Soon, they encountered their first prey—a Fang Rabbit.
This creature stood half a meter tall, with huge incisors that were sharp and lethal, clearly indicating its powerful attack capability.
Without Zi Liyuan's command, the Skeleton Army swarmed and besieged it.
Ribs No. 1 and No. 2, acting as shields, trapped the large rabbit from front and back, while the rest of the skeletons hacked and shot arrows in disarray.
[Fang Rabbit (Common)]
[Attributes]: Physical Damage 10, Physical Defense 6, Health 120.
[Skills]: Bite, Charge
In less than a minute, the large rabbit, dismembered by the disorganized blades, yielded only 15 experience points.
Zi Liyuan, with a look of disdain, collected the dropped materials and continued with the Skeleton Army in search of more monsters.
Killing monsters five levels higher only yielded 15 experience points, which goes to show that the combat power of the wilderness monsters outside the instance wasn't very high, especially those close to the city, where stronger monsters were usually cleared out by the city's patrol.
"Sigh, I left in a hurry and should have checked the auction house to see if I could get the right Skill Book."
Even if the skeletons were mutated bodies, their combat ability was limited; it would be better to acquire some skills and have him deal the damage personally.
Without powerful magic skills, his 30-point bonus to Magic Damage was as good as useless, because summoned creatures didn't benefit from Magic Damage bonuses.
"Skills to enhance the strength of the skeletons, suitable magic attack skills for a Necromancer, and more advanced equipment—there's so much to do. No wonder those large families always manage to train newcomers so quickly."
Large families would arrange teams to provide logistical support for the newcomers they focused on cultivating.
The issues that troubled Li Yuan were easily resolved by other families, whereas he had to spend his own time to do the same.
It just shows that having support can provide a wealth of experience, saving one from taking many unnecessary detours in the early stages.
Sweeping through, the deeper they went into the forest, the higher the level of the monsters, with even elite level wild creatures appearing and the experience points steadily increasing, albeit at a rather modest rate.
"Without detection skills, searching for monsters is too slow. If only I had the kind of drone from my past life that could provide real-time aerial photography."
With the large number of the Skeleton Army, Zi Liyuan found that some monsters started to avoid his path as he delved deeper into the forest, which further slowed down the rate of farming monsters.
It wasn't until he came before a hollow between the mountains that the situation changed.
Surrounded by mountains on both sides, within the narrow valley, there resided a large pack of Grey Wolves!
The sudden intrusion by the Skeleton Army naturally disturbed the wolf pack, and over seventy Grey Wolves, led by the head wolf's howling, quickly enveloped the Skeleton Army for a surround hunt!
Zi Liyuan immediately directed the Skeleton Army to move toward a mountain wall, before the Grey Wolf pack could complete their encirclement.
Running away was impossible. How could these skeletal frames possibly outrun a wolf pack that specialized in hunting in the mountains?
If Zi Liyuan didn't want to die, he had to avoid being attacked from both sides, then he had to outlast the wolves by fighting a war of attrition and exhausting them to death!
Undead creatures know no morale and do not fear death or pain; that's what makes the undead so terrifying.
[Attributes]: Physical Damage 20, Physical Defense 10, Health 200.
[Skills]: Bite, Claw Slash
With their backs against the mountain wall, the Skeleton Army clashed with the Grey Wolf Horde for the first time.
The disadvantage was significant. Ribs 1-4, which stood in the first row, even with Bone Shields for defense, lost about 20 points of health after the first round of clashes.
In contrast, among the Grey Wolves that participated in the first attack, only four lost 18-20 points of health, a damage that was mostly due to the Crossbow Skeletons focusing their fire on a single target.
After completing the first probing clash, Zi Liyuan's forces, backed against the mountain wall, had two layers of Crossbow Skeletons form a protective circle.
The middle layer consisted of eight Berserker Skeletons, which enveloped the Crossbow Skeletons, forming the third protective circle.
The outermost layer was a defensive wall composed of five Shield Combat Skeletons.
That's right, Zi Liyuan had used up his last slot, summoning another Shield Combat Skeleton. Otherwise, the outermost defense would have too large a gap, easily breached by the wolf pack, endangering the relatively more vulnerable Berserker Skeletons.
No sooner had the Skeleton Army settled into formation than the Grey Wolves launched their second wave of attacks.
Compared to the first probing attack, the Grey Wolves went all out this time, using their Claw Slash and Bite skills in quick succession, followed by direct melee combat!
Essentially, each Shield Combat Skeleton was attacked by two Grey Wolves.
The Grey Wolves coordinated seamlessly, assaulting from above and below, causing the Shield Combat Skeletons' shield defenses to falter under the pressure, always missing here to cover there.
Fortunately, Zi Liyuan immediately had the Berserker Skeletons positioned in the gaps between the Shield Combat Skeletons step forward and use their Heavy Strike skill to attack the Grey Wolves at the frontline.
When the Bone Swords used Heavy Strike, they created a slight knockback effect which could disrupt the Grey Wolves' assault rhythm a bit, slightly easing the pressure on the Shield Combat Skeletons, albeit marginally.
As for the Crossbow Skeletons, they were commanded to focus fire on the same target.
With Armor Piercing effects, each bolt from the Crossbow Skeletons could inflict a 10% Sunder Armor effect, stackable up to three layers.
Eight Crossbow Skeletons simultaneously targeting a single Grey Wolf could deal 40-45 points of damage in one go. Usually, after five volleys, one Grey Wolf could be taken down.
Meanwhile, Zi Liyuan continued to adjust the team's configuration. In this battle, the role of the Berserker Skeletons was minimal and clearly dragging down team efficiency.
Starting with the two innermost Berserker Skeletons, he dissipated two at a time and swiftly summoned two Shield Combat Skeletons to fill their places.
When Ribs 1-5 were torn to shreds by the Grey Wolves, all eight Berserker Skeletons were replaced by Shield Combat Skeletons, who took their positions in the front once more.
Zi Liyuan's summoning did not cease until the Skeleton Army's configuration was adjusted to eleven Shield Combat Skeletons and ten Crossbow Skeletons, and only then did he stop the replacements.
Only after the frontline Shield Combat Skeletons fell would they be summoned again to fill the gap.
The ranged assault of the ten Crossbow Skeletons, as long as they targeted the same enemy, could take down a Grey Wolf in four volleys, significantly improving the efficiency of the Skeleton Army by a notch.
As time passed, Shield Combat Skeletons shattered, and Grey Wolves died riddled with bolts.
The leading wolf tried to strategize, attempting to break through the front row of Shield Combat Skeletons to target the vulnerable rear.
Unfortunately for the leader, Zi Liyuan easily saw through its intentions, directly commanding the Shield Combat Skeletons to tighten their defense line and staunchly resist the onslaught.
During this time, the lead wolf even sent out four Grey Wolves to try to leap over the Shield Combat Skeletons' defensive wall by stepping on the bodies of their fallen comrades, attempting to infiltrate the skeleton ranks for a decapitating strike at the leadership.
Would Zi Liyuan let the enemy succeed?
He promptly ordered four Shield Combat Skeletons to abandon shield defense, extend their bony hands, and forcefully drag down the Grey Wolves flying through the air.
The Grey Wolf Horde tried various tactics to breach the Shield Combat Skeletons' defense line, while Zi Liyuan kept an eye on the battlefield and directed the Crossbow Skeletons to focus fire, fully seizing control of the battle.