Asskickers United had already warned players not to engage with the skeletons under any circumstances. Now whenever players encountered one, they would immediately flee. Like this, the growth of the skeleton army slowed down significantly. They could only rely on massacring NPC towns and villages to expand.
This caused Qin Han to feel a sense of crisis. If he could only rely on slaughtering NPC settlements to expand, the growth of his skeleton army would have no way of keeping up with the rate they were dying at. If it continued on like this, they would eventually collapse!
Qin Han thought of another extreme method and put it into work. He announced that anyone who voluntarily became a skeleton would be compensated five gold a month. There were plenty penniless, low-level players in Conviction, many of whom flocked to him.
After learning Qin Han was resorting to this method to recruit skeletons, Nie Yan chuckled to himself. Qin Han was at the end of his rope. His skeleton army had already been effectively quarantined. He would be lucky if their numbers even broke past 8,000,000. As long as Asskickers United continued fighting them at the forefront, they would be whittled away until nothing was left of them.
"Nie Yan, I just received a title called Apocalypse Saviour," Tang Yao said after glancing at his notification window.
"Apocalypse Saviour? How many skeletons did you kill?" Nie Yan asked in shock.
Tang Yao looked down at the skeleton kill count. "40,000."
"No wonder!" Nie Yan exclaimed. Tang Yao had really killed a frightening number of skeletons. "What kind of effect does the Apocalypse Saviour title give?"
"Magic Power +10%, Cast Time -10%," Tang Yao replied. These effects were pretty good.
Tang Yao's magic power and cast speed were already at the top among Mages. With the effects of this title, he would be unrivalled.
Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. "When the next wave of skeletons arrives, you should cast your Forbidden Magic too."
The skeletons were basically serving themselves up on a silver platter. Nie Yan definitely couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. If Xie Yao also obtained the Apocalypse Saviour title, Asskickers United would have two peerless Magisters.
It would be extremely difficult for Nie Yan to obtain the Apocalypse Saviour title. For a melee class like him to kill 40,000 skeletons was nigh impossible. Even if he summoned Lil' Gold, it still wouldn't be feasible. However, he paid close attention to his Holy Spirit Heart quest. This place was a sea of bones. If he could purify enough skeletons, it might be possible for him to break another seal from Zennarde's Sword.
Over the next few days, Qin Han's skeleton army launched wave after wave of attacks, only to be repelled each time by the players of Asskickers United. More than 300,000 skeletons crumbled to piles of bones below the walls of the Shoro Stronghold, which still hadn't been breached.
Looking at the Shoro Stronghold from the outside, the walls were falling apart with cracks everywhere. For it to last so long against this endless tide of skeletons was practically a miracle.
During this time, Xie Yao also obtained the Apocalypse Saviour title. Heaven's Domain Descent was even more powerful than Archon Flame Apocalypse, wiping out 60,000 skeletons in the blink of an eye.
The Shoro Stronghold refused to fall. Qin Han felt extremely frustrated and swore up a storm. He refused to be defeated like this. He continued to mobilize his skeleton army toward the Shoro Stronghold. Victory or defeat in this battle was no longer just about the stronghold.
Over the course of his conquest, Qin Han had already taken down 70 strongholds. The War God Tribe in Nisode and Battle Crazed Alliance in Hilderlocke were all turtling in their several key strongholds. As long as the Shoro Stronghold fell and the main force of Asskickers United was defeated, he could completely crush them beneath his feet!
At present, more than half of Asskickers United's elites were in the Shoro Stronghold! Anyone heading to Calore had to pass through this stronghold. Even if taking it down would come at a great cost, Qin Han refused to back down!
"Dammit! Keep attacking!" Qin Han fiercely spurred on his troops, mobilizing another 500,000 skeletons. He was going to take down the Shoro Stronghold, no matter what!
At this moment, standing on top of the walls, Nie Yan had a smirk on his face. He had achieved his goal. Qin Han was completely focused on him. With close to 1,000,000 skeletons laying siege on the Shoro Stronghold alone, the pressure on the other guilds was greatly reduced.
Tang Yao and Xie Yao had already cast their Forbidden Magic. Under the frantic assault of the skeletons, the Mages were all running low on mana. They were akin to dried up oil lamps. But the relentless assault of the skeletons showed no signs of stopping. They kept coming and coming, never giving the Mages a breather to recover their mana. The walls were breached. Warriors had to form human walls to keep the skeletons from swarming the stronghold. They were slowly being overwhelmed.
Seeing the Mages out of mana, Nie Yan gave out an order, "Everyone, use your scrolls! Don't feel too bad about using them since I'm the one footing the bill."
Nie Yan's joke evoked a few chuckles. The players activated the scrolls. A torrent of holy light flooded out, beating back the skeletons once more.
The clash between both sides was intense, with neither side willing to back down for even a single second. Eventually, some skeletons pushed through the human wall of Warriors and started slaughtering the Mages.
"Boss, we can't hold on any longer over here!"
"Boss, we have a breach!"
The walls were being overrun. Nie Yan knitted his brows. "Should we give up on the Shoro Stronghold already? If we keep fighting like this, we're going to suffer heavy losses. But if we withdraw now, all of Calore is going to be swarmed by Qin Han's skeleton army."
While Nie Yan was wracking his brains for a solution, a figure appeared beside him and asked, "Need some help?"
Nie Yan looked over. A Warrior clad in ornate gold armour entered his eyes. Behind him were 50 high level players.
Without Nie Yan's instructions, Lei Su wasn't sure what to do. Seeing the situation going south, he took the initiative to ask.
"The east side of the walls. That section is about to fall. Go over there and help. Thanks," Nie Yan said.
"Alright, no problem. I'm also a member of Asskickers United now. It's the least I can do." Lei Su chuckled. He then hurried over to the east side of the walls with his comrades.
The walls on the east side of the stronghold were breached. A large number of skeletons were flooding in as a fierce battle broke out. With high health and defense, the skeletons braved the magic and slaughtered one player after another. The fallen would immediately reanimate and join the ranks of the enemy.
"Guys, we can't let these skeletons get past us, or else the consequences will be even more severe! Plug the breach!"
"Warriors, go up and stop them!"
"We have to beat them back!"
More Warriors rushed to the front and stopped the skeletons from advancing forward.
Even though the skeletons were attacking fiercely, the players guarding the walls didn't back down in the slightest. After all, they were the elites of Asskickers United. Skeleton after skeleton threw themselves fearlessly at the human wall, gradually overwhelming them, when a thundering voice rang out, "Warriors, move aside! I'll deal with it myself!"
Lei Su appeared from behind a corner. He looked like a golden armoured war god as he rushed into the fray.
"It's War God Lei Su!"
"Everyone, make way!"
Even though the players of Asskickers United were still a bit unfamiliar with Lei Su, most of them knew he had joined the guild and had seen his duel with Nie Yan. No one knew when, but his nickname of War God also started spreading. It was a befitting title for someone who was capable of fighting Nie Yan to such an extent.
The Warriors stepped out of the way, opening up a path. At this moment, two large skeletons charged toward Lei Su.
"Nothing more than a pile of bones!" Lei Su arrogantly smiled. He slashed down with his great sword, firing out a crescent-shaped sword beam towards the two skeletons.
BANG! The two skeletons were instantly smashed apart as bone fragments flew out in every direction.
Lei Su's attacks were domineering. Even though they couldn't match the range of Mages, most of them reaching no more than 10 meters, their destructive power was unrivalled!
Seeing the skeletons climbing the walls, Lei Su charged forward to greet them. Slashing out wildly with his sword, he smashed every skeleton in range into pieces.
The skeletons struck Lei Su with their axes. However, the attacks were stopped by the golden aura protecting his body, giving off sparks as the attacks bounced off. They couldn't deal any damage to him.
Swinging out with a punch, Lei Su struck one of the skeletons in the chest. BOOM! His fist instantly shattered it into pieces.
The surrounding players gaped their jaws in shock. So powerful!
This was unrivalled, absolute strength!
It was the pinnacle of Warriors!
A giant Lord-class Skeleton King came stomping over. It had just finished off two players. Seeing Lei Su tearing through one skeleton after another, it immediately charged over while brandishing its great war-axe.
The Skeleton King looked invincible with its metallic bones. A single stroke from its axe could leave a large crater in the wall.
Defense Stance!
Lei Su raised his greatsword, blocking the Skeleton King's blow.
KLANG! Lei Su's body sunk as cracks started appearing on the ground beneath his feet. However, he still remained unyielding like a boulder.
"RHAAAGHHH!" Lei Su slashed out with his greatsword as a crescent shaped sword beam cleaved into the Skeleton King's body.
−33,555
Not only was Lei Su taking on a Skeleton King alone, he was also slowly forcing it back. The surrounding players were dumbstruck. His strength was truly astonishing!