The Battle for the Gem Mine

Units Lost: Skeleton Archers 17,981, Zombies 12,472, Ghosts 37, Vampires 45

Enemies Eliminated: Mu Continent Civilians 4,321, Mu Continent Constables 2,143, private soldiers 1,238, Yang Family Private Soldiers 47, Mu Continent Soldiers 2,721, Mu Continent War Chariots 72, Attack Helicopters 9

With that influx of experience, Moros successfully rose five levels.

Moros

Level: 18

Race: Human

Template: Normal

Class: Necromancer

Racial Talent: Learning (Experience Gain Efficiency +5%)

Hero Specialty: Graveyard Lord (When commanding Graveyard faction units, Attack and Defense +1 every five levels)

Attack: 0+3

Defense: 2+3

Mana: 13+8

Knowledge: 4

Skills: Necromancy (Expert), Enlightenment (Expert), Dark Magic (Advanced), Summoning Magic (Advanced), Destruction Magic (Advanced), Sorcery (Basic)

Feeling the tremendous growth in his strength,

Moros's low spirits improved considerably.

This victory greatly boosted Moros's confidence, but when he recalled the formidable display of the Mu Continent regular army that he had witnessed through his link with the Undead blocking them, he immediately calmed down.

The Mu Continent regular army's incomparable coordination and integrated air-ground advance all demonstrated their efficiency and professionalism.

This made Moros clearly realize that with only the Undead Troops currently under his command, he did not stand much chance against such a regular army.

The battle report showed that the Undead Legion had paid a devastating price of nearly five-to-one to secure this victory.

Such a casualty ratio was painful to see, especially considering Moros's earlier surprise attack on the city. If it had merely been an encounter in the wilderness, the casualty ratio would likely have been even more lopsided.

Therefore, even though his hatred for the councilors surged through his heart like raging waves, Moros still chose to endure and lie low for the time being.

He knew that his current strength was still insufficient to confront an enemy as powerful as the Mu Continent head-on.

There was nothing surprising about that.

Although the councilors' private soldier forces were well-equipped and well-trained, on a large-scale frontal battlefield, even the most elite private soldiers could hardly withstand the impact of a regular army.

In terms of individual combat strength alone, the private soldiers far surpassed regular army soldiers.

But on a frontal battlefield, the regular army would never give private soldiers the opportunity to display their individual qualities.

Faced with a downpour of steel and fire, almost no individual on this planet could endure it apart from Flame-Chaser Warriors.

One had to know that Moth to Fire had only truly begun the Flame-Chaser Project after the Seventh Herrscher, the Herrscher of Flames, burned Australia to ashes.

In other words, Pre-Collapse Civilization had dealt with the first six Herrschers through the army's heavy firepower.

Of course, the Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of Void, and the Fifth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Ice, were special cases. They had been dealt with by Origin's Herrscher Elysia and the alien Kalpas respectively, rather than being killed by the army's heavy firepower.

Even so, Pre-Collapse Civilization had still successfully eliminated four Herrschers through its regular army, displaying its formidable military might.

Compared to the current civilization, the Herrschers of Pre-Collapse Civilization were undoubtedly more powerful and threatening.

Take the Herrscher of Thunder born from the Third Great Collapse, which truly brought Honkai into the public eye, for example.

The Great Collapse caused by this Herrscher affected an area spanning Tianqiong City, Canghai City, and Changkong City.

Tianqiong City and Canghai City were cities of Shenzhou, while Changkong City was a city of the Far East.

These three cities were located across Shenzhou and the Far East, meaning the Herrscher of Thunder's area of influence had encompassed nearly half of East Asia.

That scale and influence were enough to prove just how powerful and terrifying the Herrschers of Pre-Collapse Civilization had been.

Even against Divine Apostles possessing such terrifying power, the armies of Pre-Collapse Civilization had been able to fight and win. One could imagine just how formidable its regular army had been.

Before such a powerful army, an Undead Legion lacking mid- and high-tier Undead naturally found it difficult to hold out.

Yes, in the previous battle, Moros had not deployed either Corpse Witches or Vampires, those two types of Mid-tier Undead, on the battlefield against the Mu Continent regular army.

By the time the Mu Continent regular army entered the field, Moros had already achieved the vast majority of his strategic objectives.

If it was only to buy time, he naturally did not want to use those "precious" Mid-tier Undead as expendable assets.

With the flames of vengeance burning in his heart, Moros silently swore an oath.

Just wait. Once I step into the legendary realm, I will make you pay!

He understood that his own strength still needed improvement, and his Undead Legion also needed to grow further.

Thus, he quickly gathered the remaining Undead Legion and left Graveyard City.

This was the advantage of the Graveyard faction.

Undead soldiers, unrestricted by morale or stamina, could remain battle-ready at any time. They did not need a period of rest after a major battle like armies composed of ordinary living beings.

Moros planned to first improve his abilities in every aspect through a series of wilderness hero enhancement structures.

Once his personal strength reached its peak, he would begin slaughtering wild monster forces on a massive scale.

With Expert Necromancy, Moros firmly believed that when he returned to Graveyard City, he would possess an even larger Undead Legion.

Necromancy (Expert): Converts 40% of fallen enemies into Undead.

With such a snowballing god-tier skill, Moros's confidence was easy to understand.

Mercenary Camp, Defense Tower, Observatory...

Crystal of Revelation, Arena, Dolmen of Knowledge...

As the iron hooves of the Undead army marched onward, one wilderness hero enhancement structure after another fell under Moros's control.

Although these structures could only take effect once on the same hero, once their numbers increased, the attribute boosts they brought Moros became extremely considerable.

Take the Crystal of Revelation, for example.

Each Crystal of Revelation could only increase a visiting hero's Knowledge by one point.

However, there were as many as fifteen Crystals of Revelation in this Demiplane under Moros's control.

That meant Moros's Knowledge attribute increased by fifteen points directly through visiting those crystals.

This was merely one example. The other wilderness structures also brought Moros varying degrees of improvement.

The Attack boost from Mercenary Camps, the Defense boost provided by Defense Towers, the Mana boost granted by Observatories...

After Moros had visited every wilderness hero enhancement structure, his four primary attributes had gained more than a hundred points in total.

At this moment, Moros's Hero Panel had also undergone a tremendous leap.

Moros

Level: 18

Attack: 15+3

Defense: 57+3

Mana: 28+8

Knowledge: 19

The Battle for the Gem Mine

It was time!

Closing the Hero Panel, Moros led an Undead Troops force composed entirely of Corpse Witches, Vampires, and Ghosts toward the nearest wilderness structure.

According to the report from the Ghosts he had previously sent to scout, many blue gemstones lay scattered around that structure.

Gem Mine!

The value of this advanced resource structure, which could provide its occupier with one unit of gems per day, was beyond question.

Moros had not had the time to venture this deeply into the area before, so he had not set his sights on it.

But now, things were different.

The deaths of Frakt and Emma filled Moros with grief, but in a sense, their departure had also freed him from the bonds of family.

Without familial ties holding him back, the Necromancer could now remain in the Demiplane for longer periods.

Although Moros could theoretically have done this before, he had not been willing to deceive his parents and had therefore never done so.

Undead required no logistics and had no stamina limits.

Only half an hour later, the towering wilderness resource structure—the Gem Mine—and the wild monster force guarding it came into Moros's view.

Since Moros had not cast a spell to conceal the existence of his army of death, when he saw the wild monster force guarding the Gem Mine, the wild monster force also saw him and his Undead army.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

Amid the rising and falling barks, crimson three-headed hounds charged toward the Undead army with violent momentum.

Cerberus!

This upgraded Tier 3 unit of the Inferno faction was incredibly fast. In just over twenty breaths, nearly ten thousand Cerberuses charged into the effective range of the Corpse Witches.

That was a staggering feat.

Effective range meant a range that did not suffer the half-arrow penalty, and the half-arrow penalty was only removed once the target was within half the maximum range.

In other words, these Cerberuses had crossed half of the Corpse Witches' maximum range in less than half a minute.

"Vampires, Ghosts, advance!"

Facing the rapidly approaching Cerberus horde, Moros calmly issued his command.

After facing the Mu Continent regular army's integrated air-ground assault, an attack of this scale was not enough to make Moros panic.

"Corpse Witches! Volley!"

At Moros's command, 450 Corpse Witches raised their ornately decorated staffs one after another, powerful magical energy gathering at their tips.

"Bzzzt—"

A chilling sound echoed through the air as yellow-green clouds enveloped the Cerberuses charging at the front.

Death Cloud!

"Wooo—"

Swept up in the endlessly roiling Death Clouds, the Cerberuses wailed and collapsed to the ground.

Although Cerberuses possessed extremely high speed, they also had an obvious weakness—low defense.

And while Moros's Corpse Witches were not numerous, with the bonus from Moros's eighteen points of Attack, their offensive power remained extremely threatening.

However, the Cerberuses' overwhelming numerical advantage was real.

After paying the heavy price of more than two thousand Cerberuses, the remaining three-headed hounds finally broke through the yellow-green clouds.

At this moment, the only thing standing between them and the Corpse Witches was a mixed melee Undead force composed of Vampires and Ghosts.

With nearly 8,000 Cerberuses still remaining, although their individual strength was inferior to the Vampires and Ghosts empowered by a hero, they could still trade away this mixed melee Undead force of only a little over one thousand units.

This was clearly not something Moros was willing to accept.

So...

"Law of Delay!"

Accompanied by intense magical fluctuations, a powerful surge of Dark Magic energy descended upon the Cerberuses.

In an instant, the Cerberuses' charge visibly slowed.

Not only that, but because of the sudden change in speed, a large number of Cerberuses lost control. They tumbled to the ground one after another, unable to continue their charge.

Seizing this favorable opportunity, Moros swiftly ordered the Corpse Witches to fire a second volley.

This time, nearly 3,000 Cerberuses whimpered to death beneath the cover of Death Cloud.