"Well done, Oris!"
On his side, having just unleashed a barrage of powerful spells and nearly drained his mana, Zhaolun still kept an eye on the little fox. When he saw Oris successfully capture it, he couldn't help but grin with satisfaction.
Just then, a sharp whoosh-whoosh of arrows came through the air — a sudden volley shot out from the nearby forest, raining down upon the remaining dozen or so Nether Beasts. The dense barrage struck true, tearing through the beasts and causing devastating casualties among them.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhaolun immediately ordered his Royal Guards to charge. The weakened Nether Beasts were quickly annihilated.
"If I had known they were this weak, I wouldn't have bothered dispatching a hundred skeleton archers."
After wiping them out, Zhaolun waved toward the section of the forest where the arrows had come from. "You all can head back."
Strictly speaking, although the little fox's intelligence was monstrous compared to other Nether Beasts, it still seemed rather average to Zhaolun. At the very least, he had long since seen through its plan. That was precisely why he had Oris and a hundred skeleton archers stationed here in advance.
In truth, Zhaolun had underestimated his own strength — or more accurately, the power boost from wielding the staff. Had he known that with the staff he could cast more than thirty consecutive Eyes of the Demon, he wouldn't have waited around for the fox to deliver itself to him. He would've launched the attack himself. Still, the outcome was satisfactory enough.
"Master, here!" Oris approached Zhaolun, holding out the little fox to him.
Startled by the careless gesture, Zhaolun quickly waved him off. "No, no — you hold on to that little thing. I'm not about to grab it myself."
Joking aside, this was a Bronze Rank 2 Nether Beast with "Outstanding" combat potential. Asking a skeleton mage like Zhaolun to hold it personally was asking for trouble. If Oris let go, who knew who would end up catching whom?
The fox, still clutched in Oris' grip, stared at them with wide, fearful eyes — especially Zhaolun. After all, this man had just annihilated over thirty Bronze-rank Nether Beasts in a single attack. The little thing clearly had a trauma response to that display. Even if Oris released it now, the fox probably wouldn't dare try anything against Zhaolun.
Zhaolun toyed with the fox for a bit but quickly became troubled. What should he do with it? Killing it felt like a waste — and also seemed a bit excessive. But keeping it alive meant Oris would have to hold on to it the whole time. That would be a huge waste of resources. Should he just kill it and be done with it?
As he debated this, a flicker of killing intent appeared in his eyes — which the little fox, being extremely sensitive, immediately detected. Terrified, it suddenly went berserk, wildly struggling to escape from Oris' grasp. Unfortunately for the fox, this only irritated Oris. He clenched a fist and gave the creature a solid punch, sending it reeling with stars spinning around its head.
"Stop! Oris, don't kill it!" Zhaolun hurried to stop his subordinate's violent response. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Oris, is there any way you can control this little thing?"
"A way?" Oris paused, then his eye flames flickered. After a moment, it was as if he suddenly remembered something. He nodded firmly and answered, "Yes."
"You actually do?" Zhaolun had asked casually, not expecting Oris to have a solution — but apparently, he did.
Oris suddenly raised his other hand and began poking and prodding various parts of the little fox, fiddling around in ways Zhaolun couldn't make sense of. After a long while, Oris finally stopped and handed the fox back. "Master, it's done."
"It's… done? Just like that?"
"Yes." Oris nodded confidently.
Seeing Oris' unwavering certainty, Zhaolun cautiously took a few steps back and had two newly-upgraded Bronze skeletons stand in front of him. Only then did he signal Oris to release the fox.
When Oris finally let go, Zhaolun was tense — but to his surprise, nothing happened. The fox merely twitched, tried to run… and then froze. It suddenly realized it had lost all its magical power and physical strength — now no different from an ordinary little fox.
"Well, that settles that," Zhaolun finally relaxed, realizing the creature had indeed been subdued. He casually had the two Bronze skeletons stand guard over the fox, then turned his attention to the rest of his forces to assess the situation.
Naturally, his main concern was the Skeleton Archer Corps led by Moss. After all, he had pulled a third of their forces for this ambush. He needed to ensure that the defensive line hadn't suffered in their absence.
Fortunately, all was well on Moss's side. Everything was running smoothly, and no major issues had arisen despite the loss of manpower. That corps was, after all, Zhaolun's most elite unit — three hundred "Outstanding"-class skeleton archers, each one capable of devastating attacks. With a Bronze-rank Moss holding the line, even removing a hundred of them hadn't caused a dent.
By logic, Zhaolun should have been more worried about the "Skeleton Spearmen Corps," which had lost its commander — but strangely, he didn't seem to care about them at all. He didn't even ask Oris to return and oversee them. It was almost as if that unit had been picked up off the street.
But the truth was quite different. Zhaolun wasn't neglecting that corps — it was just that their original commander had returned.
Yes, that's right — Phyllis was back. After returning to the Bone City and hearing that Sword One and the others had all been called away by Zhaolun, leaving only him and Chesk guarding the city, he'd been furious. Driven by anger, he frantically devoured "Flames of Energy" to heal his injuries, and as soon as he recovered a little, he snuck out — ignoring Chesk's attempts to stop him.
That was actually why Zhaolun had felt free to reassign Oris elsewhere.
After checking on the state of all his corps and confirming that everything was under control, Zhaolun once again issued an order to Oris.
After all, when they had been stuck between the "Purple Thorns" and "Zone One," they hadn't managed to completely wipe out the Nether Beasts in that area. That lingering threat had to be dealt with — and now that Oris was free again, who better to handle it?