33: Chapter 33 Sweeping Through the Wilderness

8:21 AM.

Xu Qin rode the Skeleton Warthog and passed through the novice protection light shield.

Following closely behind were the hero Bull Battle King, the Undead Army, and a fully loaded Bone Transport Cart.

Xu Qin dismounted and glanced at the novice protection period in the top right corner of the panel.

[Countdown: 23 hours 39 minutes 51 seconds]

Less than a day left.

He opened the lord panel.

[Xu Qin]

Level: 20 (85/2200)

Attack: 48 (+8) (Physical - Piercing)

Defense: 22

HP: 220/220

Equipment: Sand Jackal War Spear (Green · Excellent, +8 Attack, Piercing ignores 10% Defense)

Talent: War Gift (Level 8)

Effect: When combat is settled, the quantity of all loot obtained is multiplied by 9.

Upgrade Progress: 47/2000

"I didn't expect it to level up to level eight so quickly," Xu Qin said with a smile as he looked at [War Gift].

Three hours ago, Xu Qin was commanding the Bull Battle King to besiege a Minotaur stronghold with a population of over one hundred.

Suddenly, a notification popped up on the panel about the [War Gift] upgrade.

This meant that after the battle ended, the resources settled were much higher.

Of course, this wasn't entirely his doing, because Tian Ming was also working hard on the other side.

Xu Qin opened Tian Ming's attribute panel again.

[Tian Ming · Undead Archlich · Hero]

Level: 11 (1240/8000)

Attack: 62 (Magic - Shadow/Ranged)

Defense: 32

HP: 500/500

MP: 1000/1000

Hero Trait: Independent Commander (Current limit: 1500 Undead)

"That's really fast, already level 11," Xu Qin whistled.

Since the moment Tian Ming was promoted, he had either been attacking strongholds or on his way to one, almost without stopping.

The reason War Gift leveled up so quickly was because of the dual-front operation.

With two armies farming strongholds outside simultaneously, the settlement progress was increasing faster and faster.

Although he couldn't see the loot details on Tian Ming's side, just by looking at the level growth, Xu Qin knew that the harvest there was definitely no worse than his own.

Next was the Bull Battle King.

[Bull Battle King · Undead Minotaur Battle King · Hero]

Level: 6 (310/4000)

Attack: 45 (Physical - Crushing/Melee)

Defense: 34

HP: 550/550

Hero Trait: Vanguard Commander (Current limit: 800 Undead, +3 Defense for melee units)

Leveling from 1 to 6 in one night.

Xu Qin was quite satisfied with this speed.

He went to the bone vault and emptied all the supplies from his inventory and the transport cart into it.

Skeletons, meat, animal hides, soul energy... The numbers jumped up rapidly.

To be honest, this trip took much longer than Xu Qin had expected.

The reason was simple: the strongholds within five or six kilometers had been completely wiped clean by him and Tian Ming.

Want to find monsters to fight? You have to run over ten kilometers away.

Running further meant the return trip was slow.

Plus, those strongholds varied in size; some small ones with twenty or thirty heads took less time to fight and settle than the time spent traveling.

"The monsters around here have almost been wiped out..." Xu Qin sighed.

How should he put it? It was a mixed bag of pros and cons.

The advantage was that resources in the wasteland were scarce, competition was low, and there was almost no threat around the territory.

The disadvantage, well, was equally obvious.

Because to farm resources efficiently from now on, he had to go further away.

Forget it, let the Bull Battle King and Tian Ming do the running.

He would just be responsible for the overall strategy.

Xu Qin turned and walked to the bone workshop, opening the command panel.

[Consumed: Bone × 80, Wood × 60, Iron Ore × 20, Soul Energy × 200]

Half a minute later, the fourth Bone Transport Cart rolled out.

"Bull Battle King." The Bull Battle King lowered his massive bull head.

"Rest is over, time to work."

Xu Qin opened the organization panel and allocated eight hundred units from the territory's garrison.

Undead Minotaur 350, Undead Minotaur Chieftain 30, Undead Sand Jackal 280, Undead Sand Jackal Leader 30, Lich 20, Skeleton Vulture 30, Skeleton Sand Rat 20, Undead Scale Lizard 40.

Then he added two Bone Transport Carts to the queue.

"The rules are the same as before," Xu Qin instructed.

"Do not attack strongholds with forces exceeding half of your command limit. Vultures will scout the path, Sand Rats will scout for underground mineral veins. Return once resources are full."

"Also, be careful to search for anything with the word 'Abyss' on it; just mark it, do not attack."

The Bull Battle King nodded.

"Go. It's the last twenty-three hours, so it doesn't matter if you run far, just bring back more resources."

The Bull Battle King turned, and eight hundred undead stepped out in unison.

Boom, boom, boom.

The rhythmic marching sound gradually faded away, disappearing beyond the light shield.

Xu Qin stood at the gap in the Bone Wall, watching the Bull Battle King's massive back getting smaller and smaller.

To be honest, he wasn't worried at all.

Because he had witnessed the Bull Battle King's combat prowess with his own eyes today.

... That was around 5:30 in the morning.

Xu Qin took the Bull Battle King and sprinted through the wilderness for over an hour.

Finally, seven kilometers away, they found a Minotaur stronghold.

The Skeleton Vulture sent back the reconnaissance results.

There were ninety-seven monsters inside the stronghold.

Xu Qin directly ordered the Bull Battle King to attack.

The Bull Battle King received the order, took the lead, and charged straight into the Minotaur stronghold.

War Stomp!

His hooves slammed into the ground.

Boom!

Within a ten-meter radius, seventeen or eighteen Minotaurs were sent flying, stunned for two seconds.

In those short two seconds, the three hundred undead behind had already swarmed up.

The Minotaur Chieftains let out a War Cry in a group.

But the Bull Battle King's Bone Armor Warcry was faster.

Army Defense + 5!

Then the Bull Battle King stood in the densest part of the crowd.

In an instant, seventy or eighty Minotaurs in the stronghold surrounded it.

The dozen or so Minotaurs in the first row launched an attack.

But, the Minotaurs looked at this undead of the same origin and triggered 'Fear of the Dead'. Attack power dropped by another 30%...

Clang, clang, clang.

Each strike could only deal three or four points of damage.

After hacking for over ten seconds, they hadn't even dealt one hundred points of damage.

Meanwhile, the three hundred undead on the perimeter had killed dozens of Minotaurs within those ten-plus seconds.

It took these Minotaurs a full minute to barely hack away two hundred of the Bull Battle King's HP.

Then... the Bull Battle King's passive "Indomitable Bones" triggered, Defense increased by 50% directly, and physical damage reduction stacked another 15%.

The Bull Battle King's Defense value increased directly from 24 to 36.

Now, those Minotaurs couldn't cut him at all.

In less than two minutes, the stronghold was cleared. The battle ended.

The Bull Battle King's HP had dropped by less than 60%.

Then, after five seconds, Level 2 Wind of Recovery triggered.

+33 +33...

The health bar began to recover at a rate of 8.25% per second.

In less than ten seconds, it was full.

"So strong," Xu Qin couldn't help but exclaim after watching.

It wasn't until the Bull Battle King's team completely disappeared from the horizon that Xu Qin came back to his senses.

"When the Dark Altar reaches level three, the third hero slot will be unlocked," Xu Qin muttered to himself.

Who should he choose to promote then?

The five Skeleton Soldiers who had been with him since the beginning appeared in his mind.

Although the Skeleton Soldiers had the worst foundation and the weakest stats... but... they were his founding team, he had to take care of them.

Xu Qin smiled and said: "We'll see when the time comes. If there's no better choice... Number One, your chance has come."

He turned and walked towards the territory's building complex.

Now, it was time to get down to business.