"I'm not willing to accept this!"
He couldn't win the fight, but he couldn't escape either. White Crow's vision grew increasingly blurred, and he fell amid his resentful murmurs.
He was a dignified first-tier advanced knight, yet he had been killed by a bunch of skeletons.
"Medivh, your skeletons are amazing!"
After White Crow fell, Audrey, who had been watching the battle from the city wall with Medivh, praised them with delight.
She often trained by sparring with the Skeleton Warriors, so she knew the strength of these hulking figures well.
There was no question about White Crow's personal strength. He had dared to charge straight into Kurd City District because he thought Medivh's skeletons were no threat, and because he trusted in his own abilities.
The Blood Crow Mercenary Group had earned its standing in Pioneer Territory through sheer force.
White Crow was one of the founding members of the Blood Crow Mercenary Group. He had taken part in plenty of major battles over the years, and the Transcendents he'd killed were too numerous to count on both hands.
Unfortunately for him, he had met the even more powerful Time Skeletons.
"Nicely done!"
Medivh nodded with a smile, very pleased with the skeletons' performance in battle.
The Minotaur Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Shamans had been the most impressive.
One could fight and take a beating, while the other could taunt and support. Together, they had kept White Crow under control.
The strength of this combination was formidable. The Minotaur Chieftain and Shaman had proven as much by teaming up to kill a second-tier magical beast.
The Skeleton Warrior, clad in heavy armor, was better at absorbing damage than the Minotaur Chieftain in the flesh.
The tougher the frontline, the stronger this combination became.
As they grew more practiced together in the latter stages of battle, the Skeleton Shaman could apply the Taunt Totem directly to the Skeleton Warrior. As long as the enemy couldn't kill the Skeleton Warrior, there was no escaping.
Of course, the Taunt Totem wasn't all-powerful. Its control was based on mental strength.
An enemy with sufficient mental strength, or a transcendent item that could counter mental control, could break free of the taunt.
Compared to the Minotaur Warriors, ordinary mercenaries and Apprentice Knights couldn't inflict much damage, making it difficult for them to deal a fatal blow to the skeletons.
The Transcendental Skeletons had naturally dealt with the knights. Kurd City District had suffered no losses in this extermination battle.
With a wave of his hand, Medivh sent the skeletons to clear the battlefield, scavenge the spoils, and dispose of the remains. Then he stood on the city wall and looked down at the domain he had built.
Over the past month and a half, Medivh hadn't focused solely on refining Minotaur remains.
Seeing that Kurd City District's development was progressing slowly, he had spent the past month and a half excavating the ruins of several Residential Districts and resurrecting a large number of Common Skeletons.
Kurd City District had gained 423 Grey Bone Skeletons, 326 White Bone Skeletons, and 154 Green Bone Skeletons.
Of those 154 Green Bone Skeletons, 36 were high-year Green Bone Heavy Warriors.
During this period, the Big-Horned Ox herd had provided blood twice, helping three Minotaur Skeleton Shamans and one Bone Spirit Ranger advance to first-tier low level.
In addition, a high-year Green Bone Warrior had naturally awakened Bone Spirit Power.
Kurd City District now had eighty-two Transcendental Skeletons: two at first-tier middle level and eighty at first-tier low level.
Medivh was on the verge of advancing to first-tier advanced-knight rank, while Audrey had already advanced to first-tier middle-knight rank.
Magical beast meat was an excellent resource for knight training, and their Battle Qi was growing rapidly.
Kurd City District's transcendent forces were formidable. Even several White Crows would meet their end in Kurd City District.
At the ordinary level, there were 1,197 Grey Bone Skeletons, 947 White Bone Skeletons, and 592 Green Bone Skeletons.
The accelerated construction of Kurd Nine-Grid was the result of the large increase in ordinary skeletons.
Medivh didn't waste time celebrating. Not long after the battle ended, he returned to the High Tower to refine Minotaur remains.
White Crow had called him out by name just now. He clearly wasn't part of some band of thugs who had wandered in by chance; he had come for Medivh.
Better to overestimate the enemy than underestimate them. Medivh didn't think this was the end. There should be others behind White Crow.
Unless something unexpected happened, even stronger enemies would be coming.
To make sure the enemy slept soundly in the Underground Palace, Medivh worked overtime to craft Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Shamans.
Three hundred years ago, the Odyssey War broke out. Over the next twenty or thirty years, the Gewalt Federation gradually withdrew from the Odyssey, while the Alien Tribes that had joined the war also suffered heavy losses.
At this turning point, the Odyssey went from prosperity to decline. The tribes lost large numbers of their people and Transcendents, and their traditions were lost.
The Minotaur Ancestral Graveyard held the greatest number of remains dating back 250 to 300 years, silently recording this history.
Transcendental remains and ordinary remains differed considerably. Medivh selected the remains of Transcendental Minotaurs, refined them into Green Bone components, and assembled them into Minotaur Skeletons.
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Working day and night, Medivh resurrected twelve Minotaur Skeleton Warriors and two Minotaur Skeleton Shamans.
Resurrecting high-year Green Bone Transcendental Skeletons was much easier for Medivh now. It was a sign that his mental strength had improved.
For him, every time he resurrected a skeleton, it was a tempering of his mental strength.
The greater the historical legacy carried by a resurrected skeleton, the more effective the tempering of his mental strength.
Skeletons couldn't fully recreate history. Each Time Skeleton carried only some of the knowledge it had possessed in life.
These Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Shamans carried different kinds of knowledge, further enriching the Minotaur tradition of Totems.
The Shaman's Totem collection gained two new Totems: the Holy Shield Totem and the Flame Totem.
The white Holy Shield Totem could bestow a Holy Light Shield on an allied target.
The deep-red Flame Totem could unleash a Flame Ray at enemies and imbue allied skeletons with flames.
Skeletons imbued with flames dealt Fire Element damage with their weapons.
Medivh had tested the Flame Totem. Its effect worked on ordinary skeletons, but it burned away their Origin Bone Artifacts.
Only Transcendental Skeletons with Bone Spirit Power could gain the flame enhancement without harm.
The Shaman's Totems greatly enhanced the skeletons, and Medivh was eager to see how these two new Totems would perform in battle.
"Has White Crow still not sent back any news?"
While Medivh was busy resurrecting Minotaur Skeletons, the Blood Crow Captain in Pioneer Territory grew increasingly agitated as he waited for good news.
White Crow had been out searching the Wilderness for quite some time. There had to be a problem if he still hadn't returned.
The Blood Crow Captain trusted his good brother, who had founded the Mercenary Group alongside him. He didn't believe White Crow would betray him.
If White Crow had been gone this long, he had most likely run into trouble.
The herds of beasts frightened off by the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm had now begun migrating back to the Odyssey, and the famine was all but over.
The Blood Crow Captain couldn't figure out what could have happened to White Crow, unless he had encountered an Alien Tribe driven mad by hunger.
"Could someone be targeting the Blood Crow Mercenary Group?"
The Blood Crow Captain thought of one possibility.
Back then, they had risen to power by gradually devouring a Mercenary Group in another Pioneer Territory and taking its place.
He feared someone might be imitating their rise, starting by cutting off his right-hand men.
The Blood Crow Captain cautiously sent out scouts to look for White Crow while also gathering information.
As it turned out, the Blood Crow Mercenary Group really did hear rumors that an outside band of thugs was making moves and wanted to settle in Pioneer Territory.
This made the Blood Crow Captain even more cautious. He feared he might be their target.
"Blood Crow Captain, have you still not completed the employer's task?"
As the Blood Crow Captain fretted, the intermediary came over to ask about the task's progress.
The employer had been waiting a long time for good news.
Before you continue