Chapter 12: Phantom Against Phantom

Upon receiving the news, Li Bin immediately decided to reorganize all his phantom undead archers under Gru’s command, enabling Gru to assemble eleven squads of phantom undead archers to face the Shadow. Meanwhile, Li Bin led all other troops directly forward, stealthily bypassing the battlefield of the phantom archers, preparing to ambush the enemy’s pursuers from the rear.

Gru had little to say about Li Bin’s arrangement, though he did exclude the newly trained phantom undead archers from the second squad. Li Bin didn’t quite understand this, but Gru explained simply, “These newly trained phantom undead archers have yet to grasp the art of phantom archery.”

Li Bin nodded and assigned those new archers back to Teodina’s unit. Then he said to Gru, “You have an hour and a half to handle your task. If you can finish them off within this time, fine. If not, you must hold them back for three to four hours.”

Gru nodded knowingly, understanding Li Bin’s plan. Yet he didn’t believe that under his leadership the phantom undead archers would take an entire hour to eliminate the enemy. He confidently told Li Bin, “Trust me, Master, I’ll complete the mission within an hour.”

Watching Gru and his phantom undead archers depart with such confidence, Li Bin’s heart remained uneasy. For some reason, he always felt a twinge of worry for Gru, who was still only an ordinary hero, commanding just seven squads of phantom undead archers. The others simply followed him, replenished only when his own troops suffered losses.

Bai Lingyu and the others noticed Li Bin’s concern. Smiling, Bai Lingyu said, “Take your personal guard and go take a look. If anything happens, I will inform you. Just make sure you return before the final counterattack; otherwise, our forces will be insufficient.”

Unbeknownst to Bai Lingyu, as soon as Li Bin left, Ried—one of Li Bin’s subordinates—immediately flew out without hesitation, taking all the bone dragon troops away with him.

Seeing this, Bai Lingyu could only smile bitterly and deploy her concealed troops to fill the gap left by the bone dragons’ departure.

At this moment, Gru’s phantom undead archers made contact with the Shadow’s forces. Upon seeing the green shade battle banner the Shadow had raised, Gru quickly left the two strongest squads of phantom undead archers outside the battlefield. Then, shouting a strange incantation, he led his troops rushing like the wind into the nearby forest.

Hearing that strange sound, the Shadow and his phantom archers felt an odd unease. Looking up, the Shadow caught sight of the fully drawn bow emblazoned on Gru’s battle banner. For some unknown reason, the Shadow abruptly changed course, leading his troops into the same forest.

No sooner had they entered than nearly a hundred chilling long arrows rained down from all directions upon the Shadow and his men.

The Shadow reacted swiftly, shouting loudly, “Return fire with volley shots!”

Obediently, the phantom archers raised their longbows, releasing volleys of three green-glowing arrows each.

Hidden behind the trees, Gru breathed a sigh of relief. He understood that the foe before him had only learned the training methods of phantom archers but had not mastered their tactics.

Though he knew phantom archers possessed the unique ability to seek targets and shoot unhindered by trees, he realized their greatest advantage lay in their speed.

Phantom archers could shoot while running, deftly dodging incoming arrows. Their mobility surpassed that of ordinary mounted archers, second only to centaur sharpshooters. Especially within the forest, phantom archers could strike from angles their enemies never imagined, using the trees themselves as cover.

After three of the Shadow’s squads suffered heavy casualties from the seemingly omnipresent attacks, he finally understood that the enemy wielded forces like his own. Yet, he had long pondered why, throughout their prolonged exchange of fire, he only saw his archers falling while hearing no cries of pain from the enemy.

Gradually, the Shadow realized the opposing forces had mastered a method unknown to him—but what exactly was it? Puzzled, he fell into deep thought.

At that moment, three gray-white arrows formed in a triangular pattern and shot directly at him. A phantom archer shouted a warning, “Master, watch out!” and threw him aside just in time.

This sudden move enlightened the Shadow. He bellowed, “Scatter! Everyone scatter! Run and shoot! Dodge the enemy’s attacks!”

Usually, phantom archers who fought behind meat shields and relied on rain-like volleys of arrows found this tactic strange. Yet, faced with the relentless barrage, they had no time to question.

Some clever archers heeded the Shadow’s command and began running. Though still slow and unable yet to shoot while running, their casualty rate immediately dropped.

From a distance, Gru chuckled and casually remarked, “Now they should learn about something else. Everyone, switch to man-to-man tactics.”

Gru’s phantom undead archers rapidly dispersed, each locking onto a single phantom archer. Whenever their quarry slowed or made any movement, three arrows would fly immediately.

The pursued phantom archers struggled to escape, accelerating their pace to evade the relentless chase. Yet, with fewer than six squads left and outnumbered, even if one broke free, another phantom undead archer would quickly take up the pursuit.

Soon, another squad of phantom archers fell beneath the phantom undead archers’ arrows. At this, the Shadow could no longer stand it and shouted, “Forget about your companions! Fire freely!”

Hearing this, Gru, watching from afar, could no longer contain himself. Grasping his bow, he dashed toward the Shadow.

However, the Shadow’s phantom archers followed orders rigidly—they no longer ran after the phantom undead archers but stood their ground, firing desperately at any enemy they could see.

As more phantom archers fell, casualties finally appeared among Gru’s phantom undead archers. Seeing the violet-hued skeletal forms lying beneath identical cloaks, the Shadow at last understood the true nature of the enemy he faced.

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