Chapter 560: Frustrated Gaze (1/2)

“Are there a lot of skeletons in this Thorns Swamp?” Stingham asked Philp and Emila while clinging onto his last hope.

“A lot.” Ayrin answered.

“You never came here before, how do you know that!?” Stingham shouted.

“See for yourself.” Ayrin pointed ahead.

“......”

Stingham immediately became petrified.

Bamboo shoots seemed to be growing out everywhere in his view.

However, they were not bamboo shoots, but skeleton hands.

“Why are there more dead than weeds here!? Is this Thorns Swamp a burial ground!?” Stingham cried out.

The muddy ground kept rumbling and countless skeleton hands poked out of the ground.

Densely packed skeleton hands already stretched out from the ground, while there were even more reaching out from deeper underground.

“The Thorns Swamp was the place demihumans bred and worked during the Era of the War with Dragons. This place originally contained rich tin and iron mines. In the end, the entire mountain was flattened. Metallurgy destroyed the environment here and this place eventually became the Thorns Swamp. From the Era of the War with Dragons to the Magus Era, hundreds of thousands of demihumans died here.”

Philp’s face also paled, “Apart from demihumans, lizardmen and weaslemen also lived here. Their populations were terrifyingly large. Near the end of the war, the lizardmen and weaslemen were eaten as food due to the shortage of supplies.”

“......”

Stingham felt the urge to vomit.

“Uncle Lenyu, Uncle Philp, what about the strength of those skeleton warriors summoned by this artifact?” Ayrin asked with a serious expression.

The skeletons that had crawled out already filled their sight. The muddy ground was full of potholes and rubble. More skeleton hands continued to stretch out of the ground.

The awakened skeletons did not seem weak nor incomplete as he had thought.

Arcane energy condensed at the missing parts of every skeleton. Eventually, after they crawled out, they were patched up completely. Each skeleton’s bones also seemed to be mutated into a different material as they turned black. The black bones reflected a metallic hue as if a layer of black iron was plated over the bones.

“According to the records, just like the Bone Disaster, the strength of these skeleton warriors is unrelated to the time they were alive. The same arcane power dwells in the skeletons. Their strength won’t be great and they can’t use arcane skills. They can only do close-range combat and should possess strength similar to a two-gate or three-gate arcane master.” Philp explained.

“What’s the point of discussing their strength? There are way too many of them! Even if they queue up to let us beat them and we can shatter one with a single punch, we can’t win. Their bodies are like materialized weapons. If we get tired and lose the strength to resist, we will be torn up by them!” Stingham shut his eyes and shouted as he did not dare to look any longer.

For this rare occasion, Rinloran did not scold him.

It was because despite Stingham being idiotic, what he said was true.

Perhaps the number of skeletons appearing before them would only be cannon fodder to the righteous Corps of the Era of the War with Dragons since the Corps back then had a large number of arcane masters. There were even many legendary artifacts in each Corps.

However, after going through the chaotic Magus Era, the current Corps size could not compare to the past anymore.

No Corps could annihilate such a large number of skeleton warriors.

Even a four-gate or five-gate elite arcane master would not be the opponent of a skeleton warrior after completely exhausting their arcane particles.

“Uncle Philp, Uncle Lenyu, Stingham is right. Since this is the case, there is only the method of trying to destroy that item.” Ayrin’s eyes did not contain a trace of fear. His fighting spirit-filled gaze focused on the deep purple arch gate.

The chanting voice was real.

Ayrin could feel the vibration of the air constantly triggering arcane energy to fluctuate.

It seemed that the vibration of each crystal particle in the gate naturally generated the chanting voice, which as a chain reaction, triggered a more powerful arcane energy fluctuation.

Burning flames also dwelled in Rinloran’s icy gaze.

If we can destroy the Evil Dragon’s artifact itself, the skeleton warriors would stop manifesting, right?

“It’s useless.”

Philp shut his eyes painfully, “The Fearotz Stronghold is fated to fall. The Thorns Swamp skeleton army and demihuman-plus-monster army will sweep across the Kingdom of Doa.”

Ayrin held his breath and asked, “Why?”

“Because this artifact is said to be created by the Evil Dragon itself using its own bone marrow and bloodline power. Any arcane power attacking it will only become a source of energy.” Lenyu explained, “Even during the Era of the War with Dragons, nobody has seen the form of its source. Each time they witness it, it is accompanied by a skeleton army in the form of this Evil Spirit Resurrection Gate, as if countless necromancers are chanting inside. The last time it appeared was during the final war on the floating city in your Kingdom of Eiche. In that war, it disappeared after the Evil Dragon fell. I never thought it would appear again here today. It even allowed us to see its original form.”

“No attacks work against it?” Ayrin was dumbfounded.