章 14: Chapter14-Step Back, All of You!

The yellow sand surged.

Hundreds of mummies reached out their hands and rose from the yellow sand, like a terrifying forest springing up from the ground.

Their skin was dry and yellow, resembling wrinkled tree bark. Their eye sockets were deeply sunken, like two black holes.

The white bandages wrapped around their withered bodies fluttered, making them look sinister and horrifying.

Whoosh!

A dried-up mummy, wrapped in white bandages, darted out of the soft yellow sand like a ghostly serpent. Its hands, like iron clamps, swiftly lunged towards Owen and his group.

Benedict and the others, seasoned Wolf Guard veterans, sensed the mummy the moment it charged. They formed a protective circle around him, with mana surging from their bodies.

"Flame Slash!"

"Earth's Protection!"

"Thorn Spike!"

"..."

Brilliant and colorful magical attacks bombarded the approaching mummy.

This mummy was not high level. Under the barrage of dense attacks, its bandages tore apart inch by inch.

Then its skin and flesh were engulfed by the turbulent mana, turning into dust that scattered to the ground.

However, there was no trace of relief on the faces of Benedict and the Wolf Guard.

They knew that even if these zombies were shattered and pulverized, they would rise again from the yellow sand, virtually immortal!

Sure enough, under their watchful eyes, the mummy that had just turned into sand under the magical attacks extended a withered yellow hand from the sand once more!

As this mummy reappeared, the dense wave of mummies behind it also rushed towards them.

Each mummy was grotesque and terrifying, exuding a decaying stench. As they surged forward, they lifted the yellow sand, blotting out the sky and bringing a suffocating sense of death.

Among the Wolf Guard, some mages were already pale with fear, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

The number of mummies was overwhelming, stretching endlessly into the distance.

The crucial point was that they were utterly unkillable!

Once engulfed by their encirclement, even a gold-tier mage like Benedict would be exhausted, depleted of mana, and ultimately die there, buried by the yellow sand!

"Master Owen, you must go quickly! These cursed bandage zombies have found us; we must retreat now!"

Benedict hurriedly looked at Owen, instructing some of the Wolf Guard to escort Owen away while they stayed behind to cover the retreat.

As Benedict spoke, the mummies charged.

Benedict and the other mages, already prepared, unleashed various magical skills, pushing back or scattering the approaching mummies.

However, no matter how fiercely they attacked, the number of mummies did not decrease. Instead, it kept growing!

"Fall back."

Seeing them only trying to annihilate the mummies with sheer firepower, Owen shook his head.

He now understood why they had been so tense since approaching this area.

Clearly, Benedict and the locals had no understanding of mummies and naturally didn't know how to deal with them.

As Owen spoke, Benedict and the others were taken aback.

Even with the Wolf Guard working together, they were only barely holding their ground against the mummies attacking like ferocious wolves.

For Owen to want to handle this alone seemed like a fool's dream.

Before they could try to persuade him otherwise, Owen gazed at the withered mummies and threw a punch.

Clear water elements gathered on his fist, forming what seemed like a gauntlet of flowing water, and then he struck the mummy square in the chest.

With a "bang," water splashed everywhere!

The seemingly resilient skin of the mummy absorbed the water and suddenly shattered, cracks rapidly spreading until they covered every inch of its body.

Then, like dry wood, it exploded and scattered, the fragments deeply embedding into the yellow sand before disintegrating into points of light.

"??"

Benedict and the others were dumbfounded, their faces full of question marks.

The cursed bandage zombie was killed?!

They rubbed their eyes hard, unable to believe what they were seeing.

After all, these cursed bandage zombies were terrifying, with many mages falling to them, and no attacks could completely annihilate them.

But now, one had died by Owen's punch!

Owen retracted his fist and stood still, ignoring the stunned gazes of Benedict and the others, a slight frown on his face, showing some dissatisfaction.

This mummy was at bronze-tier level 3, its dry body connected to the yellow sand, making it difficult to completely annihilate.

Though using pure water elements could easily destroy it, killing it only yielded nine experience points.

To level up from bronze-tier level 9 to silver-tier level 1 required a whopping ten thousand experience points.

The experience from one mummy was just a drop in the bucket.

To reach silver-tier, he would need to kill over a thousand mummies.

Fortunately, there were plenty of mummies here, and inside the Pharaoh's Tower, there were many more ghosts to kill.

Seeing Owen frown, Benedict and the others were puzzled.

From their perspective, Owen had found a way to kill these cursed zombies!

This was a dungeon that had remained unconquered by mages for countless years!

And yet, Owen, on his first visit, had found the key to defeating it!

He was nothing short of an unprecedented genius!

No wonder even the proud Academy City ranked him as the number one genius!

But shouldn't he be ecstatic about finding the strategy at this moment?

"Step back. The experience points from a single mummy... cursed bandage zombie, are too few. Leave the rest to me."

Owen changed his wording to their term for the creatures, not wanting to explain too much to them.

"Too few experience points?"

Upon hearing this, Benedict and the others finally understood why Owen was frowning.

Smiling, they said, "Master Owen, you've already found their weakness. With your strength and our support, you should be able to reach silver-tier level 1 after training here for about three days."

"Three days?"

Owen shook his head. He chose the Pharaoh's Tower because there were many small monsters here, allowing him to quickly gain experience with Starlit's help.

Three days was too long!

"Master Owen, three days is already very fast. Other mages don't even know how to deal with these cursed zombies. It wouldn't matter if it was three days or thirty years; they wouldn't make any progress."

Benedict spoke earnestly.

He was worried that Owen might act too hastily and cause a major disaster here.

Although these mummies were just outer monsters with bronze-tier strength, their numbers were overwhelming!

They felt no pain and knew no fear.

If caught in the midst of them, even a gold-tier mage would be exhausted and eventually surrounded and killed.

Therefore, the safest approach was to lure the zombies to a suitable location, eliminate them, and repeat the process.

Owen understood Benedict's point.

If he were an ordinary mage, following Benedict's method would be a safe way to train and break through.

No risk involved.

But he was no ordinary mage.

"Wait here."

Owen said calmly, as the Godslayer Staff appeared in his grasp. His cold gaze swept over the mummies not far away.

Seeing Owen's serious and composed demeanor, Benedict and the others breathed a slight sigh of relief.

They feared Owen might act as recklessly as he did when challenging those other mages.

Though those mages were strong, they were still human and only sought the Godslayer Staff in his hand, with no intent to kill him.

But these zombies were different.

They had no intelligence and only knew how to kill. If surrounded by them, they wouldn't know how to protect Owen while dealing with the zombies.

"Master Owen may seem arrogant, but when faced with real danger, he listens to reason…"

Benedict sighed in relief.

As he finished speaking, he suddenly felt the mana around Owen start to surge violently.

"Is Master Owen casting a spell?"

Some of the Wolf Guard frowned slightly.

There was still some distance to the Pharaoh's Tower. Casting spells now indicated Owen might be preparing a large-scale attack to deal with the zombies.

"It seems Master Owen plans to use a safe long-range attack method. That's good; even if something unexpected happens, he can retreat quickly."

Some Wolf Guard who specialized in long-range magic guessed Owen's intention.

As they finished speaking, they saw a longsword made of light elements forming above Owen's head.

These light swords were about the length of an arm, with pure water elements swirling around the blades, emitting a sharp, ghostly blue aura.