Chapter 1080: Chapter 688, Kou Ci Fishmen
“What’s the situation? The bottom of the lake again?” Fang Hao looked towards Li Rong.
Last time, the map Li Rong found had led them through the bottom of the lake into a tomb inside a mountain.
And now, there was yet another huge lake before them.
“I don’t know, I haven’t even gotten through the dense forest before,” said Li Rong, also puzzled.
According to the map, the marked point was indeed in the center of the lake.
Since the map was there, there were likely no problems.
“Move forward, close to the lakeshore…”
Splashing sounds!
The Undead army stepped out of the dense forest and approached the direction of the lake.
At the same time, Fang Hao gathered surveillance magic “Thunder Spirit” and flew it ahead of the group.
He took the lead in scouting the lake’s surface.
If the ‘useless giant Troll’ was not the guardian of the map,
Then the real enemy must come from this lake.
The ground, along with the movement of the Undead army, began to tremble slightly.
Ripples formed on the edge of the lake.
“Stop moving, form a defense formation!” Fang Hao suddenly shouted.
The others standing on both sides of the group also loudly issued the stop command.
Through the eyes of the Thunder Spirit,
The originally clear lake water now teemed with numerous dense shadows.
It was as if groups of fish were swiftly approaching the shore.
Here, the Undead army, upon hearing the command, raised their shields.
They shifted into a defensive formation.
Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh!!
Suddenly, the lake surface began to boil, and countless triangular steel tridents were shot from underwater.
Like dense rainfall, they clattered into the ranks of the Undead.
They covered the shields and the ground around them.
Then, numerous grotesque fish-headed, humanoid creatures emerged from the water surface.
From a distance, they stared in this direction.
They possessed fish-like heads with sharp teeth and round bulging fish eyes, and their toothy jaws protruded outward like saw blades.
Their bodies resembled underdeveloped humans, their skin covered with fish scales.
Fierce, bizarre.
[Spiketail Fishmen (Rank Five)]
Through the eyes of the Thunder Spirit, Fang Hao also immediately saw the names of these fishmen.
He finally understood where those “useless giant Trolls” got their fish soup from.
Fang Hao immediately ordered, “Prepare for a thunder strike…”
You think you’re the only ones who can throw things?
Let’s see if your tridents are more formidable, or my thunder is more fierce.
The Skeleton Warriors simultaneously raised thundering light spears in their hands.
They geared up for action!
“Forward, to the lake area, fire!”
Whoo!
The thunder spears, accompanied by a whistling sound, were thrown.
They arced through the air towards the lake.
The fishmen in the lake chattered rapidly and turned their heads to dive back underwater.
In the blink of an eye, the lake surface, once full of fish heads, was left empty.
Clatter!
The dense thunder spears plunged into the lake water.
Electric arcs rapidly spread through the water.
“Did they miss?”
Then, various twitching bodies quickly floated up from the bottom.
It was unclear whether they were stunned or killed by electricity.
However, those that floated up were only a few.
The effect of the electricity, though it spread widely after entering the lake, was not significantly noticeable.
At this moment, the fishmen below the lake once again stuck their heads out of the water.
Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh!!
Once again, a large number of steel tridents arced through the air and into the ranks.
The tridents clanged as they landed.
They filled the ground and the shields of the Skeleton Warriors.
But after this second volley, there were no further throws.
It seemed they had run out of tridents.
Suddenly, both parties fell into a deadlock.
The skill for the thunder strike had cooled down.
Fang Hao immediately ordered, “Thunder strike…!”
The thunder spears had just been formed in the hands of the Skeleton Warriors when the fishmen turned and dove back into the water.
“Fire!” Fang Hao instantly ordered.
Once again, the thunder spears fell upon the lake surface.
Another batch of fishmen floated up.
At this moment, the lake surface was already dotted with numerous fishmen electrocuted to death.
After the thunder passed,
Fish heads reappeared across the lake surface, their gaze fiercely set on this side.
Seeing that the distance and Undead were unable to outmatch them,
One fishman, holding a wooden staff, retrieved a huge conch shell from underwater.
He placed it to his fish mouth and blew hard.
A ‘whoo whoo’ sound rang out.
The next second, a dense crowd of fishmen, wielding various weapons, burst out of the lake surface and charged towards the direction of the Undead.
These fishmen, though small in stature,
Ran onto land without slowing down, almost matching human speed.
Fang Hao was also waiting for the fishmen to charge out.
Simply hiding in the water was troublesome to deal with.
Relentlessly diminishing them with thunder strikes was too time-consuming.
Bam!
Clang Clang Clang!
Instantly, fishmen and Undead collided.
Each brandished their weapons and immediately engaged in close combat.
From behind, Li Rong joined the fight, summoning “Fire Spirit Servant” and “Multi-Headed Fire Python”, burning the enemy and emitting a fragrant aroma.
Meanwhile, Fang Hao’s gaze, through “Thunder Spirit,” fell on a position at the back.
At the rear of the charging fishmen army.
Accompanied by even bulkier fishmen emerging from the lake.
[Military Governor Koucih (Eighth Tier)]
These fishmen were more robust, holding fishhooks in one hand and “lobster staves” in the other.
Any slow-moving fishmen were whipped and devastated by the Military Governor using his fishhook and lobster stave.
They let out loud wails from their mouths.
This scene even surprised Fang Hao.
It wasn’t that he found the opponent cruel, but rather, he was surprised that these fishmen, who were like a group of wild beasts, actually had a Military Governor.
It gave an incongruent feeling.
Besides the Military Governor, there was still that old fishman in the lake, who had been watching from afar with a scepter in hand.
He did not come out.
He seemed like the leader of the fishmen.
The battle on land continued.
The ranks of the Undead and the fishmen were similar, but the side of the Undead had clearly superior equipment and weapons.
The fishmen, covered in scales, were not as durable as the Dragon Clan.
They couldn’t withstand the slashes of swords and knives.
Soon, large numbers of fishmen began to die.
Some tried to escape back to the lake but were stopped by the fishmen Military Governors on the riverbanks and driven back into battle.
The fishmen were clearly fearful of the Military Governor.
Even when charging back into the ranks of the Undead, no fishmen dared to bypass the Military Governor and escape back into the lake.
Meanwhile, the shores were densely strewn with fishmen, their crimson blood flowing into the lake.
The surface of the lake turned a vivid red.
“Attack, kill them all,” Fang Hao ordered again.
The defending Skeleton Warriors began to move.
They plunged more frenziedly into the midst of the fishmen, wielding their weapons and fighting fiercely.
It was the moment the Skeleton army took action.
The offensive momentum of the fishmen completely collapsed as they retreated in groups.
Even the Military Governor couldn’t stop so many fishmen from retreating.
The Skeletons advanced, pushing their way to the shore.
…
The waters near the shore turned red.
The fishmen in the lake, under the roar of the Military Governor, regrouped.
“Charge in…”
Fang Hao hesitated briefly but still decided to give it a try.
The Skeleton Warriors immediately charged into the lake, attempting to leverage their recent advantage and completely eliminate the fishmen.
But once the fishmen were in the water, their movements became more agile and their speed increased substantially.
Conversely, the Skeleton Warriors became sluggish under the water, their weapon swings clumsy and weak.
The fishmen began to counterattack, and large numbers of white bones floated to the surface.
Seeing that they were at a disadvantage underwater,
and that it might boost the fishmen’s morale, Fang Hao immediately ordered all Skeleton Warriors to retreat from the lake.
They regrouped at the shore to form a defensive line.
And the fishmen merely watched from afar in the lake, not daring to come out again.
Both sides fell into a standoff.
Undead dared not enter the water, fishmen dared not come out.
“What should we do? It looks tough to fight,” Li Rong remarked.
Fang Hao pondered.
Under the water… he had heroes under the water too.
“Anjia, continue to have the Skeleton Warriors strike with lightning,” Fang Hao immediately instructed.
Anjia nodded and began organizing the Skeleton Warriors to conduct the lightning strikes.
They aimed to deplete the number of fishmen, seeing if they could be forced out again.
Fang Hao then took out the Sound-transmitting Shell.
He sent a message to Eira in the main city, asking her to notify the Snakemen Hero ‘Beiyehu’, to go to the Troop Hiding Cave and wait.
After receiving the reply from the Sound-transmitting Shell,
he immediately cast “Gate of the Worlds” again, summoning ‘Beiyehu’ and replenishing the number of Skeletons.
“Milord!” Beiyehu surveyed the surroundings after arriving and bowed slightly.
Beiyehu, the Sea Tribe hero, had participated in a battle against demons once since joining the territory.
Aside from that, she had been cooped up in her residence and rarely interacted with others in the main city.
Suddenly being given a task was somewhat surprising.
Fang Hao nodded and said, “There are fishmen under this lake, take some troops and clear them out later.”
It was obvious from the shore, which was also covered with fishmen corpses.
The smell of blood was overwhelming.
Beiyehu nodded, signaling she understood.
The reason for bringing ‘Beiyehu’ over was not for her to fight alone.
But rather, among the hero’s army skills, there was one called[Riding the Winds and Waves], which increased movement speed by 50% in river, lake, and ocean environments.
Although the effect was unclear,
it at least constituted a buff, reducing some obstructions Skeletons faced under the lake.
Fang Hao had also previously purchased some marine troop bones at the ‘Trade Alliance quarters’.
He hadn’t recruited them until now.
Who could have expected to face underwater combat today?
Going back now to recruit was clearly not feasible.
He could only let ‘Beiyehu’ lead the troops into battle.
“Understood, Milord, leave it to me,” Beiyehu immediately nodded, showing great compliance.
She took command of the Skeleton Warriors.
After casting one more ‘Lightning Strike’,
all the Skeleton Warriors plunged into the water plop by plop, like dumplings being boiled.
Fang Hao also released a warrior, ‘Demon Doll’, to enter the water with them.
They followed far behind the main forces.
Upon entering the water, the fishmen launched their attack.
Both sides engaged in fierce combat underwater.
Beiyehu, swimming in the middle of the troop, cast ‘Mirror Image’ and summoned three bodies identical to her own.
She began charging and casting magic to kill the enemies.
Whoosh!
Still, a rapid water arrow shot from the opposite side.
Beiyehu quickly dodged.
Following that, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… a dense barrage of water arrows, like bullets, were fired towards her.
Water blades, water tornadoes, creating whirlpools.
Trying to trap Beiyehu.
Beiyehu rapidly performed flips to dodge, her eyes also locked on the position across.
[High Priest Gurulwaer (Purple Tier Five)].