17: Chapter 17 The Fear of the Dead, the Ultimate Nightmare of the Living

"Full army, advance!"

Xu Qin raised his war spear and swung onto the Warthog.

"Today, we're going to loot every single stronghold we can see on the map!"

Boom, boom, boom!

Over six hundred Undead units started moving in unison.

The sound of feet on sand merged into one.

The army was more than twice as large as it had been an hour ago.

Two hundred and eighty-two Undead Sand Jackals walked in the center.

Six leaders were scattered throughout the ranks; their bodies were a size larger than the surrounding undead, making them especially conspicuous.

Xu Qin rode on the back of the Warthog, looking at the mighty Undead Army behind him, feeling an overwhelming sense of security.

"This is what you call a natural disaster."

...

Half an hour later.

The Undead Army arrived at the second indigenous stronghold.

The vision transmitted back by the Skeleton Vulture showed that this was still a Sand Jackal village.

Low walls, mud-brick shacks, bonfires.

The layout was almost identical to the last one.

There were fifty-three red dots.

One of them was a large red dot—a leader.

Xu Qin took one look and couldn't even be bothered to arrange any tactics.

"What a joke."

He stood up from the Warthog's back.

"Six hundred against fifty-three, why bother with any tactics?"

"Charge straight at them."

The only deployment he made was to have the twelve Skeleton Sand Scorpions spread out and ambush the exits around the stronghold.

"If any try to run out, stab them to death."

Then he looked at the six Undead leaders.

"The big guy inside is yours."

"Professional counterpart."

Xu Qin raised his war spear.

"Attack."

The six-hundred-strong Undead Army rushed out simultaneously.

Rumble, rumble~

The Skeleton Warthogs took the lead. Fifty-six skeleton pigs lined up in three rows, tusks facing forward, their bone hooves kicking up clouds of sand.

Following closely behind were two hundred and eighty-two Undead Sand Jackals.

Their charging posture was on all fours, bone claws digging into the sand surface, their speed ridiculously fast.

Completely different from the Skeleton Warthogs.

Low walls?

The first row of Skeleton Warthogs crashed straight into them.

Boom!

Broken bricks flew everywhere.

The two-meter-high mud wall was instantly smashed into a five-meter-wide gap.

The Undead Army poured in through the gap.

The Sand Jackal Hunters inside the stronghold had just rushed out of their shacks and looked up...

"Awooo?"

Why is everything full of bones?

Immediately after...

The tusks of the Skeleton Warthogs.

The claws of the Undead Sand Jackals.

The poisonous mist of the Skeleton Sand Snakes.

The corrosive fluid of the Skeleton Sand Lizards.

Covering them from all directions, overwhelming them.

But what truly made them collapse wasn't the numbers.

It was the six Undead Sand Jackal Leaders walking out from the military formation.

Their appearance was almost identical to the living Sand Jackal Leaders.

Only their bone horns were longer, purple fire burned in their eye sockets, and cold soul flames pulsed in their chests.

The moment the living Sand Jackal Hunters saw them, their movements stiffened.

Xu Qin saw it clearly from the rear.

In the eyes of those Sand Jackal Hunters, a kind of emotion appeared that he had never seen on their faces before.

It was fear!

On the panel, a line of prompts popped up.

[Race Suppression triggered!]

[Undead Sand Jackal Leader applies the "Fear of the Dead" effect to creatures of the same origin!]

[Enemy Sand Jackal Hunter: Attack power -30%, morale drops significantly!]

Xu Qin's eyes widened.

"Thirty percent?!"

The Sand Jackal Hunter's attack power was 16.

A 30% reduction made it 11.2.

Subtracting the 10 points of defense from the Skeleton Warthogs.

That meant one spear strike...

"Wait, 1 point of damage?"

Xu Qin almost laughed himself off the Warthog's back.

And the Undead Leaders hadn't even used their War Cry yet!

"Awoooo!!!"

The six Undead Leaders opened their bone mouths simultaneously.

A shrill howl exploded from six directions at once.

The sound waves spread.

[Whole army attack power +3!]

At the same time, the enemy Sand Jackal Hunters received another layer of fear.

Xu Qin saw that the few Sand Jackal Hunters in the front row were so scared that they dropped their bone spears and turned to run.

"Run?"

"Can you run?"

Two hundred and eighty-two Undead Sand Jackals had already charged into the stronghold.

Bone claws tearing!

-29!

-29!

-29!

Three Undead Sand Jackals swarmed one living Sand Jackal Hunter.

Pack Hunting instinct triggered, attack power +2 again.

Plus the +3 from the War Cry.

Total attack power 34.

Minus the Sand Jackal Hunter's defense of 6.

28 points of damage per claw.

The Sand Jackal Hunter only had 45 HP.

Two claws.

Dead.

Everywhere in the stronghold, scenes like this were playing out, with screams echoing endlessly.

The Undead Sand Jackals were chasing and hacking at the living Sand Jackals.

The living Sand Jackals were so scared to see their own "kind" turned into undead that they forgot to even fight back.

A few Sand Jackal Hunters tried to escape through a gap on the side.

But they had only run three steps.

Pfft!

The Skeleton Sand Scorpions ambushing outside popped their tail hooks out of the sand.

Poison Tail Sting!

-8!

Slowed by 40%!

The Sand Jackal Hunter's legs went weak, and before it could get up, a second scorpion's tail hook had already pierced it.

In the center of the stronghold.

The living Sand Jackal Leader let out a War Cry, trying to boost morale.

But the moment its howl left its throat, the War Cries of the six Undead Leaders pressed down on it simultaneously.

The same sound and frequency.

But one came from a living thing, and one from a dead thing.

The living Sand Jackal Leader froze instantly.

And it was in this instant.

The six Undead Leaders pounced at the same time.

Bone Claws Tearing!

-28! -28! -28! -28! -28! -28!

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Even the bleeding effect didn't have time to trigger.

The living leader was pinned to the ground and torn into pieces.

From the moment the army rushed into the stronghold to the last Sand Jackal falling.

It took less than three minutes.

Xu Qin rode on the Warthog's back, not moving the whole time.

He hadn't even raised his war spear.

Ding!

[Battle victory!]

[Settling spoils of war...]

[Targets killed: Sand Jackal Hunter Level 3 x52, Sand Jackal Leader Level 5 x1]

[Basic drops:]

Sand Jackal Skeleton x52

Sand Jackal Leader Skeleton x1

Soul Energy +740

Bone Spear x52

Animal Hide x104

Meat x208

Sand Jackal War Spear (Green · Excellent) x1

Mud Brick x55

Wood x30

Stone x40

[Talent "War Gift Level 5" triggered!]

[All spoils quantity x6!]

[Final gains:]

Sand Jackal Skeleton x312

Sand Jackal Leader Skeleton x6

Soul Energy +4440

Bone Spear x312

Animal Hide x624

Meat x1248

Sand Jackal War Spear (Green · Excellent) x6

Mud Brick x330

Wood x180

Stone x240

[Battle Rating: S (Crushing annihilation, entire enemy force wiped out, zero casualties)]

[Talent upgrade progress: 37/500]

Zero casualties.

Rating S.

Xu Qin looked at the golden "S" on the panel and laughed out loud.

"Three hundred and twelve skeletons..."

"That's raw materials for over three hundred more Undead Sand Jackals."

He dismounted, walked around the ruins of the stronghold.

Recalling the battle just now.

"Interesting."

Xu Qin stroked his chin.

Undead Sand Jackals fighting living Sand Jackals came with fear suppression.

Attack power dropped by 30%, morale collapsed.

This wasn't the effect of the War Cry, it was racial suppression.

Using dead kinsmen to fight living ones.

For living races, this was the most terrifying nightmare.

"If that's the case..."

Xu Qin's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"The more diverse the troop types, the better."

"To fight Dwarves, use Undead Dwarves."

"To fight Elves, use Undead Elves."

"Whatever race you're fighting, use that race's undead to fight them."

"Comes with 30% attack reduction and fear... if this isn't a bug, what is?"

"Good thing I'm quite focused, and didn't get caught off guard by the undead."