Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Chapter 689 - 458: Exploring a New World, Blood Moon Tide! (Part 2)

The attribute panel is nothing more than a trivial aid!

Next, he activated the clone.

...

At the Corpse Hill, Fang Zhou reined in his Yellow Springs Nightmare.

During this period, Fang Zhou had dispatched the most intelligent of his Corpse Guards to scout the newly discovered fragment of the Undead Realm on the other side of the Teleportation Gate. A lion must use its full strength even to catch a rabbit, and Fang Zhou could not afford to be careless in his current state.

Now, the Corpse Guards he had sent out to explore had finally returned.

It was uncertain whether it was due to the long-term use of its Soul Fire or its training, but in any case, Tidamia, the first Corpse Guard to join Fang Zhou’s ranks, had grown increasingly intelligent. Therefore, its Soul Fire’s perceptive vision was exceptionally outstanding among its peers, making it the natural choice for reconnaissance missions.

Tidamia and the others brought back two pieces of news for Fang Zhou: one good, one bad.

The good news was that after arriving in the new world through the Teleportation Gate, Tidamia had found nearly ten territories belonging to skeletons and zombies. The rulers of these territories were mostly Bronze Middle-Rank Plague Zombies, with occasional sightings of Bronze Tier ghosts. The skeletons and zombies under their rule mostly remained at the Black Iron Tier, with some being weaker Apprentice-level skeletons.

The bad news was that each of the Undead Territories Tidamia discovered was very large, and the number of undead was vast. As for exactly how large the territories were and how many undead they contained, Tidamia could not specify. Its intelligence had not yet developed to the point where it could precisely comprehend concepts of numbers and area. According to the Corpse Guards’ descriptions, even the smallest of these Tombs far exceeded Fang Zhou’s own forces.

Moreover, the rules of this new world seemed different from those of the Corpse Hill. Under normal circumstances, each Undead Lord possessed a territory of a certain size, and they all kept their distance, not interfering with one another. The Undead Creatures from different territories did not usually interact.

However, a Blood Moon Tide would periodically sweep through the entire new world. Driven by this tide, the various Undead Lords, who seemingly held deep-seated grudges against one another, would intermittently launch territorial wars. Most of these wars ended inconclusively. After all, both sides often possessed similar strength, making it difficult for one to achieve a complete victory.

When the Blood Moon Tide receded, the Undead Lords, whose rationality had been obscured by the world’s laws, would regain their senses. Having lost many soldiers and champions and suffered heavy casualties, they would naturally come to a tacit understanding and cease hostilities. The truly unfortunate ones were the mindless Undead Creatures under these Undead Lords, who were treated like weeds to be cut down, only to grow back again.

Due to the limited time, Tidamia and the others had only managed to gather this much information. After confirming that the upper limit of the opposing forces did not exceed the Bronze Tier, Fang Zhou mostly set his mind at ease. As for the so-called Undead Army possessed by these Undead Lords, Fang Zhou did not take them that seriously.

Fang Zhou himself had once commanded a corpse army that peaked at nearly fifty thousand. This implied that the forces in these Undead Territories likely surpassed that number.

All of Fang Zhou’s Corpse Warriors were top-tier. It was safe to say that even if one searched the entire Corpse Hill, it was unlikely that any previous Skeleton Lord had ever possessed an army as elite as his own.

After comparing the intelligence Tidamia had gathered with his own elite forces, Fang Zhou estimated that victory was likely, but it would come at the cost of significant losses. These Corpse Warriors were his foundation, and he had spent considerable effort nurturing each one. If they were to be lost just like that, it would be a betrayal of all his hard work.

Furthermore, to transport himself or his Undead Creatures from the Corpse Hill to the new undead world, Fang Zhou had to use the Undead Teleportation Gate unlocked via his Corpse Authority. Every use of the Undead Teleportation Gate demanded a significant amount of Soul Power as a price, based on the user’s strength. Transporting his entire Undead Army of nearly 50,000 Corpse Warriors to the new world would incur a cost in Soul Power so high that it was utterly unaffordable.

"Seems I have to devise a strategy, huh?" Fang Zhou scratched his chin. It would be ideal if he could single out and kill the enemy Lord.

Relying on the Corpse Authority he possessed, once a Lord was dealt with and its Soul Fire devoured, its remaining forces would naturally become leaderless and fall into disarray. Even if Fang Zhou couldn’t inherit this vast legacy, he could effortlessly wipe them out, turning them into resources for his own growth. Then, those low-level Undead Creatures could be used to initiate a new round of culling among his Corpse Warriors.

However, singling out a Lord was not so easy. Although the Skeleton Lord Fang Zhou had previously defeated was conspicuous, finding him amidst a sea of white bones had been quite a challenge. Moreover, even if he located a Lord, successfully killing him presented its own difficulties. Though a Lord wouldn’t always move with his entire force, he would inevitably have powerful personal guards. Even the previous Skeleton Lord had kept Mutated Skeleton Warriors in his Bone Castle as personal guards to ensure his safety. These Undead Lords in a more powerful new world, engaged in tireless, bloody warfare, would surely have even more formidable retinues.

Furthermore, if Fang Zhou wanted to lure them out alone, he couldn’t bring his army. The moment he entered another Lord’s territory with a large force, he would inevitably be discovered, triggering the endless war of Lords he wished to avoid.

Stroking his chin, Fang Zhou thought for a long time but still couldn’t come up with a suitable plan.

I have to lure the Lord out, but without letting him bring his large army, and I must still be strong enough to eliminate him!

Since the goal wasn’t to start a war but to directly eliminate the opposing Lord, Fang Zhou had to minimize the size of the team sent on the decapitation mission. Of course, if Fang Zhou went alone, there would be no problem. Equipped with his various skills, he was confident he could evade the perception of other Undead Creatures.

But alone?

This new world wasn’t the Corpse Hill, and Fang Zhou wasn’t a frog in a well like the former Skeleton Lord, who had mistakenly thought himself invincible. He didn’t believe he had the strength to take a general’s head from amidst an army of a million. Moreover, the strength of this "general" remained unknown. At the very least, Tidamia and the other Bronze Middle-Rank Corpse Guards felt that the power of even the weakest Undead Lord seemed to be beyond theirs.

After careful calculation, Fang Zhou decided to take all his guards who had advanced to Bronze-Tier Corpse Knights and give it a try. The Soul Power cost for this elite cavalry force to undertake a decapitation mission was something he could afford. In terms of pure strength, they should be sufficient as well.

Having prepared an emergency plan, Fang Zhou took a deep breath. He spent several thousand points of Soul Power and waved his hand, opening a dark purple Undead Teleportation Gate. Letting Tidamia and the other Corpse Guards take the lead, Fang Zhou led his knights and followed closely through the gate, arriving in the newly discovered undead world.

...

Above the gray sky, the familiar Blood Moon hung high. Under the scarlet moonlight, a group of Corpse Knights stood majestically. Seated atop the Yellow Springs Nightmare, Fang Zhou couldn’t help but tighten his grip on his Corpse Long Spear.

The energy concentration here was indeed significantly higher than on the Corpse Hill. With his current strength having reached the Bronze Middle-Rank, he had already begun to feel restricted and constrained back on the Corpse Hill.