Chapter 48: Before the Conflict

While the Serpent Strike Tribe was gathering the strength of other tribes, Liu Zhi was busy strengthening his own forces. The previous battle, though brief, had revealed some weaknesses among his skeleton soldiers. Against piercing attacks, the skeletons were nearly invincible, but what if their foes wielded blunt weapons? He remembered how his skeletons had gleefully smashed their enemies’ skulls with chain-hammers, but the thought of facing opponents with superior resources nagged at him. Liu Zhi’s supplies were limited to wood and stone—hardly enough for advanced weaponry—while outside, as long as one had money, there were weapons of every kind in abundance. Sooner or later, his enemies would create increasingly powerful arms.

If he waited until that day to reinforce his skeletons, it would be far too late.

Upon realizing this, Liu Zhi began to consider solutions. Wrapping the skeletons in fibers from vines, as he had done before, was useless against heavy blows—the bones would still shatter. What he needed was a method akin to metalworking, where even if something was flattened, its shape would hold.

In the end, Liu Zhi came up with a possibility: he could hammer his collected gold into thin leaf and layer it onto the skeleton soldiers. To spare himself the trouble, he transferred his “Goldsmithing” skill to several ordinary skeletons, training five of them as skeleton goldsmiths to cover their brethren with gold leaf.

This method proved quite effective. He began to expand on the idea: if ordinary skeletons could learn basic tool-making, he could train skeleton laborers. These workers could handle repetitive tasks like making arrows for the skeleton archers, polishing obsidian, weaving simple ropes, or laying traps.

With this, Liu Zhi was freed up to focus on other matters. He experimented with crafting shields from wooden slats and branches. As soon as he mastered a new skill, the skeleton laborers could learn it instantly, greatly accelerating the process of re-equipping his undead army.

Five days passed, and as another week arrived, Liu Zhi sensed the enemy’s first probing attack was imminent.

At that moment, his mass grave finally yielded a fresh batch of undead for the week. Thanks to his efforts over the past five days, the graveyard had changed again. First to appear were golden skeletons, their bodies covered in gold leaf. These were not born as golden skeletons; rather, ordinary skeleton soldiers had to be upgraded by the skeleton goldsmiths—a process limited to five conversions per week, given his gold reserves and the craftsmen’s pace.

The golden skeletons boasted tremendous resistance to blunt force, without losing their defense against piercing attacks, though they were noticeably slower. Liu Zhi equipped them with newly-made wooden shields and larger stone chain-hammers.

Among the new undead, two additional ghouls appeared. Liu Zhi outfitted them with oversized macuahuitls, assigning them as executioners for critical strikes.

With these additions, Liu Zhi’s forces swelled: eleven ordinary skeleton soldiers (armed with spears and small shields), five golden skeletons (wielding chain-hammers and large shields), five skeleton archers (with unlimited arrows), two elite skeleton soldiers (masters of swordsmanship with longswords), and four ghouls (wearing leather armor and carrying macuahuitls). Factoring in the daily upkeep of the Corpse Spirit Naga and the magical energy required for the Necropolis, Liu Zhi had no reserves left to summon more undead to the material world.

“I hope these troops will be enough to face the enemy,” Liu Zhi murmured as he quietly set traps near the entrance of a mountainside cave.

Meanwhile, Parker and his companions finally confirmed that their previous detachment sent to the City of Gold had been wiped out. Gathered among the assembled leaders of the various powers, Parker raised his voice: “You’ve all seen it—the worst has happened. The demon has been unleashed. This isn’t just the Serpent Strike Tribe’s problem; it concerns us all.”

Inside Parker’s tent, besides Edge from the Deer-Eater Tribe and the chief of the Eagle Tribe, there were four more native leaders, each with distinct attire. One was an elder whose decorations were steeped in Incan style; he carried no weapons, but his body was draped with knives and pouches of medicine. The other three were robust men of varying heights, their styles clearly bearing the marks of Mayan heritage.

Hearing Parker’s words, the assembly remained silent. They all knew that, while stopping the “demon” of the City of Gold was the official reason for their gathering, their true aim was the jungle hunting grounds. Whoever seized the initiative in this conflict would control more territory in the future.

The three Mayan-styled leaders had already resolved to stand together, no matter what Parker said.

Then, the Incan elder spoke: “How do you propose we fight? I know you have a way into the City of Gold, but how many can you lead in? If you bring too many, your trick for luring the giant serpents won’t work. Too few, and it’s just suicide.”

Parker bristled at this, unable to admit his true plan: he had hoped to seize command of the coalition, use the excuse of eliminating the demon and opening the passage to the City of Gold to slowly draw out and slaughter the giant serpents one by one. With the cursed weapons provided by the pale-skinned foreigners and their own knowledge, he calculated that he could eradicate all the giant serpents in ninety days. After that, it would just be a matter of marching in with an army. Once the demon was slain, the City of Gold—made entirely of gold—would belong to the Serpent Strike Tribe. And if, in the process, some of the other tribes’ strong warriors were culled, all the better.

But with the elder’s challenge, Parker could not speak his mind. He retorted irritably, “Well then, do you have a better idea?”

“I do,” the elder replied. “We could use the path of the underworld, pass through unnoticed from the land of the dead. That way, the demon will not sense our approach.”

At this, Parker leaped up as if stung, roaring like a maddened lion and pointing at the elder. “Have you lost your wits? The underworld? Why not just kill us all here and serve us up to the demon as sacrifices?”