Chapter 102: Bone-Pulled Sled (Monthly Ticket Extra 1/5)

Wade instructed the seven skeletons holding swords to guard around the snow sled. He, along with Mia and the remaining three skeletons, arrived at an abandoned village.  

They came here searching for animal bones capable of pulling the snow sled.  

The villagers here did not raise reindeer, nor did they use horses. Horses were not as easy to keep as cattle or sheep. To make a horse effective, it needed to be fed nutrient-rich, finely prepared fodder.  

Plain dry grass could only keep a horse from starving, but to give a horse the strength to carry a rider and run, it had to be fed a mix of peas, broad beans, and oats.  

The cavalry horses in the army were raised according to strict standards, but this kind of feeding method was too expensive for ordinary villagers who lived off farming and brewing.  

Moreover, horses did not provide as much help as sheep and cattle did in agriculture and animal husbandry.  

Wade could not find horse bones here to let Mia “manipulate the dead.” He could only substitute with sheep and cattle bones.  

There were definitely sheep bones because before the villagers left, they slaughtered some sheep, drying the meat as rations, leaving behind the sheep bones.  

That time happened to be just before the New Year. Before the coldest winter days arrived, villagers would slaughter livestock to make smoked sausages and stew for gatherings.  

They killed their domestic sheep according to a ritual. This small village had a long tradition of raising sheep, which provided them with warm clothing, milk, and meat.  

Therefore, when killing sheep, they held sacrificial ceremonies.  

Before every New Year, the villagers gathered together for a communal feast to slaughter sheep.  

This was very common, whether in small villages or large towns; similar sacrifices were held.  

They offered sacrifices to their faith’s gods, praying for good harvests, victory, health, safety, and smooth sailing.  

Though horse bones could not be found, sheep and cattle bones were definitely present, and possibly deer bones as well.  

The village had hunters who ventured into nearby forests and snowy plains. Generally, if they hunted large game, they would bring it back for sacrifice, and all villagers involved in the ritual could share the sacrificial meat.  

During the sacrifice, designated people held knives, carefully skinning and cutting the meat.  

In some places, bones were burned after the ceremony, but in this village’s tradition, the bones were carefully preserved and buried in the ground.  

Wade learned these things from Mia’s memories before rebirth. He came to the place where the villagers buried animal bones and, with the skeletons, found wooden shovels and dug out those bones.  

Most of the bones were sheep bones, but there were also reindeer bones. The deer bones were darker in color, suggesting they had been buried for one or two years, while the sheep bones were buried no longer than two months.  

Wade and the skeletons pieced these bones together on the ground. Since the villagers buried the bones in their original shapes, assembling them was not difficult.  

Wade used soul fire to bond the skeletons. Two sets of reindeer bones and six sets of sheep bones were assembled.  

The rest was left to Mia. She released necromantic magic to “manipulate the dead” over these eight sets of bones.  

Visible gray magical energy flowed from the little ghost’s hands. The ghost seemed to have extra power when casting necromantic magic, and the eight sets of bones successfully stood up under Mia’s control.  

They had no life or souls, acting like wind-up dolls.  

Mia focused intently on controlling these eight sets of bones to move. She couldn’t be distracted; at this moment, she was like a captain steering a ship. If she lost focus, the bones would go haywire.  

Fortunately, she was very talented in this area and quickly brought order to the chaotic eight sets of bones.  

Under her control, Wade brought the eight sets of bones to the snow sled.  

The reins on the snow were tied to the bones, and the canvas was reattached to the sled’s mast.  

Wade and the skeletons pushed the sled to turn it. The skeletal reindeer and sheep began to run, pulling the reins taut.  

The sled shuddered, then accelerated forward under the bones’ pulling.  

Wade and the skeletons pushed behind the sled. Once it reached a certain speed, they all jumped into the sled and sat down.  

The canvas flapped loudly. There was no natural wind on the snowy plain now, so Wade folded up the canvas.  

The bone reindeer and sheep left footprints in the snow, but these were quickly pressed flat by the sled’s runners.  

Two deep grooves extended forward as the oak sled carried the undead westward toward the Dragon’s Spine.  

Upon reaching a wide area, the sled’s speed increased.  

This speed was much faster than traveling on foot. The snow slid beneath, and the huge, smooth metal sled runners allowed it to glide over both downhill and uphill without resistance.  

The bone team pulled the sled down a gentle slope. This heavy contraption slid under gravity’s force. Wade felt as if he was flying as the scenery on both sides rapidly receded.  

After traveling some distance, a natural wind blew from the west.  

Wade lowered the canvas, which the wind filled, causing the speed to increase again.  

The oak sled creaked under the vibrations. He looked back and could no longer see the village or shrubs.  

They followed the frozen river forward. After a while, the skeletons disappeared into the snow.  

Before summoning time arrived, the skeletons removed their equipment and tied it securely using ropes through holes on both sides.  

Only Wade and Mia remained sitting on the sled, but they did not feel lonely. The bone beasts tirelessly pulled them forward.  

The sled carried them all the way to evening. By noon, Mia had mastered the skill of manipulating these bones. She was becoming more adept.  

Her power could freely control the bones’ movement. Counting from Mia’s birth until now, she had digested souls including a silver-rank pirate, a necromantic sewn beast, and fragments of a fifth-circle necromancer.  

According to mage rankings, Wade believed Mia should be at the level of a third-circle mage, an upper iron-rank professional warrior.  

Mia likely had also reached her limits; she had not felt hungry much recently, only replenishing her magical energy at the glowing moss patch every five or six days.  

Controlling these skeletons was naturally effortless for her.  

They could travel day and night without stopping. In a hundred days, they covered a great distance, much farther than Wade could have walked in several days.  

Except at night, Mia rested half the night, spending the rest of the time traveling.  

After traveling one day and one night, by the next evening, they were near the Dragon’s Spine.  

The towering mountain range loomed before them. The bone beasts turned northward, heading toward the coastal area.  

Before sunset, Wade heard cries.  

On the vast snowy plain, he saw the frozen sea and an unexpected group ahead.  

He saw Viking pirates wearing the same gear as him. The pirates were chasing someone. A group of men was running on the ice plain. They wore armor and carried crossbows on their arms, holding knives and swords, but they were no match for the Viking pirates.  

The fierce Viking pirates roared, slashing with swords. One stabbed a man in the abdomen.  

A body fell to the ground, blood staining the snow red under the sunset.  

However, both pirates and the fleeing men suddenly froze.  

At the twilight between day and night, pale skeletons pulled the sled toward them.  

They saw a skeleton stand up. That skeleton was grim and silent, drawing a Viking sword from its waist. When it raised the sword, seven skeleton warriors instantly appeared on the sled.  

Those skeletons removed the equipment from the sled and put it on themselves. The next second, each skeleton drew a sword, standing behind the leading skeleton at the front.  

“War god…”  

The pirates and men who had been fighting stared blankly at the approaching sled.  

They felt a bone-chilling coldness that numbed their hands and feet and froze their blood.  

The red-eyed Viking warrior calmed down, dazed as he looked at the bone warriors, mouth agape.