Bone and Flesh (End)
"Wait a moment, Jeong Hoon."
Huh. Kim Seyeon stopped me again. Behind her glasses, her eyes flashed with sharp intensity. I could have ignored her, but I swallowed the words that had been about to leave my mouth.
I remembered the advice she'd given me during the level-up.
"I know you're strong, but... facing that monster alone seems a little, well... reckless. We want to help too."
"She's right! We don't want to just sit around either!"
"I-I actually do want to sit around, but... if that thing's still alive, I don't think I can just... stay put, you know?"
Park Seeun and Han Sora each chimed in, falling in line with Kim Seyeon's opinion. Sora's contribution was a little off-target, but I decided to let that slide.
Honestly, something warm swelled in my chest.
When I'd first saved these women, I never expected them to step up this actively. Catching even a glimpse of their will to stand beside me as comrades made something inside me go soft and warm.
If enough time passed and our bonds deepened, if their affection meters climbed high enough... eventually the whole "Oppa, Oppa" phase would turn into something much more intimate, and then—heh heh heh...
"Jeong Hoon? Thinking is fine, but the enemy..."
"Ah."
Crap...! My delusion disease acting up again!
I'd gotten too lost in sentiment. Right now the Skeleton King was outside, pouring murderous intent at me and promising to tear me apart. Lurking behind this van was not the move of a sharp mind.
Alright... so what do we do?
"Have you a good idea, Teacher Kim Seyeon?"
"Just call me Seyeon, please."
"Very well, Seyeon. Have you a good idea?"
"Hmm..."
Fingers resting against her chin, Kim Seyeon looked not at me but at the ponytail girl beside her. Suddenly finding herself under that gaze, Park Seeun pointed at herself with a finger.
"Unnie Seyeon, me?"
"Yes, Seeun. Think you could... do a little running?"
The moment Seyeon's scheme came out, I looked at Seeun with concern—then nodded.
"We shall make certain it succeeds."
The Skeleton King carefully drew up its mana. At any moment it was ready to unleash mana-charged flames and explosive projectiles to blow that insolent human to pieces. Yes. Everything was for the purpose of annihilating Jeong Hoon.
Even as an undead with a rigid mind, it had grasped one fact with absolute certainty.
That man was dangerous. More dangerous than it had imagined. Who would have thought he would not only massacre the knights and mages, but smash the Skeleton King's own ambitious Skeleton Golem as well?
Creating that golem had been no simple magic. It had gathered every scrap of wreckage in the area and poured in fully half of the Skeleton King's mana with painstaking care.
And yet that man had blocked the five-meter golem's twin arms with absurd strength, then used every weapon scavenged from the skeletons to drive the Skeleton King's masterpiece to the brink of destruction.
Had the Skeleton King not made the right call at the last second—abandoning control and reclaiming a portion of its mana—it would have been forced to face that man already heavily damaged. The ice spikes it had fired earlier had been little more than a tantrum, venting its rage at the man who had nearly wrecked its masterpiece.
With hollow eyes, the Skeleton King took in the entire boulevard and prepared itself. The instant he appeared, magic would fly.
Whoosh!
And then the wait came to an end.
From behind one of the cars lining the street—a large van—someone burst out. The Skeleton King manifested the mana gathered in both hands. A massive blaze ignited in its grip.
It threw.
Whoosh—BOOM!
An explosion erupted. One of the cars was obliterated. But...
There was nothing there?
No charred corpse. Nothing but dust and scorch marks.
The Skeleton King tilted its head. It had clearly sensed a presence...
"Hyaaaaaah!"
In that instant, a voice rang out from the opposite side. The Skeleton King turned its gaze.
Was it that man? Had he used some kind of decoy clone? But...
No. It was a human with a shield. More precisely, a human woman. A woman in a black formal suit and glasses was charging straight at the Skeleton King.
Pathetic. She's nowhere near that man's level. Far too weak and slow.
This woman's physical abilities were clearly lacking. So without casting a new spell, the Skeleton King simply raised its staff.
The moment she came a little closer, it intended to swat her out of existence.
"Haht!"
But the woman never closed the distance. Somewhere around the midpoint she suddenly stopped—then dropped to her knees right where she stood.
Her uniquely feminine assets bounced and swayed. It was the kind of sight that would have some men gaping like cows with drool running down their chins. Of course, to an undead Skeleton King, the spectacle meant nothing.
"...!"
In the brief moment its attention was stolen, the Skeleton King suddenly swept its staff hard across its front.
Clang! Claaang!
A sharp racket filled the air. In a flash the Skeleton King had sensed the threat and knocked aside the arrows flying at it. Not quite on a knight's level, but it possessed the speed and instincts of a high-level monster. Arrows like those wouldn't even leave a scratch if they landed.
Fwing! Fwiiing!
But the arrows kept coming without pause.
In that split second, the Skeleton King pinpointed their origin. From behind a considerable obstacle—one of those large vehicles humans called a van. A formidable sniper, no question.
And for that sniper, the Skeleton King paid its respects. It thrust a hand forward.
A low wheeeeng thrummed through the air. The arrows streaking toward the Skeleton King's skull stopped dead in midair—no, they bounced away.
It had formed a mana barrier. In that brief instant. And the Skeleton King didn't stop there. It had decided to eliminate the long-range attacker first, cleanly and completely. It began drawing up its mana.
And that, the human party judged, was the opening.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Was that the moment the sound of running feet reached the Skeleton King's ears?
The problem was that the footsteps came from both left and right at once. It immediately stopped gathering mana and assessed both sides.
Right side first. Another human it had never seen. A ponytail girl in an orange jacket and form-fitting athletic wear that showed off her figure. Charging bravely at the Skeleton King with nothing but a single shield.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Even shouting a battle cry. Practically advertising for it to focus on her.
So the Skeleton King ignored her and looked left.
But it would have been better if it had looked left from the start.
Still on her knees, Kim Seyeon raised the shield in her hands above her head.
She held it flat—as if inviting someone to step up onto it.
And someone did. Stepping onto that shield and launching skyward. It was Jeong Hoon.
Gripping the last remaining skeleton-forged sword, he vaulted straight up over the Skeleton King's head.
No matter how powerful a boss monster might be, it couldn't block attacks coming from three directions at once.
That was the judgment behind this ambush.
Han Sora's long-range fire. Kim Seyeon's charge in her holy armor. And on top of that, Park Seeun's second rush—the same woman who had first burst out from behind the van to draw aggro.
Three directions pulling its attention, clouding its judgment.
And even so, the Skeleton King simply thrust out a single hand toward Jeong Hoon's surprise attack.
BOOM!
Right in front of Jeong Hoon's face, an explosion erupted without warning.
"Jeong Hoon!"
"Oppa!"
Kim Seyeon's scream rang out. Park Seeun cried out instinctively as well. Had it failed? Was a high-level monster simply beyond the reach of a human's flimsy ambush after all?
But the two of them didn't know.
Select a 3rd-level spell?
Yes / No
Yes.
◈ Fireball
◈ Invisibility
◈ Slow
◈ Dispel Magic
◈ Mage Armor
◈ Monster Summoning
You have selected Mage Armor.
Before charging in, Jeong Hoon had already chosen his 3rd-level spell and finished casting it.
"Useless...!"
And that wasn't all.
Select a Warrior skill?
Yes / No
Yes.
◈ Gale Strike
◈ Steel Skin
◈ Battle Cry
In Dragon Gate RPG, a Warrior could learn class-exclusive skills starting at level 6.
Warrior Skill: Gale Strike
And the Gale Strike skill doubled a Warrior's attack resolution for a single strike against a target—more precisely, it doubled one attack action in a single round for damage purposes.
In reality, that meant two attacks firing off as if they were happening at the same time.
Like a literal gale.
The Skeleton King's body and head were severed in an instant by the skeleton-forged blade.
Skeleton KingLv.50
Status: Heavily Damaged
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Wait, that didn't kill it? Even after using a Warrior skill? Figures—it really is a King.
The Skeleton King's arm flew at Jeong Hoon. Wham! It smashed into his face, but—
Mage Armor.
This isn't bulletproof—it's Mage Armor, you bastard!
Jeong Hoon delivered that legendary line internally while outwardly murmuring just one cold word.
"Farewell."
In reply, he drove a fist packed with Strength 18 straight into the Skeleton King's bony solar plexus.
KRAAANG!
A devastating punch that shattered the Skeleton King's core.
Skeleton KingLv.50
Status: Deceased
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A moment of perfect victory.