—Foolish Mortals.
A skeleton clad in dull ash-gray armor spoke.
Or rather, it would be incorrect to say it spoke.
Since skeletons, being made of bone, lacked the organs necessary for speech.
It wasn't speech but a projection of intent.
What was strange was that, despite the absence of sound, the aning was directly conveyed into one's mind.
The sensation was filthy and uncomfortable.
For humans, it instinctively elicited a sense of rejection.
Due to the undead's forceful transmission of intent.
-You all will die here.
The skeleton, which emitted an unpleasant intent once again, was different from the others.
Its stature was significantly larger, and its bones were much thicker.
It was an entity with a distinctly different presence.
Naturally.
It was the leader of the undead horde on the 10th underground floor.
A Skeleton Knight.
The Skeleton Knight felt neither anxiety nor fear.
It was well aware of the humans' strength.
Though they had eliminated monsters, those were rely inferior creatures.
The undead, superior immortals, were different.
It felt no threat whatsoever from such a number of humans.
—Hm?
The Skeleton Knight, having noticed sothing, let a silvery light flow from its empty eye sockets.
Precisely, three humans were charging towards the left of the formation.
Foolish.
Utterly foolish.
Like moths to a fla, they rushed towards their own demise.
The Skeleton Knight quickly dismissed them from its mind.
They were going to die soon anyway.
The Skeleton Knight's gaze turned forward.
Towards the main body of humans.
-Slaughter them all without exception.
A suffocating murderous intent struck the minds of all humans.
"Ugh, such intense murderous intent."
Annette frowned.
"Damn, that one?"
Kamian's face hardened.
He imdiately recognized that it was no ordinary foe.
Only my face remained calm.
"Acting tough for a pile of bones."
I let out an overt sneer.
A deliberate action to ease the tension of Annette and Kamian.
But that wasn't the only reason.
It was also a naturally ford expression due to overflowing confidence.
Having mastered the basics of swordsmanship and archery and learned powerful new skills.
The protagonist, who had been feeding on experience points and growing in his own way.
Annette, the owner of a unique trait that possessed an almost cheat-like power against the undead.
It was impossible to imagine us losing.
Losing was out of the question.
"Don't even think about getting tense. Even our dog at ho wouldn't get tense over ingredients for bone broth."
"Pfft."
Annette tried to stifle her laughter by turning her head and covering her mouth with her arm.
Kamian let out a chuckle, finding it absurd.
"Aren't we a bit too relaxed?"
"It's okay this ti."
I said, spinning around and pulling out the Marcus Bow.
A bow made from the bones of the Skeleton King, to be used against the undead.
To catch an undead with an undead, as the saying goes.
'The curse may not stick, but the fear will.'
Being undead, they are immune to the curse's effect.
However, undead lower than the Skeleton King fall into a state of panic due to fear.
The world of the undead is strictly governed by the strong dominating the weak.
Thus, an instinctive fear of superior beings is ingrained in them.
Naturally, this fear intensifies with the greater disparity in power.
"Let's scatter them a bit before we engage."
I quickly loaded an arrow.
Swoosh!
Thud!
The arrow flew into the undead horde, embedding itself in a zombie.
At that mont.
"Grrrrr!"
The zombie let out a bizarre scream and began to move in the opposite direction, breaking away from the formation.
It was panicked by the lingering resentnt of the Skeleton King.
"Nice reversal."
I chuckled and nocked the next arrow much faster than usual.
Rapid-fire.
Thanks to the skill I recently learned from Hiresia.
Literally shooting arrows quickly.
For an archer, there weren't many skills better than that.
Before the distance closed, I could pour out as many arrows as possible.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
One arrow after another sliced through the air and fell upon the undead horde.
There was no need to aim with concentration.
They were an easy target, clustered together and becoming fools due to the fear effect wherever the arrows landed.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With each arrow that hit, the movents of the undead beca erratic.
So ran in the opposite direction to escape, so staggered left and right, and so even fell to the ground, trembling.
"Amazing."
Annette exclaid with wide eyes.
"How did you do that?"
Kamian looked surprised as well.
"It's all about skill, skill. But get ready."
I saw the undead charging fiercely towards us.
They weren't just simpletons to be taken down like logs.
They were nacingly approaching to take down, the root cause of their trouble.
"Let's hit them before they reach us. Let's smash them all before we get surrounded."
I sheathed my bow and drew my sword, charging into the enemy lines.
"Of course."
Kamian ran alongside .
"I'm coming too."
Annette hurriedly followed us.
***
Stopping power.
Formations have stopping power.
Even if scattered, with this number, naturally.
Thud!
Thud!
Initially, Kamian and I easily smashed through the first few using their montum, but soon our advance halted.
We were blocked by the formation of the undead.
"Groooar!"
The zombies swung their sharp claws fiercely.
"Be careful. They're poisonous. Even a scratch can cause the wound to rot."
I warned.
"So we must either block or dodge at all costs."
Kamian stiffened his face and swung his sword harder to block the zombie's attack.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Skeleton soldiers also made their moves.
Though their swordplay was sowhat clumsy, as if screws were loose, their numbers made them sufficiently threatening.
"We're going to get surrounded at this rate!"
Right after Annette spoke, two skeletons swiftly attacked her.
It was too late to activate an attack spell.
Annette froze.
"Yiiiihk!"
A shrill scream.
It was too late to turn around and block with the Imperial style 8.
I needed to be faster and stronger, imdiately switching to attack.
There was only one technique capable of that.
The advanced strike of the Executioner!
Reviews
All reviews (0)