3: Chapter 3: Leaving the Territory, First Battle Against the Warthog

Xu Qin looked around.

Within the range of the light shield, besides the half-collapsed Crypt, there was only sand and rubble.

However, about fifty meters outside the light shield, a few crooked dead trees were sparsely planted, which highly matched the morale of his army.

"Let's go."

Xu Qin waved his hand and stepped out towards the outside of the light shield.

Behind him, the five Skeleton Soldiers lifted their legs in unison to follow.

Click, click, click...

The sound of bones clattering against each other rose and fell.

But they hadn't walked more than a few steps.

The ankle bone of the Skeleton Soldier on the far left suddenly jammed.

It lowered its head to look.

Clatter!

The entire skeleton fell apart on the ground.

Xu Qin: "..."

The Acolyte silently stepped forward, dark purple light emerging from its hands.

Bone Healing.

The scattered bones were seen flying back to their original positions one by one, reassembling themselves.

Xu Qin's mouth twitched: "So, the primary application for your Bone Healing is to treat teammates for tripping while walking?"

The Acolyte did not respond.

The undead had no independent will, let alone the ability to engage in conversation.

Fine.

Xu Qin shook his head. Regardless, having a healer is good.

He led this clattering team through the edge of the light shield and arrived before the first dead tree.

"Come, follow me and chop down trees!"

After Xu Qin finished speaking, he swung his stone axe and chopped once.

Bang!

The dead wood cracked open with the sound.

Alright, it's more brittle than imagined.

He turned his head to look at the five Skeleton Soldiers; they at least had a rusty blade in their hands.

"What are you standing there for? Come on, chop together."

With the command given, the five Skeleton Soldiers stepped forward simultaneously, raised their rusty blades, and began hacking at the dead tree.

Although their movements were uniform, the efficiency was pitiful...

Hacking wood with a rusty blade was about the same as sawing a tree with a dull piece of iron; it took three hacks to chip off a small piece of wood.

On the contrary, Xu Qin's stone axe was fast and accurate, felling a tree in just a few strikes.

The Skeleton Soldiers clattered away at the tree next door for a long time before finally grinding through the trunk.

[Obtained: Wood × 3]

"Alright, that's enough." Xu Qin waved his hand.

Three trees, three portions of wood.

He contributed two trees, and the five Skeleton Soldiers collectively contributed one.

The average efficiency... was hard to describe.

But Xu Qin didn't really expect them to be lumberjacks.

Any help is better than none; it's good regardless.

Just as he was preparing to walk further away to see if there was a fourth tree to chop, his gaze inadvertently swept over the sandy ground beneath his feet...

Huh?

On the surface of the sand, there was a string of shallow hoof prints.

The hoof prints were not large, evenly spaced, winding around from the east side and extending to a patch of low-lying shrubs ahead.

Beside them were a few scattered piles of dry excrement.

Xu Qin crouched down and touched the edge of the hoof prints.

The sand was still loose and hadn't been leveled by the wind.

These were fresh tracks.

He stood up and opened the regional map.

On the map, the Crypt territory was a small green square, with large areas surrounding it shrouded in black, unexplored fog.

But about one hundred meters to the southeast of the territory...

A small light-red dot was slowly moving.

"Follow me."

Xu Qin led the Skeleton Soldiers and the Acolyte, clattering all the way as he crept toward the shrubs.

After moving forward about a hundred meters, the outline of the shrubs became clear.

Xu Qin slowed his pace, circled behind a sand dune, and poked his head out to observe.

He saw a Warthog with a shoulder height of nearly one meter rooting in the soil within the shrubs.

The information panel popped up automatically...

Desert Warthog

Attack: 12

Defense: 4

Health: 40/40

Hiss...

Seeing the few lines of information, Xu Qin gasped.

Attack 12?

Defense 4?

Is this pig really that strong?

His Skeleton Soldiers' attack was 5.

Minus the Warthog's defense of 4.

One strike from a Skeleton Soldier dealt only 1 point of damage.

No wonder that Zhang Yan in the channel said "two shattered as soon as they started."

This wasn't a matter of two shattering; it was a matter of being pulverized upon taking a single hit.

What about himself?

Xu Qin looked at his own panel.

Including the bonus from the stone axe, his attack was 10.

Minus the Warthog's 4 points of defense, each hit dealt 6 damage.

What about the Warthog hitting him?

12 minus 3,

9 damage per hit.

He had a total of 30 health; he would be finished after taking three hits.

But...

6 multiplied by 4 equals 24.

He could chop four times and take away more than half of the Warthog's health.

Five Skeleton Soldiers chopping simultaneously would deal 5 points in one round.

With him and the five Skeleton Soldiers attacking together, the total output per round was 11 points.

40 divided by 11... the Warthog would be dead in less than four rounds.

If looked at this way, the gap didn't seem so large.

The key was... how to keep the Warthog from running.

Xu Qin observed the low-lying shrubs...

The terrain was a depression.

It was blocked by shrubs on three sides, with only one direction being open sand.

If he let the Skeleton Soldiers flank from both sides to block the retreat path, and he charged head-on...

Xu Qin glanced at the Skeleton Soldiers again.

They weren't afraid of death and wouldn't run around.

If he told them to block, they would truly block until they were shattered.

A brutal tactic formed in his mind.

"Number One, Number Two, circle around from the left." Xu Qin issued the command through the command panel. "Number Three, Number Four, Number Five, to the right."

"Acolyte, follow behind me. Pay attention to healing the Skeleton Soldiers, but don't get too close."

The Skeleton Soldiers acted separately without a sound.

Two went left, three went right, stepping on the sand to circle toward the two flanks of the shrubs.

Thirty seconds later.

The five Skeleton Soldiers were in position, distributed in the gaps of the shrubs on the left and right sides of the Warthog.

Xu Qin gripped his stone axe tightly, his heartbeat beginning to accelerate.

Less than an hour after transmigrating, he was about to fight his first real battle.

The enemy was a Warthog that could fight better than him.

His comrades-in-arms were five skeletons that shattered at a touch, and his logistics was a healer with an attack of 2.

And he himself was the highest combat unit in the entire army.

Good news: The commander was charging in person, so morale collapse wasn't an issue.

Bad news: The commander had to Charge in person.

Xu Qin took a deep breath.

Charge!

He suddenly erupted from behind the sand dune, took three strides, and raised his stone axe high above his head...

Smashing it down toward the back of the Warthog's head.

Bang!

-6

At the same time, the command was issued through the command panel.

"Kill!"

From the shrubs on both sides, the five Skeleton Soldiers charged out simultaneously.

The rusty blades hacked into the Warthog's thick hide,

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang...

-1! -1! -1! -1! -1!

But the Warthog didn't pay them any attention at all.

All its attention was on Xu Qin...

Because Xu Qin's strikes hurt it the most.

It aimed its tusks at Xu Qin and charged directly at him.

Xu Qin subconsciously wanted to dodge when he saw this.

But reason told him he couldn't dodge.

Once he dodged, the Warthog would Charge out of the encirclement.

The Skeleton Soldiers couldn't catch up to it, and the battle would be completely in vain.

Besides...

These Skeleton Soldiers weren't even afraid of death; if he, the boss, chickened out first, would that be acceptable?

Xu Qin gritted his teeth, faced the Warthog's Charge, and brought down his second axe strike.

Bang!

-6!

Pfft...

The tusks pierced the outer side of his thigh.

-9!

Damn, that hurts!

A real, visceral tearing sensation shot up from his thigh, and his whole leg almost gave out.

He still had 21 health left.

He could fight!

Xu Qin grabbed the tusks with his left hand, preventing the Warthog from turning its head.

He looked at the health bar above the Warthog's head: 23.

He swung the stone axe in his right hand for the third strike.