In the southwest of the territory, in the region Mu Yuan had named "Snake Person Swamp," an army of over a hundred units was slowly marching.
There were war falcons, with Hurricane War Falcons soaring through the sky.
However, the swamp was thick with aquatic plants, and danger lurked everywhere. It was far more than the war falcons' aerial scouting could uncover.
Snake People familiar with the terrain lay in ambush, suddenly bursting from beneath the swamp. The swamp also harbored many different kinds of monsters. Aside from low-level trash mobs such as Rotten Walking Corpses, Mud Worms, and Spiked Rats, there were also some rather troublesome creatures.
Mu Yuan had previously discovered the following during his scouting:
Swamp Mud Monster—a huge monster with a body like soft mud. It resembled a Great Slime, but was much harder to deal with. Its body was practically one with the swamp, making it extremely difficult to detect unless one got close.
Blood-colored Vulture—a flying monster with a body covered in knotted muscles, as if countless capillaries had been exposed. It could pose a considerable threat to the war falcons.
There was also the rare-grade monster "Spraying Poison Dragon." It was a roaming monster without a fixed dwelling, so it was difficult to determine where this troublesome enemy might appear.
Still, pushing straight through... No, advancing steadily was the way to go.
At the front of the army, Skeleton Warriors waded through the mud and spread out into the distance, serving as scouts—or rather, expendable scouts. When alone, they were sometimes dragged into the swamp by Swamp Mud Monsters, or surrounded and killed by Snake Person squads lying in ambush. Even so, they could still warn the troops behind them.
More importantly...
When Deathbone stepped forward, a wisp of black smoke drifted down.