49: Chapter 49 Long-Range Firepower and God-Level Enchantment

"Dead Silence" means... Living Elf Archers panic when enemies charge right up to their faces.

In severe cases, they might even drop their bows and run away.

This is a common flaw for all living ranged units.

But what about after they die?

Skeleton Elf Archers have no fear.

Even if they are completely shattered into dust, the last finger bone will still rest on the bowstring.

All advantages are retained, and all flaws are erased.

"Now this is what you call an Archer," Xu Qin couldn't help but exclaim.

And the "Soul Energy Arrow" is an even greater ultimate skill!

Because resupply is simple, the arrows are condensed from soul energy.

As long as the soul hall is still operating, they have infinite ammunition.

Xu Qin had previously worried whether a bunch of melee units would crawl out of the Graveyard.

Now it seems that worry was completely unnecessary.

The Undead Race is all about authenticity.

Xu Qin calmed his surging excitement and looked at the stocky skeletons stepping out of the conversion pool.

They were clearly a head shorter than the Skeleton Soldiers, but their bone structure was denser.

Their shoulders were broad, their legs were thick, and their center of gravity was extremely low.

At the same time, what they were holding in their hands...

Huh?

It was a grey-white musket.

The barrel was also made of bone, with a dark purple shimmer flowing at the muzzle.

Xu Qin opened the command panel.

[ Undead Dwarf Musketeer · Tier 2 ]

Attack: 28 (+12) (Magic - Shadow / Ranged)

Defense: 12 (+8)

Health: 65 (+40) / 105

Range: 35 meters

Loyalty: 100/100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Traits:

"Bone Soul Musket" (Passive): The musket has been modified by undeath, using soul energy as ammunition. No need to reload gunpowder, and there is no risk of barrel explosion. Shooting interval shortened by 30% (original reload time 5 seconds → 3.5 seconds). Each soul energy projectile deals 4 points of Shadow Erosion damage (ignores defense).

"Dwarf Skeleton" (Passive): Inherits the high-density bone structure of the Dwarf Race, physical defense is increased by an additional +3 compared to other Undead Race units of the same tier.

After reading the attribute panel, Xu Qin turned his head and opened the cellar storage.

There were 760 Dwarf Race skeletons left.

There were 1,030 Elf Race skeletons left.

He turned his head to look at the conversion pool.

"Convert them all!"

Two minutes later, there were 1,030 more Skeleton Elf Archers and 760 more Undead Dwarf Musketeers on the plaza.

Adding the batch used for testing just now, he now had a total of:

1,130 Skeleton Elf Archers, 840 Undead Dwarf Musketeers, and... 1,250 Skeleton Soldiers.

Xu Qin stood on the high platform of the Graveyard, overlooking the area below.

Over 3,000 newly converted Undead were neatly arranged on the right side of the plaza.

A mixed unit of ranged and melee meat shields had now taken shape.

Xu Qin rubbed his chin and began to match them up.

"Elf Archers have a 30-meter range, Musketeers have 35 meters. Two layers of ranged firepower lines, with a row of Bulls stacked in front as meat shields..."

"This output efficiency will be greatly improved!"

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

Because his current army was primarily melee, his tactic was just one word: charge.

He could win, but the efficiency was low.

The Sand Snakes were too weak to shoulder the burden of ranged firepower.

The Liches were more inclined toward support and debuffs; the only true ranged unit was his big brother, Tian Ming.

"What a good delivery this is."

Xu Qin rubbed his chin and walked through the ranks.

A new question emerged in his mind.

That was, after the level 5 altar was unlocked, who should be given the fifth hero slot?

Half an hour ago, his choice was still the Elite Corrosion Beast.

There were no other options; 62 base attack, with two layers of erosion marks and displacement control—this panel just looked solid.

But now, the situation had changed.

For melee, he had Bulls as meat shields, Blade Guards for high burst damage, and Jackal Hunters for group buffs.

For magic, he had his big daddy, Tian Ming, holding the fort.

The only thing missing was a high-frequency physical ranged output core.

Although Tian Ming was strong, he relied on skills and mana, and his basic attacks only had a 15-meter range.

Before, he had to make do because he had no other choice.

Now that he had thousands of Skeleton Elf Archers and Dwarf Musketeers in his hands, his line of thinking had to change.

Xu Qin picked out one skeleton of each, placing them in front of him for comparison.

The Musketeer's advantage was excellent single-shot power, and the range was 5 meters further than the Archer.

The Elven Archer's advantage was 25% higher accuracy, which was not a small number.

"Sorry, big guy," Xu Qin looked at the Elite Corrosion Beast on the sidelines, "This slot can only go to the Archer."

The top priority was to supplement firepower output.

The physical defense line could be handled by the Bulls and their melee cohorts, but the rear perimeter must be able to unleash damage freely to ensure victory in battle.

Having established the fifth hero candidate, Xu Qin felt a sudden clarity.

He opened the command panel, looked at the unit composition, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"With my current configuration, this should count as a small graduation, right?"

Xu Qin found a sheltered corner of the Bone Wall, laid out a few layers of thick animal skins, and unceremoniously sprawled out.

"I have to say, the days when I was carrying a broken stone axe and fighting wild boars for my life a couple of days ago are quite nostalgic."

"Even if it hurt like hell, at least it got the blood pumping."

"It's nothing like now, where I have thousands of bodyguards following me after taking two steps, bored out of my mind."

He complained casually, but his face was full of contentment.

These words were just to fool himself.

Having thousands of loyal minions killing enemies in front while he lay back and counted money in the rear—wasn't this ten thousand times better than engaging in hand-to-hand combat himself?

Absolute physical safety was the ultimate goal he had been desperately grinding for resources for the past two days.

In this rotten territory where even one's own kin could stab you in the back at any moment, honestly crouching at home and acting as the mastermind behind the scenes was the standard answer for living a long life.

Xu Qin turned over again, discovering that he was too excited to sleep.

The massive influx of gains from the settlement just now had caused his resources to burst right through his storage capacity.

The soul energy was even more astronomical.

"Leaving resources overnight is just a waste. Using them up to turn them into combat power is the fundamental thing to do."

Thinking of this, he immediately sat up and opened his inventory.

[ Corrosion Crystal: 1500 ]

What on earth is it used for?

Xu Qin locked his gaze onto the data bar, and a long string of item analysis popped up.

[ Corrosion Crystal ]

[ Type: Rare Material ]

[ Description: A crystal formed by long-term erosion from abyssal energy, containing extremely strong shadow corrosion power. ]

[ Use 1: 'Building Anti-Corrosion' - Invest in the bone workshop to apply a shadow coating to the "Reinforced Bone Wall", "Bone Watchtower", or "Soul Energy Sentry Tower". After coating, when subjected to physical attacks, it reflects 20 points of Shadow Erosion damage and increases building durability by 30%. Consumption ratio: 50 crystals / segment. ]

[ Use 2: 'Arrow/Ammunition Infusion' - Invest in the Undead Forge to provide permanent dark spirit enchantment for ranged unit ammunition. Attacks will come with "Armor Corrosion", which can reduce the enemy's physical defense by 5% for 3 seconds. Consumption ratio: 20 crystals / 100 ranged units. ]

"Holy turtle," Xu Qin was stunned after reading it.

Permanently enchanting unit ammunition, giving everyone armor penetration?

Adding damage reflection and toughness to the base walls?

"I really have to thank these ugly monsters that fell from the sky for delivering the goods!"

Xu Qin excitedly slapped his thigh, "So they were delivering god-tier equipment to me. I misunderstood them."