Desolate World

What Ace saw was Peter had succeeded in locking Dallas with his shadow lock skill and then many people focused on dealing damage to the ghoul. For a note, it was just less than 30 minutes from when Peter went to face Dallas.

He had expected something like this to happen, but to happen this fast was something he had never thought about. He then saw Dallas's HP decreased at a rapid pace. 

32%

30%

28%

25%

Then Ace saw the ghoul was freed from the skill and wanted to run. As it was such a good opportunity, Ace thought it was such a loss if Dallas didn't die. Ace decided to help them.

Ace then took a Joker card and threw it to Dallas who wanted to run. As it hit him, three fire snakes were holding the elite ghoul.

From afar, Ace could see the ghoul's surprised and panicked expression. Peter also seemed to be surprised. However, after seeing Ace on top of the town wall, he seemed to realize that it was Ace's doing.

Peter and the others then bombarded the stiff Dallas. With Peter beside the ghoul, it would be difficult for him to run away, as shadow lock had not too long cooldown. 

However, Ace couldn't be idle for too long, as he heard hurried steps of East. As Ace didn't want the blade dancer to see the spectacle down there. He decided to take the elite ghoul for another round in the abandoned town.

Ace then threw two cards in East's direction and said, "It took too much time for you to come. I'm sleepy, you know?"

-989

-721

Ace was glad the two cards hit him. He then jumped down to the town road while throwing two cards when he was in the air.

-1295

"I will catch you! Brat! We'll see who will have the last laugh," East said while gritting his teeth. 

The ghoul then used his instantaneous movement skill once again. It shocked Ace. He never thought East would use this nasty skill on him when he was in the air. Ace then took a card from his belt and activated it in an instant.

It was the king of wind card. Immediately a wind sphere envelopes him, and as he was falling down, he felt something hit the wind barrier and was deflected.

"Damn it!" Ace could hear South roared outside of the barrier.

***

Cloud saw the skeletons under Doom's control were decreasing fast, so were the number of guardians. Their total number was less than 300. Around 250 skeletons and less than 50 guardians. Who were left were mostly the best skeletons and guardians. The ten elite skeletons still survived. Their levels even had reached 37, as Geo had leveled up to level 34 during the battle. 

As for the guardians, most of them had reached level 10, with a little bit of them even reached level 11. Aiden herself had reached level 12.

She also saw around 700 opposing skeletons were left. However, she didn't panic as it was according to their initial plan. He couldn't ask for more. 

"Geo, asks Red and the others to go full power. I'm sure it will be better if we can kill them all at one stroke," Cloud said.

Geo nodded. Cloud then saw Red, Blue, and Orochi were attacking the skeletons at their best. Geo even released Torch and Silver. In the beginning, Cloud prevented them from participating in the battle because they couldn't fly. In a chaotic war like this, their safety couldn't be guaranteed. So, instead of risking their lives, it would be better to keep them in Geo's ring.

But, at the moment, it was a different story. With the number of skeletons being only 700, Cloud was sure that the two of them could reap some experience without endangering themselves.

And the skeletons without leadership were just savage but easy to predict. They just knew how to attack but they would never think of running away. After all, there were many living people in front of them. As creatures that mostly used their instinct, they would be easily manipulated.

It took another 10 minutes for them to defeat the rest of the skeletons. After everything was done, all the people except the skeletons couldn't help but sit down with tired expressions. It couldn't be helped, as this battle was very intense, and everybody was tired mentally.

"Hahaha… We have defeated 10,000 skeletons. Can you imagine that?" A human warrior said as he was lying on the ground.

"Hehe, You know, I leveled up 4 times today. For a healer to level up 4 times in a row is a feat, right?" A human healer said.

"Hey! Look around us! The loot crystals. So many loot crystals! Wow!" A dwarf heavy infantry then exclaimed as the loot crystals appeared from scattered bones. As all people had participated in the war, they could see the loot crystals that were floating around them. 

However, they must be disappointed as they heard Sampson's voice, "Each of you will receive 10 loot crystals. But, as the war is not over yet, I will keep them in my inventory. I will give them to everyone that had participated in battle 10 for every person after we came back. How's that?"

Few people seemed to be disappointed, but the others seemed not to mind accepting Sampson's decision, as most of the guild members died in the battle, it would be fair to distribute the loot after they came back and everybody was present.

After that, the survivors of the battle gathered the loot crystals, and gave them to Sampson. He then kept them in his inventory.

"Thanks, I know you have given them all to me. After all, it's not worth injuring our friendship just for a few below level 10 loot crystals," Sampson said while smiling.

Some people's faces then became stiff. Cloud couldn't help but smile. It couldn't be helped if they had some rotten apples in their guild. But, it couldn't be helped, as it was a risk of being a big guild.

And she didn't mind having some bad colleagues, as long as they didn't break the rules and didn't bring trouble for the guild.

"Hahaha… I forgot that there were some loot crystals that were left behind in my inventory. Here they are," A cunning-looking goblin then said. He then gave them to Sampson.

"I also forgot about some of them. So, sorry…," A dragonling also took 3 loot crystals and gave them to Sampson.

They then got despised looks from the rest of the guardians. It made them embarrassed.

"Hahaha… I understand. All people sometimes forget about things. It is normal," Sampson then took the loot crystals and entered them into his inventory.

Cloud still suspected some people hid some of the loot crystals. But, she didn't want to embarrass them. As a few loot crystals were not a massive amount of wealth.

"Okay. Next, you should know what Doom will do. So please gather all of the bones," Cloud then said.

After that, the guardians and the remaining skeletons cleaned the battlefield. They took each bone that they met and gathered them in front of Doom. As the last bone was put, Doom, the lich nodded.

The pile of bones made a small mound. It couldn't be helped. As they were the remains of 10,000 skeletons, no! If you included the friendly skeletons that died, there were more than 13,300 skeletons that 'died' in the war. 

Well, they couldn't be called dead, as they were 'undead'. If their bones were left behind for a few years in complete condition, they would revive by themselves. So, they couldn't be completely killed, except if their bones were exorcised or burned into ashes.

However, they had better means to treat the bones. It was by resurrecting them. By doing so, the skeletons would become their allies. In fact, the target of phase two of their plan was to make the 10,000 skeletons to be Geo's undead.

"Doom, all of them are here. You could start to resurrect them," Sampson said.

Doom nodded. For a moment, Cloud as if saw an excitement in his 'eyes'. She never saw him this excited. But, if she became him, he would also be excited. 

Who wouldn't, right? Imagining to control around 13,500 skeletons, everyone would be excited. Well, as long as you didn't fear or hate them, that's it. After all, their orbs in their eye sockets looked scary for some people.

Doom then channeled his HP and MP with Orochi and Jumpy. After all, he needed a massive amount of mana to resurrect that many skeletons. And no one in that place had more HP and MP than the snake chimera and the metallic spider, as they were elite creatures. Well, he could also ask Eric. But he didn't dare to, as although the dragon was pretty 'friendly', he doubted the dragon would agree.

After that, he lifted his staff and said solemnly, "Raise!"

***