Attacking the Village (Seeking Collection and Recommendation)

Bai Qi obeyed the order, his body suddenly swaying as he circled to the left of the Skeleton Shieldmen. With a full-force One-Breath Slash, a massive amount of sword light erupted from his blade, trailing nearly three meters long with every swing.

"Boom!"

With a single strike, Bai Qi sent three Skeleton Shieldmen and the several Skeleton Infantrymen behind them flying, completely shattering the shield wall's defense.

Zhao Fu also hurriedly shouted, "Quick! Separate them!"

The shieldmen and infantry immediately obeyed, splitting into two groups and charging forward to isolate the fallen skeletons from those still standing.

With the skeletons' defense broken, they immediately fell into disarray. Zhao Fu's soldiers launched their own attacks, and since both sides were now locked in melee, Zhao Fu could no longer use Fireball and was forced to use Stone-Shattering Arrow once again.

He fired an arrow, catching a Skeleton Shieldman off guard, and the projectile sank straight into its skull.

Crack!

The blue soul fire within the Skeleton Shieldman's skull dissipated instantly, and its entire body fell apart, its bones and shield clattering to the ground.

Hitting the head was actually quite difficult because it was easy to dodge; Zhao Fu had only succeeded this time because the shieldman had been distracted.

But he didn't have time to celebrate.

"Ah!"

A scream rang out. A Skeleton Archer, pushed to the brink and having taken several hits, managed to loose an arrow that struck one of Zhao Fu's infantrymen in the shoulder.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Fu cursed under his breath and shouted, "Archers, give me suppression! Bai Qi, be careful."

Bai Qi nodded in understanding, and taking advantage of the archers' suppression, he lunged toward the Skeleton Archer with his sword.

Zhao Fu ordered the injured infantryman to retreat from the fray while he himself used his bow to attack. Fortunately, having used the Soul of Martial Refinement previously, his skills had reached above proficiency, allowing him to master archery.

Although each arrow he fired didn't have the one-hit-kill effect of his previous attempt, they were enough to disrupt the skeleton soldiers' attacks and create openings for his own men.

Seeing the battle turning against them, the skeleton soldiers suddenly went berserk. In the end, Zhao Fu paid the price of three more men injured to wipe out the entire group of skeletons. Bai Qi also finished his side successfully, even dropping a Soldier Soul from an archer.

From these 13 skeletons, 9 Souls of Martial Refinement, 13 blue-quality weapons, and 3 white-quality items were dropped.

If everything were tallied up, this haul included 1 silver-grade piece of equipment, 55 blue-quality pieces, 10 white-quality pieces, 38 Souls of Martial Refinement, and 2 Soldier Souls, totaling a value of 405 gold coins—or 4.05 million copper coins.

Zhao Fu didn't know the price of a Soldier Soul, having never seen one on the forums; such items were definitely rare, so he couldn't estimate its value and left it out of the total.

Such a harvest brought Zhao Fu some pleasant surprise, but as he turned to look at the four injured men, he sighed inwardly. They could only go this far today; he had to return and readjust his strategy, as continuing like this would only lead to needless casualties.

Zhao Fu walked over to the most severely injured man—the infantryman who had been shot in the shoulder—and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

The infantryman shook his head quickly, indicating he was fine.

Seeing this, Zhao Fu said, "I'll pull the arrow out for you now."

Hearing this, the infantryman said in a panic, "Your Highness! I should wait for Doctor Zhang; how could I trouble Your Highness?"

"Enough, say no more."

Zhao Fu gave a bitter smile. Looking at these soldiers who respected and loved him so much, he felt a pang of guilt for their injuries.

Tearing open the fabric on the man's shoulder, Zhao Fu snapped the arrow shaft and pulled it out in one motion. As blood gushed from the wound, Zhao Fu hurriedly used Blood Healing. This was his first time using it, and he wasn't sure how effective it would be.

He placed his palm near the wound, and a red light emitted from his hand. The bleeding stopped instantly, and the wound could be seen healing rapidly with the naked eye.

Although Blood Healing didn't close the wound entirely, it healed more than half of it.

The infantryman's eyes welled up with tears of gratitude. He hadn't expected that his noble Highness, the future Lord of Great Qin, would personally treat his wounds. Seeing this, the surrounding men seemed even more loyal to Zhao Fu.

Afterward, Zhao Fu led his men back to the surface. He had the injured sent for medical treatment and sent all the acquired weapons to the blacksmith, Wang Dawu, for repairs.

Zhao Fu and Bai Qi stayed in the room to summarize the day's combat experience, discussing their shortcomings and deficiencies, as well as the enemy's weaknesses, to reformulate their tactics.

Just then, someone reported that another Bandit Village had been discovered ten miles south of Great Qin Village.

Hearing this news, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi had to cut their conversation short and begin assembling their troops.

"Your Highness! I want to go too!"

Liu Mei, hearing there was a battle to be fought, felt a surge of excitement. Clearly not one to sit still, she ran over to Zhao Fu and spoke up.

Zhao Fu glanced at her and asked, "Can you follow my orders completely?"

Liu Mei nodded quickly, indicating she would certainly obey Zhao Fu's commands.

Seeing this, Zhao Fu warned, "If you don't follow my orders on the battlefield and cause any trouble, I will kill you!"

Hearing this, Liu Mei—having spent a few days getting to know Zhao Fu—knew what kind of person he was; he was a man of his word. Still, she felt a bit of resentment. She was a great beauty, after all; why did this guy threaten to kill her all the time?

Forget it, I won't bicker with him. I've been bored to death in Great Qin Village for days. I must go on this raid against the bandit village.

Thinking this to herself, Liu Mei nodded again, signaling that she had taken his words to heart.

Zhao Fu said nothing more. With Liu Mei's skills, she would be a great asset for killing enemies on the battlefield.

The group prepared to depart, and after an hour of travel, they arrived at the bandit village.

This bandit village was located beside a small creek. It wasn't large, and its defenses were weak. With about 150 people, it surprised Zhao Fu to see that over thirty of them were wearing iron armor. Since they had so much iron armor, it meant they must have an iron armor blueprint, which brought a flicker of joy to Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu now had over 300 troops: 200 who had undergone Class Transfer, and the remaining 100 consisting of 60 Goblins and 40 Goblin Crossbowmen.

300 against 150—if they charged now, they would certainly win, but the casualties would be high, and that was clearly not Zhao Fu's style of warfare.

Thus, he had to carefully search for the village's weaknesses. Perhaps he could use the same method he used on Dire Wolf Village; it was a bit despicable, but it was incredibly effective.

However, as Zhao Fu observed, there wasn't a single acre of farmland in the bandit village. That made sense—what bandit would farm? Their food source must come from raiding other villages or hunting wild beasts, and this village seemed to be the latter. The situation immediately became less complicated.