Chapter 52 The Garrison Forces

Completely oblivious to the current situation, the giant skeleton continued pursuing Ryujin’s subordinate skeleton warriors and zombies.

Upon retreating back into the Underworld Palace, Ryujin flickered and instantly appeared atop the city wall, standing beside Mande.

"How are the preparations coming along?"

"No problem at all. I’ve been researching fire-prevention techniques lately to keep anyone from burning down the spiderweb moat, so I've gained a solid understanding of how to set fire to web-based structures as well. Those items we dismantled are the ones that would otherwise trigger a major blaze."

As he spoke, Mande signaled the newly joined skeletal archers to loose a volley of specific items outward.

As for the troops Ryujin had brought back, they had all suffered varying degrees of losses and were now ordered to fall back for repairs.

"I can tell you've gained quite a bit from this battle. So, you've discovered that gold skeletons aren't very practical, haven't you? Those things are far too wasteful. If you need skeleton soldiers that won't easily be crushed, you should actually wrap them in linen bandages. The effect is much better than applying a layer of gold leaf or brushing them with gold paint."

Ryujin did not reply. Instead, he observed Mande's command structure. As a formal hero, Mande was far more seasoned in troop management. He had long since divided the various units into large, medium, and small squads, even assigning temporary serial numbers to each group.

When necessary, simply broadcasting a temporary serial number was enough to command a specific unit to advance forward, eliminating the need for Ryujin to shout at the top of his lungs.

At the same time, Ryujin noticed that Mande was paying special attention to certain undead within the ranks, as if placing the direct control of the troops into their hands.

This arrangement left Ryujin somewhat puzzled, and Mande, noticing Ryujin's expression, offered an explanation.

"The more people there are, the harder they are to command. You cannot possibly divide your own spirit into hundreds of pieces, so you must select a vanguard or leader for your squads—especially for units larger than a medium squad. For instance, the skeleton archers you led out this time—I recall you brought out an entire cohort. If you choose a promising skeleton archer as the squad leader, all you need to do before battle is instruct the rest of the archers to follow that leader's actions.

Generally speaking, archers only need to make two choices: either follow the leader to focus-fire, concentrating all firepower on a single point, or follow the leader in a scattered volley. Once your undead subordinates understand these two distinctions, you can manage them quite effectively. As for choosing the right type of arrows before focus-firing or judging the wind direction, the squad leader will handle those details for you.

As your troops become increasingly accustomed to this combat style, you can issue them a battle flag and insignia, transforming them into a qualified combat unit."

Ryujin then asked, "Mande, I've always understood the difference between combat units and combat squads, but I've been wondering—what are the actual benefits of organizing troops into formal combat units? Does it reduce the consumption of bringing them out?"

"No, the consumption of traveling between the Underworld and reality is fixed; no one can change that. However, there are certainly benefits. First, well-coordinated combat units can achieve seamless synergy and even form battle arrays. Furthermore, combat units possess tiers and ranks; every combat unit receives bonuses to certain attributes. If you had a powerful combat unit under your command, a single strike might have been enough to defeat that fellow today."

At this point, Mande gave a heavy wave of his hand. Without issuing any verbal command, three cohorts of skeletal archers on the city wall took turns releasing the arrows nocked in their bows.

Ryujin noticed that, exactly as Mande had described, guided by the leading skeleton archer, the rest of the archers acted without any explicit orders, spontaneously following their leader to ignite the tips of their arrows.

Simultaneously, all the arrows converged in a single direction—a clear demonstration of the devastating effect of focus-fire.

Ryujin fell into deep contemplation. Could this be the fundamental difference between a disciplined combat unit and scattered skirmishers?

"This is still the simple version. In truth, you can think of a combat unit as a collective entity. While one or two mindless undead might lack the intelligence to comprehend your commands, a collective combat unit is entirely different. They will understand your instructions and execute tasks properly."

This concept remained somewhat difficult for Ryujin to fully grasp. Among his undead subordinates, Videnina possessed her own will, while Mande and the Fate-Weaving Spider belonged to beings of independent intelligence—no, wait, the Fate-Weaving Spider was also gradually developing her own will. Thus, Ryujin knew that as long as tasks were assigned to them, they could complete them.

But could ordinary skeleton soldiers, who only knew how to wander aimlessly, really do the same?

Deep down, Ryujin found this hard to believe.

Yet, recognizing his lack of knowledge in this area, and with someone currently guiding him, Ryujin forced himself to commit the lessons to memory.

He then shifted his gaze back to the enemy outside.

That giant skeleton, having been rendered highly flammable earlier, was now struck by the volley of fire arrows, igniting like a massive pile of firewood.

Yet, that giant skeleton was truly a creature of unlife; the raging flames had virtually no negative impact on it, and it continued charging fiercely toward the city wall.

Standing nearly eight meters tall, the giant skeleton was only slightly shorter than the outer wall of the Underworld Palace. With a mere stretch of its arm, it could likely climb straight up.

Consequently, Ryujin issued a direct command: "Stop him."

Mande spoke with a hint of annoyance, "I am the fortress commander."

With that, Mande glanced up at the sky. "Lure him away. Bring him back only when the flames are about to die out."

Under Mande's command, several statues on the city wall suddenly animated. They transformed into gargoyles and took flight toward the giant skeleton.

Flying at a high altitude, the gargoyles did not launch direct attacks against the giant skeleton; instead, they continuously circled around it.

Whenever the giant skeleton attempted to swat at them, they would simply gain a bit more altitude. Occasionally, they dropped vials of liquid from the sky, though the potions had no significant effect other than persistently drawing the giant skeleton's attention.

"See that? This is the wisdom of a garrison force."

"A garrison force?" Listening to Mande's live commentary, Ryujin seemed to realize something. "You mean, if you assign corresponding duties to a unit, they will figure out their own methods within the scope of those duties? As long as our orders do not exceed their assigned responsibilities, they can perform brilliantly. Just look at how it's being handled right now."

Watching the gargoyles dancing across the sky, Ryujin finally nodded slowly.

At that exact moment, the giant skeleton jerked its head toward Ryujin, raised its arm, and hurled the massive spear in its grasp directly at him.