Chapter Seventy-Four: Slaying the Skeleton Soldiers

“Do you recognize this?” Sun Licheng pointed to the emblem on the shield and asked Mr. Skillful, who simply shook his head.

After a moment’s thought, Sun Licheng understood. Mr. Skillful was just a logistics computer from an airship; he wouldn’t know much about ground warfare matters.

Finding nothing of value on the skeleton, Sun Licheng examined the other items. The clay jars were filled with red ore, which he guessed must be mercury ore from the mine.

Mercury cannot exist freely in nature; it vaporizes quickly and must be kept in sealed containers. Those rivers of mercury in novels are pure nonsense! The main component of mercury ore is cinnabar, the red stone often used for ornaments and jewelry on Earth, highly prized by people.

But these were utterly useless to Sun Licheng. He tossed the ore back, brushed the dust from his hands, and consulted with Mr. Skillful. Then, carrying his blade, he entered the mine.

The mine was deep, and before long, they lost all natural light. Sun Licheng’s eyes automatically switched to infrared mode, painting the world in fiery hues.

It was then he noticed something unusual—not far ahead, large clusters of energy drifted about, resembling ghastly faces, truly frightening.

Though he’d been in this magical world for quite some time, Sun Licheng still felt uneasy. He asked Mr. Skillful, “What are those things?”

Mr. Skillful thought for a moment, his answer uncertain. “These energy clusters are saturated with the aura of death. I suspect they’re a group of undead. Ordinary weapons are useless against them. Boss, I suggest we retreat now and return once we’re better prepared.”

Sun Licheng considered this and agreed, slowly withdrawing from the mine with Mr. Skillful.

He was troubled by these nearly immune foes. Upon returning to camp, he and Mr. Skillful secluded themselves for a discussion.

“Boss, this kind of magic array can effectively purify evil energies. I suspect it will work against the undead.”

Mr. Skillful’s crimson beam flickered across the screen as he explained to Sun Licheng. After searching through the archives, Mr. Skillful finally discovered a purification array.

“But how do we use it?” Sun Licheng wondered aloud. This was a magic array, not an offensive spell.

Mr. Skillful replied after a moment’s thought, “We can engrave it on armor and weapons. Then, just use a magic crystal to activate it. I also have a storage array here—a curious thing. Why did Their Majesties give me this?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.

Sun Licheng was hardly surprised by Their Majesties’ actions; as long as it worked, that was enough.

With his firepower now upgraded, his flames could reach nearly nine hundred degrees. He was able to process bronze directly by hand. Combined with elemental guidance, he’d become a precision CNC center—far more advanced than any on Earth.

Soon, a batch of exquisite bronze magic array plates were finished. These plates would be embedded in their vine armor. Whenever attacked by undead or other deathly entities, the plates would unleash purification energy, dealing damage to the foes.

He also painstakingly engraved several purification arrays and a storage array onto his long blade using bronze wire. Since he’d given the Mountain-Cleaving Saber to Little Medusa Vina, this war trophy seized from the goblin hero had become his main weapon. Luckily, the blade was large enough to accommodate the arrays—bronze wire was far less refined than laser engraving, after all.

After finishing, Sun Licheng tested the arrays; the results were impressive. Aside from the need to constantly recharge them, there were no major drawbacks.

“If only I had enchanting abilities,” Sun Licheng thought gloomily. But according to the information he possessed, enchanting weapons and equipment required a special stone called a soul stone. He hadn’t seen one yet, so enchanting remained a distant dream.

By the time he’d outfitted himself and Mr. Skillful, the bright moon hung high in the sky.

After dinner, Sun Licheng led Mr. Skillful to the mouth of the valley, ready to test his weapon.

It seemed sunlight suppressed the undead, but at night, the valley’s gloom thickened. Large clusters of undead roamed relentlessly; occasionally, the sound of bones scraping could be heard—the skeleton soldiers on patrol.

Sun Licheng took a deep breath, checked the magic array armor on himself and Mr. Skillful, found nothing amiss, and strode into the valley gripping his blade.

As the bronze plates clinked and scraped, the undead detected their prey like sharks sensing blood, surging toward Sun Licheng and his companion.

A glint flashed in Sun Licheng’s eyes. He swung his blade; with a chilling scream, a mass of energy turned to ashes in the mist—a slain undead.

With that first strike, Sun Licheng’s confidence soared. He hacked and shouted, advancing slowly toward the camp in the valley. Beside him, Mr. Skillful wielded a heavy shield and a bronze cleaver, guarding their rear and flanks.

Thus, cutting their way through, the pair reached the gates of the encampment, where they found a dozen pallid skeleton soldiers.

Most of these skeletons wore no armor, holding only battered bronze swords or axes. Only two wore tattered armor, wielding iron swords and shields emblazoned with skulls, the ghostly flames in their eyes radiating icy coldness.

Sun Licheng became extremely cautious; these skeletons’ gear surpassed that of ordinary goblin warriors. But upon fighting them, he found most shattered with a single blow, except for the two armored ones. Their numbers alone posed any threat.

“Just like in Heroes of Might and Magic, these skeleton soldiers are trash. Aside from instilling fear, they have no real offensive power. That tribe probably fled in terror.”

Sun Licheng thought with dark amusement as he cut down an armored skeleton.

He’d forgotten, though, that his equipment was now fully enchanted, so the undead’s attacks and defenses were constantly purified by the arrays, rendering them ineffective.

In short order, the two cleared out all enemies in the town.

Looking at the scattered bones and skeleton weapons, Sun Licheng laughed heartily. Though these skeletons were weak fighters, they were excellent transport captains. Their weapons were useless on Earth, but in this primitive society, they were precious materials. With his firepower and elemental guidance—and his skill in making refining furnaces—he could turn this junk into treasure, equipping his homeland’s warriors.

“If only there were more skeleton soldiers,” Sun Licheng lamented as he had Mr. Skillful gather the gear, still dissatisfied.

After dealing with the enemies in the camp, Sun Licheng and Mr. Skillful decided to head for the mine.

Upon arrival, Sun Licheng faced utter darkness—the deathly energies pouring from within.

“Damn! The death energy in the mine is thick,” Sun Licheng muttered, furrowing his brow and sighing inwardly, bracing himself for another fierce battle…