Chapter 1 The Players of the Bull Horn Tribe Gather

The onlookers from the Bull Horn Tribe gradually dispersed. Lei Su received invitations from several player teams within the Bull Horn Tribe. Although these teams weren't top-tier, Lei Su gladly accepted and grouped up with them to explore dungeons.

To Nie Yan's surprise, another fifty or so excellent first-rate players followed Lei Su and joined the Bull Horn Tribe. They were all Lei Su's subordinates, regularly teaming up with him for dungeons. A few of them were only slightly less skilled than Lei Su. Nie Yan began to understand that Lei Su had a team supporting him. With such a top-notch team and powerful financial backing, Lei Su's achievements were understandable.

The addition of those fifty-plus players to the Bull Horn Tribe felt like a windfall. Normally, Nie Yan would have had to put in a lot of effort to gather fifty people of that caliber, but now, they had practically delivered themselves to his doorstep. These fifty people would still be under Lei Su's command, but in the event of major guild affairs, they would assist the Bull Horn Tribe alongside Lei Su.

Having resolved the matter, Nie Yan planned to continue farming skeletons with Xie Yao and Tang Yao. They had just met at the edge of the teleportation array when they received news: Qin Han had led a large army of skeletons from the south of Carol City into its territory. Furthermore, large numbers of skeletons had also been spotted in Nisode City and Colt City. Qin Han was organizing a skeleton legion to besiege Colt City's fortress, attacking the weakest point to capture it and strengthen his skeleton legion through slaughter.

Nie Yan and the others could no longer safely farm skeletons. They quickly mobilized the Bull Horn Tribe's player legions to engage Qin Han's skeleton legion in direct combat.

Rabbit Fortress is under attack!

Ellenson Fortress is under attack!

Two small fortresses in Colt City were the first to be attacked. Endless skeletons surrounded them, launching a full-scale assault.

Guo Huai obtained some information about the skeleton legion from inside the Sword of the Gods. According to the latest data, the skeleton legion had grown to a massive two million, with seven or eight thousand leader-level skeletons! Such military strength was truly fearsome.

The Colt Soro Fortress, a crucial passage from Colt City into Carol City, had skeletons sighted outside its walls by Bull Horn Tribe players.

Nie Yan looked at the map. Qin Han's next goal was definitely to capture Soro Fortress, cutting off the connection between Nisode City, Colt City, and Carol City, isolating those two cities from the Bull Horn Tribe's control, and then defeating them one by one. Nie Yan pondered for a long time while looking at the map. The strategic location of Soro Fortress was extremely important. As long as he held it, Nie Yan could mobilize the armored trebuchet legions at any time and crush everything in their path. Colt City was mostly flat plains, perfect for an offensive and defensive stronghold. Let the battle to stop the skeleton army begin here!

Nie Yan began mobilizing a large number of armored trebuchets towards Soro Fortress, along with a large number of high-level players.

Since intercity teleportation was not available, the Bull Horn Tribe players could only teleport to the town closest to Soro Fortress and then ride horses to the fortress, which would take about fifteen minutes.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao traveled on flying mounts to Soro Fortress. In the previous war, Soro Fortress had been reduced to ruins by the Bull Horn Tribe's armored trebuchets. After being rebuilt by the Bull Horn Tribe, the fortress had risen again, even more magnificent and imposing than before.

Nie Yan and the others climbed onto the city walls and looked into the distance. There were a few skeleton soldiers wandering on the distant plains—scouts for the skeleton army. The real main force had not yet arrived.

Nie Yan began to arrange defenses meticulously and also modified the terrain outside Soro Fortress. This was done in secret, known only to a few trusted members of the Bull Horn Tribe.

Not long after, about sixty or seventy armored trebuchets were moved to Soro Fortress, lined up in the open space inside the fortress walls. These armored trebuchets could attack areas about five or six hundred yards outside the city walls.

After completing a series of tasks, Nie Yan also had Guo Huai provide the six thousand Bull Horn Tribe players defending the city with many items for countering skeletons, including Holy Light Judgment Scrolls, Vine Entanglement Scrolls, and so on.

Soro Fortress was now like an iron bucket, meticulously prepared by Nie Yan.

Over the next period of time, Nie Yan received several messages in succession. The Rabbit Fortress and Ellenson Fortress in Colt City had fallen one after another. The skeleton army continued to sweep towards Bajet Fortress, destroying countless villages and towns along the way. The skeleton army was like an unstoppable torrent.

Nie Yan stayed near Soro Fortress for a few days. On the third day, he received news that Brilliant Knife Light and Sun had successfully advanced to top-tier classes. This news was within Nie Yan's expectations; they were definitely capable of completing the advancement. Although he was happy for them, Nie Yan needed mage mentors or holy priests even more at this time. These classes were clearly more important in large-scale wars.

Nie Yan paid attention to the class advancement quest progress of Shi Li Hua Sha, Black Heaven, Black Hell, and others, but they would need at least another half a month to successfully advance. However, the situation had become even more urgent. After Qin Han's skeleton army swept through more than a dozen fortresses in Colt City, it began to surge towards Soro Fortress.

A large number of skeletons, about three to four hundred thousand, had gathered thousands of yards outside Soro Fortress. Faced with such a massive skeleton army, Nie Yan would never send players to intercept them. Once they were in the wild, without the support of the city walls, the players would become prey for the skeletons.

The mighty skeleton army marched towards Soro Fortress. A great battle was imminent.

After receiving the news from the wandering thieves outside, Nie Yan, standing on the city wall, revealed a faint smile. They were finally here.

In an open space in the middle of the skeleton army, Qin Han, wearing a black mage robe, looked at the towering city walls in the distance. He had just received a message from below that Mad Rogue Nie Yan had already prepared defenses in Soro Fortress, waiting for him to attack. Qin Han revealed a contemptuous smile. Did Nie Yan really think these city walls and guards could stop his skeleton army? He was being too naive.

The skeleton army swept across the land, destroying villages and towns. Any player guild that stood in its way was routed, which caused Qin Han's ambition to expand without limit. With millions of skeletons backing him, he naturally wouldn't care about Nie Yan's small Soro Fortress. By taking down Soro Fortress and passing through a canyon, his skeleton army would begin to sweep across the entire Carol City, and he would uproot the Bull Horn Tribe completely!

Qin Han recalled the time he was killed by Nie Yan with two arrows, and his heart filled with rage. That was definitely the greatest humiliation he had suffered since entering the game, and he would make Nie Yan repay it twice over!

Kill!

A powerful mental wave spread out from Qin Han's body. This was him giving the order.

The skeleton army received Qin Han's instructions and began to move slowly, like a surging tide, rushing towards Soro Fortress.

Standing on the city wall, Nie Yan looked into the distance. The endless sea of skeletons was a vast expanse of white. No wonder the NPCs of the Greenland Empire described these skeletons as locusts; they were indeed like a swarm of locusts.

Gradually, the skeletons got closer and closer, only about a thousand yards away from the city walls. The skeletons at the front came into contact with the flame traps set up by the Bull Horn Tribe. Large patches of fire blazed, igniting the nearby forest. Amidst the raging flames, large numbers of skeletons screamed miserably and turned into fragments. However, even this did not stop their advance.

The flames burned for a full ten minutes before slowly dying down. Over the next period of time, the skeleton army suffered from various situations. Pitfalls, ground spikes, flames, and more appeared one after another. At least tens of thousands of skeletons died in these traps.

Unable to break through for a long time, Qin Han became even more furious. Under his command, the skeleton army not only did not stop but instead rushed towards Soro Fortress even more frantically. They could be described as stepping over each other's corpses. No matter how many skeletons fell in front, the skeletons behind would continue to advance, heedless of losses, stepping on their bones.

Eight hundred yards, seven hundred yards, six hundred yards...

The skeletons were getting closer and closer, putting immense pressure on the players inside Soro Fortress.

"Guild Leader Nie Yan, they're coming! Should we use trebuchets to bombard them?"

Another player glanced at the speaker and said, "What are you talking about? They're not within five hundred yards yet; the trebuchets can't reach them!"

As the skeletons approached, the atmosphere inside Soro Fortress became increasingly tense. If they were facing other guilds, they would never lose their momentum, but they were facing mindless skeletons. Many of them had encountered these skeletons before; these guys were simply unkillable cockroaches, often appearing in groups, fearless and undying. Players killed by them would also become members of the skeleton army. Faced with such opponents, everyone felt extremely helpless, especially since they were now facing millions of skeleton soldiers!

Nie Yan smiled easily and said loudly, "Everyone, there's nothing to be afraid of! With such high city walls, these bastards can only pile up a wall of bodies to climb up. Mages and priests, smash them with spells, smash them until they have no fight left! Kill as many as we can! Even if they do manage to climb up, the fortress is inanimate, but we're alive! We're not afraid of not being able to escape, are we? Anyone who can't run fast enough can only blame themselves!"

Some laughter erupted from the crowd, and the originally tense atmosphere eased a lot.