My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 28

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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 28
Yet impulsively refusing was difficult.
Unlike other Quests, this one displayed as a ‘Sudden Quest’—something players desperately coveted but couldn’t obtain.
‘They said completing this would lead to a Hidden Quest.’
Though called a Sudden Quest, it was essentially a gateway Quest to Hidden Quests.
A Quest to obtain a Quest.
In other words, it was known as a ‘trial’—a stepping stone granted only to those who had prepared themselves.
“Of course.”
Then there was no reason to refuse.
Ding!
[Recording activated.]
“Vice-Commander Herman.”
“Yes?”
“If I may ask, would it be acceptable for me to fight alongside my subordinates?”
“Of course. Or rather….”
Herman nodded immediately. Most knights prided themselves on honor and didn’t particularly favor necromancers who fought alongside corpses.
“In fact, I would have been disappointed if you fought alone.”
This city had been reorganized around the Overlord—a place where necromancers’ favorability rose simply by walking through it.
[Herman’s favorability has increased.]
‘Hey, I haven’t even cleared the Quest yet.’
Jaebeom muttered inwardly at the message that rendered the Quest’s rewards meaningless.
—Shing!
Herman drew his sword from his waist, still smiling.
“Though I proposed this duel, I’ll yield the first strike. Come at me as you see fit.”
“I won’t hold back.”
Jaebeom drew his staff in response.
‘No openings.’
Though I thought this, I didn’t rush forward immediately. Befitting his title as Vice-Commander of the Iron Light Knight Order, a formidable aura emanated from his body.
‘Hmm, indeed. So it’s not just the summons that are impressive.’
But the same was true for me.
Herman observed my stance with the staff and Dercan’s posture with dual swords—strangely similar to mine—and swallowed an admiring breath.
—Whoooosh….
Only the sound of wind slipping through the gaps of the dilapidated building circled between them.
The staff in my hand trembled slightly. Unable to suppress my eagerness for combat, magical flames flickered like sparks at the staff’s tip.
—Shhhh….
Watching those magical flames, Herman smiled inwardly.
‘Still some inexperience remains. When those magical flames grow larger—that’s when he’ll attack.’
The flames repeatedly diminished and expanded. Herman’s gaze fixed on me, yet his eyes never left those flames.
‘Shrinking, growing, shrinking, growing… like clockwork, so consistent. Shrinking….’
—Boom!
In that instant.
“Dercan!”
‘Damn! Was it a trap?’
Focused on Jaebeom and the flames, and caught in that brief moment of relief as the fire diminished, a thunderous boom erupted from where Dercan stood.
Herman quickly drew his sword and braced himself—but.
‘He didn’t move?’
Dercan had merely rolled his feet against the ground once from his original position.
Therefore.
—Crash!
Herman’s raised shield intercepting Jaebeom’s strike was nothing short of miraculous.
“Kahahaha! Indeed!”
How many layers of deception had been woven into that first blow? Herman found himself genuinely impressed by his sparring opponent.
“Remarkable! Worthy of a duel request!”
Mana rippled steadily from the tip of Jaebeom’s staff, refined and controlled independent of his breathing—it was chilling to witness.
“But…!”
Herman thrust his shield forward with force. Jaebeom yielded without hesitation, sliding backward.
“Dercan!”
‘This time it’s real!’
Herman’s judgment was sound, yet the deception from moments before had created a slight delay in his response.
—Clang!
“Huh!”
The opposite of before. Herman was driven backward by the heavy impact reverberating through his shield.
Astonishingly, Dercan was clearly superior to Jaebeom in raw physical strength!
—Clang-clang-clang!
Within the brilliant sparks created by shield and twin blades, metallic friction shrieked deafeningly.
—Whoosh!
Behind him as he was driven back, Jaebeom’s shadow drew near.
—Swish!
A silent strike, like mist itself, aimed for Herman’s waist.
—Clang!
This time Herman’s sword intercepted Jaebeom’s staff.
Yet even as he forcibly blocked at an awkward angle, the clear disparity in specs became evident—he was relentlessly pushed back.
“Splendid! Then I too shall…!”
But even as he retreated, Herman’s eyes burned with unmistakable joy and fighting spirit.
—Tssssss…
A pitch-black aura gathered more intensely around Herman. His armor began to gleam faintly within the darkness, and a sinister power emanated from the greatsword in his grip.
“It would be discourteous not to show my true strength!”
‘Here it comes!’
Jaebeom anticipated the sight before him and drew upon his power.
From what Herman had shown so far, he was a knight connected to Overlord power. Naturally, he would never rely on physical ability alone.
In other words….
We were entering the second phase.
―Screech!
Without a sound, a blade of darkness hurtled toward Dercan and me. We both dodged simultaneously, but where we’d stood moments before, sharp gouges now scarred the ground as if something had clawed at it with vicious intent.
“My apologies for the lack of surprise!”
For an attack channeled through aura, Herman’s words were remarkably shameless—yet he spoke with absolute sincerity.
Merely unveiling a new skill was nothing compared to the deceptions Dercan and I had unveiled from the very beginning.
And yet―
―Boom!
Rather than deflect the incoming blade of darkness directly, I detonated my mana in a sharp burst to block it.
―Drip.
Blood still trickled from my palm.
‘Is this truly the second-in-command of the knight order that guards the Fortress in the Demon Realm?’
Among all the opponents I’d faced in Evern Online, Herman was overwhelmingly the strongest.
―Crash!
Dercan crossed his dual blades to parry Herman’s assault.
Jet-black aura collided with crimson radiance, erupting in an eerie shower of sparks.
Whether because Dercan was undead or because his raw stats exceeded mine, he refused to yield easily.
―Boom! Boom!
As the exchange continued, cracks began spreading across Dercan’s skull.
Soon, the sickening sound of shattering shoulder blades and ribs echoed through the Training Ground.
‘Exceptional specs, but lacking in combat instinct!’
In that moment, Herman narrowed his focus to a single target. Despite superior stats, he was clearly the weaker combatant here.
Besides, a skeletal soldier could be destroyed without consequence—unlike me.
―You, bastard…!
Realizing he was being underestimated, Dercan’s eyes blazed with fury.
‘He can speak?’
Dercan brought both blades down with all his might, rage pouring through every fiber.
―Crash!
Startled though he was, Herman’s body responded instinctively, deflecting Dercan’s strike with practiced ease.
Dercan’s humiliation and rage, however genuine, weren’t yet enough to overwhelm Herman.
―Clang!
Yet for a brief moment, they did achieve equilibrium.
Dual blades and greatsword collided, unleashing a deafening boom.
As Herman watched, a chilling smile spread across his face.
“Fascinating creature….”
With a low, measured voice, Herman thrust his greatsword forward with tremendous force.
Dercan lost his footing, staggering backward and losing his balance.
―Whoosh!
Herman seized the opening, his form streaking like lightning toward Dercan.
A greatsword brimming with abyssal darkness streaked through the air like lightning, and Dercan’s twin blades intercepted it.
―Crack!
However, even when Dercan had charged first, he’d barely managed a stalemate—there was no way he could withstand this blow from a compromised stance.
With tremendous force, Dercan was driven backward.
―Boom! Boom! Boom!
The greatsword rained down relentlessly upon Dercan.
The pitch-black blade shattered Dercan’s skull and methodically destroyed joint after joint.
Soon, Dercan’s right shoulder was completely obliterated.
Bone fragments scattered in all directions, and one of the twin blades spun away into the void.
―Whoosh.
At that moment, the sound of something cutting through the air echoed from behind.
“I’ve been waiting for this!”
The instant the voice rang out, Herman spun around and swung his greatsword in a vicious arc.
Jaebeom hung suspended in midair, rotating his staff as he brought it crashing down.
‘I held back too long!’
There was no way Jaebeom would do nothing while he attacked Dercan. Herman had kept his attention divided, never fully losing sight of Jaebeom even as he sought to crush Dercan.
―Boom!
However, something about the sound felt wrong.
A brief explosion erupted at the tip of Jaebeom’s staff, and his trajectory twisted mid-flight.
‘He was in the air on purpose!’
A strike that exploited that fundamental assumption—that while airborne, one could deliver a powerful blow, but one’s trajectory became fixed.
Herman’s raised greatsword cut through empty air uselessly.
―Crash!
Jaebeom’s staff swept mercilessly across Herman’s armor.
“Ugh!”
―Thud!
For the first time, Herman’s feet left the ground.
―Clang!
And into the space where he’d been driven back, Dercan’s remaining blade came slashing down.
―Crash!
However.
“Tch.”
Herman had merely blocked instinctively with his armored arm, yet Dercan’s already-crumbling form was completely obliterated.
In effect, Herman had intercepted Dercan mid-flight.
―Drip.
Of course, it hadn’t come without a price. Blood was clearly flowing from Herman’s arm.
[Dercan has been destroyed.]
[1 hour required until resummoning.]
However, if Dercan’s summoning was cancelled for just a bit of blood, the trade-off simply wasn’t worth it.
“Well then, now it’s your turn, you stagnant fool….”
Herman growled, overwhelmed by the difference in specs and skills, yet consistently losing ground in the numbers game.
“I concede.”
Jaebeom declared with a smile.
“…What?”
“Wasn’t this a sparring match?”
“…”
Herman stared at Jaebeom’s smile in silence.
Aldric, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, swallowed hard at Herman’s posture—as if he might charge forward at any moment.
“Hahaha! That’s right! You’re absolutely correct! This was sparring!”
He burst into hearty laughter.
If it was sparring, and the opponent was a Necromancer, then the match had already ended the moment the summoning of his sole skeletal soldier was cancelled.
‘I nearly killed him if I’d continued.’
Herman’s killing intent dissipated in an instant. Fighting monsters in the Demon Realm often caused him to lose his composure, but Jaebeom had stopped at precisely the right moment.
“I’m grateful.”
“You’re too kind.”
Aldric, observing their exchange, couldn’t fathom what Herman was grateful for.
―Ding!
[You have successfully completed the Sudden Quest.]
[Herman’s Favorability has increased significantly.]
Regardless of Aldric’s confusion, the Quest was completed normally.
“So Necromancers have such combat methods. I’ve learned much.”
“Thank you. Though it seems I’m the one who learned more.”
Both were sincere. Herman needed no explanation, and through Herman’s aura, Jaebeom could roughly discern the auras of those who would be “fitting” for Dairun Fortress.
“However…”
Once his excitement subsided, Herman seemed to grow more composed as he carefully opened his mouth.
“I noticed some shortcomings.”
“Are you referring to equipment?”
“…You already knew.”
Jaebeom nodded. The staff had been excessive for level 3, but now at level 20, he desperately needed to acquire a different staff.
Moreover, considering armor and accessories, Jaebeom was practically a pauper relative to his level.
However…
“What do you think of Dercan’s equipment?”
“Hmm? It seemed to have no particular issues?”
Dercan’s equipment appeared to have become one with him—the twin blades were performing their function, and his naturally evolved bones were serving as armor just as well.
“Isn’t that so?”
“Yes, and.”
―Whoosh.
Herman handed Jaebeom an iron badge.
[You have obtained Herman’s Recommendation Badge.]
“Feel free to use the Fortress facilities anytime. With this badge, you’ll be able to explore virtually any location, not just the Training Ground.”
“Thank you.”
It was such a rare pass that other players would have gasped in envy, yet Jaebeom accepted it without fanfare.
Instead, he focused on one particular thing Herman had said.
“You mentioned I could visit most places….”
“Hmm?”
“Does that include the Shadow Fortress, by any chance?”
In that instant.
―Ding!
[Title: Special Guest of Dairun Fortress]
[Description: As a special guest of Dairun Fortress, you have gained considerable privileges, but that does not mean you can do everything or know everything.
Use your rights to uncover information.]
[Objective: Obtain special information.]
[Reward: Determined according to Quest progression]
[This Quest is connected to your class advancement Quest.]
As if to confirm Jaebeom’s words, the Quest window appeared.

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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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