Real Mount and Blade Game

Three menacing, cursed bone spears trembled and were driven into the shield. The inky black mist churned and billowed like a living thing, reacting violently with the mithril trim on the surface of the Holy Tree Knight's shield, producing a teeth-grinding "sizzle" and wisps of pungent blue smoke.

The immense impact caused Shen Mu's magnificent warhorse to involuntarily take a half-step back, its front hooves slamming into a paving stone covered in sticky moss.

Almost at the same moment the spear tip struck, Shen Mu's gaze shot like a bolt of lightning towards the direction from which the bone spear had come—the broken window on the second floor of the abandoned supermarket diagonally in front of him.

"Squeak—!"

A piercing, inhuman shriek, as if bones were rubbing against rusty iron, answered his gaze.

Several dark figures could be seen slowly "flowing" out from the window and the shadows of the adjacent building!
They are no longer passive, low-level skeletons or slow-moving zombies, but rather a type never seen before.

With its hunched body resembling an ape that had been forcibly elongated, its slender frame exuded a strange and powerful sense of coordination.

Its limbs were abnormally twisted, especially its pair of withered arm bones, which were disproportionately long and almost hung down to its ankles!

Their arms and legs no longer end in claws or hooves, but are instead deformed, fused together or gripping heavy, black, shiny bone spears that emanate an aura of death.

On the pale, twisted skull, two dark red soul flames, solidified like magma, were locked onto Shen Mu and his group at the crossroads below.

Skeleton spear thrower!
They didn't even pause for a moment!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Just as we were getting a clear look at its shape, a new wave of attacks came!

The sound of something cutting through the air was so sharp it pierced the eardrums!

Several sharp bone spears, also shrouded in cursed black mist, descended from above, like the call of death, precisely targeting the core of the defensive circle formed by the Holy Tree Knights—Shen Mu!
"Protect Lord Shen Mu!" the leading Holy Tree Knight captain roared, his voice resonating with metallic tremor.

The ten knights instantly transformed into a moving iron wall!
The dense, gleaming silver figures contracted inward with lightning speed once more. The heavy mithril chainmail plates collided with each other, producing a dull, clanging sound. In the blink of an eye, they formed a second and third layer of protective barriers. Countless Holy Tree Knight shields were instantly raised high, overlapping above and in front of Shen Mu's head, forming an impenetrable silver dome!
Some knights even drew their knight's swords and attempted to slash at the incoming bone spears from mid-air.

"Duh! Duh! Duh!"

More bone spears slammed into the Holy Tree Knight's shield and heavy armor, producing dull, dangerous impact sounds.

Although the cursed energy it carried was firmly isolated by the sacred mithril, the enormous impact still transmitted through the shield and armor, causing the shield-bearing knight's arm to feel sore and numb!
Even more terrifyingly accurate spears would pierce the unarmored joints or the lower edge of the horse's neck!

At the same time, Shen Mu could clearly feel that the inside of his and the knights' armor was rapidly heating up!
That's the stress-induced "burning" phenomenon that occurs when mithril faces an extremely powerful and dense field of undead energy!
These newly emerged spear throwers are not only incredibly strong and fast, but the concentration and aggressiveness of the cursed energy carried by their bone spears far exceed those of the scattered black iron skeletons encountered at the city walls a few days ago!

Worse still, this is just the beginning!

As if ignited by the commotion at the crossroads and the presence of the living, the interiors of the countless high-rise buildings surrounding them, which stood like giant tombstones and exuded an aura of despair, suddenly "came to life"!

In the deep darkness of the broken windows, one cold figure after another emerged!
The sounds of decaying bones grinding together and the low, undead roars blended into a buzzing background noise of death.

In the shadows on both sides of the street, in the cracks of the manhole covers on the ground, and even behind the rubble of collapsed walls... countless eyes burning with pale green, dark red, or pale white soul flames lit up in the thick, impenetrable gray-black fog.

There were skeleton soldiers wielding swords, rotting zombies dragging their mangled bodies, black iron skeleton swordsmen with shields and blades in more complete armor, and even skeletal archers holding war bows, appearing and disappearing in the mist!

The entire area seemed to instantly transform into a boiling lair of the dead!

Their small, isolated team was like a small piece of fresh meat thrown into a piranha pond!

The heat inside the mithril armor continued to rise, and even faint wisps of smoke escaped from the seams of the armor!

This is an unprecedented concentration!
The death core of this city, with its pure and abundant necromantic energy, as well as the strength and number of undead monsters it spawns, far surpasses that of the outer areas!
"Buzz—whoosh whoosh whoosh—"

Deadly bone arrows, like venomous snakes that suddenly appeared from the thick fog, began to rain down from all directions!

The target wasn't just people, but also the relatively vulnerable leg joints and abdomens of the warhorses! Although it couldn't penetrate the heavy chainmail and horse armor of the Holy Tree Knights and their mounts, the dense, hail-like impacts, carrying a chilling malice and curse, constantly tested the limits of the armor's protection, and foreshadowed the possibility of an even more powerful attack breaking through at any moment!

Shen Mu's face was ashen. He finally understood what the upheaval in the core area mentioned by the rangers of the Elf Forest meant, and he also understood the enormous pressure that Bandak was under in New Uxhall.

This place is not only a terrifying stronghold for the undead, but also a "reactor" and "testing ground" where they are nourished and terrifyingly enhanced by deep evil forces!
The huge shadows cast by the towering buildings, cut and distorted by the sunlight, along with the thick black fog that permeated them, were enough to temporarily weaken the purifying effect of the holy sunlight during the day, providing a near-perfect battlefield environment for these undead who should have feared the sunlight!

"withdraw!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Mu's icy voice cut through the chaotic battlefield like a blade, clearly reaching the ears of every Holy Tree Knight.

This command was not a sign of weakness, but rather based on a clear understanding of the environment and a desire to avoid unnecessary waste of resources.

Continuing to conduct reconnaissance in this undead territory, where the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, and the energy concentration is so high that even mithril armor is on alert, is not only inefficient but also extremely dangerous! "Yes, sir!" the Holy Tree Knights responded in unison, their movements incredibly fast.

The formation, which had already shrunk into an iron fortress, changed again in an instant!

The five knights spurred their warhorses, and the Sacred Tree Warhorses unleashed an astonishing burst of speed, like five bolts of silver lightning ready to strike, smashing out fiercely towards the relatively open flank diagonally in front of the road they had come from, a flank that was not yet blocked by a large number of undead!
Their mithril spears, held horizontally, gleamed with blinding holy light, like five scorching plowshares, forcefully tearing a path through the densely packed sea of ​​undead!

Any low-ranking undead that gets in the way is instantly reduced to useless bone fragments the moment the spear touches them!
Meanwhile, the remaining knights formed two mobile shield walls in front of Shen Mu!
They stood at the forefront, their heavy and sturdy Holy Tree Knight shields flying up and down like steel fortresses, accurately deflecting bone arrows and scattered projectiles flying from all sorts of tricky angles.

Between the gaps in the horse armor, the luster of mithril flowed like a fine electric net, desperately resisting the corrosive black mist emitted by the low-level zombies trying to climb up!
The knight's sword flashed like lightning, slicing the corpses that dared to approach the horse into pieces!

"rush!"

Shen Mu followed closely behind the knights who were clearing the way, tilting the Holy Tree Knight Shield in his hand slightly to guard against possible stray arrows.

Using the brief passage forcibly torn open by the five riders ahead, the entire group unleashed an astonishing force, like a silver wedge-shaped arrow, ploughing a path of burning holy flames and ashes through the black tide of undead, and swiftly retreating in the direction they came from—the Elf Forest!

From the crossroads behind them and the tall buildings on both sides, came even more furious and manic inhuman roars!
The ape-like skeleton spear throwers let out unwilling screams and tried to throw their spears again, but they were outpaced by the speed of the evacuation squad and their skillful use of street corners and debris as cover.

The dense rain of bone arrows, though relentlessly pursuing and striking the heavy metal armor with resounding crashes, seemed merely to be a farewell drumbeat for this elite knight order that had ventured deep into hell and successfully retreated!
The thick aura of death followed them closely, but the unparalleled protection and impact of the Holy Tree Knights, along with Shen Mu's decisive and almost ruthless order to retreat, ultimately swallowed the unwilling roar once again in this core death zone of Long City, leaving only afterimages briefly illuminated by holy flames and quickly filled with black mist, and the burning remains of the dead scattered all over the ground.

They needed to return to the Elf Forest as soon as possible and bring back the terrifying sights and the latest forms of the undead mutation.

Then we need to find ways to prevent and defend against it!

Shen Mu felt very heavy-hearted.

"The changes in Longcheng City are indeed too great." After all, the predecessor had been wandering around Longcheng City before.

Although his predecessor was afraid of some danger when the rules of necromancy appeared, he did not go deep into Long City.

However, in order to find food, armor, and the core of the spirit world, he did enter Long City and risked his life to search for something.

However, the danger level of Longcheng City back then is incomparable to that of Longcheng City now. Even the gray fog in Longcheng City before that loud noise is incomparable to the black fog now.

"This is definitely a big problem." Shen Mu's expression was grave.

But there was no hesitation.

He shook the reins and lightly tapped the horse's belly with his legs, making the Sacred Tree Steed, clad in heavy chainmail, run even faster.

They quickly returned to the Elf Forest.

They arrived at the Lord's Hall in the Elf Forest.

"My lord!" The captain of the wood elves of the Elf Forest quickly approached Shen Mu, bowed respectfully with his hand on his chest, and then asked in a deep voice, "I wonder what kind of information you obtained on your trip, my lord?"

In the heart of the Elf Forest, beneath the colossal ancient tree that seemed to support the heavens, the atmosphere in the lord's temporary council hall was as frozen as ice.

Shen Mu sat upright on a chair naturally formed by the gnarled tree roots, the Holy Tree Knight Shield he had removed casually leaning against his feet. Three black, twisted bone spears, still faintly emitting ominous black mist, were deeply embedded in the gaps of the mithril-edged shield, a shocking sight.

He had just finished a brief reconnaissance operation that was both thrilling and frustrating.

Legolas, the Wood Elf Ranger Captain and an excellent Wood Elf archer, stood silently before Shen Mu. This usually elegant and calm elf now had an undisguised shock and an increasingly profound solemnity deep within his sharp, eagle-like emerald eyes.

As he listened to Shen Mu's description, each word struck him like a cold nail.

"That black mist, far denser than the surrounding area, is truly 'thick as ink.' It corrodes vision, suppresses the five senses, and, more fatally, it forms a protective layer for those mutated monsters, greatly weakening the purifying effect of sunlight." Shen Mu's voice was calm and even, but the information conveyed between the lines was suffocating. "'Skeleton Spear Throwers,' a type of undead never seen before, resembling elongated giant apes with deformed and elongated arm bones, capable of throwing bone spears infused with a powerful death curse. The remains on my shield are proof of that."

His finger touched the three menacing spearheads. The shield touched the spot where the remaining curse lingered, and the mithril emitted a faint yet piercing hissing sound, stubbornly resisting the contamination.

“What’s even more troublesome is their tactics.” Shen Mu raised his eyes, his sharp gaze piercing Legolas. “They don’t just charge blindly. They know how to use the terrain and the dense fog for cover, and they even coordinate with suicidal exploding zombies to launch precise surprise attacks. In the encounter at the crossroads, dozens of controlled zombies jumped from a hundred-meter-high building, sacrificial lambs to draw fire, just so that the spear-throwers hiding in the shadows of the supermarket could deliver a fatal blow to me. If it weren’t for the sturdy armor of the Sacred Tree…” Shen Mu didn’t finish his sentence, but the implication was clear—if it were an ordinary army, they would have been wiped out long ago.

“Furthermore,” Shen Mu’s tone grew even heavier, “'Black Iron' skeletons are no longer appearing sporadically. A large number of skeleton warriors, swordsmen, and even archers, with bones gleaming a metallic black luster, are now present. Their bone strength has increased dramatically; ordinary arrows struggle to penetrate them, and even powerful crossbows can barely pierce their armor. There’s also the faster, more corrosive zombie Captain Legolas. The loud noise you sensed earlier and that evil aura that seemed to freeze souls are manifesting and spreading at an unprecedented speed! The death core of the entire Long City is transforming, or rather, 'evolving.' It’s no longer the chaotic remnants left behind by the collapse of the Seventh Dynasty of the Black Arrow Tower, but a new kind of necromantic breeding ground, more organized, more powerful, and more deadly, spawned by a deep-seated terror!”

Shen Mu's words were like a cold judgment, making the temperature in the entire tree hall seem to drop even further.

A subtle tremor seemed to emanate from the depths of the ancient trees, as if confirming this ominous sign originating from the heart of the city.

The Rhodok officers and Wood Elf sentries around them all turned pale, and even their breathing became cautious. (End of Chapter)