Pillar of Yita

Before deciding on tactics, Fang Hong first looked up at the enemy.

In the dense fog, the area in front of the Ancient Monarch Hunter swirled with skeletons, distinctly divided into three layers. The outermost layer, which had the most numbers, consisted of the most common Undead Warriors, broadly categorized into Shieldbearers, Spearmen, and Archers; among them, the Skeleton Archers were the lowest Level—Fang Hong could discern this even with his limited Knowledge—Level 11.

The Spearmen were next, and he could see that some of them were Level 12, while the levels of others were unclear because he lacked specialized knowledge of monsters and undead; beyond three levels up was his limit of judgment.

The last were the Shield Axemen Undead Warriors, all of whom uniformly had an unclear Level, but based on the Spearmen and Archers’ Level distribution, Fang Hong guessed that their Levels were probably around 14 or 15.

The middle layer of the undead was clad in Dragon Scale Heavy Armor with Two-Handed Swordsmen, their bodies shrouded in blackness and smoky tendrils, eyes emitting red gleams, formation tight, and discipline distinct from the disorganized mob outside. They wielded great swords, about half a person tall and a palm wide, their blades dark and clearly forged from Cold Iron, with a black iron Crow’s Claw protruding below—just from this design, Fang Hong could recognize that these were once professionals from the nations of the Ancient Tower known as Crow’s Claw Guards.

These undead, too, had their levels indiscernible, but a Papalarian Crossbowman yelped out a reminder to everyone, ”My God, those fiends are called Crow’s Claw Butchers, Level 17, wow, and there are even Level 18 ones!”

Further inside were circles of knights surrounding the Primordial Lord, these Undead Knights clad in black robes and mounted on skeletal warhorses, holding Curved Blades, eyes fixed forward, but their numbers were the fewest, only about twenty, seemingly the personal guards of the King of Crows.

Needless to say, these knights’ Levels were definitely above Level 20, but from this distance to where the Ancient Monarch was located, it was too far, the fog made even unclear Levels invisible, let alone anything else.

This was still the result of Toragotos lowering the levels of these undead; Fang Hong didn’t believe that the average Level of the Cold Forest’s King from Ancient Tower was just around 20, which obviously was to accommodate this trial’s maximum Level 15 setting.

But even at this Level, it was enough to be daunting.

This was essentially a small army.

To kill that ancient king, one would naturally first have to ask this large undead army for permission—and within this sea of the undead, surrounded at the center, the highest Level clearly belonged to the chief mad hunter; hence, just getting across to his face wouldn’t be enough, one might accidentally get trapped instead.

If it were merely a brash charge, Fang Hong certainly didn’t think they stood a chance against such an opponent, but Invokers often had their own means of dealing with monsters known for their numbers.

His gaze swept across the entire battlefield.

The gloomy underground world beneath the moonlit fog had slowly transformed, becoming brighter around him, the light outlining the pervasive columns and caves, the milky-white limestone quality under the phosphorescence seemingly exuding a pallid luster of the dying.

Fang Hong looked up and soon located a suitable terrain.

There, atop a slope, stood three stalagmite columns, forming parallel caves behind them, resembling a once-existing underground river channel long since dried up, and past waterflows left intricately varied textures on the ground, appearing exceptionally beautiful under the bright fog.

This terrain was more than suitable for defense, strategically elevated, with one man holding off ten thousand.

The King of Crows from the Ancient Tower left a chilling reputation in the Cold Forest, but Fang Hong thought that was because the undead armies were unstoppable in the expansive coniferous forest—the moment winter arrived, all turned bleak, the Lowlands of the Ancient Tower completely flattened, thus allowing this ancient king to come and go freely.

But in this labyrinth-like underground, it was quite different.

His daring to challenge this terrifying Monster, of course, wasn’t just a spur of the moment decision.

With this in mind, Fang Hong lightly pressed on the Black Crystal at his chest, two streaks of blue light shot forth from the crystal, unfurling a narrow light that swiftly formed two twin-bladed Walker III ”Sword Bearers” amid the horde.

Fang Hong waved his hand.

No sooner had the two Flexible Constructs appeared than they simultaneously swung their arms, sending forth a brilliant swath of sword light in all directions. Blades sliced through bone, armor, and other blades, the vision filled with layers of gray numbers—Undead Creatures have no Life Points, only structural and blocking damage.

Where the blade light passed, skeletons flew backward, clearing the space before him.

He charged in at the forefront.

The position to hold was on the left flank of the undead, and reaching there required cutting through a bloody path.

At this moment, Fang Hong only hoped that the Ancient Monarch Hunter and most of the undead were as empty-headed as they appeared, only filled with dust, because if it instinctively allowed its minions to surround them, then frankly, he wouldn’t need much effort at all to reach that spot.

Behind him, Xiangzi and Tainaric understood his intentions instantly and followed closely to his left and right. Only the Papalarian, because of his size, could only see the backs of their heels and the surrounding dense femur bones, utterly clueless about what was happening.

But his Crossbowman’s instinct was still intact; seeing the three charge forward, Parker hurriedly hugged his head and hastened forward with short strides, and from afar, he resembled a frantically rolling furball—surprisingly making it through the dense crowd of monsters.