My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 156

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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 156
The Giant Undead Goblin growled menacingly as it advanced slowly toward the players. Muscular limbs covered in verdant skin, yellowed fangs protruding from every inch of its body, hundreds of eyes blazing with crimson fury. Everything about it filled the players with dread.
“Wh-what…?”
“Is this really happening?”
Yet despite their terror, five brave adventurers drew their weapons and stood against the monster.
“Let’s give it a shot!”
“Who knows? Maybe we’ll level up if we kill it!”
Mages in robes and heavily armored knights. They pressed their backs together and advanced slowly toward the undead.
The mage at the front chanted an incantation. As he clasped his hands together, azure flames erupted. He hurled a sphere of blue fire at the undead before him. The inferno streaked through the air and detonated upon impact, engulfing the undead in roaring cerulean flames.
But as the flames dissipated, the massive form emerged unscathed. The stench of charred flesh permeated the air, yet the undead remained unmoved. Instead, it fixed the players with an even sharper, more predatory gaze.
“Grrraaahhh!”
The undead unleashed a deafening roar. An eerie, metallic screech echoed across the battlefield. In the next instant, it extended its arm and seized the mage at the front.
The mage couldn’t even scream as he was lifted into the air. His neck was crushed in the undead’s massive grip, and he gasped desperately for breath. As he thrashed, the undead opened its maw wide. A blackened tongue writhed obscenely within, and a nauseating stench of decay assaulted his nostrils.
At that moment, one of the Armored Knights unleashed a powerful lightning spell with all his might.
“Die!”
The lightning pierced through the undead’s arm, and the impact caused the mage trapped in its grip to plummet to the ground.
“Cough, cough!”
The mage collapsed on the ground, clutching his throat and coughing violently with a face twisted in panic. Clear handprints were etched across his neck.
Black blood gushed from the hole in the undead’s forearm. Yet there was no pain. Soon the shattered bone knitted itself back together, and the wound sealed shut. The undead’s regenerative ability was extraordinary.
The Armored Knights surged forward. They raised their shields to block the onslaught while swinging their blades, desperately attempting to sever the undead’s massive limbs.
A female mage gathered her power.
“Skeleton Summon!”
Spectral forms rushed at the undead. They burrowed into its crimson flesh and began to bind it. The undead shrieked and flailed its arms in all directions, but the ethereal restraints only grew tighter.
But it was short-lived. Brilliant scarlet mist began to emanate from every corner of the undead’s body. It was a viscous, malevolent aura. The red fog consumed the azure spirits. The spectral forms let out piercing screams before dissolving into dust and vanishing.
“What in the world is that thing? Is it invincible?”
One of the Armored Knights muttered in a voice filled with horror. Everyone stood paralyzed before this incomprehensible power.
Then the undead charged forward at terrifying speed. The green mass hurtled toward an Armored Knight. The knight instinctively thrust his blade forward. But the undead paid no heed and crashed into him.
Boom!
The knight’s body was sent flying into the air with tremendous impact. His armor shattered like sand and exploded outward. Blood sprayed in all directions. A horrific scream tore across the earth.
The surviving adventurers who witnessed this spectacle were consumed by shock and terror.
“Damn it.”
The mages raised their trembling hands and chanted their spells. Lightning flashed, flames erupted. A tempest of magic rained down upon the undead. Yet even these formidable attacks could not penetrate its flesh. Wounds regenerated, and charred skin grew back anew.
The undead stood atop the shattered remains of the Armored Knight. Pulverized flesh squelched beneath its feet. It fixed the remaining adventurers with eyes ablaze with madness—a gaze as if selecting its next prey.
“Don’t you think we should run?”
Someone’s voice rang out.
“Just die with me!”
Two mages chanted a self-destruct incantation with trembling voices. Their life force surged out of control. They charged desperately at the undead. They had to stop the monster’s advance, even if it cost them their lives.
Boom! Boom!
A tremendous explosion erupted with a blinding flash. The mages ignited instantly, consumed by flames alongside the undead. A colossal pillar of fire shot skyward.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
A piercing scream tore through the air. The undead’s flesh melted away, hundreds of eyes bursting and dissolving into putrid sludge. A grotesque tableau of blood and tissue intertwined. Yet despite the horrific wounds, the undead did not fall.
As the flames subsided, only the charred corpses of the self-immolated mages remained scattered across the ground. The undead rose to its feet, trembling. Acrid smoke reeking of blood curled from its scorched hide and protruding fangs. It advanced slowly toward the remaining adventurers.
Two Armored Knights raised their blades with trembling hands, but it was futile. The undead swept one of its massive palms, hurling the knights’ torsos through the air.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The undead approached the fallen mage with a triumphant expression, its face twisted into a half-crazed, delighted grin.
The mage barely managed to lift his head, gazing up at the undead looming above him.
“Damn… you’re strong…”
His voice was pitiful. Yet he did not flee. He knew it was all over.
The undead looked down at the mage with a satisfied expression.
“Kroooaaa…”
The undead growled with evident pleasure, slowly extending its hand to seize the mage’s throat. Its grip tightened relentlessly.
“Gah… ugh… krrgh…”
As his throat constricted, the mage finally expired.
‘If this were real, it would have been cruel.’
Of course, since this was a game, his end was not truly tragic.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
At that moment, hundreds of players came rushing over the horizon. They had heard the thunderous sounds of battle and rushed to the scene. The undead turned its gaze slowly toward the approaching swarm—an endless stream of prey.
* * *
After thirty minutes of combat with the undead, dozens of players lay scattered in pitiful heaps. Torn armor and shattered weapons were strewn about, and the blood-soaked earth reeked of decay.
Kim Jae-beom, who had been observing the battle from the sky, gradually descended toward the ground. He landed with a flutter of crimson wings, surveying his surroundings.
“More sacrifices have gathered.”
His low murmur carried an eerie delight. In his blazing red eyes, as he gazed upon the corpses, madness flickered like flames.
At that moment, a sinister shadow emerged behind Kim Jae-beom. It was Arulan, draped in a cloak of darkness over a shattered skull, an utterly unsettling sight.
Kim Jae-beom slowly turned to face him. Upon seeing Arulan, a playful smile spread across his face.
“Arulan! Absorb the bodies of the players.”
Kim Jae-beom issued the command in a light tone, yet beneath it flowed a dark and sinister aura.
A chilling smile spread across Arulan’s face. The sound of bone clicking against bone echoed in the air.
“Click-clack.”
Arulan advanced with evident delight, his teeth clicking together rhythmically.
Arulan raised his skeletal arms toward the sky. Black mist coiled between his finger bones, churning and bubbling from the joints of his bones, spreading outward in all directions.
The viscous darkness surged toward the corpses.
The black aura clung to the bodies and burrowed into their skin. The flesh of the dead transformed grotesquely. The pallid, bloodless skin lost all trace of life and darkened to a deep ashen gray.
The bodies of the dead crumbled away, leaving only hollow shells. Without life, the flesh rapidly decomposed into a putrid mass.
The essence of life absorbed from the corpses flowed toward Arulan, enveloped in the dark aura. The stream of energy traveling through the black mist was visible to the naked eye.
The blue vitality enveloped Arulan’s entire form. Energy was sucked into the empty eye sockets of his skull. Arulan’s body trembled as the absorbed essence of life surged through him.
The players’ corpses had by now shriveled beyond recognition. Only the remaining armor and shattered weapons testified to the fact that people had once stood there. Everything had been drained into Arulan.
Arulan growled with satisfaction. His skull now gleamed with a crimson radiance, infused with new vitality. He slowly turned his gaze toward Kim Jae-beom.
Brilliant scarlet light flashed in his eye sockets. A new power surged through his form. A formidable aura of darkness emanated from him, potent enough to consume everything around it.
Kim Jae-beom smiled contentedly and patted Arulan’s shoulder, clearly satisfied that his disciple had grown even stronger.
“Well done.”
Praise swept across Arulan’s back.
A smile bloomed across Arulan’s face.

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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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