Chapter 2

The battlefield was a barren expanse of black soil, the most suitable terrain for the Necropolis race to fight on, a corrosive land. Not far from Lin Han, two groups of skeletons were slowly approaching him with their sluggish steps.

Skeletons were the lowest-level units of the Necropolis race, with not very good attributes, but their special ability to dodge ranged attacks was quite annoying. During previous battles, Lin Han had experienced a situation where three consecutive attacks were all dodged. However, this time it was better, as the Skeleton Archers hit on their first attack.

"Attack!"

Facing the skeletons, Lin Han made a quick calculation and issued the order to attack. The attack of 20 Skeleton Archers was quite effective, taking out three skeletons on the first try and severely injuring several others. This was largely due to the bonus from his Lord talent.

"Skeleton Archer: Level 2 Elite Unit of the Necropolis race. A more powerful creature produced after skeletons are trained in the Bone Training Ground, capable of ranged attacks. Damage: 2-5, Defense: 1, Health: 20, Movement Speed: 1 meter per second, Attack Speed: once every 2.5 seconds, Range: 15 meters, Ammunition: 6 shots. Special Abilities: 1. Weakened Shooter Unit [This unit can perform ranged attacks, but has a shorter range than regular shooter units and will suffer a penalty. The damage to enemies outside the attack range or in close combat will be reduced by 50%.] 2. Bone Body [The bone body of a skeleton has a certain chance to dodge ranged attacks, with a 33% chance to dodge when attacked by ranged attacks.]"

"Dark Desecration, Level 1 Necropolis Lord, Profession: Commander [Command troops in battle, with bonuses to attack, defense, and leadership.], Attack Talent: 3, Defense Talent: 2, Wisdom Talent: 2, Spirit Talent: 2, Leadership: 150 points, Initial Skills: Basic Offensive Tactics, Basic Defensive Tactics, Basic Archery. Racial Skills: None [Randomly obtained after Level 10], Equipment: None."

Lords are divided into two types. The first type is the Commander, like Lin Han, who mainly commands troops in battle, with each level-up increasing leadership, defense talent, and attack talent. The second type is the Spellcaster, who mainly uses spells on the battlefield to enhance troops or attack enemies, with each level-up significantly boosting wisdom talent and spirit talent. The development paths for these two types of lords are different.

However, if it comes to the late game, Commanders can completely suppress Spellcasters. Even if Spellcasters have terrifying area-of-effect damage skills, the mana cost is extremely high. If they fail to deal a fatal blow to the Commander's troops, they will face the Commander's relentless counterattack.

The lord's attributes are directly added to the troops. For every 1 point of attack, the troops' damage increases by 1%, and for every 2 points of defense, the troops' defense increases by 1%. Wisdom increases the lord's mana, while spirit is tied to skill damage, which is mainly used by Spellcaster lords.

In addition, there are three basic skills that can enhance the troops' combat power. Basic Offensive Tactics can increase the damage of melee units by 5%, Basic Defensive Tactics can increase the defense of the troops by 5%, and Basic Archery can increase the ranged damage of ranged units by 5%, but these effects do not apply to magic damage.

At the start of the battle, Lin Han directly controlled the Skeleton Archers to attack the skeletons, then ordered three squads of skeletons to advance, with the 20-unit squad of skeletons blocking in front of the Skeleton Archers. Even if the enemies charged, they would not be able to threaten the Skeleton Archers.

This was Lin Han's strategy, using one squad of skeletons to draw fire and slowly wear down the enemies. In the early stages, the enemies lacked the intelligence of a hero and had no concept of tactics. They would focus on the nearest enemy, giving the Skeleton Archers enough time to deal damage.

" Ding! Battle ended. You gained 120 experience points, 80 gold coins, 3 units of stone, 129 experience points for your Skeletons, 115 experience points for your Skeleton Archers, and 9 units of bones."

Looking at the experience points of the skeletons, they were now at 20% experience. At this rate, they would reach Level 2 after three more battles. In the recent battle, he only lost one skeleton. Level 2 skeletons could be trained in the Bone Training Ground, but Lin Han still found it difficult to build one due to a lack of resources.

However, this problem was not hard to solve. Around the large cemetery, there were many scattered resources, mostly guarded by a few skeletons (1-10 units). Occasionally, there would be more skeletons (10-30 units) guarding more resources. Lin Han estimated that if he collected all these resources, he could build his Bone Training Ground and even have enough left to build a Blacksmith.

" Ding! Your Wraith Tower is complete. Your castle has attracted the attention of nearby creatures. In 3 minutes, monsters will launch 5 waves of attacks on your castle. Please defend. If you fail, you will lose 80% of your resources and a random building."

As the notification for the Wraith Tower's completion came, another notification Lin Han did not want to hear followed. The second wave of monster attacks was coming much earlier than expected. However, this time, Lin Han had already built the initial wall, which, combined with the Wraith Tower, could deal significant damage to the attacking monsters.

Of course, this was secondary. If he could defend successfully, Lin Han would gain a large amount of resources. In the castle defense battle, each monster killed had a chance to drop resources, which was a good source of resources.

"Build the Main Camp, build the Blacksmith."

Lin Han quickly returned to the castle, which was now surrounded by a black marble wall. On the wall, two black towers emitted a dark green glow—these were the Wraith Towers.

"Basic Wall LV1: Defense: 10, Armor Type: Reinforced Armor [Reduces all attack damage by 40%.] Durability: 400/400."

"Wraith Tower LV1: Attack: 20-35, Attack Type: Piercing Attack [Deals 20% extra damage to units with normal or no armor.] Attack Speed: once every 2 seconds. Defense: 5, Armor Type: Reinforced Armor, Durability: 200/200, Range: 40 meters."

Although the number of attacks was 5 waves, looking at the attributes of the wall and the Wraith Tower, Lin Han was not very worried. In the early stages, the Basic Wall was almost a bug, with 10 defense points making it almost invulnerable to the 1-9 attack damage of 1st and 2nd tier units. The Reinforced Armor further reduced damage by 40%, and while siege attacks could deal 250% damage to Reinforced Armor, such units were rare in the early stages.

" Ding! Your town—Dark City—has entered the monster attack state. The town is in siege mode. The first wave of enemies will appear in 30 seconds!"

The battle notification sounded, and Lin Han made the final preparations.

"Upgrade the Basic Wall, upgrade the Wraith Tower."

It was crucial to enhance his ranged combat and defense before the siege. Upgrading the Wraith Tower from LV1 to LV2 required 100 gold coins and 5 units of stone, increasing the damage to 30-75 and the durability to 500/500.

Compared to the Wraith Tower, the wall was much simpler. Upgrading from LV1 to LV2 only increased the wall's defense by 2 points and durability by 200 points. However, during the siege, repairing the wall would consume a lot of resources, so increasing the defense beforehand was beneficial.

"Uuuuuu~"

A deep horn sounded in Lin Han's ears, and in the distance, a large number of enemies began to appear.

" Ding! First wave of enemies: 30 Skeletons, 30 Skeletons, 30 Skeletons, 40 Bones, 40 Bones."

Seeing the first wave of enemies, Lin Han was completely stunned. A large group of white bones, skeletons, and bones moved their creaking bodies toward the castle, leaving him speechless. This was the first wave? 90 Skeletons and 80 Bones, this was ridiculous!

"Bones: Level 2 Reinforced Unit of the Necropolis race. Ordinary skeletons that gain stronger abilities after multiple battles. Damage: 2-4, Defense: 2, Health: 30, Movement Speed: 1 meter per second, Attack Speed: once every 3 seconds. Special Abilities: 1. Bone Body [The bone body of a skeleton has a certain chance to dodge ranged attacks, with a 33% chance to dodge when attacked by ranged attacks.] 2. Bone Regeneration [After each turn, the unit will recover a certain amount of health, specifically 2 times the number of units, but this effect cannot revive dead units.]"

"Great, this is going to be a tough one!"

Seeing the five squads of skeletons slowly moving, Lin Han felt a chill down his spine.

The intensity of the monster attacks increased with each wave. If the first wave had 170 units, the fifth wave would have 1000 or even 1200 units.

"There's no choice, I have to hold out this wave and quickly upgrade the Wraith Towers."

Looking at his resources, after building the Main Camp and Blacksmith and upgrading the Wraith Tower and wall, he only had enough resources to build one more Wraith Tower. However, Lin Han knew that this was not enough. The first wave came from the east of Dark City, a plain, while the subsequent waves might come from the south and north. The west was a lake area with few aquatic monsters, which was why Lin Han had passed the defense mission quickly and with high ratings.

"Cancel the construction of the Blacksmith and Main Camp."

After some consideration, Lin Han canceled the construction of the Blacksmith and Main Camp, losing 20% of his resources, but he had no other choice.

Following Lin Han's orders, four Wraith Towers began construction, two on the north and two on the south. Due to the range of the Wraith Towers, enemies 20 meters in front of the west wall could also be attacked, significantly reducing the enemy's attack power.

"Skeleton squads, advance!"

On the wall, Lin Han began to control the skeleton troops to advance. After returning to the castle, he immediately recruited 15 skeletons from the Bone Land and combined them with the 18 skeletons he had left, sending them out in different directions to draw the attention of the skeletons and bones.

During the siege, using these 33 squads of skeletons to delay the enemies, while the Wraith Towers and Skeleton Archers took turns attacking, would continuously wear down the enemy forces. This was his only chance of victory. The 18 skeletons he had left could soon be upgraded to Level 2 Bones, but he had no time to wait.

" Ding! The first wave of monster attacks has ended. You have 2 minutes to prepare. The second wave will come in 2 minutes. Please be ready!"

As 14 squads of Lin Han's skeletons were eliminated, the Wraith Towers and Skeleton Archers had also eliminated all the enemies. The damage from the defense towers could not be dodged, so Lin Han's luck was quite good. Without the defense towers, he would not have been able to survive the first wave relying solely on the wall.