Chapter 591: Chapter 418: Skeleton Night Battlefield_2
As time passed, the scale of the chaotic skeleton battles in the wilderness grew larger and larger, and the scene became ever more disordered.
In the beginning, only humanoid skeletons were engaged in battle, but as time progressed, prehistoric skeletons joined the fray, until eventually, gigantic prehistoric creatures entered the arena.
The battles between skeletons were even more brutal than those among the survivors, because the Soul Flame could be absorbed by any part of another skeleton that it touched. Thus, in the heat of combat, not only hands, feet, and teeth were used to attack, but when necessary, ribs, femurs, and indeed any part of the skeleton could instantly become a weapon against others.
In this fight, it was not like in video games where only the one who killed the target could gain the Soul Flame, but rather whoever could touch the Soul Flame first was the beneficiary.
Although the skeletons that initially controlled the bodies were mostly humanoid and their evolutionary stage was higher than that of other types, the humanoid skeleton’s size was a significant disadvantage.
When the Bug Race skeletons appeared, humanoid skeletons could still struggle to kill them by using something similar to realm suppression due to their far superior evolutionary stage.
However, when the gigantic prehistoric skeletons appeared, with their towering hundred-meter statures, it was not a question of whether they could retaliate. Even if the giant prehistoric skeletons stood still, the humanoid skeletons were simply incapable of reaching the head bones where the other’s Soul Flame resided.
And a gigantic prehistoric skeleton, with its massive body, could crush a large area of skeletons into powder with just one footstep.
If humanoid and insectoid skeletons fought with individual damage, then each movement of a gigantic prehistoric skeleton equated to area damage inflicted on other skeletons.
The larger the skeleton, the more Soul Flames required for evolution, and the Soul Flame that could suffice for a humanoid skeleton to evolve several times could barely sustain a gigantic creature’s single evolution.
When the sun rose as usual, the skeletons that had been fighting each other quickly sank into the snow as if they had fallen into water.
After the sun had fully risen, all that was left was the chaotic aftermath on the ground. For some unknown reason, although the frequency of snowfall remained low, soon after, the snowflakes from the sky rapidly covered the previously ravaged ground.
When the Kyoto Patrol Team’s unmanned drones patrolled again, the chaotic aftermath of the battle that had been exposed was now completely concealed by the accumulation of snow. As the drones passed overhead, they detected no anomalies whatsoever.
As days went by, the snowfall continued unceasingly. Though it was only light snowfall every day, the accumulation on the roads over such a long span was significant. Fortunately, the Officials organized daily snow clearance so the lives of the survivors in Kyoto were somewhat affected, but not heavily—casualties not associated with combat remained in the double digits.
Unlike during the previous Cold Catastrophe when the temperature plummeted suddenly, this time even after more than ten days of continuous light snow, the outdoor temperature hovered around negative ten degrees Celsius.
To the survivors, this temperature was hardly a disaster. After all, even before the catastrophe, the winter’s lowest temperatures in many northern cities could drop below negative ten degrees.
Perhaps due to the snowfall, the survivors who originally stayed in the outskirts of Kyoto to farm found all their crops frozen to death within their contracted Plantation Areas. Having no reason to stay, they returned to the city, planning to wait out the catastrophe before reworking their rented Plantation Areas.
And because those contractors all returned to Kyoto City, and drone patrols were generally scheduled for noon or afternoon, the nighttime scenes of skeleton battles went unnoticed by others.
As the chaotic battles became more frequent, the number of skeletons surviving in the same battlefield was rapidly diminishing, but the quality had vastly improved beyond comparison.
Many humanoid skeletons, somehow, had acquired bone-made weapons, and the subsequent battles were no longer based on sheer strength. With weapons in hand, they began to employ some basic combat techniques.
But just because these humanoid skeletons had acquired weapons and thus had instantly enhanced their combat strength substantially, the most combat-capable among all skeletons still bore a striking resemblance to gigantic prehistoric beasts.
Despite these giant skeletons not generally evolving very high, they were nearly always dominant when facing other types of skeletons, unless they encountered another giant skeleton.
At night the skeletons would emerge from the ground to brawl in chaos, and by dawn they would retreat back into the earth.
The light snow had been falling continuously for over a month, and the temperature outside always remained around negative ten degrees Celsius.
Just when everyone thought that the disaster might simply be the cold coupled with the accumulating snow, someone inadvertently discovered the battlefield where the skeletons fought ferociously through the night.
Even though new skeletons joined the battle every day, the number of skeletons surviving in each area continued to decrease.
However, because there were fewer skeletons surviving, the combat strength of those that did was becoming increasingly formidable.
The person who discovered the nighttime battlefield with the skeletons did so by chance, as he had no time to play during the day and wanted to take advantage of the quiet at night to practice flying drones. In his words, being a drone operator was much easier than being on the front lines.
So at night, he ’borrowed’ a drone, essentially to get in some extra practice. His plan was to later obtain a drone pilot license when he had the time and then transfer to that position.
He usually just controlled the drone to buzz around nearby, but this time, because he was checking what was required for the certification, he found there was an assessment for long-distance flying at night, giving him the idea to take the drone out of the yard.
It was on this nighttime expedition that he accidentally discovered the outdoor skeleton battlefield.
After making this discovery, he didn’t dare to keep it to himself and immediately reported it to his superior.
Since the drone’s cameras would automatically start recording video upon activation, every outing was documented.
This time was no exception. After he reported the discovery, the leader of his department immediately retrieved the recorded video and projected it onto the wall in the conference room.
This video quickly made its way to the Command Headquarters, and the ferocity of the skeletal fights was far beyond what any of the survivors who saw it could have imagined.
However, when they arranged for drones to return to the filming location for reconnaissance during the day, they discovered that the snow covering the ground was still perfectly smooth, showing no signs of the battle that had occurred the night before.
After several unsuccessful searches, Command Headquarters decided to arrange for a drone patrol team to monitor the area at night, to see if the battles among skeletons continued at the same site.
Although at the moment the skeletons were only slaughtering their own kind, everyone who had seen the video was aware that a fight between the skeletons and humans was inevitable.
Not to mention that, whether from novels or movies, undead creatures naturally harbor hostility toward the living. It’s worth noting that during extended disasters, creatures that have emerged all aggressively target human survivors, but after the disasters end, they often maintain a safe distance, not encroaching upon humanity.
Come evening, the light snow that had been falling since the onset of this round of the Cold Catastrophe showed no signs of stopping. Thanks to Command Headquarters providing a special version of the drone, it was far superior in both battery life and camera resolution compared to those sold on the market.
