Chapter 15 Diversionary Tactics

Heine had to admit that the hand crossbow was somewhat more accurate in Teacher Xia's hands than his own.

The night he got the weapon, he tried a few shots at a tree trunk in front of his house, and his merciful marksmanship had the two skeletons laughing all evening.

He simply gave the hand crossbow away.

From another perspective, what if his too good shooting skills robbed others of kills and therefore no experience was gained?

So that was the real reason, nothing to do with his marksmanship.

George, seeing Heine riding up fast, immediately showed a look of relief, as if he had survived a great disaster.

"Heine? Thank goodness, it's good to have you!"

But Heine shook his head.

"My Lord, it's not yet time to let down your guard."

"What? You mean..."

George quickly fell silent.

Two guards who had lost control, one had his heart blown apart by the hand crossbow, and the other had his head caved in by Zhuo Yang's flying shield.

They were already dead beyond dead, yet they stood up shaky.

Under the Eyes of the Undead, their bodies saturated with deathly energy, within their skulls nestled a mass of blood light, spreading like filaments of veins, controlling their whole bodies.

"What... What's happened to them?"

"Something has invaded their brains and is controlling their bodies."

Heine wasn't entirely clear because it wasn't important.

It was enough to know that they were experience.

"Attack!"

He signaled with his hand, and the two skeletons launched themselves voraciously as if they were starved tigers.

Undead fighting Blood Servants should be a test of micro-control skills by the puppeteers behind the scenes, but Heine only took charge of attacking; he left the rest to the skeletons' own performance.

Teacher Xia raised his hand, pretending to shoot, and the enemy's sword immediately moved to guard the front. However, his hand crossbow skewed, and the arrowhead suddenly pointed towards the right enemy.

Swish!

The pale purple arrow struck the right guard's eye socket, causing him to stagger slightly backward.

At that moment, the Bone-Chopping Knife followed closely behind. The hefty blade sliced right into the unprotected neck of the opponent.

As easily as cutting off a chunk of cucumber, Zhuo Yang effortlessly chopped off the guard's head and then stomped on it.

With the strength of 8 points behind a size 44 thick-soled leather boot, the head burst instantly like a watermelon underfoot.

A blood worm as thick as a thumb was completely squashed, not even given the chance to spurt.

Meanwhile, Zhuo Yang, without looking, flung the shield towards the left.

Duang!

The guard engaged with Teacher Xia was caught off guard and staggered, his head smashing into the dagger aimed at his forehead; he impaled himself on it.

As the dagger was pulled out, a streak of red light immediately followed, heading straight for the skeleton in front.

But it was intercepted by an arrow in mid-air and precisely dispatched.

The fight ended in a moment, thanks to the silent, coordinated effort of the two. Shock and amazement were evident on George's face.

When they first met, he couldn't understand why Heine supplied his undead servants with such costly equipment; it seemed overly extravagant.

But now, he had no more of those ridiculous thoughts.

The efficiency and coordination displayed by the two skeletons completely justified the equipment.

They may not be very powerful, but they fought like machines, even surpassing most of the mercenaries and elite soldiers he had encountered.

And the performance of undead servants depended on the control of their master, so...

He couldn't help but turn his gaze to Heine.

He had underestimated him before; the young man's future was boundless.

Seven or eight experience orbs floated back, yet Heine did not relent his vigilance.

With the Eyes of the Undead active, he scanned his surroundings.

Grey death energy was gathering, a harbinger of Necromancy.

However, he couldn't see the source, indicating the enemy's perception was superior to his.

He simply removed all restraints on the skeletons:

"Act freely, search for the lurking enemy casting spells!"

The two fully armed skeletons split up, one to the left and one to the right, while Heine, holding a magic wand, vigilantly guarded George.

"Viscount, do you have a flare for signalling for help?"

"This is my hunting ground, why would I have prepared such things?"

George spoke with a hint of self-deprecation, but quickly pulled himself together:

"My most loyal guardsman, Arthur, must already be on his way here."

Just then, forest birds were startled into flight, and a faint screech was heard in the distance.

Brother Yang exclaimed in surprise, "What's this plot twist? Why are there banshee wails, too? This is quite the complete setup, how did the monsters from the Haunted Manor get out of their instance?"

"This is a new plotline, I've never seen it before. The banshee is probably holding Arthur back, and we definitely still have a squatter over here..."

"You're good at finding squatters."

"No doubt, I see one! Fuck, that cloak is definitely also enchanted with Jungle's Shelter! Go for it!"

Heine was about to relay the copied answer to George, when suddenly he heard a loud "bang!"

In his mind—

"Fuck, a living person casting the Corpse Explosion Spell? Are you okay, Brother Yang?"

"My head's alright, took a big loss this time, damn it's been years since I've been targeted like this... Wait, Teacher Xia, where's your ass?"

"Blasted off."

Hearing that the two suffered severe casualties, Heine hurriedly got up.

But he had only run a few steps before he suddenly stopped.

The incantation for the Corpse Explosion Spell must be inscribed on the bones, which is why there are few cases of living people undergoing it, as it's usually undead servants.

Moreover, triggering the explosion involves tormenting a Wandering Soul to the extreme, causing it to self-destruct and release a vast amount of energy, enough to pulverize the body.

It's rare for the living to torment themselves to this extent, and even if someone is ruthless enough, it's fundamentally challenging due to the body's self-preservation mechanism being triggered.

In other words, a living person exploding like this is most likely being controlled by someone else!

Heine lightly tapped his brow, activating the Eyes of the Undead, and stared intently in the direction of the explosion.

Under his deliberate gaze, he indeed spotted a very faint blood-red thread, slowly fading from the site of the explosion towards his direction.

Heine silently turned around and followed where the thread was disappearing.

In the underbrush at the end, a small thing that struck a remarkable resemblance to the blood glow in the guards' brains earlier was released, creeping quietly toward the lord resting against the tree.

A diversion, huh?

He threw a smoke bomb that landed between the tree where the lord was resting and the blood bug.

A crispy "pop" sounded as the smoke bomb exploded on contact, its blast wave tossing the blood bug just about to launch itself. Amidst this distraction, a bone spear shot out swiftly!

Heine sped up his run, as another bone spear pierced through the smoke.

The sound of sharp objects piercing through flesh followed by muffled groans could be heard, and then someone fell to the ground.

Stepping on the blood bug to kill it, Heine confirmed his opponent was also dead before finally relaxing his vigilance.

"It's safe now, my lord, the threat has been eliminated."

He went to the tree and said to George, who was still shaken.

"I didn't expect your strength to be on par with your undead."

George managed to maintain his composure with difficulty.

He was just over twenty, and the fact that he hadn't wet himself with fear was commendable enough already.

"Was the opponent a Necromancer?" George asked.

"Yes, the disturbance just now was caused by the Corpse Explosion Spell, and it was a living person..."

He briefly explained the reasons behind it, and George nodded repeatedly.

But as he spoke, a chill ran through Heine's heart.

Why was it a Necromancer?

If the objective was really to assassinate the lord, wouldn't assassins or hunters be better?

He didn't believe the Gittilers couldn't afford a few dirty workers for the farm.

This was too suspicious.

After resting for a moment, Heine helped George up and went to where the explosion had occurred.

There was a large crater, Zhuo Yang had half his body blown off, and his armor was also blasted to shreds.

Teacher Xia fared slightly better, but his legs had also been blown off. His equipment, however, was intact, and at the moment, he was eagerly taking credit for that.

"Heine is going to be so touched, I didn't even care about my legs just to save him on repair costs," he boasted.

Brother Yang sneered, "I think you're buttering up the wrong side. Given how the plot is going, obviously the lord will cover the repairs. You ended up with zero battle damage, why would he be touched?"

"Ah?"

Heine listened and couldn't help but laugh and cry.

Zhuo Yang's words quickly proved true.

"I'm sorry you had to pay such a heavy price," George said apologetically. "I will have Arthur choose the best suit of armor to compensate for your losses!"

Heine didn't decline the offer, simply making the customary polite remarks.

The commotion soon drew the guards, as well as the "Arthur" mentioned by George.

Heine saw this middle-aged man for the first time, and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of intimidation.

Especially when those brown eyes swept over him, he felt as if he'd been stripped naked and thrown into the wintry Huangpu River.

Arthur was clearly in a bad mood.

Because he was holding a human head in his hand.