What was even more spine-chilling was that within this rapidly spreading sea of mist, countless twisted figures were condensing and appearing at a terrifying speed!
Crack! Crack!
Decayed Skeletons pierced through the confines of the gray mist, and broken bone fragments rubbed against each other to form shapes.
There were shambling zombies whose clothes had long rotted into rags, whose flesh was shriveled and clung tightly to their Skeletons, and whose eye sockets flickered with ghastly green soul fire; there were swift Skeleton Warriors wielding rusty swords, with tattered armor stuck between their ribs; and there were numerous Black-Armored Skeleton Cavalry, whose upper bodies were outlined in the mist—their Skeleton warhorses were also draped in crude but hideous bone armor, and they clutched bone spears sharpened from pointed leg bones!
The low growls of the undead, the friction of bones, the silent hoofbeats permeated with the stench of decay… countless terrifying noises instantly shattered the Desert's tranquility.
Black mist surged, like a tide of death, carrying this army, composed of endless Skeletons and grievances, rolling forward!
“Oh no!” Batu cried out in horror, “The black mist is coming! They’re breaking out!”
The twenty Kujit Veteran Horse Archers saw the terrifying sight of the gray-black mist engulfing countless undead rushing towards them, and their breath caught in their throats. As elites seasoned in battle, they instinctively reined in their horses, and with the horses’ movements, quickly pulled away.
But the gray mist followed closely.
The sudden black mist, like a breached sea of death, carried the bone-grinding friction and undead roars, surging fiercely. The twenty retreating Kujit Veteran Horse Archers bore the brunt of it!
“My Lord!”
The eyes of the five Holy Tree Knights suddenly sharpened like eagles. The leading knight among them once again clasped his chest and requested permission to fight, his voice steady but with an undeniable urgency: “Please allow us to attack, purify the filth in the mist, and bring them back!”
Bestour, standing beside Shen Mu, also had a solemn expression, but he was not as eager to fight as the Holy Tree Knights.
The Prairie Warrior’s gaze was fixed on his twenty subordinates being licked by the edge of the black mist. Relying on years of fighting alongside these Steppe Eagle and his absolute trust in their abilities, he suddenly waved his hand and said in a deep voice before Shen Mu could speak, “It’s fine, our Khergit Mounted Archers can hold their own and return!”
His voice was like a steadying needle, instantly quelling some of the commotion.
He stared intently at the figures, faintly discernible in the gray-black mist, yet still maintaining a strict formation: “Look! These Kujit lads aren’t that soft! Just don’t let those shadowy things get too close! Keep moving, keep your distance, and those bone fragments and rags of mist won’t be able to catch them!”
No sooner had Bestour’s voice fallen than, as if to confirm his judgment, the situation suddenly changed!
The twenty Kujit Veteran Horse Archers, shrouded in the gray mist’s shadow, showed no panic. Instead, like a startled pack of wolves, they erupted with astonishing teamwork!
Facing the surging gray mist and the faintly visible undead army within, they did not blindly accelerate. Instead, they controlled their warhorses with extreme precision.
The plump and robust Kujit Steppe Heavy Warhorses beneath them let out a resounding neigh, their thick necks held high, and at the moment the knights lightly tapped their flanks with their ankles, they suddenly surged forward!
Despite their bodies being covered in lamellar horse armor, their heavy hooves kicked up large clouds of dust on the soft sand, and their massive bodies remarkably shot forward like arrows released from a bow!
Their speed suddenly increased! Like twenty ochre-yellow lightning bolts!
Their exquisite horsemanship was displayed to its fullest at this moment, controlling their horses to turn, their movements smooth and fluid.
With a nimble, arcing side-slip, the entire team was forcefully torn away from the edge of being swallowed by the gray mist’s giant maw, opening up a crucial distance of over ten paces from the surging death qi!
And this distance was still slowly but steadily increasing under their precisely controlled gallop.
The gray mist's attack was fruitless, swirling and rolling futilely behind them, like an enraged beast being toyed with.
The zombies and Skeleton infantry that had condensed and appeared in the mist could only let out futile roars, being left far behind. Only the Skeleton Cavalry mounts, also shrouded in black mist, maintained their fierce charging momentum, breaking through the mist barrier, their sharp bone spears pointing directly at the Kujit elites ahead!
At this point, Bestour finally withdrew his gaze from his temporarily safe subordinates and turned to Shen Mu, his eyes still burning with fighting spirit, but his tone carried a hint of caution: “Lord! These black mists are very sinister, and who knows how many more bone fragments will emerge from them! Should we retreat after confirming the situation? Or… should we first deal with these arrogant pursuers right in front of us?”
He looked at the thirty or forty Black Mist Skeleton Cavalry that had charged out of the gray mist, and bared his teeth, revealing a bloodthirsty grin.
Shen Mu’s gaze swept over the relentlessly pursuing Black Mist Cavalry, which clung like maggots to bone. His ice-cold face showed no emotional fluctuations. He merely nodded almost imperceptibly, his voice flat but with a metallic, decisive killing intent: “Since they’ve delivered themselves, then take them.”
“As you command!” Bestour’s eyes blazed with fierce light. He abruptly turned his horse around and roared like thunder at the Kujit warriors who had long been poised for battle behind him: “You brats! The chance to kite them has come! Let these bone fragments taste our arrows! Shoot them—!”
“For Kujit!!!”
The Mounted Archers, who had been holding back their frustration, responded in unison!
The fifth-tier Kujit Veteran Horse Archers, the fourth-tier ordinary Mounted Archers, and even the fifteen Steppe Bandits, who had been awed by the Holy Tree Knights and were now filled with high morale, needed no further commands. Their ingrained hunting instincts instantly activated!
Dozens of elite Mounted Archers completed fluid, water-like movements almost simultaneously. They reined in their horses, their bodies pressed against their mounts as they galloped, twisting their waists forcefully, and instantly drawing their composite bows to a full moon!
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!”
A dense shower of whistling arrows tore through the air, agitated by the roars of the undead!
The Kujit’s unique mounted archery talent and their seamless coordination with their warhorses were displayed to the extreme at this moment! They did not engage in a direct confrontation. Instead, while galloping wildly, they drew a large, reverse arc, like a flock of eagles circling their prey, maintaining the ideal shooting distance from their pursuers while unleashing a deadly volley of arrows behind them!
The arrows were not aimed indiscriminately!
Whether veteran archers or Steppe Bandits, their keen eyes were fixed on the two faint but incredibly conspicuous eerie green soul fires beneath the Black Mist Cavalry’s helmets!
Precise! Deadly precise!
One powerful feathered arrow after another, like iron nails drawn by a magnet, precisely drilled into the eye sockets of the skulls, which were slightly exposed due to the high-speed charge, at an incredible angle!
“Thud!” “Thud!” “Thud!” “Thud!” “Thud!”
A dense series of crisp sounds, like decaying wood cracking, connected across the battlefield!
Accompanied by bone-chilling sounds of cracking bones, one Black Mist Skeleton Cavalry after another came to a sudden halt!
The soul fire in their eye sockets, when struck, extinguished completely with a “puff” like a punctured oil lamp! This was followed by the cracking of their skulls and cranial cavities!
The arrows, imbued with armor-piercing force, exploded within the cranial cavity, instantly shattering their core of existence!
Deprived of the soul fire’s sustenance, the thick black mist enveloping them, as if losing its source, rapidly dissipated into the air with a “hissing” sound.
And those Skeletons, stripped of their life essence, along with their equally collapsing Skeleton mounts, fell heavily onto the sand with a cloud of dust, like cloth bags from which the framework had been removed, due to immense inertia. They shattered into a pile of smoking white bone fragments and scattered black armor shards, echoing the five knight remnants previously purified by the Holy Tree Knights.
The pursuing black tide, facing the Kujit elites’ precise and deadly “kiting” tactic, rapidly disintegrated as if it had struck an invisible reef!
After just a few volleys, the thirty or forty menacing Black Mist Cavalry had been reduced to a heap of smoking bone fragments, no longer posing any threat.
The few remaining riders attempted to turn and flee back into the depths of the gray mist, but were caught by the more distant elite archers, who pierced their soul fires with even more cunning arrows, causing them to follow their companions’ fate.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent.
Only the reluctant churning of the distant gray mist and the low whispers of the undead remained, along with the heavy breathing of the Kujit warriors’ warhorses and the irrepressible roar of their fighting spirit.
The golden glow of the setting sun cast a cruel and magnificent embellishment upon this killing ground.
“Very good.” Shen Mu watched Bestour’s elite Mounted Archers complete the hunt with fluid grace, a nearly imperceptible flicker of approval in his eyes.
He reined in his horse, his gaze lingering for a moment on the distant Skeleton castle and the agitated gray mist, his voice calm but undeniable: “Alright, now that the situation is clear, let’s head back.”
“Yes, My Lord!” Bestour replied, waving his hand, “Everyone! Stick close to Lord Shen Mu!”
“Yes!” everyone responded.
Dozens of warhorses produced a uniform thudding sound, merging into a decisive torrent, kicking up a sky full of dust without pause, and galloping towards New Rivadin.
On the sand dunes, only a scattering of ash and shattered bones, symbolizing death, remained, along with the deeper, more oppressive silence of the cold castle beneath the black clouds in the distance.
...
The elite cavalry led by Shen Mu, like a steel current cutting through the Desert, galloped towards New Rivadin.
The ease with which they had just dealt with the Skeleton Cavalry and Black Mist undead, though successful, made everyone’s hearts grow heavier—the threat lurking deep within the bone castle and black clouds was indeed troublesome.
The team maintained a vigilant formation, their hooves thundering, kicking up a trail of dust.
As the team once again swept past the ruins of the village that had once sheltered Chen Ping and his group, an unusual sound tore through the tranquility of their return journey.
“Clang! Bang! Crack!”
Intense metallic clashes, roars, and a grating, tooth-aching sound, like wet wood breaking, fiercely emanated from behind several crumbling walls.
Faintly mixed in were the dwarves’ characteristic, muffled, thunder-like roars, and the humans’ screams, tinged with fear and desperation.
“Something’s happening!” Bestour instantly became alert, his gaze sweeping like lightning towards the source of the sound.
Shen Mu reined in his horse and raised a hand slightly. The galloping team, as if receiving an invisible command, instantly slowed from a gallop to a walk, finally stopping at the edge of the ruins. The dust kicked up by their hooves slowly settled, revealing the scene of battle within the ruins.
Behind a half-collapsed brick wall, Chen Ping, seven dwarf warriors, and about ten other combat-ready Blue Star survivors were fighting desperately, their backs against the wreckage of a discarded truck.
Their opponents, however, were not the expected undead Skeletons, but a group of terrifyingly distorted creatures!
There were about ten of them.
Their Skeletons seemed to originate from various different creatures: there were thick leg bones like those of cattle or sheep, human arm bones, and beast skulls. But what was most horrifying was the substance that covered, or rather, “Parasitic Monsters” on these Skeletons—a slippery, fleshy mass resembling peeled frog meat, its surface covered with writhing, pitch-black nodules and dark red blood vessels.
These “muscles” did not grow on the bones; they were more like living organisms wrapping, coiling, and even invading the crevices of the Skeleton, forming a deformed symbiosis.
Their movements were swift but twisted. They wielded bone blades or directly sprayed highly corrosive, dark green viscous fluid.
The dwarves resisted fiercely with brute force and sturdy oak shields. Their heavy warhammers struck the bones covered in the disgusting fleshy membrane, producing dull cracking sounds. However, the splashing dark green fluid and shattered black flesh chunks also emitted a burning stench.
Several Blue Star males, armed with crude rebar, crowbars, and even iron pots, desperately stabbed in the gaps of the dwarf protection circle. One young man’s arm had already been burned by the dark green viscous fluid, and he let out a painful scream.
Chen Ping’s face was pale, but his eyes were firm. He was directing the remaining people to throw stones and debris from a distance under the truck wreckage to interfere.
The battle was fierce. The Parasitic Monsters fought without fear of death, and severed limbs would quickly regrow a deformed appendage from the tumors to replace them. The dwarves and survivors were clearly at a disadvantage, their circle shrinking, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Just then, the sharp-eyed Chen Ping suddenly caught sight of a figure at the edge of the ruins, sitting like a rock upon a magnificent warhorse in the setting sun.
“Lord! Lord Shen Mu!!! Help!!!” Chen Ping, in despair, roared with all his might, his voice shrill and distorted by excitement and fear.
The seven dwarves also saw Shen Mu, and the well-equipped, formidable elite cavalry behind him. A powerful light of survival instantly erupted in their tired and desperate eyes. While forcefully swinging their hammers to smash a monster’s head, they roared in unison with voices like grinding rocks: “Human Lord! Reinforce us!!!”
This cry for help was like a spark thrown into a pan of oil.
The Parasitic Monsters attacking them visibly paused. One of them, slightly different in appearance, had a skull resembling a skinned wild boar, covered with seemingly more and deeper black fleshy tumors—it suddenly turned its head, its small, glowing green eyes fixed on Shen Mu’s direction.
Then it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and made a clicking sound, signaling. (End of Chapter)
