"Stun!"
Almost simultaneously, Zhao Lun unleashed the spell he had prepared for so long, casting it directly onto the skeletal archer's head. He then swiftly shot out from beneath the bones, using his staff like a sword, and struck hard at the skeletal archer's wrist, where it held the bone bow.
Crack!
The skeletal archer's hand holding the bow was severed with a single blow. Zhao Lun quickly followed up with a swift kick to the skeletal archer's waist, sending the poor creature crashing to the ground. He raised his hand and, as the skeletal archer fell, grabbed its skull, tearing it off from its spine, completely subduing the pitiful creature.
"Gotcha!"
Zhao Lun clapped the skull of the skeletal archer, feeling quite pleased with himself. After all, being able to make a decisive attack the moment his disguise was exposed was a rare and valuable combat skill. At least, that's how he saw it. He thought to himself, "If I had been a moment too late, that skeleton could have taken me down with one arrow." But then, he suddenly realized—where was the arrow the skeleton shot?
Zhao Lun turned his head and searched for the arrow the skeletal archer had released. However, when he looked back, he was horrified.
Whoosh!
A massive, chipped bone sword was flying straight toward him.
"My god!"
Zhao Lun barely had time to react before the massive bone sword hit him square in the waist. In an instant, his upper and lower body separated.
His upper body was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground. Zhao Lun blinked, staring wide-eyed at the one who had thrown the sword.
As expected, the attacker was a greatsword skeleton, but there was something unusual about it—sticking out of its neck was a bone arrow.
At that moment, Zhao Lun finally realized that he had misjudged the situation. The skeletal archer hadn't noticed him at all; it was his own paranoia that led him to jump out too early. If he had waited, he might have avoided this situation. But now, it was too late, and the greatsword skeleton was already charging at him.
Zhao Lun could feel a silent roar of anger building within the greatsword skeleton as it approached him, its menacing form ready to strike. Its bony hand raised high, it was about to smash his skull to pieces.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the greatsword skeleton's head flew off into the air.
"Small fry, can't I handle you?"
It turned out that Zhao Lun had already begun chanting "Stun" when he saw the greatsword skeleton. He had held back until the greatsword skeleton was right on top of him before launching a swift attack, dealing with the creature in one decisive blow.
Zhao Lun's ability to adapt and stay calm in such situations was impressive. He managed to maintain his composure and deal with the unexpected attack, which wasn't easy at all.
"Warning averted. Now, I need to reassemble myself and take care of these two."
After taking care of the greatsword skeleton, Zhao Lun wasted no time. He quickly picked up his dismembered lower half, and after a brief moment of effort, reassembled himself. He then ran over to collect the skull of the skeletal archer he had knocked out earlier and the greatsword skeleton's head.
Now, the next step was to "minion-ize" them. Despite the less-than-ideal environment, Zhao Lun had no choice but to "minion-ize" them on the spot. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any other skeletons nearby. If he acted quickly, he should be fine.
He decided to start with the skeletal archer. After all, Zhao Lun had been waiting in the bone piles for over an hour for this particular minion. He wasn't the type to leave good things for later.
Placing the skeletal archer's skull on the ground, Zhao Lun calmed himself and reviewed the "minion" spell in his mind to make sure everything was in order. After confirming, he raised his staff and began chanting.
Compared to the level-0 "Stun" and "Blinding" spells, the level-1 "Minion" spell was something else. As soon as he started chanting, Zhao Lun could feel his magic rapidly depleting. Even though he had refined the soul fragments in his Soulfire and his mana had increased, this consumption still took a toll on him.
Fortunately, the chant only lasted ten seconds before the spell was cast successfully. After all, it was a racial spell, and as long as Zhao Lun wasn't foolish enough to use it on a rock, failure wasn't an option.
A grayish aura shot out from his Soulfire and entered the skeletal archer's skull through its eye sockets. The aura "bit" into the archer's soulfire before quickly returning to Zhao Lun's Soulfire.
As soon as the gray aura returned, Zhao Lun felt an unexplainable bond form between him and the skeletal archer. In that moment, his first skeletal minion was born.
"Let's assemble it and see!"
Excited, Zhao Lun grabbed the skeletal archer's skull and ran over to its skeletal frame. It was an easy task to reassemble the skeleton since the only parts he had removed were its right hand, which had held the bow, and the skull that contained the soulfire.
"Try walking a few steps."
Satisfied with his first skeletal minion, Zhao Lun gave his first command.
"Focus!"
The skeletal archer stared blankly at Zhao Lun, unmoving.
Zhao Lun froze in confusion, then realized the skeleton didn't seem to understand his command.
"Walk forward!"
Zhao Lun simplified the command, trying again.
This time, the skeletal archer understood and began to move forward, the sound of bones clicking as it walked. It walked and walked, continuing on until it had almost gone 100 meters before it finally stopped.
"Looks like it can only understand clear and direct commands. Any command that's even slightly vague will confuse it. Also, once given an order, it will continue carrying it out unless I issue a new one. And it seems like it can't go more than 100 meters away from me."
Zhao Lun took a few steps back and observed as the skeletal archer followed him, even without being given an order. After concluding this, he called it back and ordered it to attack any approaching skeletons. After confirming that it understood, Zhao Lun felt assured that he still had enough mana left for one more "minion" spell.
He set down the greatsword skeleton's skull and once again cast "Minion."
A few minutes later, Zhao Lun's second skeletal minion was ready.