My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 231

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

Chapter 231
The Demon Players rushed toward the items without hesitation. Brief skirmishes erupted among them as they pushed and pulled each other, arguing over who would claim which piece of equipment. In the end, the highest-leveled player seized the golden sword, what appeared to be the Guild leader claimed the armor, and the ring fell to a Magician through a lottery draw.
“Item distribution complete! Back to battle!”
The Demon Player who had acquired the items shouted. Before his words even finished, the Demon Players reformed their combat formation. With General Balte’s death already shattering the morale of the NPC soldiers, they pressed forward with renewed aggression.
Despair filled the eyes of the soldiers remaining atop the Castle Wall. After witnessing their commander fall, their spirits crumbled entirely. One soldier dropped his weapon and turned to flee. Following his lead, the others began abandoning their posts one by one, scattering in panic.
“They’re running! Don’t let them escape!”
A Demon Player’s cry rang out, and the others surged forward in unison. They unleashed spells and arrows at the fleeing soldiers, while the faster ones gave chase directly. On the narrow Castle Wall, the soldiers had nowhere to go. One by one, they were caught by the Demon Players and met tragic ends.
One Demon Player impaled a soldier with a spear, while another incinerated an entire group with magic. A desperate soldier, seeing no way out, hurled himself from the Castle Wall below. The Castle Wall became a scene of utter chaos.
Yet the most astonishing event occurred afterward. A strange phenomenon appeared on the bodies of the NPC soldiers slain by the Demon Players. Their corpses trembled faintly before being engulfed in black mist. As the fog dissipated, Skeleton Soldiers stood in their place—no longer bearing human form.
The Undead Soldiers appeared as skeletal frames with decaying flesh clinging to them. Crimson flames burned within their eye sockets, and though their armor and weapons were rusted and broken, they remained menacing. Most shocking was their behavior: the soldiers who had been fleeing moments before now bowed their heads loyally toward the Demon Players.
“I didn’t see that coming….”
“This is completely broken!”
“Imperial soldiers becoming our allies!”
They quickly realized this phenomenon stemmed from Kim Jae-beom’s special ability. Just as he had transformed the Dark Knight and the Magician, his magical power had affected the fallen NPCs as well.
The Undead Soldiers now moved at the command of the Demon Players. They began attacking the remaining NPC soldiers, and those former comrades fled in terror with renewed desperation. Yet their efforts proved futile. Every NPC soldier on the Castle Wall eventually fell, only to rise again as part of the Undead Army.
Thus the Castle Wall was completely seized. The Demon Players and Undead Soldiers now controlled the fortification, and they prepared to advance into the Fortress interior. Cries of victory filled the Sky.
Yet their celebration was short-lived. Sudden noise erupted from within the Fortress, from the Central Plaza. The clash of metal, the thunder of heavy footsteps, and the majestic blare of trumpets tore through the air.
As the Demon Players looked down from the Castle Wall, an astounding sight unfolded in the Plaza below. Dozens of knights assembled in perfect formation. They were utterly different from ordinary soldiers. Clad in gleaming full-plate armor, bearing shields emblazoned with ornate heraldry, armed with sharp spears and blades—they were the Imperial Knight Order’s elite vanguard.
Their armor was far thicker and more resilient than that of common soldiers.
At the head of the Imperial Knight Order stood a knight holding his sword aloft. He wore more elaborate armor than his peers, and a crimson plume adorned his helmet. He was unmistakably the Knight Commander.
“Annihilate them all!”
The Knight Commander’s order echoed across the battlefield. In that instant, every Imperial Knight moved as one. They advanced toward the Castle Wall with perfect unity. Their steps were heavy yet swift, their formation flawless.
Then it happened.
Thud!
The Imperial Knights suddenly halted their advance. As the Knight Commander raised his sword to signal, every knight simultaneously dropped to one knee. A faint luminescence began flickering across their armor. What started as a dim radiance grew steadily brighter until their entire armor blazed with light.
“What are they doing?”
“Be careful!”
Wary voices exchanged among the Demon Players as the Imperial Knights suddenly straightened and unleashed their jumping power. Despite their heavy armor, they soared upward as if defying gravity itself. Without ascending the Staircase, they leaped directly onto the Castle Wall.
The knights’ landing reverberated across the Castle Wall. They touched down in perfect formation as if they had drilled this maneuver countless times, immediately assuming attack positions without a moment’s hesitation. Their swords and spears blazed with light, illuminating their surroundings.
“In the name of the divine, we purify!”
With the Knight Commander’s cry, intense holy power erupted from every knight’s weapon. It manifested as pure white light, carrying the sensation of flowing clear water. This radiance proved fatal to the Demon Players. Where the light touched, their skin burned as if scorched, and their crimson eyes flashed with agony.
Battle erupted. The Imperial Knights moved with perfect synchronization. While one shielded against a Demon’s attack, another struck with his blade. A third knight thrust his spear from range, and a fourth channeled holy magic. Their coordination was flawless.
The Demon Players felt true peril for the first time. They resisted desperately, but their strength was severely diminished before the Imperial Knights’ holy power. Their spells lost half their potency, and their physical attacks failed to penetrate the knights’ thick armor.
One Demon Player charged at a knight with his sword but bounced back off the knight’s shield. Another hurled a fireball, but the flames extinguished the moment they touched the knight’s armor. The Undead Soldiers were even more vulnerable—they were torn asunder before the holy power.
“They’re too strong!”
A Demon Player cried out in despair just as three of his allies fell to a knight’s blade. Similar scenes were unfolding elsewhere.
The Castle Wall’s occupation was being reversed in mere minutes. The Imperial Knights pushed back the Demon Players, reclaiming control of the fortification. The Demon Players’ morale plummeted, and some already began considering retreat.
Then it happened.
“Hmm.”
Kim Jae-beom, who had been observing from below the Castle Wall, took a slow step forward. Still bearing the Dark Knight’s form, his movements radiated characteristic confidence. He gazed up at the Castle Wall, assessing the situation.
“I shall aid you.”
His voice was soft, yet somehow it reached every Demon Player on the battlefield with crystalline clarity. His words carried the weight of magic itself, instantly breathing new hope into the faltering Demon forces.
Kim Jae-beom slowly raised his right hand and flicked his fingers through the empty air. The gesture was so economical it resembled the press of a switch. At first, nothing appeared to happen. But then, crimson light began to gather in the atmosphere.
Initially they were merely pinpricks of luminescence. Yet the points converged into lines, and the lines took on form. Within mere seconds, hundreds of scarlet spears materialized in the sky. They trembled with an almost living vitality, their tips gleaming with razor-sharp brilliance.
Every soul upon the Castle Wall found their gaze ensnared by the spectacle. Hope ignited in the eyes of the Demon Players; vigilance hardened in the eyes of the Imperial Knights. The Knight Commander, sensing this new threat, cried out.
“Form ranks! Shields—”
His command never reached completion. As Kim Jae-beom pointed his fingers forward, every scarlet spear surged into motion as one. They descended upon the Castle Wall like a torrential rain of arrows.
The spears flew toward the Imperial Knights with flawless precision. The knights instinctively raised their shields to defend themselves, but the crimson spears pierced through their barriers with contemptuous ease. The spears shattered their armor and drove straight through their hearts with lethal accuracy.

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