Clash (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Thrust!

Thrust again.

Step forward and thrust again!

Under the Skeleton Head's command, Battle Squad 3, armed with long spears, thrust their weapons again and again.

Every thrust struck a Black Shadow with precision.

There were quite a few Black Shadows. The skeletons of the battle squad did not even need to look at their enemies' positions; every spear thrust always hit one or two foes.

Because of the skeletons' height, their spears struck their enemies in the chest. Sometimes, with enough force, they even pierced through two or three enemies.

After three rounds, one Black Shadow finally could not withstand the skeletons' attacks and collapsed where it stood.

Skeleton (Summoned Creature) killed Ghoul Shadow (Level 2). You gained 1 experience point, the Battle Squad gained 1 experience point, and the Summoned Creature gained 8 experience points.

The instant the notification sounded, Gu Xi attacked the spot where the Black Shadow had fallen.

"Lesser Corpse Explosion."

However, the moment Gu Xi's mana reached the Black Shadow's position, he heard a soft pop. The fallen Black Shadow vanished like a bubble.

Forget an explosion—even that sound was only audible because Gu Xi had been paying attention to that spot.

This left Gu Xi rather annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.

The fact that these Ghoul Shadows left no corpses after being killed was beyond Gu Xi's ability to change.

Helpless, Gu Xi could only alter his plan. His outstretched hand shifted from pointing outward to drawing inward.

Just then, another notification rang out.

Skeleton (Summoned Creature) killed Ghoul Shadow (Level 2). You gained 1 experience point, the Battle Squad gained 1 experience point, and the Summoned Creature gained 11 experience points.

With that inward motion, Gu Xi drew out a few Soul Shards.

It had souls, but no corpses?

What a strange situation.

Gu Xi did not dwell on it and turned his attention back to the battle ahead.

Soul Extraction was the most basic skill of every Necromancer. It consumed no mana, and as long as an enemy died, it could be performed with ease.

Since he could not use Corpse Explosion anyway, and Gu Xi did not have Death City available to deploy a Summoning Tower to help extract souls, gathering some souls as material for later spells was at least something to do while he had nothing else on hand.

After all, Gu Xi did not know what kind of enemies the next two waves would bring. He needed to keep some resources in reserve.

Either enough mana, enough souls, or enough Skeletons.

While Gu Xi extracted souls, many more Black Ghoul Shadows died beneath the skeletons' long spears. But increasingly more Black Ghoul Shadows crowded in from nearby. They had already smashed through the casually arranged Roadblocks and could even strike the skeletons of Battle Squad 3.

"Battle Squad 4, move up and hold them back. Battle Squad 1, circle around behind them. Skirmisher Skeletons, get moving. How can one ring of Roadblocks possibly be enough? Can't you lay down more Roadblocks?"

Seeing the situation before him, Gu Xi issued another round of commands.

He even had to stop extracting souls.

Gu Xi discovered that boss-level undead were still somewhat dim-witted. Their minds were only slightly better than ordinary Skeletons'—they had some intelligence, but not much.

Without Gu Xi's orders, they would sometimes stand there, not knowing what they were supposed to do.

At times like this, Gu Xi had to arrange things from a commander's perspective. He even needed to carefully consider when to attack and when to retreat.

Otherwise, one unit of undead would fight desperately at the front while the remaining forces stood behind and watched the show.

It would have been fine if Gu Xi's undead were stronger.

But most of these undead were Level 0 Skeletons. They did not even qualify as Skeleton Soldiers.

All of their opponents were Ghoul Shadows around Level 2. It was fine if they did not fight, but once they did, Level 0 Skeletons were no match for them at all.

This became clear the moment Battle Squad 4 moved up.

Battle Squad 3 was farther away, and with the Roadblocks in the way, they had not clashed head-on with the Ghoul Shadows.

But Battle Squad 4 was different. They wielded Sword and Shield, and frontal defense was their method of combat. With the weapons they carried, they could not attack from afar.

Thus, Battle Squad 4 was the first to suffer the Ghoul Shadows' assault.

Ten Skeletons were killed on the spot in the first exchange.

Just as those Skeletons fell in battle, Gu Xi acted as well.

"Lesser Corpse Explosion!"

Gu Xi pointed at where the Skeletons had fallen. Even without living corpses, undead bodies could still be used for explosions.

The Ghoul Shadows never expected Gu Xi to use his own subordinates as bombs. They continued surging forward.

Then came four successive booms.

Four of the fallen Skeletons exploded on the spot. The shockwaves blasted bone fragments into the air, and those fragments spun as they sliced into the crowd of Ghoul Shadows.

Every fragment flew at least thirty meters. The explosion of four Skeletons killed more than sixty Ghoul Shadows on the spot.

Killed Ghoul Shadow (Level 2). Gained 45 experience points.

Killed Ghoul Shadow (Level 2). Gained 33 experience points.

Killed Ghoul Shadow (Level 2). Gained 36 experience points.

Yet Gu Xi wore a puzzled expression.

"Why were there only four explosions? I clearly used Lesser Corpse Explosion five times just now. Could Lesser Corpse Explosion fail to cast?"

Gu Xi pondered what had just happened, his face full of confusion.

At that moment, Battle Squad 1 had already circled behind the Ghoul Shadows. Wielding Short Hand Axes and Recurve Blades, they hacked into the Ghoul Shadows from the rear.

These Ghoul Shadows clearly possessed their own awareness.

Though they had been drawn in, they were no longer idiots who would not know to fight back even when attacked.

When assaulted, they turned around and retaliated.

But the unit they had encountered was Gu Xi's earliest battle squad.

This battle squad had experienced many battles, and many of its Skeletons had already leveled up.

At the same time, their weapons had been upgraded more than twice. Their combat strength was now the greatest among Gu Xi's battle squads.

They did not consider their own safety at all. Instead, they charged into the Black Ghoul Shadows and hacked away wildly.

Their slaughter was remarkably effective. They moved extremely quickly; often, one axe strike followed by a backhanded blade was enough to nearly drain an enemy's life.

If they were just a little faster, the Black Ghoul Shadows would not even get a chance to retaliate.

For a time, the Black Ghoul Shadows' advance halted, and their already chaotic formation became even more disorderly.

Battle Squad 3 seized that opportunity. Raising their long spears, they drove them forward with force and killed another batch of Black Ghoul Shadows.

But at that moment, the Boss with Spear of Arms among the Black Ghoul Shadows finally made its move.