"Can we kill it?"
"We can!"
Receiving Bone Guard Two's reply, Chen Xu chose to trust his second skeleton hero, just as he had given Bone Guard One the authority to lead the troops and wipe out the ten races in the initial dungeon.
"You're level 9 now, so you can take on your sublimation quest. Is this green dragon your chosen target?"
"Yes. Although hunting a wounded green dragon isn't exactly a fair fight, there are no better targets at the moment."
【Legendary Hunt: As the second skeleton hero under the great Necrotic Lord, you are a natural-born hunter. Legendary creatures are your prey. Now, a foolish green dragon has dared to invade the Necrotic Lord's territory. Hunt it and offer the green dragon's head to the Necrotic Lord!】
Seeing Bone Guard Two's determination, the quest was set. Chen Xu could only offer his full support. After all, a parent naturally dotes on their own child.
"So, what's your plan? Or rather, your hunting strategy?" Chen Xu asked.
"My Lord, the forest provides the green dragon with natural energy, and the lingering warmth of the sunlight aids in healing its wounds. Please command the skeleton soldiers to make preparations in these woods. When night falls and the forest is at its weakest, burn it to the ground.
Without the supply of natural energy, this wounded green dragon will lose its last hope. Being swallowed and hunted by the undead is its final destiny."
Knowing Bone Guard Two's plan, Chen Xu had another command task. He redirected some of the skeleton soldiers who were previously gathering corpses for Bone Guard One. They went to gather the still-burning campfires from the goblin camp and throw in all the wood they could find.
Chen Xu didn't have any fire spells, nor did he have any skeleton mages available. He had never tried something as advanced as rubbing sticks together to start a fire. If these existing campfires went out, he would have a headache trying to find another source.
After piling the campfires together and adding a large amount of fresh wood, Chen Xu ordered the skeleton soldiers to collect the clothes from the goblin corpses. Although he didn't know where the goblins got the technology to weave clothes, it didn't stop him from using them to make simple torches. By wrapping the clothes around branches, a portable light source was ready.
However, facing such a large forest, Chen Xu, who had never committed arson before, didn't know if these preparations were enough.
If the fire spread too slowly, Chen Xu would have to intervene manually by using the Necrotic Space to teleport around and set fires.
...
Night fell. The cleanup of the goblin camp had long been completed. The total number of skeleton soldiers had reached 500,000. Since there was no combat during the day, the skill improvements were limited.
【Raise Skeleton (Level 24): Summon a skeleton. If a corpse is consumed for the summon, gain extra bonuses based on the quality of the corpse.】
【Skeleton Hero: Bone Guard One (Level 16)】
【Skeleton Hero: Bone Guard Two (Level 9)】
Next, it was time to execute the dragon-hunting plan.
Act One: Burning the Green Dragon Forest.
Groups of skeleton soldiers holding burning wooden sticks were sent up the cliffs by Chen Xu. Starting from the perimeter, they began to set the forest ablaze.
But it wasn't winter, and the climate wasn't particularly dry. If the fire were left to spread naturally, it would be too slow. A forest this large might take weeks to burn down completely.
Chen Xu could only use the Necrotic Space to take groups of arsonist skeleton soldiers and teleport back and forth through the forest. He set a fire every few dozen meters and then immediately teleported to the next spot.
It took several hours of this before the entire forest could be considered properly on fire.
Finally, Chen Xu teleported to Bone Guard Two's side.
"The forest is too large, and the environment isn't ideal. This is the best I can do."
"My Lord, as the fire spreads, the power of nature is being suppressed. A wounded green dragon can no longer replenish its energy from such a thin natural environment."
"What's next? Do we start the fight directly?"
"Send some skeleton soldiers into the lair first. Let our green dragon friend vent its final bit of morning grumpiness."
Chen Xu checked the distance between their current position and the entrance to the dragon's lair. It was about 300 meters. At such a close range, and since he wasn't exactly a pro at micro-management, he decided to stay further back.
Chen Xu retreated to where it all began—the pool at the dungeon entrance.
Then, he dropped the skeleton soldiers directly outside the green dragon's lair and sent Bone Guard One over as well. He let Bone Guard One command the soldiers according to Bone Guard Two's plan.
Fortunately, his mental power had increased again. Otherwise, his original one-kilometer mental coverage wouldn't have been enough to pull this off.
Leaving the stage to the two skeleton heroes, Bone Guard One commanded a hundred skeleton soldiers to enter the mouth of the cave. Not long after, a roar echoed through the sky.
"Roar!!! Disgusting skeletons! Lowly ants! How dare you trespass into my territory!"
A thick surge of life energy erupted from the lair, causing the skeleton soldiers outside to instinctively take a step back.
The hundred skeleton soldiers inside the lair immediately lost contact.
"Stupid goblins! How have you been managing my territory? How dare you let skeletons disturb the great Oleander's sleep!"
A green dragon crawled out of the lair, cursing loudly. It was about fifteen meters long. One of the wings on its back was missing, and there were several wounds on its chest where the dragon scales had been ripped away and had yet to regrow.
As Oleander crawled out and saw the dense crowd of skeletons surrounding the area, along with the ten-meter-tall giant skeleton that was Bone Guard One, its body froze instantly. Its dragon claws curved, digging deep into the soil.
After a moment, Oleander shook its head to make sure it wasn't hallucinating from the severity of its injuries. Only then did it face reality: in the time it took to have a nap, its home had been surrounded. No, wait—surrounded by skeletons.
"Which undead being do you serve? Dracula? Zul? Or those annoying Black Magic schools?"
Unfortunately, the only response Oleander received was the sound of wood burning in the forest behind it.
Receiving no answer, Oleander pretended to continue questioning.
"Then..."
Before it could finish, a powerful life breath erupted, shooting toward Bone Guard One.
Bone Guard One raised his shield to defend. But against a breath attack at such close range—especially one of the opposing attribute—he could only hold his shield and retreat.
The surrounding skeleton soldiers were caught in the blast and exploded, triggering ice rings that turned the area into a forbidden zone for the living.
Suddenly, Oleander felt as if its soul had been locked onto. It immediately stopped its breath attack and looked around for the target.
In the next instant, a spear pierced into the wound on Oleander's chest.
"Roar!!!"
The green dragon was completely enraged.
Its massive body charged directly into the mass of skeleton soldiers, its mouth continuously spewing life breath.
Wherever it went, the immense power of the dragon's body easily crushed every skeleton soldier underfoot. Even a slight clip from the dragon's tail resulted in a skeleton's death.
The continuous pouring of life breath melted wave after wave of skeleton soldiers.
No one wanted to step up and face the brunt of a crazed dragon's wrath.
Bone Guard One commanded the skeleton soldiers to keep swarming forward. Now was the best opportunity to wear down the green dragon's strength.
Ice rings exploded one after another. The speed at which the skeleton soldiers were being destroyed was something Chen Xu had never seen before. In just the first encounter, over ten thousand skeletons were lost.
Fortunately, the green dragon's breath didn't last long. Without its breath, the dragon had to rely on pure physical strength to vent its anger on the skeleton soldiers.
However, the skeleton soldiers' attacks couldn't pierce the dragon's scales. Even when Bone Guard One found an opening to step forward and attempt a Shield Bash to stun the dragon, he was easily sent flying by a flick of its tail.
The situation was like a Tyrannosaurus rex entering a flock of sheep. All Chen Xu and the skeleton heroes could do was have the skeleton soldiers continuously exhaust the dragon's power. Only then would they have a chance to complete the hunt of a legendary creature.
Ten thousand, fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand... This damned green dragon had killed a full two hundred thousand skeleton soldiers. This was the first time Chen Xu had suffered such a massive loss since his class change. Although a large portion of the skeleton soldiers had actively charged toward the dragon under his command to contribute their final ice ring and accelerate the exhaustion, the number still made Chen Xu's heart ache.
These were skeleton soldiers he had spent so much time grinding to summon!
Fortunately, after killing over two hundred thousand skeleton soldiers, the green dragon finally grew tired. Its swiping claws, swinging head, and lashing tail all began to slow down.
At the same time, the rage caused by its reopened wounds began to cool.
'This won't do. There are too many of these skeletons. I can't kill them all. I need to leave first,' Oleander thought to itself.
Originally, Oleander thought it had been targeted by some legendary undead creature or a magic academy. Bone Guard One's massive frame had deceived Oleander's judgment.
But as Bone Guard One repeatedly retreated under its breath, Oleander realized that the skeleton's strength didn't match its size—at least not by the standards of a legendary creature.
So Oleander believed that even while injured, it could tear all these ants disturbing its sleep into pieces.
But after killing this many, the surrounding skeletons were still like a swarm of ants. Oleander lost its will to fight and planned to flee.
"Bone Guard One, this green dragon is planning to run. Stop it!" Bone Guard Two, who had sensed the dragon's intent to retreat, immediately communicated with Bone Guard One.
Furthermore, the power of Destined Death locked onto Oleander and Bone Guard Two.
Feeling that it was being influenced by something, Oleander realized even more that there was something wrong with these skeletons. It dragged its tired body and ran in the opposite direction of Bone Guard One.
Vanguard's Courage aura expanded. Bone Guard One charged forward and delivered a Shield Bash.
The green dragon swung its tail to block, but this time its attack wasn't as powerful as before. It failed to knock Bone Guard One away. Instead, Bone Guard One caught the tail. He raised his shield again and slammed it down onto the dragon's tail. With a loud crash, the tail was smashed into the mud.
"Roar!"
After letting out a howl, the green dragon turned and lunged at Bone Guard One. Its claws pinned the shield while its bloody maw snapped at the skeleton's head.
Just as Bone Guard One and the green dragon were locked in a stalemate, Bone Guard Two leaped from the shield toward the dragon's chest and grabbed the spear, pulling it out.
"Roar!"
The pain from the wound stimulated the green dragon once more. It wasn't given time to counterattack. Bone Guard Two raised his spear. The green dragon, already locked on, was now prey whose fate had been decided.
The spear was thrown and disappeared. In the next instant, it appeared in the exact same spot as the previous wound. However, this time the spear sank half a meter deeper.
The intense pain drove the green dragon into a frenzy again. Its massive power swatted Bone Guard One to the ground.
Then, it reached out with its claws to grab Bone Guard Two.
Unable to dodge in time, Bone Guard Two was caught in the dragon's claws and brought before its eyes. Those were dragon eyes filled with fury. Then, a violent life breath erupted once more, completely covering Bone Guard Two's body.
"It's over. The main attacker is gone." Seeing this through his mental perception from the rear, Chen Xu thought to himself that things had taken a turn for the worse.
The dragon's breath ended. However, only the lower half of Bone Guard Two's body had dissolved in the breath. His upper half seemed to be locked in place by some power.
The green dragon was greatly surprised and spewed another life breath at Bone Guard Two.
"Heh, it's useless. The hunting ritual is complete. Green dragon, your end is decided. Death has already occurred!" After saying this, Bone Guard Two, still enveloped in the breath, also began to melt away.
However, he didn't dissolve from the breath. Instead, he transformed into a surge of pure mental power that channeled into the spear in the dragon's chest. Under the impact of the soul power, the spear pierced completely into the green dragon's body, stabbing into its heart.
And then, the green dragon froze in place. The light of intelligence in its eyes vanished. Its soul had been devoured.
【Hero unit Bone Guard Two has completed the advancement and sublimation quest.】
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