My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 37

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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 37
“A 10% attack power increase?”
“Pardon?”
“When you engrave it, the enchantment grants an additional 10% attack power boost. But it seems that if you engrave an enchantment, you also receive additional effects.”
“Really?”
Ye-jin’s eyes widened as she listened to my explanation. I thought it was a decent option, but I figured she was getting excited before we even saw the additional effects.
“Wait a moment… doesn’t that apply to Dercan as well?”
Ye-jin seemed to possess information I didn’t.
“Hmm?”
“From what I know, when you enchant a Necromancer-class staff, the summoned creatures receive the bonus too.”
“But… while Overlord is a higher-tier job than Necromancer, it’s not actually a Necromancer. We’d have to test it to know for sure.”
Since I’d become an Overlord by claiming Count Heltema’s authority as my own power, it was fundamentally a different class from Necromancer.
“Are you satisfied with the appraisal results?”
That’s when Arhenna approached us. Still unaccustomed to her timid and courteous demeanor, we both nodded with reluctant expressions.
“Now you’ll need to have the enchantment engraved. To maximize the additional effects, it’s best to have it done by someone of the highest possible rank.”
She then explained the next process with the skill of a seasoned sales representative. Particularly memorable was how she rubbed her fingers together to express “money.”
And the expressions on my face and Ye-jin’s were even more memorable—we looked like defense ministers on the verge of staging a coup.
Somehow, Arhenna understood our expressions and began to stammer.
“O-of course, if you commission a high-rank alchemist, the cost will be somewhat higher. But it’s absolutely worth the investment.”
Arhenna winked as she spoke, as if proposing a favorable deal to a long-time customer.
“All of our high-rank alchemists are veterans with decades of experience…”
“Stop.”
I raised my hand to silence Arhenna.
“Yes?”
“Whether it’s rank 1 or rank 0, I’ll pay for it… just stop.”
Even as we tried to treat her as Arhenna, we had to accept that she no longer existed anywhere in this world.
Two days ago, when Osirius Castle was pulled into the Demon Realm, that was her end.
Arhenna—a blacksmith of exceptional skill and stubborn will.
??? ~ March 27, 2037.
She sleeps with the city at Osirius Castle.
* * *
[Beginning recording.]
Having witnessed a person’s death, Ye-jin and I began our YouTube recording with somber expressions.
The space that Arhenna had guided us to was filled with golden light.
In the center of the room sat a sofa with graceful curves. Wrapped in crimson velvet, it resembled a royal resting place. Around the sofa were arranged ornate cushions embroidered with golden thread.
‘There’s machinery here too?’
Behind the sofa stood an imposing, massive machine. Intricately interwoven gears, cogs, and tubes created an air of mystery. The machine was adorned with gleaming metal and iridescent jewels, evoking the image of a colossal golden golem.
At the machine’s core was a space for inserting equipment. Placed upon a pedestal inscribed with delicate, intricate patterns, the equipment seemed destined to gain new power from the machine’s force.
“That is…”
“It must be the alchemists’ skill tome. I’ve heard each one costs around 100 gold.”
“That’s an insane price.”
Both walls of the room were lined with towering bookshelves. Ancient leather-bound tomes and thick parchment scrolls packed every inch of space. They were records containing the accumulated knowledge and techniques of alchemists across centuries.
‘They keep something like this here?’
‘The room design turned out pretty well.’
―Tap… tap… tap.
Then, footsteps echoed from behind Jaebeom and Ye-jin. Both of them sensed the presence and turned their heads.
“Oh my. I haven’t seen you before.”
First-grade alchemist Valerot stood at the entrance.
“Hello?”
―Whoooosh….
She appeared ordinary at first glance, but there was something distinctly unusual about her compared to other alchemists.
It was the golden gauntlets adorning both her hands.
Expertly crafted, the gauntlets radiated a brilliance like the sun itself. Intricate and mysterious patterns covered every inch of their surface. The mana emanating from the gauntlets enveloped her in a golden aura.
‘What is that?’
“I heard the story. You requested a crystal appraisal from a tenth-grade alchemist, but it came back as unmeasurable?”
“Yes.”
“And… the additional effects from the enchantment engraving couldn’t be confirmed even with the crystal analyzer?”
Upon hearing the appraisal results, Valerot approached Jaebeom with barely contained excitement.
“Let’s get started right away. The special enchantment engraving service… normally it would be impossible without connections….”
At the mention of connections, Jaebeom glanced sideways at Ye-jin. In most cases, when NPCs spoke of connections, they meant ‘money’.
“Um, I don’t have money. I spent all my gems already. The veteran player still has some.”
“Ah.”
‘Treating a newbie like this?’ Jaebeom mentally downgraded Ye-jin’s newbie weirdness rating from 15981 to 15980.
“Ah, money isn’t the issue.”
“?”
“Really?”
“…Though I wouldn’t call it free, exactly.”
As disappointment crossed both their faces, Valerot hastily added more.
“It’s not about money—it’s that there’s an object the crystal analyzer can’t even identify! Where should I engrave it?”
One could immediately recognize her as an NPC obsessed with her craft, or more precisely, with difficult work.
‘Well, that’s probably why she became a first-grade alchemist.’
Even without being an NPC, it was common for masters of a field to have some eccentric quirk.
‘Arhenna before she died… was like that too.’
Jaebeom’s expression turned bitter as he handed over the steel staff and the Demon Beast Bear’s crystal.
“A steel staff. Are you a warrior?”
“No. I’m a mage.”
“?”
“? Why do you look like that…? Isn’t a staff a mage’s weapon?”
“A staff is a staff depending on the staff. This is a completely combat-oriented staff. Magic is at the level of ‘usable’ at best, and it’s specialized for close-range combat.”
“…You can discern such things?”
“Where do you think this place is?”
Hearing those words, I remembered that this was the Dairn Smithy.
“Well, I’m a blacksmith myself. My blacksmithing skill is about grade 3 if we’re comparing it to alchemy.”
Though she said it lightly, a grade 3 blacksmith out of 10 grades meant she held a remarkable position as a craftsperson.
“So… you’re saying I’m a mage? You can’t just change your words like that, can you?”
“Is there a problem if I’m not a mage?”
When Ye-jin interjected from the side, Valerot nodded.
“Well, even with the same staff and the same gem, different results can come out.”
Hearing that, Jaebeom nodded as if understanding. It seemed that at the level of a grade 1 alchemist, success and failure weren’t the only outcomes—you could actually choose which type of success would manifest.
“Then I’m a warrior.”
“…? What do you mean… can the word ‘then’ really be attached before a job title like that?”
“Ah, my job is mage, but the only magic I can use is summoning skeletal soldiers. I usually fight directly myself.”
Jaebeom explained somewhat elaborately. Since Valerot had put it that way, the more detailed his explanation, the better the staff she could create for him.
“Ah, so you can only summon skeletal soldiers… I understand.”
Yet when Valerot heard that, she nodded as if grasping something important.
Jaebeom sensed something unsettling in that expression, but since she was offering to do this for almost free—though she hadn’t actually said that—he had no intention of saying more and offending her.
―Uuuuung….
Valerot placed the steel staff and the crystal into a massive machine.
Then she closed her eyes and began chanting a complex incantation.
Soon, a vast magical circle, structure, and formula unfolded above the machine.
Jaebeom and Ye-jin could barely recognize that some of these were analysis results from the crystal analyzer they’d seen earlier.
―Crackle… crackle!
At that moment, the machine spun intensely, generating silvery electrical current.
“How dazzling.”
Watching this, Ye-jin quietly leaned against Jaebeom. Jaebeom realized she was angling for a YouTube shot and deliberately pushed her away.
Originally, a foolish beauty flirting and him swatting her away like a fly tended to get better view counts.
Of course, for now, with Ye-jin’s true identity unable to be revealed, it was footage he couldn’t use anyway.
“Uh… uh-uh!”
That was when it happened.
Beads of sweat formed on Valerot’s forehead and streamed down relentlessly. Fear flickered across her golden eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“This can’t… this isn’t right!”
The silvery electrical current pouring from the machine began thrashing through space as if alive. The current writhed like a serpent, cutting through the air, and burned everything it touched.
The magical circles, incantations, and structures that had appeared moments before suffered the same fate. As Jaebeom and Ye-jin watched the holograms burn in confusion.
―Boom! Kaboom!
Successive explosions shook the Engraving Chamber. The sound was deafening enough to make ears ring.
Red flames erupted violently from inside the machine. Brilliant crimson fire blazed in all directions, consuming everything around it.
―Whoooosh!
And as those flames completely engulfed the Engraving Chamber.
[The crystal’s hidden power awakens.]
[Quest Title: Alchemist Protection]
[Description: Protect the alchemist from the specters pouring through the crystal.]
[Final Objective: Protect alchemist Valerot until the engraving is complete.]
[Reward: Affinity increase with the alchemist and blacksmith of the workshop, plus additional rewards.]
An unexpected situation had unfolded.
* * *
As crimson flames erupted violently from the crystal, grotesque forms emerged from within. Pitch-black shadows writhed between the flames, surging skyward. The shadows grew increasingly distinct, gradually taking on the shape of specters.
The specters were uniformly grotesque and twisted. From skeletal remains rotted down to bare bone, to corpses covered in vivid wounds weeping blood and pus.
―Grrrrgh….
The suddenly manifested specters initially only surveyed their surroundings with hollow eye sockets, but soon fixed their gaze upon my group.
They bared heavy teeth and unleashed an eerie wail. A bone-chilling screech like tearing metal echoed through the Engraving Chamber.
At first glance, they appeared to be nothing more than zombies or ghouls, but….
‘Weapons?’
The specters clutched rusted weapons in their hands. Worn blades, jagged spears, blood-stained axes. A crimson liquid—whether fresh blood or curse—dripped relentlessly from the weapons.
Then.
“Block them!”
Someone cried out in a resounding voice, stepping forward to intercept them.
It was Arhenna.
―Boom!
The moment Arhenna’s hand touched the ground, an enormous surge of energy exploded from her body. Like a dam bursting, a vast torrent of electrical current poured outward in all directions.
“Arhenna!”
“I was alive, after all!”
“I’ve never experienced death!”
Arhenna’s tone had returned to normal, but the two of us found that all the more welcoming.
Though it wasn’t quite the bearing of a blacksmith, her spirited demeanor at least resembled something of the original Arhenna.
Lightning streamed from Arhenna’s hands, writhing like serpents as it lashed toward the specters.
―Crackle, snap,
A deafening electrical screech filled the Engraving Chamber. The acrid scent of ozone permeated the air. The voltage was so extraordinarily high that even the surrounding atmosphere was becoming ionized.
The specters shrieked the moment the blue lightning engulfed them. The sound of bones shattering and flesh burning away. Smoke rose from their bodies before they transformed into ash and scattered into the void. The specters were utterly helpless against the alchemist’s lightning.
And watching that display, a single thought flickered through my mind.
‘Just days ago, she was testing people with nothing more than a heavy crossbow….’
The power she wielded now was something the Arhenna of days past could never have mustered. Not even if a blacksmith’s entire level had been converted to alchemist and mage.
Which meant.
‘When we crossed into the Demon Realm… did all the NPCs that were originally in Osirius Castle become monsters?’

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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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