Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 338 - 271: Dark Elegy—Who Is the Strongest DPS?

According to the strategy provided by Lu Renjia, Fang Zhou learned several key factors determined the clearance rating for the Shelter Defense Battle. These included the number of casualties among guards and refugees, the time held against the Demon Army, and the number of demons killed by the trialist. Therefore, even though this was a Simulation Battlefield on Simple difficulty, Fang Zhou was still eager to achieve the highest rating and a perfect clear. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Considering this, casualties among the guards and refugees in the Shelter had to be minimized.

Just as he was preparing to act, a gigantic fireball launched by the Fiery Demon tore through the sky and instantly ignited another watchtower. And so, the Shelter’s disaster began.

The Shelter was quite large, but there were very few young men capable of taking up arms and bravely facing the demons. The Fiery Demon’s presence turned the watchtowers, originally used as observation posts, into death traps. As a second watchtower was struck by a fireball and became a blazing torch, the guards on the remaining towers chose to flee. Many even abandoned their bows and arrows, desperate to save their own lives.

Fang Zhou shook his head slightly. The archers on the watchtowers are the Shelter’s only means of resisting the demons. The reason the Fiery Demon was attacking the watchtowers was obvious: the archers were the only ones who could pose a threat to it. Now, the guards had voluntarily abandoned their posts.

Although they were temporarily safe with the demons held back by the high wooden walls, it also meant they could no longer launch effective attacks on the demons outside.

If only someone could draw the Fiery Demon’s attention, it would give a Divine Archer like Li Guang a chance to get back on a watchtower. He might be able to snipe that terrifying monster with a single shot.

However, all the watchtowers were currently deserted. If Li Guang acted alone, he would be completely exposed to the Fiery Demon’s line of sight. The Fiery Demon would not overlook such a threat; once it spotted Li Guang, it would surely bombard him with blazing fireballs immediately.

Through the eyes of the Pearl Bird, Gugu, high above, Fang Zhou could also see a one-armed female Warrior hidden behind the Shelter’s wooden walls. She stood among the crowd, trying to rally any able-bodied adults to take up arms and act as guards. Her efforts, however, did not seem very effective. These refugees, who had recently been holding hoes and sickles and had not awakened any powers as Professionals, were by no means qualified warriors. Relying on sheer numbers might be enough to scare off bandits, but facing a fierce Demon Army, the only reason they hadn’t already fled was the feeling of safety behind the solid wooden walls.

A loud bang echoed, followed by another. The entire Shelter seemed to shake as tongues of fire licked over the tops of the wooden walls.

Beside Fang Zhou, a middle-aged Warrior NPC exclaimed in panic, "Not good! The wooden walls and the main gate have been hit by fireballs! They’re on fire!"

In his judgment, the place was already too difficult to defend. Neither the thick door bolt nor the heavy wooden door was easily burned through. However, the entire front of the Shelter was now engulfed in flames. Blazing tongues of fire licked through the gaps in the wooden doors. The intense heat forced everyone to retreat, unable to hold their ground. Some refugees fetched buckets of water from the well in the center of the Shelter, but the intense heat kept them from getting close. They could only throw the water toward the gate from a distance, which only raised clouds of white steam and had no real effect.

Another loud BANG echoed as a fireball from the Fiery Demon smashed into the gate. The already charred wood finally gave way, splintering with a series of cracks before collapsing into the sea of flames.

The Demon Race was renowned for its strong resistance to fire, a trait that was now on full display amidst the inferno. Even though the wooden walls were still burning fiercely, several small, crimson-skinned Little Inferior Demons screamed eagerly. They charged out from the sea of flames like Evil Spirits from Hellfire as they rushed forward. Their skin, seemingly forged in Purgatory, was nearly unharmed by the flames, which only emboldened their attack.

Fortunately, under the command of Punishment Ranger Li Guang and the one-armed female Warrior, many unarmed refugees had already begun fleeing to the rear of the Shelter. The refugees, who had been hiding in houses and shadows, poured out from their hiding places, trying to escape the area before it became a battlefield. Their eyes were filled with fear, yet under the guidance of the two warriors, they maintained as much order as possible while heading for the only escape route.

The Shelter had been designed with potential demon attacks in mind, so it had only one main gate facing forward. The surrounding wooden walls stood five or six meters high with their tops sharpened into spikes. Climbing such walls was a formidable task even for trained Professionals, let alone the frail, the old, and the young among the refugees. Now, these refugees could only follow closely behind Li Guang and the female Warrior, hoping for a sliver of a chance at survival.

In front of the Shelter’s gate, a few brave humans had stepped forward. They formed a thin defensive line, ready to fight the invading enemy to the death. Some held crude weapons like wooden clubs or old swords, but most were bare-fisted, relying on nothing but courage and determination. This was a desperate stand; they had no other choice. Behind them was a dense crowd of refugees. Turning back would mean exposing their backs to the Little Inferior Demons and welcoming certain death.

As the battle drew near, chaos spread. Some of the Shelter’s guards roared, eager to charge and fight the enemy. However, most of the civilians scrambled about like a directionless swarm of bees, disrupting the very formation the guards had struggled to create. In this maelstrom of chaos and despair, everyone fought for their own survival.

A hoarse, slightly deranged laugh, like a curse from the Abyss, echoed through the burning Shelter. The Fiery Demon stepped over still-glowing embers as it entered the flame-engulfed Shelter. With every step it took, the surrounding flames seemed to answer its call. The tongues of fire raging on the wooden walls surged toward the Fiery Demon as if to consume the intruder. Astonishingly, the flames caused it no harm. Instead, they were absorbed by the strange red-and-black Demon Patterns on its body, becoming a source of power that nourished it.

"Foolish humans, surrender immediately to the great Demon Race! If you dare resist..." The Fiery Demon glanced around, its eyes filled with hatred and a lust for conquest. A cruel smile spread across its face, which was covered in black-and-red spots, as if it were savoring an impending tragedy. "Kill without mercy!"

As these cold, merciless words fell, an invisible, suffocating pressure enveloped the Shelter.

However, the Fiery Demon’s threat had the opposite effect. Several of the Shelter’s guards reacted unexpectedly. Their chests heaved, their eyes blazed with fury, and they suddenly let out a deafening roar. The roar was filled with the despair of men facing their doom, as if some primordial courage deep in their blood had been awakened.

In that moment, nothing else mattered. What mattered was the path they chose: not to kneel in surrender, but to rise and fight back.

Their sudden outburst caught the Little Inferior Demons accompanying the Fiery Demon completely off guard. Just as a Little Inferior Demon crossed the threshold of the gate, before it could even steady itself, a burly Shelter guard swung his heavy Iron Shield with thunderous force at the creature’s head.

With a dull, metallic CRASH, the Little Inferior Demon lost its balance and fell backward. It lay on the ground, dazed and unable to get up.