While they ate, Li Ziyu distributed weapons to the newly-risen Undead and trained ten more Skeleton Warriors. Judging from today’s battle, the Skeleton Warriors’ combat prowess was comndable.
Once Liu Xingxing was nearly finished eating, Li Ziyu had him lead the way to the next treasure location.
"I hope we get sothing out of this next treasure," Li Ziyu said in a aningful tone, given the last two "treasures."
" too," Liu Xingxing replied seriously.
Following Liu Xingxing’s directions, the Mobile Fortress set out once more, heading for the next treasure.
...
「Stas Lizardman Tribe, Cave Hall.」
Torches and bonfires lit up the entire Cave Hall. The Lizardman chief, Moss, watched the returning warriors with a dark expression. Five hundred Lizardman Warriors had gone out, but fewer than a hundred returned. They were battered and disard, covered in wounds and looking as wretched as refugees from the wilds. Fury churned within him.
"Where is Ah Mu?" Moss asked, his voice low as he suppressed his fury.
The other Lizardn in the cave heard his low voice and knew instantly that their chief was furious. That seemingly calm tone always concealed a barely-suppressed rage. Soone had dared to provoke their Stas Tribe, and now they were going to pay.
Seeing their comrades return in such a pitiful state, they too were filled with fury. As the commander, Ah Mu would naturally be the target of their anger. But when their eyes swept the crowd and found no trace of him, they instinctively turned to the Lizardman Warriors who had fled back.
"He’s dead. Ah Mu is dead. Killed by the Undead," a one-ard Lizardman at the front said in a ragged voice.
Undead?!
Whispers rippled through the cave. They wondered if they’d misheard. It was bad enough having Ah Mu spouting madness, but now one of their own was talking about Undead. This joke wasn’t funny in the slightest.
Even at this point, the Stas Lizardn still refused to believe the Undead existed.
"Did you see the Undead with your own eyes? Did you see Ah Mu die?" Moss shoved away the wine cup offered by an attendant, rose to his feet, and walked right up to the one-ard Lizardman Warrior, staring into his eyes as he posed the questions.
"I... I didn’t see Ah Mu’s death myself, but the Undead are real." As the one-ard Lizardman spoke, a flicker of terror crossed his eyes.
Those frenzied Skeletons had left a deep impression on him—and had taken one of his arms.
His words caused an uproar. Moss raised a hand, silencing the clamor from the surrounding Lizardn. He believed the Warrior in front of him. Ah Mu’s words he could dismiss—after all, Ah Mu was an outsider, not a Lizardman raised in the Stas Tribe. He could have been spouting nonsense or simply lying.
But the one before him was a true Stas Lizardman Warrior, raised within the Tribe since birth. He wouldn’t lie to his chief. And that look of sheer terror couldn’t be faked; he had clearly seen sothing horrifying and still felt unsafe, even after returning to the Tribe.
Moss fell silent. He turned, walked back to his seat, and stared down at the Lizardn who had fled back, not saying a word.
’Undead...’
’What does the appearance of the Undead an?’
’Moss felt this was a sign—a sign of chaos and Darkness!’
Ah Mu was rely the chief of a small tribe, but Moss was not. He commanded a Lizardman Tribe of a hundred thousand and naturally knew far more than Ah Mu. They possessed a "history"!
A race without a "history" would not survive for long; they would quickly perish. Only by possessing a "history" and carrying on the legacy of their Ancestors could a Tribe continue to grow and strengthen. Every chief of the Stas Tribe studied this history, drawing lessons and experience from it to guide the Tribe toward a better future.
The history left by their Ancestors contained records of various races, the Undead Race among them. The Lizardman Ancestors wrote that the Undead Race would not appear without great cause. After all, they are creatures of death and should not exist in this world. They are more like ssengers, heralding the coming of death, chaos, and Darkness.
The Undead ant that a ti of great turmoil was at hand!
Besides the Undead, a few other races carried a similar significance, such as Demons and Divine Envoys. In tis of peace and prosperity, these races would never appear. They only revealed themselves on the eve of chaos.
And such an era of chaos was unstoppable. Not even massive tribes, or even a coalition of tribes, could prevent its coming. The mightiest of races could be wiped out in such tis, fading into history. All one could hope for was to avoid that fate and simply survive.
"Tell about the Undead," Moss finally said after a long silence, his voice grave. "In detail. Everything you saw, everything you experienced, and everything you suspect. Tell all of it."
The one-ard Lizardman Warrior glanced around, seeing the looks of disbelief and disdain in the eyes of his kin. He finally understood how Ah Mu must have felt. His gaze settled on his chief. "They’re a swarm of walking Skeletons."
"Blue flas burn inside their skulls. As long as those flas aren’t extinguished, they cannot be destroyed."
"They have Weapons. So are Swords and Shields made of bone, while others are our own Curved Sabers and Spears."
"They don’t fear our attacks, nor do they care about them. Even if shattered, they reassemble themselves and fight us again. On the battlefield, even a severed arm, fallen to the ground and overlooked, could take our lives."
"The Undead co from a moving structure. That structure moves very quickly, faster than we can run. They use the building itself in their attacks."
...
"Their leader was killed, and the Undead went berserk. Their blue flas turned red, and they beca even stronger."
As they listened to his tale, the expressions of the surrounding Lizardn shifted from their initial scorn to contemplation, and then from contemplation to disbelief. They had never imagined that under Ah Mu’s command, the Warriors had actually managed to charge forward and confront the leader of the Undead Race.
"Wait. You said the leader of the Undead Race was killed?" Moss raised a hand, cutting off the one-ard Lizardman, and asked in confusion.
"That’s right. He was killed," the one-ard Lizardman confird with a nod.
"So you’re saying they’re leaderless now?" Moss asked again to be sure. ’If they really don’t have a leader, I’ll rally the n and attack at once. This is an excellent opportunity.’
"No. Their leader ca back to life and killed Ah Mu," the Lizardman said, swallowing hard, his eyes wide with terror.
’Resurrection should be impossible, but it was the truth. That Human—or rather, that Undead disguised as a Human—had co back to life right after Ah Mu killed him.’
It was that Human killing Ah Mu that shattered their morale and triggered the complete rout.
Moss nodded, indicating that he understood.
The one-ard Lizardman had said everything he knew. He lowered his head and fell silent.
"Chief, what should we do?"
"That’s right, Chief Moss. Should we send out the warriors?"
...
Facing the questions from the Lizardn around him, Moss slowly shook his head. "Relay my orders! The Stas Tribe is to enter a state of full combat readiness. Be vigilant at all tis!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers