"Oh? Not bad—you're pretty loyal."
The bronze-colored skeleton spoke with cool indifference, watching Olis's movements. The long spear resting on his shoulder swayed idly a few times, a small gesture that sent a wave of tension through both Olis and Felis.
They had every reason to be tense. This skeleton that had appeared out of nowhere was disturbingly strange. Though he stood the same height as Olis and Felis, his entire frame gleamed bronze. Over his bones he wore a thin layer of bone-plate armor that fit his torso like a vest, leaving his lower half bare like theirs, creating an odd but intimidating look. On his head sat a bronze-colored bone helmet, strange in design but undeniably imposing.
But Olis and Felis weren't focused on appearances—they were sensing the terrifying aura that clung to this skeleton. It wasn't overwhelming at first glance, but it was impossible to ignore, coiling around him like a warning: this was not an opponent they could match.
"But why so defensive? I'm not going to eat you," the bronze skeleton said, taking a casual step forward. "Where's your lord? What happened?"
That single step toward Zhao Lun's position instantly set both Olis and Felis on edge.
"Stop… no closer!" Olis barked, swinging his greatsword to point at the intruder.
"Oh? Little skeleton, do you even know what you're doing?" The bronze skeleton's soul-flame flared coldly, his voice turning to ice.
Olis didn't move his blade. In halting, clumsy thought-speech, he replied, "Step back… or die!"
"Heh… in that case, I think I do need to have a little fun with you." The bronze skeleton's voice was low and ominous as he glanced at Felis—who had stepped forward to stand level with Olis—and at the greatsword still leveled at him.
A spike of danger shot through both Olis and Felis. They leapt back in unison.
"Fools! Did you think that would help?"
The words had barely left him when the bronze skeleton was suddenly right beside Felis, his ghostly-white soul-flame inches from Felis's own. "Pathetic," he hissed, before driving a hand down on Felis's skull and slamming it into the dirt.
In the same motion, he hopped aside to avoid Olis's shield bash, then whipped his spear around. The butt struck Olis's shield with such force that it blasted him four or five meters away.
In the blink of an eye, the three skeletons had exchanged blows—and it was painfully clear that the bronze skeleton held an overwhelming advantage.
"This is only the beginning. Try not to get scared too soon—it wouldn't be any fun." With a mocking lilt, he twirled his bronze spear and lunged again.
Olis and Felis, barely recovering, charged to meet him. Thus began the second round.
But to call it a "battle" was generous. It was pure abuse. Though both Olis and Felis were mutated-level skeletons, before the bronze skeleton they were as fragile as toddlers, swatted aside again and again like training dummies—worse, like punching bags that couldn't hit back.
"This is your strength? Pathetic. So pathetic I'm almost embarrassed to kill you. No… not even that. You're too weak to deserve dying by my hand." The bronze skeleton flicked his spear and sent Felis flying.
"And yet you keep fighting me? What is this—courage?" He flickered forward to Olis, delivering a graceful spin-kick that sent him skidding away. "No… this is senseless. This is idiocy!"
"I truly wonder—if you two trash are his subordinates, what kind of trash is your lord?"
Crack!
His words came with a stomp—one foot pinning Olis, the other pinning Felis. He lowered his head in disdain.
"Kill!"
"Die!"
That insult lit a fire in them both. Even battered and demoralized, Olis and Felis roared with sudden ferocity. But the gulf in strength was too great—they couldn't even break free of his pinning feet.
"Oh? Fiercely protective of your master, are you? Not bad… I like that." The bronze skeleton's tone dripped with mockery. Two swift kicks sent them flying through the air again. "But with strength like yours, what use would you be as my underlings? Honestly, I'm worried for your lord. With minions like you, how could he ever…"
"You seem very concerned about me."
Zhao Lun's voice cut him off.
At the center of the six hundred skeletons encircling him, a flash of intense white light blazed and vanished.
The bronze skeleton froze for a beat, then his soul-flame flickered with amusement. "Oh? Finally coming out? I thought I'd have to dig you out myself."
"Archers—ready! Fire!"
The reply was not words, but a storm. Hundreds of bone arrows loosed in an instant, dense as a downpour, hurtling toward the bronze skeleton and swallowing him in the rain of death.
"Tsk, tsk… so rude. I was talking, you know. No manners at all."
He didn't so much as glance at the arrows striking him. His attention was locked on the unseen Zhao Lun, soul-flame flaring bright.
Then he moved.
Faster—far faster than before. In a blink, he tore past Olis and Felis, plowing through the surrounding skeletons like a living battering ram. He carved a path straight to the end of the formation—where Zhao Lun stood, freshly mutated and now risen to level four.
The bronze skeleton's eyes were sharp. He recognized his target at once—the utterly ordinary-looking skeletal mage was, without doubt, the one he sought. His grin widened, and he drove his spear straight down toward Zhao Lun.
With his terrifying strength, that strike would kill Zhao Lun instantly—if it landed.
But was the newly mutated Zhao Lun really so easy to bully?
"Stun!" "Blind!" "Weaken!" "Magic Missile!"
With a furious shout, Zhao Lun unleashed four zero-level spells in a rapid barrage, each slamming into the bronze skeleton before he could dodge.
Crack!
The arrogant figure was launched into the air, tumbling to land more than ten meters away, burdened with three negative statuses that left him unable to even stand.
And Zhao Lun wasn't done. Raising his staff, he chanted for less than two seconds before releasing a first-level spell.
"Swamp!"
A magic circle flashed beneath the bronze skeleton, and the once-dominant opponent sank straight down into the mire.
With a single round of spells, Zhao Lun had completely neutralized the bronze skeleton—proof of his frightening new strength.
But… was this bronze skeleton really so easy to deal with?