Chapter 165: Night Raid

In the darkness, several eerie green ghost fires suddenly flared up. Shortly after, three white skeleton soldiers appeared.

They paused, staring at the Sandmen's camp for a moment. Then, a tall skeleton soldier waved his right hand, and soon, countless skeletons emerged from the dark.

The night bestowed a boost upon undead creatures. Bathed in moonlight, the movements of the skeleton soldiers were noticeably smoother than during the day, and they walked with almost no sound of grinding bones.

Just as the skeletons thought the Sandmen's camp was unguarded, with a sharp explosion, a burning arrow shot out from the edge of the forward camp and accurately struck a skeleton.

"Enemies launching a night raid!"

At Sun Licheng's shout, the Sandmen's camp immediately stirred into action. The warriors snapped out of their sleep, rolled over, and grabbed their weapons.

Realizing the surprise attack had failed, the skeleton soldiers began to run, surging toward the Sandmen's camp like a white tidal wave.

"Why are these bastards running so fast?"

Sun Licheng was shocked. The soldiers had not yet fully taken up their combat positions when the skeleton soldiers had already charged right up to them.

"How dare they disturb my sleep! I'll smash you pieces of garbage to dust!"

Accompanied by a piercing, high-pitched scream, Caroline rushed out, brandishing her gigantic spiked mace.

"Hong Sunaibu, have the warriors hold their ground! Absolutely do not charge out!"

Watching his wife tear through the ranks of skeleton soldiers like a female tyrannosaurus rex, Sun Licheng hurriedly shouted to Hong Sunaibu.

Although visibility was decent tonight, Sun Licheng feared that even greater dangers were lurking in the darkness—especially monsters like the undead, which ordinary weapons couldn't harm at all. If the Sandmen weren't careful, they could easily lose their lives.

Despite Hong Sunaibu's desperate attempts to keep them in line, dozens of Sandmen bravely plunged straight into the army of skeleton soldiers, waving their weapons and hacking away frantically.

After fighting for a short while, Sun Licheng began to notice something: these skeleton soldiers were much weaker than he had imagined.

The skeleton soldiers in his field of vision had almost no armor, and the weapons in their hands were extremely primitive. Their bones had weathered over the years, and at a single strike from the warriors, they immediately crumbled into powder.

Facing such weaklings, and led by Caroline, the dozens of Sandmen warriors grew bolder with every fight, actually managing to hold back the enemy army.

Seeing that the skeletons had been halted, Sun Licheng finally relaxed and began to channel his Heroic Might.

As glorious music rang out, the Sandmen felt a sudden surge of spirit, their physical condition instantly peaking.

"Sun Licheng is actually a hero!"

Hong Sunaibu was utterly astonished.

Though there had once been heroes among the Sandmen, they were exceedingly rare. At least recently, no new heroes had been heard of.

"As expected of the one chosen by His Divine Majesty; he is truly extraordinary."

Hong Sunaibu sighed inwardly.

Once Sun Licheng fully unleashed his Heroic Might, the Sandmen army took on a completely new look, every single one of them shedding their fear of the undead creatures.

Even with preparations in place, Sun Licheng did not order a countercharge. He had a lingering feeling that with such a massive buildup, the enemy couldn't possibly rely solely on these trashy skeleton soldiers.

Sure enough, a moment later, a shriek capable of piercing eardrums rang out, and over a hundred dark shadows swept through the moonlight toward Sun Licheng and the others like a black cloud.

"Everyone be careful! The undead are coming! Raise your shields!"

Realizing what they were, Sun Licheng shouted frantically and began shooting blazing arrows into the air.

To deal with these incorporeal undead, aside from purification arrays, only magic worked best, with fire-type magic second only to holy light magic in effectiveness.

Because of the excessive distance, Sun Licheng's blazing arrows had no way of hitting the undead, but fortunately, they disrupted the enemy's offensive rhythm.

Taking advantage of this window, the Sandmen raised the specially crafted shields provided by Sun Licheng, forming a long wall of shields.

Although Caroline had a fiery temper, her battlefield intuition was exceptional. The moment the undead appeared, she hollered for the dozens of warriors to retreat with her.

However, the undead came too fast. A few warriors, caught up in the heat of battle, hesitated a fraction too long in falling back and were quickly swallowed by the encircling undead.

Sun Licheng watched as several undead swarmed a warrior, wrapping around him like a black cloud within seconds. Amidst a shrill scream, as the dark cloud dispersed, the warrior had already been reduced to a bloody skeleton, all the flesh on his body completely stripped away.

Seeing the gruesome fate of their comrade, a commotion rippled through the ranks of the Sandmen. Fortunately, sustained by Sun Licheng's Heroic Might and barked orders from their officers, the warriors gradually regained their composure.

"Why are these undead so terrifying?"

Caroline hurried back to the battle formation and asked Sun Licheng in horror.

"How would I know? But these undead have no way of piercing the purification array. The moment they crash into my specially made shields, they get injured."

Sun Licheng stared at these troublesome foes with a grimace, trying to comfort Caroline.

"Doesn't that mean we have no way to counterattack?"

Caroline immediately grasped the core issue.

Sun Licheng nodded helplessly; this was precisely their biggest problem right now—they lacked weapons capable of eradicating the undead.

The root cause of this predicament was Sun Licheng's limited resources.

Back then, the group was small, and with the help of Mr. Handy, they were able to produce enough defensive gear and weapons. But now, with a force of a full thousand people, Sun Licheng was the only one who understood how to engrave magic arrays. Managing to produce a few hundred specialized shields was already a monumental feat.

"I thought having strength in numbers would give us the advantage, but it turns out we can't even use them."

Looking at the stern battle array, Sun Licheng let out a long sigh.

The undead certainly wouldn't grant Sun Licheng and his men time to waste. Deprived of obstacles, the large swarm soon slammed into the Sandmen's battle line.

Although the specialized shields couldn't be used to attack, they held an absolute advantage in defense. Not only could swords and blades harm the skeletons, but the moment they collided with the shields, they were swiftly shattered by the purification arrays.

The undead attempted several charges, but were blocked back every time by the specialized shields. They could only shriek wildly as they hovered above the Sandmen, looking for an opportunity to dive down.

One undead succeeded. It evaded the shields and quickly coiled around a Sandman, but before it could launch an attack, it was immediately swarmed by multiple specialized shields. As the light of the purification array flared, accompanied by its signature shriek, the undead was rapidly reduced to ashes.

Seeing their companion killed, the other undead momentarily dared not dive down again, left to screech frantically in the sky.

"As long as we stall them until dawn, these guys will retreat."

Seeing the battle line gradually stabilize, Sun Licheng let out a long breath.

Just then, however, a massive spherical dark shadow came hurtling through the air with a piercing screech, slamming fiercely into the battle array. Amidst the screams of the warriors, several men in the front row were sent flying into the sky, tearing a huge gap in the formation.

"What is that?"

Sun Licheng stared in horror at the giant sphere. It was a massive round ball constructed entirely of bones.

Before Sun Licheng could recover from his shock, accompanied by a deafening roar, a monster towering at least twenty meters high strode out from the dark.

"How can there be such a huge skeleton soldier?"

Caroline let out a scream.