Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 120 Skeleton Armor and Troll Mantis

[The host has chosen innovation. Please specify one or more other forms of witchcraft.]

"A magic trick to control the skeleton!" Richard thought to himself with delight.

[Your mastery of the skeletons has reached its limit, meeting the innovation requirements. This innovation will generate a new level zero sorcery, requiring 14521 energy points. Current energy points are sufficient. Begin innovation!]

[Ding! New Level 0 Wizardry generated: Exoskeleton Armor]

[Exoskeleton Armor: Consumes mental energy to manipulate and assemble skeletons around oneself or allies, acting as a shield for protection. Requires a magical medium: a skeleton.]

The new sorcery was then shown, along with five sorcery runes, a sorcery model, and incantations.

Moreover, the medium needed to perform witchcraft is the same as before: a skeleton. There are no other additional requirements.

Richard was overjoyed; it seemed his hard work over the past few days had paid off.

After the initial surprise, I began to reflect.

Richard pondered, "The name 'exoskeleton armor' clearly indicates that it is also a level zero sorcery that tends to be protective."

It's highly likely influenced by the Dark Element Shield, since I chose to combine a defensive level 0 spell with an offensive trick. The Inspiration panel, based on this, made some kind of innovative fusion.

Richard checked the panel and saw that the newly added level 0 sorcery after the innovation was now displayed separately in the [Spells] section: Exoskeleton Armor (Entry 1%).

One advantage of the innovative witchcraft is that it's a direct entry-level skill, eliminating the need to spend time on prerequisites or anything like that.

But thinking about it, isn't that to be expected? After all, the prerequisites for exoskeleton armor are: Level 0 Dark Elemental Shield and Trick Manipulation Skeleton.

I have already reached my limit in both of these areas.

Moreover, Richard guessed that he would level up his new level zero magic very quickly.

There are precedents for this, such as manipulating skeletons and summoning skeletons. They are only related to a certain extent, but if one of them is at a higher level, the other will improve rapidly.

In comparison, the connection between exoskeleton armor and dark element shields and the manipulation of skeletons is much higher!

Unfortunately, we're running out of energy points again, otherwise we could have immediately tested the speed of improvement.

Now that he had acquired the new level zero sorcery, Richard naturally wanted to test its effects.

He instructed Fingart to find a fish-man skeleton at random to serve as a medium for his magic.

As the incantation was recited, the entire skeleton was controlled by Richard's mental tendrils, and began to assemble around his body.

The skull part covers Richard's entire face, presenting a white fish head shape!

Wait a minute! Something's not right! It's shaped like a fish head!

That's right. His original skeleton was kept at the academy and wasn't brought over. This was a skeleton that Fingart secretly found—a skeleton that had once been a high-ranking murloc warrior.

"But this fish head design is really kind of funny! Next time we'll have to find a human skeleton!" Richard thought to himself.

The chest defense is quite good, with dozens of ribs protecting the front. However, the back is hollow, similar to an evening gown worn by women in my previous life, exposing the entire back. Overall, it can be considered a semi-enclosed defense.

However, the defense of the limbs is quite awkward. For example, in the arms, only the ulna and radius are arranged parallel to the arm, and the protection of the two slender bones is not even a semi-encirclement.

However, if we don't consider practicality too much, this witchcraft is definitely the kind that looks amazing.

A few seconds later, Richard, clad in skeletal armor, appeared majestically in the room, except for his rather comical fish-head design.

Richard pondered for a moment. The previous owner of his skeleton was a high-level merman warrior, so its hardness was high enough. In this case, the most practical use case for his skeleton armor should be to deal with the slashing of weapons such as swords and axes. It should have good protective power.

As for protection against arrows, it was much weaker, since there were too many gaps between the skeletons.

The defense against witchcraft is unlikely to be very good, as splash damage is completely unavoidable.

Therefore, at present, this is a new level zero sorcery with relatively few application scenarios.

"Knock knock knock!"

"Come in!"

The visitor was none other than Fingart. Basically, apart from Fingart, no other fishman in the entire fishman tribe camp would bother Richard.

So, as soon as Richard heard someone knocking on the door, he knew it must be Fingart.

What if it wasn't Fingert but someone else who ambushed them? Heh heh, that skeleton guardian behind the door isn't someone to be trifled with either.

"Master, our warriors have discovered the tracks of a troll mantis in a patch of dragon bone fern in the Gray Fern Fields. What do you think?"

Fingart respectfully reported to the leader at the door.

Richard's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this. He had been hunting monsters for three days straight without encountering a troll mantis, but this time he had finally gotten his chance.

"Arrange for your men to bring your tower shields and fishing nets! We'll depart in half an hour," Richard said decisively.

"Yes, Master!" Fingart bowed respectfully and slowly left the room.

The merfolk's tower shield is similar in design to that of the surface humans, but the materials are quite different. It is made of the roots of a heavy and hard ironwood fern as its framework, and covered with several layers of fish skin specially made from a rubber fish from a dark lake.

The skin of this fish is like the rubber Richard used to make car tires in his previous life; it is exceptionally tough, and an ordinary knight's longsword would need to strike the same wound several times before it could be cut open.

If the skin of this rubber fish undergoes professional tanning and drying by the Fishman Tribe, its toughness can be further enhanced.

In addition, the fishing nets are made from the vines of a mutated man-eating vine, which are very difficult to cut after being soaked in a special medicinal liquid from the fish-man tribe.

These two items are key to defeating the Troll Mantis; they are hard-earned lessons learned from the Murloc tribe's repeated attempts to hunt Troll Mantises.

After all, the prophets of the merfolk tribes throughout the ages have tried many times to make the Heart of Mutation, a very difficult potion, and the raw materials consumed are quite considerable.

Therefore, Richard can be said to have gotten a great deal by hunting the troll mantis while standing on the shoulders of the murloc prophets.

The troll mantis is different from the monsters Richard killed before; it has wings!

According to Fingart's description, the troll mantis moves incredibly fast, and once it realizes it's outmatched, it will immediately flap its wings and flee, making it impossible to catch.

Therefore, you must bring multiple fishing nets to trap it layer by layer during the battle, restricting its movement; otherwise, even if you can defeat it, you certainly won't be able to keep it alive.

Moreover, the troll mantis is extremely vengeful. If it cannot be killed, it will turn around and cause trouble for the murloc tribe once it recovers.

The once-powerful blind merfolk tribe had suffered several losses because of this.

Once everything was ready, Richard and his group of dozens of men set off fully armed towards the Dragonbone Fern thicket where the troll mantises roamed.

Several hours later, after picking up the mutant crab demon controlled by the Soul-Eating Spider, the group arrived at the Dragon Bone Fern thicket in a grand procession.

"Master, in the past, when our tribe hunted troll mantises, we always found a small valley in advance to ambush them. Do you think we should find a suitable place first?" Fingart said softly from the side.

"A valley? Why not find a cave? Wouldn't that make it easier to restrict the troll mantis's movements?" Richard couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Master, this troll mantis is cautious by nature and rarely enters places like caves that restrict its flight."

"Then let's hurry up and find a suitable valley. By the way, should I have the mutant crab demon hide somewhere first? Otherwise, once the mutant crab demon appears, the troll mantis might start to run away." Richard nodded and said.

"Wise master, praise be to you!"

"Alright, stop flattering me and get back to what you're doing."

Because there were other fishmen present, Richard specifically told Fingart not to call him "master" and not to be overly reserved, but Fingart still secretly called him "master," which made Richard both annoyed and amused.

After all, his public identity was merely that of a "wandering wizard" hired by Fingart.

So, it's understandable that Fingart is very polite to Richard, but bowing and scraping is a bit much and could easily be noticed by the other fishmen. This is something Richard, who wants to stay in the background, needs to be careful about.

With Fingart's deployment of dozens of merman warriors, after a careful search, they soon discovered a narrow valley that could serve as an ambush point.

A group of murloc warriors, according to their assigned roles, were divided into several squads, such as the net-throwing squad and the tower shield squad, and were lying in ambush in various locations in the valley. Meanwhile, three high-ranking murloc warriors, dressed in exceptionally thick clothing and wielding specially made tower shields, were preparing to meet the troll mantis in the valley.

The mutant crab demon was positioned by Richard in a recessed area downwind, near the entrance of the valley, where a large number of broad-leaved ferns were placed for concealment and camouflage.

Seeing that everything was ready, Richard pointed the Bone Summoning Staff forward, and a huge pale green inverted pentagram magic circle instantly appeared on the ground in front of him. Three skeleton archers and one skeleton berserker quickly crawled out of it.

This time, Richard considered that the mutant crab demon was sufficient for the tank role, so he did not choose to summon the skeleton guardians wielding swords and shields.

Because if even the mutant crab demon can't hold out, then summoning more skeleton guardians will be pointless.

Therefore, this time he specifically summoned three ranged attackers and one melee attacker.

The Skeleton Berserker has a very important task this time: to help Richard test the protective capabilities of the Skeleton Armor, because in Richard's judgment, the Skeleton Armor should be the most suitable for dealing with the current situation—the slashing of the Troll Mantis's "Greatsword".

At this moment, Richard began to tiptoe forward, observing the troll mantis feeding not far ahead.

A giant praying mantis, magnified dozens of times, was seen using its barbed forelimbs to hold a wild boar weighing several hundred kilograms, and was eating with relish. With each opening and closing of its powerful mandibles, it easily tore open the thick boar skin.

The troll mantis was similar to the mantis Richard remembered from his previous life; it was light green all over and had excellent camouflage in the jungle.

The most striking feature is, of course, its pair of "big swords," with a row of hard and sharp serrations. Li realized that if it were to start slashing, even the specially made tower shields and fishing nets prepared by the fishmen would not last long.

Secondly, there are the two large, light green wings on their backs. If you look closely, you can also vaguely see a pair of thin inner wings under the large wings, which means that the troll mantis actually has two pairs of wings.

Richard thought to himself, "It seems that what Fingart said is true. Judging from bionics, the structure of these large and small wings is very conducive to short-distance sprint flight and sudden changes of direction."

The troll mantis must be extremely fast and agile in its movements.

In that case, I'll have to make some changes to my original plan for luring them in.

It seems that hunting troll mantises requires a high level of attack power from the hunter; if the hunt lasts too long, the mantis can easily escape.

However, this is Richard's strength, given the presence of the mutant crab demon. Currently, as long as the troll mantis is lured into the designated battlefield, it will most likely be defeated.

Richard positioned the three skeleton archers in a straight line between the valley and the troll mantis.

"Whoosh!" The skeleton archer closest to the troll mantis fired three arrows at the mantis's abdomen.

This is Richard, possessing the skeleton archer, unleashing the secret archery technique of Multiple Shots!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The troll mantis reacted extremely quickly, its two "big swords" twirling like lightning, instantly deflecting all three arrows, none of them hitting its body.

Richard's pupils contracted at this sight!

"Wow, that's fast!"

The troll mantis, its meal interrupted, was clearly furious with the skeleton archer. In an instant, it abandoned the steel-bristled boar it was holding in its forelimbs and charged at the skeleton archer. With a flap of its wings, it covered the distance of tens of meters in less than two or three seconds.

At this moment, the first skeleton archer had only turned around and run four or five meters when he was caught up by the troll mantis.

The skeleton archer hurriedly raised his bow to parry, but it was too late!

"Swish swish swish!" The huge forelimbs, sharp and serrated, slashed dozens of times in succession. Three seconds later, where the skeleton archer had been, only a pile of mangled bones remained.

Richard's early application of a dark elemental shield to the skeleton archer only allowed him to last for two more seconds!

That's right, it only lasted for two more seconds!

It wasn't that Richard's ultimate-level dark element shield was ineffective, but rather that the troll mantis's "great sword" slashing speed was too fast, unleashing more than ten slashes from various angles within a second.

Who can resist this!

"Hiss! This attack power is amazing!" Richard's expression froze for a moment.

After slaying the skeleton archer, the troll mantis wore a very human-like expression of satisfaction, roughly meaning: "How dare you disturb my meal! I'll chop you to pieces!"

Seeing this from afar, the fish-men also thought that the "wandering wizard's" seduction plan had failed, and they were immediately a little discouraged.

Suddenly, the second skeleton archer that Richard had arranged fired another arrow from a position closer to the valley.

Upon hearing the sharp whistling sound again, the troll mantis instantly turned around and, with a speed so fast that its afterimage could be seen, slashed away the sneak attacking arrow with a single strike!

This latest sneak attack enraged the troll mantis, which this time flapped both of its wings simultaneously!

"Buzzing!"

This time, the high-frequency vibrating wings covered the same distance in just over a second, rapidly reaching the second skeleton archer.

Under a barrage of fierce, sweeping blows, Richard, standing not far away, could almost feel the sharp air currents rushing towards him, sending chills down his spine.

In an instant, the second skeleton archer followed in the footsteps of the first, and was chopped into bone fragments.

The previous piece was chopped enough to make pork rib soup, but this one is chopped too finely; it's probably only good for painting walls.

Richard sighed inwardly, "Guys, let's go back to the Land of the Dead and rest for a while. I'll avenge you guys later!"

It seems that the troll mantis, having been ambushed a second time, is truly enraged!

However, this also allowed Richard to witness firsthand the incredible speed of the Troll Mantis's all-out attack!

As the troll mantis prepared to turn away and continue feeding once more, the third skeleton archer, who had been hiding at the valley entrance, began...

"Whoosh!"

This drove the troll mantis into a frenzy. Without a second thought, it flew towards the valley where the third skeleton archer was located, as fast as lightning!

(End of this chapter)