Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 70: Skull Palace
Three days have passed, and I still have nothing to show for it. Although I used the undead coordinate positioning method on the second and third days, and basically avoided going back to the old path and the starting cave many times, the end of the passage often connected to more passages, as if I would never reach the end, forcing me to go around in circles in this huge underground maze, making one circle after another, and searching tirelessly for a long time, I still didn't see even a shadow of the so-called "Twelve Secret Palaces of the Underground Maze City".
After gathering our strength and getting back to battle, there are only 32 hours left. If all our efforts are in vain and we can't find the secret palace, the five-day deadline will have passed and we will miss the opportunity we have fought so hard for. It would be too pathetic and we would have no place to use our strength.
I insisted on continuing to search using the undead coordinate positioning method, and even summoned Xiaobai to keep it invisible so that it would not be attacked. It would help me with the survey and increase efficiency a little. Although the progress was slow and it was quite laborious, it was relatively safe, at least more effective than blindly rushing around. With the experience accumulated in the first three days, I was extra careful in my actions, and it was not easy to be ambushed again. I really have to thank the bat demon Tika for giving me the "First Embrace". With the ability of "Blood Bat Transformation", it was much easier to move alone in this dangerous "underground maze". If I searched around in my original form, I would have to summon Taotao to travel, and the target would be obvious, and the chance of being attacked would be much higher.
Maybe it was because I reached the time limit and triggered the conditions for passing the level, or maybe it was because hard work paid off and the strategy I adopted was correct. After nearly ten hours of searching, I was lucky not to be killed. I set up dozens of undead coordinates and constantly corrected the direction of advance. Finally, after turning a corner, the view in front of me suddenly became clear. The complicated passage disappeared, and the entrance to a cave forty or fifty meters away was opening up at me. Above the entrance were three eye-catching black characters that flashed with pale green phosphorescence - "Skull Palace" - engraved.
The "Skeleton Palace" should be one of the "Twelve Secret Palaces in the Underground Maze". My tense nerves finally relaxed, and my heart was filled with great joy. Although I knew it was not the time yet, there must be more dangerous tests waiting for me in the "Skeleton Palace", and success or failure was still unpredictable. I might not be able to get the equipment hidden in it, but I finally got a chance. Success or failure depends on my own strength, so I don't have to go around in circles in the boring maze and waste all my time. I feel that I can only rely on unpredictable luck.
The destination was not far ahead. Although I was excited, I did not rush in recklessly. What if the insidious system set up some vicious ambush in the middle? It would be too cowardly to die here. It is better to be careful. First, I turned back to my original form and summoned a terrifying lion knight and a terrifying tiger knight. I explored the way ahead and carefully searched the entrance of the "Skull Palace". After confirming that there was no danger, I walked over calmly.
Two Terror Knights have gone in to get information for me. Through their eyes, they sense the situation inside the "Skull Palace". Although it is called a palace, it is actually a spacious underground cave. There seems to be a huge sarcophagus in the innermost part, which is about seven or eight meters long, four or five meters wide, and three or four meters high. My heart is beating fast when I see it. If it is set normally, the sarcophagus must be the big boss guarding the "Skull Palace". According to the rules, as long as it is killed, the equipment hidden in the "Skull Palace" will appear in time. However, this boss is so big, and it is also called the "Skull Palace". Could it be that the gatekeeper is a bone dragon? If so, even the lowest green bone dragon is not something I can handle alone in the human world.
As if sensing an intruder, the sarcophagus suddenly made a loud noise, and the lid of the sarcophagus slowly opened. From inside, an object stood up high, which looked like a long-handled bone knife. Then, accompanied by the harsh sound of bones rubbing against each other, a huge skeleton came out of the sarcophagus. It was about six meters tall, with thick bones, and looked strong and powerful. It was fully armed, but its helmet and armor were made of rusty iron sheets. It held a long-handled bone knife in its right hand, and two small balls of faint green light jumped in its eye sockets, staring at the two terrifying knights who broke in. The shape looked very familiar, and it seemed to be similar to the skeleton general seen in the "General's Curtain" when the promotion task of "General's Evaluation" was completed, but it looked taller and more powerful, and its ability should be stronger.
"I am Angora, the skeleton general guarding the 'Skull Palace of the Twelve Secret Palaces of the Underground City'. The secret palace is a restricted area, no one is allowed to approach, and those who trespass will be killed. Skeleton guards, show up and kill the enemy!" I didn't expect that the big boss was actually a guy who could speak human language. As soon as he appeared, he waved a long-handled bone knife and shouted loudly. He was indeed a skeleton general. However, from the meaning of his words, it was not the only one in the "Skull Palace", and there were subordinates to help. I hurriedly asked the two horror knights to retreat urgently to avoid any losses before the battle started and the situation was unclear.
As soon as the Skeleton General finished speaking, there was another loud "boom" sound, and the entire cave began to shake violently. Countless white bones suddenly emerged from the originally empty ground. First, there were pairs of skeleton arms, some holding and short-handled bone knives in the right hand, and some holding bone bows and arrows in their hands. Then there were skulls, and then bodies... A large number of skeletons were trying their best to crawl out from the ground, and formed a formation in front of the Skeleton General, filling most of the space in the "Skeleton Palace".
Fortunately, I saw the opportunity early and the two Terror Knights retreated in time, otherwise they would have been trapped inside. With a small number of people fighting against a large number of people, it would definitely be dangerous. The skeleton guards mentioned by the skeleton generals are different from the weak skeleton warriors that we are used to seeing. They are about three or four meters tall and look very strong. Their weapons include swords, shields, and bows and arrows. They can attack from a distance and are also good at close combat. I quickly counted them and found that there are about 128 of them. Half of them are sword and shield skeletons and half are bow and arrow skeletons. They are guarding in front of the skeleton generals. During the retreat, the two Terror Knights had a brief fight with several skeleton guards. According to my initial estimate, these skeleton guards are also very strong. In a one-on-two situation, even the Terror Lion Knight can't gain any advantage.
Such a large battle was dispatched, which made me gasp. Are you kidding me? Is this a task that a player can complete? Even if there is only one Skeleton General, even if he is strong and keeps fighting against him, he may still have a chance to pass. But with these 128 Skeleton Guards, each of whom is as powerful as the Horror Giant Bear Knight, it becomes a battle of consumption between the opponent and you. Among the top ten masters, even if they have the highest honor or Long Xingtianxia himself, they may not be able to break through their interception and successfully kill the Skeleton General. Is it so difficult to break into the "Twelve Secret Palaces of the Underground City"? Or did I just happen to be unlucky and hit a relatively difficult place?
Fortunately, I am the one facing them. I guess I am the only one in the whole world. With the potion that can restore life and the artifact "Touch of Death", I can continuously perform "Summoning the Undead". I still have 20 hours left, which is enough to summon two or three hundred horror knights and skeleton generals to fight to the death. Judging from the current situation, there should be a considerable chance of success. I feel that this "underground maze" is really tailor-made for undead wizards. Whether it is exploring the maze or attacking the secret palace, it has certain advantages over other professions.
The Skeleton General did not intend to take the initiative to attack and kill me. He summoned 128 Skeleton Guards to set up a battle formation, and after expelling the two invading Horror Knights, he stood majestically with his sword on the ground, glaring at me standing outside the "palace gate" and peeping inside, but did not take any radical actions. After several attempts with the two Horror Knights, they were immediately besieged by a group of people as soon as they entered the "palace", with swords and arrows flying, but as long as they exited the cave, they would be safe, and the Skeleton Guards would retreat to their positions. It seems that the rule of the "Skull Palace" should be "I will not offend others if others do not offend me", and resolutely eliminate all enemies who dare to invade.
There were no tricks to use. If I wanted to pass the level, I could only rely on my strength. I stood outside the palace and began to summon terror knights. I didn't want to make a small move, test or hope for luck, because if I failed, it would just be a waste of strength. I was ready to concentrate my strength and launch a fierce attack with absolute strength. The outcome would be decided in one battle. To be on the safe side, I decided to spend more than ten hours to summon as many terror knights as possible. The group assault launched by the two or three hundred terror knights using the "flash combo" would increase the lethality a lot, and it should not be something that these 128 skeleton guards could stop.
Fortunately, considering the need to complete the task, I applied to the United Alliance for a lot of "special medicine" to restore life and carried them with me. I can use it with the "Touch of Death". I can activate the "Touch of Death" to absorb the mental power of the Terror Giant Bear Knight to replenish my loss, and constantly cast the "Summoning of the Undead". At the same time, I use the "special medicine" to speed up the recovery of consumed health points. Although it can only be used once an hour, each time I activate the "Touch of Death", it only consumes 10% of the health points. It will take some time to summon again after absorbing it. In addition, taking the "spiritual potion" that can speed up the recovery of mental power can basically guarantee the supply and not interrupt the summoning work.
I once consciously stayed away from the "Skull Palace" to test the reaction of the Skeleton General. As a result, it was still on high alert with its men. It did not withdraw its troops back to the camp or relax. It refused to give me a chance to attack. I could only break through from the front. Xiaobai and the hundreds of Horror Giant Bear Knights who served as coordinates were also recruited by me. However, except for the invisible floating Xiaobai who arrived smoothly, most of the Horror Giant Bear Knights were ambushed or attacked, and suffered heavy losses. Only a few dozen riders arrived here to meet me. There was no other way. In order to increase the success rate of the siege of the "Skull Palace" as much as possible, we must use all the forces that can be mobilized, and some sacrifices have to be made. Who knows if there are only so many Skeleton Guards and whether they will be replenished? How capable is the Skeleton General? At this critical juncture, a little more combat power means a little more hope!
After working non-stop for sixteen hours, I gathered a full four hundred Terror Knights around me, mainly Terror Giant Bear Knights, mixed with more than fifty Terror Tiger and Mad Lion Knights. 60% of them were in good condition, and the other 40% could only support one "Flash Combo" because I had absorbed a lot of mental power. Taotao, Hongxing, and Wuma were also summoned. Xiaobai had already sneaked into the palace and hid above the Skeleton General, ready to perform "Yinsha Soul-stealing". There were only five hours left, and I couldn't wait any longer. I was ready to go all out and launch a full-scale attack on the "Skull Palace", trying to kill the Skeleton General in one fell swoop and get the equipment hidden in the "Skull Palace".
The fifty terrifying giant bear knights rushing in the front were all in perfect condition. They led the charge to break through the defensive formation of the skeleton guards. Following closely behind were the fifty whose mental power had been absorbed. They took advantage of the situation to rush forward and engage in close combat with the skeleton guards, trying to eliminate them first and then concentrate their forces to calmly deal with the remaining skeleton generals.
In an instant, hundreds of riders galloped and rushed straight towards the Skeleton Guards. A one-on-one fight might take a while, but facing the Terror Knight's strongest skill attack and repeated collisions, the Skeleton Guards seemed a little overwhelmed. Once they made contact, they were quickly defeated after a little resistance. They rushed in, and although their tenacious counterattack and the support of the guards and archers in the back row also caused considerable damage to the Terror Giant Bear Knight and lost some manpower, they had already broken down their formation. They rushed into the inner circle and engaged in close combat, making it impossible for those guards and archers to perform and resist. They were killed one by one and soon approached the Skeleton General standing in front of the sarcophagus.
Although they are not weak in strength, they lack powerful attack skills. This is the weakness of the Skeleton Guards and the main reason why they were quickly defeated under the impact of the Terror Knights. The process seems to be much easier than I expected. As long as I fight with the Skeleton General and estimate its approximate strength, I can infer the success or failure of this mission.
Seeing that the skeleton guards guarding in front of him could not withstand the attack of the Terror Knights and were almost killed, the Skeleton General who had been standing quietly suddenly waved his sword again and shouted with his hoarse voice, "Skeleton guards, show up and kill the enemies!" As soon as the shouting stopped, accompanied by a shock, white bones suddenly emerged on the ground, and one by one the skeleton guards crawled out from the ground.
