Amid the Vast Mountain Forest, several players rode Dire Wolves in a tactical retreat. Only after they had traveled far away did they let out long sighs of relief.
That scared the life out of me.
But after taking such a huge risk only to turn back halfway, they were still somewhat unwilling to accept it.
"Boss, are we really leaving just like this? Didn't you say that us Civilian Players had to fight for everything?"
"That's right. We do have to fight, but we also need an opportunity to fight."
In the real world, the Boss of the group playing together lit a cigarette. Amid the swirling smoke, he blew out a smoke ring and shook his head. "But given what just happened, what could we possibly fight with?"
"When it's time to fight, we have to fight. When it's time to back down, we naturally have to back down. Players who only know how to fight won't live long."
After a pause, he continued, "Besides, you all know Gargoyles. They're powerful, rare one-star troops, yet one of them was brutally cut down by a single sword strike from the other side."
"That can only mean one of two things. First, there's a powerful wandering monster ahead. If we go any closer, we'll be cut down like that Gargoyle, as easily as chopping vegetables.
"Second, the one who killed the Gargoyle is a powerful lord's troop. That Mage Tower must also belong to him, so we can't—and certainly don't dare to—lay a finger on it. Besides, if my guess is right, that powerful lord noticed us long ago and used the explosion to give us a little warning... That's also why I told everyone to leave immediately. I'm afraid he might misunderstand us. If we took just a few more steps forward, our lives might no longer belong to us.
"Don't forget, the Eternal World isn't Blue Star. There are no laws whatsoever in the wilderness."
So that was how it was!
The other players in the group suddenly understood. Cold sweat poured down their foreheads as they felt both frightened and relieved.
They had never expected to walk past the gates of hell.
Luckily, luckily, Boss had been decisive enough.
As expected of our Boss.
"A player? An old player?"
In the sky, the pupils of an inconspicuous war falcon focused as it caught sight of the conspicuous group in the distance.
There were two war falcons. One observed the battlefield and livestreamed the battle at all times.
The other patrolled the surrounding forest, remaining alert to every direction... Mu Yuan was worried that a powerful monster might come to take advantage of the battle and launch a sneak attack.
He had not expected to find no powerful monsters, but instead discover an even more troublesome group of old players.
After all, even the most useless old player had been in the game for half a year. With that much time accumulated, no matter how slowly they had developed, their main troops could not be too low-leveled.
At the very least, they would be at the 'Zero Order High Stage.'
If they had already entered the Professional Grade, even Deathbone might not be their opponent.
Besides, other players might not possess the same lofty morals and noble cultivation as he did. In a lawless place like the wilderness, conflicts between players, monster snatching, and even covert killings were all possible.
The problem was huge. It was extremely troublesome!
Mu Yuan observed through Shared Vision, his thoughts racing as he considered what to do.
Before he could even complete one circuit of thought, those old players left directly at a speed even faster than when they had arrived.
Mu Yuan: "???"
For the moment, he had not realized that this was the 'Gargoyle's intimidation.' From far away, the old players had completely failed to notice that the Gargoyle was a fake. Just like he and Deathbone, they had initially been intimidated by it.
Mu Yuan merely had the war falcon keep an eye on those old players, just in case.
In front of the Ruined Tower, on the battlefield.
At the beginning of the battle, the Undead Bone General instantly killed three Gargoyles with overwhelming might. The Gargoyle group began to awaken, and Bone Two charged forward like a wild boar, taking a Charge and hurling a bone spear viciously at a Gargoyle.
It hit!
However, Bone Two's throw had been rather rushed, and its use of the skill was crude. Even with the advantage of a sneak attack, it was far from able to kill the Gargoyle instantly.
It merely drove the bone spear deeply into the Gargoyle's body.
The remaining five Gargoyles fully awakened. They spread their wings and took flight, whipping up howling gales as streaks of gray flashed and swayed through the dense forest.
Both of Bone Two's successive bone spear throws missed.
Bad news: it had missed again and again.
Good news: it had successfully attracted the Gargoyles' attention.
A full three Gargoyles swooped toward it from different directions. Bone Two naturally could not handle such a complicated situation, but it had never known what fear was. It charged straight in on the spot.
It swung its greatsword, striking the Gargoyle and sending sparks flying while leaving only a shallow mark.
Bone Two pressed down with both hands again. Wisps of black radiance surfaced along the blade, and it suddenly carved a hideous gash into the Gargoyle, sending shards of stone flying.
At the same time, a cold, eerie gleam appeared on the Gargoyles' claws.
They swept past and tore Bone Two's Warrior Armor apart as easily as ripping paper.
Metal fragments flew everywhere, mixed with pieces of broken ribs. Yet even with several holes torn through its body, even when facing several times its number in enemies, Bone Two remained fearless before the world.
Ha!
At the same time, Deathbone was leading the other Skeleton Soldiers in carrying out a righteous group assault.
Under normal circumstances, Skeleton Soldiers found it difficult to inflict serious damage on Gargoyles with their outstanding defense, but Cleave made up for that.
Under normal circumstances, Skeleton Soldiers also found it difficult to catch flying Gargoyles moving as fast as the wind at the right moment to use Cleave, but Deathbone's command made up for that.
In the blink of an eye, two Gargoyles were caught in a storm of blades during a dive and were brutally hacked into chunks of stone.
Deathbone simultaneously drew a specially made bone spear, waited for the right moment, and delivered a steady, vicious sneak attack.
Charge Burst!
A Gargoyle had just used its Tear skill and had yet to bring its claws down when it shattered into pieces in front of Bone Two.
Bone Two: Am I really this strong?
Soon, Deathbone seized another opportunity, cleaving a Gargoyle's wings apart with one sword strike before stepping forward and throwing a punch. After transforming the Cleave skill into a boxing technique, it shattered the Gargoyle's hard head with a single blow.
In the span of only a few blinks, only one of the eight Gargoyles remained.
It seemed to have been frightened. It circled high in the sky, not daring to descend.
Deathbone stared fixedly at the figure.
This Gargoyle was far too powerful. It absolutely could not be allowed to leave, but staying here for long was also impossible!
However, it could not fly, and that was a shortcoming. Against a Gargoyle whose vigilance had been pushed to the limit, its bone spear's hit rate was not high enough either.
Sure enough, it was still not cautious enough.
Since that was the case...
Deathbone turned its gaze toward Great Slime Number Two. It had served as a Slime feeder for some time and knew the Great Slime's abilities like the back of its hand.
Under Mu Yuan's stunned, slack-jawed gaze, Deathbone stepped onto the Great Slime. Using the force of its leap, it sprang twenty to thirty meters into the air from the Great Slime's body, which had strained itself purple. Before the Gargoyle could fly far away, it threw two bone spears to seal off the space, then wielded a several-meter-long blade of pitch-black sword light and cleaved the Gargoyle in two with a heavy strike.
Boom—!!
Deathbone, clad in armor, fell from the sky and smashed the ground into countless cracks.
Behind it, the Gargoyle's corpse, split in two, also slammed into the ground with a bang, sending dust and sand flying.
Deathbone pulled its war boot out of the earth. Looking at the armor on its body, already cracked in several places, it still sighed.
"Sure enough, I'm still not cautious enough."
The battle ended in a mere dozen seconds. Mu Yuan watched with his blood surging, wishing he could enter the world himself and exchange a few moves with the Gargoyles.
Oh, he seemed to possess only the power of one skeleton? A Little Skeleton's power.
On second thought, he decided against it.
Smoke and dust filled the air. Trees collapsed one after another, while shattered stones and broken branches scattered everywhere. The area in front of the Ruined Tower had become an utter mess.
But Deathbone had deliberately controlled the battle zone, so the ancient tower—which might already have been a dangerous ruin—had not been affected.
The battle had caused quite a commotion. Perhaps the Gargoyle territory carried its own intimidation, because no foolish monsters from the surroundings had been drawn over. By the time Mu Yuan walked up, he could only see the Gargoyles' corpses reduced to broken fragments, as well as...
As well as Bone Two, which had several holes pierced through its body, its chest hollowed out, and air whistling through it from every direction.
Mu Yuan: "..."
The sight was undeniably miserable. However, when he saw Bone Two happily digging around inside itself, his sorrow sank away before it could even well up.
Forget it. As long as you're happy.
They were skeletons, after all. It wasn't a big deal.
If Bone Two had focused on maneuvering, it would not have suffered such severe injuries in such a short time. But that fellow was single-minded, willing to take hits just to hack the Gargoyles a few times.
Deathbone looked at Bone Two's hollowed-out chest. Feeling that such injuries would take a long time to recover from, it naturally thought of the skill it had mastered: Undead Rebirth.
As long as it last-hit Bone Two and revived it, those injuries would naturally be gone.
Deathbone was 99.99% certain this would work, but after careful consideration, it still shook its head. Bone Two was its brother in arms. It would wait until later, capture a few Undead Creatures from the outside world to test it, and only then perform the operation on Bone Two.
That was the cautious way to do things.
Before you continue