My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 224
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 224
“There’s still one more step.”
As Barcode sent a questioning glance, I gestured toward the Mid-tier Demons. My gesture was concise, yet the weight of command was unmistakable.
“Create a deeper space.”
The Mid-tier Demons sprang into action the moment they received my order. They bent their bodies toward the ground and revealed their massive claws. Each claw was as long as an adult man’s forearm and appeared harder than steel.
The first Mid-tier Demon drove its claw into the Marble Floor.
Crack!
Fissures spread across the solid Marble Floor. The Demon dragged its claw deeper, and the sound of marble scraping echoed unpleasantly through the Underground Chamber.
Soon, the other Mid-tier Demons joined the work. Some excavated the ground while others moved the extracted stone fragments. Their movements were precise and efficient.
The Low-tier Demons swiftly cleared away the debris produced by the digging. They performed their support role flawlessly. The work progressed at an astonishing pace. Thanks to the Mid-tier Demons’ strength and size, it proceeded dozens of times faster than ordinary excavation.
What had begun as a small hole gradually expanded. The hole deepened and widened. The excavated earth and stone vanished somewhere—likely transported to another dimension through the Demons’ magic.
As time passed, the hole began to take the form of an increasingly massive cavern. The ceiling rose higher, and the walls stretched wider. The Mid-tier Demons smoothed the walls to make them resemble a natural cave.
About thirty minutes later, the work was complete. The Mid-tier Demons finished their final touches and withdrew. Behind them lay an expanded Underground Chamber. It was no longer a mere cave.
The newly created Underground Chamber was vast enough to rival the entire Fortress. The ceiling towered at least twenty meters high, and the floor’s area exceeded several soccer fields combined. Though the interior possessed the structure of a natural cavern, it was clearly designed with intent.
Mysterious patterns were carved into the walls, and crimson crystals protruded from the ceiling as if they had grown naturally. These crystals emitted a faint light, bathing the entire space in a reddish glow.
Barcode appeared shocked by this colossal space. He stood with his mouth agape, surveying his surroundings. The notion that an Underground Chamber of this magnitude could be created in merely thirty minutes defied all common sense.
“Surely not…”
His voice was quiet, yet it echoed through the empty space like a whisper. Barcode turned his gaze toward me. His eyes held a mixture of doubt and fear.
I smiled at his reaction. I slowly nodded, confirming his suspicion.
“That’s right. I’m going to summon a Supreme-tier Demon.”
Barcode’s face went pale.
Thud!
That was when it happened.
I moved toward the center of the vast Underground Chamber. Upon reaching the exact middle of the space, I came to a halt.
The Mid-tier Demons arranged themselves in a circle around me. They positioned themselves with the precision of priests preparing a ritual. The Low-tier Demons formed another circle beyond them. A double ring had been established with me at its center.
Tension permeated the entire space. Even the light emanating from the crimson crystals seemed to tremble faintly. Everything waited for the next moment—the instant I would summon the Supreme-tier Demon.
I took a moment to steady my breathing, then raised both hands toward the Sky. A crimson light flashed in my eyes.
“Skill activation.”
The moment those words left my lips, a sudden transformation seized every Demon’s body. What began as a subtle vibration soon escalated as their skin began to split open. Crimson blood gushed forth from the fissures.
The Low-tier Demons reacted first. Their skin tore open, and blood sprayed out like fountains. The Mid-tier Demons were no exception. Cracks formed as they began releasing their internal blood.
The blood pouring from the Demons’ bodies was unlike ordinary blood. It was thicker and more viscous than common liquid, and it maintained its form in the air without evaporating.
The crimson blood flowing from the Demons’ bodies did not fall to the ground but rose into the air. As if drawn by a magnet, it began converging toward the center of the space, directly above my head. Initially scattered droplets gradually coalesced into larger masses.
The blood mass slowly took on a spherical form. At first, it was merely the size of an apple, but as more blood gathered, its size increased rapidly. It surpassed the size of a soccer ball, then a car, until finally it became as enormous as a small building.
The sphere continued to grow. It was not merely expanding in size. Blood accumulated in layers, and a faint current seemed to flow between those layers. The sphere’s surface underwent constant transformation.
At some point, the sphere’s growth accelerated dramatically. As its size reached a critical threshold, it suddenly began expanding outward.
The sphere began consuming me, Barcode, and all the surrounding Demons. It was no longer a sphere of blood but a colossal crimson wave. The wave surged outward in all directions, filling the entire space. It engulfed everything it touched.
I remained motionless where I stood. As the crimson wave washed over me, my body was completely submerged in the red liquid. Barcode suffered the same fate. He was swallowed by the wave, his eyes wide with astonishment. All the Demons were likewise submerged in the blood they had produced.
In an instant, the vast Underground Chamber was filled with blood. From ceiling to floor, everything was dyed a deep crimson. The entire space had become one gigantic sea of blood. Yet strangely, neither I nor Barcode, submerged within it, experienced any difficulty breathing. The sea of blood caused us no harm.
The state of fullness persisted for a moment before a sudden change occurred. The sea of blood began to vibrate. What started as a subtle tremor soon intensified noticeably. The blood’s color began to shift. The deep crimson gradually brightened, transforming into light itself.
Before long, the entire sea of blood had transformed into a dazzling crimson radiance. The light was so intense that it erased all form and contour. Everything within the space dissolved into the crimson glow.
And finally, the light began to dissipate explosively. It vanished at a rapid pace. Throughout this process, the entire space trembled violently. An earthquake had occurred.
The earthquake was far more powerful than anticipated. The floor cracked, the walls shook, and stones tumbled from the ceiling.
Yet Kim Jae-beom’s expression remained composed. He stood motionless, as though he had foreseen all of this.
The earthquake persisted for approximately one minute.
Then suddenly, everything ceased. The light vanished completely, and the tremors stopped. Silence returned to the space.
A faint glow emanating from the crimson crystal began to illuminate the space once more. In that light, the figures of Kim Jae-beom and Barcode became visible. They still stood in the same location, yet the surrounding environment had transformed entirely.
All the Low-tier Demons and Mid-tier Demons had vanished without a trace. As their blood was consumed as material for the ritual, their very existence dissolved alongside it. Instead, something new was forming at the center of the space.
A subtle vibration resonated from the floor. At first it was merely a faint tremor, but gradually its intensity increased. At the very center of the Underground Chamber, slightly distant from where Kim Jae-beom stood, the ground began to undulate like rippling water.
Suddenly, a small crimson droplet rose from that spot. It seemed as though it had surged from the depths of the earth itself. Following the first droplet, a second and third emerged in succession. The droplets floated suspended in the air, defying gravity.
The droplets were unlike ordinary water. They appeared far denser and more viscous than common liquid. Across their surfaces, a faint shimmer flickered as though minute currents flowed through them.
The number of droplets increased steadily. What began as merely a handful soon swelled to dozens, then hundreds. They were not all uniform in size. Some were as small as beans, while others were as large as a human fist.
Then suddenly, all the droplets began to move in unison. As though obeying a single will, they converged toward the center. The droplets, which had initially moved slowly, accelerated progressively. They spun rapidly, surging toward the focal point.
In an instant, all the droplets merged into one. Smaller droplets were absorbed into larger ones, which were in turn absorbed into even greater droplets—the entire process unfolded in the blink of an eye. What remained at last was a single, colossal droplet.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————