Mo Han could even see streams of blood still flowing and sections of decaying ** on their bodies, prompting him to curse inwardly. Damn it, thank heavens I didn't eat breakfast; if I had, seeing these disgusting things now would surely make me vomit it all up.

At that very moment, a myriad of magical lights erupted before the approaching Nether Race skeleton legion. The first line of defense established by the Human Race—various magical traps—began to exert their formidable power. Time and again, a single skeleton would trigger a magical snare, only for it to be followed by a swath of skeletons collapsing under a cascade of magic.

From a distance, the scene was magnificent, resembling fireworks in their splendor. However, for the Nether Race army caught directly in the impact zone, the situation was catastrophic. Those mindless skeleton hordes possessed no instinct for evasion and were tightly packed together, maximizing the destructive effectiveness of the magical traps.

In a short span, no fewer than a hundred thousand skeletons fell victim to the magical traps, disintegrating into dust. This instantly carved out a vast, empty vacuum zone at the vanguard of the Nether Race skeleton army.

Witnessing this spectacle, a wave of cheers erupted from the human ranks.

Inflicting such heavy losses right at the initial engagement was certainly cause for exhilaration; even many generals observing from the high stands displayed hints of excitement.

Yet, only the high-ranking officials of the Church of Light positioned atop the stands, along with Mo Han and the leaders of the major powers, remained completely devoid of excitement. Everyone understood clearly that these skeleton armies were merely expendable cannon fodder for the Nether Race.

As long as they were on human soil, the Nether Race could conjure as many skeleton legions as they desired.

These losses were, to the Nether Race, but a drop in the bucket.

They could not truly damage the Nether Race’s overall strength. However, everyone understood that despite this, the display would be immensely beneficial for boosting the flagging morale of the allied forces, demoralized by the very arrival of the Nether Race. Thus, these high-ranking officials, privy to the full situation, simply stood quietly, refraining from stifling the army's celebration.

After sacrificing over a hundred thousand skeletons, the Nether Race finally managed to breach all the magical traps. The remaining skeleton legion, under the command of the Abominations, regrouped.

They surged once more toward Weihai City. On the distant horizon, countless black lines were still advancing toward the city, a densely packed mass of unknown numbers of the Nether Race army.

Seeing this from their vantage point on the stands, Mo Han and the others grew visibly more somber. The visible Nether Race forces alone already numbered in the millions, and intelligence brought back by the Griffin Knights—tasked with monitoring the enemy's movements—indicated that those appearing were only the Nether Race's lower-tier troops.

The high-ranking Nether Race soldiers had yet to make an appearance.

It seemed what they were facing was merely a vanguard.

If the vanguard alone comprised a million soldiers, one could only imagine the terrifying scale of the Nether Race invasion. Consequently, the high-level commanders of the various factions, now fully apprised of the situation, wore heavy expressions, surmising that the Nether Race had likely committed its entire might.

Simultaneously, the Nether Race army, having just suffered a severe blow, reached the second echelon of the defensive line: artificial pits constructed entirely by human soldiers. These pits were several meters wide and deep, their bottoms bristling with sharpened stakes. Tens of thousands of such traps were scattered across the battlefield.

The fragile skeleton troops, upon tumbling into these pits, were immediately shredded by the jagged implements below. Even if a skeleton soldier miraculously survived the fall, its characteristically brittle body would be crushed by the weight of comrades falling on top of it from such a height.

This tactic dramatically slowed the advance of the Nether Race horde. Countless falling skeletons kicked up clouds of dust, yet an unending stream of them relentlessly pressed toward Weihai City, only to meet the same fate, filling the pits layer by layer.

Ultimately, relying on sheer numerical superiority, the Nether Race skeletons managed to use their own bodies to fill the countless trenches dotting the battlefield. This second wave of fatalities, inflicted by these man-made obstacles, delivered a blow several times more devastating than the initial magical assault. Each pit was densely packed with the remains of Nether Race skeleton soldiers—at least several hundred thousand had fallen here, never to rise again.

Following these two consecutive strikes, the cannon fodder skeleton legions suffered devastating losses. The initial force, nearing a million strong, was drastically reduced; what remained, at a glance, amounted to no more than a hundred thousand or so.

Nevertheless, even with dwindling numbers, the surviving skeletons, marshaled by the few remaining Abominations, never halted their advance toward the main human encampment.

“Give the order: the Dragon Knights of the Sky Dragon Empire, charge!”

Murong Tian, who had been calmly observing the unfolding battle, issued his second command. Immediately, a runner sped off, and within moments, two blue flares shot into the sky.

The twenty thousand Dragon Knights, poised silently behind the second defensive line, saw the signal. They swiftly mounted their horses, drawing their ready longswords, and waited motionlessly for their commander’s order to attack.

“Trample the enemy ranks! Victory for the Sky Dragon!”

Under the rallying cries of the Dragon Knight commanders, the hundreds of thousands of Dragon Knights roared back in unison, driving their warhorses forward toward the opposing Nether Race army.

The thunderous confluence of hundreds of thousands of hooves created an earth-shattering presence; the entire world seemed to dim beneath the majestic spectacle of the stampede. In the blink of an eye, the Dragon Knights completed their acceleration and crashed headlong into the skeleton phalanx of the Nether Race army.

This was a confrontation where the disparity in strength was absolute. The combat-inept skeleton legions met the renowned Dragon Knights of the Human Race. The outcome was entirely predictable: a one-sided massacre.

The crude weapons held by the skeleton soldiers proved utterly incapable of inflicting meaningful damage on the armored Dragon Knights. Their swords couldn't even pierce the thin plating protecting the warhorses, let alone the knights' own armor.

Conversely, the longswords wielded by the Dragon Knights were the nightmare of the skeletons. Every swing of a knight’s blade invariably cleaved a skeleton in half. In the whirlwind of steel from hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen, the remaining hundred thousand or so skeletons of the Nether Race vanguard were utterly annihilated.

Only the few thousand Abominations mixed within the skeleton ranks possessed any real combat prowess. Several knights fell beneath the massive forms of the Abominations. However, even these creatures, numbering merely a thousand or so, could not mount an effective counterattack. They were swiftly enveloped and drowned out by the encircling Dragon Knights, utterly unable to slow their relentless advance.

Furthermore, the longswords carried by these Dragon Knights had been consecrated through continuous rituals performed by countless priests of the Church of Light, granting them exceptional damaging capability against the Nether Race. Consequently, the severed remains of the skeletons could never be repurposed by the Nether Race. In a single charge, the vanguard skeleton army of the Nether Race was crushed beneath the hooves of the Dragon Knights, eliciting a massive cheer across the human lines.

Even the human leaders standing on the high platform displayed expressions of relief. Although these skeleton armies were inconsequential to the Nether Race, wiping out the entire vanguard in a single charge with minimal casualties was certainly a victory worth celebrating.

Having fulfilled their objective, the Dragon Knights slowly withdrew from the field on both flanks, led by their junior officers.

Not long after, the second wave of the Nether Race vanguard appeared within everyone’s sight.

This second contingent, composed of countless Ghouls, rapidly advanced toward the allied human lines. These Ghouls stood about a meter tall—comparable to Dwarves among humans—but they boasted razor-sharp claws, potent attack strength, and swift agility. They were considered regular combat troops of the Nether Race, standing on an entirely different level from the disposable skeleton cannon fodder encountered earlier.

Leaping to