According to the mission description, there were roughly 8,000 to 10,000 Flesh Puppets in the Flesh Puppet nest. With only a little over a thousand skeletons under Han Wu's command, a head-on battle was absolutely out of the question.
But Han Wu had a brain. If brute force would not work, then he would wage guerrilla warfare and slowly nibble away at them.
The muscle-stuffed brains of the Flesh Puppets surely could not see through such a simple plan.
Han Wu immediately ordered an Iron Bone Skeleton to stroll around in front of the Flesh Puppet nest.
Sure enough, the Flesh Puppets could not tolerate another race wandering about on their territory.
More than a hundred Flesh Puppets chased after it, determined to smash that bold Iron Bone Skeleton into bone dust.
Following Han Wu's instructions, the Iron Bone Skeleton jogged all the way to lure the Flesh Puppets to the trap site.
Then over a thousand Skeleton Soldiers leaped out and gang-beat the hundred-odd Flesh Puppets.
Ten against one, and they had weapons.
Very soon, the Flesh Puppets were completely wiped out by the Skeleton Soldiers.
At that moment, the Skeleton Knight stepped forward and used its Summon Skeleton ability on each Flesh Puppet corpse.
One by one, adorable newbie Little Skeletons broke free from the Flesh Puppet corpses and joined the Skeleton Soldiers.
Han Wu could not help but sigh. The Skeleton Race truly had a uniquely unconventional way of gaining new members.
After repeating this operation dozens of times, the Skeleton Legion had grown to more than 7,000.
Meanwhile, only around 3,000 Flesh Puppets remained in the nest.
Han Wu felt that it was time to launch the final assault.
Before beginning the assault, however, Han Wu distributed another batch of Bone Crystal, allowing the Skeleton Soldier force to gain another 800 Elite Lifeform Iron Bone Skeletons.
The strengthened Skeleton Soldiers charged into the Flesh Puppet nest and carried out an organized campaign of smashing, looting, and wrecking.
In less than three hours, they had cleared out every Flesh Puppet.
The Skeleton Knight searched through the Flesh Puppet nest and found a Heart of Flesh, which it offered to Han Wu.
Han Wu looked at the heart, covered in flesh and still thumping away, with some distaste.
But no matter how one put it, it was still a level-one sacred relic. Its effect was to enhance the physical strength of Core Kin.
Although it was useless to Han Wu's Core Kin, the Locusts, he still gritted his teeth and accepted it.
After submitting the mission, he received 60 Assessment Points.
Han Wu's ranking rose to 108th.
But Han Wu was not in a hurry.
Once the Skeleton Knight transformed all the Flesh Puppet corpses into skeletons, his total military strength would exceed ten thousand.
With enough kin, would he still need to worry about being unable to complete missions?
Zhang Xiaolong, transformed into an Abyssal Dragon, arrived at the forest where the Bone Demon Fruit had been picked. He ordered the 200 Hell Hounds under his command to search the area, but they found only a few Locust eggs.
"Damn it, where the hell did Han Wu run off to?" Zhang Xiaolong cursed.
Then he noticed that Han Wu's ranking had changed, his Assessment Points instantly increasing by 60.
Combining that with the information on the mission list, Zhang Xiaolong deduced Han Wu's location.
"Using the Locusts' advantage over Flesh Puppets, he took the Flesh Puppet nest mission. Han Wu, you've truly exceeded my expectations. But your good luck has run out!" Zhang Xiaolong muttered, turning around and charging toward the Flesh Puppet nest according to the map's guidance.
Before long, he arrived at the Flesh Puppet nest and found many Skeleton Soldiers stationed there.
Zhang Xiaolong was puzzled. Hadn't Han Wu's Locusts defeated the Flesh Puppets? Why were Skeleton Soldiers stationed in the Flesh Puppet nest?
When he saw the Skeleton Lord Han Wu had transformed into, everything became clear.
"Damn Han Wu, you were secretly raising Skeleton Race kin as well. You think you can use this to achieve good results in this assessment? Dream on!"
Zhang Xiaolong muttered inwardly and immediately issued a Divine Decree. The Hell Hounds attacked.
The Hell Hounds were inherently powerful. In the environment of the Demon Abyss, their strength received an additional boost, making them far superior to ordinary Elite Lifeforms.
The hundred or so ordinary Skeleton Soldiers outside the Flesh Puppet nest did not even have time to resist before the charging Hell Hounds tore them apart.
Taking advantage of the momentum, the Hell Hounds pounced toward Han Wu.
How could the surrounding skeletons allow their leader to be attacked? They rushed forward one after another to block the assault.
The ordinary Skeleton Soldiers formed a wall of bones, shielding Han Wu from the Hell Hounds' attack.
The Iron Bone Skeletons and Skeleton Knight within the nest heard the commotion outside and swarmed out like a hive.
Over a thousand Elite Lifeform Iron Bone Skeletons, plus one Extraordinary Lifeform Skeleton Knight—this sight made Zhang Xiaolong's heart tremble.
It was only the second day since their descent into the Demon Abyss Plane, yet Han Wu had already gathered such a large force.
If a few more days passed, who would still be able to stop Han Wu?
Realizing that this would breed endless future trouble, Zhang Xiaolong made up his mind. Today, he had to kill Han Wu and leave him no room to continue growing.
Then the Abyssal Dragon Zhang Xiaolong had transformed into charged out.
Its thick-scaled body rammed forward, easily crushing the Elite Lifeform Iron Bone Skeletons.
Only the Extraordinary Lifeform Skeleton Knight could withstand that blow.
But the Skeleton Knight's abilities were limited. After being rammed several times in succession, the bones on its body were severely shattered.
Zhang Xiaolong suffered a bit of Damage Reflection, but he still retained the vast majority of his combat strength.
Taking the opportunity, he knocked back the Skeleton Knight and faced Han Wu directly.
At the request of our many readers, we now offer an ad-free VIP membership feature.
Click to view.
Han Wu had already recognized the intruder as Zhang Xiaolong, his classmate.
"Classmate Zhang Xiaolong, we have neither grievance nor enmity between us. Why are you attacking my kin?" Han Wu demanded.
Zhang Xiaolong replied coldly, "I simply don't like the sight of you. Die!"
The Abyssal Dragon incarnation swung its thick dragon tail in a sweeping strike. Its power was immense, and every stone in its path was crushed into powder.
Han Wu raised his bone claws to resist, but he could not bear that tremendous force. His jade-like skeleton scattered across the ground.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiaolong thought that Han Wu's skeleton incarnation had died.
When Han Wu's true body failed to descend for a long time afterward, Zhang Xiaolong assumed Han Wu was afraid of his true body dying and had chosen to withdraw from the assessment.
He could not help letting out a roar to express his excitement.
With their leader gone, the Soul Fire in the Skeleton Soldiers' eye sockets leaped violently.
As if they had collectively gone mad, they charged fearlessly at the Abyssal Dragon incarnation.
Though they were skeletons, they possessed loyal and righteous souls.
With their leader dead, only slaughtering every enemy could serve as an offering to their leader's departed soul.
Zhang Xiaolong did not fear the Skeleton Soldiers, but there was no meaning in fighting them.
These Skeleton Soldiers were not part of any mission requirement and had little value. Killing them was useless.
Zhang Xiaolong charged again, smashing through layer after layer of Skeleton Soldiers' obstructions as he retreated into the distance.
His Core Kin, the Hell Hounds, also broke free from the Skeleton Soldiers' encirclement one after another and followed their god away.
Unable to catch up, the Skeleton Soldiers returned helplessly to the nest. The leading Skeleton Knight's Soul Fire burned quietly in its eye sockets, as though it were mourning for Han Wu.
Although it had not submitted to Han Wu for long, the Skeleton Knight's faith in him was especially firm.
After all, nowhere else in the Demon Abyss would a Skeleton Lord distribute pure Bone Crystal to help its subordinates improve.
But at that very moment, Han Wu's bones suddenly began to tremble.
As though some kind of attraction existed between them, they gathered back together.
This was one of the Skeleton Lord's abilities: Revival.
After reviving, Han Wu once again sincerely sighed that his decision to descend into the Demon Abyss Plane as a Skeleton Lord incarnation had been incomparably correct.
The Skeleton Knight, still mourning, stood frozen in place. If it had a face, its expression would certainly have been one of utter disbelief.
"Stop standing there like fools. Take all our forces and leave this place as quickly as possible." Han Wu knew that, as he was now, he could not defeat Zhang Xiaolong's powerful Abyssal Dragon incarnation.
If he wanted to continue the assessment, his only option was to hide.
Hide somewhere Zhang Xiaolong could not find, cut off all communication, and accumulate strength.
Once he had enough troops under his command, he would find an opportunity to take revenge.
"Zhang Xiaolong, the next time we meet will be the day you die!" Han Wu said coldly.
Elsewhere, only after Zhang Xiaolong had completely shaken off the Skeleton Soldiers' pursuit did he pull up the assessment rankings.
Students who withdrew from the assessment or died would fall to the bottom of the rankings and be displayed in gray.
On only the second day since their descent, ten students in the entire grade had already withdrawn or died.
Perhaps their kin were too weak to survive in the Demon Abyss. Perhaps they had encountered attacks from native lifeforms and died by accident.
But Zhang Xiaolong did not find Han Wu's name among them.
Refusing to believe it, he returned to the main rankings and searched again. He found Han Wu's name currently ranked 163rd.
In other words, he had not withdrawn!
In an instant, Zhang Xiaolong came to a realization.
The reason Han Wu's true body had not descended might have been because the skeleton Han Wu had transformed into had not died at all.
"Damn it, Han Wu actually faked his death." Zhang Xiaolong hurriedly changed direction and returned to the Flesh Puppet nest.
This time, even if he had to waste time killing every Skeleton Soldier, he would never let Han Wu escape again.
But when Zhang Xiaolong returned to the nest with the Hell Hounds, he discovered that it was empty.
Not even a single intact bone had been left on the ground.
There was no need to think about it. Han Wu had surely predicted that he would return and fled ahead of time.
"Search for them! Within a hundred miles, do not let a single skeleton escape!" Zhang Xiaolong angrily issued a Divine Decree.
The Hell Hounds faithfully carried it out, spreading into the surrounding area to search for traces of the Skeleton Soldiers.
But who was Han Wu? Having already been ambushed once, how could he give Zhang Xiaolong a second chance to attack him?
At this moment, Han Wu was leading the skeleton force in the direction opposite to where Zhang Xiaolong had departed.
They had already fled fifty kilometers.
After the battle with Zhang Xiaolong, the skeleton force had suffered grievous casualties, its numbers falling from over ten thousand back to five thousand.
Han Wu had no choice but to take out more Bone Crystal to help the Skeleton Soldiers recover.
After absorbing the pure Bone Energy, not only did the Skeleton Soldiers recover from their injuries, they also evolved into Iron Bone Skeletons one after another.
One Iron Bone Skeleton even evolved into a Skeleton Knight as though it had won the grand prize.
With two Extraordinary Lifeform Skeleton Knights guarding him, Han Wu immediately felt more at ease.
But this small foundation was still far from enough to fulfill Han Wu's hopes of achieving good results and drawing the attention of Imperial Capital Academy.
"I need to find a way to develop the Skeleton Soldiers."
If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it next time.
Before you continue