Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 545 - 386: Legion Campaign, Bronze Foes, Grand Trade Fair! (Part 2)

The Corpse Long Spear slashed out once more!

Under the immense pressure of his superior Four-dimensional Attributes and racial Combat Power Coefficient, the Skeleton Chiliarch—who had been at the Upper Black Iron level for an unknown amount of time—was shattered by the Corpse Long Spear before it could even react. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Grabbing the falling skull of the Skeleton Chiliarch, Fang Zhou, with a mere thought, activated his Skeleton Monarch skill again. He was still unwilling to accept defeat and wanted to see if he could use his skill to enslave the commanders serving under the Skeleton Lords.

Fang Zhou’s eyes flickered with an eerie blue light as a powerful surge of Soul Power erupted from within him, attempting to seize control of the Skeleton Chiliarch’s Soul Fire. Unfortunately, with a soft PUFF, the Skeleton Chiliarch’s Soul Fire was instantly extinguished.

It seemed that any commander bound by a Skeleton Lord’s contract could not be enslaved by Fang Zhou.

Fang Zhou frowned slightly, but he wasn’t discouraged.

Just as he expected, the Skeleton Lord’s contract was incredibly powerful, binding the Soul Fires of these commanders so thoroughly that they could not be controlled by anyone else. This led Fang Zhou to speculate that the unknown Skeleton Lord’s blessing from the Undead Blood Moon must have been of a different nature than his own. Its ability to control vast numbers of ordinary skeletons was clearly superior to his, and it had even developed the ability to create Skeleton Soldier Talismans to appoint Chiliarchs and Centurions. The trade-off, however, was that the quality of the Skeleton Warriors under its control was not very high. So far, he had faced two waves of these skeleton clusters and hadn’t seen a single Mutated Skeleton Warrior. This was a stark contrast to his own army, which had nearly ten Mutated Skeletons out of a force of just over a hundred.

The death of this Skeleton Chiliarch threw the 500-strong Skeleton Army under its command into immediate chaos. Without unified command, the Skeleton Warriors began fighting for themselves, and the battlefield devolved into a free-for-all.

However, the five Skeleton Centurions who had survived the encirclement quickly seemed to regain command. They struggled to manage the hundreds of skeletons, directing them to slaughter Fang Zhou’s Skeleton Servants.

Not dwelling on the issue, Fang Zhou immediately followed up his kill on the Skeleton Chiliarch by slashing out with his Corpse Long Spear again, beheading the two Skeleton Guards at its side.

For some reason, there wasn’t a single Mutated Skeleton Warrior like Tidamia, Verus, or Yongen in this sea of hundreds of skeletons. They were all the most common ordinary Skeleton Warriors, which made Fang Zhou’s battle much easier. The combat power of these ordinary Skeleton Warriors was far inferior to that of the Mutated Skeleton Warriors, leaving them unable to resist the powerful offensive of Fang Zhou and his skull minions.

Back on the battlefield, the death of the Skeleton Chiliarch had turned the once-unified Skeleton Legion into a scattered mob. Some of the skeleton soldiers remained under the command of the Skeleton Centurions, while the rest became disorganized stragglers.

Fang Zhou ordered Olaf, Tidamia, Verus, and his other generals to lead their elite skeletons directly into the Sea of Skulls and behead the remaining Skeleton Centurions who were barely holding on.

With the successive downfall of the Skeleton Centurions, the already collapsing Sea of Skulls finally broke down completely, its units fighting for themselves.

Freed from the suppressive effects of the Skeleton Lord’s Skeleton Soldier Talismans, the innate hunting and devouring instincts of these ordinary Skeleton Warriors reawakened. They began to madly attack everything within their Soul Fire Perception, including each other. This naturally relieved a great deal of pressure on Fang Zhou’s skull minions.

Ignoring the battle between his skull minions and the Skeleton Legion, Fang Zhou continued his attempts to enslave the fallen Skeleton Centurions. However, after many tries, he had no choice but to give up. He didn’t know what kind of firewall the Skeleton Lord had installed in the Soul Fires of these Skeleton Commanders, but as soon as his Soul Link touched the Skeleton Centurions, their Soul Fires were instantly extinguished, just like the Chiliarch’s before them.

The one consolation was that these Skeleton Centurions, having been blessed by the Skeleton Lord, provided a generous amount of Corpse Essence and Soul Power.

After absorbing this final tribute, Fang Zhou raised his Corpse Long Spear and charged back into the chaotic battlefield like a tiger descending the mountain.

Thanks to Fang Zhou’s decapitation tactics, the massive melee between hundreds of skeletons was over in just twenty minutes. His tactics were simple and efficient. He first concentrated his forces to eliminate all the Skeleton Centurions, which caused the entire Skeleton Legion to lose its command and fall into chaos. Then, he commanded his skull minions to launch a comprehensive attack, crushing the leaderless Skeleton Warriors one by one.

After selecting the best of the fallen to bring his own ranks of Skeleton Servants back to full strength, Fang Zhou devoured the remaining 400-plus skeletons.

Perhaps because each Skeleton Warrior had been suppressed by the Skeleton Soldier Talisman, their individual contributions of Soul Power were less than I had anticipated.

Even so, the combined Soul Power from over 400 Skeleton Warriors represented the largest single gain he had experienced since his Awakening.

Looking at his once-again surplus reserves of Soul Power, Fang Zhou nodded in satisfaction.

At this rate, it won’t be long before I can try to deduce an entire Corrosive Poison Skill Tree.

Now, with the help of skilled research assistants like Liu Diewu and Silvanas, he already had numerous Skill Material options and feasible deductive pathways prepared. As long as Fang Zhou invested enough contribution points and Soul Power, deducing a new skill—a task that would seem insurmountable to others—was easily within his grasp.

After cleaning up the battlefield with practiced ease, Fang Zhou didn’t pause for a moment. He immediately led his skull minions toward another direction, where another Skeleton Legion awaited!

「A few days later, the long-awaited marketplace finally began.」

Organized by the Sea City Military Academy, the entire event was scheduled to last for a week. The daytime was dedicated to free trading, while the nights featured the much-anticipated auctions.

In the central square of the Sea City Military Academy, cadets who had heard the news gathered under the supervision of their instructors, forming a vast area of temporary shops. Tall tents of red, blue, yellow, and green stood everywhere, with countless smaller stalls crammed into every available space.

Due to the limited area, not every student could have their own booth. For example, powerful and high-ranking students, like the Seed Students, had abundant contribution points and resources, allowing them to apply for private booths. Ordinary students, however, were tight on both contribution points and Cultivation Resources. With their shallow pockets, they couldn’t afford a private space. Therefore, they often pooled their resources to run a booth together.

The entire venue, while chaotic, maintained a degree of order. The area was roughly divided into three distinct sectors based on tier: Apprentice, Black Iron, and Bronze. Of course, the Black Iron Tier sector was the largest and most bustling, while the Apprentice Tier area was relatively small. The Bronze Tier, needless to say, occupied an even smaller area with only a handful of stall owners. However, plenty of students had gathered in that area simply to browse and see what was available.

The only rule of the marketplace was freedom. With the Sea City Military Academy overseeing everything, no student dared to engage in coercion or fraud.

An endless stream of cadets poured in from every corner of the Sea City Military Academy, their faces beaming with a joy usually reserved for festivals.

Fang Zhou entered the square alone, moving with the crowd.

Initially, his four assistants—Liu Diewu, Silvanas, Bai Xiaochan, and Meng Hongzhuang—had wanted to accompany him through this rare market. But as the saying goes, three women are enough to put on a show. Being surrounded by these assistants—all of whom were exceptionally talented and possessed their own unique, dazzling charm—made Fang Zhou feel far too conspicuous. Furthermore, since everyone was looking for different kinds of resources, Fang Zhou simply declined their eager requests and set out to shop by himself.