Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Chapter 696 - 462: Bandit Group Hunt? Confronting the Chaos Fiends!

Originally, Fang Zhou had planned to first whittle down the Earth Demon Bear Monarch’s forces, killing the other Earth Demon Bears in its tribe before slowly dealing with the monarch itself. But now that the Demon Bear Monarch was constantly chasing him, he had no choice but to deal with it first.

Mana flowed through Fang Zhou’s body as wave after wave of Negative Magic landed on the Earth Demon Bear Monarch, weakening it.

Undead Sky Screen!

BOOM!

Suddenly losing its sight, the rampaging Earth Demon Bear Monarch crashed directly into a giant tree. The tall tree snapped under its force, scattering splinters everywhere.

Skeleton Heart-Piercing Flying Spear!

Poison Cloud Skill!

Skeleton Shock Wave!

Corpse Explosion Skill!

Poison Nova!

Attack Magic also rained down on it. Poison Nova, in particular, detonated the dormant Undead Corrosive Poison within the Demon Bear Monarch’s body. Although it couldn’t kill it instantly, it caused immense pain.

Under the continuous assault, the Earth Demon Bear Monarch was completely disoriented. It couldn’t catch up, it couldn’t land a hit, and it could only take the punishment. This level of offensive intensity completely shattered its will.

Under the will-sapping effect of his Horror Aura, it lost the will to fight and prepared to flee. Unlike its kin, who were still trapped in battle with the Corpse Warriors and couldn’t break free, the monarch was alone. Unable to fight back, it decided to run.

The Earth Demon Bear Monarch roared, seemingly as a warning to its kin. Then, it cast its Rock Helmet Skill to enhance its defense and took off running.

Fierce Beasts inherently possessed stronger life energy. Their physical attributes, amplified by high concentrations of energy, made them significantly tougher than humans of the same tier. The Earth Demon Bear Monarch also possessed a defensive Talent Magic. After activating it, its defense became so formidable that while Fang Zhou’s spells could injure it, they couldn’t kill it in a short amount of time.

"Commander, there’s a situation up ahead!"

As Fang Zhou engaged in intense combat, the sounds of battle attracted nearby adventurers. One team was steadily approaching.

"How many people?" the man called ’Commander’ asked, a wolf leg still in his mouth.

"Just one," the Assassin said. "But he looks like one of those rare Undead Mages." Recalling the scouting mission where he saw Fang Zhou fighting the Earth Demon Bear tribe, he clicked his tongue and added, "But this guy is seriously powerful—completely unlike the weak Undead Mages of legend.

"I saw him with at least a few dozen Skeletons, hunting a pack of over a hundred Earth Demon Bears.

"Among those Demon Bears, three have Magic Crystals. If he takes them all down, the haul should be incredible!"

"Just one mage?" A flicker of interest appeared in the commander’s smile.

"Yes, just one person," the Assassin confirmed, relaying everything he had seen.

"Baldy, what do you think? Can we take him?" The commander looked toward another teammate. This teammate, wearing a lightweight Magic Robe and completely bald, was also a mage.

"Let’s sneak over and take a look first. If there’s a chance, we’ll make our move. Undead Mages primarily focus on Summoning Magic. However, no matter how many Summoned Creatures they have, just execute a decapitation tactic. They’re not too hard to deal with." The bald mage pondered for a moment without giving a definitive answer.

"Then let’s go! If we can take him down, we will. If not, we’ll help him fight the Demon Bears. Either way, we’ll get a piece of the pie!"

With a slap of his large hand, the commander gave the order, and the team moved out toward Fang Zhou.

This team was the bandit group that Captain Yang Qinglu of the Golden Spear Team had mentioned before. They were one of the few gray-area groups operating out of the Beast Fighting City forward base.

The vast mountain ranges were a true no-man’s-land, far more sparsely populated than even the uninhabited regions of Blue Star. Furthermore, because the area was shielded and disrupted by Energy Tides, modern surveillance equipment from civilized society was often rendered useless.

Only Professionals dared to venture in. Most came to hunt Fierce Beasts, but some came to hunt humans.

They usually hunted Fierce Beasts, but if they came across a weaker team and the opportunity was right, they wouldn’t hesitate to prey on them instead. These bandits would wipe out entire teams of adventurers, plundering their haul and stripping them of all their Enchanted Equipment.

After all, any team that dared to venture deep into the Fierce Beast Mountain Range was bound to have members with at least one or two pieces of Enchanted Equipment each. An enchanted item was not cheap. This was especially true for jewelry, where even a common white-quality piece could cost several hundred Magic Stones.

Coming from the resource-rich Sea City Military Academy and always holding the status of the No. 1 Seed Student—a true talent among talents—Fang Zhou had no conception of how precious Enchanted Equipment was in the eyes of these outside adventurers.

For a bandit group like theirs, taking down a single team could, with a bit of luck, net them 20,000 to 30,000 Magic Stones. How many Fierce Beasts would they have to hunt to earn that much? And if they got lucky and could snatch the team’s own haul, their profits would be even greater.

Every year, countless people died in the Fierce Beast Mountain Range. But whether they were killed by Fierce Beasts or murdered by bandits, who could really say for sure?

Human nature has a dark side. In a lawless place like this, that darkness was inevitably amplified.