Chapter 6: Army Expansion
A day passed.
Kaito and his skeleton squad moved through the forest like walking air.
Aside from the occasional pack of blind wolves who mistook them for moving chew toys—only to be efficiently dismantled into raw materials by No. 1 through No. 6—the forest's ecosystem completely ignored them.
A plump wild deer strolled past Skeleton No. 3.
It even curiously extended its tongue to lick No. 3's smooth bone surface.
Then, the deer recoiled half a step, shook its head vigorously, and looked utterly disgusted.
Kaito realized that as long as he didn't initiate aggression, he was merely an observer in this forest—a transparent skeleton.
So, for the next two days, Kaito decisively abandoned the low-efficiency hunting business.
He led his ever-growing team around the forest outskirts and launched a brand new operational model.
The scientific name for this performance art was Armed Patrol.
In layman's terms: turn on a super-high-power "Ally Signal," wander aimlessly around the map, and engage in entrapment.
The results were ridiculously good.
There were always one or two, sometimes three or four, naive wild skeletons attracted by this massive aura of their kin.
They would foolishly crawl out of the dirt, from tree hollows, or piles of rotting leaves, and tag along behind the squad.
Every time this happened, Kaito would wave his big hand.
No. 1 through No. 6 would immediately understand and charge forward.
After a "warm greeting" of bone swords and shields, the new arrivals would be beaten into a pile of spare parts.
Then Kaito would step forward, activate his Authority, and recycle them into his own soldiers.
Two days.
His team snowball-expanded to one hundred skeletons.
In a clearing in the forest, one hundred skeletons stood together. The scene was somewhat spectacular.
But within that spectacle lay an indescribable chaos.
"All units! Eyes on me! Form a square! A square! Do you understand?!"
Kaito stood on a high rock, issuing what he thought were clear instructions.
The command was given.
Some skeletons shuffled left.
Some skeletons spun in circles to the right.
Two of them hugged each other directly and began studying each other's skeletal structure, seemingly discussing the origins of life.
"Stop! STOP!"
He felt his Soul Fire throbbing.
"Now, practice slashing! Attack the surrounding trees!"
Whack!
Crack!
Clang!
Sounds of bone impacts were endless.
Not a single hit landed on a tree.
All hits landed on their own teammates.
Dozens of unlucky bastards were accidentally smashed to pieces by enthusiastic comrades, queuing up for him to reassemble them.
"This isn't leading an army; this is running a mental asylum."
Kaito face-palmed his own skull.
Out of one hundred employees, removing the original six, the vast majority were Novice Skeletons with combat power roughly equivalent to a Chihuahua.
This wouldn't do. They had to evolve.
Total evolution.
Relying on hunting rabbits and squirrels?
The Forest Rodent Protection Association would put him on their Most Wanted list, and the efficiency was atrociously low.
He had to initiate an Internal Optimization Plan.
His gaze swept over this group of misfits, and he called No. 1 and No. 6 to the front.
"You two, demonstrate combat techniques to the rookies."
Kaito issued the command through the soul link.
"Remember, spar only. Don't actually dismantle each other."
The Soul Fire in No. 1 and No. 6's eyes flickered.
No. 1 raised its sword.
No. 6 raised its shield.
The two skeletons started clashing, cling-clang.
Their movements were back and forth, showing method and displaying the combat literacy expected of Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers.
Below them, the Soul Fire in the eyes of over ninety Novice Skeletons lit up in unison.
They understood.
Or rather, they thought they understood.
The next second, the scene spiraled completely out of control.
The nearest ones, No. 78 and No. 79, raised their sticks almost simultaneously.
And smashed them directly onto each other's foreheads.
WHACK!
A chain reaction exploded instantly.
The entire clearing turned into a massive fighting pit.
Every skeleton found the nearest sparring partner and faithfully executed the duel command they had just learned.
"Holy sh*t! Stop! Everyone stop!"
Kaito stomped his feet anxiously on the rock.
Over eighty skeletons were brawling like a pot of porridge, bone parts flying everywhere.
One skeleton's head was knocked off, rolled to another skeleton's feet, was picked up, thrown like a bowling ball, and knocked over two others.
Just then.
No. 82 smashed its opponent, No. 95, into pieces with one strike.
No. 95's entire ribcage shattered, and its skull rolled away.
The Soul Fire in its sockets flickered twice, then extinguished completely.
At that exact moment!
[Evolution Conditions Met]
Simultaneously, a subtle but clear feedback energy flowed into Kaito through the soul link.
His Soul Fire pulsed comfortably, becoming a fraction more solid.
Kaito froze.
Kaito on the rock, and the chaotic skeletons below, all paused their actions simultaneously.
The whole world seemed to hit the pause button.
Three seconds later.
The Soul Fire in Kaito's eyes erupted violently.
"I see..."
"I SEE!!"
He stopped trying to intervene.
He switched instantly from a helpless asylum director to an excited referee.
"Continue! Don't stop!"
"Yes! No. 8! Hit his left leg! His stance is unstable!"
"No. 37, you idiot! Don't have a weapon? Rip off one of your own ribs and whip him with it!"
"Go! Go! The winner evolves!"
His voice was full of seduction.
The undead didn't need encouragement, but his will was clearly conveyed to every unit through the soul link.
Fight. Win. Evolve.
This was the will of the Ruler.
The skeletons' fighting became even more fanatical.
Soon, the first batch of over forty Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers was born, standing upon the wreckage of their kin.
They stood amidst the mess of bone parts, their bodies radiating the sheen of new life.
Meanwhile, No. 1 through No. 6, who had followed Kaito from the start and taken on teaching duties, also welcomed their second evolution due to constant combat and guiding lower-tier units.
No. 1's bone sword grew longer, and jagged bone spurs appeared on the blade edge. [Tier 2 Skeleton Swordsman].
Behind No. 2, a longbow made of spine and leg bones appeared out of thin air, along with a quiver of white bone arrows. [Tier 2 Skeleton Archer].
No. 3 through No. 5 saw their frames become thicker and sturdier, their left arm shields growing a size larger. [Tier 2 Skeleton Soldier].
The most exaggerated was No. 6.
A warhorse composed entirely of bones condensed out of thin air beneath it.
No. 6 mounted the horse, evolving into a [Tier 2 Skeleton Cavalry].
Kaito looked at the army before him—now possessing scale and having completed its first round of survival of the fittest—and was satisfied to the extreme.