Chapter 58: Psychological Execution

What is going on with Chongshan?

Zhou Xu had witnessed Zhou Chongshan’s actual combat prowess in previous battles. His current performance was definitely far below his standard; there was no doubt he was underperforming, which made Zhou Xu frown repeatedly.

Faced with this situation, another tribal member who had followed Zhou Chongshan back to reinforce hurriedly explained, a barely masked resentment evident in his tone.

It is Fierce Wolf! That bastard was the one who led a raid and attacked our tribe before!

[Good grief, so there is a blood feud of having one's home ransacked!]

In this era, tribes rarely migrated lightly. Without going into the specific details, every migration was a massive trial for a tribe.

A single misstep could result in the annihilation of the entire tribe.

Back then, they were almost driven to death by this person called Fierce Wolf, and the enemy had also slaughtered quite a few members of their tribe.

Under this premise, the fellow named Fierce Wolf had a clear objective and frequently resorted to verbal provocations, causing Zhou Chongshan to lose emotional control and underperform.

After briefly sorting through his thoughts, Zhou Xu basically figured out the cause.

However, this did not mean Fierce Wolf was easy to deal with. In fact, during that brief exchange of blows, he had deeply experienced just how formidable Fierce Wolf was.

[That guy called Fierce Wolf is definitely no less powerful than Chongshan in terms of raw strength. On top of that, he possesses Mantra power, and the 'Eye of Insight' cannot see through him. His overall combat capability is definitely above Chongshan's.]

[The reason that guy keeps provoking Chongshan verbally is probably because he saw me and Chongshan arrive, which disrupted their initially advantageous situation. He wants to quickly eliminate one of us to secure his own advantage.]

With thoughts racing through his mind, Zhou Xu quickly figured out the current situation.

[Judging by Chongshan's current state, a mere shouting of instructions probably won't calm him down. The most urgent task right now is to break this stalemate quickly.]

Thinking this, Zhou Xu moved swiftly.

It was not only the Black Moon Camp that had set up 'defense facilities' using skeletons; the Salt Lake Camp had them as well.

They had been slowly transported day by day by the supply team. Although the quantity was not particularly large at the moment, once fully mobilized, they could still count as a force to be reckoned with.

With this objective in mind, Zhou Xu rapidly located those skeletons using the 'Eye of Insight' and repeatedly cast the 'Skeleton Soldier Control' Mantra, pulling those scattered skeletal soldiers up from the ground to join the battle.

[In the current situation, if Chongshan can hold his ground, it would probably be the safest bet for me to control the skeletons first, assist Shi Lei and the others in routing the enemy tribe's main force, and then turn back to surround and attack this Fierce Wolf...]

[The problem right now, however, is that if I do this, Chongshan will have to bear tremendous risks.]

At this very moment, Zhou Chongshan was already covered in blood, and the only thing enabling him to continue fighting a bloody battle was the surging fury burning within him.

On the other hand, having witnessed the potency of the stone axe in Zhou Chongshan's hands, Fierce Wolf had completely abandoned any thought of going head-to-head with Zhou Chongshan. Instead, he relied on his speed advantage to continuously inflict injuries on Zhou Chongshan.

Wielding a beast-bone dagger in a dual-wielding stance, Fierce Wolf had completely shed the wretchedness he displayed when his bone spear had snapped earlier, looking quite formidable as he grew bolder with every clash.

This situation made it very difficult for Zhou Xu to execute the plan he considered the safest.

After all, Zhou Chongshan was currently his most high-potential fierce general, arguably his only fierce general. Should Zhou Chongshan fall, he would be left facing a situation with no generals available.

This prevented Zhou Xu from taking such a risk with Zhou Chongshan.

Meanwhile, a blood-drenched Zhou Chongshan was engaged in a fierce battle with Fierce Wolf. In reality, however, facing the much faster Fierce Wolf, he was entirely constrained by his opponent and reduced to a passively battered state.

Clenching his teeth and taking yet another strike from that beast-bone dagger, Zhou Chongshan swung the stone axe in his hand with fury, attempting to hit Fierce Wolf.

Yet, Fierce Wolf was simply too fast. Anticipating the attack, he executed a side jump and easily dodged it.

Unreconciled, Zhou Chongshan forced himself to endure and continued his pursuit.

Fierce Wolf, however, was in no panic. In his view, Zhou Chongshan was already at the end of his tether, and there was no need to clash head-on with him at this stage.

As long as he maintained this hit-and-run skirmishing tactic, he would soon wear Zhou Chongshan down completely.

Thus, facing the attack from Zhou Chongshan, Fierce Wolf naturally prepared to execute a dodging maneuver once more.

To his utter surprise, right along his retreat path, five skeletal soldiers wielding bone spears suddenly lunged forward. Their thrusting bone spears directly blocked his escape route, creating a wave of pincer attacks from the front and back that instantly plunged him into a desperate predicament with nowhere to run.

Damn it!

Facing an enemy of Zhou Chongshan's caliber, even he found it difficult to divide his attention to monitor the surroundings, which was how the skeletal soldiers managed to exploit the opening.

In a split second between life and death, having no other choice, Fierce Wolf relied on his sheer speed to forcefully break through.

Yet, such a move inevitably demanded a price.

Through a flurry of agile dodging and shifting, after weighing the pros and cons, he successfully evaded Zhou Chongshan's stone axe strike, but failed to completely dodge the bone spears of the skeletal soldiers.

The relatively sharp tips of two bone spears directly tore through his flesh, drawing blood on the spot.

And this was merely the beginning!

Taking a brief moment, the skeletons Zhou Xu had pulled up from the surrounding area gathered together one after another, forming a sizable force.

In the blink of an eye, over a dozen skeletal soldiers had surrounded Fierce Wolf tightly.

Hahaha...

Faced with this formation, Fierce Wolf could not help but let out a dry laugh.

Then, with a sarcastic tone, he taunted Zhou Chongshan...

"By having all the skeletons surround me, aren't you afraid that everyone else in your tribe will be slaughtered by our people?"

Clearly, Fierce Wolf mistakenly believed that Zhou Chongshan was the new chieftain of this tribe.

Furthermore, in his estimation, with Zhou Chongshan and all the skeletons busy surrounding him, his own tribe held a clear advantage in overall combat power.

Hearing this, Zhou Chongshan indeed wavered.

Though enemies meeting face-to-face ignited a burning hatred, Zhou Chongshan still attached great importance to the lives of his fellow tribal brothers.

Before he could dwell on it further, however, Zhou Xu's unhurried voice drifted over.

"You needn't trouble yourself with worrying about that. Besides, the only reason you managed to suppress Chongshan was thanks to the enhancement of Mantra power. But after sustaining it for so long, I reckon you're reaching your limit as well, aren't you?"

As soon as these words were uttered, Fierce Wolf's expression changed drastically, clearly having been hit right where it hurt by Zhou Xu.

Yet Zhou Xu was evidently not satisfied with just that.

"And surely you don't think you can last very long against a siege like this, do you?"

To kill a man is not enough; one must also pierce his heart...