Chapter 171 - 170: Temporary Midfielder

Chapter 171: Chapter 170: Temporary Midfielder

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Upon receiving Gu Su’s command, Bone Ash dared not delay for a second. He immediately led his Undead Soldiers, dragging the heavy Lizardman corpses as they rushed toward the large Gravepile beneath the Withered Wood Forest.

They moved with considerable speed, tossing one greenish Lizardman corpse after another into the Gravepile. The muffled thuds of the bodies landing mingled with the strange squirming sounds from deep within the pile, exuding a dense Undead Qi.

After its previous upgrades and refinements, the Gravepile’s corpse conversion speed was now far more rapid than before.

The moment a corpse touched the mycelia on the Gravepile’s surface, the grayish-white threads seemed to spring to life, swiftly coiling around it and completely enveloping the body.

In the blink of an eye, the corpse was dragged into the Gravepile’s interior, vanishing into the churning Black Fog. All that remained on the surface was a ripple that gradually subsided.

Immediately after, the ground on the other side of the Gravepile began to loosen.

A ghastly white Bone Claw broke through the soil, then a second, then a third. Two Bone Dogs clawed their way out of the ground at nearly the same time.

Their skeletons were still caked with damp earth, and eerie green Soul Fire had just ignited in their empty eye sockets. Driven by some instinct, they immediately began sprinting toward the gate of the Graveyard Demon.

One corpse, two Bone Dogs.

Bone Ash stood by the Gravepile, watching the Bone Dogs pour out like a white tide, and gestured for his underlings to continue.

Corpse after corpse was pushed into the Gravepile, and one Bone Dog after another climbed out of the earth.

For every twenty-five dogs, a Bone Dog Minion was automatically generated to lead them out of the Graveyard Demon.

Soon, the Bone Dog units that had fallen in battle were fully replenished. Pack after pack of Bone Dogs surged from the edge of the Withered Wood Forest, passed through the Graveyard Demon’s gate, and vanished into the night beyond the walls.

Only when the last Bone Dog had departed and a new Bone Dog Boss appeared did things finally quiet down.

The excess corpses were simply left on the Gravepile, neither devoured nor taken away.

The strategy was to leave them there so that any Bone Dogs that fell in battle could be immediately replaced.

At that moment, Gu Su was standing at an artillery emplacement in the middle of the wall’s second floor. After consecutively casting Subordinate Corpse Explosion, his Mana was completely depleted. Even if he wanted to provide more support with his spells, he was powerless to do so.

So, he gave up the futile attempt and turned to operate the Oil Sprayer on the platform. It was currently the most practical and directly powerful of the City Defense Weapons.

"Flame Spray!"

Gu Su commanded in a low voice and slammed the Oil Sprayer’s activation button.

The next second, a searing, orange-red pillar of fire erupted from the Oil Sprayer’s nozzle, sweeping down toward the base of the wall like a burning dragon.

This attack was far more powerful than the previous ordinary artillery fire. It covered a hundred-meter-wide fan-shaped area and could spray continuously for five minutes. The searing flames instantly enveloped the Lizardmen who had reached the foot of the wall and were attempting to climb.

Those greenish "Cabbage-Head" Lizardmen continued to charge forward fearlessly, but the flames that ignited on them clung like a plague, spreading wildly and searing their smooth skin. A harsh SIZZLING sound filled the air, accompanied by the shrill screams of the Lizardmen.

Batch after batch of Lizardmen struggled and fell in the flames, their bodies quickly burning to blackened husks that piled up at the base of the wall. The once-surging offensive was, for a moment, brutally suppressed.

As Gu Su stared at the green figures still surging forward, he suddenly noticed a detail.

’The Lizardmen in the distance... their numbers are thinning.’

’It wasn’t just a slight decrease, either. Their numbers were visibly dwindling.’

’The green tide that had originally filled his entire field of vision was now reduced to a few scattered pockets.’

’Most of the area was now just burning corpses and scorched earth.’

’The Flame Spray is even more effective than I expected.’

Five minutes later, Gu Su decisively shut off the Flame Spray. He didn’t use his two remaining sprays for the day. Instead, he scanned the battlefield with sharp eyes through the platform’s observation port, assessing the situation.

"Bone Ash! Push Tooth!" Gu Su ordered in a low voice over the communicator. "Take your men and clear the battlefield, now! Be quick about it!"

He knew this was the perfect opportunity to clear the battlefield and collect corpses. The surviving Lizardmen were still over a hundred meters away, locked in a fierce battle with the replenished Bone Dog units, and had no time to spare for what was happening back at the wall.

Upon receiving the order, Bone Ash and Push Tooth immediately led their respective vehicle teams out of the Graveyard Demon and quickly reached the edge of the battlefield.

The Undead under their command leaped from the vehicles and frantically began loading the Lizardman corpses into the cargo beds.

Both the charred remains and the intact corpses were collected, with none left behind.

They were all well aware that this calm was temporary. More Lizardmen were continuously flocking in from the surrounding areas, so they had to finish clearing the battlefield and retreat before the next assault began.

Sure enough, just as Bone Ash and Push Tooth’s underlings were busy loading the corpses, another five or six hundred Cabbage-Head Lizardmen charged out of the distant darkness.

In the blink of an eye, they had closed to within fifty meters of the wall.

Apparently, the Bone Dogs Gu Su had just summoned had already been completely surrounded and annihilated. Not a single one had survived. Now, the Lizardmen were charging madly toward the Graveyard Demon, their killing intent unabated. Their greenish figures merged into a single mass in the darkness, their momentum as terrifying as ever.

Seeing this, Bone Ash and Push Tooth dared not delay for a moment.

They knew full well that their Skeleton and Walking Dead teams couldn’t possibly withstand the Lizardmen’s swarm tactics head-on. To linger would only mean being surrounded.

The two immediately ordered their troops to fall back. The Undead Soldiers scrambled onto the vehicles, clinging tightly to the sides. The entire convoy then plunged into the surrounding Black Fog and, in a flash, returned safely inside the Graveyard Demon, evading the impending Lizardman assault.

Taking advantage of this rare respite, Gu Su opened his game panel to review the recent battle.

’After all, these Lizardmen aren’t at all like the powerful ones from before. They only have the upper hand due to sheer numbers.’

’If their numbers keep growing, I’m not sure I can hold out. I need to find their weakness.’

Gu Su discovered that the defeated Lizardmen were called "Cabbage-Head Lizardmen." They were Level 0—pure cannon fodder.

For each one he killed personally with Subordinate Corpse Explosion or other means, he received 1 Experience point. For those killed by his subordinates, he received 0.5 Experience. For kills via methods like artillery, he received a maximum of 0.1 Experience.

’If I hadn’t checked, I never would’ve thought Experience could be awarded in increments as small as 0.1.’

Thankfully, there were a lot of them. After two or three thousand Cabbage-Head Lizardmen had been killed, Gu Su had accumulated more than enough Experience to level up.

This immediately gave Gu Su an idea.

’Level up!’

The next instant, a dazzling golden light burst from Gu Su’s body without warning, completely enveloping him. At the same time, a DING rang in his ears.

[Congratulations, you have successfully leveled up. Your Level is now 3. Your Life and Magic Power have been fully restored, all negative statuses have been cleared, and your Spirit has increased by 1. Please select one of the following four skills as your reward.]