My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 33

—————

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

—————

Chapter 33
As we ventured deeper into the forest, the first forty minutes unfolded peacefully. Of course, the monsters Jae-beom and Ye-jin faced had grown considerably stronger.
And Jae-beom called that peaceful. In truth, the time spent at the beginning assessing the strength levels of the boss monsters—that was what he deemed “unpeaceful and tedious.”
―Master, the center… there’s something there.
As I continued hunting for a while longer, Dercan, who had been slashing through beasts ahead of us, suddenly spoke up.
―Flinch.
Every time Ye-jin flinched like that, it was amusing, but I didn’t bother pointing it out.
After all, it was entertaining enough.
“A hidden quest?”
I kept my gaze elsewhere while simultaneously observing every detail of Ye-jin’s expression—a masterful display of peripheral awareness.
Truly, the behavior of a professional YouTuber.
“I know you’re watching and enjoying all of this, you know?”
And to the professional—the attention-seeker Ye-jin—none of my schemes worked.
‘Could she really be calculating camera angles even for her flinches…?’
I gasped inwardly and continued speaking.
“So Dercan, what’s in the center? Treasure?”
―No, a demon.
“Your words are short? Weren’t you supposed to be able to speak properly now?”
Dercan remained silent for a moment before answering.
―Mas… ter.
At that sight, I couldn’t help but marvel.
‘Did I really not need to teach him this just to tease Ye-jin?’
[Warning! The Forest’s Ruler, Dalikssor, is being revived.]
[Through the Overlord’s power, you perceive a hidden passage concealed within the Beast Forest.]
[Hidden Quest: The Demon’s Birthplace is activated.]
[Title: 【The Demon’s Birthplace】]
[Description: Through the Overlord’s power, you have perceived a passage related to the birth of a certain demon. Investigate that passage.]
[Objective: Investigate the hidden passage in the Beast Forest.]
[Reward: Uncover hidden truths.]
At that moment, a hidden quest appeared alongside the warning message.
And then.
―Thud.
“…An egg?”
A massive egg fell before our eyes. The instant Ye-jin’s expression shifted to confusion.
―Crack… crackle!
Fissures began spreading across the egg’s surface.
“Prepare for combat.”
I hardened my expression and pointed my staff at the egg. I wanted to rush forward and smash it immediately, but from experience, if things had progressed this far, the hatching was already complete—we were merely witnessing the opening cutscene.
With a rustling sound, fragments of eggshell scattered in all directions.
And finally, as the egg completely shattered, the Forest’s Ruler, Dalikssor, revealed himself.
―Boom!
The massive body that erupted from the egg crashed down upon the earth. The ground trembled violently, and the surrounding trees swayed in the shockwave.
“…That’s quite large, isn’t it?”
Ye-jin murmured blankly.
True to her words, Dalikssor was a monster of colossal proportions—easily five times the size of a human or more.
Yet such a size alone wouldn’t have left Ye-jin so dumbfounded. After all, even the Beast Forest bears exceeded three times human height.
What overwhelmed Ye-jin was his appearance.
A creature with the face of a goat, crowned with two magnificent horns.
It was as though he took pride in his demonic nature. Moreover, the overwhelming aura radiating from his entire being caused Ye-jin to instinctively recoil.
“Do you think we can escape?”
“…Hmm, the odds seem lower than fighting.”
Though he spoke with confidence, Ye-jin caught the implication—that our chances of defeat were far greater.
―Whoosh!
As Dalikssor extended his hand, a massive spear wreathed in crimson light materialized before him.
The sharp, formidable spearhead gleamed with the color of blood.
Dalikssor grasped the colossal spear in both hands and advanced slowly toward Jae-beom and Ye-jin. With each step his hooves struck the earth, the ground itself trembled, and the very air seemed to quake with dread.
“Kekeke… After such a long slumber, to think humans dare disturb my domain.”
“Though I must say, that monologue is rather clichéd. He seems manageable.”
At those words, Ye-jin forced a smile. Despite Jae-beom’s words, Dalikssor’s voice thundered like a tempest—terrifying and absolute.
Jae-beom was, remarkably, attempting to ease Ye-jin’s fear through his reassurance.
“I’ll defer the first strike to you.”
“There’s no need for that.”
“But your level is higher than mine, is it not?”
“It’s only a one-level difference!”
―Master… human… coward… useless.
“Hey, you can speak properly now!”
Ye-jin turned to look at Dercan as she spoke. Despite his skeletal visage devoid of expression, she somehow sensed that Dercan was saying, “Me?”
―Me?
And indeed, Dercan spoke those very words.
“Hey!!”
[How dare you look away from me!]
―Shrieeeeek!
But it seemed Ye-jin was not the only one angered.
Dalikssor unleashed an ear-splitting roar from his maw. Simultaneously, the colossal spear he wielded tore through the air with ferocious velocity.
The crimson-gleaming spearhead flashed like lightning, its trajectory aimed with lethal precision at the hearts of Jae-beom and Ye-jin. The killing intent was so palpable that even the surrounding air seemed to tremble in terror.
“Dodge!”
The murderous intent was so unmistakable that Jae-beom reacted before the spear was even fully released.
Jae-beom seized Ye-jin’s arm and pulled her swiftly aside, his body moving with practiced grace. Ye-jin, half a beat behind, reflexively leaped in sync with his motion.
By the narrowest of margins, Dalikssor’s spear grazed past beneath their feet.
―Crash!
“Ugh!”
But an impact of that magnitude meant they couldn’t remain unscathed even if they dodged the direct hit. Both Jae-beom and Ye-jin were swept up by the shockwave as the spear tore through the air, sending them tumbling backward.
―Crack! Crack!
And it wasn’t over yet. From where the spear had struck, dust, soil, and rock fragments erupted in all directions.
―Boom… Booooom…
The surrounding trees were uprooted and toppled from the force of the impact.
Leaves scattered on the wind, broken branches scattered everywhere.
“We’re going to die if we’re not careful.”
All of this had happened from a single spear throw. Though both Jae-beom and Ye-jin had managed to evade the spear, they could distinctly feel their HP had been reduced considerably.
Facing that single strike, Jae-beom reached a conclusion.
―Smirk.
Seeing Jae-beom smile, Ye-jin asked in a trembling voice.
“Now… what do we do?”
She had already lost her will to fight. Her newly acquired bow, no matter how fine, was useless against an opponent of this caliber.
“Do you remember what I said earlier?”
As Ye-jin tried to recall Jae-beom’s words.
“I said that running away seemed to have a higher probability of success than fighting.”
―Whoosh!
“Run!”
Jae-beom bolted the moment those words left his mouth—or rather, before he’d even finished shouting them. Ye-jin and Dercan, left behind in shock, scrambled to chase after him.
And as Ye-jin gave chase, she cried out.
“You said the opposite just now!!”
* * *
Jae-beom, Ye-jin, and Dercan ran breathlessly toward the outer regions.
―Clatter. Clatter.
To be precise, Dercan, being a skeleton, wasn’t running breathlessly. He merely clattered along, having long since abandoned any sensation of breathlessness in his previous life.
[Kahahaha! Go ahead and run to your heart’s content!]
In any case.
Behind them, Dalikssor’s thunderous roar pursued them relentlessly.
―Flap! Flap!
Dalikssor spread his massive wings and soared into the sky.
With each beat of his wings, the surrounding trees shook violently, and those with weak roots were torn from the ground entirely.
―Shrieeeek!
A spear flew from Dalikssor’s hand.
“Whoa! Damn!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Jae-beom quickly threw himself out of the way, while Ye-jin rolled low to evade the danger.
―Boom!
The spear shattered through trees and embedded itself in the ground.
The two narrowly escaped with their lives and continued sprinting forward without a moment to catch their breath.
―Whoosh! Whoosh!
The spear streaked past them once more. Dalikssor spread his wings wide and pursued them with relentless ferocity.
‘He’s toying with us.’
Judging by Dalikssor’s speed and the spear’s destructive power, he could have killed us whenever he wished.
The problem was that my HP was steadily draining despite not taking a single direct hit!
And worse still.
―Crash!
The spear’s power and speed were increasing with each passing moment.
That’s when it happened.
―Master, there are people to the east.
Dercan, running alongside me, pointed eastward and spoke. His urgency was evident in his tone.
“People? Other players?”
―Yes.
I couldn’t sense anything from that direction yet. In a forest like this, detection became impossible after traveling even a short distance.
“Good. Then that means…!”
But we were already in a death situation anyway. If all we had to do was change our direction of flight, there was no reason to hesitate.
“Ye-jin! Head east!”
―Thud!
As I shouted the direction change to Ye-jin, I pivoted my body. Immediately after, Dercan sprinted toward the location where he’d sensed the people.
* * *
Throughout the forest, hunting grounds of other players were scattered everywhere.
“Spell activation! Fireball!”
“Direct hit! Everyone converge! Warriors, manage the aggro carefully!”
A party composed of mages and archers was engaged in combat with a fierce pack of werewolves.
A new map in the new region called the Demon Realm. It was hardly unusual for all sorts of parties to be hunting here.
However.
[Warning! The Forest’s Ruler, Dalikssor, has been revived.]
The sudden message threw them into panic.
“The Forest’s Ruler? Is it the area’s main boss?”
“Wait, let’s finish what we’re fighting first and think about it later!”
―Growwwl!
“Aggro management failed! Mages, fall back!”
Momentarily flustered, they sustained injuries from the monsters they’d been handling easily before finally defeating them.
After barely finishing them off, they split into two groups and began deliberating.
“The monsters here are roughly level 30, so the boss can’t be more than mid-30s? At best, level 40? Should we all take it on?”
“That’s by your standards. This isn’t just a field boss—a warning message appeared! Do you think death penalties are a joke? We need to leave immediately!”
The rational ones were pointing out the excessive danger….
But if they were truly rational, they wouldn’t be hunting in a new region in the first place.
I’d at least gathered information from the Library beforehand, but most of the parties in this field were people who’d simply come looking for a hunt in a new area.
And.
―Thump… thump-thump.
A result that lay beyond their control was drawing near.
―Crack! Splinter!
The ground trembled as something massive approached, splintering trees in its wake.
“Damn it… it’s here!”
Even those who had opposed the hunt realized escape was impossible and swiftly shifted into combat stance.
“Help us! It’s a field boss!”
Yet what greeted them was not a boss monster, but a man who appeared to be a novice.
“P-please save me!”
Behind him came an archer who had only recently shed the beginner’s mark.
The Party Leader assessed the situation swiftly upon seeing their equipment.
‘A mage in the low-10s and an archer in the early-20s…? They’re nowhere near strong enough to hunt here. They must have recklessly wandered into this new dungeon.’
The Party Leader had hoped to gauge the boss’s level from the fleeing players’ levels, but he called out first.
“Fall back behind us!”
Perhaps because of the archer character’s appearance, the leader’s voice carried considerable force.
Even knowing that Evern Online had customization features, strength somehow surged forth before a beautiful character.
“Thank you!”
In that instant, Jae-beom and Ye-jin exchanged no glances—their agreement was already made.
Jae-beom would stay silent while Ye-jin would respond.
“Thank you so much!”
‘…? Why past tense?’
And the Party Leader’s confusion was
―Flutter… flutter!
[Ho. There was more prey here after all.]
resolved the moment Dalikssor, who had been pursuing them, emerged into view.
“Wh…?”
It was instantly apparent.
This was absolutely not a boss in the 30s or low-40s. There was no way they could win against it.
Yet they were players who had ventured into a new dungeon.
The Party Leader quickly regained his composure and shouted.
“Prepare for ba—!”
―Kwaaaang!
[How noisy.]
That was all.
A level-38 player had been killed in a single blow.
The remaining party members were horrified by the sight and quickly changed their judgment.
“Scatter!”
The archer who had taken on the role of Party Leader in emergencies shouted.
At the same moment, all party members bolted in different directions.
Only then did Dalikssor’s lips curl into a cruel smile.
Screams of defiance from an ignorant fool who didn’t know his place were entirely different from the death cries of vermin.
[I’ll slaughter every last one of you!]
Dalikssor couldn’t hide his exhilaration as he roared. Those two cunning bastards maintained their composure even while fleeing, but these terror-stricken wretches—they were far more satisfying to hunt.

—————

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

—————