My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 38

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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 38
Arhenna’s first assault was devastatingly powerful. Ye-jin moved to support her immediately afterward—
“Wait.”
Arhenna’s attack was only just beginning.
—Crackle! Snap!
A cold, brilliant blue light enveloped Arhenna’s entire body. Lightning flickered in her eyes, incantations flowing from her lips. The electrical current coursing through her fingertips moved with exquisite precision, bending to her will.
‘Just how much stronger has she become? Twice as strong? Three times?’
When Jae-beom spoke of two or three times stronger, he wasn’t referring to a multiplicative increase in power—he meant levels. Arhenna was now displaying strength that nearly rivaled Herman’s, the vice-commander himself.
‘Of course, Herman probably wasn’t fighting at full capacity either…’
Simultaneously, another thought struck him. If Arhenna had reached this level, what about Valerot, who was currently bound up performing the engraving?
“Valerot is a non-combat alchemist, unlike me! Protect her with everything you have!”
Arhenna cried out as she swept her arm in a wide arc.
Blue lightning surged forth in a devastating torrent, sweeping away the wraiths without mercy. The sight of her punishing enemies with the force of electricity was breathtaking.
Within the onslaught of azure brilliance, the initial wave of wraiths was obliterated. But there was no time for relief. The red flames from the crystal showed no sign of diminishing, and fresh wraiths poured forth in endless succession.
“Just a little longer!”
—Thud!
The crystal continued to spew flames and wraiths, but as Valerot poured every ounce of her strength into her work, the flames gradually began to subside.
“Five minutes—no, four minutes and 21.7 seconds! That’s all I need…!”
Valerot spoke with oddly specific precision as she stretched both hands toward the crystal. Brilliant light poured forth from her golden gauntlets.
—Whoosh, boom!
The golden radiance streaming from her gauntlets clashed with the crimson flames erupting from the crystal, unleashing a violent shockwave. A deafening roar struck their ears as the impact scattered in all directions.
“Ugh!”
Valerot gasped, blood spilling from her lips.
And as Jae-beom watched this unfold while fighting the newly spawned wraiths—
‘No…’
—Thwack.
He kicked mechanically while his thoughts raced. Without his staff, he had only his fists and feet to rely on, keeping his body busy, but his mind worked independently at lightning speed.
‘Why does something like this happen every time I bring back a dropped item…!’
He’d been unfairly blamed when he’d brought back the Eye of Insight last time.
But at least that had the excuse of being the highest-grade Eye of Insight in existence. This, though? He’d simply asked her to engrave a staff with the seal of a field boss he’d defeated, and this catastrophe erupted—did that even make sense?
‘It’s not like I hunted Dalikssor or anything. I just killed a single demonic beast bear!’
“This is… the first crystal ever to appear in the world…!”
At that moment, Valerot muttered something. It seemed she was analyzing the phenomenon even as she held back the flames.
And the instant he heard those words, everything clicked into place.
‘A first-clear bonus reward?!’
The demonic beast bear was indeed just a field boss, but it had only been two days since the Demon Realm appeared. Even if Jae-beom had been the first to discover and hunt it, separate from the beast’s actual strength, that wouldn’t have been unusual.
What was certain was…
‘At least the world won’t be going on about another leap forward or whatever.’
Even with this event being chaotic, considering Arhenna’s assistance, this wasn’t an impossibly difficult quest.
Or perhaps it was a difficult quest, but at least it wasn’t a crisis that would bring the world to a halt again!
―Shhhhhssshhh, crackle!
While Jae-beom calmly severed the specters with his mind elsewhere, Valerot finished her analysis and made her decisive move.
‘The longer we drag this out, the worse it becomes!’
Tremendous energy surged through the pattern. Golden power cascaded like a waterfall, crushing down upon the crystal.
―Guuuhhh….
Yet as the crystal was crushed, an even larger flame erupted from the opposite side.
―Whooom.
New specters surged forth from the flames—creatures far more massive than those that had emerged before. Elongated horns protruded from their heads.
“Hnngh!”
Arhenna unleashed another torrent of electricity toward them.
―Crackle!
Blue lightning poured forth like machine-gun fire toward the new specter swarm. Bolts flashed brilliantly, piercing through their bodies. Yet.
―Sizzle.
The moment the blue luminescence touched the specters’ forms, the lightning shattered across their surfaces. As if blocked by an invisible barrier, the current scattered in all directions, avoiding the specters entirely.
―Screeeech!
Accompanied by the sound of metal crumpling, the lightning ravaged the walls and floor of the Engraving Chamber, but not a single attack reached the specters.
“What’s happening? My magic….”
Arhenna murmured, engulfed in shock. Her once-formidable lightning had become utterly useless. The situation had reversed completely.
―Shhhhhh, crackle.
Meanwhile, strange sounds began emanating from the specters’ bodies—like electrical circuits shorting out. Blue flashes enveloped them before shifting to a crimson hue.
“Surely not…!”
Arhenna’s eyes widened. The specters weren’t merely defending against the attack—they were absorbing its power!
―Boom, crash!
The crimson-charged energy exploded outward from the specters’ bodies. Their forms became engulfed in red lightning.
―Krraaaaaagh!
With an ear-splitting shriek, the specters charged toward Arhenna. Their movements accelerated dramatically. Having absorbed the electricity, their speed and strength had doubled.
Boom, boom, boom!
Heavy footfalls shook the Engraving Chamber. The horned specters advanced like a stampeding herd of buffalo, the ground trembling, the earth seeming to overturn beneath their charge.
“Danger…!”
In an instant, the situation had reversed.
Just as Arhenna gritted her teeth and prepared to engage in close combat.
[Using the Overload’s power to summon Dercan.]
―Whooom!
Spacetime warped as darkness swirled into being.
‘Even though it looks like I’ve fully recovered on the surface, I really didn’t want to summon him…!’
―Shhhhhh… Whoosh.
It was Dercan, who had been nearly shattered by the demonic beast earlier. Though his wounds appeared completely healed, there was no telling what side effects might manifest.
But now was not the time to hold back.
―….
The moment Dercan materialized, he surveyed his surroundings with hollow eye sockets. The red light within his eyes flickered several times before he grasped the situation.
―Whoosh!
Without hesitation, I threw myself directly into the heart of the wraiths.
―Slash! Slash! Slash!
I dispatched the foremost wraith in a single, fluid motion. As it bowed its head, both hamstrings severed, my twin blades crossed in the next instant, cleaving through its neck.
―One.
The wraiths, seemingly sluggish in their response due to being undead themselves, began tightening their encirclement with menacing snarls.
“Danger…!”
Ye-jin started to cry out, but upon meeting Jae-beom’s gaze, she quickly fell silent.
I remained perfectly still as wraiths surged toward me from all directions.
―Whoosh, swish, swish!
And finally, as the wraiths closed to arm’s length.
My hands began moving with the speed of lightning.
My twin blades carved trails of light through the air, slashing through empty space.
The sound of steel meeting steel, the tearing of flesh—a cacophony erupted in succession.
Like a flock of crows scattering in panic, the wraiths fell in disarray and terror.
―Boom, thud!
Blood sprayed in all directions.
Several wraiths managed to leap over my blades, closing to within striking distance.
―Crack! Thud!
Each time, Jae-beom rushed in swiftly to destabilize them. Though unarmed and lacking offensive power, he could at least dart in to divide their attention.
―Slash!
And in the next instant, my twin blades severed the unbalanced wraith’s neck as I passed.
―Whistle!
Moreover, Ye-jin’s arrows, which had vanished at some point, now began targeting wraiths from various angles.
―Screeeech!
Yet the wraiths’ counterattack was no less fierce.
The flames erupted with increasing violence and magnitude, spreading ever wider. As the crystal diminished, the expanding inferno seemed almost like a death throes.
The wraiths emerging from within grew larger, faster, or grotesquely deformed.
Blades, fangs, and claws from all directions converged upon me in a torrent.
―Boom, clang!
Teeth and claws scraped against my armor.
The sharp sound of talons raking against solid bone assaulted my ears.
I continued cutting through enemies with indifference, yet even the most formidable armor was far from invincible.
―Squelch, crack!
Suddenly, one wraith’s attack found its mark on my forearm.
The blade scraped bone and dug deep.
White powder scattered as bone fragments exploded outward.
―Roooar!
The wraith that had drawn blood shrieked in triumphant exultation.
But that moment was fleeting—my counterattack came immediately after.
―Whoosh!
The blade flashed like lightning, severing the specter’s neck in one clean stroke.
The head soared into the air as a fountain of crimson erupted from the severed body.
―Shriek.
The specter released an incomprehensible wail before collapsing to the ground.
Dercan swept across the battlefield as though nothing had transpired.
In truth, it was nothing. Merely a portion of his forearm had been torn away—but to one without pain or emotion, such wounds held no significance.
Yet.
―Screeeeeech!
Darkness erupted from the twin blades, as if Dercan had judged the onslaught too dangerous to continue. After that, it became one-sided slaughter.
Ten specters fell with each strike, twenty with the next.
Nearly a hundred wraiths crumbled beneath Dercan’s blade in mere moments.
Like a torrent sweeping down a hillside, Dercan’s momentum obliterated the specters in his path.
“Isn’t this dangerous?”
Ye-jin’s voice echoed from somewhere in the chamber. Jae-beom answered without turning around.
“There’s not much left anyway!”
Though Dercan possessed infinite stamina, even he could not endlessly deploy such mana-consuming skills.
Moreover, if one looked closely, a crimson aura poured from Dercan’s armor as bone fragments reassembled and reattached themselves of their own accord.
Mid-combat regeneration—something he hadn’t employed before. The situation was abnormal, yet judging by Valerot’s words and the crystal’s momentum, the end was already within sight.
―Clang, clang, clang!
Blades collided, sending cascades of sparks into the air.
The battlefield had become Dercan’s stage alone.
―Roooaaarrr!
No matter how many specters threw themselves at him, Dercan never faltered.
Then, the moment Valerot’s golden light completely sealed the crystal.
“Is it done?”
Jae-beom muttered quietly.
“Are you insane?”
Ye-jin appeared with a start at those words. There were limits to resurrection incantations. This was a forbidden phrase from decades past, was it not?
Yet Jae-beom merely shrugged.
“Nowadays, nothing resurrects from such words. Only the old ones come back from that sort of thing.”
“…I suppose.”
Just as Ye-jin answered.
―Boom… boom-boom!
An ominous sound reverberated through the chamber.
“…Huh?”
The crystal that had been spewing flames now emitted no aura whatsoever.
“Everyone, run! This is dangerous!”
At the crystal’s center, darkness had materialized from nowhere, absorbing all light into itself.
[Kuuuuuuuh!]
Soon, a crimson Minotaur tore through the darkness and appeared.
“Wow, when was the last time I saw a Minotaur? The game’s really showing its age.”
Jae-beom muttered softly at the sight.
All the while desperately ignoring Ye-jin’s gaze fixed upon him from beside.

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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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