My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 45

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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 45
“…”
I watched Dercan with quiet observation as he looked pleased with himself.
“Yeah, well done.”
I simply raised my thumb. Dercan tilted his head slightly as if to say, ‘Right?’ Since he was nothing but bone, the gesture of lifting his chin was rather conspicuous.
I carefully opened the box’s lid while leaving Dercan to his own devices.
As if it had been sealed for ages, the sound of the lid opening struck my ears sharply.
A stale, musty odor assaulted my nose.
Inside the box lay a single small serpent statue, resting in perfect stillness.
“Huh?”
Ye-jin, who had been peering at the box beside me, opened her mouth with unmistakable disappointment. This time, her reaction was so blatant that even I couldn’t miss it.
Yet the moment I saw the statue’s eyes, my skin crawled.
Embedded in the jet-black serpent’s eyes was a crimson gem, and from that jewel emanated an undeniable sense of vitality.
As if drawn by some invisible force, I reached out and grasped the serpent statue.
Its cold texture sent a tingling shock through my palm.
The instant it touched my hand, a peculiar aura radiated from the statue.
―Ssshhhhh!
The moment I lifted the statue, a torrent of black light erupted toward my body.
Though it was light, it felt viscous and tangible—an impossibility made manifest—as it began to coil around me from all directions.
“Ugh!”
Startled, I tried to drop the statue, but it was already too late.
The black light consumed my body in an instant.
My vision blurred, and consciousness seemed to drift away.
The light vanished, and everything was swallowed by darkness. Before I could even regain my senses, I was pulled into the abyss.
―Uuuooohhh…
When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar landscape stretched before me.
Typically, a space of absolute blackness where nothing can be seen is called ‘a space of nothingness.’
But this space was different.
The pitch-black mist, so thick it was almost viscous, seemed as though it could be touched.
Though the surroundings were silent, the air itself seemed to vibrate with an eerie resonance.
It felt as though I had stepped into a nightmare.
―Thud. Thud. Thud.
Then, heavy footsteps that tore through the darkness echoed out.
As a chilling atmosphere permeated the space, something was approaching.
‘If Ye-jin were here, she’d have fainted by now.’
―Ssshhhhh…
A colossal form emerged from the mist, revealing itself.
‘…Oh, this is… something.’
Before me stood a grotesque creature—a fusion of a human’s upper body and a serpent’s lower half.
Pallid skin, eyes gleaming crimson, and a lower body covered in serpentine scales.
The entity that emerged from the viscous darkness was inherently alien by its very existence. The mere fact that it remained visible within the darkness was enough to prove it.
A special guest has arrived in the Land of Dark Mist.
A voice, hoarse as if torn apart, drifted through the space. Despite the entity clearly existing before my eyes, the voice seemed to emanate not from its throat but from the space itself.
Because of this, I found myself doubting whether the words I’d just heard had even come from my opponent.
“Who are you?”
Still, I decided to assume that the entity before me had spoken.
The master of this dwelling, as it were.
I gritted my teeth at the ominous atmosphere.
‘I had a feeling something was off the moment I obtained that statue and received a reward.’
Or perhaps this had happened because Dercan had forced the box open.
What was certain was that the current situation was decidedly not unfolding favorably.
―Kiiieeeek….
“Then, master, what business do you have with me….”
Enough.
It was a quiet sound, yet absolute in its finality.
The creature had no interest in prolonged conversation with its sacrifice.
The monster approached slowly, its expression devoid of emotion.
[Status Abnormality: Paralyzed by Fear!]
[Unable to Move!]
I gritted my teeth.
‘It’s not that terrifying! I’m not Ye-jin!’
But the system’s status abnormality could not be ignored.
Moreover, whatever the system was, I was crushed beneath an overwhelming force, unable to even breathe properly.
Thud.
Perhaps because the entity itself symbolized terror incarnate.
Even its mere footsteps, not its voice, dominated the space.
‘Move! Move! Please!’
Thud.
No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t move even a fraction.
Then.
Kiiiieeeeng!
A discordant sound pierced through the space.
What the…
“Hell…?!”
As if the space itself were being torn asunder, the sound passed through, and the monster’s voice no longer dominated the space.
The density of the black mist had diminished considerably. The creature’s sound had now become merely a ‘voice’.
A crimson light was flowing from my body.
[The Overlord’s Authority absorbs Apep, the Lord of Dark Mist!]
The crimson light bursting forth from my body tore through the space, shooting toward Apep.
“Kughhhh…!”
Apep let out a stifled groan, as if barely suppressing her agony.
Her body, engulfed in crimson radiance, trembled in convulsive spasms.
Her skin was burning away across her entire form, yet black mist gathered around her body, barely enduring the scarlet light.
―Shhhhk!
“This light… surely not!”
In that instant, a sphere of crimson radiance materialized in the space that had been nothing but black mist. The black mist that had been converging on Apep’s body could not withstand the red light.
―Crack.
At last, parting through the crimson brilliance, a colossal silhouette raised its head.
And that form was…
‘Count Heltema?’
The final boss of the Hell Mode tutorial—Count Heltema.
“It has been a long time, Apep.”
A resonant voice shook the very space around us.
Count Heltema carried himself with supreme confidence, as though he had never died at all. The black mist dared not encroach upon the space surrounding him.
His appearance resembled what I had witnessed in Hell Mode, yet there were unmistakable differences.
In Hell Mode, his armor had been pitch black and dark. But here in this space, his armor remained black yet was tinged with crimson.
Moreover.
‘Why a skull?’
In Hell Mode, the Demon Realm’s Count Heltema had worn dark armor, yet his form was that of a living creature with a heart.
But now Count Heltema bore the visage of a Death Knight—a skeleton stripped of all flesh.
[You dare attempt to make a sacrifice of one who walks the path of lordship?]
Looking more closely, the crimson hue seemed to emanate from glowing patterns inscribed across his armor.
Yet despite the red light blooming from within the darkness, only the aura of death—that which opposed life itself—could be felt.
“Still, you know not your place.”
Not a trace of tension emanated from Count Heltema. Crimson radiance flickered within his hollow eye sockets, and yet his countenance somehow conveyed utter ennui.
‘How did this bastard appear?’
Now that I could move again, I ground my teeth as I watched Count Heltema.
Certainly, he was the boss I had defeated in the tutorial area. And though I had grown far stronger since then…
‘I cannot defeat him.’
I could sense it from my confrontation with Apep. Apep was absolutely not beneath Dalikssor.
One might feel that way having entered Apep’s exclusive domain, but at least within this space, that was the case.
Yet the Count Heltema before my eyes now was overwhelming Apep in this very place.
“I was surprised, but… it seems you have not yet recovered all of your original power?”
Apep, who had been flustered, gathered the black mist and barely suppressed the crimson light, then smiled.
However, unlike the composed Count Heltema, her forced smile was painfully transparent.
The composure she had displayed at her first meeting with me had long since vanished.
[That is true.]
Count Heltema readily affirmed Apep’s words.
‘What?’
Count Heltema’s current power was beyond anything I could even begin to fathom. Yet he claimed this was not the full extent of his recovered strength?
[However, you require no greater power than this.]
“What nonsense!”
Apep shrieked, gathering the black mist into a torrent and hurling it toward Count Heltema.
[Crumble.]
Count Heltema didn’t even draw his blade—he merely swept his hand through the air.
―Whoooosh!
In that instant, a crimson light pierced through the black mist as if it were nothing.
―Squelch!
A sickening sound accompanied something tearing through flesh.
―Crack!
And with a sound like something being wrenched apart, a black heart lay clenched in Count Heltema’s palm.
―Thud.
Where Apep had stood, a single black serpent now lay collapsed.
‘…?’
I was bewildered by the sight, but Count Heltema approached me calmly, the heart still gripped in his hand.
[She fled. Sacrificing her own minion as an offering and vanishing—a creature who finds it difficult to let go of her life so easily.]
Only then did I grasp the situation. Looking more carefully, I could see a small rift in the air, absorbing all the black mist into itself.
[But this shall suffice. Take it—this too shall serve as a catalyst for me to reclaim my power.]
―Shhhhwooosh!
Before I could even respond, the heart transformed into crimson light and was absorbed into my body.
‘Ugh!’
In that moment, searing heat burrowed through my skin. I felt a burning agony as if millions of needles were piercing every single cell.
‘My pain sensitivity setting… I set it way too high!’
At maximum pain sensitivity, the suffering was almost unbearable.
Yet even through it all, I neither lost consciousness nor collapsed.
After all, Count Heltema might attempt revenge in this very moment.
[Indeed.]
Watching me endure, Count Heltema murmured with evident satisfaction.
[Though it was merely the remnant of a decayed power….]
‘What is he talking about?’
[You possess enough capability to dispose of my refuse. Belated though it may be, I offer my gratitude for that service.]
―Fading….
With those words, he dissolved like mist.
―Boom!
The space trembled once more.
The space, now nearly emptied of black mist through the rift, appeared infinitely unstable.
Finally, the entire space began to collapse.
And then.
“Jae-beom… Stagnant Water?”
In the next moment, Ye-jin called out my username, her face etched with shock.
“A-are you… are you okay? You suddenly disappeared and then reappeared…”
Jaebeom paused for a moment, studying my expression.
“I’m fine.”
Unable to think of what else to say, I mumbled out a vague response.
“Are you really sure you’re okay? What on earth happened…? Did some kind of event trigger?”
―Boom!
At that moment, a heavy sound reverberated through the air. But it didn’t come from outside—it emanated from within me.
A far more powerful crimson light erupted from my entire body. The sheer force of the energy release caused the entire Dungeon to tremble violently.
“An… an earthquake?”
[The Overlord’s awakening has begun.]
[It is recommended that you proceed in a safe location.]
At those words, I immediately tried to leave the Dungeon.
[However, as time passes, the absorption rate of power will decrease.]
[Current absorption rate: 95.9%]
“Proceed right now!”
I cried out reflexively.
‘If it’s dangerous, Dercan and Ye-jin will protect me…’
[For the awakening, all summoned subordinates’ summons will be cancelled.]
And then, a message appeared that mocked me.

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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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