Necromancer: Becoming a God Starting with Skeleton Clone

Chapter 469 Undead Cavalry Formed, Breaking Through Bronze Level, Under the Protection of Death!

Ark didn't intend to use brute force when it came to the Bone Plains to capture undead mounts; only a fool would try to fight head-on.

After placing the main force behind a mound of bones, Ark, along with Sain and several of his most powerful skeleton knight guards, cautiously advanced a short distance.

Spotting a lone zombie bear, Sion swung his hook, catching it instantly, and then pulled hard—

Then something unexpected happened to Ark.

Surprisingly, Sion couldn't pull the zombie bear over as easily as before.

Among the undead he possesses, excluding Olaf, Sion's power is arguably the greatest.

However, this zombie bear, though initially caught off guard by Sion's sneak attack and pulled back a distance, quickly regained its footing, braked hard, and started pulling in the opposite direction.

Sain was furious. It wouldn't allow itself to lose face in front of its master, so it quickly exerted all its strength.

Sion's flesh and bone hooks creaked and groaned under the pull of the two enormous forces.

No, we can't let this drag on for too long.

Otherwise, the other zombie bears would definitely discover what's going on here.

If these zombie bears were to attack them en masse, they would have no choice but to run away.

Being chased by these big guys is no easy task!

Immediately, Fang Zhou ordered his skeletal guards to rush forward with him, grab the flesh and bone chain, and pull it towards them.

Although the zombie bear is indeed very strong, even a hero can't withstand a large number of people.

In particular, Ark's own strength attribute far exceeds that of Sion, and with the help of the other Corpse Knights, even if the Zombie Bear's strength were twice as great, it would still have no chance of escaping.

The only thing that worries Ark is Sion's chains.

The chain looked rusty and didn't appear sturdy at all.

He was genuinely worried that such a great force would break the chain of flesh and bone in the middle.

You see, his methods for hunting undead mounts now depend entirely on this chain.

Fortunately, the rusty chains were still somewhat considerate of the Ark.

Although it made creaking sounds, as if it might break at any moment, the chain never developed a crack.

With the combined efforts of Fangzhou and the others, even though the zombie bear was extremely unwilling, it was still quickly pulled over.

Come.

Before the zombie bear could even react to what was happening after being pulled to the earthen wall, Sain had already rushed forward, leaping onto its back with a powerful push.

Upon sensing someone sitting on its back, the zombie bear went berserk and began to struggle wildly.

It rolled and leaped, trying to throw Sain down as quickly as possible.

Subduing a mount and taming an undead are not the same thing.

The key to subduing the undead is to extract a wisp of their soul fire in order to gain control over them.

Taming a mount requires using your own strength to subdue it.

Fortunately, Sain had thoroughly studied this technique on the way here.

As for the people they would learn from, they would naturally be the Corpse Knights guards beneath the Ark.

However, the zombie bear was so large that it was difficult for Sion to squeeze its belly shut.

Moreover, its strength is incomparable to that of ordinary skeletal warhorses.

Left with no other choice, Sain clung tightly to the bear's neck to steady himself, determined not to be thrown off by the bear.

At the same time, he frantically mobilized his soul fire to suppress the giant bear's movements.

Because Ark had already made it very clear to it that there would be no second chance to subdue the undead mount.

If the subjugation process fails, the undead beast will never be able to submit to the knight again.

More importantly, when a knight is taming his mount, once the taming phase begins, no one else is allowed to interfere.

If anyone intervenes, the attempt to subdue the enemy will fail.

Mount taming can only be done successfully on the first try.

Failure is failure. Either you get killed by the berserk undead beasts, or you can only find another target.

Under the mental pressure from Sion, the zombie bear's body clearly became sluggish.

But soon, the zombie bear began to struggle frantically again, though its struggles seemed less powerful than before.

After about ten minutes of this back-and-forth struggle, the zombie bear gradually stopped moving.

At this moment, a soul fluctuation suddenly emanated from the zombie bear.

Sain was overjoyed at the sight. According to the Ark's master, this meant that the mount had already acknowledged him as its master.

He officially became his undead mount.

The euphoria of success instantly washed away Sion's fatigue.

It urged its mount to stand up and tried to get the zombie bear to carry it.

The zombie bear immediately started running slowly, and it took Sion quite a while to stop.

Ark, watching from the side, was quite satisfied with his mount, Sain.

The speed of a mid-tier Bronze Zombie Bear at full speed is even greater than that of a Skeleton Warhorse, and in terms of strength, it is definitely not weak, as it can rival the power of Sion, a Corrupted Abomination.

While the zombie bear is slightly slower than a regular skeletal warhorse, that's to be expected.

After all, with that kind of weight and strength, a large creature will definitely be slower than a small creature; that's an unchangeable rule.

However, being slightly slow isn't a major drawback, considering the bear's size and strength.

After successfully capturing the first zombie bear, Ark continued to do the same, and soon had all the zombie bears in sight.

This harvest of zombie bears was just an appetizer.

Next, Ark led Sion and the Corpse Guards deeper into the Bone Plains, enslaving all the undead mounts within sight that could be used to synthesize Corpse Knights.

If it weren't for the fact that the powerful aura of a high-ranking bronze undead beast was already faintly visible as they ventured further in, the Ark might have gone even deeper.

Even so, despite the lack of vertical depth, the Ark still swept across a vast horizontal area.

Unbeknownst to them, they had already traveled a great distance from the territory where he had manifested the cemetery of corpses.

It wasn't until he felt his connection to the cemetery of corpses weakening that Ark snapped out of his reverie of the bountiful harvest.

He looked up at the blood-red moonlight in the sky and couldn't help but sigh, increasingly missing the convenience of having a personal burial ground.

However, you have to give up something to gain something.

He has now materialized the Corpse Graveyard from his soulfire into this fragment of the Netherworld in the Wasteland of Strife. Although he can no longer move it at will for the time being, it has greatly enhanced his affinity with the Blood Moon's will in the Wasteland of Strife.

This manifests in the various functions of the cemetery as an explosive increase in the production speed of various resources.

Once this growth rate reaches the threshold, the Ark can sit in the Lord's Hall, activate the Corpse Authority, and begin analyzing and devouring the Blood Moon Will of this realm.

This is the source of his confidence in controlling the Corpse Cemetery to devour everything in its path and conquer fragment after fragment of the Netherworld.

Taking a deep breath, Fangzhou suppressed his urge to continue his conquests and expansions.

Looking back at his increasingly large army, Ark had collected over a thousand undead beast mounts ranging from lower-tier Black Iron to mid-tier Bronze after this sweep across the Bone Plains.

Skeleton Warhorse, Zombie Bear, Zombie Horse, Skeleton Panther, Skeleton Spider, Zombie Wolf...

This also means that Ark can currently synthesize thousands of Corpse Knights.

Although he currently only has close to 500 Bronze-ranked mid-tier Corpse Guards, the remaining few hundred Corpse Knights can also be promoted to Bronze-ranked lower-tier.

This undoubtedly greatly increased the power under Ark's command.

This also rekindled in him a long-dormant ambition to conquer other undead lords in the surrounding area.

After all, it wasn't that he wasn't interested in the Blood Moon Blessing carried by the undead lords around him.

Rather, it was because he had just arrived in the Wasteland of Strife, and was unfamiliar with the place and its inhabitants. Not only had his own power not reached its limit of expansion, but he also had no understanding of the surrounding enemy situation and terrain.

But the situation is different now.

Once they return and digest this wave of gains, having assembled the three bronze-level undead units—the Corpse Knights, Corpse Warriors, and Corrupted Abominations—and supplemented by the well-developed undead commander system personally trained by Olaf, the strength of Ark's undead army will undoubtedly see a qualitative leap.

After envisioning a bright future, Fangzhou turned his horse around and led the main force back towards the cemetery of corpses.

Based on past experience, the blood moon tide is about to arrive.

He needed to return to his territory and organize a defense before the blood moon tide arrived.

Once he's finished digesting this wave of gains, he'll come back to the Bone Plains.

Of course, there was an even more crucial reason for deciding to return immediately.

That is, with the attribute feedback during this period, the main body's mental attribute finally reached 100 points.

This also means that he can officially break through the bottleneck and advance to the Bronze Lower-Rank Necromancer.

At such a crucial moment, he naturally needs to be fully focused and give it his all.

Just as Fangzhou had predicted, when his consciousness returned to his body, the light on the attribute panel was exceptionally bright.

In particular, the value in the mental attribute column has reached 100 points, which means that he has reached the critical point between the black iron and bronze ranks.

Fang Zhou sat upright in the portable meditation array of the Beast City Inn and took a deep breath.

He knew this was the perfect opportunity to make a breakthrough.

During this period of training, the experience he gained from Instructor Lu Hu, as well as the knowledge imparted by Instructor Su Xinyan and Master Sandru, made him fully prepared for the process of breaking through the bottleneck and advancing to the Bronze level.

Therefore, when this moment truly arrived, he was unusually calm, as if everything was under his control.

Moonlight streamed into the room through the window, enveloping him in a soft, silvery glow, as if crowning him.

He began his final meditation of his Iron Age career.

The magical power, like drops of clear water, converges into the invisible energy core within the body, eventually forming a powerful torrent.

This feeling of fulfillment began to permeate Fangzhou's heart.

His magical power began to boil, like magma before a volcanic eruption, surging and fissuring within his body, then rapidly expanding and growing until it broke through the barrier as thin as a cicada's wing.

"Pop~", a faint, almost imperceptible sound rang in Fangzhou's mind.

After being enhanced by the necromantic treasures like the Bone-Corroding Blood Spring and the Breath of Decay, the barrier that had stood in his way now seemed to vanish into thin air, easily penetrated by his magic power.

The next step is the most crucial one: condensing a bronze-grade gaseous core.

This is not only a crucial moment for the magician to transform their intangible magic into gaseous magic, but also a critical juncture that determines whether the Ark can successfully solidify its unique innate skills when it breaks through to this major realm.

He took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and focused all his attention on the depths of his mind.

Under his guidance, the invisible necromantic power gradually coalesced into a rotating vortex.

Like the most dazzling galaxy in the night sky, it constantly attracts surrounding light points to merge into it.

Following Su Xinyan's instructions, he carefully recalled his previous simulation experience, ensuring that every step was accurate.

As the invisible magical power continued to gather, the density at the center of the vortex increased.

Finally, the vortex of magical power gradually solidified in the center of his mind, eventually transforming into a gaseous energy core.

At the same time, the originally abundant and intangible magical power began to undergo a qualitative change.

They merge with the undead attribute energy guided from the outside world, forming the gaseous magic unique to necromancers.

Throughout this process, the skill [Bone Armor], which Ark had already mastered to an instinctive level, also underwent a transformation.

Guided by the Ark, this skill was successfully fixed within the gaseous mana core, becoming a core component of his future battles.

Furthermore, with Ark's understanding and analysis, the [Bone Armor] skill has undergone an evolution.

It has expanded from a simple defensive skill for necromancers of the skeleton type to a broader skill called "Death's Blessing".

In other words, Ark expanded the boundaries of Death's Blessing in the process of solidifying talent skills, leaving room for him to embed other defensive skills into the skeletal defensive skills.

As Ark continues to advance, whether he becomes Silver or Gold, the innate skill engraved in his mana core can be modified and improved at any time.

After all, skeletal defensive skills are only a small part of a necromancer's power.

Next, Ark will inevitably be able to analyze various powerful undead powers from higher-level undead creatures, such as soul, flesh, curse, and decay.

Expanding from a single armor to a Death's Blessing that can integrate other powers undoubtedly greatly enhances its practicality.