Chapter 480: Underworld's Arrow

Upon hearing Sun Mengmeng's words, her gathered subordinates nodded.

"What lies behind you is Renhuang, the city we've built together with a massive investment of time and energy on our part—our city! We can't let these zombies get anywhere close. Let's return them to the ground where they belong!"

The hunters and rock spirits cheered. "Yes, Captain Sun!"

The hunters quickly made their move, hiding all around the valley as the army of the dead inched forward slowly. Their senses, diminished greatly in death, were incapable of detecting the Renhuang forces all around. As the dead walked deeper and deeper into the valley, everyone looked toward Sun Mengmeng, waiting for her signal to act.

Sun Mengmeng shook her head.

As the dead made it over halfway through the valley, the hunters' hearts began to beat so quickly they felt as though their hearts would jump out of their chests. They covered their mouths, afraid that their breathing would be overheard by the dead proceeding right below them.

They wiped the cold sweat on their forehead, each second a struggle.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The hunters and rock spirits looked toward Sun Mengmeng once more, who shook her head again stoically. When the vanguard of the dead began walking out of the valley, Sun Mengmeng knew that it was time to act.

She suddenly stood up and shouted, "Now!"

On Sun Mengmeng's command, the hunters and rock giants lying in wait immediately began pushing boulders down the valley. The boulders rumbled like thunder as they fell to the bottom of the valley, accelerating with every second.

None of the boulders were able to do much damage to the zombies by themselves; after all, they were in the second realm, and even the zombies here were sturdier than average humans. However, the boulders were able to delay and distract the zombies while the hunters struck with bow and spear.

Rays of energy trailed forth from the hunters as they attacked the zombies who had just pushed aside the boulders that had landed on top of their bodies, instantly decimating their number.

"[Lunarflame Shot]!" Fire-attuned genetic energy burst from Sun Mengmeng's body as her body erupted in flames. As she pulled the greatbow taut, the bow and arrows likewise began to burn.

Her right hand, with which she drew back her bow, blurred. Countless arrows of purple flame shot out of her bow like a meteor shower, tinting the air purple and giving the valley a phantasmagorical appearance. The air turned dry and arid, as though a cataclysm was nigh.

The army of the dead began to burn as the battlefield became a sea of violet flame, cremating the zombies in a magnificent display.

The hunters of Renhuang began to holler in amazement, their confidence soaring to its peak. From what they could see of her strength, Sun Mengmeng was clearly on a similar level as their governor, Zhang Lie.

The zombies at the edge of the valley, shocked by the sudden attack, began climbing up the valley. So numerous were the zombies that they filled the entire valley even after the ambush from the forces of Renhuang.

"Don't let these zombies climb up the valley!"

The rock giants continued summoning and tossing boulders down at the zombies, whereas the hunters began attacking them with their long-ranged specialties.

As the battle dragged on, the corpses on the battlefield only grew and grew, revealing dark-red blood and white bone. The reanimated corpses, destroyed and revived and destroyed once more, were a grotesque sight to behold.

The zombies continued climbing further and further up a tower of corpses until they were almost able to reach Renhuang's forces.

Sun Mengmeng cast [Black Sun], forming a cordon of purplish-black flame around her. She activated her most impactful soulshards for battle, transforming from a young woman to a fierce warrior with a chitinous carapace, wreathed in black flame.

"[Netherworld's Gaze]!" Sun Mengmeng shot out dozens of arrows toward the battlefield, sending pillars of purplish-black flame flaring toward the skies. The pillars exploded in mid-air and transformed into a violet moon, whose rays of light struck the zombies and caused them to burn.

All across the valley, the corpses of the dead started to be linked together by genetic energy, forming a gigantic humanoid zombie the size of the entire valley.

"[The Nine Moons of the Underworld]!"

Nine more flaming moons appeared in the sky, so bright they eclipsed the sun and dyed the entire land in shades of purple and black. In the valley enveloped by the purple suns were countless zombies clambering up its walls, the ground littered with bone and rotting flesh. It was a hellish scene.

The nine flaming moons fell as they struck the gigantic zombie from nine different directions, igniting purple flame all over his body. The zombie began to disintegrate.

Just then, frightening howls came from behind Sun Mengmeng.

Sun Mengmeng turned around to see a pack of over a hundred wolves right about to pounce on her from the back. The leader of the rock spirits reacted instantly. He barreled into them like a train, causing their bones to splinter and break.

After the wolf zombies were crushed to pieces, pinpricks of black light floated over to the leader of the rock spirits' body.

"As expected."

Zhang Lie's hypothesis had been right: except for robots, everything in this realm had a soul.

Shicang's necromancy relied on controlling these souls, and Zhang Lie hypothesized that he had used some special technique to extract those souls, then pollute or manipulate them in such a way that they could be controlled, before sending them back into their dead bodies. This was the truth behind his necromantic army.

While Sun Mengmeng was distracted, that army had been massing together into a gigantic tower of corpses over two hundred meters tall, causing the forces of Renhuang to be taken aback.

"What are they doing?!"

As the tower got taller and taller, it began to shake violently. At three hundred meters tall, it suddenly began to topple over in the direction of the Renhuang hunters.

Sun Mengmeng's eyes widened. Fire-attuned genetic energy burst from Sun Mengmeng's body as her body erupted in flames. She created a glowing purple-black moon in mid-air, which burst apart and destroyed the tower of corpses. As the corpses fell, the zombies made use of the force of the explosion to propel themselves toward the forces of Renhuang...