Chapter 31: Skeleton Army

Deep within the plains of the Plane Fragment, tens of thousands of troops had gathered. Night Battle and his soldiers prayed sincerely to the Divine Spirit.

Soon, a hundred-meter-wide Teleportation Gate appeared abruptly before them without any warning. Su Xingyu stepped out of the gate, accompanied by several clansmen.

"Clan Leader." Night Battle stepped forward to salute and greeted him respectfully.

"Beautifully done." Su Xingyu nodded slightly in appreciation. "As expected of the Night Tribe's number one brave warrior. You did exceedingly well this time, Night Battle."

"Thank you for the praise, Clan Leader. It is merely my duty as your subordinate," Night Battle replied loudly, straightening his back.

Su Xingyu chuckled lightly. "You can collect your reward at the Divine Hall later. For now, lead the Warriors out. Having fought here for so long, they must be exhausted. Once outside, there is no rush to return to training. Let them rest well for a few days, and we will hold a victory banquet for you all afterward."

Inside this Plane Fragment, even with companions standing guard at night, the Warriors never dared to completely let their guard down. Naturally, their Spirits were somewhat strained. Giving them a few days off to properly rest was a good idea.

Night Battle's lips twitched. He wanted to say something, but after turning to look at the cheering soldiers, he ultimately nodded in agreement. "Understood."

"The Warriors are human too. Be strict when it's time to train, but allow appropriate relaxation during ordinary days. There is no need for them to keep their Spirits perpetually tense," Su Xingyu said with a smile.

Night Battle nodded thoughtfully, then issued the command for the soldiers to withdraw in an orderly fashion.

After the retreat order was given, Su Xingyu finally asked, "How did it go with the matter I instructed you about earlier?"

"It is already done. Please follow me," Night Battle replied.

He then led Su Xingyu outside the camp. On the open grassy field, Goblin corpses were laid out everywhere, piled into several small hills. It was quite a terrifying sight.

"These are the relatively intact corpses, totaling one hundred and seventy thousand. I wonder if they meet your requirements." Night Battle scratched his head. During the last troop rotation, Su Xingyu had suddenly told him to collect the more complete Goblin corpses after the battle.

Although Night Battle did not understand their purpose, he strictly executed the Clan Leader's orders. However, because the fighting style of the Night Tribe Warriors was exceedingly brutal, most of the corpses were damaged, and a significant portion were missing arms or legs. Thus, they only managed to salvage this many.

"This is enough." Su Xingyu nodded.

"Do you need me to step away?" Night Battle asked proactively. Although he didn't know what the Clan Leader intended to do, he noticed Su Xingyu had only brought him along.

"You can stay and watch if you'd like, but I fear you might find it hard to stomach."

"Clan Leader, you're looking down on me with those words. I've seen all sorts of grand spectacles, and I truly don't believe anything can scare me." Night Battle hadn't originally intended to stay, but Su Xingyu's teasing instantly roused his defiance. He was, after all, the number one general of the Night Tribe. A veteran of countless battles, what hadn't he seen? To think a few corpses could frighten him—was this a joke?

"Then stay and watch." Su Xingyu smiled, unfazed, and walked straight up to the mounds of corpses.

A putrid stench, a mixture of various foul odors, assaulted their faces, causing both men to frown.

Su Xingyu closed his eyes and slowly spread his arms. The sky abruptly darkened as a massive vortex materialized in the heavens.

"Praise the supreme Eternal Night Monarch!" Night Battle froze for a moment before hastily dropping to his knees, prostrating himself and shouting aloud.

In the nearby camp, the retreating Warriors also witnessed the sudden phenomenon. They fell to their knees one after another, continuously praising the Divine Spirit.

Leveraging its connection to its Essence, the tall, dark shadow deepened its tie to reality. The figure waved a hand, and a massive Magic Array emerged, instantly covering all the surrounding corpses.

Divine Skill: Undead Resurgence.

As boundless Dark Divine Power surged in, the corpses piled into small hills underwent an instantaneous transformation. They awoke from their eternal slumber, their bodies twitching to life. At first, it was merely their fingers, but gradually, their entire bodies began to move. Clawing their way out of the corpse piles, they trudged down sluggishly and lined up on the grassy field. They formed neat, orderly ranks, much like a Human Race legion.

As time passed, more and more corpses were revived. They tore the rotting flesh from their own bodies, leaving behind only white bones. Within their hollow eye sockets flickered the Soul Fire, a sinister representation of Life.

"Clan Leader, th-th-this... this is..." Night Battle climbed to his feet. Staring at the horrifying scene before him, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

"The Undead." A flash of fatigue passed through Su Xingyu's eyes.

"Clan Leader, what do you need so many skeleton soldiers for? I feel like their combat power is quite subpar. Are they meant to be cannon fodder?" Seeing the sheer number of skeletons, Night Battle was still somewhat confused. These skeleton soldiers possessed pathetically weak combat strength; no matter how many there were, they wouldn't be of much use. Their only redeeming quality was probably that they didn't need to eat.

"Mining. The tribe is currently short-handed in every aspect, and mining is a labor-intensive job. It's much better to toss the work to these skeletons. We don't even have to pay them wages. How wonderful is that?"

This was too ruthless! Looking at the skeleton soldiers before him, Night Battle couldn't help but show a look of sympathy on his face. It was one thing to be slaughtered by the enemy while alive. To end up serving as forced labor for the Night Tribe after death—it was infuriating just thinking about it.

"Didn't you mention there were still a few ore veins here? I'll give you thirty thousand skeletons. Arrange for all of them to start mining."

Su Xingyu had no intention of occupying this Plane Fragment. The Night Tribe currently did not lack territory, and traveling back and forth between the two locations was highly inconvenient. However, simply abandoning the ore veins here would be a waste.

Originally, Su Xingyu had planned to leave around ten thousand people here to build a basic camp and come back every few months to collect the ore. Now, however, there was no need for such a hassle. Thirty thousand uncomplaining skeletons that didn't need food or water—was there any better workforce than this?

After running through a few simple operations on the spot and getting the hang of it, Night Battle walked away with an expression that heavily questioned the meaning of life, leading thirty thousand wobbly skeletons behind him.

Though the skeletons were rigid, they could still execute simple commands as long as the instructions were clear. A task like mining shouldn't be too difficult, right? He could just leave a few hundred tribesmen here, grant them some authority, and let them oversee the operation.

Having come up with the idea to use skeleton soldiers to liberate the tribe's able-bodied youth from hard labor, Su Xingyu felt like an absolute genius at this moment.

"Then let's head out as well." Leading the remaining hundred-and-forty-something thousand skeletons, Su Xingyu hurried toward the camp. He planned to distribute these "labor tools" to the clansmen as soon as he returned to the tribe.

What? Was their appearance too horrifying?

It was fine. He believed in his clansmen. Even if they couldn't stomach it now, once they had spent some time together, they would naturally realize the benefits of these skeletons. By then, they would accept them.

Besides, as a Dark Divine Spirit, wasn't it perfectly normal for Him to have some skeleton soldiers under His command? As Believers, they ought to learn how to drive skeletons to work as well.