Behind the ranger were five thousand jackalmen. These five thousand jackalmen were all elites, controlled by Liu Hao using magical artifacts such as the Beast Taming Ring.
Initially, it was simple control; later, it involved constant hypnosis and brainwashing. Hypnotizing and brainwashing continued. Even after so many years, hundreds of thousands of obedient jackals remained under their command.
This time, Lin Yang brought a full ten thousand elite gnolls, all at the second tier of strength. Five thousand in the front and five thousand in the back. They were fairly obedient, which was understandable given that Lin Yang was carrying a sub-ring of a beast-taming ring!
Behind these five thousand gnolls was Lin Yang's main force. This was the only force composed of humans.
There were five thousand of them, all of them second-tier professional soldiers. Among them, four thousand were infantry and one thousand were priests.
With a total force of 17,000 men, all of them Tier 2 units, frankly speaking, their strength is already quite formidable. Compared to Gilneas, one of the seven great human kingdoms, they have already reached more than half of Gilneas's combat power.
No wonder Liu Hao's earldom was secretly referred to as the eighth great kingdom of mankind. In terms of strength, it was indeed so.
However, they encountered enemies not long after leaving Liu Hao's earldom.
On a hillside, Lin Yang and Sylvanas were squatting on a sapling, quietly watching the skeletons in the distance.
What he saw was a sea of people, and skeletons everywhere, a vast expanse of white bones, which left Lin Yang stunned.
To be honest, according to the intelligence Sylvanas provided yesterday, the entire Silvermoon City only has 300,000 skeletons, 10,000 Yellow Turban Warriors, 20,000 elite skeletons, and 10,000 zombies, which adds up to 40,000 Tier 2 soldiers.
Within Silvermoon City alone, there are at least ten thousand rangers and ten thousand mages. Therefore, Lin Yang felt that bringing another seventeen thousand second-tier soldiers should be enough.
With 37,000 men against 40,000, it's quite normal to win. Even if they can't win, simply defending is also fine.
However, upon seeing these skeletal skeletons, Lin Yang knew that things weren't so simple.
"There are 100,000 undead here. Arthas really thinks highly of us!" Sylvanas said resentfully.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yang silently activated his Divine Eye of Luck and immediately discovered something extraordinary.
One hundred thousand lowest-level skeletons, ten thousand elite skeletons, three thousand Yellow Turban warriors, three thousand spider-men hidden underground, ready to ambush at any moment. There are also thirty elite tier-three mages.
Two legendary figures. One was a lich, judging by his physique, with an elf in front of him. It was obvious that this guy was the traitor Darkan. The other legendary figure was the leader of three thousand spider-men. Judging by his cockroach-like classic appearance, he was most likely the Crypt Lord Arubazak.
Especially considering the presence of those three thousand Yellow Turban warriors, Lin Yang felt like he was utterly pissed off! How come there are Yellow Turbans everywhere?!
Moreover, how many members of the Way of Peace are hidden behind the three thousand Yellow Turban Warriors? If they really got in touch with the Lich King and used the resources of the entire Nordsen continent, the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and half of Quel'Thalas, how many Yellow Turban Warriors could they create?
Ten thousand?
One hundred thousand?
If it were a million, Lin Yang would just think, "This game is unplayable!" Referee, someone's cheating!
So, with so many resources, is it possible to develop so many Yellow Turban Warriors? Lin Yang believes that given enough time, it is still possible.
Suddenly, Lin Yang had a flash of inspiration and noticed a detail he had previously overlooked!
After arriving in this world, especially after becoming the Duke of Wu, Lin Yang has been observing and paying attention to the actions of the Taiping Dao to some extent.
After all, both in history and in the original owner's memories, there was such a Yellow Turban Rebellion. It was this Yellow Turban Rebellion that severely depleted the foundation of the Han Dynasty, laying the groundwork for the later struggle for hegemony among the warlords.
But after staring at it for so long, they couldn't find the slightest flaw. The Way of Peace was very honest, Zhang Jiao was very honest, and Zhang Jiao's two younger brothers were also very honest. Zhang Jiao's disciples, such as Ma Yuanyi and Bo Cai, were also very honest.
Sometimes, Lin Yang even wondered if he was overthinking things, or if his memory was playing tricks on him. The Taiping Dao seemed to have no problems at all!
But now it seems that it's not without flaws; Zhang Jiao has actually secretly gone to the Land of Reincarnation to develop. Suddenly, Lin Yang had the feeling of sneaking into a village and not firing a shot.
When the time is right, we'll open the portal and establish an inter-world teleportation array. Suddenly, hordes of Yellow Turban warriors will be drawn from countless worlds—who could stop them?
Could this be Zhang Jiao's real plan?
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Chapter Twenty-Four: Industrialized Assembly Lines for Producing Talismans
Upon spotting the target, he took the longbow from his back with his left hand and drew a specially made arrow with his right. In a flash, the longbow was fully drawn.
At the same time, streams of magical energy gathered together unintentionally. Moreover, and more importantly, the fluctuations in magical energy were extremely small.
Without a sound, the arrow was released. In a flash, the arrow transformed into a streak of light, piercing through trees, flowers, and layers of obstacles, even taking into account the wind's influence, heading straight for its target.
With a crack, a skeleton was pierced through. Even more shockingly, the powerful gust of wind tore off its left arm.
However, miraculously, the skeleton shook its head, looked around, and stood up again in the next instant. As for its left hand, which had fallen off, it picked it up and, with a few clicks, put it back on.
“Did you see that? That attack just now was at the level of an ordinary ranger. In the forest, even from thousands of meters away, we can find our target, aim at it, and kill it,” Sylvanas said confidently.
Then, he turned and began to flee. Even as a legendary powerhouse, he had no interest in fighting so many skeletons alone. It would be exhausting enough to kill anyone!
Hearing this, Lin Yang frowned. These skeletons were stronger than he had expected. Moreover, they were a perfect counter to rangers; no wonder the blood elves were in such a sorry state.
"So, where is the weakness?"
"The weakness is in the spine. Only by destroying the spine with a single blow can these bones die completely."
That's not fun. Even if the Elven rangers are all sharp-eyed, skilled, and accurate archers, it doesn't mean that every arrow will hit the spine perfectly!
Although skeletons are the lowest-ranking unit and not very bright, they still possess basic instincts. Therefore, hitting them in the spine with an arrow is actually quite difficult. After all, skeletons can run and dodge!
In this way, the ranger's greatest advantage—accurate archery—is essentially wasted. Against a different enemy, such as a human, they could easily route the enemy. Even if not every arrow pierces the heart, hitting the target in the thigh, chest, or abdomen is not difficult.
However, against these skeletons, a hit to the arm or thigh has zero lethality. This is currently the most tragic aspect of the rangers' situation.
Despite their best efforts—aiming and drawing their bows with all their might, even when exhausted—they continued to fight on the front lines. But as the saying goes, if courage were enough, what would be the point of strength?
It's fair to say that the elven men are utterly useless. They don't even have a human shield. If there were several thousand well-trained elven men, clad in full armor, to step up in crucial moments, the course of the battle would definitely be different.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in reality. Now, Lin Yang finally understands the crux of the elves' problem; all that's left is to solve it.