightning. After a moment, the ball stopped by the stairs and slowly faded away.

Rod walked over and inspected the solid wall beneath the stairs, where a faint magical marking was glowing dimly.

"Mind if I open this up to take a look?"

After receiving Tasha's permission, Rod's Chaos Blade began to shift form, transforming into a menacing battle axe radiating an icy aura—Shadowmourne.

The classic weapon from a certain popular game looked ferocious and overbearing.

Rod swung the axe, channeling his immense strength into the blade.

Boom!

With a deep rumble, the entire staircase shook violently. The reinforced concrete wall crumbled to pieces in an instant.

Rod glanced at the axe in his hand. If it had been a normal weapon, it would've warped and bent under such force. But with the magic power of Wailing of the Dead, not even a scratch was left on the axe.

"As expected..." Rod's eyes followed the rubble down the broken stairwell. The shattered wall had collapsed inward, revealing a long staircase leading down into pitch-black darkness.