Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 74: One Thousand Bullets
Before the challenge started, I carefully surveyed the terrain. After all, we were going to ambush, so we couldn't lead our men to openly show up on the ground. More than a thousand corpse wizards gathered together. What a big scene that would be. Wouldn't it scare Daxiu? It's not a fool. If it finds something abnormal, will it automatically come to me to beat me? As long as it is vigilant and reluctant to enter the attack range, it will take too long. When the corpse wizards are exhausted by the volcanic barrier, let alone attacking the enemy, I'm afraid they can only wait to die. Therefore, we must not let Daxiu have any doubts. We must strive for a quick victory. We must find a suitable place to at least cover up so that Daxiu will not discover the existence of the corpse wizard army at a height of several hundred meters and outside the range of the "death cloud bomb". As long as we seize the opportunity to fire a thousand bombs at once, Daxiu should not have much energy to jump again.
Finally, I found a place near the foot of the "Hell Volcano", which was covered with cooled volcanic lava of different sizes and heights. It shouldn't be too obvious for the corpse witch to stand next to the lava. I turned into a bat and flew into the sky, observing from different directions several times. Unless you open your eyes wide and look carefully, it is difficult to find anything abnormal at a height of several hundred meters. Although according to the internal information obtained from the ancient book, the flying fire ghost has outstanding vision and has a certain degree of farsightedness, Taotao is attracting its attention, so I think it should not have the spare time to pay attention to the ground all the time, right?
Before the challenge began, the three corpse kings farthest from the "Hell Volcano" finally arrived as scheduled under the protection of hundreds of terrifying giant bear knights. They are the best guarantee for the success of the "Thousand Bombs Salvo Plan" I formulated. Even if Daxiu entered the range, on the one hand, the corpse wizard could not prepare to release the "Death Cloud Explosion Bomb" in advance and could launch an attack immediately. Casting magic would take a little time. According to the speed of the flying fire ghost, once the abnormality is detected in time, it is entirely possible to dodge and escape the ambush circle; on the other hand, Taotao must be entangled with it. When the corpse wizards attack, there must be time for Taotao to escape from the attack range. The corpse wizard cannot have too precise magic control ability to accurately hit a small target at a distance of about 100 meters. The "Death Cloud Explosion Bomb" has no eyes. Don't accidentally hurt your own people and bring danger to Taotao. Therefore, it is necessary to launch a "mental attack" in conjunction with the corpse king to interfere with Daxiu's actions at the critical moment and gain the necessary time to ensure that the predetermined purpose is achieved.
I first took a few terrifying giant bear knights for testing. As I had worried before, the results of the actual combat test were not ideal. Due to the existence of the volcanic barrier, the spiritual connection between non-volcanic undead creatures was greatly weakened. I am Taotao's master and have signed a "soul contract". Because Taotao has obtained the qualification to soak in the "hell magma pool", he is not affected. However, the three corpse kings are not included in this list. In addition, their individual strength is relatively weak. As soon as they enter the territory of the "hell volcano", they begin to suffer interference. When they arrive here, they are affected even more. The effect of the "mental attack" launched jointly is not as good as before. The power is only about 30% of the normal state, and the power will continue to decrease as the distance increases. It's all because of this damn volcanic barrier. Otherwise, why would I mobilize so many troops? I only need to connect with the three corpse kings to launch a "mental attack", and then cooperate with Red Star's three "life-seeking flying guns" to kill Daxiu. But if you calm down and think about it, this is precisely the reason why the "Hell Volcano" can become one of the four forbidden areas. If it weren't for the extremely harsh natural environment for non-volcanic undead creatures, I'm afraid the Hell Dragon King would not be able to live in the "Hell Magma Pool" without any worries - with the whole clan concentrated in one place like this, the target is obvious. As long as enough strong people can be gathered to besiege, no matter how powerful Hades is, or how powerful the Hell Dragon clan is, they are ultimately too few in number. With the enemy outnumbering us, I'm afraid they will not be able to escape the danger of destruction.
After ten days of soaking in the "Hell Lava Pool", on September 21, it was finally time for Daxiu to challenge Taotao. Although I was not physically present, I was in close contact with Taotao's spirit and was paying attention to the development of the situation. The Hell Dragon King was still the arbitrator. According to the convention, after a simple opening ceremony and the necessary precautions, he announced the official start of the challenge.
The speed of the flying fire ghost was indeed very fast, obviously surpassing Taotao. It first circled around Taotao, suddenly dived forward, stabbed a shot like lightning, and then quickly flew backwards and evacuated, not giving Taotao any chance to fight back. The whole set of movements was as smooth as flowing water, very skillful, and well done. It was obvious that it had extremely rich practical experience, which was also something that Taotao, who had just acquired the ability to fly, could not match. Fortunately, the attack power of the flying fire ghost was indeed relatively low, and the damage caused by being stabbed was only "skin pain", which had no effect on Taotao. However, they were not the type who expected a quick victory. Generally, the battle would develop into a protracted war. They were accustomed to relying on relatively agile speed and high-frequency attack hits to gradually increase the opponent's injuries to win the final victory. Taotao obviously also adopted this tactic, flying around, seizing the opportunity to hit, never greedy for merit, and immediately flying back, showing great caution, and exerting the "guerrilla tactics" to the extreme.
Daxiu and Taotao both have high fire resistance, but their fire damage is not strong enough to threaten their opponents. They can only rely on physical attacks to defeat the enemy. As a result, Taotao is at a disadvantage due to his obvious speed. After being attacked by seven or eight spears, only one or two counterattacks can hurt Daxiu. Although it is only "skin pain" each time, he still can't bear it after being attacked too many times. The three-day challenge period is enough for Daxiu to wear Taotao out. If I hadn't arranged support in secret, we could have turned the defeat into victory. If this continued, Taotao's only way out would be to admit defeat and demote himself to save his life. This is exactly what Gu Ben, who ranks 12th, is most worried about, so he spared no effort to "help enthusiastically" and took the initiative to provide some information about Daxiu, hoping that Taotao could win the challenge and keep his immersion qualification.
Although I was in a passive position at the beginning and continued to suffer damage, I did not let Taotao turn around and fly over immediately to lead Daxiu into the ambush area. From Gu Ben's actions, it can be seen that the flying fire ghost is also a kind of undead creature with a lot of scheming. If the action is too direct, it is hard to guarantee that Daxiu will not find out some flaws. I have to perform realistically and try to reduce its vigilance to ensure the success of the plan. First, I fought with Daxiu and tried my best to fight back. In the last battle, I suffered a lot of losses. So I changed my tactics and no longer confronted Daxiu head-on. I flew up and down, left and right, trying to get rid of Daxiu's entanglement, reduce the chance of being attacked, and gradually lead Daxiu to the foot of the mountain.
After a long chase, fighting and fleeing, we finally arrived at the foot of the mountain. If we flew forward, we would be beyond the designated combat zone, which would be considered as surrender. So Taotao changed to flying sideways, fighting with Daxiu, trying his best to resist and save his fate of failure. Suddenly rising to a height of several hundred meters, and suddenly descending to a place dozens of meters above the ground, passing by my predetermined ambush site from different heights several times to minimize Daxiu's possible vigilance.
It was not until then that I commanded the Corpse Wizard and the three Corpse Kings to enter the volcanic barrier and head towards the predetermined ambush site, lying in ambush beside the lava. This was not only safer, but also allowed us to preserve our physical strength to the greatest extent, so that we could successfully withdraw after the "Thousand Bullets Salvo" - the longer we stayed in a place where magma was erupting and lava was falling from time to time, the greater the damage we would suffer. Once we lost our physical strength and could not move, the consequences would be even more disastrous. I did not want to pay too much to deal with a not very powerful flying fire ghost - with their current strength, they could only bully some undead creatures with low defensive capabilities. Once the spear attack could not hurt the opponent, no matter how fast they were, it would not be of much use, just like the behemoth Ludi who died tragically under the volcanic lava. They had thick skin and flesh, and could not be pierced by spears. I was not afraid of them at all, and they were not even worthy of being tickled.
Taotao led Daxiu around in circles for several more times - of course, to avoid this area. He waited until the Corpse Wizard, Corpse King and I entered the ambush position before turning back. When we were getting close, we first flew as high as we could, then dived down in an instant, ensuring that we were within the range of the "death cloud bomb" when we arrived at the ambush site.
Taotao had used this trick many times in the long-lasting chase. Daxiu did not seem to be suspicious. He chased down quickly without hesitation, lowering his altitude again and again, and quickly approached, and soon rushed into the attack range. Suddenly, Daxiu reduced the speed of the attack, and there was a tendency to retreat. The damn farsighted ability must have discovered something. I dared not neglect it. I had already connected with the spirits of the three corpse kings, and immediately launched a "mental attack" and fought hard with Daxiu.
After being weakened by the volcanic barrier, the "mental attack" could not cause any substantial damage to Daxiu, but it could interfere with his thoughts, at least his reaction should be slower. Observing the effect of the attack, as expected, Daxiu was suddenly attacked by the "mental attack". He was unstable in the air, circling crookedly for several times, as if he was drunk. Although he wanted to retreat quickly according to the intention of the action, he had no way to concentrate, so his movements could not be coordinated and he could not react in time.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the corpse witch was already using the "Death Cloud Explosion Bomb", and Taotao was fleeing at the fastest speed, as far away from the attack area as possible to avoid being caught in the crossfire. However, Daxiu was quite smart and tenacious, struggling to fly upwards to avoid danger, but unfortunately it rushed too fast due to carelessness, and lost its balance at a height of 60 to 70 meters above the ground, and was not as agile as usual. It was the best time for Hongxing to launch the "Life-Taking Flying Gun". It had already prepared for it, received my order, seized the opportunity, raised its right hand, and a faint black light flashed, and the white bone spear shot out like an arrow. Daxiu had no time to react, and it had pierced its body in an instant.
The sudden attack caused Dashu to let out a shrill howl, and his body swayed, which immediately slowed down his movements. Even so, he was still trying his best to fly upwards. However, the corpse wizards had already completed the magic by then, and more than 1,100 "death cloud bombs" were all aimed at Dashu and shot over quickly.
What a grand scene! Many magic bullets were concentrated on one point, and it felt like an overwhelming force. Although Daxiu seemed to be trying his best to dodge with his agility, there were too many of them, covering almost all areas. He had no way to avoid them, and was constantly hit while flying. However, he was also very tenacious, always refusing to give up, and tried his best to move to reduce the damage he suffered. In the end, he was not killed and escaped from the attack range of the corpse witch, but he was already seriously injured, flapping his bone wings weakly, and his body was shaky in the air, as if he could fall to the ground at any time.
There was no need for me to intervene in the rest of the matter. Tao Tao alone was enough to deal with the weak Da Xiu. After only three or two attacks, Da Xiu could no longer support himself and fell from midair, becoming a lamb to be slaughtered. I quickly gathered the team and issued an order for the corpse wizards and the three corpse kings to evacuate quickly and exit the range of the volcanic barrier. If they stayed for a while longer, their physical strength would continue to drop. Small streams of magma would occasionally spurt out from the ground, and lava would continue to fall from the sky. No one died in the battle, but dozens of corpse wizards had been lost in non-combat losses. Alas, it was too uneconomical to mobilize so many troops and prepare for such a long time, but in the end, we only launched such a short attack. If we did this once a month, how much time would it take?
I first activated the "Touch of Death" to entangle Daxiu and confirmed that there was no danger. As the saying goes, a centipede is not dead, but it is still alive. Don't be careless for a moment and get hurt by its last-gasp attack. I just walked up to it and saw Daxiu lying on the ground, dying. I was so angry that I had nothing to do and challenged Guben, who was of the same kind. If I was lucky, I might have a chance of winning. But he chose to provoke Taotao and take advantage of me. It was not that easy. Since he was lucky enough not to die on the spot, in line with the principle of making full use of things, I naturally couldn't kill him easily. That would be too easy for him. I decided to try to see if I could subdue him and make him Taotao's follower. If the two of us could join forces to face the immersion qualification challenge, it might save me a lot of trouble. Of course, this would not be too easy. The fighting power of the flying fire ghost was still higher than that of Taotao. Its strength should be about the same as that of the terrifying bull or the ground dragon knight. With my current basic mental strength, I was not sure I could do it. If it really doesn't work, I'll just have to buy something cheap. The soul energy has the same fire attribute, and the effect of absorbing it should be better.
