Bai Qi acknowledged the order. His body suddenly swayed as he circled around to the left of the Skeleton Shield-Bearers. Then he unleashed One-Breath Slash with all his strength. Sword light burst from his blade, and with a single swing, he sent a nearly three-meter-long arc of light sweeping across the battlefield.
"Boom!"
With one strike, Bai Qi sent three Skeleton Shield-Bearers and several Skeleton Infantry behind them flying, completely breaking through the shield-bearers' defense.
Zhao Fu hurriedly shouted, "Quick! Split them up!"
The Shield Bearers and Infantry immediately followed his orders, dividing into two groups and rushing forward to separate the fallen skeletons from those still standing.
With their defenses broken, the skeletons were thrown into disarray. Zhao Fu's soldiers launched their own attacks, and soon the two sides were locked in combat. Zhao Fu couldn't use Fireball, so he used Stone-Shattering Arrow once more.
He loosed an arrow, and by chance, it struck a Skeleton Shield-Bearer who wasn't paying attention, piercing straight into his skull.
With a clatter!
The blue soul flame inside the Skeleton Shield-Bearer's skull vanished, and his whole body fell apart. His bones and shield clattered to the ground.
Hitting the head with an arrow was difficult because it was easy to dodge. Zhao Fu had only managed it this time because the Skeleton Shield-Bearer hadn't been paying attention.
But before he could celebrate—
"Ah!"
A scream rang out. One of the Skeleton Archers fought desperately, taking several arrows before firing one of his own. It struck a soldier on Zhao Fu's side in the shoulder.
"Damn it!"
Zhao Fu cursed under his breath, then called out, "Archers, suppress them! Bai Qi, be careful!"
Bai Qi nodded in understanding. While the archers kept the enemy suppressed, he raised his sword and charged at the Skeleton Archers.
Zhao Fu ordered the wounded Infantry to withdraw from the battle. He also began firing arrows himself. Fortunately, after using Soul of Martial Refinement last time, his skill had reached a level above basic proficiency, so he had learned how to shoot.
His arrows weren't as effective as the one that had killed an enemy with a single shot, but they could still interrupt the skeleton soldiers' attacks and create openings for his men.
Seeing the tide of battle turn against them, the Skeleton Infantry suddenly went berserk and attacked fiercely. In the end, Zhao Fu's side suffered three more injuries before wiping out all the skeletons. Bai Qi's group also finished their opponents without trouble, and a Soldier Soul dropped from one of the archers.
Of the thirteen skeletons this time, nine dropped Souls of Martial Refinement, along with thirteen blue-quality weapons and three white-quality ones.
Counting everything together, the haul came to one silver-quality piece of equipment, fifty-five blue-quality pieces, ten white-quality pieces, thirty-eight Souls of Martial Refinement, and two Soldier Souls, for a total value of 405 gold coins—or 4.05 million copper coins.
Zhao Fu had no idea how much Soldier Souls were worth. He had never seen them mentioned on the forums, and they were definitely rare, so he couldn't estimate their value. He left them out of the total.
The haul delighted Zhao Fu, but when he turned and saw the four wounded men, he sighed to himself. They would have to stop here for the day. He needed to go back and rethink their strategy; continuing like this would only lead to needless casualties.
Zhao Fu went over to the most seriously wounded soldier—the Infantryman who had been shot in the shoulder—and asked with concern, "Are you all right?"
The soldier quickly shook his head to show that he was fine.
Seeing this, Zhao Fu said, "I'll pull the arrow out for you now."
The soldier panicked. "Your Highness! I should go to Doctor Zhang later. How could I trouble you with this?"
"All right, that's enough."
Zhao Fu gave a wry smile. Seeing how much his soldiers respected and admired him made him feel guilty for letting them get hurt.
He tore open the cloth on the soldier's shoulder, cut the arrow shaft, and pulled it out. Blood immediately gushed from the wound, so Zhao Fu quickly used Blood Healing. This was his first time trying it, and he didn't know how well it would work.
Zhao Fu held his palm near the wound. A glow of blood-red light shone from his hand, and the soldier's bleeding stopped at once. The wound visibly began to close.
Blood Healing didn't close the wound completely, but it healed more than half of it.
The soldier's eyes filled with grateful tears. He never expected His Highness—the incomparably noble future ruler of Great Qin—to personally treat his wound. The people around them seemed to grow even more loyal to Zhao Fu.
Afterward, Zhao Fu led everyone back to the surface. He sent the wounded soldiers for treatment and delivered all the weapons they'd obtained to the blacksmith, Wang Dawu, for repairs.
Zhao Fu and Bai Qi reviewed the day's battle in a room, discussing what they had done poorly, where they had fallen short, and the enemy's weaknesses. Then they began devising a new battle plan.
Just then, someone came to report that another Bandit Village had been discovered ten miles south of Great Qin Village.
Hearing the news, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi had to cut their discussion short and began assembling their troops.
"Your Highness! I want to go too!"
Hearing there was a battle to be fought, Liu Mei grew excited. She was clearly no quiet, stay-at-home type, so she hurried over to Zhao Fu and spoke up.
Zhao Fu glanced at her and asked, "Can you follow my orders without question?"
Liu Mei quickly nodded, promising that she would obey him.
But Zhao Fu warned her, "If you disobey me on the battlefield and cause trouble, I'll kill you!"
After several days of getting to know him, Liu Mei knew what sort of person Zhao Fu was. He meant what he said. Still, she was a little annoyed. She was a great beauty, after all. Why did this guy keep threatening to kill her?
Forget it. I won't argue with him. I've been cooped up in Great Qin Village for days, and I'm so bored. I have to go on this attack against the bandits.
Thinking this, Liu Mei nodded again, showing that she understood and would remember his warning.
Zhao Fu said nothing more. With Liu Mei's skills, she would be a formidable fighter on the battlefield.
The group prepared to set out. After traveling for over an hour, they arrived at the Bandit Village.
The Bandit Village stood beside a stream. It was small, and its defenses were weak. There were around a hundred and fifty people, which surprised Zhao Fu a little. More than thirty of them wore iron armor. If they had so much iron armor, they must have a blueprint for making it. That pleased Zhao Fu a little.
Zhao Fu now had more than three hundred troops: two hundred who had undergone Class Transfer, and among the remaining hundred, sixty Goblins and forty Goblin Crossbowmen.
With three hundred against a little over a hundred and fifty, they were sure to win if they charged in now, but they would suffer too many casualties. That wasn't Zhao Fu's way of fighting.
So he had to carefully search for the village's weaknesses. Perhaps he could use the same method as last time against Dire Wolf Village. It was a little underhanded, but it had worked remarkably well.
But when Zhao Fu took a closer look, he saw that there wasn't a single field inside the Bandit Village. That made sense! What bandit would farm? They could only get food by raiding other villages or hunting wild animals. This village seemed to rely on the latter, which made things much simpler.