Chapter 655: Super Long-Range Shot!

A mighty Ruin Slash!

The Ruin Slash skill differs from ordinary area attack skills. While typical area attacks cover a larger range, Ruin Slash is a small-scale area skill that can only target monsters along a straight line. However, its power surpasses that of ordinary area attacks by far. With ten times the attack damage and Nie Yan’s naturally high attack power, it becomes terrifyingly strong.

Elite-level skeletons couldn’t even withstand a single fifth-level Ruin Slash from Nie Yan.

Half of the three to four hundred skeletons were gone in an instant, and the remaining ones continued to surround Nie Yan. He activated stealth to evade and let the Golden Earth Dragon take the front line.

It was obvious that Nie Yan wasn’t good at fighting groups. If he had to eliminate them one by one, it would take forever to clear out so many skeletons.

In the blink of an eye, the Golden Earth Dragon swept away another large group of skeletons, leaving a pile of scattered bones on the ground.

The Golden Earth Dragon’s damage output was impressive, and with healing support from behind, it was practically invincible, sweeping through everything in its path. The experience gained from these skeletons was extremely generous—over five times that of regular level-100 monsters. The only downside was that they didn’t drop any loot.

Still, the experience gain was more than worth it.

Nie Yan glanced at the Golden Earth Dragon’s level. It had already reached 93% of level 98 and would soon break into level 100. He wondered what changes would occur once it reached level 100 and felt a surge of anticipation.

As Nie Yan was clearing out large numbers of skeletons, inside Broki Fortress, Qin Han, clad in black robes, was reviewing the current battle results.

He couldn’t directly observe the situation near Broki Fortress but could track changes in the total number of skeletons.

The skeleton count had already reached over 60,000 and was still increasing rapidly. These skeletons were raiding nearby villages in groups and ambushing players on the roads. Qin Han looked at the number displayed in a corner of his personal interface, clearly indicating the total skeleton count.

Initially, the number kept rising, from 30,000 to 50,000, and soon reached 60,000.

Qin Han could roughly imagine the chaos outside. As the number of skeletons increased, so did their activity range. Among every 500 regular skeletons, an elite-level one would appear. Among every 20 elite skeletons, a lord would emerge. Among every five lords, a mutated lord would arise. These skeletons always moved in groups, never alone. When encountering players or villages, they would summon nearby skeletons to surround and overwhelm their targets with a flood of attacks, causing the skeleton count to grow exponentially.

Seeing the rapid increase in skeleton numbers, Qin Han’s ambition swelled further. He realized there was no turning back now—he had to keep going forward, using his endless skeleton horde to eliminate all enemies! A figure suddenly flashed in his mind—Kuangze Nie Yan. Wait for it!

After another few dozen minutes, Qin Han checked the skeleton count again and was surprised to find that it hadn’t increased significantly. Previously at 63,527, it was now 63,539—only a dozen more. This was unusual. Logically, with so many skeletons active, the count should have risen more.

Frowning, Qin Han stared at the fluctuating number. After a moment, it suddenly dropped to 63,219. He shot to his feet. That’s a lot of skeletons gone at once—only a high-level magic could achieve that.

Could it be that a powerful team had arrived?

A flash of killing intent crossed Qin Han’s eyes. Even the strongest team couldn’t resist his endless tide of skeletons!

He walked to the center of the hall, where a crystal ball lay on the central table. All skeletons’ visual feeds were fully reflected within the crystal ball. He shifted the crystal ball’s view to the battlefield, where a massive Golden Earth Dragon appeared in his vision.

Qin Han’s heart sank instantly. It was Kuangze Nie Yan—he had actually come here!

Within the crystal ball, the Golden Earth Dragon furiously trampled nearby skeletons, emitting a deep dragon roar. A meteor fell from the sky, exploding violently and turning the surrounding area into a sea of flames. Hundreds of skeletons screamed and fell in the inferno.

Qin Han seemed to hear their souls’ cries as he slammed his fist onto the table. “Kuangze Nie Yan, are you born to oppose me!”

He issued orders to all skeletons, directing them to converge on Nie Yan’s location.

He understood that these skeletons alone had little chance of eliminating Kuangze Nie Yan. The necromancer Bodman was still constructing the Death Sky. He would have to personally intervene. Since reviving the necromancer Bodman, his strength had surged, making him far more powerful than ordinary players.

I’ll see just how strong Shadow Dance really is, Qin Han thought coldly as he strode out of the hall.

As time passed, Nie Yan noticed the increasing number of skeletons nearby. The Golden Earth Dragon was beginning to struggle. Surrounded by a group of elite skeletons, its health was steadily dropping. Without the timely healing support, it would have fallen long ago.

If even the Golden Earth Dragon was struggling, the outcome for ordinary players encountering these skeletons was easy to imagine.

Nie Yan activated Sacred Hire and summoned the Paladin Lefus.

Upon spotting the skeletons, Paladin Lefus cast a Divine Blessing on himself and charged toward the skeletons near the Golden Earth Dragon. He had a passive aura that reduced the attributes of all nearby undead creatures by 20%.

As soon as Paladin Lefus appeared, all the surrounding skeletons were enraged. They roared furiously and charged toward him, making the situation somewhat chaotic.

Nie Yan understood that summoning Paladin Lefus would provoke such a response. The undead especially hated holy light, and the appearance of a paladin or priest nearby easily drew aggro.

But Paladin Lefus wasn’t weak either. He unleashed purifications one after another, eliminating skeletons while occasionally casting holy light to heal himself and occasionally supporting the Golden Earth Dragon.

Holy Radiance!

A beam of light descended from the sky, rapidly expanding and covering a vast area. Entire swaths of skeletons disintegrated and vanished into thin air, purified completely.

The surrounding skeletons were once again cleared out.

With Paladin Lefus’s help, skeleton elimination became significantly faster.

Within just a few hours, Nie Yan had eliminated over 3,000 skeletons. In the early stages of the undead army, 3,000 was a significant number—enough to stall their development.

Nie Yan felt a strange sensation from the Holy Spirit Mark on his left hand. Looking down, he noticed it had changed slightly, emitting a faint white glow. He wasn’t entirely sure of its function yet.

Perhaps continuing to grind these skeletons might yield the Holy Spirit Heart, which would fully unlock Zennarde’s Sword.

Just how powerful could this divine weapon become in the end?

As Nie Yan was lost in thought, a massive skeleton appeared in the distance within the skeleton horde. This skeleton was two heads taller than the average one, its entire body gleaming in dark gold, its bones seemingly forged from metal. It wielded a massive shield in one hand and a huge axe in the other.

A skeleton lord!

Nie Yan cast Detect on the skeleton. It was a level-130 Skeleton King. The giant skeleton shoved aside nearby regular skeletons and charged rapidly toward the Golden Earth Dragon.

With a loud thud, it swung its shield, delivering a shield bash that smashed into the Golden Earth Dragon’s abdomen. The Skeleton King’s immense strength sent the Golden Earth Dragon staggering back, taking over 20,000 damage at once.

Such high damage!

Frowning slightly, Nie Yan realized that even with the combined strength of the Golden Earth Dragon and Paladin Lefus, they might barely manage to defeat this Skeleton King. He drew Zennarde’s Sword, preparing to join the fight himself.

Just as he was about to act, a powerful dark force locked onto a radius of about a hundred yards around him. He felt as if he was being targeted.

He turned his gaze toward the figure over a hundred yards away. A black-robed figure came into view. His eyes narrowed instantly—the overwhelming dark aura emanating from the figure sent a strong sense of danger surging through him.

The main opponent had arrived!

The figure wore a black wizard’s robe, its sleeves edged with golden threads. A lifelike skull adorned the left sleeve. In his right hand, he held a bone staff composed of interlocking bone segments. In his left, he carried a Book of the Undead.

Black Fire Storm!

Qin Han waved his staff, and streams of black fireballs rained down rapidly toward Nie Yan from the sky.

Long-range bombardment at a hundred yards!

Nie Yan activated Quick Step, dashing dozens of yards outward in an instant, narrowly dodging the black firestorm.

An attack range of one hundred yards was already remarkably impressive for an ordinary mage. Coupled with the ability to cast a small-scale area spell in such a short time, melee units would struggle to close in.

One hundred yards—impressive? Nie Yan suddenly thought of the Headless Knight Doro’s Crossbow in his inventory and allowed himself a faint, barely perceptible smile.

He quickly retreated, pulling out the Headless Knight Doro’s Crossbow, loading it with five bolts, aiming at Qin Han in the distance, and pulling the trigger. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Five bolts shot toward Qin Han.

The bolts flew across a distance of over 110 yards, directly targeting Qin Han’s heart.

Such an incredible range! Startled, Qin Han waved his staff and blinked over a dozen yards away, dodging the five bolts.

Thud! Thud! Thud! The bolts all embedded deep into trees far behind Qin Han.

Qin Han’s expression darkened. These bolts had a range of a full 120 yards! He had thought his one-hundred-yard attack range was already extremely powerful, yet Nie Yan’s crossbow had an even greater range!