Chapter 10, Deceiving the East to Attack the West

Wait a moment! The man immediately shouted to stop, his eyes fixed on a child of about four or five years old in the crowd, his compassion evident. Finally, he sighed and said: "How can you guarantee that you will let them go?"

In the early morning, at the darkest hour of the night, eerie howls suddenly echoed around the Songye tribe, as a group of approximately six or seven gray skeletons charged towards the tents in the northern part of the tribe.

Lü Yan let out a cold snort: "Do not use me as a bargaining chip. Among skeletons, there are no emotions. Even if you were to chop me into pieces and brew soup with me, the other skeletons would not bat an eye."

Unaware of the pursuers behind him, Lu Yan was crouched behind a grassy mound, secretly observing the human settlement located a thousand meters away.

Other men, like the young man, hurried back with great urgency; no one spoke, and each person was filled with worry, regret, and fear

The strategy of feigning an attack in the east while striking in the west has been perfectly successful. In a certain sense, the Songye tribe is already finished. What Lü Yan needs to consider now is how to ensure that he, as the bait, can survive successfully.

About ten minutes after this team departed, a gaunt middle-aged man dressed in a purple-black robe, with an unhealthy complexion, entered the battlefield. After searching alone for a moment, he also began to pursue the direction in which the skeletons had retreated

"Let them go, or I will kill him!" The young man escorting Lu Yan was the first to rush into the tribe, lifting Lu Yan with one hand and pressing a curved knife against his neck as he shouted

At this moment, thousands of menacing skeletons were slowly approaching the Songye camp from the north

The few elders and children in the tribe were also awakened; they looked in confusion at the weeping people by the pond, not yet understanding what had actually happened

If you want to save your loved ones, then it is best not to kill me

"The women and children of the grasslands can ride horses as well, right?" Karenvar raised both front limbs high, each with a claw extended: "If one of you dies, I will release one on the spot. They can ride your horses away, one for one, and no one will suffer a loss."

"You want to give them bathwater again?" Karen Wall's voice revealed a bitter smile: "It's difficult. Look, there is a water source right in the middle of their tribe. Now they all live in water. How can you jump into the water right under their noses?"

It is said that the men of the grasslands are born warriors. Although this tribe has fewer than one hundred people, there are at least over forty men, which means there are over forty warriors. We, on the other hand, only have fifteen battle-hardened warriors, and our strength is not even half of theirs. This is quite difficult

"Why should I kill them?" Karen Val shrugged like a human and said, "Their vitality is weak, I have no need for them. As long as you are willing to surrender and let my subordinates kill them, I will release these women and children."

The souls of humans serve as the best catalyst for the evolution of skeletons. By eliminating a tribe, it is highly likely that the hundreds of souls will enable many gray bones to evolve into red bones, which possess significantly greater vitality than gray bones. The other battle skeletons have little objection to this risky plan, as these ordinary skeletons only understand how to rely on the strong

The young man's eyes were bloodshot, and the hilt of the curved blade was nearly crushed by his grip. However, his trembling arm swayed a few times in the darkness, ultimately unable to muster the resolve to swing the knife and cleave Lü Yan's head. In the end, he clenched his steel teeth, bent down, and hoisted Lü Yan onto the horse, pressing him firmly in front of himself, then shaking the reins and swiftly charging towards the tribe

"What are you saying, what about our relatives?" The young man, who looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, was bare-chested, with strong abdominal and chest muscles that revealed his considerable strength and good physical coordination. A curved blade, covered in bits of grass, testified that he had always been at the forefront of the battle, and it seemed that quite a few gray bones had perished under his sword.

The enraged young men smashed the gray bones in the waterhole with willow sticks. Having lost their water source, they must migrate in search of a new dwelling place, which signifies a difficult life in the coming weeks, along with the death of numerous livestock due to water testing. If they do not find a suitable water source within a few weeks, their entire tribe may perish from thirst. Of course, they could seek refuge with larger tribes, but the latter might impose disrespectful demands, such as claiming the youngest and most beautiful girls from their tribe. If they do not find a suitable water source within a few weeks, their entire tribe may perish from thirst. Of course, they could seek refuge with larger tribes, but the latter might impose disrespectful demands, such as claiming the youngest and most beautiful girls from their tribe

The warriors, realizing they had fallen into a trap, rushed towards the pond, but inside, two animal-shaped gray bones were happily swimming. This pond was rendered unusable; generally, it could not be consumed by humans or livestock for at least six months. Despair and anger crept onto the faces of the herdsmen

At this moment, a somewhat more composed man shouted from a distance at Karen Val: "Why didn't you kill him on the spot? Do you still have some ulterior motive?"

Worried about being confirmed, from the mouth of a skeleton

The young man was taken aback; he looked towards a girl in the crowd who was trapped by a red bone around her neck, and tears streamed down his face.

With a whoosh, the young man charged towards Lü Yan, yanking the horse's head. The tall, reddish-skinned steppe horse snorted and raised its front legs, but due to the inertia of the charge, it continued to leap forward in a standing position for several steps before finally stopping in front of Lü Yan. Had the young man not turned the horse's head, the descending hooves would have crushed Lü Yan.

There is no suspense; the Songye tribe has already become an ocean of skeletons. Thousands of skeletons are arranged in a crescent shape, waiting for their return. On the ground lie several corpses in disarray, including the elderly, children, and women, totaling about thirty individuals, bound tightly like zongzi, each with a bony weapon resting on their necks.

On the night of the fifth day after the massacre of He Gu Village by the skeletons, a team of fifteen entered the valley strewn with corpses. This team searched repeatedly in the valley bottom and He Gu Village, and soon discovered the retreat direction of the skeleton troops led by Lü Yan, which was the Wama Grassland. They did not linger and pursued the direction in which the skeletons had retreated.

The best horseman of the Songye tribe, with fiery eyes, charged towards Lu Yan. Behind him, the slightly older tribal warriors displayed expressions of doubt. Lu Yan was no different from the other skeletal figures, yet an unusual feeling churned within each of them; this red-boned individual was not simple.

"Then shall we go around?" Lv Yan asked in frustration. Since we cannot defeat them and cannot poison them, why not just slip away?

The men in the tribe, bare-chested, drew their gleaming curved swords from beside their beds and charged out. Almost before the gray skeletons could reach the first tent, more than a dozen young men rushed out and shattered them to pieces. The men of the grasslands are indeed born warriors.

If only it were possible to poison their water. Lu Yan recalled the tragic state of Zama after drinking from the poisoned pond.

Lü Yan indeed saw a cluster of mushroom-shaped tents amidst a herd of cattle and sheep, where several human women were gathered around a water pool washing clothes. Karenval was right; under such circumstances, it was impossible to poison the water again, and even if it were poisoned, humans would no longer drink from such toxic water.

"Go around?" Karen Val's voice remained filled with helplessness: "We have just stepped onto the edge of the Wama Grassland. Not to mention whether the death of that apprentice mage in He Gu Village will attract pursuers, just the continuous sun for dozens of days ahead could scorch us all. I must attack the humans if I am to have any chance of survival. Capturing this small tribe is actually our only way out"

However, they did not perceive the situation as too serious; their doubts were merely like a faint shadow pressing upon their hearts. They continued to be driven by inertia, urging their steeds to charge down at the next wave of skeletons.

No skeleton answered, and Karen Vahl merely smiled.

"Only by creating a diversion can we hope for success in this battle, and it all depends on you, my loyal Red Bone." Lü Yan once again detected cunning in Kairenwal's voice

At last, they beheld a unique skeleton for the first time; it was a red bone, standing solitary atop a high grassy mound, as cold as a statue

Thus, Karenval, accompanied by Luyan, spent several hours secretly scouting the nearest three tribes along their route, selecting one that would be easier to attack. The first two tribes had nearly three hundred members each, while this one had the fewest, making it the only viable target.

"Your tribe has already been occupied by Lord Kerenval," Lu Yan raised his head, realizing that at this point, it was pointless to feign submission. "You had better take me back to the camp quickly, or your loved ones will be killed by the Yamato bibliophiles"

Karen Vahl raised a forelimb after speaking, making a gesture as if to order a massacre

Lü Yan understood that what Kaiernval said was true. When fighting against humans, the red bones could hardly be considered true warriors, let alone the gray bones. Therefore, although there appeared to be thousands of skeletons, their combat effectiveness was actually quite weak

Karen Val's expression was one of indifference: "You have no choice. Should I kill them first, and then we all fight to the death together?"

The quantity of gray bones in each batch is quite small, four or five, and sometimes even only two, yet they are as tenacious as wild grass, being killed off one group after another

The more than eighty gray bones along the way are all his subordinates. Following Karenval's suggestion, he successfully lured the men of the Songye tribe out in this manner. However, the initial trick of jumping into the pool was his own improvisation. Later, Karenval also acknowledged that if it weren't for Luyan's brilliant scheme within a scheme, the Songye men would not have been provoked to such an extent, and the final ambush by the warriors would not have been so effortless

But at that moment, a splashing sound came from the pond to the south of the tribe, followed by a scream: "Ah, a skeleton has jumped into the pond!"

Well then, what plans do you have, my lord

After Utreid's death, the skeletons, under the proposal of Kerenval, chose to circumvent southward. However, the tribes on the plains were as numerous as the stars in the sky. They not only did not avoid human settlements but instead increasingly encountered and clashed with humans. Coupled with the high temperatures lasting nearly ten hours during the day, the skeletons suffered significant losses, particularly the fragile gray bones, whose numbers had dwindled to less than three thousand.

More than thirty men from Songye raced across the grassland like the wind, charging towards the fifth batch of gray bones. These gray bones were scattered strangely and sporadically across the prairie. The skeletons would only gaze around in confusion before they approached, but they would always spring into action just after the men had killed the previous batch of gray bones, roaring as they charged forward, only to be crushed beneath the hooves of their horses.

The men of the tribe, blinded by rage, searched everywhere; there should not be merely a few gray bones, as these skeletons have always appeared in the hundreds and thousands.

Feeling the strong wind stirred up by the hooves sweeping over the smooth surface of the skull, Lü Yan secretly sighed: "Karenval was right; this statement can indeed make humanity halt"

This is a crazy idea, but it is a good idea

The skeleton has no credit!" the man shouted angrily, as he did not believe that Kerenvar would spare the women and children

When they reached the thirteenth wave, which consisted of approximately sixty or more gray skeletal figures, the men of Songye realized that something was amiss. At this point, they were several kilometers away from the tribe and could no longer see the light of the tribal torches.

The vague voice of Lü Yan drifted through the chilly night wind across the grassland, entering the ears of the men in Songye, and penetrating their hearts. The thirty or so hearts, enveloped in anger, instantly froze. The ominous feeling that had lingered in their minds was simultaneously released, and almost everyone guessed that this was a feint.

Lü Yan stood in the damp night breeze, feeling both fear and excitement wildly stimulating every bone in his body. Facing over thirty strong human warriors alone, was this the task that Kaerunval had assigned to him? It was truly exhilarating

Just when all the bones thought this was a dead end, Karenval proposed to take the initiative and launch a surprise attack on the human tribe

Without a moment's hesitation, more than thirty tribal men mounted their horses and charged like the wind towards the few skeletons. Meanwhile, the women of the Songye tribe wept as they retrieved the gray bones from the pond, hoping that by pulling these cursed remains out sooner, the pond might return to normal a day earlier. This way, perhaps after enduring a winter under a transient inhabitant, they could reclaim this water source.

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Indeed, they discovered that about one thousand meters to the south, several clumsy and frail figures were staggering under the moonlight. Their movements were not human; it was evident that they were skeletons

There are probably fewer than one hundred people; this should be the smallest tribe. The voice of Kairenval echoed in his mind. This method of communication is called "soul speech," a skill that can only be mastered by skeletal warriors of the Bone Warrior rank and above. Lü Yan, being a Red Bone, is unable to utilize this skill. He can only move his stiff jaw and make a sound of "mm" to indicate his agreement.