It was unclear whether they were intimidated by Sindragosa's breath or if the hardened permafrost had physically blocked them.
After a single blast of Frost Breath, the desert returned to its silent state.
Chen Xu controlled the skeleton soldiers to move away from the frozen ground to see if he could lure the insects out again.
He specifically commanded the skeleton soldiers to stomp heavily on the ground.
Although he did not know if these insects sensed prey through vibrations, since they lived in the dark underground, they likely had no other means of detection.
As over a thousand skeleton soldiers danced upon the sand, Chen Xu's mental strength soon detected movement on the surface in the distance.
This desert was truly strange, the underground had an insulating effect on mental strength, allowing Chen Xu's senses to only spread across the surface.
"These insects actually don't dare to approach. Is it because of the permafrost? Are they afraid of the cold?"
Looking down from the sky, Chen Xu noticed that the insects were circling the permafrost from a distance.
They looked like predators that had found their prey but were terrified of the unfamiliar environment.
Since they didn't dare to come over, he would take the initiative.
The skeleton soldiers charged rapidly toward the swarm's position.
As the vibrations drew closer, the desire to hunt seemed to overcome their fear of the unknown.
The swarm also took the initiative to rush toward the skeleton soldiers.
When the two forces met, the swarm pounced from the sand again, using their pincers and mouthparts to gnaw on the skeletons while trying to drag them underground.
This time, Chen Xu was in no hurry to have Sindragosa fly down and use Frost Breath. Instead, he intended to observe if more swarms would arrive.
However, after waiting for a long time, the current swarm was nearly wiped out by the skeleton soldiers, and no new swarm appeared.
"Do they have a sense of territory?"
Chen Xu speculated that although these sandworms belonged to the same race, they likely had individual hunting grounds because they also viewed their own kind as food.
He wondered if there was a queen worm similar to an ant queen.
He patted Sindragosa's skull, and the dragon immediately understood his intent.
With a low roar, Sindragosa descended rapidly and unleashed Frost Breath upon the remaining swarm.
"Let's go. We're heading back."
He withdrew the skeleton soldiers and the two large chunks of permafrost back into the Necrotic Kingdom.
The permafrost encased a large number of insect corpses. Chen Xu wanted to sink them into the Wailing Lake to see if the insect race could be converted into ghosts.
After all, the Ghost Factory was said to be an automated facility, but it still required ghosts to be deployed inside to operate.
He rode Sindragosa over the defensive fortress built by the Hurricane Warband and withdrew the dragon into the Necrotic Kingdom as well.
The fortress was too small, or rather, the buildings were too densely packed, leaving no open space for a dragon to land.
Chen Xu had to fly down manually.
"Vice Commander Wu," Chen Xu called out to Wu Houde.
"Little friend Chen." Wu Houde immediately ran over. For this operation, Xia Qiming had given strict orders, making it clear that Chen Xu was the primary commander and that the Hurricane Warband had to cooperate unconditionally. "Do you have a battle plan?"
"Vice Commander Wu, how much manpower does your warband have here?"
"We have 56 combat squads, 14 logistics squads, and 8 construction squads. The combat squads are standard size with eight people per team. The logistics and construction teams vary, but we have a total of 972 people," Wu Houde answered quickly. As a seasoned vice commander, he knew the personnel arrangements for every dungeon by heart.
"Do you have a way to lure those insects out?"
"We don't. We only have methods to drive them away. They find certain scents repulsive, so we've coated the outside of the fortress with liquids containing those smells." Wu Houde felt a bit helpless. They barely had time to hide from them, so how could they have researched how to lure those damn bugs?
"Then a speedrun won't be easy. Without a way to gather the swarms, we can only hope for the existence of a queen worm. If we find the queen, we can lure the other swarms."
"There should be a queen. These insects couldn't have just appeared from the sand."
"Divide the combat squads into nine groups. I'll have the skeleton soldiers and bone dragons lead the way. Once we find a queen or a large nest, we'll surround them."
"Nine groups? You have nine bone dragons?" Wu Houde shouted in shock.
The vice commander's voice drew the attention of the surrounding warband members.
"Yes. Is there something strange about that?"
Chen Xu raised his hand toward the sky and summoned Sindragosa and the other eight Undead Bone Dragons to circle in the air.
The roars of the bone dragons echoed through the clouds.
"What's happening?"
"Is it an enemy attack? What kind of insect makes that much noise?"
Some members resting in the buildings were startled out by the roars.
Seeing their teammates staring up with wide mouths, they also looked toward the sky.
"My god, so many dragons!"
Wu Houde also looked up with his mouth agape. It was hard to imagine that a vice commander of a prestigious warband would lose his composure like this.
"Vice Commander Wu, there's no need for that. The Hurricane Warband is quite famous in Daxia, and you are a vice commander. Why are you acting like this?"
Chen Xu was very confused. They were just bone dragons. There were only nine of them, which was nothing compared to the number of skeletons he had.
"Those are dragons! They are legendary creatures! Even a bone dragon is a legendary creature! In the most dangerous moment of my life, I only faced two legendary creatures at once, and you have nine. Nine!"
"What is Xia Qiming doing, sending you to a mid-tier dungeon? Have they finished conquering all the high-tier dungeons already? What a waste of combat power. I'm going to file a complaint against him!"
Wu Houde became more agitated as he spoke. If his skin hadn't been toughened by years of wind and sand, he would have been blushing furiously.
"Vice Commander Wu, don't be so excited. Clearing the dungeon and leveling up is what matters most," Chen Xu quickly consoled him.
"Those insects hate the cold and can only move through sand. They can't break through permafrost frozen by Frost Breath. I'll have the Undead Bone Dragons freeze a safe path."
"Then I'll send the skeleton army to attract the swarms. Have your people coordinate with the skeletons to slaughter them."
After speaking, Chen Xu flew back onto Sindragosa's head and commanded the dragons to fly out.
As they flew, they unleashed Frost Breath toward the ground, forming nine paths of permafrost.
Along the way, he released the skeleton heroes like Bone Guard One and the rest of the skeleton army, letting them spread out from the defensive fortress to clear every insect they encountered.
"Vice Commander Wu, do they even need us?" a Hurricane member on the watchtower asked, looking at the massive skeleton army with confusion.
"Nonsense! Do you want to level up or not? When a powerhouse is carrying us, don't you even know how to leech? Everyone, including logistics and construction squads, divide into nine groups according to your ID numbers and follow the skeleton army. How much experience you get depends on yourselves."
Looking at the endless skeleton army, Wu Houde assumed Chen Xu was specifically giving them experience. After all, with a skeleton army of this scale, he wouldn't be surprised if they just steamrolled the entire dungeon.
What he didn't know was that Chen Xu simply wasn't sure of the skeleton army's current strength. Xia Qiming had told him to let the Hurricane Warband cooperate, which led him to believe the dungeon monsters were difficult enough to require teamwork.
A single breath from the bone dragons created nine permafrost zones nearly ten kilometers long.
Chen Xu stroked Sindragosa's head and signaled the other bone dragons to stop their breath. A ten-kilometer zone should be enough for the skeleton army to fight for a while.
He withdrew the other dragons and flew back on Sindragosa.
As he flew, Chen Xu realized something was wrong. The skeleton army was advancing far too quickly.
He had only flown seven kilometers back when he encountered the army again.
Before the skeleton army, the swarm's numerical advantage vanished completely.
In the past, dozens of insects would surround one prey. Now, a single insect was being mobbed by hundreds or even thousands of skeleton soldiers.
Before the skeleton soldiers could even swing their blades, the insects pouncing from the sand were frozen into ice sculptures by the aura of cold.
Furthermore, most of the swarms couldn't even get close to the skeleton army before being pinned to the ground by a rain of arrows from the Skeleton Archers behind.
There were also the Skeleton Mages casting Blizzard, with every falling icicle taking out a small cluster of insects.
This resulted in the skeleton army spending more time marching than actually fighting.
Additionally, a large group of people followed along the permafrost paths.
Seeing the skeleton army killing so efficiently, they also went into a frenzy. Without even aiming, they unleashed a barrage of skills toward the writhing sand ahead.
"This is one of Daxia's famous warbands?" Chen Xu whispered to himself while flying in the sky.
He looked down at the disorganized Hurricane Warband and Wu Houde, who was charging at the very front, even ahead of the skeleton army. Wu Houde was chugging a large mana potion and recklessly firing qigong waves toward both sides of the path, looking very much like a Martial Artist.
Chen Xu's previous impression of Daxia's core strength was the refined, otherworldly feel of people like Zhang Jingping and Ye Bufan.
But the scene before him told him that Ye Bufan and the others were likely the top-tier power, not the average backbone.
"Hahaha! I've reached level 55! How refreshing! This is wonderful!"
Wu Houde's wild laughter was almost as loud as the dragon's roar, striking Chen Xu's ears directly.
【Killed a yellow sand sandworm, gained 300 experience points.】
【Killed a yellow sand sandworm, gained 300 experience points. Obtained a sandworm venom sac.】
...
【Class: Lord of the Undead (Legendary-?)】
【Level: 22】
Looking at his panel, Chen Xu found that his level had soared to 22. In less than half an hour, he had gained 12 levels.
"Leveling up isn't that hard. Why is Vice Commander Wu so happy?"
Chen Xu scratched his head, unable to understand.
Rate on N.U.
