Diablo traveled through time and became a necromancer

Wu Ye, leading his skeleton army, once again entered the deep, azure entrance of the crystal passage. On the cave wall, massive bluish-purple crystals, like frozen stars, hung upside down overhead, emitting a hazy, cold light. Drops of water slowly seeped and dripped from the sharp tips of the crystal clusters, creating a soft, "tick-tick" sound in the silent passage, adding a touch of eeriness and strangeness. The air was filled with a familiar, unsettling low-pitched hum, as if countless tiny ice needles were piercing the soul.

"Nature's marvelous workmanship? More like a trap meticulously laid by the devil," Wu Ye muttered, retrieving the magical map from Harrogath from his storage space. The map was made of some kind of flexible leather, and shimmering magical ink outlined the complex topography of the Arreat Mountains and the veins of the crystal passages.

He injected a trace of magic power, and the lines on the map instantly lit up, as if coming alive. A dot of light, representing their current location, flickered along a winding main passage. Wu Ye's finger followed the dot of light, searching for the fork in the road leading to the "Glacier Path."

"Found it!" Wu Ye's eyes narrowed. The map showed a small, downward-sloping fork in the road about a mile ahead, marked with runes that pointed to the path leading to the glacier. That path led deep into the mountains, ultimately leading to the "frozen river" emitting an extremely cold aura.

"The target is clear, the glacier path!" Wu Ye put away the map and pointed his bone staff forward. "Maintain the formation and advance steadily! High Priest, maintain the Holy Light Shield and be careful to dispel any mental interference!"

The team set out again. The journey inside the crystal passage was not smooth, requiring one to navigate narrow paths between giant crystal clusters and climb steep icy slopes. Along the way, demons swarmed like maggots on the tarsal bones, constantly emerging from the shadows and cracks in the crystals.

Ice Crawlers: These giant ice scorpion-like monsters, covered with ice crystal shells, emerge from the ice on the ceiling or side walls of the cave, spewing frost breath with a slowing effect.

Frozen Ghost: A translucent ice crystal ghost that emits a piercing scream, can penetrate physical defenses to directly attack the mind, and releases a small range of frost nova.

Blood King: A floating monster that looks like a combination of a flayed bat and a dwarf, waving shriveled claws and shooting dark red blood magic arrows.

Dark Elders: Larger crystal spiders with carapaces shimmering with fel energy, they lurk in the shadows, spraying sticky paralyzing webs and summoning swarms of self-destructing crystal spiderlings.

Bone Walker: A tall undead forcibly pieced together from broken bones and blue-purple crystals. It wields a heavy bone club, walks with heavy steps, and has a high resistance to physical attacks.

Facing these enemies, Wu Ye's command became increasingly handy:

"Front row, raise your shields! Hold off the creepers and bone walkers! Archers, kill the blood kings and evil spirits in the air!"

"Mage! 'Weaken' the curse on the Dark Elder! 'Intensify Damage' on the Bone Walker! Focus your Bone Spear fire and kill him!"

"Be careful of the self-destructing spiders! Clean up the corpses with corpse explosion!"

"Brother Skeleton! Interrupt the Dark Elder's summons!"

Under his spiritual connection, the Skeleton Army operated like a precision war machine, operating silently and efficiently. Skeleton Warriors' bone shields steadily blocked blows, while bone knives and axes precisely cleaved joints. Skeleton Archers' Soul Fire Arrows pierced aerial targets like meteors. Skeleton Mages' Cursed Auras and Bone Spears struck with pinpoint accuracy. Occasionally, if a foe slipped through their net or an unexpected situation arose, Skeleton Brother would strike like black lightning, sweeping with his greatsword, always turning the tide in an instant.

During a lull in the battle, Wu Ye's attention was drawn to an inconspicuous object in the corner of the passage. Half-buried in icy debris, it was a twisted statue made of some kind of black metal and dark crystal. Its shape was bizarre, and it emitted faint, ominous fel energy. It resembled a curled-up, winged demon embryo.

"Huh? This thing... looks a bit weird." Wu Ye became curious and subconsciously stretched out his finger to touch the surface of the statue to see what it was made of.

Just when his fingertips were about to touch the statue!

"Om-!"

The statue suddenly erupted with a blinding dark green evil light! A powerful energy shockwave suddenly spread out from the statue, blowing away the surrounding ice crystal fragments! At the same time, several even more dazzling evil energy runes instantly lit up on the ground around the statue!

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Accompanied by the sounds of bones grinding and ice shattering, six elite demons of varying forms burst forth from the magic circle! Their eye sockets burned with unholy fire far more intense than that of ordinary monsters, and their bodies emanated powerful energy fluctuations!

An Ice Reaver leader (extra strong, ice-enhanced) wearing heavy ice crystal armor and holding a burning hellfire axe!

Two Corrupted Filth Ones (Toxin Enhanced) with more bloated bodies and tail spikes flashing with poisonous light!

Three shadow hunters made entirely of shadow energy, armed with double daggers (super fast, flame-enhanced)!

"Shit! I'm so naughty!" Wu Ye suddenly retracted his hand, looking at the lavish "welcome ceremony" before him, and couldn't help but curse. "I just touched a fish... no, just a statue! Is it necessary to make such a big fuss about me?! Bal, you bastard! You even set traps for picking up scraps on the roadside?!"

No matter how much he complained, Wu Ye reacted very quickly!

"Everyone! High alert! Focus on the ice lump leader holding an axe! Aging! Increased damage! Put it on me!" The double curse halo instantly enveloped the Ice Reaver leader!

"Archers! Mages! Kill those two poisonous toads (corrupted and filthy ones) first! Don't let the poison mist spread!"

"Brother Skeleton! Stop those three shadows playing with fire (Shadow Hunters)! Don't let them get close to the back row!"

The battle erupted instantly! The Ice Reaver leader roared and charged, its Hellfire axe slashing down with the force of a mountain splitter! But under the double curse, its speed and defense were greatly reduced, and it was firmly held in check by the bone shields of the front row of skeleton warriors! The arrows and bone spears of the skeleton archers and mages rained down on the Corrupted Filth like a torrential rain, riddling their bloated bodies with holes and freezing them before their poisonous slime could even be released!

Skeleton Brother directly confronted the fastest Shadow Hunter! He quickly launched himself! His greatsword swept across with a shadowy afterimage! The Shadow Hunter tried to dodge with his speed, but Skeleton Brother was even faster! His greatsword precisely severed the dagger and arm of one Shadow Hunter! The other two were forced back by Skeleton Brother's frenzied attacks, unable to break through the defenses and attack the back row!

"Corpse explosion! Target - the dead toad!" Wu Ye seized the opportunity and pointed with his bone staff!

boom! boom!

The corpses of the two Corrupted Filth Ones exploded violently! Green flames of death mixed with poisonous mucus splattered everywhere! Not only did they severely injure the nearby Ice Reaver leader, but the shockwave from the explosion also sent a Shadow Hunter flying, crashing into the cave wall!

"Bone spear volley! Get rid of it!" Wu Ye finished off!

Puff puff!

The dense bone spears nailed the fallen shadow hunter into a hedgehog!

The rest of the battle was a foregone conclusion. Under Wu Ye's precise command and the Skeleton Legion's powerful firepower, the elite squad was quickly annihilated. Wu Ye approached the now-dulled Xie Weng statue and prodded it with his bone staff. After confirming it was harmless, he carefully picked it up and put it away. "This thing... maybe I can sell it for some money? Or use it as trap material?" he muttered.

After resolving this minor incident, the team continued on their journey. Following the map, they quickly found the fork in the road leading downwards. A colder, damper atmosphere, even colder than that in the passage, surged from below.

The moment I stepped onto the glacial path, the light suddenly dimmed. No longer was the giant, glowing crystal overhead, only jagged black rock and icy ridges. The passage became narrower and more rugged, the ground slippery and covered with a thin layer of ice. The humming of fel energy in the air seemed replaced by the sound of flowing water, but that sound was dull and viscous, as if it were not water but slurry.

"Torches!" Wu Ye ordered. The skeleton warriors immediately lit the grease-soaked torches they carried. The dancing flames dispelled some of the darkness, illuminating the passage dimly and casting twisting, swaying shadows. The high priest's holy light also expanded, its soft glow barely illuminating a dozen meters ahead.

Despite the map's guidance, Wu Ye's mind remained intensely focused. He could sense that within this deeper darkness lurked hunters far more dangerous than those within the Crystal Passage. Dark-adapted demons silently lurked in the shadows of rock and cracks in the ice, waiting for their prey to fall into their trap. The silence of the glacial path was even more disturbing than the humming of the Crystal Passage.

"Watch your step, and be mindful of the shadows," Wu Ye whispered. Who knows if Lao Liu might be lurking in these dark corners? Even though he had a bunch of bodyguards, he could still get scared!