Chapter 153: Skeleton Army

Qin Jiagui muttered to himself with creased brows, Zhao Shichang and the others continued to clear the vegetation in the area, the strange trees were chopped down one after another as the entire forest was cleared. Su Yu was looking as the forest before them that was devoid of vegetation, revealing the brown dirt beneath, he was already beginning to consider what they should do if there really was not any exit here.

The 666 on the back of Ning Yan’s neck, the number 8 on Lei Rui’s chest, the mysterious background of Xiao Wei, White Tiger, Time Coins, the giant foot, all this pointed to something that far exceeded their imaginations within the forest world.

Su Yu was unsure what these matters hid, but he could guess that if he continued to grow stronger, he would be able to encounter more and more things and one day find out the truth. For example, why did their school come to this world and how did the Sky Holes occur? All this seemed as though there were a large indistinct hand that was at work. Even the strange energy that they obtained and the transformations that came with it were mysteries to be solved.

Once all these matters came together, one simply could not use coincidence to explain it off. There were definitely many secrets on the little girl Xiao Wei’s body, she seemed to know something but when the group asked, she simply would not talk. Seeing that she was merely a young child, the group did not interrogate her.

Thinking of the people who had died during this journey, Su Yu promised that if he managed to find the truth behind everything that had happened and gained sufficient power, he would definitely destroy the thing that played with the lives of humans so frivolously.

Su Yu silently promised to himself while on the other side, Zhao Shichang suddenly exclaimed: “Look here!” In his voice, excitement could be heard.

The others felt their hearts tighten as they hurriedly looked over. Zhao Shichang had cleared a large patch of forest that was near a rock wall, he had accidentally sliced at the rock wall causing a hole to suddenly appear.

Suddenly seeing a hole here, it was no wonder that Zhao Shichang felt excitement and elation. After all, this was the area indicated on the map that held the exit.

The others began to trickle forward as Zhang Zhongmou aided Zhao Shichang in clearing the remaining vegetation. In no time, the natural hole that had been covered by green vines appeared before the group.

This stone cave was approximately two metres tall and two metres wide, the entrance to the cave was covered with sharp rocks that were likely not manmade but rather naturally. Thinking of the thick vegetation that covered this place, even if it were a man made hole, it was likely that no one had come here in tens of years, otherwise, how could the vegetation overgrow and cover the entire hole.

“So how is it? Could it be..... Could it be that this stone cave is the exit?” Zhao Shichang cleared up the area as he asked in exitement and nervousness.

Zhang Zhongmou answered: “It’s very possible that after going through this cave, we can return to the world that we are familiar with. Since we fell through a Sky Hole to enter this forest, it could be that this cave is the exit of the forest, that doesn’t sound too ludicrous.”

Qin Jiagui kept the map as he said seriously: “Whether it is the exit or not, this place is currently our only hope, let’s go in and take a look.”

At this moment, the vegetation in the other areas had also been cleared, within this valley, there was only the natural stone cave that remained and with it the possibility of an exit. The group had no other choice, they also felt that Zhang Zhongmou’s words had a good chance of being true and the chance of this being an exit was quite high.

Since they could fall from a Sky Hole into this forest, it was also possible that they could exit through a mysterious stone cave.

Thinking of this, the group began to grow excited as Qin Jiagui spoke up: “I wonder if there are any dangers within the stone cave, everyone increase your awareness, if we meet with any danger, don’t be flustered.”

Thereafter they began to form up, Su Yu led the group with Ma Ziye closely behind, thereafter Qin Jiagui and Zhang Zhongmou followed. These experts were placed at the front of the group, the weaker ones were in the middle while Zhao Shichang, Fang Jiong and the others were placed at the back.

Everyone maintained a fix distance with each other, if there was any danger, they would then have sufficient time to react.

The stone cave was extremely dark without any lighting, Qin Jiagui took out a couple of torchlights as Su Yu, Qin Jiagui and Zhou Birong each took a torchlight to ensure that they could maintain visibility.

Su Yu’s right hand held a torchlight, black scales appeared on the back of his left hand as he entered the stone cave.

This stone cave had been covered by vegetation but was not a sealed area, they would not suffer from problems of lack of oxygen. Su Yu carried his torch as he illuminated the path ahead. The stone cave actually curved as it progressed, thus allowing him to see only ten odd metres away, the surroundings were jagged rock that were covered with moss, there was also a dank and putrid stench in the air.

Su Yu walked slowly as he carefully perused the surroundings, the torchlight was continually shone in all directions. After crossing the ten odd metres, they reached the curve in the stone cave, Su Yu waved his torchlight in that direction and did not see anything strange as he continued forward. The ground was still undulating, no one spoke as the sound of breathing and footsteps echoed.

They continued deeper, after approximately fifty metres, the gradient began to gradually increase, it was also becoming darker and Liu Zheng could not help but speak: “Is there really an exit in this place? Why does it feel more and more eerie, I’m afraid we are almost in the belly of the mountain.....”

His words were barely spoken when Su Yu’s expression suddenly changed, lifting his head as he shined the torchlight upwards, he was shocked to discover a white humanoid skeleton that was lying on the ceiling, as Su Yu shone the torchlight, a green fire suddenly lit up within the eyes of the lifeless skeleton, thereafter, one skeleton after another began to descend.

“Careful!” Su Yu exclaimed. In the blink of an eye, the entire frontal area of the group was filled with skeletons, numerous and densely packed, there were clearly over one hundred of these white skeletons.

Things had occurred suddenly as the group immediately acted.

Su Yu, Zhang Zhongmou, Ma Ziye, Qin Jiagui, Zhao Shichang, Fang Jiong and the others could be considered to be veterans who had faced many life and death situations, although the assault was sudden, their reactions were very swift. As for Huo Shan, Liu Zheng, Xie Zhiming and the other newcomers, they were confused and filled wtih fear, only Xu Ruyun managed to keep his cool, his two hands already had many surgical knives within them as he began to throw them at a skeleton that was moving towards him.

These humanoid skeletons began to move in an inconceivable manner, this was something that greatly exceeded their understanding of living things.

Su Yu’s right hand held the torchlight while his left hand was instantly covered in scales, a fist was sent flying forth as a skeleton that was attacking was immediately shattered, the Eye of Perception was activated as the information regarding the white skeletons entered his mind.

Name: Skeletal Soldier

Information:

Low ranking member of the Departed Spirits race.

After animals or plants die and are affected by the life energies in the surroundings, with the passing of time these skeletons will absorb sufficient life energies and evolve into a different form of being, as they continue to advance, they can even gain flesh, becoming a newly awakened being.

The confusion and panic of the group swiftly disappeared, following the attacks of Su Yu, Zhang Zhongmou, Ma Ziye, Qin Jiagui, Fang Jiong and the others, the skeletons were swiftly decimated. The group were beginning to realise that these skeletal soldiers were very weak, not much stronger than a Gnome.

Over hundred skeletal soldiers were swiftly dealt with, the ground was littered with white bones painting an extremely gruesome scene, the balls of green fire illuminated the stone cave making it seem exceptionally eerie.

Having taken care of the hundred odd skeletal soldiers, the group did not relax, the floor was littered with balls of green ghostly fire which started to merge, swallowing each other as the green fire grew brighter and larger, in no time, the skeletons on the ground emitted cracking noises as they began to move again.

“What’s going on?” Zhang Zhongmou could not help but yell as he wielded his Red Lotus Sword, shocked as he watched this scene that was unexplainable.

Su Yu said in a heavy voice: “Everyone be careful, let’s back away first. These things are called skeletal soldiers, they belong to the Departed Souls race, it could be that we are only able to cause them to crumble without truly killing them, all of you back away first.”

The group began to swiftly retreat, giving up space as the skeletons began to gather, swiftly forming ten large humanoid skeletons, these ten skeletons were extremely large, it was similar to the size of the T-rex fossils often seen in shows or books.

The green fire that had gathered together formed ten different balls, entering into each skeleton. Once the green fire entered, these monsters would immediately begin to move, emitting loud roars as they rushed towards the group.

Su Yu’s Eye of Perception activated as streams of information entered his mind.

Name: Super Skeletal Soldier

Information:

Formed from a group of skeletal soldiers, combat prowess is more than ten times that of an ordinary skeletal soldier, cannot be harmed and does not feel pain, can be described as having an immortal body. Only by extinguishing the green fire within it will one be able to stop a Super Skeletal Soldier.

Su Yu received this information as he immediately exclaimed: “Everyone! These are called Super Skeletal Soldiers, only by extinguishing the fire in them will we be able to stop them!” As he said this, his left hand had already activated the Rending Storm, smashing it towards one of the monsters.historical