Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Mogul’s old face broke into a grin: “Hehe, the boss is so generous, I won’t hold back then. There will be a sandstorm tomorrow morning.”

Leaving those words behind, Mogul, dragging two girls, ducked back into the tent.

One Eye chuckled. In the desert, having a bandit under his command who could predict the weather felt almost like possessing a divine artifact.

No sooner had he finished laughing than a dark figure leapt in from outside the camp, landing solidly beside him. Before One Eye could react to what was happening, a scythe swished past him, hooking out a ball of Soul Fire.

Having hooked out One Eye’s soul, the dark figure effortlessly swung the scythe towards the tent, hooking another Soul Fire. At the same time, the tent was torn open, revealing Mogul, who had just disrobed and was now lying on the ground, and two astonished tribal girls.

Ange ignored the tribal girls and turned to rush deeper into the camp. His arrival soon alarmed all the bandits, who scrambled to organise a counterattack.

However, by the time they had painstakingly organised themselves in the dark, they were terrified to find that their enemies were their former comrades. Their comrades’ weapons and equipment hadn’t changed, but their expressions were vacant, their eyes glazed over, their movements stiff, and they mindlessly swung their blades at them.

“Aah! The Undead! The Undead are back!” Some remembered the scene from a few days ago and immediately realised that the man wielding the Scythe of Death and harvesting souls had returned.

“Charge!” Luther, wielding his newly-acquired Dragon Pattern Steel Core Mithril Inlay Magic Rune Covered Earth Forged Gemstone Enhanced Piercing Enchantment Two-handed Sword, excitedly rushed forward. “Drink well of fresh blood, my sword!”

“You’re mistaken; Dragon Pattern Steel doesn’t drink blood.” Lightning, sidestepping the bandit’s attack, took aim and landed a solid hoof kick.

Despite not being a horse, it was much stronger than one. Those hit by its kick faced broken bones and torn muscles.

Little Zombie activated Armorization, brandished its hands like a hoe, and dashed, bashed and furrowed.

The Angel skeleton held the Holy Light and charged forward with Negris on its back. Whenever a sword was swung at them, Negris would stretch his neck to block it.

Naeli was stunned by this strange combat combination and trailed behind them, occasionally releasing a Dragon Breath for support.

Naeli’s consciousness was now in the body of a juvenile dragon, making her a flesh-and-blood juvenile dragon. Unlike Negris, she was alive and could actually grow.

This time, Ange had nurtured a Silver Dragon and a Bronze Dragon. Naeli’s consciousness had been transferred to the Bronze Dragon, but the Silver Dragon didn’t yet have a conscience to transfer and thus still remained a vegetative dragon.

Naeli’s original body was still buried under the oasis turf. Her body was too huge for Ange to stuff into the Resting Palace, which couldn’t summon or reincarnate it, so it was left there temporarily.

With the impact of the Instant Death Halo, the dragon’s corpse dehydrated rapidly. It would shrink due to the arid desert climate, but not rot. Once Ange figured out a solution, it could be converted into a Corpse Dragon.

It could also be transformed into a Bone Dragon, but Bone Dragons couldn’t fly since their wings had rotted away. This contradicted Ange’s original intention of dragon riding.

Negris stretched his head, his helmet blocking a bandit’s chopping attack. The bandit was knocked unconscious by the Angel skeleton’s Holy Light Punch on his nose.

While fending off the attacks with ease, Negris said, “The night is the home turf of the Undead. I can see better now than in the daytime. I can clearly see the fluctuations of everyone’s souls. Those with low vitality come and go, while the strong ones, even from tens of meters away, are as noticeable as a bonfire.”

Naeli behind him shook her head, “I can’t see, everything is pitch black. I feel like I’m back in the dragon egg, with all my senses weakened by more than half. Each breath I take as a dragon feels empty, like a sense of weakness.”

Negris comforted her: “Of course. With your current size, you’re not even considered a juvenile dragon. But don’t worry, eat lots of lamb and beetroot and you’ll soon grow bigger. The first 500 years after we dragons hatch from our eggs are crucial for growth. The nutrition gained during this period determines how big we’ll ultimately become.”

Naeli swallowed, “Don’t say that anymore. In my previous life I didn’t have much of an appetite due to old age, eating everything whole with each bite I took. Now, probably due to being young again, just mentioning lamb makes my mouth water. It makes me want to eat. Next time, I want to try skinning it first. I’ve seen humans marinate it with spices, then grill it until it sizzles and starts to ooze oil before eating. I want to taste that too.”

“Stop talking about it.” Now it was Negris’s turn to say with a pained expression. “I’m hungry too, but I can’t eat.”

As they chatted leisurely, the Purple Skeleton Titans, commanded by Ange, came charging from the other side of the central lake in the oasis. The three-meter-tall giants, wielding gnarled Wolf Wood Clubs, were unstoppable.

The bandits, disarrayed and demoralised, didn’t have a unified command and were blind in the pitch-black darkness. Outnumbered by the Purple Skeleton Titan, they couldn’t resist anymore and scattered in all directions.

Defeat was as rapid as a landslide. In many battles, the majority of casualties occur during a rout. Ange and his myriad followers went on a frenzied chase, leaving trails of dead bodies in their wake.