Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Raid on the Goblin Camp
After breakfast, Fang Jie wiped his mouth but felt somewhat unsatisfied.
"No toothbrush. I must find one this time when I go out, at least something usable," he mused, not used to the greasy feeling in his mouth. Moreover, he seemed to have a bit of inflammation this morning.
After drinking a big gulp of water, Fang Jie opened and looked at his own Strength tab.
Strength: Skeleton Labor Level 1: 112, Level 2: 34, Level 3: 55, Skull Soldier Level 1: 18, Skull Soldier Level 2: 42
"How did so many die? Is it that dangerous outside at night?"
Unfortunately, Skeletons wouldn't answer his questions, and Fang Jie could only check for himself. The overnight gains weren't low; there were already 42 Level 2 Skull Soldiers, which was already considered a strong force.
But the previously perished Skeleton Labors and Skull Soldiers were somewhat concerning.
Fang Jie first made the Skeletons who hadn't undergone Fission do so, increasing his force considerably. The only loss was a few Level 1 Skeleton Labors lying on the ground.
Looking at the spirit points, which had once again surpassed a hundred, Fang Jie didn't hesitate to order an upgrade to the Skeleton Conversion Field.
"Where did you encounter these losses yesterday? Which direction? Not there, then was it in this direction?" Fang Jie asked his Skeletons. This was the one thing not good about these Skeletons: they had no brains. Even with a simple question, he had to guess and grope around to be certain.
"So it was this direction. Once we had Level 2 Skull Soldiers, they retreated. It seems their strength is inferior to ours. Let's go, everyone follow me. We'll set out and take them down," Fang Jie declared loudly.
He brought all his forces except for the Level 1 Skeleton Labors.
Level 2 Skeleton Labors followed behind, and Skull Soldiers formed a rather disorganized line as they headed in the direction where they'd suffered heavy losses the day before. It was only after traveling quite a distance that Fang Jie saw the corpses of yesterday's fallen Skull Soldiers.
Since Skeleton bones couldn't be reused, they had been left where they lay.
Bloodstains on the ground hadn't yet disappeared, indicating the original corpses had likely been taken away.
"Follow the bloodstains, let's catch up," Fang Jie confirmed the direction, then continued forward with his Skull Soldiers. Based on the scene's traces and items dropped, this was the work of Goblins.
Continuing on, the forest suddenly gave way to a rocky landscape. But there was a ruin nearby, which looked like a collapsed house.
"Could this be debris from Earth? Never mind, I'll come back and check it later."
Fang Jie glanced over and continued forward with his Skull Soldiers. Soon, a cave appeared before them.
After hesitating at the entrance for a long while, Fang Jie finally gritted his teeth, "He who does not enter the tiger's den shall not catch its cubs. Make a torch, we're going in." Fang Jie gritted his teeth and had the Skeleton Labor light a torch.
This torch was for his own use; Skeletons didn't need eyes to see.
The mighty Skull Soldiers entered the cave with Fang Jie standing in the middle. The cave was not very deep; after walking a distance and rounding a corner, they reached the bottom of the cave.
Before Fang Jie even got there, he heard the sounds of battle and screaming from the other side.
Just as Fang Jie wanted to go over and take a look, a black shadow suddenly flew by in front of him. It was a slender arrow that struck the stone wall, knocking a chunk off.
"Too dangerous, go inside, go inside," Fang Jie almost crouched down with his head in his hands, but before he could make a move, he stopped himself. Such an action would be too embarrassing, even if only the Skull Soldiers were around to see.
Many Skull Soldiers passed by Fang Jie, charging into the cave. As time went on, the sounds of battle inside grew weaker. Fang Jie could feel that over a dozen of his Skull Soldiers had died; the battle must have been very fierce.
When the sounds had vanished completely, Fang Jie cautiously walked around the corner to take a look inside.
The remaining Skull Soldiers were not dead, but most of them had some wounds. These wounds were not a big deal, as they could recover by nighttime. The main thing was the corpses on the ground; there were truly many of them.
Fang Jie glanced over and saw goblins of various sizes, at least two hundred in total.
"I guess I've won against the odds," Fang Jie muttered to himself.
To his own surprise, Fang Jie found that he no longer felt uncomfortable at the sight of such a scene. Could his adaptability be that strong? After all, this was more gruesome than a slaughterhouse.
Forget it, no use thinking too much about it. Fang Jie pointed ahead and said, "Take the spoils of war; we're going back."
The Skeleton Laborers that followed promptly stepped forward, tying up the goblins and dragging them away.
After all, only the bones were needed; useless flesh could just rot away. Passing the ruins, Fang Jie stopped, leading the Skull Soldiers forward and began to investigate carefully.
"What bad luck," Fang Jie remarked upon seeing a stone slab that had been lifted, with some bloodstains remaining underneath.
It seemed like when people came to this world, some were crushed to death by falling stones. It looked like that so-called "protective shield" didn't guard against such accidents.
The Lord's Cottage was nowhere to be seen either; Fang Jie wondered if it had disappeared after losing its Lord or had been destroyed.
Fang Jie collected some daily necessities, then continued on toward his own territory.
Back in his territory, he handed the corpses over to the Skeleton Laborers for processing, and then Fang Jie, with his troops, set out again, this time in a different direction. Fang Jie planned to burst out all the needed troops during the day.
This time, he headed toward the river. The river wasn't very wide, and it was easy to cross at a place where the current wasn't too swift. This time, there were no encounters with bison herds, which disappointed Fang Jie.
But after crossing the river, Fang Jie saw a group of goblins hunting a herd of reindeer.
Fang Jie shouted, "Leave this to me, and don't waste my Spirit Points," then he charged with a group of Skull Soldiers. The goblins, still not understanding what had happened, were met with the Skull Soldiers' assault.
Fang Jie finally saw the combat power of the level 2 Skull Soldiers, which was a lot stronger than at level 1.
The first to charge cut two goblins in half with one sword strike, and within a few attacks, all the goblins and reindeer were killed. Fang Jie thoughtfully looked towards where the goblins had tried to escape.
"Take the goods; let's go this way and take a look."
On this outing, Fang Jie had brought even more level 1 Skeleton Laborers with him, specifically to carry more items back. Otherwise, he would have had to take the goods back after every battle.
It didn't take long for Fang Jie to indeed find a goblin camp. A smirk played on his lips as he pointed in that direction and said, "Go on, wipe them out." Fang Jie then hid himself among the Skull Soldiers.
Four Skull Soldiers stayed by his side, completely blocking all four directions for him.