Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Skeleton Soldiers' Counterattack
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The five thugs led by Lee Cheon-woo began slowly closing in from all sides.
They were all members of the Heavenly Moon Sword Sect, Lee Cheon-woo's close aides.
"Don't think you're going to die easy."
"I'll use you as a test dummy for my swordsmanship."
They approached Shin Yu-hyun with smug expressions on their faces.
After all, there were five of them, and he was alone.
But then, what was this? A little kid hiding behind Shin Yu-hyun.
"Young master, there's a kid here."
Lee Cheon-woo's right-hand man, Lee Young-soo, and his left-hand man, Kang Dae-young, looked flustered by the unexpected situation. At their words, Lee Cheon-woo's face twisted in anger.
"What? Hey, Kang Dae-young. Didn't you say Shin Yu-hyun was alone? So why's there an extra kid?"
"No, I swear I saw him enter the dungeon by himself. He was definitely alone then."
"You idiot! Then what's this kid? Where'd she pop out from? Did she fall from the sky or sprout from the ground? You can't even do your damn job right!"
Catching him off guard like this, Lee Cheon-woo lashed out with a kick to Kang Dae-young's shin, who had been assigned to tail and watch Shin Yu-hyun.
Thwack! Thwack!
"Urgh!"
Kang Dae-young grimaced in pain as his joint twisted.
Lee Young-soo looked at Lee Cheon-woo and spoke up.
"What should we do?"
"Fuck! What do you mean, what? We've started this, so we see it through. You think I'll take the fall if we half-ass it and shit hits the fan?"
Lee Cheon-woo snapped irritably.
Lee Young-soo nodded in agreement.
"Got it."
They had already made up their minds to take out Shin Yu-hyun.
And even with this unexpected wrinkle, they didn't seem to care.
In this day and age, people dying to dungeon magic beasts was commonplace.
Even if it was a child.
"You pieces of trash."
Shin Yu-hyun glared coldly at Lee Cheon-woo's gang as he listened to their conversation.
They still hadn't noticed Dia's cat ears and tail, so they had no idea she was a summon.
And yet, they were planning to lay hands on her too?
"You're the trash, you worthless punk. We'll kill you, and tie that little girl to a tree."
Leaving her tied up in the dungeon meant feeding her to the magic beasts.
With that, Lee Cheon-woo arbitrarily decided Dia's fate and beckoned to Shin Yu-hyun.
"Regret pissing me off."
At his signal, the gang advanced on Shin Yu-hyun again.
That moment.
"You'll be the ones regretting it."
Something blue surged up from behind Shin Yu-hyun.
From the dark shadow on the ground, glowing with eerie blue eyes like ghostly lights, five skeleton soldiers emerged.
He had called out the skeleton soldiers stored in Ka-mang-i's shadow space.
"Wh-what?"
"Skeleton soldiers out of nowhere...?"
"Is there a necromancer around?"
Caught off guard, Lee Cheon-woo's gang looked around in confusion.
Their gazes soon turned to Dia.
"No way, the kid?"
"She can control skeleton soldiers at that age?"
They stared at Dia in shock.
Even if necromancers were among the most despised classes, controlling skeleton soldiers at her age would change everything.
It meant she had talent.
But Shin Yu-hyun sneered at them.
"What bullshit. She's my summon."
With that, he placed a hand on Dia's head and stroked her cat ears.
Purrr.
Dia purred contentedly under his touch, while Lee Cheon-woo's gang looked stunned.
"Huh?"
"What? The girl's a summon?"
"Then the skeleton soldiers...?"
After a moment of confusion trying to process it, they stared at Shin Yu-hyun in disbelief.
"No way, you?"
"You're the necromancer?"
"I thought you were a swordsman."
"What the hell is going on?"
The unexpected revelations left Lee Cheon-woo's gang rattled.
"Fuck this! Hey, you morons! Get your heads straight! Who gives a shit if he's a necromancer or whatever?"
Lee Cheon-woo didn't waver.
All that mattered was taking Shin Yu-hyun down.
"R-right."
"Doesn't matter if he's a necromancer."
"Necromancers are trash anyway."
Rallied by Lee Cheon-woo's shout, the gang refocused.
They had all realized Shin Yu-hyun was a necromancer.
But they were 3-star superhumans from the Heavenly Moon Sword Sect.
Skeleton soldiers were nothing they couldn't crush with ease.
"Who'd have thought a direct descendant of the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan was a necromancer. So what? You think these bags of bones can take us on?"
Lee Cheon-woo sneered at Shin Yu-hyun.
Surprising, sure, but that's all it was.
Skeleton soldiers weren't a match for superhumans.
"I'll shatter you to pieces."
"Know your place, you bony freaks!"
Steeled by Lee Cheon-woo's words, the gang activated their Body Strengthening Technique with confident smirks and charged the skeleton soldiers.
They had absolute faith in their skills. Mere skeleton soldiers could be smashed with a casual sword swing—weaklings, through and through.
But.
Clang! Crash!
"Huh? What?"
"They're blocking it?"
Confusion spread across the faces of Lee Cheon-woo's gang as they attacked the skeleton soldiers.
Unlike their expectations, the skeletons were blocking and enduring their strikes.
'They're fighting well.'
Shin Yu-hyun smiled with satisfaction at the sight.
It was worth reinforcing their bones to stage 4 and drilling them relentlessly in swordsmanship.
Plus, after the last 3-star dungeon in the ruined city, he'd replenished them using 3-star magic beast crawlers as materials.
Now, his skeleton soldiers were 3-star grade.
Thanks to that, they blocked the gang's attacks, dodged, and even counterattacked.
"The nerve!"
"Talking big for a pile of bones?"
Enraged that the "trash" skeletons were holding their own better than expected, Lee Cheon-woo's gang scowled.
Lee Cheon-woo yelled at his struggling minions with an exasperated look.
"You idiots! How are you worse than these boneheads? Can't believe I dragged you lot around."
He clicked his tongue, and the furious gang gritted their teeth, going all out.
They flared their auras massively and unleashed Moonlight Sword, one of the Heavenly Moon Sword Sect's advanced techniques.
Crack! Crash!
As Lee Cheon-woo's gang unleashed their full power, the skeleton soldiers began to give ground.
One-on-one against Heavenly Moon Sword Sect swordsmen was a tall order for them from the start.
Holding out this long was impressive.
Crunch! Crack!
Soon after, the five skeleton soldiers Shin Yu-hyun had summoned shattered into white ash and vanished.
"Know your place, skeletons."
"Should've died quietly instead of acting tough, fuckers!"
"Had to get beat to hell, dumbasses."
Having each taken down one skeleton soldier, the gang glared murderously at Shin Yu-hyun and spat curses.
They'd taken flak from Lee Cheon-woo for struggling against them.
And those damn skeletons had been stronger than expected, catching them off guard with sneaky strikes that had them flinching more than once.
"You're dead now."
"We'll chop off your fingers and snap your limbs."
"Hey, that too soft? We gotta pulverize his muscles and shatter his bones till he begs."
"Right. That's how we handle scum like him."
They fixed Shin Yu-hyun with bloodthirsty glares.
His heart turned ice cold at their words.
"Pulverize muscles and shatter bones, huh..."
Pulverizing Muscles and Shattering Bones.
A phenomenon where mana is injected into the meridians, twisting muscles and bones out of shape.
The pain feels like thick needles piercing through the body while it's burned alive from within.
A vicious torture method that leaves victims writhing and begging for death, only to end up as crippled wrecks.
And these bastards planned to subject him to that until he died?
"It's not over yet."
Shin Yu-hyun said coldly.
He now knew without a doubt that Lee Cheon-woo's gang was irredeemable trash.
"Not over? What're you gonna do, trash?"
The gang sneered at him.
Even his ace skeleton soldiers hadn't been enough.
What else could he pull out?
Snap.
Shin Yu-hyun simply flicked his finger silently.
Kyuu!
Suddenly, a cute cry echoed from somewhere.
Whoosh.
And from the long shadow stretching behind him, more skeleton soldiers began emerging.
"Ha, more bones?"
"Skeletons are no match for u—"
Lee Cheon-woo's gang started sneering at the reappearing skeletons but trailed off, faces blank.
Dozens upon dozens were rising behind Shin Yu-hyun.
"What the fuck..."
"This many?"
"How are there so many?"
The gang's faces filled with horror. Instinct told them something had gone very wrong.
To them, Shin Yu-hyun spoke icily.
"Pulverize muscles and shatter bones? Bring it."
"Gaaahhh!"
"Grah! Guhhuuuk!"
Screams that sounded like their last breaths echoed through the forest.
The moment Shin Yu-hyun summoned over forty skeleton soldiers, it was over.
No matter how strong Lee Cheon-woo's gang was, they couldn't beat sheer numbers.
They might handle two or three each, but seven? No chance.
"St-stop! I was wrong!"
Lee Cheon-woo foamed at the mouth, begging at Shin Yu-hyun's feet.
His cronies were the same.
But.
"Why should I? Didn't you all steel yourselves for this?"
Shin Yu-hyun looked down at them coldly.
After the skeleton soldiers subdued them, he'd personally administered the pulverizing muscles and shattering bones torture.
"P-please, forgive me! Have mercy!"
Even as Lee Cheon-woo begged, Shin Yu-hyun didn't budge.
"You tried to kill me. And planned to pulverize my muscles and shatter my bones."
"N-no, that was—!"
Lee Cheon-woo glared at his gang. It was their big mouths that had landed him in this pain.
"Not me! They were the ones who—!"
"Would it have been different if the tables turned?"
Shin Yu-hyun scoffed.
If he'd lost to them?
Would Lee Cheon-woo have spared him that torture?
No need to think. They'd have mocked and tormented him every way possible.
"N-no! Spare me!"
"Guh! Sp-spare—"
Lee Cheon-woo's gang writhed in agony, their bodies twisting grotesquely like worms.
"Still begging? You're not suffering enough."
Shin Yu-hyun had no intention of forgiving them.
No, he was just giving back exactly what they'd planned for him.
And so, he watched them silently.
Until they stopped moving altogether.