Chapter 250 - 146: Kill the Undead
Undead Fortress, main building.
Li Ziyu, who was sitting on the White Bone Throne eating fruit and chatting with Zhang Peng and Liu Xingxing, suddenly paused. He sat up straight and stared intently at the system screen before him, where several numbers were fluctuating.
’The Skeleton Beasts have started dying?’
’Something powerful has finally appeared underground.’
The corners of Li Ziyu’s mouth curled up slightly into a smile. He didn’t care about losing Skeleton Beasts. After all, the underground tunnels were teeming with Wild Beasts. Both the Demonized Wild Wolves and Demonized Giant Tusked Boars were low-tier Demonized Beasts, and their numbers were enormous. The cost to create Skeleton Desert Wolves and Skeleton Giant Tusked Boars wasn’t high at all. After factoring in the materials salvaged from the Demonized Creatures, all it really took was a little Soul Energy.
What he truly cared about was whether there were powerful entities in the underground tunnels—Demonized Creatures that would allow him to summon High Level Soldier Species like the Ox Demon.
The number of Skeleton Beasts he had created wasn’t too large, so Li Ziyu would notice any losses immediately. In contrast, the Skeleton Undead were so numerous that losing a few dozen or even a few hundred would be hard to spot.
The Skeleton Beasts were clearly a bit stronger than the Skeleton Undead. Since entering the underground tunnels, they had suffered almost no losses, which indicated the enemies encountered so far weren’t strong enough to kill them. Prey like that, even if reanimated as Undead, would have limited power—at best, they’d just become another Skeleton Beast-level creature.
But now that the Skeleton Beasts were taking losses, it meant they had finally run into some tougher opponents. Creatures that could kill a Skeleton Beast were much more valuable, and Li Ziyu felt a stir of anticipation.
He rose and walked to the window, glancing at the sky outside and then at the time on his system. It wouldn’t be long before sunrise.
Li Ziyu mulled it over. He felt that sending just one legion of Skeleton Undead was a tiny bit risky. ’After all, the underground is a dangerous place, right?’ So, he decided to send another legion—200,000 Skeleton Undead. That should be enough. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to send more Undead; he was just worried there wouldn’t be enough space for them down there.
’Mm, as someone from the Ancient Eastern Country, having a phobia of insufficient firepower is perfectly normal. This is completely reasonable.’
When the sun rose, the Undead Fortress would have to enter hibernation to avoid the sunlight. The Undead underground, however, didn’t need to, and could continue to operate normally. Li Ziyu was worried that something might go wrong during this period of hibernation, and that wouldn’t be good.
Another legion of Undead set out from the platform and entered the underground, with even more Skeleton Beasts following them.
After all the Undead had gone underground, the first ray of sunlight appeared on the horizon. The Undead Fortress entered its hibernation, and a new day arrived.
...
The Undead Fortress had entered Hibernation Mode, but the battle underground continued without any sign of stopping.
Sachelli didn’t spare a thought for the comrades left behind to cover the retreat. The City Guard had a very strict code; staying behind to fight a rear-guard action was their fate. He had to deliver this intelligence to the City Lord, White Hair Pulan.
Navigating the labyrinthine underground tunnels, Sachelli finally arrived safely at Komeilan City. He was led into the City Lord’s Mansion and brought before White Hair Pulan, where he reported the appearance of Undead in the tunnels.
White Hair Pulan didn’t believe a word Sachelli said. Instead, he thought the man was making up lies, spinning some ridiculous tale because he hadn’t put any real effort into investigating the problems in the tunnels.
He berated Sachelli harshly and angrily threw him out of the City Lord’s Mansion. But what happened next left him dumbfounded. Every returning member of the City Guard, as if they had all agreed on a story beforehand, reported the same thing: there were Undead in the tunnels.
From time to time, White Hair Pulan’s furious roars echoed through the City Lord’s Mansion.
"Are you kidding me!"
"There’s no way there are Undead!"
"Do you take me for a fool?"
"Get out, all of you! Get out!"
After chasing away all the squad leaders who had come to report, White Hair Pulan smashed his crystal wine cup and snarled at his servants in a fury, "Look at them! Just look at them! They’re shirking their responsibility, trying to fool me with tales of mythical Undead!"
The servants prostrated themselves on the floor, nearly burying their heads in their laps. They wouldn’t dare speak while the City Lord was enraged; that would be asking for trouble.
"Report! A squad leader from the City Defense Army requests an audience with the Lord City Lord! He has an urgent military update!" a member of the City Defense Army shouted as he rushed in.
"Let him in. I hope he isn’t going to tell me about Undead, too," White Hair Pulan said, smoothing his hair. He reigned in his anger and regained his gentlemanly elegance.
This time, several squad leaders arrived together. They looked far worse off than the previous City Defense Army squad leaders who had come to report. They all had injuries of varying severity, and their armor was stained with blood. However, the regenerative abilities of Demonized Creatures were astonishing. They only looked miserable; in reality, they were already mostly healed.
"How did you all get so battered? Are you injured?" White Hair Pulan asked, a subtle frown creasing his brow. He was inwardly displeased—in his opinion, if one was to have an audience with the City Lord, they should at least wash the blood from their armor. The stench was overpowering. Still, he managed to put on a concerned facade.
"City Lord, our injuries are of no concern. We are here to report on the military situation in the tunnels," one of the squad leaders said, stepping forward.
"Mm, brave warriors. Tell me, what did you find in the tunnels?" ’They’re injured, which means there are enemies in the tunnels. These men should be more reliable than the last bunch,’ White Hair Pulan thought as he asked.