Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 617 - 422: Attribute Surge, Assault on the Bone Castle!

Its Combat Power Coefficient was absolutely higher than that of a typical Mutated Skeleton.

If it were not for the fact that it started as the weakest of all skeletons, this Skeleton Lord would never have been stuck at the Black Iron Tier bottleneck for so many years.

Fang Zhou knew that the Skeleton Lord’s strength lay not only in its perfect Attributes but also in its rich experience and deep reserves.

He was not counting the various Combat Professional Skills obtained from his main body, nor the various enhancements from the attribute panel. He also was not considering that his current Corpse Body had fused with the Zombie Race’s [Corrosive Poison Incarnation] Talent, combining the strengths of both races. Based purely on the power of this Corpse Body, Fang Zhou indeed lacked the absolute confidence to match the Skeleton Lord.

Putting all else aside, just the sight of the Skeleton Lord’s five-meter-tall frame of bone was enough to reveal the immense disparity between it and his Corpse Clone.

Fang Zhou hid carefully behind a small mound, watching as the Skeleton Lord’s massive figure slowly disappeared into the distance. Only after confirming that the Skeleton Lord was far away did he raise his head and slowly crawl out.

The Soul Fire in his eye sockets flickered faintly. Fang Zhou was exceptionally joyful. Since the Skeleton Lord had really appeared, it meant his plan had succeeded.

Over the past few weeks, Fang Zhou had led his skeletal cluster through the surrounding areas, devouring the skeletal clusters of more than ten Skeleton Lords of varying sizes. Including the fully-manned Skeleton Battle Group he devoured at the beginning, two of the eight major vassals under the Skeleton Lord had already perished at his hands.

Even for the Skeleton Lord, this could be considered a devastating loss.

When Fang Zhou was preparing to target the third Centurion, the Skeleton Lord had already ordered the remaining Skeleton Battle Groups to concentrate. They now patrolled only the area near the Bone Fortress. The Skeleton Lord had obviously recognized the threat and fortified the core area’s defenses. Furthermore, the moment any sign of Fang Zhou’s skeletal cluster appeared, those other clusters would immediately converge to surround it.

Fang Zhou had already made up his mind. Until he broke through the racial boundary to become a Bronze-Tier Undead, he would absolutely not engage in a direct confrontation with the Skeleton Lord, whose trump cards remained unknown. But if he wanted to elevate his racial essence to its absolute limit in the strongest possible state, the most convenient method for Fang Zhou was to hunt the mutated Skeleton Warriors that the Skeleton Lord kept in the Bone Fortress.

Therefore, Fang Zhou had formulated a meticulous plan. He had the Berserker Heroic Spirit Olaf lead his skeletal cluster in a blatant attack on the Bone Fortress, putting on a show of a Taunt. Meanwhile, Fang Zhou himself had set off quietly, hiding near the Bone Fortress in advance.

His greatest advantage was that the enemy was in the open while he was in the shadows. The Skeleton Lord did not know who its enemy was, nor did it know their Tier. Once it learned that the enemy was surrounded, the Skeleton Lord would certainly make a personal appearance to slay the foe who dared to offend his majesty. And that would be Fang Zhou’s opportunity.

To prevent his loyal subordinates from suffering losses, Fang Zhou had specially withdrawn Tidamia, Verus, and other intelligent mutated Skeleton Warriors to a safe distance. Among that group of aggressive skeletal underlings, only the Berserker Heroic Spirit Olaf could be reborn after death. The rest were just disposable skeleton cannon fodder.

Events unfolded just as Fang Zhou had predicted. The skeleton servants were besieged, and the Skeleton Lord, upon receiving the news, left the Bone Fortress and headed to the battlefield personally. In this way, the greatest threat to Fang Zhou within the Bone Fortress had been lured away from its mountain.

As for Fang Zhou’s forces, even he himself lacked absolute confidence in victory against the Skeleton Lord, let alone his skeletal underlings. When Fang Zhou came up with this plan, that cluster of skeleton servants had already been written off as a loss. Their sole purpose was to hold back the Skeleton Lord, preventing it from returning to the Bone Fortress quickly and buying time for Fang Zhou’s hunt.

For this reason, Fang Zhou had deliberately chosen to preserve all the Giant Shield Skeleton Warriors with their strong Defense Power. The purpose of these Giant Shield Skeleton Warriors was to buy more time at critical moments, ensuring Fang Zhou had enough time to complete his plan.

Now, with the Skeleton Lord gone, Fang Zhou officially began his hunt.

* * *

No one knew how long the Bone Fortress had existed. However, judging by its collapsed walls and weathered state, the history of this ancient, dilapidated fortress was surely far longer than one might imagine.

After crawling out from the small mound, Fang Zhou concealed his figure as much as possible and stealthily approached the Bone Fortress. The fortress was huge. Aside from the collapsed sections, Skeleton Squads patrolled the remaining walls at frequent intervals.

As the absolute heart of the Corpse Hills, the Bone Fortress was heavily guarded. Mutated Skeleton Warriors, a rare sight in other corners of the Corpse Hills, were not at all uncommon here. They were like precious collectibles the Skeleton Lord had amassed over a very long time.

On one hand, these mutated Skeleton Warriors could not challenge the Skeleton Lord’s absolute dominion. On the other, their bones and Soul Fire could be supplied to the Skeleton Lord for research, further enhancing his power. The existence of these mutated Skeleton Warriors was both a symbol of the Skeleton Lord’s power and a vital resource for his research.

And now, these mutated Skeleton Warriors, who enjoyed great autonomy within the Bone Fortress, were Fang Zhou’s targets.

Fang Zhou carefully approached the wall and, through a collapsed section, leaped lightly into the breach. He waited for a Skeleton Squad to finish its patrol and turn its back to the collapsed area. Then, he nimbly climbed up, appearing silently atop the wall. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Behind him was a stretch of collapsed rampart, with rubble and dust scattered everywhere. In front of him stood a squad of Skeleton Archers, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

Through his recent trials, Fang Zhou had come to a deep understanding. Given his now incredibly large body, lurking silently was an immensely difficult task. But, from another perspective, if he killed all the patrolling skeletons, that would be another form of silence.

So, the moment he appeared on the wall, Fang Zhou stopped hiding and charged directly at the Skeleton Squad.

SNAP!

The crisp sound of bone striking stone rang out across the wall.

As expected, the Skeleton Squad, a mere dozen meters away, was startled. The Skeleton Archers gripped their White Bone Bows. Their leader spun around instantly, a faint aura of Death emanating from the pale White Bone Bow in its hands as it took aim at Fang Zhou.

Facing this expected outcome, Fang Zhou’s expression remained unchanged. He accelerated, and the Corpse Long Spear in his hand slashed out, its arc enveloping the entire Skeleton Squad.

"Death Tornado!"

After Fang Zhou’s Extreme Enhancement, the power of Death Tornado had grown immensely, far surpassing its prototype Skill, [Vortex Strike]. It could unleash a wide-range splash attack on top of the power of his basic attacks.

And what was a basic attack? It was a single strike delivered with Fang Zhou’s current strength and agility, amplified by the sharpness of the Corpse Long Spear. His strength and agility had already reached astonishing heights, and with the added sharpness of the Corpse Long Spear, the power of such a strike was immense. To put it mildly, it was now effortless for Fang Zhou to kill a mutated Skeleton Warrior with a single thrust of his spear.

And what was splash damage?

This was it.

As Fang Zhou’s Death Tornado slashed out, a dark red blade of light erupted from the Corpse Long Spear. It crossed the several meters between him and the Skeleton Squad, striking the Skeleton Archer closest to him.

Without a doubt, the Skeleton Archer was killed instantly. As it was slain, ten smaller, but equally dark red, blades of light split off and shot out in all directions.

These small blades of light were the splash damage.