The enemies infiltrating Gu Xi's squad were something akin to shadows.
They initially lurked within people's shadows, mimicking the behavior of those they targeted.
They would then slowly stand up from the shadows, replacing the person they were imitating.
When there are a lot of people, you might not even realize what's happening before you get replaced.
By the end, you might suddenly find that among the group, you're the only living person, and the rest are all eerie beings.
But that didn't work with Gu Xi's side.
Even though Gu Xi had nearly two hundred people, most of them were skeletons.
Gu Xi didn't notice at first, but when he mobilized the skeletons, he immediately found the shadows following the skeletons to be unusual.
At that moment, Gu Xi decisively gave an order.
"The enemy is right beside you, kill!"
The skeletons didn't even need to turn around—upon seeing suspicious skeletons or shadows, they attacked decisively.
[Skeleton (Summoned Creature) killed Deceitful Shadow (Level 1), you gained 1 experience point, Combat Squad gained 1 experience point, Summoned Creatures gained 4 experience points.]
[Skeleton Warrior (Summoned Creature) killed Deceitful Shadow (Level 1), you gained 1 experience point, Combat Squad gained 1 experience point, Summoned Creatures gained 5 experience points.]
[Skeleton (Summoned Creature) killed Deceitful Shadow (Level 1), you gained 1 experience point, Summoned Creatures gained 7 experience points.]
[...]
As more Deceitful Shadows were killed, Gu Xi noticed thumb-sized black beads appearing on the ground.
While keeping pace with Luna, Gu Xi managed to pick up some beads.
[You obtained Deceitful Energy Pearl (White) *1]
[Deceitful Energy Pearl (White): A pearl with an eerie aura, each one represents the gathered strength of ten days of the eerie. It can be used to trade with the eerie, or to strengthen eerie, demons, and undead species.]
Gu Xi crushed a Deceitful Energy Pearl in his hand, and a wave of cold aura surged forth.
This aura, unlike the Negative Energy and Soul Energy needed by an Undead Mage, had a tendency to lead one towards an eerie transformation.
Gu Xi felt he could absorb some of this aura but not too much, lest he become neither human nor ghost.
At the same time, this pearl could enhance the power of his skeletons.
But it required a significant amount, and absorbing too many of these pearls would mutate his skeletons.
Thus, Gu Xi loudly commanded, "Gather the Deceitful Energy Pearls from the ground, for every three, give one to me, one to the Combat Squad, and keep one for yourself. If there's no Combat Squad, keep both."
Upon hearing Gu Xi's command, the skeletons swiftly picked up the Deceitful Energy Pearls and passed them along.
The ones to be submitted to Gu Xi were collected by the Skeleton Boss, while the ones belonging to the Combat Squad remained with the Skeleton Boss.
After obtaining these Deceitful Energy Pearls, each Skeleton Boss reacted differently.
The skeleton from Gu Xi's first Combat Squad hadn't forgotten his expertise; after obtaining more than ten Deceitful Energy Pearls, he embedded them all into the dagger held in his left hand.
As he embedded all the pearls into the dagger, it transformed into a black Curved Saber.
Saw tooth patterns appeared on the surface of the Curved Saber.
It was evident that apart from the dagger's original barbed functions, additional slashing and pulling attack effects were integrated.
As the Skeleton Boss's weapon transformed, the ordinary skeleton weapons within the Combat Squad also changed.
All weapons became exactly the same, clearly indicating that the left hand's Curved Saber of this Combat Squad would be sharper in attacks.
However, not all Combat Squads used the Deceitful Energy Pearls on their weapons.
The squad wielding Two-Handed Longswords didn't reinforce their swords.
Instead, they absorbed all the pearls into the Skeleton Boss's body.
Initially, Gu Xi thought the Skeleton Boss aimed to enhance himself.
After all, the number of people each Combat Squad can carry is closely linked to their captain's level. With each level up of a Skeleton Boss, the Combat Squad can add at least two more members.
But Gu Xi didn't expect the Skeleton Boss to absorb these pearls not for his own benefit.
As all the Deceitful Energy Pearls vanished within the Skeleton Boss's body, a ding sounded in Gu Xi's ear.
[Combat Squad 2 has transformed towards the eerie direction, squad traits increased, all members' attacks +2.]
This made Gu Xi's eyes shine; he didn't expect it could play out this way.
Just as Gu Xi planned to instruct the remaining two Skeleton Bosses to do the same, he discovered they had already consumed all the pearls.
This left Gu Xi speechless. He had issued the command, but did they need to act so quickly?
Fortunately, their choices were based on their respective circumstances.
Combat Squad 3, wielding Long Spears, like Combat Squad 1, used the pearls to enhance their weapons.
The length of their Long Spears noticeably extended by about a meter.
Meanwhile, the spearheads became sharper.
Combat Squad 4 made the most unique choice; the Skeleton Boss used the pearls to strengthen both of his arms.
Now, all the skeletons in their squad have distinctly black arms, and when holding sword and shield, their movements are noticeably steadier.
Gu Xi didn't comment further on the changes of the Combat Squads.
He stored the Deceitful Energy Pearls he received and closely followed behind Luna.
The skeleton troop kept watch over each other, remaining highly vigilant and eager to encounter more Deceitful Shadows.
After all, they all felt the enhancements from the Deceitful Energy Pearls.
They now wanted to seize more pearls to grow even stronger.
However, the Deceitful Shadows had realized that Gu Xi's troops were hard to deal with and avoided showing up near them.
Simultaneously, the skeleton dispatched by Gu Xi to check the figures in the mist returned.
Gu Xi scrutinized the skeleton from head to toe, confirming he was still under his command and unaffected by the eerie presence, nor bearing any signs of battle scars.
Apparently, when he ventured into the mist earlier, he encountered no enemies.
This left Gu Xi somewhat puzzled, yet he refrained from asking more, as Luna had already led them in front of a two-story building in the city.
The small building before them, much like the other buildings and houses in the city, bore the architectural style of the fifteenth century, with stone constructions complemented by wooden doors and windows, albeit appearing somewhat aged.
From the surrounding environment and architectural features, it was evident that the small building before them was a residential house.
Despite not knowing why Luna had brought them here, Gu Xi trusted Luna's intuition to be correct.
When Luna halted, Gu Xi waved his hand.
"Surround it!"