"Guys, let's try out the new equipment."
Giant Skeleton Grom stepped forward first, its six undead eyes flickering with excited green light.
When it gripped the fine steel executioner's blade, the friction between the blade and bone palm produced a teeth-grinding sound. The forty-eight kilogram heavy weapon felt weightless in its hands, and a casual swing cut through the air with a terrifying whistle.
"Good stuff, now you're really a meat grinder." Rex nodded with satisfaction.
The other skeletons also equipped themselves with iron spears and iron-reinforced leather armor. Amid the clashing of metal, a fully armed undead squad had taken shape.
Rex inspected each skeleton's equipment, ensuring the joint protection was in place—the wolf pack's tactics from last time had left a deep impression on him.
"Alright, let's go settle the score with them."
[Welcome back, Rex]
The handheld console screen lit up as Rex once again entered the dungeon's first floor.
The damp air was filled with familiar putrid stench, but this time, he was no longer that cautious novice.
"Grom, clear the way."
The giant skeleton let out a silent roar and strode forward, dragging the executioner's blade.
Iron boots struck the stone slabs with dull impacts. The ghouls along the way didn't even have time to react before being cleaved in two.
Rex followed behind, barely needing to lift a finger as this steel undead legion rolled through the dungeon's first floor like a bulldozer.
When they reached the boss room again, Grom's former projection had just crawled out of the blood pool. The moment the two giant ghouls locked eyes, Rex's Skeleton Grom had already charged forward.
"BOOM!"
The executioner's blade fell with thunderous force. The former boss couldn't even mount an effective resistance before being split in half by this single strike.
Rotting entrails and black blood splattered throughout the room. Projection Grom's body twitched a few times before dissolving into points of light.
"That was way too fast."
Rex was dumbfounded.
He knew well-equipped Grom would be strong, but he hadn't expected it to be strong enough to one-shot the former boss.
[Obtained: Return Scroll ×1]
[Obtained: Dark Chain Skill Book ×1]
[Effect: First-tier binding spell, requires 10 Intelligence to learn]
"A skill book dropped, but my stats still don't meet the requirements."
Rex picked it up, really wanting to farm the boss room again, but this thing only refreshed every few days.
So they proceeded to the second floor.
The bronze gates opened once more. The moonlit grassland's scenery remained stunning, but this time Rex wasn't in the mood to appreciate the beauty. His gaze quickly swept across the grassland, searching for traces of the wolf pack.
"Maintain formation, advance slowly."
The skeleton warriors immediately formed a defensive circle with spears pointing outward. Rex stood on Grom's shoulder, observing the surroundings from his elevated position.
Night wind swept across the grassland, bringing a hint of danger.
Suddenly, a silver flash appeared in the distant grass waves.
Then came the second, the third... In the blink of an eye, dozens of wolves surged from all directions, their tactics identical to last time.
"Here they come!" Rex's spirits lifted. "Remember our tactics—don't let them scatter us!"
The wolf pack's first wave of feint attacks arrived as expected, but this time the skeletons didn't budge.
When the real attack came from the flanks, what awaited the wolves were sharp spears and solid iron armor.
One silver wolf pounced forward, only to be pierced through the throat by a spear tip. Another bit a skeleton's arm but only caught the hard metal guard.
"Grom, charge!"
At Rex's command, the giant skeleton charged into the densest part of the wolf pack like a war machine.
The executioner's blade swept across, instantly decapitating three silver wolves. Bone spikes suddenly extended, pinning two more wolves to the ground.
The wolf pack's formation immediately fell into chaos.
Rex keenly noticed that the wolf king with the crescent markings was standing on a distant small hillock, watching. A flash of surprise crossed its amber eyes—clearly it hadn't expected its prey to become so powerful.
"Want to run? Not so easy!"
Rex commanded two elite skeletons to circle around for a flanking maneuver.
The wolf king nimbly leaped to avoid them but was intercepted by Grom's prediction of its landing point.
The executioner's blade fell with a whistling sound. The wolf king barely twisted its body to avoid vital areas, but one hind leg was still grazed by the blade edge, blood immediately staining its silver-white fur.
"Awoooo—" The wolf king let out a pained howl, and the remaining wolves immediately abandoned their attacks, gathering around their leader.
Rex gave them no chance to catch their breath, ordering his skeleton legion to press forward step by step.
The wolf king looked deeply at Rex.
The next moment, it raised its head and let out a special howl. The entire wolf pack immediately turned and retreated. Their speed was astonishing—in moments they had vanished into the depths of the silver grassland.
Rex looked at the wolf corpses scattered on the ground, then extended both hands and began chanting undead incantations in a low voice.
"Bone Summons!"
The wolf corpses on the ground began to twitch. Flesh gradually peeled away, revealing stark white bones. Moments later, five wolf-shaped skeletons stood up. Their eye sockets danced with greenish undead fire, and their bones were sharper than in life, especially their front claws, which gleamed like blade edges.
[Minions: Skeleton Wolves ×5]
[Rank: Unranked]
[Attributes: Strength 3, Agility 5, Intelligence 2, Constitution 3]
[Special Traits: Swift Bite/Pack Hunting]
"Higher agility than ordinary skeletons—perfect for scouts." Rex nodded with satisfaction.
Afterward, he crouched down and skinned a silver-white wolf pelt from one of the more intact wolf corpses.
[Obtained: Complete Silver Wolf Pelt ×1]
[Use: Can be crafted into light armor or cloak, enhances Agility attribute]
"Good stuff. I can find someone to make it into equipment when I get back." Rex carefully stored the wolf pelt, then turned his gaze toward the depths of the grassland.
Blood traces gleamed faintly in the moonlight, extending into the distance.
"Pursue."
Rex led his skeleton legion through grass taller than a person, following the blood trail.
After walking for about twenty minutes, a cluster of low stone mounds appeared ahead. The blood trail finally disappeared at a concealed cave entrance at the base of the mounds.
The cave entrance was hidden by dense vines. Rex signaled for the skeletons to clear the vines away.
The cave interior wasn't dark—glowing moss grew on the walls, providing dim illumination.
The air was filled with a crisp herbal fragrance mixed with a faint scent of blood.
Rex lightened his steps and followed the winding passage deeper inside.
Finally, he arrived at a spacious natural stone chamber.
In the center of the chamber, a massive vine hung down from the ceiling. Several crystal-clear fruits grew on the vine, slowly dripping milky-white juice.
The wounded wolf king lay prostrate beneath the vine, extending its tongue to catch the falling droplets.
Seeing the crowd of skeleton armies squeezing in, it immediately raised its head alertly and fled toward the depths of the cave.
Rex immediately ordered: "Grom, stop it!"
Grom charged forward with his executioner's blade.
Seeing no escape, the wolf king suddenly spun around and pounced.
Grom swung his executioner's blade to meet the attack, but the wolf king twisted its body eerily in mid-air, avoiding the blade and striking Grom's ribs with one claw, instantly breaking two bone spikes!
Rex immediately commanded the skeleton wolves to flank from the sides while the skeletons advanced with spears raised in formation.
Soon, the wolf king was cornered.
The wolf king began its counterattack, moving like silver lightning through the skeleton ranks. Each pounce could tear apart a skeleton.
But Rex's undead legion was no pushover either.
Grom roared (though silently) and brought down his executioner's blade. The wolf king couldn't dodge in time and had a small piece of shoulder blade shaved off.
"Now's the time!"
The skeletons seized the opportunity and thrust their spears forward. In an instant, the wolf king was turned into a pincushion. The skeleton wolves pounced on it, frantically tearing at its limbs.
Blood gushed from the wolf king's abdomen and chest.
The wolf king let out a piercing wail, struggled a few times, and finally collapsed. But a pale green soul drifted away.
The soul took the clear shape of a wolf, and the crescent marking on its forehead was even brighter than in life, trailing fine points of light in the dim cave.
Seeing this, Rex's fingertips surged with necromantic magic as he tried to intercept it, but the green light easily pierced through his spell barrier.
No helping it—he was still an unranked apprentice necromancer and couldn't contain it.
Rex could only watch helplessly as the green light disappeared into rock crevices. The glowing moss on the rock walls suddenly flickered violently before returning to calm.
[You have angered the second floor guardian 1/12]
"Hmm?"
Rex looked puzzled. So this was just an elite monster, and the big one was still coming?
"Whatever, let it go."
Rex looked at the corpse with some excitement: "Your soul escaped, but your body is still here. The body is all I need."
He walked to the wolf king's corpse and cast "Bone Summons" again.
Midway through, his internal magic wasn't sufficient, so he had to drink his last potion to complete the transformation.
The wolf king's flesh gradually peeled away, finally becoming a skeleton frame larger than ordinary silver wolf skeletons. Its skull still retained that crescent-shaped marking, and the undead fire in its eye sockets showed a rare silver-white color.
[Obtained: Wolf King Skeleton]
[Rank: Unranked (Elite)]
[Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 8, Intelligence 5, Constitution 6]
[Special Traits: Moonlight Assault/Pack Commander]
"Commander? That's good."
Rex was satisfied—this meant the wolf king skeleton could command other wolf-type undead, forming more efficient battle groups!
Soon Rex broke out in a cold sweat, feeling like his head was about to explode. At this moment he had five skeletons, four skeleton wolves, one Grom, and the wolf king skeleton under his command—seriously exceeding his control limit.
His gaze turned to the massive vine.
Four crystal-clear fruits hung on the vine, each radiating soft moonlight.
He carefully picked one.
[Obtained: Moon Dew ×1]
[Effect: Permanently increases Intelligence by 2 points when consumed. Only effective the first time; subsequent uses have diminishing returns]
"Good stuff." Rex's eyes lit up, and he swallowed one without hesitation.
Instantly, a cool energy flowed into his brain, making his thoughts clearer than ever before.
Intelligence +2
Current Intelligence: 6→8
His controllable minion slots increased significantly, and the feeling of his head about to burst completely disappeared.
"I need 10 Intelligence to learn Dark Chain. I'll eat all of these."
Rex took the remaining Moon Dew and ate them one by one. Unless something that could improve himself completely lost its effect, he had no intention of selling for money.
Soon, the refreshing coolness swept through his brain folds, and his eyes became clear.
The first Moon Dew increased Intelligence by 2 points; the next three combined didn't even add up to 2 points.
"Still can't learn it?"
Rex looked at his Intelligence that barely reached 10. Logically, it should meet the requirements, but he still couldn't use it.
When he saw Intelligence 8 (+2), he understood—he hadn't truly reached 10; two points were provided by the ring.
"It can work like that?"
Rex was speechless, then directly took out the black-covered first-tier spell "Dark Chain" and began studying: "If you're ruthless, don't blame me for being heartless. Although I can't learn it with one click, I can learn it bit by bit. A living person can't be stumped by urine, can they?"