317.Chapter 315 314 A Call from the Marsh

Chapter 315: 314. The Call from the Swamp

The attack on the student party on their “return trip” was sudden.

Someone had set up a camouflage spirit energy boundary here, making the outside look like a normal jungle scene, but this could not be hidden from the veteran players who had participated in the battle here.

Che Che was the first to realize that the terrain was not right, and then everyone spread out to look for clues and rightfully broke into the camouflage boundary.

As a result, they came face to face with a rather elite skeleton army.

Unlike those weak skeletons wandering in the smuggler’s woodland that only had decayed bones and held bone spears and wooden shields, these skeleton soldiers in front of us all wore armor and were in a neat formation, and although the weapons they used were also decayed, the poisonous aura on them was accompanied by a rather abominable death taint, and if they were poked, they would be infected with plague poison.

Although these things also belonged to the undead, they were very different from ghouls.

Ghoul’s body will be attacked to force them to defend and retreat, but the skeleton soldiers don’t have the flesh and blood that gets in the way, even if they are smashed the body can still rely on the limbs to continue to attack, even if there is only a head left, they can use their teeth to bite the living thing in front of them.

Their only drawback is that without the traction of the flesh and tendons, the skeletons are not very fast, and the single combat power is not as fierce as the ghouls.

But right now this elite skeleton army made up for this weakness with a neat formation match.

The front row of skeleton shields to cover the back of the bowmen, the flanks of the skeleton cavalry back and forth through, there are a few skeleton mages in the center of the command from time to time smashed out a wide range of slow magic and stink cloud magic and fog of war to interfere with the players’ field of vision and action.

These guys will even throw bone spear javelins to carry out covering strikes.

They didn’t look like mindless monsters at all, instead they looked like a well-trained army, and within a few minutes of engaging in battle, they had completed their encirclement of the student party.

The damned Skeleton Mages also summoned large swaths of scattered and fluttering Suicide Crows to block off the airspace, causing the Vampire players to encounter a siege and have to land again once they ascended into the air.

“Has this stabbed the Undead Plague’s nest? What the hell is all this! Could this place, Transylvania, be any more evil? First the ghouls, then the skeleton soldiers! What’s next?
Witch demons or death knights?”

The Khakitonitai, surrounded in the forest, screamed and cursed as he got up, shielding his body with his shield and attempting to return fire with his musket, but as soon as he showed his head he was hit by several bone arrows saved to hit his shield, clanging and causing him to retract his head again.

He cursed.

Several of his companions beside him also looked helpless.

They really didn’t have a purpose for this “revisit”, they purely wanted to come and see the place where they had fought before, but who knew that they would encounter this level of ambush here?
“There are at least two hundred skeleton soldiers! And they’re all elites.”

Bull leaned on his Jackal Dude Bone Shield looking at the Decayed Iron Spear he had just snatched in his hand as he surveyed the Pathfinder Legion’s military emblem on it and whispered:
“Confirmed, these Skeleton Army should be the Goldfinch veterans who died at the hands of Missy that night, what a hell, have they just been guarding this place without moving?”

“The time is not right!”

The dirtbike next to him said with a frown as he loaded his shotgun:
“It’s only been more than a month since our battle in the Smuggler’s Woodland at that time, this forest isn’t a closed environment, the temperature and humidity are fine, how could the corpses of these soldiers decompose so quickly?
Look at them, they are all white bones, not even a piece of flesh can be seen on their bodies, and even their armor and weapons are weakly enchanted, this is obviously ‘treated’ by other people, right? If they were naturally awakened dead spirits, they should have turned into ghouls more than anything else!

It’s like what happened in the city sewers, that’s normal!”

“This proves that the Bloodclaw Clan and Hogg the Jackal were a guiding plot planted by the development team to lead us to return to the Smuggler’s Woodlands to discover the changes here, thus leading to the events that followed.”

The “Vampire Ranger” Badger, who was carrying twin swords, limped over and said with glowing eyes:

“I just ventured up into the air for a reconnaissance, and although I was nearly fucked off the ground by a ferocious flock of crows, I still saw a small camp where the skeleton soldiers were guarding up, and there was a fire over there, before I crashed!

That means there must be someone over there! Maybe it’s the person behind this random event… fuck, let’s make such a mess… we have to catch that bastard and kill him!
And maybe this time we’ve encountered a very powerful random event by mistake.”

“Swish.”

Right in the middle of their discussion, a fierce wind blew through the forest, and the huge Star Realm Scorpion Lion descended from the sky flapping its wings to suspend the wind to blow away the poisonous mist around it.

It used a ferocious pounce to bring a skeleton cavalryman who couldn’t evacuate in time to the sky with its eagle claw-like talons clasped and brought down again with a vicious fall in the posture of a golden eagle dropping a sheep, and the skeleton horse that had lost its master then collapsed in place with a wail.

With the help of the scorpion lion, the trapped student party immediately launched a wave of counter-charge to kill back the skeleton soldiers gathered around them again, and then they saw the Starworld Scorpion Lion, which was carrying Little Brother Fu and the living whole well, flapping its wings and landing at the back of the student party’s solidly defended position.

Touching your poor jumped down with his shotgun, and like a swift soldier, he pulled his best friend over to join him.

“Everyone’s out there to meet up.”

Fu said to the besieged unlucky few:

“Can you guys still walk? Hurry up and follow me to rush out, there are too many skeleton soldiers over here, there are other skeleton armies in the forest rushing over to support us, we are outnumbered have to turn in.”

“To break out we rushed out long ago, I’ll tell you, I found something inside.”

Badger again gave Xiao Fu brother the situation he had just scouted, after hearing that the skeleton soldiers were escorting a camp, Xiao Fu brother instantly raised his eyebrows.

Just then, the living whole quite well next to him suddenly spoke up:

“Over there must be the control center of this skeleton army! Skeleton soldiers, the lowest level of necromantic creatures, do not have the ability to think, they must be commanded by someone in order to form such a ferocious and shrewd coordination as they are now, there must be something in that camp!
Taking it down might be able to crush the skeleton army flooding the smuggler’s woodlands.”

“Huh? There’s that?”

Che Che, who was a psychic, stared wide-eyed as he looked up and down at the living whole quite well and asked:
“Brother where did you know this from?”

“There is an introduction about Necromantic creatures in Lady Trish’s Midnight Book, it’s a pity that I chose Trickster for my transfer at that time and didn’t choose the Necromantic lineage of coffin carriers.”

Live Whole Quite Well said with a rather regretful sigh:
“Otherwise, this field full of elite skeletons is a good raw material for necromantic servants, but I am just making a suggestion, right now this situation is definitely dangerous to charge against this elite skeleton soldiers, but if we quit now and want to find another opportunity like this, it won’t be that easy.

Those guys hiding behind the curtain will definitely move since they’ve been discovered.”

“Then what else is there to say? Charge, the big deal is that the internet will be cut off for three days. Brothers, whoever rushes out remember to pack the equipment of the guys who died and take it with them.”

Niu Niu carried his shield and got up.

He wasn’t afraid of these skeletons at all, his Duke’s Shackle and Bone Shield set had a [Bloodlust] and a [Life Extraction] savage ritual and attack effect, enough to allow him to transform into a berserk warrior and charge out in a desperate situation.

If it wasn’t for this group of comedians behind him dragging his feet, Bull would have killed his way out alone.

This will get support then move the blood wings spread behind him again looked at the gloomy sky in the forest, he said:

“Since we encountered this random event, not to get the key mission props will not be the other people laugh? Brother Xiao Fu trouble you to run again, let the brothers outside charge inward to add some pressure to the skeleton army commanders, we vampires who can fly will go around from the back.

This wave will do a proper job for those nonsense goods.”

“Okay.”

Little Brother Fu didn’t care about making an extra trip, anyway, he was riding a scorpion lion flying at high altitude, not to mention the bone arrows of the skeleton soldiers, even the spiritual energy spells were hard to hit it.

“Old Huo, hurry up and follow me.”

Touch Your Poor mounted the Scorpion Lion and shouted to his good friend:
“Your level is too low, staying here is useless and will only drag the brothers down.”

“Bullshit! I’m a Trickster, okay? I may not be as strong in a head-on battle, but I have a lot of skills to save my life, so don’t worry about me.” Living the whole thing quite well, he waved his hand without looking back, signaling Brother Xiao Fu not to worry about it.

Afterwards, he waved his staff and threw a darkness spell on himself, he was not skillful in reciting the incantation and made several mistakes, but the effect of the spell was very good, so that he quickly became one with the surrounding shadows, and it was hard for him to be observed and sensed again.

The student party also waited patiently and held their ground at the defense line.

Rather darkly humorous was the fact that the line they were holding was the very same foxholes and positions that had been dug by Stick’s command during the ambush on the transport team earlier, and they never thought that this place would actually come in handy once again.

“We’re coming! You guys prepare to charge!”

After the difficult ten minutes had passed, Xiao Fu Bro’s prompt rang out in the private chat channel, and the student party who had long been prepared called out for Bleeding Wings in unison, and then they heard a burst of noisy shouts ringing out from the side, accompanied by the gusts of wind brought up by the psychic energy impacts blowing away the fog of war, and the supporters who had gathered over wailed and killed.

At the head of the group were the three sisters and the NPCs of the Blood Rat Gang, followed by the small group of players who were new to the game.

These guys wearing whiteboard equipment brandishing the squire’s weapon, the first time to play the group they are all very excited, unorganized just bury their heads and charge, sharp-eyed goo goo chicken also saw a group of jackal barbarians mixed in the crowd.

Chaotic and unorganized, but the location chosen is quite exquisite, right at the back of the skeleton army, a brain rushed into the position of those archers and skeleton mages so that their blockade of the airspace was interrupted.

Bull, who had the equipment advantage, was the first to fly out against the pecking of the suicidal crows, followed by the other student party vampires.

After they flew off, a few of the older administrative brothers in the same position were ready to break out, and Full Risk Semi-Hanging shoved a shotgun into his son’s hand beside him and barked a few words of advice to Vomit Mud Sauce before jumping out of the trench after the four veterans who were escorting him, with Mud Truck and Shovel right on his heels.

Although they were administrators, they were also serious followers of Lord Murphy who had participated in every major hard-fought battle since the establishment of the Scarlet Fortress until now, and they were not lacking in combat experience.

Moreover, the guards of these three guys added up to 12 people, and the water of veteran gauntlets made these NPCs battle-hardened as well.

Carrying a shotgun vomit mud sauce legs are trembling, the brain also has no idea, just follow the brave old man a hard charge, see the skeletons pounced on the hands and feet to shoot and then change the bullet.

Until their team and the receiving players converged, vomit mud sauce only found that he was hit by an arrow in the butt. He hurriedly pulled the thing off when no one was looking and threw it aside, pretending that he was unharmed, lest it become his black history after being discovered.

Although he had only been in the game for a day, he had heard a lot of “bad news” from other people on the forums when he was a “Deep Sea Mud Beast”.

“Dude, why are your pants red?”

Border City Wanderer was carrying a bone knife that he had snatched from a skeleton soldier, and when he saw that Vomit Mud Sauce’s pants were a mass of red, he immediately screamed:

“Your ass is hurt?”

“Nah! It’s enemy blood, staining my battle armor red!”

Vomit Mud Jam immediately returned.

Then he saw the subtle glances from Border City Wanderer and the next to him, Mr. Ziwei Da.

Please!

You should make up a decent reason, we are now fighting against Skeleton Soldiers! Where does this thing get its blood?
“Fall back! Retreat!”

Brother Xiao Fu’s shout rang out overhead as he yelled:

“Our mission is accomplished, people received, the enemy is numerous, don’t continue to die with them! Retreat!”

On the other side, the student party who had raided the camp from the rear around also struggled to kill their way out to reach the camp that was previously located by Badger.

But to their disappointment, the camp, which was built on a forested plateau, was already empty.

The camp was in chaos.

There were still ashes flying from the flames burning the letters, and it was obvious that the person in charge here had left in a hurry, and hadn’t had time to take a lot of things with him.

Cart and Electrosnail rushed up and lifted the crates in the camp, then grabbed a few bags of coins out of them with raised eyebrows, while Live Whole Pretty Good, who had followed them all the way from the shadows, also found a handbook of necromancy spells from the epigraphs that hadn’t been burned all the way through, and a couple of weapons with good phrases in the campsite’s travel bag.

But that’s about it.

Niu Niu and Pigeon Treasure’s expressions were ugly, they thought that this random event they triggered was considered a complete failure, this feeling of pouncing was really hard to bear, it was like a punch in the cotton.

“The skeleton army is still circling around, that means the controller hasn’t gone far!”

Living whole quite well from this high place overlooking the shadowed battlefield in the forest, he turned back to the student party and reminded them:
“If we chase after them now we might still be able to catch up, can’t you vampires track life? Quickly sense it, maybe we can still catch that guy’s tail.”

“It’s not working, I just tried.”

Meowshark said, shaking his head:

“There’s no aura of life worth tracking here, the main perpetrator shouldn’t be alive.”

“Let’s go, withdraw.”

Pigeon Treasure stomped his foot very unconvincingly and said:

“Retreat back first and then slowly analyze it, take away everything we can here and see if we can piece together some clues, letting it run away this time was just an accident! We, the Beast Troupe, will stand guard here after this, while brushing the Bloodclaw Jackal’s reputation, we will continue to look for it, I don’t believe that we can’t catch this guy who is pretending to be a god!”
—
“Whew that’s tough! These damned vampires are very different from the legendary blood vultures, how dare they rush over against a tenfold difference in numbers? Is this really the kind of courage that those bloodsucking rats roaming under midnight can possess?
Ugh!
Do vampires deserve to be linked to the word ‘courage’ except for the Blood League?”

At the edge of the smuggler’s woodland, a mysterious fellow whose entire body was covered in a black hood cursed in a low voice as it rode a lavishly decorated skeleton horse through the forest in the direction of the Filthy Swamp.

The fellow fished out a strangely shaped white bone knuckle staff from his arms and muttered to himself:
“If I snatch the Command Sectional Staff away from them, my lord can probably skin me, ah, it’s back to the damned swamp again, I hate the smell of decay where I don’t see the light of day.”

“Good point! I hate swamps too, the rotten mud there always finds a way to dirty my favorite boots, I never want to set foot in one in my life if I can help it, but unfortunately, fate doesn’t act on our whims.”

A voice rang out from behind, speaking as if in agreement, and then asked rhetorically with interest:

“But Your Excellency is already a dead man, will you also have such sensual troubles?”

“!!!”

The guy on the skeleton horse was creeped out.

But before it could make its next move, scarlet threads of psychic energy gathered from all directions like a tightly bound fishing net dragging its entire body from the skeleton horse into the air, and then pulled apart under the unshakable maneuvering of its limbs as if suspended on a cross.

The staff of command at its waist fell to the ground and was grabbed by Murphy, who jumped out of his cloak of silent concealment.

This thing into the hand is bone-chilling cold, the oozing coldness even straight into the soul.

Murphy hovered in the air a few inches from the ground.

He raised his head and looked at the guy in front of him who was caught by him and Tris, the vampire lord casually handed the command staff to Tris who was strolling out of the shadows beside him, and then asked this “necromancer” in front of him who was very rare in Transylvania:
“So, you are from the Tainted Swamp? And from what you just said, there are many of your companions in this swamp? Can you tell me what you are planning to do on my land? And, what exactly is your relationship with ‘Source’?”

(End of chapter)