Bone and Flesh (4)

Exactly eight times.

Fweee—

Thwack!

Clatter, clatter!

"Th-three Skeleton Warriors... one Knight, and one Mage pulled!"

"Got it."

Hit and run, hit and run. We kept thinning out the skeletons while steadily putting distance between ourselves and the villa.

Once we hit the main road, we used Sora's arrows to draw aggro, then ducked into empty storefronts nearby and picked them off one by one like guerrillas.

After roughly three hours of that same grind, the boulevard had gone remarkably quiet. More precisely, all that remained was a street overflowing with bone fragments, motionless cars, and a desolate emptiness.

Ah, and how many did we kill?

Forty Skeleton Warriors, six Knights, and six Mages!

The haul was pretty damn sweet. Each of us pocketed 2,800 EXP and 520 gold.

Most encouraging of all was that luring and killing small groups one at a time left us breathing room between fights, so we'd managed to conserve a decent amount of stamina.

"I-is it really okay to level up this fast? Al-already level 12...!"

"Hmm. With this Intelligence... I should be able to expect about 2 MP recovery per minute..."

"Just a little more... just a little more leveling...!"

All three of them had leveled up significantly.

Han Sora's gains were especially impressive. Hitting level 10 was hard enough on its own, and the EXP requirements supposedly skyrocketed after that.

That Sniper's Vision and Multi-Shot combo was ridiculously useful. Just earlier, she'd wiped out whole packs of Skeleton Warriors with Multi-Shot alone. And this was the tragic class people mocked as "Archie"? My chest swelled with pride just thinking about it.

But damn... whether it was a Brave Saga Online problem or those admin bastards' fault, leveling for the three of them was brutally slow. Seriously...

Thank god we were partied up. Solo grinding, I doubted anyone could hit level 10 inside a month. The fact that Kim Seyeon and Park Seeun had clawed their way to levels 5 and 4 over the past week through sheer hellish effort was nothing short of a miracle.

Ah, but the three of them were the three of them, and I...

I grinned ear to ear on the inside.

A bonus stat point had finally shown up — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and at last, at long last, both Warrior and Mage had hit level 6. And you know what that meant...!

The secret to a Warrior staying strong even at high levels — exclusive Warrior skills — and the crown jewel of the Mage class, 3rd-level magic. I could finally unlock both!

Heh heh heh. What should I pick? Ah, stats first—

"J-Jeong Hoon oppa!"

Sora urgently shook my shoulder while I was lost in my happy little dilemma.

Ack— I almost dumped the point into Charm by accident. Stat investment on hold. On hold!

"What is it?"

"Th-there. Over there!"

Han Sora pointed down the far end of the boulevard. Thanks to Sniper's Vision, she could see much farther than the rest of us — and something had clearly caught her eye.

Kim Seyeon, Park Seeun, and I all squinted in that direction.

Hmm. The stretch of road we'd half-cleared looked clean. Still, whatever it was only registered as a speck; I couldn't make it out properly...

Ah... finally, the outline started to resolve.

There it was. Right on cue.

The one who'd raised all those skeletons in the first place.

Filthy strong. Shit...!

The Skeleton King cut a far more imposing figure than a bare pile of bones had any right to. Between the level and that absurd HP bar...

It even wore a crown and a cape, like it actually thought it was royalty. Wait... was that a royal dragon robe? That weird coat-looking thing kings wore?

That's hilarious. A skeleton pops out of nowhere and decides it's a king. Give me a break! Still, unlike the Knights and Mages, it wasn't wearing armor — almost like a last shred of dignity. Almost.

"..."

Clack. Click!

But the moment that ridiculous-looking Skeleton King raised its arm, I stopped laughing.

"Fall back into formati— no, take cover behind those cars! Quickly!"

I barked the order at the three of them and ducked behind a large van that offered decent cover.

The others froze for a beat, then scrambled after me the second they saw me move, pressing themselves behind the vehicles.

And then I saw it.

Clatter, clatter!

Click, click!

Every bone and bone fragment scattered around the boulevard began to move on its own.

No — they were being dragged somewhere, as if pulled by invisible strings. Obviously toward wherever that Skeleton King thing was standing.

Countless shards of bone rolled and scraped across the asphalt, as if the entire street were being swept clean.

"Th-th-th-this is... d-don't tell me...! A g-golem?!"

Watching the unnatural phenomenon unfold, Han Sora suddenly raised her voice.

What, a golem? An autonomous doll made of earth? Sure, that kind of magic shows up in fantasy all the time, but...

Sora didn't stop there. She poked her head up over the car. That idiot! It was insanely dangerous — what the hell was she doing?!

"I-I knew it...! Hoon oppa! Hurry, hurry! You have to stop it! If it finishes the golem we're screwed! Quick, combine— ah, no, before it finishes building— stop it already!"

What the hell is she even saying?! She was making such a racket that I finally stuck my own head out past the van to see for myself.

"Huh...!"

A gasp slipped out of me unbidden.

There was a reason the bone fragments were gathering in one place. Something in a human shape — or close enough — was being assembled. Surrounding shards locked together and piled up, producing a grotesque form and a sound that crawled right up your spine.

Sora was right. We had to stop that thing no matter what! I was about to bolt out from behind the van when—

"Wait. It's already... too late."

Someone caught my collar. Kim Seyeon.

And she was right.

Creeeeak...!

A giant at least four meters tall — no, five — stood proudly before the Skeleton King.

Of course, being a mass of compacted bone, it was genuinely unpleasant to look at. It was like someone had carved the world's most fucked-up tattoo across an entire body; goosebumps rose on their own. Even the rattling sound it made was so foul I'd remember it in my nightmares.

...Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud!

And that bone golem, if you could call it that, came stomping straight toward me in an instant.

"Kh...!"

Goddammit! A weapon, I need a weapon! I burned through all my magic thrashing skeletons earlier. Illusion Clones too.

Shit, it's already right in my face!

That was when it happened.

"Sacred Armor...!"

A burst of white light wrapped around my body. And at the same time, the information flooded into my vision.

The bone golem — no, the Skeleton Golem's data.

And in the same breath, that massive arm came—

CRAAASH!!

—slamming down on my head without mercy.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Nngh...!"

Han Sora and Park Seeun's screams carried all the way over. Kim Seyeon had probably gone pale too, even if I couldn't see her face.

But I owed her my thanks. And I had to tip my hat to my own ridiculous reflexes while I was at it.

Because—

My arms trembled under the weight...!

"Heavy...!"

In that split second, I'd dumped the bonus point into Strength. And because of that, I'd somehow managed to catch and hold that crushing arm!

It wasn't a clean block...! But without Sacred Armor and that lightning-fast Strength dump to 18, the damage would have been far worse.

"Sora!"

I bellowed her name. I didn't have the luxury of looking her way. Holding this bone golem off me was already killing me! Please just get it, Sora!

"Sora, shoot! Now!"

"Ah— a-ah... okay!"

Someone with a mature voice snapped Han Sora out of it.

Thank god! Thank you, you filthy— kind Teacher Kim Seyeon!

Fweee, fweee!

The whistle of arrows cut the air.

One target. The bone golem pinning me down.

Thud, thud!

The damage was negligible. The effect, though, was massive. Why?

Skreeeeek!

Because that goddamn Skeleton Golem's head swiveled toward Han Sora with a bone-chilling scrape. And just a little — just the tiniest bit — the arm crushing mine loosened!

I seized the opening.

"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

My arms unleashed a power that Strength 17 could never have dreamed of.

Grrrnnnnn...!

I was pushing it back. A five-meter giant's massive bone arm — I was shoving it off me. No. Pushing wasn't enough.

In Dragon Gate RPG, Strength 17 was the absolute peak of human power. Even so, it wasn't as cartoonishly broken as you might think. You could hold your own against monsters, haul heavy objects around, and snap another human's limb bones if you really wanted to. Strong, sure — but nothing you'd never see in the real world.

Strength 18, though... was a different dimension entirely.

From here on, you weren't comparing yourself to other humans anymore. You were brushing up against the raw power of high-tier monsters like ogres and trolls.

You know that famous fantasy scene? The one where the hero, wearing gauntlets that grant an ogre's strength—

Lurch...!

—withstands a dragon's stomp.

Granted, all I was doing right now was forcing a five-meter bone golem's arm back far enough to make it stagger!

But that alone was as good as creating an opening for a counterattack.

I didn't miss the gap the staggering Skeleton Golem left open.

I kicked off the ground ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and shot around behind it.

There — right above my head, the Skeleton Golem's skull was tipping forward as it lost its balance. It would recover and straighten up soon enough, but in this moment...!

"Hah!"

I launched straight up from where I stood, seized that head in both hands, and slammed it into the ground!

BOOM!

The Skeleton Golem's massive skull smashed into the pavement. The crack of shattering bone rang out loud and ugly. Its enormous frame crashed down with it.

Of course, thinking the Skeleton Golem was dead from that alone would be a mistake. Its durability was still ridiculous.

But... did this golem — or that King over there — have any idea what my party and I had been doing up until now?

Whoosh!

I shoved a hand into the feathered bag on my back, grabbed the first thing that came to hand, and swung.

Thanks, Skeleton King. Your Skeleton Warriors were so well-armed that I scored this excellent mace off them!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

I hammered the defenseless Skeleton Golem's solar plexus. One, two, three! The mace was shredded in seconds. One wasn't enough? Fine — make it two!

Whoosh!

Hand back into the feathered bag. Whatever I grabbed, I swung immediately. Another weapon looted from a Skeleton Warrior — a Skeleton Hammer, if you will.

BANG! BANG!

Two hits. Two solid hits into the golem's shoulder and skull. The hammer's head crumpled on impact. Good, next—

"Hm?"

...Neutralized?

The info window in front of me was feeding me something strange. Not instant death. Not deceased. Neutralized?

So it was dead, basically?

No, wait. This golem had been artificially created, right? Which meant someone had been controlling it this whole time. Who? Our main enemy up north— no. The one who built this Skeleton Golem in the first place, obviously.

"Kh...!"

A chill shot down my spine. I threw myself sideways on pure instinct and rolled behind a nearby car. Excellent call.

CRASH!

Four ice spikes punched into the spot where I'd just been standing. Hail from a clear sky? No. Who made those was painfully obvious.

Round two, then. Here we go.

"A-are you all right, Jeong Hoon-ssi?"

"W-wow... Jeong Hoon-ssi, you were that strong? You just flipped that giant over like it was nothing..."

"Oppa... so cool..."

Kim Seyeon, Park Seeun, and Han Sora, in that order, offered their takes on my little performance. Their personalities were showing. But what was with Sora zoning out like that?

"Wait here. I shall go defeat that thing and retur—"

"Hold on a moment, Jeong Hoon-ssi."