Chapter 221 - 220: Battle Breaks Out

Chapter 221: Chapter 220: Battle Breaks Out

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By the time Bone Joint picked himself up, the rabbit had already turned to face him.

It stood on its hind legs, forepaws hanging at its sides. Its chest heaved violently, and a deep rumbling sound echoed from its throat.

The scraps of meat and bone it had absorbed from its kin were now a part of it. The bulge on its back had split open, revealing raw pink flesh through several cracks.

The mass plastered to its face dripped with a viscous fluid, obscuring half its features.

Only a single eye was visible, its murky red orb locked unwaveringly on Bone Joint.

Bone Joint didn’t wait for it to attack first. He took a step forward, swinging his Bone Sword in an upward arc that met the rabbit’s outstretched paw.

The paw no longer looked like a rabbit’s; it was more like the hand of some ferocious beast. The pads were as hard as rock, and the Bone Sword left only a white scratch.

The rabbit swung a backhand blow. Bone Joint sidestepped the attack, letting the tip of his blade glide across its calf.

The slash opened a gash, but no blood flowed. Instead, a blackish clump of flesh dropped out, still writhing on the ground.

The nearby Skeleton Warriors were already clashing with the other rabbits.

The rabbits varied in size. Some only came up to a Skeleton’s waist, while others towered over them by half a body.

The smaller ones were easy to handle; a single swing of a Bone Sword could cleave a head in two. But the large ones were tough, their hides thick and flesh dense. A Bone Sword striking them felt like hitting a wooden post, sending a numbing shock up the wielder’s arm.

One large rabbit grabbed two Skeletons, one in each paw, and slammed them together. The bony frames instantly collapsed, ribs and vertebrae shattering across the ground.

Another large rabbit lowered its head and bulldozed into a group of Skeletons, sending three or four flying with a single toss of its head.

But the Skeletons were unfazed. Scattered or shattered, it didn’t matter. The ones behind simply trampled over the fallen bones of their comrades and continued to charge.

When their Bone Swords couldn’t cut through, they hacked at joints, knees, and ankles.

A rabbit, its Achilles tendons severed, collapsed to its knees. Seven or eight Bone Swords immediately plunged into its head.

As the chaotic battle raged, the ground began to vibrate.

It wasn’t the trembling caused by the rabbits’ stomping, but a dense, rhythmic tremor from beneath the earth, as if something was burrowing through the soil.

Clumps of dirt on the ridges between the fields began to crumble. From cracks in the earth beneath the dry grass, grayish-brown rats began to emerge.

The rats were a full size larger than normal, their fur slick and wet. They scurried close to the ground at incredible speeds, a swarming gray tide pouring in from all directions, like water surging across a cracked riverbed.

Gray Rat squatted on a distant wooden post, its forepaws resting on the top, letting out a series of squeaks.

The sound wasn’t loud, but the Corpse Rat Swarm heard it.

The first wave of Corpse Rats didn’t attack the large targets. They specifically went for the smaller rabbits—the ones that were alone or had been scattered by the Skeletons.

A few Corpse Rats latched onto a small rabbit’s leg. Before it could even squeal, it was dragged to the ground. More Corpse Rats immediately pounced, completely burying it from sight.

When the Corpse Rats dispersed, only a pile of chewed-on bones and clumps of bloody fur remained.

More Corpse Rats poured out—from the ridges, from beneath tree roots, from behind fallen walls, from the dry grass. They swarmed under the rabbits’ feet, biting at tendons, toes, and anything else they could sink their teeth into.

The large rabbits, bitten until they were unsteady on their feet, swayed back and forth. They ignored the Skeletons, preoccupied with swatting at the rats swarming their feet.

But there were too many Corpse Rats. For every one they slapped away, two more would take its place. It was impossible to get rid of them all.

Atop the wall, Gu Su remained motionless.

He stood there, hands resting on the parapet, watching the chaos unfold below. He saw the Corpse Rats swarm in from all sides and the large rabbits stumble and spin, besieged by the rodents. He didn’t move. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he was waiting for the right opportunity.

The rabbits’ greatest strength wasn’t their fighting ability, but their power to devour.

They devoured the corpses of their kin, feeding on flesh and bone. The more they ate, the larger they grew, and the larger they grew, the harder they became to kill.

Cannon fire couldn’t kill them; it only fed them, making them bigger. The Skeletons could cut down the small ones, but not the large. The Corpse Rats could gnaw at their feet, but couldn’t deliver a killing blow.

’But there is one thing that can snatch those scraps of flesh and bone right out of their mouths.’

Gu Su raised his right hand, palm facing down, and aimed at the roiling battlefield below.

A gray ring of light descended upon the densest cluster of rabbits. The ground within the circle was littered with blasted chunks of rabbit flesh, severed bones, and scraps of fur chewed off by the Corpse Rats.

All of it should have been absorbed by the living rabbits, becoming part of their bodies.

A gray light surged from the ring, enveloping the bits of flesh and bone. They began to move—not toward the living rabbits, but toward the center of the circle.

Flesh knitted together, bones snapped into place, and fur was plastered over the top. One by one, skeletons grew from the gore—white, deathly pale, and identical to the Skeleton Warriors.

[You have successfully cast Soul Summoning Technique (Level 4). You have obtained Skeleton (Level 1) x12. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +12.]

As the circle of light faded, twelve Skeletons rose from the ground. They picked up discarded weapons and immediately turned to lunge at the nearest rabbits.

Another gray ring of light descended upon a different pile of bodies.

Light surged, flesh and bone converged, and skeletons grew from within. This batch rose faster than the last, grabbing weapons and charging forward without hesitation.

[You have successfully cast Soul Summoning Technique (Level 4). You have obtained Skeleton (Level 1) x9. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +9.]

One after another, the circles of light descended, their gray glow flaring up across the battlefield.

The scraps of flesh and bone that the rabbits would have absorbed were all intercepted, transformed into brand-new Skeletons.

Some circles yielded over a dozen Skeletons, others only seven or eight. One circle landed, its light swept across the ground, and nothing emerged—the rabbits had already snatched away the remains.

But it was enough.

These new Skeletons had already joined the battle.

And as they charged, the rabbits were still preoccupied with feeding.

A rabbit as tall as a man’s waist squatted on the ground, pinning a chunk of flesh with its forepaws and stuffing it into its mouth. The corners of its lips stretched to its ears, revealing two rows of fine, sharp teeth.

It ate in a frenzy, its face smeared with blood from the meat, covering even its eyes.

It only looked up when a new Skeleton charged right in front of it, a half-eaten bone still dangling from its mouth.

A Bone Sword hacked in from the side, striking its neck.

The rabbit’s neck had thickened, its hide as tough as rubber. The blade cut halfway through and got stuck.

The Skeleton didn’t release its grip, instead forcing the blade deeper with all its strength.

By this point, the Corpse Rat Swarm had entered a frenzy.

Gray Rat leaped down from its wooden post and crouched behind a ruined wall at the battlefield’s edge. With its forepaws on the wall, it continued to squeak.

The sounds varied in pitch and tempo, rising and falling, quickening and slowing, as if it were issuing commands.

Hearing the call, the Corpse Rats swarming a large rabbit’s feet suddenly scattered. They didn’t retreat, but split into several groups to re-engage from different directions.

Some bit its toes, some gnawed its heels, and others began scrambling up its leg.

The large rabbit staggered, swaying wildly as it slapped its forepaws on the ground. It crushed a few rats, but more had already reached its waist.

Rat Tooth’s team of Corpse Rats specialized in taking on tough spots.

One large rabbit had a foreign piece of bone jutting out from its leg, hard as a rock. Ordinary Corpse Rats couldn’t bite through it and scurried around.

The rats with Rat Tooth pounced, latching onto the bone. Their teeth ground with a CRUNCH, and they managed to tear a chunk of it away.

The large rabbit stomped its foot in agony, crushing two rats, but Rat Tooth had already leaped away, the piece of bone in its jaws.

Poisonous Plague’s team didn’t charge the rabbits. They fanned out along the edge of the battlefield, burrowing into dry grass, behind clumps of dirt, and under fallen logs. After a moment, a faint yellow smoke began to rise from these spots.

The smoke wasn’t thick and didn’t drift far, hugging the ground at a height of about three feet. But as soon as a rabbit entered the smoke, it began to cough. Its steps slowed, its body swayed, and it dropped the meat from its mouth.

A few of the smaller rabbits stood in the smoke for a moment before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

The Fire Rat team was the quietest of all. They made no sound and didn’t attack, simply squatting in a neat row at the edge of the battlefield, waiting motionlessly. ℯℓ.

When Gray Rat’s squeaks changed their tune, the Fire Rat team finally moved.

They didn’t leap onto the rabbits. Instead, they dove into the thick of the fray, burrowing into the densest clusters, under the feet of the largest rabbits, into the chaotic tangles of Skeletons and foes. Then, with a BOOM, they exploded.

It wasn’t a loud explosion like a cannonball, but a muffled, wet sound, like a stone dropped into a bog.

A cloud of gray mist billowed out from the explosion, enveloping the surrounding rabbits.

The rabbits were sent staggering by the blast, covered in gore and blood. Choking on the smoke, they forgot about fighting and scrambled to escape the mist.

Bullet Head’s team was the fastest.

The moment Gray Rat’s call ended, they shot out from the edge of the battlefield, streaking low across the ground like a volley of arrows.

They didn’t slam into the rabbits’ bodies, but aimed specifically for the backs of their knees.

A large rabbit, in mid-charge, was struck in the back of the knee by one of the Bullet Heads. Its leg gave way instantly. The rabbit pitched forward, landing face-first on the ground. Before it could recover, it was surrounded by Skeletons.

The number of rabbits on the battlefield dwindled.

The large rabbits were crippled, kneeling on the ground, unable to rise. The small ones could no longer run. The few still struggling were surrounded by Skeletons, swarmed by Corpse Rats, and choked by the smoke, falling one by one.

The newly summoned Skeletons blended in with the others, making it impossible to tell the veterans from those just risen from the gore.

All of them were hacking, charging, and pinning down anything that still moved.

In the distance, the Bone Dogs ran to the edge of the battlefield and halted.

Dog Curse, running at the head of the pack, sniffed the air, turned in a circle on the spot, then glanced up toward the wall.

The three hundred Bone Dogs behind him followed suit, stopping and squatting on the field ridges, their tails still as they watched the battlefield.

They had arrived too late. The battle was already over.

The black specks in the sky were still drifting lazily.

Flying Soul led the Ghost Team as they drifted over from the direction of the manor, their black robes trailing long shadows against the gloomy gray sky.

By the time they floated over the battlefield, the fight below had already ended.

Only a few intact rabbit carcasses remained on the ground. The Skeletons were cleaning up, retrieving scattered Bone Swords, gathering bone fragments into piles, and delivering a final blow to any rabbits still breathing.

Flying Soul halted in mid-air, and the Ghosts behind him did the same. They circled once above the battlefield, as if confirming no living thing remained, before slowly descending to land beside the piles of scattered bones.

Bone Joint stood beside the corpse of the largest rabbit. He pulled his Bone Sword from its eye socket, flicked the slime from the blade, and raised it in a salute toward Gu Su on the wall.