My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 113

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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113
Inferno
Intoxicated by his victory, Kim Jae-beom resolved to infuse the power he had stolen from the Guardian into his steel staff. With a smug expression, he swung the staff through the empty air.
—Whoosh!
The steel staff cut through the air with a sharp whistle. In that instant, scorching flames erupted from the staff’s tip. The Guardian’s fire now dwelled within Kim Jae-beom’s weapon, burning with ferocious intensity.
Gazing upon the staff engulfed in crackling flames, a deep smile played across Kim Jae-beom’s lips. The intoxicating pleasure of plundering an enemy’s strength and making it his own seized him entirely.
The arrogance of a tyrant was etched across his face.
[No… this cannot be…]
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s heart was consumed by anguish as he witnessed his own power being desecrated in Kim Jae-beom’s grasp. Alongside the crushing pain of his spirit breaking, despair swallowed him whole. The once-mighty force that had commanded fire spirits was now being toyed with by his enemy’s machinations. From the depths of his being, the Guardian released a mournful cry of hopelessness.
My heart shattered at the sight of those roaring flames. My pride as a Guardian was trampled mercilessly, my dignity torn to shreds. My broken self-worth lay scattered at Kim Jae-beom’s feet, ground beneath his heel.
My eyes, filled with sorrow and resentment at my pitiful state, stared only into empty void. My face, drained of all spirit, held not even a glimmer of life. All that remained of me was the wretchedness of the defeated.
—Hiss.
Kim Jae-beom gazed down at the hollow Guardian with cold, piercing eyes. Savoring his victory over the enemy’s pathetic fate, he twisted his thin lips into a cruel smile. His gaze was contempt incarnate, as though he were regarding a pitiful insect.
Soon, Kim Jae-beom turned his head toward Arulan. A slow command flowed from his lips.
“Make that creature… infinitesimally small.”
Kim Jae-beom and Arulan exchanged a sinister glance. An unspoken agreement passed between them.
As Arulan chanted an incantation, an eerie force erupted from his fingertips. Pitch-black mana tore through the air. The power of darkness coiled around the Guardian like a serpent, and his form convulsed violently.
—Squelch—
Accompanied by a grotesque groan, the Guardian’s body began to shrink gradually. His limbs withered, his torso shriveled. His massive frame transformed into a diminutive form in mere moments.
The Guardian could not contain his shock at the unbelievable sight. As I watched my own body shrink, I doubted my very eyes. My form, now no larger than a fingernail, seemed utterly unreal no matter how I regarded it.
[What… what is this?!]
A scream tore from my shrunken mouth, but it emerged only as a faint insect’s chirp. No one paid heed to even that tiny cry of anguish.
Soon, I had become so small that I could fit in the palm of a hand. The wretchedness of my condition was almost incomprehensible, even to myself.
As Kim Jae-beom gazed down at the diminished Guardian, unbridled joy bloomed in his eyes. His heart raced with the exhilaration of rendering his enemy pathetic and insignificant. The thought of the Guardian, now small enough to be squeezed in his fist, struck him as absurdly amusing.
Once, I had been a towering, imposing presence. Now, I could only tremble before a speck of dust. The humiliation was beyond measure—a living embodiment of defeat and subjugation.
Thus, I was crushed beneath Kim Jae-beom’s heel, acutely aware of my own pathetic smallness. Powerless to act of my own volition, I could only release sighs mingled with sorrow and despair.
* * *
Kim Jae-beom strode through the Jungle, the shrunken Guardian clutched in his hand. A sinister smile played upon his lips. He kneaded the weakened Guardian like putty, toying with him as a child might play with a toy.
The fire spirit, once a terrifying presence, was now helpless in Kim Jae-beom’s grasp. As he tossed and rolled my diminished form, casting me aside and reclaiming me at will, the stench of absolute power emanated from his every gesture.
Kim Jae-beom then grasped the Guardian and extended his arm toward the sky. As though hurling a baseball, he threw the Guardian with all his might into the air.
—Whoosh!
With a scream, I hurtled across the empty sky. My tiny body cut through the air like bird droppings, sailing far into the distance. My cries of anguish echoed across the Jungle, yet they could not ring out loudly enough to be heard.
It was merely the sound of an insignificant insect fluttering.
Soon, I struck a branch and tumbled to the ground below. My limp form lay as though unconscious, a pathetic sight. Even the flames that once burned so brilliantly seemed to flicker and fade.
Yet Kim Jae-beom spared no thought for my plight. To him, I was merely convenient bait to be exploited.
Thus, against my will, I was cast adrift through the Jungle. Tossed and hurled from place to place, my small body collided with obstacles repeatedly, accumulating bruises.
The monsters of the Jungle fixed their attention upon my wretched form. As the small morsel fluttered before their eyes, they drooled and rushed forward.
This was precisely what Kim Jae-beom had intended. The monsters, drawn to the Guardian used as bait, surged forward in a tide. In that very moment, the Undead Legion, lying in ambush, descended and struck them down.
The prey, caught in the trap, was slaughtered mercilessly amid spraying blood and torn flesh. A horrific massacre painted the Jungle crimson.
Thus, Kim Jae-beom wielded the Guardian as a tool and plaything, asserting his dominance throughout the Jungle. The powerless Guardian could only groan in agony, lacking even the strength to resist.
The endless torment had withered both Guardian’s body and spirit. His eyes held no spark of life. With half-lidded gaze fixed upon Kim Jae-beom, Guardian whispered in a thin, trembling voice.
“Please… let me rest now…”
His exhausted plea carried an unmistakable note of desperation. He had abandoned even his pride—something more precious than life itself—to beg for respite. The sight was utterly pitiful.
Kim Jae-beom gazed down at Guardian with cold eyes, his mind momentarily caught in deliberation. Conflicting thoughts warred within him—the impulse to torment his enemy endlessly clashed against his calculating judgment.
After a brief hesitation, Kim Jae-beom’s gaze sharpened upon Guardian. Only then did he examine the Guardian’s withered state in detail. The deep wounds carved across his body and the flames consuming him suggested that any further strain would prove fatal.
‘If this continues, that creature will collapse soon.’
The cold calculation flashed through Kim Jae-beom’s mind. Reluctantly, he nodded.
“Fine. Once he’s useless, he’s worthless to me anyway.”
Kim Jae-beom spoke in a curt tone and gestured to Arulan. Arulan bowed in understanding and approached the limp Guardian.
“Enter now.”
An eerie voice accompanied a surge of black energy from Arulan’s palm. What unfurled from his fingertips was a deep, dark space—an abyss as black as pitch, its maw gaping wide to swallow Guardian whole.
“Ugh…”
With a groan, Guardian’s body was pulled into Arulan’s pocket dimension. The swirling darkness embraced him. At last, Guardian escaped his agony and found deep, merciful rest.
Meanwhile, Kim Jae-beom and Arulan—freed from the Jungle’s nightmare—began to move forward. Their silhouettes receded into the gathering dusk, advancing toward the greater trials that awaited them.
* * *
Arulan’s dark magic began to consume the Jungle. An eerie aura spread in all directions, devouring every living thing. Trees, grass, and flowers withered before their eyes. Soon, the entire Jungle was stained with the color of death.
Lifeless animal corpses littered the ground. Yet this was not the end. Drawn by Arulan’s incantation, the bodies began to writhe once more. Engulfed in that eerie energy, the corpses rose again as undead. Eyes bloodshot crimson, flesh rotting and falling away—the sight was utterly horrifying.
Animals that had enjoyed the Jungle’s peace mere moments before had become an army of death. A zombie elephant lumbered forward with heavy steps, while a skeletal leopard bared its razor-sharp fangs. Even a skeleton parrot perched upon a branch. This was the true nature of the Undead Jungle that Arulan had created.
The few monsters that survived fled in terror. Screams and hoofbeats echoed through the forest. Their desperate flight for survival was heartbreaking. The Jungle was no longer a sanctuary for them—merely hunting ground for the resurrected army of death that pursued them.
Watching this spectacle, a satisfied smile played across Kim Jae-beom’s lips. He marveled at Arulan’s power to command the entire Jungle. He nodded to himself, murmuring—this Undead Legion would be the perfect force to defeat the Kartan Colossus.
Kim Jae-beom approached Arulan and tapped his shoulder. Arulan, sensing his master’s intent, bowed respectfully. Kim Jae-beom spoke.
“Put all of them into your pocket dimension.”
Arulan nodded in understanding and swept his hand wide. A black space tore open at his fingertips. The swirling darkness began to pull in the undead around him. Zombies, skeletons, ghouls—undead of every form shrieked in horror as they were drawn inside.
As the pocket dimension sealed shut, silence fell upon the Jungle. A chilling quiet. Through the rustling branches, only a dead land—devoid of life—remained visible. Kim Jae-beom exhaled deeply and spoke to Arulan.
“Let’s go. To the next location.”
Expanding the Undead Legion was only the beginning. And Ye-jin, watching all of this unfold from the shadows, had a single thought.
‘I mustn’t provoke him.’
If she wanted to live, she had to follow Kim Jae-beom obediently.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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