Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Chapter 745 - 484: Hunting the Zombie Lord, the Undead Council! (Part 2)

If it wants to duel, then let it duel. The Berserker Heroic Spirit Olaf was waiting right here.

...

As Fang Zhou’s Corpse Army advanced, several waves of Zombies had already come to offer themselves up for slaughter.

These creatures had rotting flesh hanging from their bodies and bits of tattered cloth wrapped around them. Fang Zhou paid them no mind, casually giving Tidamia the command to kill them all.

With a wave of both hands, Tidamia swiftly relayed commands to every Undead in the Battle Array without pause.

The Tomb Corpse Undead, originally lined up in a dense formation, suddenly dispersed. They formed groups of three to five or clusters of seven to eight. In any case, there was no longer any semblance of strict military cooperation.

However, if an Undead unit flying above were to look down, it would be astonished.

These seemingly scattered Tomb Corpse Undead had actually formed a perfect circle.

This was the new Undead Battle Array Tidamia had learned under Olaf’s tutelage.

Within the formation, every Undead seemed to be loosely scattered, with no apparent connection. In reality, however, the links between them were incredibly tight.

Every enemy Zombie had to simultaneously face attacks from three, four, or even more Corpse Warriors from all directions.

Rushing recklessly into such an Undead Battle Array was simply courting death.

According to Olaf and Tidamia’s combat tests, there were only two ways to break this Undead Battle Array.

One was to be like Fang Zhou and use superior strength to smash through with brute force. However, such a powerful being likely did not exist under this Zombie Lord’s command.

The other method was to deploy more than five times the number of troops and simply overwhelm the opponent with sheer numbers. Doing so would prevent Tidamia from effectively utilizing the Battle Array’s effects.

But right now, not only did the Zombie Lord lack any powerful experts to break through the formation, but although its forces exceeded 70,000, they were nowhere near five times the size of Fang Zhou’s army.

This kept the battlefield situation completely under Tidamia’s control.

Fang Zhou didn’t need to command this battle at all. In fact, he had recently been studying war command, mainly by consulting Olaf and Tidamia on the strengths and weaknesses of various Battle Arrays and learning how to properly allocate soldiers.

This had led to a dramatic improvement in Fang Zhou’s command abilities, far surpassing the expected level of a student who had only been at Sea City Military Academy for a year.

When to fight to the death, when to lead a charge, and when to retreat immediately—Fang Zhou had already mastered these battlefield details with finesse.

However, for large-scale battles like this, Fang Zhou intentionally handed over all command to Tidamia to train his subordinate. After all, Tidamia possessed the extremely rare specialty of Battle Array command, which was precisely for this kind of task.

And Tidamia did not disappoint Fang Zhou.

It did not rush to eliminate the incoming Undead units. It knew these small squads were just probing forces, possibly even bait. The scattered and frantic Zombies were obviously being suppressed by a powerful Soul Fire, forcibly ordered to their deaths. These were clearly not the main forces, but merely bait sent by the opposing Zombie Lord to test the strength of Fang Zhou’s side.

So, Tidamia was in no hurry to eliminate them. It just kept them trapped while closely monitoring the surroundings, waiting to see what the Zombie Lord would do next.

As Tidamia slowly strangled the Zombies that had entered the Battle Array, a particularly tall Zombie, standing a full five meters high, watched everything from a distant hillside.

This was the local Giant Zombie Lord.

This was its domain, and everything in it belonged to it. It would never allow anyone to seize what was rightfully its own.

This invasion by Fang Zhou made it feel a slight sense of crisis. Ever since its Soul Fire had grown stronger, receiving more and more Blood Moon Blessings and allowing it to command over 100,000 troops, no Undead Lord had dared to invade its territory.

It couldn’t even remember the last time it had been invaded.

These past few years, with its territory secure, it had lost much of its desire for expansion. It had instead spent all its effort on enhancing its own strength and power.

But now, another Undead Army dared to invade its domain.

How dare they look down on my power?

The Giant Zombie Lord’s Soul Fire throbbed wildly. After so long, the forgotten sensation of anger surged through it once more. It immediately prepared to order a full-scale attack to annihilate this insolent Undead Army.

However, upon careful consideration, the Giant Zombie Lord decided it couldn’t afford to be careless. So, it dispatched some of its subpar Zombie troops to attack the Undead Army, but the results shocked it.

These Corpse Undead were weaker than it could have possibly imagined. Not only was their fighting style chaotic, but there was also nothing particularly commendable about their combat prowess.

What on earth gave this Corpse Undead leader the courage to invade my territory?

The Giant Zombie Lord pondered deeply.

It had a brain, but not much of one. Thus, it was completely unable to see through Tidamia’s strategy of feigning weakness and deliberately concealing its strength.

After much contemplation, it confidently settled on another explanation. This was merely a careless Undead Lord that had accidentally chosen the wrong direction and ended up in its territory. Moreover, even after it projected a warning with its Soul Fire, the enemy still hadn’t retreated. This was proof enough that the invading Undead Lord wasn’t a very bright creature.

At this thought, the Giant Zombie Lord grew excited.

Its evolution had slowed in recent years, and it remained stuck, unable to break through to the Bronze Upper rank. Although it wasn’t entirely sure why, it assumed this was due to the low quality of the Soul Fire it normally consumed.

But this new arrival, an enemy capable of commanding 70,000 Corpse Undead, had to be at least an Undead Grand Lord. If it could devour this Corpse Lord’s Soul Fire, it would be an immense boon to its evolution.

Thus, the Giant Zombie Lord immediately began to mobilize its personal forces. Its personal forces were comprised of especially robust Giant Zombies, which gave it immense confidence. It was certain it could devour this reckless horde of Corpse Undead that had intruded upon its domain, and then consume their leader’s Soul Fire.

No pre-battle mobilization was needed. The Giant Zombie Lord only had to project the intent to fight with its Soul Fire, and all its Zombie subordinates went berserk, charging toward the seventy thousand invading Corpse Undead.

Then, protected by its one thousand Giant Zombie royal guards, it slowly moved to the rear of its army.

Even though it had convinced itself that the enemy was just a group of careless Corpse Undead that had stumbled into its territory, it still remained cautious. If anything seemed amiss, it could flee immediately.

...

Within the Battle Array, Fang Zhou watched the Zombies charging over the hills and plains.

The vibration of the earth from the charge of these hideous Zombies was so intense it felt unsettling to Fang Zhou’s ears.

The number had to exceed 150,000.

I wonder if Tidamia can handle such a massive force.

Fang Zhou turned his head to look at Tidamia.

Of course, no expression could be seen on Tidamia’s face, which was completely encased in its Corpse Armor. However, through their Soul Fire link, Tidamia conveyed a clear signal to Fang Zhou that there was no problem.

Indeed, a mere 150,000 ordinary Zombie troops, even if their charge formed something of a shockwave, were not enough to cause Tidamia any concern.