Hunter Life With 12.6 Billion Skeletons

Lancaster's Second Law

“Start.”

The battle had begun.

Our target: two hydras sixty meters behind us in the swamp.

It was nothing like the first time. Where Hansik's arrows had started the fight, Hodu began circling the swamp like a madman, barking nonstop.

The moment they heard the noise, the two hydras snapped out of their laziness and charged.

“Did Hodu learn the hydra's combat patterns?”

Hodu dodged every attack, keeping just enough distance to bark back. A tame Kalid might charge if you annoyed him, but a hydra? Forget it.

Both beasts fled the swamp, slithering forward at lightning speed.

Even if Hodu was fast, he couldn't outrun them. Yet he slipped through every strike with perfect timing. He had clearly mastered their patterns.

At that exact moment Hansik's arrows flew in. The hydras turned toward him. Hodu seized one by the tail and shook it violently.

“Agro separation.”

Hodu kept one hydra's attention locked on him. The other took Hansik's barrage of arrows and screamed in rage. It closed the gap in seconds.

Changsik leaped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠forward instantly.

[Skeleton Soldier has died. Adjacent skeleton soldiers gain transferred stats.]

Changsik's stat transfer began stacking.

Hodu fell back into the swamp, summoning broken. The hydra that had harassed him fled back to the water, heart pounding.

“Summon.”

The hydra, still spamming arrows, entered its second-phase frenzy. Attack and movement speed surged. But—

The new Hodu charged like a bullet and sank its fangs into the beast.

Changsik fought the same way. He stabbed and thrust with his spear, perfectly targeting the hydra's weak points.

“Completely different from last time?”

The skeleton soldiers had accumulated real combat data. They read every microscopic muscle twitch and countered instantly. This wasn't a one-shot kill using stat transfers. It was slow, steady damage.

“This is 97 percent! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This is it!”

Stable hunting.

Hansik signaled the new skeleton. The rookies tore off their left arms and used them as weapons.

They slammed them into the hydra's chest with a dull thud. It wasn't even damage—maybe one point at best. The hydra staggered.

It swung its tail at the new skeleton.

[Skeleton Soldier has died. Adjacent skeleton soldiers gain transferred stats.]

“Summon.”

The transfer moved to Changsik. A perfect follow-up struck. Hodu clamped its jaws on the left flank.

The new skeleton ripped off its left arm again. Hodu clamped the right flank.

[Overbleed effect triggered. All enemy stats -20 percent.]

The hydra's movements slowed noticeably. The skeletons didn't miss their chance. Concentrated fire from Hansik, Changsik, and Hodu hammered every weak spot—eyes, heart, neck.

In desperation the hydra fled back into the swamp. Jingling footsteps. A shield-wielding skeleton stepped out and charged.

Thud.

Just a momentary pause. The hydra's hand crushed the shield soldier.

But that tiny hesitation changed everything. Changsik stabbed straight into the hydra's spine from behind. Hodu bit the neck. Hansik's magic arrows poured without mercy.

The hydra fell.

“Whew... damn.”

None of the named skeletons died. Hodu had sacrificed himself once, but that was pure tactics. We used the new skeletons as stat-transfer bait and shield soldiers to create openings. Clean, planned strategy.

“Fantastic. This is it! The real deal!”

Five skeletons raised their hands at once.

“Long live!”

Even now they were reviewing past battles, refining their tactics. The more they fought, the stronger they grew. That was my skeleton army.

After MP refilled, we finished the hydra. Every skeleton moved with perfect timing. Hodu stacked the bleed, Changsik pinpointed core nerves and muscles, Hansik hammered every vital spot. The soldiers grew more experienced with every fight. The shortened hunting time proved it.

“Should we start calling them skeleton warriors?”

“Two or three more and the skill level will rise again.”

......

Skill level increased.

Now at eight skeletons. Hunting speed was climbing. We might reach thirteen by tonight. That would net almost four million won just from delivery fees. But greed had taken root. How far could my summons go? I was only level one and had already slain thirteen hydras. Who would believe it? Even I couldn't. An S-rank hunter with an ultimate cheat from the start wouldn't have it easy either.

“I wonder if I'll get S-rank after this stat adjustment.”

I was starting to feel it in my bones. I wasn't a bankrupt character. I was a cheat character.

* * *

Louie finally reached the gate entrance after crawling at a painful 100 meters per hour. He couldn't go any farther. He dropped the leeches and began gnawing his nails. He had spotted the eyeball candy far away. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Luckily it wasn't looking at him. The eyeball candy stood motionless, staring at the battlefield.

“Skeletons?”

He had never heard the gates spawned skeleton monsters before. Just like the eyeball candy.

“Hyung, are you watching? Whoa, this is real horror...”

Thirteen in total. Most were naked bones, but one arm had been torn off and used like a club. The spear and archer skeletons wore equipment. Louie swallowed dryly. Their movements were unnatural. The thirteen skeletons moved like a single machine. Even in second-phase frenzy the hydra couldn't touch them. They dodged with eerie calm. When they targeted one, it ran away and another struck from behind. Pure numerical dominance. The first reason to fear them was poison, but the skeletons showed no sign of weakness. After all, a skeleton was immune to poison. Then why did the skeletons counter so perfectly? They dealt almost no damage—slow, tiny, barely noticeable. The hydra's agony was pure entertainment.

“They are tormenting it...”

The scene looked like prehistoric hunters butchering a mammoth. Or an ant devouring a cicada. No, this wasn't hunting. It was some kind of ritual to kill the hydra in the most painful way possible. Blood poured from its body. Its movements grew sluggish. ‘They aren't just killing it... this is close to torture.’ It was worse than slow flesh removal. The first time Louie felt genuine pity for a monster. The skeleton soldiers gave the hydra no breathing room. One stabbed its joints, another latched onto its neck and ripped. Finally the hydra collapsed. Surrender. But mercy was absent. Two archers with bows stepped forward.

Keyaaaaak.

The hydra had no strength left to roar. It seemed to be begging for death. The skeleton archers placed point-blank arrows into every vital spot—precise, thorough, no mistakes. Something cold tightened Louie's heart.

“Hah.”

Then he saw a man at the gate entrance. Cloaked in black robes, carrying a massive bundle. That terrifying owner of the skeleton army—

“Hunter?”

The skeletons dug through the hydra's corpse and handed something to him. His heart?

The man placed it into the bundle without emotion. That giant bag... was it filled with hearts?

“Monster.”

He suddenly looked straight at Louie.

“Huaaa.”

The eyeball candy was now staring down from the sky.

* * *

Skill level rose three times in a row. Incomparable speed. The number of summonable skeleton soldiers reached thirteen. After that the battles changed completely. No one died.

“Lancaster's Second Law...”

It was a military theory that combat power grew proportional to the square of troop numbers in war. Used in game balance algorithms. If you doubled your forces you didn't get double the power—you got quadruple efficiency. Especially when soldiers could attack individually. I witnessed the real thing with my own eyes. My body trembled. Perfect tactics. The hydra was targeted by a skeleton soldier who immediately retreated, leaving openings for the others. The hydra panicked like a table tennis ball. Damage stacked slowly but steadily until it collapsed from exhaustion or death. Numerical superiority delivered overwhelming strategic advantage. The result proved it. The hydra's body was soaked in blood, yet its fighting spirit—and even survival instinct—had vanished.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three named skeleton soldiers. Behind them ten more approached with grim determination. The veteran Hansik knelt on one knee, waving his cursed royal guard cloak. In his hand he held the hydra's heart, blood dripping. I opened the bundle and he carefully placed it inside. Its value was almost nothing, but to me it was priceless. I now had a reason to need this heart.

“Excellent. Truly outstanding. You are the real deal.”

Hansik cheered at my praise, and the skeletons behind him joined in.

“But we got caught.”

Through Oculus's eyes Louie appeared, hiding under a tent on the ground. He looked terrified. I felt a little guilty.

“Mission accomplished. That's enough for today. Let's go.”

Thinking about it, Louie had helped us more than once, but since he seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of his mind I didn't want to involve him further. This was enough. I pulled my robe tight and exited the gate. One step and the scenery changed dramatically. The purple mist vanished, vision sharpened, the familiar stench disappeared.

“I don't want to come back, but I have no choice.”

For the leeches. A camping car sat beside the Bentley. I tore a sheet of paper from the car and wrote a note.

That was my sincere apology for the accidental scare and the debt I owed. I pulled a low-grade magic stone from Tigrial's Bundle and placed it on the note. I turned on my phone—batteries saved—and a message from Teseong greeted me.