Single brush Eternal Mine (Nightmare)

Illya Shadowblade huddled beside the campfire, her long silver-gray hair falling over her shoulders. "Damn it, your skeleton warriors are colder than the wind of the Sea of ​​Eternal Winter." She blew into her palms, her eyes sweeping over the bronze skeletons scattered around. "Keep them away? My elven bloodline is almost frozen."

Irene Mercer thought, and the 44 skeleton warriors retreated 20 meters away. The soul fire formed a light blue halo in the mist of the Shadow Forest. Illya immediately stretched her body and took out a blanket embroidered with the Shadow Blade family emblem from the storage space: "It should have been done a long time ago. Tell me, how many rotten wolves did you kill in the Wild Wolf Hills?"

"Enough to exchange for three primary scrolls." Irene answered simply, her fingertips running across the wolf skins piled up in the storage space - each of which bore the crow feather emblem of the Dark Order. "Does the Kaladin Orc Fortress you mentioned really have random treasure chests?"

Illya munched on a roasted sweet potato, her eyes sparkling. "Of course! I accidentally triggered the fragment mechanism of the Star Tower on the third floor, and this intermediate scroll popped out of the treasure chest—" She shook the empty wooden box, "In the end, I was stuck by the dog-skin plaster of the Ring of Ashes, and was chased from Shaohai City to Silver Moon City. It's so annoying."

Irene nodded, thinking of the stigmata equipment that the skeleton warriors had chopped off in the battle last night. The tips of Illya's elf ears glowed pink in the firelight, forming a strange echo with the Star Tower tattoo on her back - the pattern and the emblem on Irene's sleeve almost completely overlapped at a certain angle.

"Which academy are you going to apply to?" Illya suddenly leaned in close, her nose almost touching Irene's silver hair. "Eternal Night Academy? I heard that the rewards for their God Tower Trial are doubled, and there are afterimages of the first generation of Undead Guards from the Star Council on the top floor."

"Eternal Night Academy." Irene answered softly, remembering the letter her sister Leila sent. The envelope had the same Star Tower emblem printed on it. "Can the points from the God Tower Trial really be exchanged for skill scrolls?"

"Points are ten times more valuable than Cosmic Gold!" Illya threw out the third piece of sweet potato peel, and the Shadow Blade emblem on the blanket suddenly glowed. "Especially the exclusive points of the Creation Academy, which can be exchanged for forbidden techniques that even the Dark Erosion Cult can't get - such as the Shadow Crow Strike that I stole."

The bonfire gradually dimmed at midnight. Illya curled up in a blanket and suddenly murmured, "I know why you don't talk much. For an Undead commander like you, your brain is used to calculate the attack trajectory of the skeletons, right?"

Irene did not deny it and began to meditate to restore her mental strength. 44 bronze skeleton warriors formed a perfect defense matrix under the moonlight, and the astral runes on the bone swords flickered synchronously with the emblem on her sleeves - that was the deep resonance between the dead and the astral tower, and it was also the only clue left by her mother.

The next morning, Illya rushed to the bonfire with her messy hair: "Are there any sweet potatoes? I need to replenish my spirit energy!"

Irene handed over the last three pieces of baked sweet potatoes and watched the man wolf them down. "You took all my stock."

"Stingy!" Illya puffed her cheeks in protest, and suddenly took out a ring engraved with crow feathers and stuffed it in. "Here you go! The Shadow Blade family's space ring can hold ten skeleton warriors. Don't be touched. I'm just afraid that you will starve to death in the wild and no one will help you upgrade."

Irene took the ring and detected the extra-dimensional space inside: 20 grids of capacity, with an undead affinity enhancement. This rare equipment is worth at least 5 million gold coins in the exchange, but Illya threw it away like an ordinary gift.

"I'm leaving!" Illya waved the blanket, and her silver-gray figure disappeared in the mist, leaving only the shadow blade emblem on her ring still hot. "Next time we meet, I want to see you with a hundred-man skeleton army!"

After the forest returned to silence, Irene stared at the bodies of the three adventurers. The new skill "Corpse Explosion" was ready to be used in her palm. Last night's test showed that the global amplification would expand the range to 20 meters and increase the damage to 200% - enough to blow a Corruption Lord-level monster into pieces.

She ordered the skeleton warriors to throw the corpse into the air, and a faint blue light flashed from her fingertips: "The corpse explodes."

The cyan shockwave tore through the morning mist, turning the rotten leaves and gravel within 20 meters into dust. The ruins of the Star Tower could be vaguely seen in the deep pit created. Irene noticed that the power of the mid-air explosion was 37% stronger than the ground detonation, which meant that she would have absolute air superiority when facing flying monsters in the future.

"We need to test the mass detonation next time." She muttered to herself, calling back the skeleton warriors to move towards the Eternal Mine. In the storage space, the intermediate scroll left by Illya was resonating with the Shadow Blade Ring, which was a rare fusion of the forbidden techniques of the Dark Erosion Cult and the technology of the astral world.

In front of the observation crystal of the Eternal Night Academy, Sera Winter watched the cyan explosion disappear on the screen, her fingers unconsciously running across the ice cracks on the cover of the book. The necromancer she once regarded as her opponent was now carrying the gift of the dead and heading towards a forbidden area that even the Star Council had never set foot on.

In the morning mist of Shadow Forest, the cyan shockwave exploded again, and the knight's body was turned into dust in midair. Erin Mercer looked at the 20-meter-diameter pit, where the rotten leaves and broken bones were evaporated by the energy of the undead. The corpse-destroying effect of "Corpse Explosion" under the global amplification was far beyond her expectations.

"Clean than expected," she murmured, summoning the last skeleton warrior. 48 bronze skeletons were arranged neatly in the summoning space, and the astral runes on the bone swords became brighter as they absorbed the energy of the cult.

The entrance to the Eternal Mine was looming in the mist, and the one-meter-diameter vortex was surging with the smell of rotten undead, which was completely different from the soft glimmer of the novice dungeon. The corpses of the rotten rock goblins along the way proved that this was a secondary base of the Dark Corrosion Cult. The crow feather emblem on the head of the level 13 elite monster was three times clearer than that of its counterparts in the wild.

"Normal difficulty, one person is missing, a healer is needed!"

"A nightmare-level elite team, missing a Paladin and a Prophet!"

At the entrance to the dungeon, the shouts of adventurers were mixed with the clash of metal armor. Irene noticed a five-member team debugging a magic lamp. The captain's wristband was engraved with the Star Tower emblem of the Evernight Academy, the same style as her sister Leila's.

The skeleton warrior's bone boots crushed the rotten leaves, and the chilly wind from the dancing soul fire caused the surrounding temperature to drop sharply. The adventurers looked sideways, and some subconsciously reached for their weapons, but gasped after seeing the bronze skeleton of the summoned creature - that was the form of the Undead Guard that only existed in the Star Tower documents.

"Are you a summoner?" A storm archer wearing leather wristbands approached tentatively, "We are in need of long-range damage output. The drop rate of nightmare difficulty mine guardians is very high—"

Irene did not respond, her eyes fell on the copy information panel:

[Eternal Mine (Nightmare Difficulty)]

[Recommended level: 15-20]

[Core Mechanism: Corrosion by Corrupted Rock Energy, Summons Continue to Lose Health]

As soon as she thought about it, 48 skeleton warriors trembled synchronously in the summoning space. The resonance of the dead made them immune to the energy of the rotten rock, which was the key to dealing with the mechanism of the mine. After confirming the choice, the blue light enveloped her body and instantly teleported her to the depths of the dungeon.

"He's playing on Nightmare difficulty solo?"

"Are you looking for death? The rot rock impact of the ore guardian can melt the armor of the Iron Guard!"

"Didn't you see his summon? It's a bronze-level skeleton, even the detection spell is blocked—"

The oppressive atmosphere in the dungeon hit me in the face, and the smell of rust mixed with the stench of corpses entered my nose. A bronze iron door with a diameter of ten meters stood in front of me, and behind the door came the dull sound of heavy objects hitting each other. Some creatures over two meters long were scratching the metal with their claws, and their roars were accompanied by the unique soul fire noise of the Dark Erosion Cult.

Irene raised her hand, and a skeleton warrior stepped forward and pushed open the iron door. The figure of the Rot Rock Warlord came into view: his blue-gray skin was covered with rock-like scales, and a fist-sized crow feather crystal was embedded in his chest, which was the core of the mine's energy.

[Rotten Rock Warlord (Lv18, Elite)]

[Skills: Corrupted Rock Impact, Summoning the Dead, Crystal Blast]

[Features: For every 20% HP lost, summon two level 15 Rot Rock Goblins]

"Begin." Irene ordered softly, and 48 skeleton warriors poured into the door like a tide. The commander's rotten rock impact smashed the front row of skeletons, but he was stunned when he saw the broken bones healed quickly - the automatic repair brought by the global amplification increased the effective health of the bronze skeleton to theoretically "infinite".

The first skeleton warrior's violent attack tore open the warlord's scales, revealing the beating crow feather crystals underneath. Irene seized the opportunity, and a faint blue light flashed from her fingertips: "The corpse exploded."

The cyan shockwave exploded inside the warlord's body, and the 200% health damage directly took away 30% of its health. As soon as the two Rotten Rock Goblins emerged from the ground, they were chopped into pieces by the following Skeleton Warriors, and their bodies exploded in mid-air, forming a chain explosion.

Outside the dungeon, the adventurers suddenly heard a series of roars and the ground shook slightly. When Irene stepped out of the vortex with the intact skeleton warrior, everyone's eyes fell on the crow feather crystals rolling at her feet - that was a rare material that only dropped in nightmare difficulty.

"Well, I think he can come out alive, right?" The voice of the explorer who was once stared at by the skeleton warrior trembled, "Did you see his skills? When he blew up the warlord, the bones of those skeletons were glowing!"

Irene did not stop and put the crystal into the extra-dimensional space of the Shadow Blade Ring. She knew that this ring given by Illya could not only accommodate ten skeletons, but also amplify the resonance effect of the dead - the chain explosion just now was 17% more powerful than the field test.

Deep in the Ever Silent Mine, the roar of the Rot Rock Warlord gradually faded, leaving only the fragments of the Astral Tower flickering in the ruins. Irene stared at the skull mark on her palm and finally understood why the Dark Erosion Cult was so afraid of the Necromancer - this ability to transform the enemy's corpse into a weapon was the most terrifying defense mechanism of the Astral Tower.

At the secret base of the Star Council, Marcus Virant watched the battle scene recorded in the crystal ball. The twenty-eight constellations on the array plate completely overlapped for the first time: "The superposition of global amplification and resonance of the dead, she is rewriting the rules of undead magic... Perhaps, the truth of the Eclipse Rebellion really depends on this girl to uncover it."