31: Chapter 31 The Birth of the Ultimate Meat Shield

[Consumed: Soul Energy × 5000, Bones × 500, Magic Crystal Fragments × 25, Meat × 500]

The resources transformed into a stream of dark red light, pouring into the Dark Altar.

The flames atop the eight bone pillars surged once again.

The Minotaur Chieftain walked onto the altar and stood in the center of the pool.

Boom!

A dark red light erupted from the bottom of the pool, shooting into the sky.

On the bone hammer, the cracks were stitched together one by one within the light.

Creak, creak, creak!

Its entire skeletal frame began to expand violently.

The bones thickened and densified, their surface taking on a metallic, grayish-white luster.

The chest armor expanded outward.

The two bull horns surged from half a meter to nearly a meter in length.

Dense, sharp bone spikes sprouted along the edges.

Boom.

The light dissipated.

A behemoth, two meters and seven centimeters tall, appeared in the center of the altar.

Ding!

[Congratulations! Undead Hero promotion successful!]

[Undead Bull Battle King · Hero]

Level: 1 (0 / 500)

Attack Power: 30 (Physical - Crushing / Melee)

Defense: 24

Health Points: 400 / 400

Loyalty: 100 / 100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Hero Trait:

[Vanguard Commander: Can lead up to 300 Undead units to act independently, executing tasks assigned by the Lord (Defense, Guard, Assault, etc.). Command limit increases with Hero level. The melee Undead units led gain +3 additional Defense.]

Hero Skills:

[War Stomp (Active - Area): Stomp the ground forcefully, dealing 30 Physical damage to all enemy units within a 10-meter radius, while knocking them into the air. Stuns for 2 seconds upon landing. Cooldown: 18 seconds.]

[Bone Armor Warcry (Active - Buff - Area): Let out a warcry, increasing the Defense of all friendly Undead units within a 15-meter radius by 5 for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 25 seconds.]

[Indomitable Bones (Passive): When Health Points are below 50%, Defense increases by 50%, and all Physical damage received is reduced by an additional 15%.]

Xu Qin finished reading.

Whoa!

War Stomp!

The pre-promotion [Bone Hammer Shock] was a 40% probability single-target stun, which was already impressive enough.

Now, this skill has directly upgraded into a 100% probability area knock-up?

In a group fight, the Bull Battle King just needs to stomp into a crowd, and all hostile targets within a ten-meter radius will be sent flying.

Taking advantage of those two seconds before they land, the Undead Sand Jackals can swarm them.

How many strikes can they land in two seconds? At least three!

Plus, with Indomitable Bones... after dropping to low health, Defense increases by half, and Physical damage reduction stacks by another 15%.

The more it fights, the tougher it gets; the lower its health, the harder it is to kill.

Tian Ming stands in the back casting skills, while the Bull Battle King stands in the front soaking up damage. One scholar and one warrior, one ranged and one melee.

"Minotaurs are great, they are worth raising."

Xu Qin circled around the Bull Battle King.

He even mapped out the tactics in his mind.

Tian Ming's command limit is 1300. The Bull Battle King's is 300. This means he can now send out two troops simultaneously to attack in two different directions.

The loot from each path triggers the eightfold settlement. Resource income is effectively doubled.

Xu Qin casually opened the resource panel and took a glance.

Current Remaining Resources: Soul Energy: 46000 / 80000, Bones: approx. 4600, Wood: approx. 5800, Stone: approx. 4850, Iron Ore: approx. 290, Magic Crystal Fragments: 6, Meat: approx. 23700, Animal Hide/Thick Hide: approx. 12400, elite soul core: 15

Two hero promotions consumed 50 Magic Crystal Fragments. There are only 6 Magic Crystal Fragments left.

However, he has two heroes out grinding; the Magic Crystal Fragments will eventually be replenished.

He retracted his gaze, walked up to the Bull Battle King, and looked up.

Hmm, he had to tilt his head back to see this big guy's head.

"It's time to give you a name."

Xu Qin thought for a moment.

Tian Ming's name was full of aura, but it took him forever to come up with it.

As for this one... keep it simple.

Xu Qin thought again.

"You shall be called Bull."

The Bull Battle King nodded its massive bull head.

"Don't be dissatisfied."

Xu Qin waved his hand, "Your role is to Charge to the front and soak up damage. A fancy name isn't a good thing, understand?"

The Bull lowered its head and nodded again.

"Come, let me see what your skill tree looks like."

Xu Qin opened the [Hero Enhancement] page of the Dark Altar and selected the Bull.

As expected. Just like with Tian Ming, all three existing skills had the "Upgradable" indicator lit up.

But Xu Qin looked directly at the very bottom.

[Level 2 Altar Unlocked: Hero Skill Tree Expansion]

[New skill can be unlocked (currently 1 option available): Wind of Recovery.]

Xu Qin tapped it.

[Wind of Recovery (Passive): When the hero has not received any damage for 5 consecutive seconds, it recovers 6% of its maximum Health Points per second. When Health Points are below 35%, "Endangered Healing" is additionally activated, recovering 1% of maximum Health Points per second. The recovery amount increases as Health Points decrease, reaching up to 2% per second.]

After reading the description, Xu Qin gasped.

Hiss... 6%? The Bull currently has 400 Health Points. 24 points per second?

That means as long as the Bull is out of combat for 5 seconds, its health bar will rise at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And the second part, "Endangered Healing," is even more absurd. Recovering an additional 1% to 2% after dropping to low health. That means the more the Bull gets beaten, the harder it is to kill.

What if it's combined with Indomitable Bones? After dropping to low health, Defense increases by 50%, Physical damage reduction by 15%, and it's also recovering health every second.

This thing...

Xu Qin rubbed his face, his expression somewhat complex.

"Oh Bull, you are a bit too overpowered as a hero."

He continued to look at the full skill tree.

Like Tian Ming's, over a dozen skill icons were neatly arranged, with only the first one lit up and the rest grayed out. But the skill names and descriptions were clearly visible.

[Undead Bone Charge: Dash forward 20 meters, dealing 40 Crushing damage to all enemy units along the path and knocking them back. At the end of the Charge, deal a secondary stomp within a 5-meter radius of the destination.]

A Charge skill! Xu Qin's eyes lit up.

With the Bull's size, a 2.7-meter skeleton charging forward with a pair of one-meter-long bone-spiked horns... the image is too beautiful.

[Bone Spike Counter (Passive): When receiving a melee attack, there is a 25% chance to deal 20 Piercing damage back to the attacker and slow them by 30% for 3 seconds.]

[Taunt Roar: Forces all enemy units within a 12-meter radius to lock onto and attack the Bull Battle King for 5 seconds. During this period, the Bull Battle King takes 20% less damage. Cooldown: 25 seconds.]

[Undying Battle Body (Passive): When receiving fatal damage, gain immunity to death for 3 seconds. During this period, Defense is doubled, and 5% of maximum Health Points are recovered per second. Can only be triggered once per battle.]

[Undead Iron Curtain: Passive aura. All friendly melee Undead units within a 10-meter radius receive an additional 8% reduction in Physical damage taken.]

[Bone-Splitting Shockwave: Active. Strike the ground with the bull horns to release a cone-shaped shockwave in front, 15 meters long and 10 meters wide. All targets within range take 35 Crushing damage, and their armor is shattered, reducing Defense by 25% for 8 seconds.]

[Dead Man's Bastion: Active. Consumes surrounding Bone resources to construct a high bone wall at a designated location. The wall has an independent Health Point pool of 500 and lasts for 20 seconds. It can block enemy paths or be used as cover. Cooldown: 40 seconds.]

Xu Qin finished reading the last one and turned to look at the Bull Battle King standing nearby.

"What a surprise."

Xu Qin reached out and patted the Bull's massive thigh bone armor.

"Bull, I didn't expect your potential... to be this high."

Stable aggro generation. Plus a death-immunity card, along with three seconds of invincibility and healing. Add in Wind of Recovery, Indomitable Bones, and Bone Armor Warcry. With all this stacked together, who could possibly kill him?

"This is a proper Tank, after all."

After reminiscing, he clicked [Wind of Recovery].

[Unlock Wind of Recovery (Level 1)?]

[Consumed: Soul Energy × 3000, elite soul core × 1]

Confirm!