Chapter 168: Sorting the Troops and the Evil Coffin's Evolution
Returning to the city gate, Gu Xi found that the bodies brought back initially had completed the soul-summoning transformation, and Luna had already organized the troops.
After the last major battle and reinforcements, Gu Xi's forces had undergone new changes.
The 3,000 skeletons granted by the Undead Scourge Ritual remained, but now 1,372 had reached level 3 and become skeleton soldiers.
This force had made considerable progress and could now play a certain role in a melee, unlike before when they were merely cannon fodder.
Due to Gu Xi's extensive use of the soul-summoning technique, his Bone-cutting Battalion and two combat squads were fully manned.
The Bone-cutting Battalion, with new leaders and level upgrades from battles, was now quite powerful.
The two fully manned combat squads could also play a significant role in future battles.
[Bone-cutting Battalion (Level 3, Characteristics: Attack +7, Defense +3, Life +5, Experience 193/1000): Commanders (2/2) Level 3 Skeleton Leader, Level 1 Skeleton Leader, Members (479/479) Level 5 Skeleton Two-Handed Swordsmen 56, Level 4 Skeleton Two-Handed Swordsmen 67, Level 3 Skeleton Two-Handed Swordsmen 109, Level 2 and below Skeletons 247]
[Combat Squad 1 (Level 3, Unnamed, Characteristics: Attack +4, Life +4, Experience 42/1000): Captain (1/1) Level 3 Skeleton Leader, Members (88/44+44) Level 4 Skeleton Soldiers (9), Level 3 Skeleton Soldiers (27), Level 2 Skeletons (16), Level 1 Skeletons (18), Level 0 Skeletons (34)]
[Combat Squad 2 (Level 2, Unnamed, Characteristics: Defense +6, Life +5, Experience 296/500): Captain (1/1) Level 3 Skeleton Leader, Members (53/53) Level 4 Skeleton Soldiers (6), Level 3 Skeleton Soldiers (24), Level 2 Skeletons (23)]
In addition, the number of skeleton archers remained at 133 due to no new reinforcements.
There were about 651 ordinary skeletons without any formation. The number of skeleton soldiers directly under Gu Xi's command exceeded one thousand for the first time, reaching 1,404.
This was a significant gain, showing how much Gu Xi had reaped from this battle.
Similarly, zombies were plentiful. After Gu Xi's soul-summoning technique reached level 5, most of the summoned undead were zombies, and Gu Xi had just exhausted all his mana.
The success and failure rates were quite balanced, and some were converted into skeletons.
This time, he gained 213 zombies. Including those he obtained from the academy and the floating heavy-armored zombies, Gu Xi now had 226 zombies, forming a considerable fighting force.
Finally, there were 28 ghosts and 15 gargoyles that hadn't participated in the battle and suffered no losses. This was almost the entirety of Gu Xi's forces.
Besides these two forces, there was a mixed troop of skeletons, zombies, and ghosts in front of Gu Xi's city gate.
This troop was affected by the Undead Scourge Ritual Array, which increased the success rate of summoning, yielding more zombies and ghosts.
This troop had 1,677 members, including 892 skeletons and skeleton soldiers, 651 zombies, and 134 ghosts.
Their levels were somewhat enhanced by the Undead Scourge Ritual, but they still couldn't match the core forces of the ritual.
Their enhancements were minor, and Gu Xi saw them as cannon fodder for a long time to come.
Despite this, Gu Xi was quite happy. With the current forces, he could even wipe out five or six thousand enemies in the next wave.
While Gu Xi was counting his troops and arranging their positions, the evil coffin, shrouded in black aura, finally completed its evolution.
The black mist was absorbed into the coffin, revealing the evolved coffin.
Seeing the new coffin, Gu Xi was stunned. He had intended to evolve the evil coffin but didn't expect it to look like this.
The evil coffin was noticeably larger, with its length increased,
The wooden material had turned metallic, and the lid was polished to a shine. Even a fly would slip on it.
The talismans on the coffin were gone, replaced by thick iron chains at the corners, tightly locking the coffin.
Even standing still, Gu Xi could notice something inside constantly hitting the coffin lid, trying to escape.
He also noticed details like black blood dripping from the edges, causing rust, and layers of red paint failing to hide the metallic nature of the coffin.
These details piqued Gu Xi's curiosity. He touched the coffin and felt its coldness, realizing it was no longer the original evil coffin.
[Evil Coffin (Blue, Mount): Mount for undead players and heroes, moving at 250 km/h, can carry one person, temporarily speeding up to 450 km/h (limited to 30 seconds), with one storage slot (0/1), three embedding slots (0/3).]
[Note 1: The storage slot can hold corpses, relics, special weapons, etc.]
[Note 2: The embedding slots can hold gems, ornaments, additional items, etc.]
[Note 3: The evil coffin can be enchanted, and sticking talismans on it does not count as embedding.]
Seeing the information about the evil coffin, Gu Xi's eyes lit up.
The speed was impressive, equivalent to a bullet train.
If it moved at full speed...
Thinking about it, Gu Xi glanced at the evil coffin again, considering if he might be thrown off at full speed.
Imagining the scene, Gu Xi thought about adding a seat belt to the coffin.
While pondering this, Gu Xi began to manage the evil coffin.
The storage slot was temporarily unnecessary, but the embedding slots reminded Gu Xi of the string of brains from the abomination.
Initially, Gu Xi planned to embed the head into the Frostwind Staff.
But he never had the time and missed the opportunity.
Now he found a good place for the brains.
He quickly stuffed the [Stitched Head] into the evil coffin.