My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 81

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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 81
The White-Haired Nobleman approached the fallen Dercan with callous indifference, seizing his skull in his grasp. Cold fingers clamped around the bone’s jaw. Lifeless eye sockets stared upward into the void.
A cruel smile twisted across the man’s lips. He began to apply pressure slowly and deliberately. The sickening crunch of splintering bone echoed through the chamber.
Crack… crunch…
Fissures spider-webbed across Dercan’s skull before it shattered into countless fragments. Bone shards scattered through the air, raining down upon the ground.
In that instant, a strange phenomenon unfolded. Dercan’s remaining bones began to emit a black radiance. Tendrils of shadow energy flowed through the bone, intensifying with each passing moment.
Whoooosh—
Engulfed in black light, the bones gradually lost their form. They dissolved like shadow itself. In mere seconds, all trace of Dercan had been utterly obliterated.
The man’s expression remained impassive as he brushed off his empty hands. His eyes held not the slightest flicker of emotion—as though he had merely disposed of an insignificant insect.
‘Damn, he’s incredibly strong.’
Kim Jae-beom swallowed hard, witnessing the man’s overwhelming power. This creature’s strength far exceeded anything Dercan could have withstood.
“I’ll dispose of the remaining one as well.”
Boom!
The White-Haired Nobleman surged forward with blinding speed toward Arulan, his emerald blade cleaving through the air with a piercing shriek. Arulan appeared trapped in a desperate predicament, assailed by overwhelming force and velocity.
“Meet your death!”
Words dripping with terror spilled from the man’s mouth.
Yet in that critical moment, the evolved Sand Monster, obeying Arulan’s command, interposed itself before the man. The small mass of sand suddenly swelled, transforming into a towering pillar of sand the size of a human.
“What is this? This sand mass…?”
The man muttered in bewilderment.
His blade plunged into the sand pillar. But the sand regenerated endlessly, ensnaring the blade. Even the magical energy radiating from the emerald sword proved ineffective.
“What is happening?!”
The man shrieked in disbelief at the impossible sight.
The colossal mass of sand surged toward him, adhering to his body. More and more sand particles clustered together, constricting his limbs with crushing force.
“Arghhhhhh!”
The man screamed as the sand’s pressure bore down upon him.
His entire body became engulfed in sand. His struggling form writhed within the granular prison. Yet no matter how fiercely he resisted, he could not overcome the sand’s relentless grip.
Trapped within his sandy tomb, the man gasped for breath. His movements grew sluggish, his body going limp as freedom was stolen from him. Even his formidable strength proved insufficient against the sand’s crushing embrace.
“Gasp… gasp…”
Ragged, suffocating breaths escaped from the man’s lips.
The White-Haired Nobleman exerted every ounce of his strength, tearing through the sand and breaking free. He staggered backward, gasping heavily as he brushed the grains from his body. His furious blue eyes fixed upon the monster with burning hatred.
“This accursed creature…”
His grinding words dripped with malice.
Meanwhile, the man’s armor bore numerous cracks from his escape. The radiance emanating from his emerald blade had dimmed considerably. The Sand Monster’s formidable prison had demonstrated power beyond imagination.
The man clenched his teeth, glaring at the sand mass. He had never anticipated that an opponent he deemed easily defeatable could prove so troublesome. Despite his overwhelming strength, he found himself powerless before this evolved creature.
“Tch… what exactly are you?”
Fear flickered in his wary gaze fixed upon the Sand Monster.
“It doesn’t seem to originally belong to him…”
Deep furrows etched across the man’s brow. Confusion clouded his eyes as he studied the Sand Monster.
This creature undoubtedly served as his subordinate, guarding the Shadow Fortress. Yet now it had completely turned against him, attacking under enemy command.
‘Controlling my subordinate through dark power…!’
The man’s face contorted with betrayal, trembling with rage. His blue eyes blazed with fury, and the sickening sound of his grinding teeth sent chills down my spine.
A suffocating killing intent swelled around him, warping the very air. He raised his blade high once more, preparing to hurl himself at the Sand Monster.
That was the moment.
Kim Jae-beom’s shadow materialized behind the man like lightning. The steel staff in his grip whistled through the air, cleaving it in two.
“Ugh!”
The heavy staff crashed into the back of the man’s skull with devastating force. A dull, sickening impact accompanied a low groan.
With a sound like shattering bone, the man’s body lurched forward. He drove his blade into the ground to steady himself, his legs buckling beneath him.
Through his blurring vision, Kim Jae-beom’s figure overlapped and multiplied. He wanted to scream, clutching his head, but all that escaped between his clenched teeth was blood.
‘Damn it! That cowardly bastard attacking from behind…!’
His face flushed crimson with rage and humiliation. He glared at his ambusher with eyes burning with hatred.
But his vision darkened, and he collapsed slowly. Even as he fell, his blue eyes remained fixed on Kim Jae-beom, brimming with lethal intent.
“Hah…!”
Thud.
The man never rose again. It was a somewhat anticlimactic end, but that hardly mattered. What counted was that Kim Jae-beom had defeated him.
‘What exactly is this guy?’
Kim Jae-beom stared down at the corpse, blood trickling from his temple. No matter how he looked at it, this was a figure he’d never encountered in any game guide or lore compendium.
“….”
Then Arulan offered me a proposal. He could enslave the man as a subordinate using his own power.
“But the mana consumption would be substantial? Hmm….”
However, there was a prerequisite. Arulan would need an enormous amount of mana—enough to not only enslave the man but maintain control over him indefinitely.
‘I need someone I can summon here right now….’
Then a figure came to mind: Barcode, my former disciple and someone I could trust.
* * *
The great gates swung open as a white-armored knight strode through with commanding presence. His pristine armor gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, radiating an aura of sanctity.
“I have arrived!”
The sturdy steel plate revealed his imposing physique in full. The pauldrons encasing his broad shoulders and the breastplate etched with unwavering resolve were particularly striking.
A heavy belt cinched his waist, with greaves extending down to protect his lower body. The knee and shin guards were formidable enough to withstand any enemy assault. A roaring lion’s emblem was emblazoned in splendid detail across both shoulder plates. Golden patterns were delicately embroidered across the white armor, evoking an air of nobility.
“Are you well, sir?”
The lion’s crest was also carved into the helm that crowned his brow. Long plumes fluttered in the breeze, symbolizing the valor of a true knight. His eyes, visible through the visor, burned with indomitable strength. That piercing gaze seemed capable of seeing through any opponent. Across his back hung a greatsword as massive as his armor itself. The broad, double-edged blade exuded a terrifying presence. The thick blade radiated a palpable weight.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
I waved my hand dismissively at Barcode. Despite the fierce battle with the man, I’d sustained no real injuries. Even Dercan, who’d been obliterated, had already revived while Barcode was en route.
“Give me a potion first.”
“Yes!”
Barcode handed me a mana potion. I then passed it to Arulan.
Shhh….
As Arulan’s skeletal fingers wrapped around the potion bottle, cracks spiderwebbed across the glass. Dark energy seeped into the spreading fissures.
Crack!
The potion bottle shattered into fragments, and the crimson liquid spilled forth—yet it never touched the ground, instead hovering suspended in the air.
The red glow of the potion swirled between the glass shards, rising like a crimson mist that undulated from Arulan’s fingertips.
The floating red liquid writhed as if possessed by life itself, drawn toward the skull by Arulan’s gestures.
The crimson mist began to bore into Arulan’s bones, drawing it in as though quenching an ancient thirst.
The scarlet energy flowed through every bone in my body, seeping deep into the marrow itself.
“!”
A brilliant red radiance flashed within the skull’s eye sockets, growing more intense with each potion absorbed.
Between the hollow eye cavities, a smoldering crimson glow writhed and undulated. Red energy leaked from between Arulan’s ribs as well, as though a fierce inferno were kindling deep within the bones themselves.
The red light enveloping my entire skeleton was gradually absorbed into my body.
As though breathing life into each bone fragment, my limbs began to move with newfound vigor.
Crrrack!
Arulan’s jaw slowly opened, then yawned wide. A crimson tongue flickered within the pitch darkness of the mouth.
With a raspy, wheezing breath came an eerie chill that billowed forth.
Then ancient incantations began to flow from Arulan’s lips—syllables in an incomprehensible tongue, murmured and echoing through the chamber.
It was an ominous resonance that seemed ready to unleash malevolent spirits at any moment.
As the incantation continued, the red radiance in Arulan’s eyes burned ever more intensely, blazing with such brilliance as to pierce the darkness itself.
A frenzied aura enveloped my entire form.
The moment the final syllable ceased, a condensed wave of black energy erupted from Arulan’s body.
Pitch-black mist crawled across the floor toward the corpses.
The darkness descended upon the limp body of the White-Haired Nobleman.
Consumed by the mist, the corpse slowly began to levitate.
Simultaneously, the aura of death receded, and vitality began to return.
Color gradually returned to the pallid face. Strength visibly returned to the previously limp limbs.
Suddenly, the sealed eyelids twitched, then slowly opened, revealing blue irises.
The hazy gaze soon focused, and he began to survey his surroundings.
A faint breath escaped between lips that had been firmly sealed.
A deep, resonant heartbeat—thump, thump—echoed through the chest.
The perfectly revived man’s body slowly descended to the ground.

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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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