Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

Skull 1

grade:

Skull 6

grade:

Skull 12

grade:

……

These skeletons were generally level 20 or higher, with the highest being level 27.

He exuded an aura that suggested he was not to be trifled with.

A group of high-level skeletons surrounded the narrow entrance to the cave, creating an immense sense of pressure on Bell – a force of imposing presence.

With his [Army Condensation] ability, Bell could sense that the aura of these skeletons had all been condensed together, and at this moment, their thoughts and beliefs were completely unified.

The highest-ranking skeleton grabbed Acorn by the shoulder and pulled him to the back.

“Dear Mr. Bell, Acorn was rude earlier.”

The skeleton looked down at Bell, the little mouse, with an extremely serious and focused expression.

He made gestures, prompting the skeletons behind him to imitate him. Bell had sensed this in the previous mutated zombies; it was a ritual gesture belonging to the Kingdom, and its solemnity was roughly equivalent to a salute.

The skeleton's mental state and psychological age were much more mature than Acorn's, and Bell felt much more comfortable talking to him, since he wasn't like Acorn, who could spout a lot of illogical things during mental conversations.

"I heard that Mr. Bell wants to study the physical condition of our skeleton race and take us out of the kingdom?"

"Um...that's it."

Bell scratched his head, though his main goal was to avoid arousing the hostility of the skeletons so he could follow Acorn into the royal tomb to search for treasure.

Now that the skull has asked this question, Bell readily admits it, since these are all part of the same research direction anyway.

But unlike Bell, who didn't seem to feel much, after hearing these words, the skull turned around and exchanged something with the other skeletons, and all of them became excited, with tears streaming down their faces and their pupils trembling and wavy.

“Mr. Bell, whether you succeed or fail, you will be the best friend of the Skeleton Clan. Just tell me what your research needs!”

With his assurances, the skull-headed figurehead threw out the soulless skeleton that Bell had requested.

Such a large group of skeletons were squatting at the entrance of the passage, watching Bell dismantle the skeleton into many parts. They had plenty of time to watch, which made Bell's scalp tingle.

It felt like during an exam in school, when the proctor in the exam room stood behind you and stared at you. After watching for a while, he even asked the proctor from the next exam room to come over and watch with you, which made Bell feel a lot of pressure.

"Unbearable."

After a moment of reflection, Bell shook his head, shutting out external distractions and immersing himself fully in his research.

The main subject of the research is the skeleton in front of him, which once gave birth to a soul. Bell wants to find the connection between the royal tomb and the skeleton from its bones, so that the royal tomb will no longer affect the skeleton race.

After studying it for a long time, Bell also found some clues, but after Bell activated [Fire-Loving Wisdom] and completely burned the skeleton to obtain information, he realized that...

Bell frowned; his research showed that these skeletons had a peculiar connection to the royal tombs.

Because they were born from the royal tomb, they naturally became a self-defense mechanism for the royal tomb, after all, this is a civilized burial place, and outsiders are not allowed to desecrate it.

There are only two ways to free the skeletons from the control of the royal tomb:

First, kill the souls of the skeletons, move their corpses out of the royal tomb, and place them in other places where death energy condenses, so that they can be reborn with souls.

Second, destroy the entire royal tomb while protecting the skeletons.

These two solutions presented Bell with an even bigger headache; rescuing the skeleton race from the royal tomb was by no means an easy task.

Chapter 172 Elite Squad Suffers a Setback

"Mr. Bell, does that mean there's no way for us to get out of here for the time being?"

After hearing Bell's research findings, the skeleton leader appeared extremely disappointed. However, he remained calm, considering that many skeletons in his race had spent so many years in the royal tomb and had all failed in their attempts to find a way out.

Bell's conclusion was similar to that of other powerful members of the Skeleton Clan, so the Skeleton Clan leader was not unfamiliar with it.

Looking at the now silent skeletons before him, Bell shook his head and told Acorn to find him another soulless skeleton.

Although he didn't bring good news to the skeletons, Bell's research wasn't entirely fruitless.

He has cracked the method of identifying the royal tomb's aura, and Bell is now confident that he can enter the royal tomb physically without arousing the killing intent of the skeletons.

"I need a conductive material to completely blend my aura with that of the skeleton, so that I can have a fake identity from the royal tomb area."

Bell thought of mithril, the key material for crafting the Old Rat Armor Set. It was the best material Bell had ever encountered, and it could even draw upon the power of the dream.

Unfortunately, Bell's mithril has been used up; after all, it is a top-tier material that is hard to come by.

"Let's use pure iron as a substitute."

While Acorn went back to retrieve the skeleton, Bell also ran to the ground to get some iron ingots to forge the skeleton shells to be used in the royal tomb.

It only takes half a day to travel from the depths of the bamboo forest to the underground base, which is not a long time, and it also provides an opportunity for Bell to regain his shadow power.

The only difficult thing is how to get from the depths of the bamboo forest to its outer edge.

The shadow is currently on cooldown, making Bell a mouse that can't see the light. If exposed to sunlight, Bell will suffer high amounts of true damage.

Although Bell hadn't actually tested how high the damage was, he didn't dare underestimate the high damage figures given by [Information Insight].

"Behold my transformation into Tu Xingsun!"

When they returned to Earth, the moon had long since disappeared, and the sun had already risen above the horizon, its rays warm but not scorching.

Bell dared not show his face, and could only move forward as a mole, digging through the loose soil with his hands, ten centimeters underground.

With his current physical strength, Bear Grylls could easily pry open the loose soil.

Bear Grylls dug his way through the bamboo forest, eventually reaching its outer edge and leaving a trail of tracks behind him that were exactly the same as those left by a mole digging its way through the soil.

However, Bell obviously wouldn't leave any traces to reveal the location of the tomb's entrance.

He used the power of the King of the Bamboo Sea to mobilize a Nie Xiao guarding the Purple Bamboo Shoots through the Sea of ​​Sinking, sending it to the place where Bell left his mark to erase the traces of several key nodes.

As a heartless boss, Bell ruthlessly exploited Nie Xiao as free labor.

"However, you're not working for me for free. Once the bamboo forest is revitalized, the magical beasts that have remained there should be able to occupy a dominant ecological niche. After all, these purple bamboo shoots are treasures left for them, and they'll be able to stay alongside the life-giving purple bamboo..."

Furthermore, their offspring will also become extremely strong.

Bell happily returned to the underground area on the outskirts of the bamboo forest, boarded a minecart, and was finally able to calmly use the Sea of ​​Sinking to observe the situation in the bamboo forest.

The city guards and church members have split into several groups and are advancing through the bamboo forest.

With their addition, the front line of the adventure team's position, which was clashing with the undead, was finally no longer under immense pressure and began to show signs of pushing back towards the rift.

Other adventurers also gathered in the camp captured by the Bloodhand Mercenary Group, which has become a highly concentrated place for independent adventurers. The Bloodhand Mercenary Group, acting as middlemen and venue providers, is now making a fortune.

The city guards have designated personnel to clean up the treasures inside the breached White Bone Spire. Now they all know that the corpses belong to the King of the Bamboo Sea, and no one dares to touch the corpses underground.

From the moment the nun spread the word, the city guards stopped touching the corpses. Other adventurers gradually learned of this and followed suit, not daring to move them.

Especially after the rumors started to spread and become increasingly distorted, with claims that taking away a corpse would bring a curse and attract attacks from evil beings, even fewer people dared to touch the corpses here.

However, the evil creatures mentioned in the rumors are not unfounded. As the strongest team in the bamboo forest, the elite squad was entangled with those terrifying things last night.

Just after the elite team conquered the third bone spire, a black, mist-like, intangible monster floated out of the spire.

That thing is extremely difficult to deal with. Not only is it immune to physical attacks, but it also moves very fast, floating in mid-air. It is impossible to predict its dodge direction because it can move in all directions like a fish.

Moreover, it possesses extremely bizarre attacks. When fighting it, curses will continuously accumulate on your body. These curses will weaken your physical strength and affect your mind. After accumulating a lot of curses, you will simply 'fall asleep'.

This "sleep" is not just a simple matter of falling asleep; it means sinking into a state close to death. If the person is not awakened during this time, they will never wake up again.

One of the elite squad's melee fighters was caught off guard and fell into a coma. If the nun hadn't acted decisively and dispelled the numerous curses binding him, he definitely wouldn't have seen the sun rise the next day.

Fortunately, the elite squad had many powerful individuals with spellcasting abilities, and it took them a lot of effort to disperse that damned dark energy.

But little did they know that dispersing this mass of energy was just the beginning.

Before dissipating, the dark energy emitted a scream that sounded like a wail. At first, the elite team thought it was the monster's death cry, but they didn't expect it to be a call to attract their companions.

Soon after, more than a dozen dark energy orbs appeared around the elite team, constantly casting curses on the team members, trying to wear the adventurers down to death.

"These guys seem to be in a terrible state too, having actually retreated from the depths of the bamboo forest to its outer perimeter. However, it seems these strange dark energy monsters are still not enough to cause substantial damage to the elite team."

Bell, observing the elite squad from a bird's-eye view aboard the minecart, remarked that it was difficult to make this group suffer losses, especially to reduce their numbers.

After all, the elite squad members were able to withstand the mutated zombies and kill them head-on, demonstrating their formidable strength.

The group of people in the team each have their own hidden tricks up their sleeves.

Chapter 173 Dungeon Boss Takes Me on a Tour of the Dungeon

"Hello, hello, I'm back."

When Bell reappeared at the entrance to the royal tomb, the sun was already high in the sky, and another dusk had arrived.

Bell spent the entire day designing his skeletal shell and perfecting it with iron ingots.

The skeletons of the Skeleton Clan remained gathered around the cave entrance, quietly watching Bell operate the equipment, just as before.

They've been bored for far too long, and now that there's something new to see, they naturally won't leave.