CHAPTER 109 - SKELETON ARMY’S EXPANSION

The human army was resting under the cover of night when a swarm of locusts silently breached their perimeter. Han Wu waited patiently until enough locusts were within striking range, then commanded them to kill the sleeping humans. The locusts moved with deadly silence, and the number of fallen quickly grew under the cover of darkness.

Suddenly, one of the humans realized they were under attack and sounded the warning horn. The blaring alarm roused the humans just in time to see their comrades being torn apart by locusts as large as their arms.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!” the humans shouted as they sprang into action and started killing the locusts.

Realizing they had been exposed, the locusts took to the air and vanished into the night. The humans gave chase but failed to catch them. When they tallied their losses, they found 120,000 soldiers had died in the ambush. Combined with the 150,000 killed in the earlier skeleton attack, their army had lost a staggering 270,000 men in a single day. The survivors dared not close their eyes again.

The City Lord learned of the disaster and immediately recalled the remaining soldiers without even giving them time to deal with the corpses.

However, Han Wu had other plans. He ordered his remaining 250,000 skeletons, along with newly summoned units, to intercept the retreating human army.

The humans had never expected to face such overwhelming force on their way back. Steely, Sarman, the little skeleton, Divine Hammer, Dark Locust, Toxic Locust, Alpheus, and the others lay in wait, unleashing relentless attacks on the survivors. Meanwhile, Niu Fang, mounted on her Flamion, spat flames that consumed a quarter of the retreating troops with terrifying ease.

In the end, only a handful of human experts escaped; the rest perished. Han Wu had won a crushing victory, but he remained unsatisfied. This was merely the opening salvo in his war against the foreign civilization. With help from Skeleton Reanimator and the little skeleton, he swiftly reanimated more skeletons from the corpses and called forth additional locusts using his Warfront Essence.

Eventually, he commanded an army of 350,000 skeletons and 60,000 locusts to lay siege to the city. The citizens were told only that the City Lord had led his forces out to destroy the skeleton army. They remained unaware of the City Lord’s defeat or the impending threat closing in on them.

Under the cover of darkness, the locusts assassinated the guards and unbarred the city gates. The skeleton army flooded in and started slaughtering everyone in the city.

The Skeleton Knights kept summoning more skeletons, steadily swelling Han Wu’s ranks. Some of the city’s larger families managed to mount fierce resistance, fighting off the attacking skeletons.

After defeating the undead around them, they tried to flee, only to run straight into the Lord life forms blocking their path. The humans inside the city were trapped, and the massacre raged on until dawn.

Han Wu watched as the skeletons hauled chests of treasure from the City Lord’s mansion and quickly calculated his haul. There were mountains of money, several hundred low-ranking Sacred Objects, multiple sets of Faith equipment, hundreds of Divine equipment, and even a God longsword.

More importantly, he had also found numerous runes. Many of the larger families had hoarded them, and Han Wu gathered every last one. Among them were thousands of basic runes and three Runic Lexicons. Inspecting the Runic Lexicons, he discovered two Basic ones and an Intermediate one.

[Runic Lexicon: Blaze (Basic) When used on self: Learn one random Fire-Attribute Magic, +20% Fire Resistance, +15% Fire Affinity. When used on staves: Learn Fireball, +20% Attack for Fire Magic. When used on armor and shields: Learn Fireshield, +30% Resistance to Fire Magic.]

[Runic Lexicon: Might (Basic) When used on self: Increases Muscle Strength, +40% Physical Strength. When Used on blunt weapons: Inflicts Shatter Debuff.]

[Runic Lexicon: Protect (Intermediate) When used on defensive equipment: Grants Barrier, +50% durability to equipment.]

Han Wu didn’t want to take any of the three. His body could only handle four more, and he preferred to save those slots for stronger ones. That didn’t mean he was going to abandon the ones he’d obtained today, however. They were useless to him, but they held value for his units.

Divine Hammer received the Blaze Lexicon, which sharpened his control over fire. He also learned a new magic spell, Molten Stone, further boosting his strength. Sarman took in the Might Lexicon, amplifying its monstrous power even more. The little skeleton used a special technique to fuse the Runic Lexicon into one of its bones and was surprised to find it worked flawlessly.

Niu Fang watched in amazement as Han Wu’s units grew stronger so effortlessly. She asked him for information on the three Runic Lexicons and the runes required to form Blaze.

Surprisingly, Han Wu agreed. After using Blaze, Niu Fang felt her strength surge rapidly. She sensed she was one step closer to reaching the power of a High Lord life form.

Upon realizing how strong they were, Niu Fang was determined to collect more runes and Runic Lexicons for herself. She bade Han Wu farewell before setting off in a new direction.

Han Wu made no attempt to stop her. Her growing power was becoming insignificant compared to his expanding forces. He summoned more and more units, knowing that the strength of an army mattered far more than a single powerful unit. When the time came, he was confident his millions of skeletons could bring down even a Lord life form.

After Niu Fang’s departure, he turned his focus to outfitting his troops with the equipment scavenged from the city. Once his preparations were complete, he marked another city as his next target. He intended to strike by nightfall. The more cities he razed before the enemy caught on, the better.

Millions of skeletons marched out that night. With the aid of the locusts, another city fell and its inhabitants were all turned into skeletons. His army swelled to nearly 2 million, including 100,000 elite Unique Skeleton Knights.

Han Wu handpicked three of his finest Skeleton Knights and provided them with abundant resources—including a Runic Lexicon, numerous Bone Stones, and even Divine Points—to help them break through the barrier to become Heroic units, thus providing him with three new Osteomancers.

Emboldened by his growing power, Han Wu launched a second assault on another city the very next night. Though the guards were prepared, they were no match for his undead army. After conquering that city, he immediately moved on to destroy yet another.

In just five days, Han Wu had razed thirteen cities and expanded his skeleton army to tens of millions.

At last, the king and the pope acted. They summoned a council of kingdoms to address the undead threat. Representatives from the elves, minotaurs, and werewolves attended. Although their lands remained untouched by the skeleton army, their hatred for the undead ran deep.

After the meeting, an allied force comprising the human kingdom, the church, elves, minotaurs, and werewolves was formed to fight Han Wu’s undead army.