After the meeting adjourned, Chen Xu walked while reviewing the information on the three dungeons, accompanied by a middle-aged man.
This was Wu Houde, the Vice Commander of the Hurricane Warband.
The three dungeons were: Sandworm Scourge, Black Anomaly, and Yellow Sand Chaos.
All three dungeons were located in the West Wasteland, just outside Arid Land City. Arid Land City was situated right next to Mohai City.
Sandworm Scourge consisted of a vast expanse of desert terrain.
Beneath the overwhelming yellow sands lurked countless insects.
Equipped with hard carapaces, incredibly fast-acting toxins, and the ability to dive freely through the sand, these insects had become the most dangerous killers in the desert.
The Hurricane Warband had suffered a major setback when they first explored this dungeon.
As the pioneering team left the dungeon entrance and ventured deeper, they were ambushed by the insects.
The silent desert suddenly came alive as a sea of bugs erupted from the sand, relentlessly attacking the team members.
Some of these insects even possessed quicksand magic, forcing the pioneers to defend against attacks while constantly moving to avoid being swallowed by the shifting ground.
In the end, only a few members with flight skills managed to survive by luck.
"Vice Commander Wu, how did you handle it after that?"
"Sigh, we could only issue missions to hire mages and cultivators proficient in earth spells or earth daoist laws to terraform the desert land.
We then built defensive fortresses around the dungeon entrance and advanced bit by bit. Otherwise, no matter how many people we sent in, it wouldn't be enough to feed those insects."
Wu Houde spoke with a look of helplessness. Personnel were the most precious resource for any warband. Losing experienced veterans was an unacceptable blow.
Chen Xu nodded. Although this method of advancement was slow, it was steady and minimized casualties.
"What about the Black Anomaly dungeon? Why is there so little information?"
Chen Xu flipped through the pages regarding the Black Anomaly, which were few in number.
"If we managed to carve out some territory in the sandworm area, we are still at the starting line with the Black Anomaly. Even the name of the dungeon was only unlocked after we killed a countless number of calamity monsters."
"Are those calamity monsters that fierce?"
"I wouldn't say fierce, but their numbers are vast, and they feel no pain and have no weak points. Although they look humanoid, they can still attack even if their heads are severed.
You have to completely dismantle them to truly eliminate one. If the dungeon entrance weren't a border fortress, we probably wouldn't even be able to hold the entrance.
Furthermore, the calamity monsters are infectious, which is the biggest headache."
Chen Xu secretly speculated. Infectious, humanoid, and still functional without a head—were these an enhanced version of zombies?
Zombies versus skeletons... that sounded interesting.
"Lastly, do you know anything about Yellow Sand Chaos, Vice Commander Wu?"
Wu Houde shook his head. "I don't know much. The Hurricane Warband focuses mainly on Sandworm Scourge, Black Anomaly, and a few others. Yellow Sand Chaos is primarily being handled by Daxia officials.
However, the academy judged that Yellow Sand Chaos, Sandworm Scourge, and Black Anomaly might have originally belonged to the same world and share some connection. They asked us to help investigate, but we didn't find much."
"That vast territory is ruled by the Yellow Sand Alliance. The alliance is composed of ten tribes. Daxia's goal is to secretly replace one of the tribes and then unify the entire alliance."
During their conversation, Chen Xu finished reading the materials.
To summarize simply, the two conquest-type dungeons were essentially skeletons versus insects and skeletons versus zombies.
As for Yellow Sand Chaos, Daxia wanted to disguise the skeleton soldiers as the army of the Desert God.
The Desert God was the primary deity in Yellow Sand Chaos, worshipped by every tribe.
Since the World Will needed to accelerate the dungeon conquest this time, the original pace of allying with some tribes to suppress others had to be discarded.
Now they had to fight one against nine, necessitating external support.
Chen Xu's skeleton army was that external support.
Coincidentally, legends in that world said the Desert God came from the underworld. It was perfectly logical for the army of an underworld god to be composed of skeletons.
The two of them took a temporary teleportation array to the Heavenly Crafts Academy area.
"You must be Chen Xu."
Shortly after stepping out of the array, Chen Xu was stopped by someone.
"I am."
He turned to see a woman with her hair in a bun, wearing exotic robes.
"I am Huang Chunran, the primary person in charge of Yellow Sand Chaos."
The two shook hands.
"Vice Commander Wu, long time no see."
"Captain Huang."
After a brief greeting, Huang Chunran led them toward a workshop, explaining along the way. "The artisans of the Heavenly Crafts Academy worked through the night to prepare the outfits. We were just waiting for your skeleton soldiers.
We estimate we need about 30,000 skeleton soldiers, or 20,000 at the very least. I hope this won't interfere with your other conquest plans."
"Is 30,000 enough? How about I give you more... say, 300,000?"
Chen Xu was not a stingy person. Now sitting on an army of a million, lending a few hundred thousand to allies was a trivial matter. Sending only 30,000 would sound embarrassing.
Huang Chunran was startled by his words. "No, no, 30,000 is enough. Any more and the artisans won't be able to produce enough outfits."
Beside them, Wu Houde couldn't help but glance at Chen Xu. To offer 300,000 so casually made it seem as if that number was merely the tip of the iceberg of his skeleton army.
The three entered the workshop, where several artisans from the Heavenly Crafts Academy quickly approached upon seeing Huang Chunran.
"The equipment is calibrated. Where are the skeleton soldiers?"
Huang Chunran turned to look at Chen Xu.
Chen Xu looked at the size of the workshop, which didn't seem like it could hold 30,000 people. He asked, "This place can't hold that many at once, right?"
"Summon 3,000 at a time. Have them stand on the white dots on the floor. The mechanical arms above will dress them. Then the floor will descend to send them onto the military train."
Following the instructions, Chen Xu raised his hand and summoned 3,000 skeleton soldiers, each perfectly positioned on a white dot.
"Impressive. Your mental strength control is quite sophisticated."
One of the artisans praised him while pressing a button on a remote control.
Six thousand mechanical arms descended from the ceiling and began the dressing process.
Five seconds later, the dressing was complete. The floor beneath the skeletons descended and then rose again, the entire process taking less than ten seconds.
The artisan nodded at Chen Xu, signaling him to continue.
Two minutes later, all 30,000 skeleton soldiers were loaded onto the train.
"Sister Huang, I'll provide you with a Black Knight for support as well."
With that, he raised his hand and summoned Xuan Chu.
"My Lord."
"This is Xuan Chu, my capable assistant. He can command those 30,000 skeleton soldiers."
Chen Xu introduced Xuan Chu to Huang Chunran.
...
【Destiny Seeker, currently entering the dungeon Sandworm Scourge. Current completion progress: 10%】
【Dungeon conquest has reached the second stage. Unlocking primary biological information: Sandworm race】
【Sandworms: The absolute rulers of this desert. Aside from sand, every living thing is on their menu, including their own kind. The sandworm race is highly prone to mutation, so many unique entities may appear within the swarm, such as insects that can cast magic.
The desert gave them life, but it has also become their cage. The sky is their eternal forbidden zone. Fly into the heavens and slaughter these troublesome insects.】
"An eternal forbidden zone?"
Reading the panel prompt, Chen Xu had an idea.
"Vice Commander Wu, none of these insects can fly, right?"
"None. Some can leap about three meters high, but that is the limit we've encountered."
"Then let's set a trap."
Chen Xu summoned 1,000 skeleton soldiers and ordered them to march into the depths of the desert.
Then, he summoned Sindragosa.
"Roar—"
"Sindragosa, take to the skies!"
Chen Xu rode Sindragosa into the air, looking down at the advancing skeleton soldiers below.
After a while...
Movement appeared in the desert.
"Finally, they're here."
The skeleton soldiers venturing deep into the desert had caught the attention of the sandworms, which began pouncing from all directions.
Chen Xu patted Sindragosa's skull. "Sindragosa, fly down and give those bugs a blast of Frost Breath."
"Roar—"
A violent blast of Frost Breath descended from the sky. The powerful impact force sent the insects beneath the sand flying into the air.
The power of extreme cold spread rapidly. With just one breath, a vast area of frozen earth was created, permanently sealing those insects in ice.
"Woohoo! Having an aerial unit really makes a difference."
Rate on N.U.
