Battle with Murlocs Again

With a crisp, wet sound, blood began to seep from the Forest Wolf's mouth and ears as the Clay Golem pressed down on it. It let out a mournful cry, its claws frantically scraping at the golem's body, but the golem stood firm, driving its weight down and swinging its massive fists in heavy, meaty blows, like Wu Song Fights the Tiger—each punch landing solidly.

The other two Skeleton Warriors met the remaining two Forest Wolves, their Bone Blades flashing. It was then that Li Shaolin noticed one of them had equipped a Bone Shield—the very one that had upgraded to tier two. It raised its left-hand Bone Shield to block a wolf's charging head, knocking teeth loose and filling its mouth with blood, while its right-hand Bone Blade stabbed forward, carving a gash into the wolf's side. The Venomous Dagger he'd cast earlier was still active, and the wound turned blue as the poison took effect. The tier-one Skeleton Warrior wasn't as formidable; though it landed two cuts on its wolf, it got bitten on the ribs, snapping one off with a crack.

Whizz, whizz. Two Bone Fangs flew out, striking the poisoned Forest Wolf. It yelped, staggered a couple of steps, then collapsed as the venom set in, unable to rise again. At Li Shaolin's command, the tier-two Skeleton Warrior turned and joined the tier-one in ganging up on the remaining wolf, finishing it off in a few slashes.

"Right, I leveled up Raise Skeleton to tier three—I can summon another Skeleton Warrior!" He quickly chanted over the wolf that had died from poison. Flesh churned, and another Skeleton Warrior rose, shuffling to stand behind him.

He couldn't be bothered with the wolf carcasses on the ground and didn't dismiss the skeletons. He had them follow, with the golem and the tier-two Skeleton Warrior clearing the path ahead, as he ambled off to find the runaway Brown Horse. After just a few steps, a whiff of blood hit him!

He hurried forward and peered ahead. Beyond the trees, a clear, tranquil lake came into view. On its shore, the timid horse lay sprawled, its body bristling with Wooden Spears, while a group of Murlocs tore at its corpse.

"Damn it, I bought this thing less than a day ago, and you bastards get to feast on it!" Li Shaolin's heart ached—that was a gold and a half! And in his focus on the wolf fight, he hadn't even heard the dead horse cry out.

He counted the Murlocs frenziedly ripping into the carcass—maybe a dozen or twenty. Probably too many to take on. Should he send the golem to test the waters? But the golem was slow and afraid of water, and the Skeleton Warriors weren't durable. How the hell was he supposed to handle this? Li Shaolin felt a headache coming on.

As he weighed whether to pick a fight with the Murlocs, he didn't watch his step. Crack. He stepped on a fallen branch, and the sound caught the attention of a few Murlocs nearby. One lifted its head, let out a "Mwaa..." and hurled a Wooden Spear. The golem shifted, raising a thick arm to snatch the spear out of the air. Looked like after the upgrade, its reactions had gotten a lot faster.

Swish, swish, swish, swish. The golem's move enraged the Murlocs by the lake. Those with Wooden Spears all threw them, while others brandishing blades and such charged in with their characteristic war cries. In an instant, green figures surged forward like a wave, one after another.

"Shit, you're asking for it!" Li Shaolin felt a twinge of worry and quickly ordered his summons to fall back a few steps. The Wooden Spears thudded into the golem's body but dropped to the ground as the mud shifted. One fast Murloc reached him, but its short stature—under a meter—was blocked by a fallen tree branch, halting its advance. Two Bone Blades swung down in unison, taking it out.

"Huh, this terrain's a real advantage!" Li Shaolin realized the ground was littered with fallen branches and thorns. The Murlocs' stubby bodies would struggle to move through it, while the golem and Skeleton Warriors were unaffected. That discovery killed any thought of retreat. He ordered the golem and the tier-two Skeleton Warrior to engage.

Several Murlocs charged head-on. The ground around the golem churned, turning into thick mud. Though Murlocs were amphibious and lived by the lake, the clinging, sucking mud slowed them down, and the tangled branches further hampered their movements. The tier-two Skeleton Warrior swept its Bone Shield sideways, knocking over a few Murlocs. Before they could get up, the other Skeleton Warrior waiting on the flank stabbed down with its Bone Blade, skewering one. Blood sprayed as the Murloc's body turned blue, frozen in place by the golem's mud's slowing effect.

"Right, just wound them! With the slow effect, they fall and can't get back up—the poison on the blades will finish them off!" Li Shaolin slapped his forehead as the idea hit him. He immediately ordered the newly summoned Skeleton Warrior to join in, directing the tier-two to focus on defense while the other two handled offense. He recast Venomous Dagger, then hung back, locking onto Murlocs trying to circle around with Bone Fangs, attacking as soon as they came close.

The Murlocs surged forward wave after wave, but the slow effect hit them, and the massive Bone Shield sent them stumbling on their weak legs, toppling over. The other two Skeleton Warriors swung their blades, not bothering to kill—just landing hits and moving on. Soon, the ground was littered with Murlocs glowing blue. The golem flailed its fists wildly, serving as the primary meat shield. With its earth-recovery ability and the Murlocs' low damage, it held off most of them alone. Mud flew as wounds were instantly repaired by fresh earth, like a tireless robot hammering away.

Meanwhile, other Murlocs from the nearby village heard the commotion. With a chorus of "Mwaa..." cries, more poured out and charged into the fray. Li Shaolin took aim and fired Bone Fangs—not at the Murlocs, but at the Elwynn Ancient Trees overhead. Wood chips scattered as branches and leaves crashed down onto the battlefield, blocking the incoming Murlocs.

He kept firing, knocking down a few more sizable branches before stopping. Checking internally, he saw his mana was mostly spent, so he stopped wasting it, drew his Infantry Sword, and stood at a distance, ready to bolt if anything went wrong.

A steady stream of Murlocs kept coming from behind, as if the whole village had been roused. The slaughter dragged on, and the poisoned Murlocs twitched a few times before going still. Li Shaolin felt numb. He noticed the blue glow on the Skeleton Warriors' Bone Blades was fading—the duration was almost up. He cast Venomous Dagger again, and the poison light flared back to life. After nearly an hour of rest, his mana had recovered a fair bit, so he wasn't worried about running dry. A brief white flash rose from the battlefield—another Skeleton Warrior had hit tier two.

"Wait, I remember Skeleton Warriors can't fight long outside after taking damage—they need to be put back into the Book of the Dead or upgraded to heal their bones. We've been fighting this long—how come none of them are damaged? There's no way they haven't been hit!" The upgrade reminded him something was off. He stepped forward a few paces to observe.

Looking closely, he noticed wisps of black vapor drifting from the dead Murlocs into the air. When they touched the three Skeleton Warriors' bones, they were absorbed. Each absorption made the skeletons a shade whiter, as if their bone quality was purifying. It was automatically repairing the damage they'd taken, keeping them intact through the prolonged fight.

Li Shaolin was quietly stunned. This had to be death energy from the Murlocs' souls or corpses, and the Skeleton Warriors could absorb it. That must be why they leveled up. If that was the case, could they level up if he parked them in a graveyard? The thought got him excited. If it worked, once his Raise Skeleton skill was high enough, he could summon a bunch of Skeleton Warriors, stash them in a cemetery, and come back in a few days to find them terrifyingly powerful. Heh heh, he was practically drooling at the thought. Oh, right—the biggest graveyard around was in the Town of Dusk, not too far. He'd head over in a couple of days and maybe even see that girl Aili.

Lost in his daydream, a Murloc cry snapped him back. A thin short blade swung at his waist! He'd wandered a few steps closer to the fight, and a wounded Murloc had struggled its way over, right in front of him, mustering its last strength to strike.

Slap. A white Bone Shield materialized in the air, deflecting the blade. Good thing he'd kept his guard up even while idle, always maintaining a Bone Shield on himself. Even so, it sent a cold sweat down his back. White light flickered at his fingers as he fired two Bone Fangs, hitting the Murloc square in the head. Brains splattered, and it dropped dead on the spot.

"Better stay far away!" He quickly moved back to his original spot. By then, the Murlocs seemed to realize the problem after their frenzy. A few had already fled, and gradually, fewer came.

Finally, after taking down the last two Murlocs, no more showed up. The ground was carpeted with corpses—most poisoned, some hacked to death or crushed by the golem. Blood and guts splattered everywhere, a gruesome mess.

Li Shaolin looked it over. He'd been fine a moment ago, but now his throat itched and nausea crept in. "Ah, why did you have to do this?" he muttered with a touch of pity.