Chapter 398 - 195: The Desert Bandits Collapsed

"Impossible. This is absolutely impossible. How could this be?" The Arrow Boar Person’s eyes twitched. What was unfolding before him wasn’t a battle at all—it was a cold, merciless slaughter, a scene the likes of which he had never witnessed.

There were so many Desert Bandits. ’If just one of them could land a blow on a Black Knight, that would be something!’ But no. Every single one who charged forward seemed to be rushing to their death.

’Monsters! Those things are Monsters!’

’Why did I ever think of messing with Monsters like these?!’

’As expected... you really can’t afford to offend the Undead.’

The observing Arrow Boar People were terrified, to say nothing of the Desert Bandits fighting the Black Knights. They were completely numb.

’How the hell are we supposed to fight this? Forget about breaking through their Armor; you can’t even hit them! What are you supposed to do?’

Despair. Yes, that was it—despair. The Black Knights were an enemy they could not possibly defeat.

There was no mercy, no heeding of pleas, no caring what their enemies said. They were simply slaughtering, cutting down one Desert Bandit after another on the spot, leaving no one alive.

Have you ever seen two people chasing after more than two hundred?

Zhang Peng never had, but today he was witnessing it firsthand. Just two Black Knights were chasing all the Desert Bandits, who were running for their lives. The Black Knights were in charge of swinging their swords—SWISH, SWISH—and the Desert Bandits were in charge of screaming and dying in disarray.

What drove the Desert Bandits to ultimate despair wasn’t that they couldn’t land a blow on the Black Knights, nor was it the Black Knights’ razor-sharp Longswords. It was that they couldn’t outrun them!

’It’s one thing to wear Heavy Armor, but how the hell are you so fast?!’

The Desert Bandits broke down completely.

They had assumed that since the Black Knights wore Heavy Armor, their Speed couldn’t be that great. If they couldn’t win the fight, that was fine; running away should have been no problem. But they never imagined they couldn’t outrun Black Knights clad in Heavy Armor. And from the looks of it, their pursuers weren’t even chasing them at full speed—they were moving with the ease of a leisurely stroll.

’Where’s the logic in that?!’

The Black Knights didn’t use any Skills. Relying purely on the sharpness of their Longswords and their combat techniques, the two of them suppressed over two hundred people, following behind and killing them one by one, as if playing a game of cat and mouse.

After chasing the Desert Bandits for two or three hundred meters, one of the Black Knights stopped. Perhaps growing tired of the chase, it fell into thought.

’My actions seem to be... bullying the weak. And bullying the weak is not something a Black Knight like myself should do. Therefore... I’ll grant them a quick end.’

Having reached this understanding, the Black Knight raised its Longsword.

Black Energy flowed from its Armor into the Longsword, which began to glow with a dark, lustrous sheen, emanating a chilling aura. When the Energy reached its peak, the Black Knight swung its sword with immense force, executing a simple Sweeping Thousand Soldiers.

WHOOSH—

The Longsword cut through the Void. A crescent-shaped wave of black sword energy shot out from the blade, sweeping over the fleeing Desert Bandits with incredible speed before flying off into the distance, disappearing from sight.

The other Black Knight, still chasing the Desert Bandits, stopped in its tracks. It looked at the suddenly motionless bandits ahead, then turned to look back at its companion, seemingly a little angry. It then turned and walked back.

Just as it turned, the Desert Bandits collapsed one by one, their bodies all severed at the waist and falling in two pieces.

Watching from the rear, Zhang Peng took a deep breath. ’Strong. These Black Knights are truly strong.’

He could tell that the Black Knights were treating the fight against the Desert Bandits like a game. Even that final black crescent wave had been a casual swing; they probably hadn’t even put their full effort into it.

’What kind of Monsters has the boss created?’ Zhang Peng swallowed nervously and opened the system interface.

[Private Chat]

Conscience Merchant: Boss, I’ve tested the Black Knights.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: Oh? Someone attacked you?

Conscience Merchant: Ran into some Desert Bandits. No big deal, two Black Knights took care of them.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: How many Desert Bandits?

Conscience Merchant: Over two hundred? I didn’t get an exact count.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: And the result?

Conscience Merchant: The Black Knights are ridiculously strong! The two of them chased the Desert Bandits all over the place, then wiped them all out with a final move, like a crescent moon shooting into the sky.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: A crescent moon shooting into the sky? Are you serious?

Conscience Merchant: Serious! It was totally a sky-piercing crescent moon! A black crescent, and it sliced over a hundred Desert Bandits in half at the waist in one go.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: Right. Got it.

Closing the chat window, Li Ziyu was perfectly calm. He wasn’t the least bit surprised by this outcome.

As a core unit in the Skeleton Undead Race’s Combat Sequence, if a Black Knight couldn’t even handle a group of disorganized Desert Bandits, then the Skeleton Undead Race might as well pack it in.

The creation cost of a single Black Knight was a steep 10,000 units of Soul Energy, equivalent to twenty Skeleton Longbowmen or one hundred Elite Heavy Hammer Skeleton Warriors. Using such an expensive unit against mere Desert Bandits was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

What Li Ziyu really wanted to know was how the Skeleton Shooter-1 Type would perform in combat. He already had a rough estimate of the performance of the Black Knights and Skeleton Knights.

’Well, no need to think about this anymore. Time to continue researching technology. The Shooter is still just the first model; subsequent models need to be developed, as do other Weapons. Oh, right, should I consider the issue of mounts? I can’t have the Skeleton Knights always engaged in Infantry Combat. That would be too embarrassing.’

Li Ziyu immediately put the matter of the Black Knights to the back of his mind and buried his head in his research once more.

However, Zhang Peng’s message had reminded him. He’d been so focused on unlocking Mechanical Technology these past few days that he’d forgotten the Skeleton Knights still didn’t have mounts. It was time to get those made.

The Skeleton Undead Race didn’t have buildings like stables. As Undead creatures, even their mounts were Undead. The mounts for the Skeleton Knights were produced in a building called the "Beast Bone Tomb."