My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 14

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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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Chapter 14
Tap… tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
The headquarters managing Evern Online—Evern Headquarters.
As always, the clatter of mice and keyboards filled the space, painting a peaceful hell of productivity.
“….”
Yet there was one exception.
At Juhyun’s desk, no such noise emanated.
‘How is such gameplay even possible?’
I stared motionless at the monitor, my eyes boring through the screen. The tutorial clear footage played on repeat—Jaebum’s performance cycling endlessly before me.
‘From combat judgment to that unwavering confidence in taking down the Earl. This aura is absolutely not something an ordinary player could exude.’
Each viewing revealed something new to my eyes.
And with each discovery, I exhaled in admiration.
Jaebum’s gameplay never grew tedious no matter how many times I watched it.
‘I’m genuinely curious about their identity… but there’s no way to find out.’
If I had my way, I’d pull up Jaebum’s player information right now and uncover who they really were.
But even as team lead, accessing such data without legitimate cause was impossible. It was illegal, for one thing….
User personal information required authorization far exceeding even a team lead’s clearance.
“Mmm….”
“Team Lead.”
“Hmm.”
“Team Lead?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. What is it?”
When Hwanseok called out to me twice without response, and was about to call a third time, I jolted awake with a startled reaction.
“What exactly are you watching… Are you still viewing that player’s footage?”
Seeing my state, Hwanseok turned his gaze toward the monitor.
“No, it’s just—the more I watch, the more fascinating it becomes.”
“It certainly has more appeal than watching ordinary players, that’s for sure.”
Hwanseok nodded at my words.
Then he extended a document toward me.
“This is something going into the update. Please sign off on it.”
I accepted the document Hwanseok offered with my right hand.
“Everyone’s going to go crazy trying to get titles.”
The document Hwanseok had handed me contained details about adding title content in the upcoming update.
“But once this update goes live, everyone will know that someone cleared Hell Mode.”
“There’s no helping it. We can’t exactly strip away a title someone’s earned, can we?”
“That’s true.”
I nodded at Hwanseok’s words.
There was no way to restrict titles to only new players starting fresh.
After finishing my thoughts, I moved my right arm.
Scratch, scratch.
Then, using the pen on the desk, I signed in the approval section.
“I’ll handle the next signature.”
I set the document down on my desk.
After all, I still needed approval from someone above team lead.
“Yes, thank you.”
Hwanseok bowed toward me and returned to his seat.
“….”
Alone again, I naturally turned my gaze toward the monitor.
‘A title content update, huh….’
Click.
After that, I replayed Jaebeom’s tutorial video from the beginning.
‘Once the patch is complete, this player is going to cause quite a stir.’
Thinking about the ripple effects Jaebeom would bring with the title update.
* * *
[Dercan’s Shield durability decreases by 5%.]
Crash!
[Dercan’s Sword durability decreases by 3%.]
Clang!
System Messages appeared before Jaebeom in rapid succession.
‘As expected. With high durability, it won’t shatter in one hit.’
Jaebeom wore a satisfied expression as he observed this.
If Dercan had been wearing the equipment from before, the giant guardian’s attack wouldn’t have withstood even once and would have shattered.
But now, watching it endure over ten attacks was genuinely gratifying.
[Intruder… I will crush you.]
At that moment, the giant guardian’s sinister voice echoed through the Temple. The creature was completely focused on killing Dercan.
‘Thanks to that, I can analyze the pattern comfortably.’
I didn’t charge recklessly at the giant guardian.
Instead, I assigned Dercan the role of tank and scout.
There could be hidden skills or patterns, after all.
‘But it doesn’t seem like there are any.’
However, the giant guardian facing Dercan was nothing more than a simple raid mob. Being an early-stage raid boss, it appeared to be designed to simply overwhelm through raw stats.
‘Time to finish this.’
Whoosh!
The moment I finished analyzing, I dashed toward the giant guardian’s right leg.
“Dercan! Throw your shield!”
―Understood… sir.
His speech was slow, but his actions were swift. As if he’d been waiting, Dercan discarded his sword and hurled his shield toward me with all his might.
Boom!
In that instant, the colossal guardian crushed Dercan’s body completely.
[Dercan’s physical form has been destroyed.]
He had followed my command too literally and perished because of it, but that was exactly as I intended. In fact, one could say he understood perfectly.
After all, Dercan could be resurrected even if he died.
Thud!
‘One strike!’
In the midst of it all, Dercan’s shield embedded itself into the wall directly to my right.
Crash!
The shield striking the wall and my leap upward using it as a foothold happened almost simultaneously. It was as if the shield had always been there.
Then, at the perfect angle, the colossal guardian’s neck came into my line of sight.
“Hah!”
I drew in a single sharp breath.
―Whoosh!
Then I hurled the steel staff I held in my hand.
Crack!
The steel staff shot forth like an arrow, striking the colossal guardian’s neck with perfect precision—directly at the energy core embedded within it.
―Clang!
Immediately after, I spun my body around and, without even looking, yanked the shield from the wall and threw it once more.
―Boom!
The shield drove deep into the cracked section of the guardian’s neck.
[The colossal guardian’s energy core has been destroyed.]
―Crunch… crackle!
As if it had always been destined to fall, the colossal guardian crumbled in an instant, scattering into nothing but a pile of rubble.
‘Just as the strategy guide said. Strike the weak point in the neck and it’s over.’
I had already learned the colossal guardian’s vital point through strategy posts on Evern Online.
I had simply prolonged the fight because my Quest was a special one, wondering if perhaps the pattern or weak points might have changed.
Besides, knowing the weak point didn’t mean everyone could defeat this monster as easily as I had.
Knowing a weakness and exploiting it are two different things.
Reflexes, improvisation using the shield as a foothold, and the precision to throw that shield and strike the exact location again.
It only appeared easy because all these elements—including using Dercan as bait—came together perfectly.
Thud!
My body, suspended in mid-air, fell to the ground.
―Boom!
The pile of rubble that had been loosely gathered shattered completely, scattering around me.
[You have defeated the colossal guardian.]
The message confirming its death appeared before my eyes.
Then came the message that always appeared whenever I defeated a monster.
“Good. So now it’s finally over…”
I was about to clear away those messages with my right hand and stretch when—
[You have fulfilled all experience requirements for leveling up.]
[Your level has increased by 1.]
[Dercan has fulfilled all experience requirements for leveling up.]
[Dercan’s level has increased to 5.]
“Oh. Level up!”
My level, which had been stagnant for quite some time by my standards, had finally risen.
‘Finally level 5.’
And just as I was about to invest the stat points into Strength without hesitation.
[Dercan has acquired a new skill: Bone Hardening.]
“Huh?”
A new message appeared.
‘Bone Hardening?’
It wasn’t just the surprise of acquiring a new skill.
In other games it might be different, but in Evern Online, there was no skill called ‘Bone Hardening’ among the Necromancer-class abilities.
‘I was told that Necromancer-class players only have summoning skills in their arsenal…’
I already knew that the Overlord was different from other Necromancers who relied on overwhelming numbers.
It was clear just from the existence of ‘Combat Skill Acquisition’ and the way it functioned.
‘I thought I’d obtain skills through ‘Combat Skill Acquisition’ and navigate future challenges by increasing Intelligence, but there are separate skills granted simply by leveling up?’
Come to think of it, ‘Combat Skill Acquisition’ was itself a skill that emerged as my level increased.
I had simply assumed it was the final skill because it was a growth-type ability.
‘If skills continue to be added like this, this is completely broken…’
Just as I was reveling in this realization internally.
[Bone Hardening’s mana consumption uses your mana, not Dercan’s.]
[If mana reserves are insufficient, the skill’s duration will be reduced.]
A new message appeared, as if tackling my moment of joy.
“Hmm. So they don’t hand things out easily, then.”
It was a far more significant restriction than I’d initially thought.
Though the Overlord was certainly a Necromancer—broadly speaking, a mage-class—I had invested only in Strength, leaving my mana critically low.
But investing in mana stats just to use Dercan’s skills would be putting the cart before the horse.
Considering Dercan’s ‘Combat Skill Acquisition’, it was right to focus my stat investments on abilities that directly aided combat.
‘Now that I think about it, I’ve heard there are Achievements that increase mana stats.’
If investing stat points resulted in losses, then simply not investing in them was the solution. That was the definition of not investing.
The logic was so clear and certain that someone across the ocean would nod in agreement.
I’d definitely seen on the internet that there was an Achievement that increased mana to the point where ‘inflated’ was the fitting description.
Of course, how to obtain that Achievement wasn’t written anywhere.
It was only natural that such valuable information wouldn’t be posted online by anyone.
Such posts typically read something like:
‘There’s an Achievement that massively increases mana. How to obtain it? Ah… that’s still too early for you. Let’s not discuss this further.’
That was the way to actually garner more interest.
‘Still, I’ll hold off on stat investments for now. Since I haven’t obtained that Achievement yet, I might need more mana in the future.’
Dercan would gain more skills, and the Overlord would too, and if any of them turned out to be mana-hungry, even I wouldn’t be able to invest solely in Strength forever.
Right now, if my Strength stat was insufficient, no amount of control skill could deal proper damage, so I was investing primarily in Strength.
―A brilliant flash erupted!
While I organized my thoughts, a brilliant light burst forth from the pile of stones.
“Hm?”
Then, in an instant, the pile of stones vanished.
‘A dropped item?’
Where the pile of stones had been, a small, brightly glowing orb remained.
Tap… tap.
“What, is it real?”
Of course, I didn’t display the novice-like behavior of immediately picking up the orb.
Instead, I touched the orb with the tip of my staff and recited a provocation command.
How would I know if that was a relic left behind after the Giant Guardian’s ascension, or a ‘Radiant Spirit of the Giant Guardian’?
However, no matter how many provocation commands I recited, the orb showed no reaction.
‘Just an ordinary orb?’
Come to think of it, even if it were a spirit, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
After all, I was an advanced class of Necromancer. A spirit? Wouldn’t that just mean an additional minion?
Good either way—the birth of Overlord Hui Hwang.
With that, I picked up the orb in my hand.
[This is an unidentified item.]
[An Analyst’s work is required to confirm the item’s information.]
Two System Messages appeared.
‘An unidentified item?’
Unfortunately, it seemed I would need more time before the orb’s true nature could be revealed.

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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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