46: Chapter 46 The Uninvited Guest

Xu Qin watched them walk away, then turned and walked to the front of the bone vault.

Seven thousand Erosion Beast skeletons were neatly stacked inside the bone vault, the dark purple bones emitting a faint fluorescent glow.

He took out one thousand ordinary Erosion Beast skeletons and one hundred ninety Elite Corrosion Beast skeletons, tossing them all into the Graveyard transformation pool.

Soul energy was deducted rapidly.

Two minutes later.

At the entrance of the Graveyard, bone claws braced against the ground as one thousand Undead Erosion Beasts climbed out one by one.

Following closely behind, one hundred ninety Elite Undead Erosion Beasts, their bodies a full two sizes larger, walked onto the plaza with heavy footsteps.

Xu Qin opened the attribute panel.

[Undead Erosion Beast · Tier 2]

Attack: 38 (+12) (Physical - Bite / Abyss Erosion)

Defense: 18 (+8)

HP: 150 (+40)

Loyalty: 100/100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Traits:

Abyss Erosion (Passive): Attacks deal 8 points of Shadow Damage (ignores defense) on hit, lasting 4 seconds.

Rift Charge (Active): Charges forward 8 meters, dealing 25 points of area damage along the path, slowing targets by 35% for 3 seconds upon hit. Cooldown: 12 seconds.

[Elite Undead Erosion Beast · Tier 2 (Elite)]

Attack: 62 (+12) (Physical - Bite / Abyss Erosion)

Defense: 30 (+8)

HP: 340 (+40)

Loyalty: 100/100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Traits:

Abyss Erosion (Enhanced · Passive): Attacks deal 12 points of Shadow Damage (ignores defense) on hit, marking the target. During the mark duration, received Shadow Damage is increased by an additional 20%, lasting 6 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.

Rift Stomp (Active): Jumps and slams the ground, dealing 40 points of physical damage to all enemy units within a 6-meter radius and stunning them for 1.5 seconds. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

Abyss Regression (Passive): When HP is below 25%, restores 3% of maximum HP per second for 8 seconds. Triggers only once per battle.

After reading the Elite Corrosion Beast's panel, Xu Qin rubbed his chin in thought.

62 base attack, plus the 12 from the technology bonus, was even higher than Tian Ming's naked attack power before equipping gear.

Furthermore, the passive damage ignored defense, could stack three times, and even carried a damage-increasing mark.

"After the Level 5 altar is unlocked, this will be the fifth hero."

Xu Qin watched the one hundred ninety Elite Corrosion Beasts on the plaza, his mind already beginning to conceive tactical configurations.

If he promoted this thing to a hero and threw it into Tian Ming's squad...

Wither to reduce defense, Hunters Mark to apply damage increase, and the Elite Corrosion Beast to stack three layers of shadow marks.

"Once fully stacked, whoever comes will be insta-killed."

Xu Qin suppressed the restlessness in his heart and opened the chat channel.

He wanted to see the situation outside. As soon as he opened it, the entire channel exploded.

Zhao Tian · Dwarf Race: "Is anyone alive?? My territory is about to be flattened!! I don't even dare to go back now!"

Zhao Tian · Dwarf Race: "The Rift Erosion Beast siege is too fierce, my two hundred Musketeers' morale collapsed instantly."

Wang Zheng · Undead Race: "Just finished fighting, a pyrrhic victory. Actually, it's a huge profit, because the troop types became stronger."

Lin Wei · Elf Race: "My team is also wiped out, I'm in great danger now."

Zhang Yan · Undead Race: "Eh? I actually survived! Hahaha, although only thirty Liches are left, they kept resurrecting Erosion Beasts while fighting, barely managed to hold on! I can only say, Undead... awesome!"

Xu Qin scrolled down.

There were large swaths of gray names in the channel. Gray meant that the lord had already been eliminated.

He counted roughly. Just on this screen, there were over twenty gray names.

"Too tragic."

He closed the channel and leaned against the base of the obelisk.

If he didn't have this War Gift, even if he could win, the situation would be about the same as Wang Zheng and Zhang Yan.

"Phew~ Can't let my guard down."

Noticing that the two armies had already begun fighting, he opened the command panel and checked the status of the two troops.

Very good, they were almost all at full health. This indicated that these monsters scattered in the wild could not pose a threat to his army.

"Fine, since the protection period is gone, I will just honestly hunker down at home from now on."

The Undead Race can operate 24 hours a day without rest. Letting them run outside while he waits at home for resources to be delivered to his door—no matter how you calculate it, this deal is not a loss.

As for himself... A Level 20 lord with attack power just over 50, if placed in an army of seven thousand, he wouldn't even rank in the top five thousand. Go out? What kind of trouble would he be adding?

"Isn't it good to just be a mastermind plotting from behind the scenes?"

Xu Qin was just planning to rest for a while.

Beep! A new reconnaissance report popped up on the area map. Xu Qin immediately opened it to check.

He saw that in the northwest direction of the territory, there were some yellow dots. Yellow? Xu Qin was stunned for a moment. This was the first time he had seen this color.

A line of explanation automatically popped up at the bottom of the panel. [Yellow Indicator: Neutral or Unidentified Intelligent Entities.]

"Neutral units?"

Xu Qin's finger slid across the map; the yellow dots were currently about twelve kilometers away from the territory. Xu Qin counted them. About three hundred.

Three hundred intelligent entities, forming a squad, were moving rapidly. And... the marching direction was pointed straight at his territory.

Xu Qin frowned. He continued to zoom in, switching to the shared vision of the Skeleton Vulture.

Looking down from high altitude, the outline of that squad gradually became clear.

In the front row were a group of human infantry wearing leather armor and holding spears and shields. Mixed in the middle were some short, stocky figures carrying long, tube-like weapons on their backs. Dwarf Musketeers.

Further back, dozens of slender figures rode on tall, deer-like creatures, with longbows slung on their backs. Elf Archers, riding giant deer.

Humans, Dwarf Race, Elf Race? A mixed squad of three races?

Xu Qin's eyes widened instantly. A single lord could not possess troop types from three races at the same time. Unless...

"There is more than one lord coming."

He stared at the cluster of yellow dots on the map, rubbing his chin in thought.

A mixed squad of three hundred people represented at least three lords acting in concert. And they were lords of different races. What did this mean? It meant that these people had already established a cooperative relationship.

In this world where ten thousand races stand, for these three to be able to sit down and discuss cooperation was not simple in itself.

But the focus of Xu Qin's attention was not here. His gaze fell on the rear of the yellow dot cluster. Red dots. A large patch of red dots. Dense and numerous, following behind the three hundred-person squad, at a distance of about one thousand meters.

Quantity... Xu Qin zoomed in again and again, counting roughly. "Five or six hundred?"

The red ones are chasing the yellow ones. The yellow ones are running towards his side?

"So..." Xu Qin rubbed his chin, "These people are being chased? And the direction they are running is exactly my territory?"

Coincidence? Unlikely. A twelve-kilometer desert is not a distance one can just walk casually. These people's march route was almost straight, as if they had a clear goal. Unless... they knew there was a territory here.

Xu Qin was full of confusion. How did they know there was a territory here?