Chapter 20 - Chapter 20: 14. Blood bottle blue bottle (1/2)

the preparations for the battle were underway.

information gathered from the four reconnaissance squads had been compiled and distributed to each squad under the command of sergeant major alvin stafford.

according to the scouts, there were numerous low-ranking undead constructs on the first underground level of grave no.1079.

by conservative estimates, the imperial army would be up against around 200 fast-moving skeleton hounds, at least 6,000 bone sword-wielding skeleton warriors, 40 cavern stalkers lurking in the walls and ceilings, and six spell-casting big skeletons.

in order to prepare for this battle, commander alvin stafford ordered the soldiers to be fully armed.

for the undead constructs made of bones, they were given hammers imbued with biochemical nectar.

this unique blunt weapon had a nozzle designed to spray the nectar when swung forcefully. the solid nectar particles could be dispersed like bait, dealing a lethal blow to the skeleton warriors within a small range.

although the effect was slightly inferior compared to bee syrup bombs, it was no problem to melt an entire skeleton warrior in a minute.

to counter the skeleton hounds and cavern stalkers, alvin stafford gathered a large number of biochemically enhanced battle dogs.

these accelerated-growth dogs had keen senses of smell and hearing, allowing them to detect the cavern stalkers disguised as stone bricks.

at the same time, they had been professionally trained for “dogfighting” and would immediately pounce on any discovered skeleton hounds, holding them down, and giving the soldiers room to deal with other enemies.

as for the big skeletons with spell-casting abilities…

bee syrup bombs were the first choice.

each squad was equipped with bee syrup bombs and a corresponding bomb launcher.

these powerful weapons could only be used when confronting the big skeletons. at other times, the soldiers were only authorized to use firearms and hammers.

with all these arrangements in place, noland lee’s mars squad had a clear division of labor:

corporal mars and a private named mike adams were responsible for using honey hammers to engage the enemy.

private second class corey, isaac, and kovin were in charge of controlling the dogs to clear out troublesome cavern stalkers and skeleton hounds.

private second class corbin carried the bee syrup bombs and the bomb launcher, always ready to deal with big skeletons.

as a sin soldier, noland lee was tasked with walking in the frontlines and drawing the enemy’s attention.

of course, he received some preferential treatment, being allowed to wear plate armor and carry an engineering hammer.

once he got the plate armor on, noland sat outside the squad’s tent, watching the hustle and bustle of the soldiers while wiping down his engineering hammer, soaking in the tense atmosphere before the battle.

after applying the maintenance oil to the hammerhead, noland pulled up the system message to check it out.

over the last hour, he had been constantly fighting, with no time to review any messages; now was the perfect time to catch up.

[system message: you dealt 40 points of construct value damage to the skeleton hound.]

[passive deconstruction activated!]

[your deconstruction completion of the “skeleton hound” has increased from 0% to 4%.]

[system message: you have been attacked by the skeleton hound… completion increased to 7%]

…

[system message: your deconstruction completion of the skeleton hound has reached 100%. you have obtained all the deconstruction results of the skeleton hound.]

[you have mastered all information about this target through passive deconstruction.]

[you have regained 1 point of energy—this value is equal to the energy you would have consumed from actively deconstructing the skeleton hound.]

noland raised his eyebrows in surprise, not expecting passive deconstruction to have such benefits.

actively deconstructing a skeleton hound consumed 1 point of energy, while passive deconstruction provided a 1 point energy recovery.

passive deconstruction saved him 1 energy point while also replenishing it; this effectively doubled his energy gain!

it seemed that passive deconstruction had great potential…

though, the process was quite painful, as it required fighting the enemy half to death…

noland sighed inwardly at the harshness of life and pulled up the deconstruction results of the skeleton hound for a quick glance.

there wasn’t much special about the skeleton hound’s panel, only the “bone supply” feature was worth noting.

skeleton hounds with this feature could be broken down into bone parts by skeleton warriors and big skeletons, and added to their bodies to replenish their construct value.