The Way of the Assassin
Although that skeleton warrior could understand instructions, its sneaking posture was far from professional.
It stuck its butt out, shuffling forward step by step with such exaggerated movements that it seemed almost eager for the other party to notice it.
Seeing this, in order to verify whether the skeleton warrior could perfectly execute her commands, Serea gave it a few pointers.
"Keep your movements subtle. Just slowly circle around. Don't get discovered!"
Serea whispered, and upon hearing her, the skeleton repeated several of her words.
"Move... movements subtle... circle... circle around... no... can't get discovered..."
The skeleton nodded, and then actually did as Serea intended. Although its movements were comical, at least it could understand what Serea wanted to convey.
Sword clutched tightly, its feet shuffled forward slowly, the skeleton warrior edged closer, bit by bit, to the group of three.
Rustle, rustle!
The grass and bushes shook, but the sneaking skeleton warrior didn't seem to realize it had made a fatal mistake.
"Who's there!"
Sure enough, upon hearing the sound, the three immediately turned to look in that direction.
Bow bent, arrow nocked, the archer in the team drew his longbow to the fullest, the arrowhead pointing precisely at where the noise had come from.
"A skeleton! It's an undead monster—prepare for battle!"
The archer shouted, and the other two immediately drew their weapons from their waists, staring warily at the spot the arrow pointed to.
Under their gaze, a skeleton with its butt stuck out was slowly inching toward them.
"Move... movements subtle... circle... circle around... no... can't get discovered..."
The skeleton warrior kept repeating these words as it shuffled bit by bit towards the three.
The two sides stared at one another. For some reason, seeing these ridiculous actions, something that should have been frightening now felt kind of... well, funny?
"It's a skeleton, right..."
"Looks like just an ordinary skeleton. A first-tier monster, probably about the strength of an apprentice warrior."
"Uh... is it dumb or something..."
The sharp-eyed archer said this. For some reason, watching the skeleton's ludicrous movements, he still hadn't released his arrow. If you asked why... maybe because the skeleton seemed... really dumb? It made it impossible to feel any sense of danger.
"Er... a normal skeleton should have charged at humans by now, but what is it doing?"
Watching the skeleton shuffle forward, muttering as it went, they found themselves at a loss.
And as she watched the skeleton persistently sneaking despite being stared at by the three, Serea slapped her face with a sigh.
"I knew it... it only half-understood me!"
Step by step, the skeleton inched forward; now it was less than ten meters from the three, but it still kept its awkward posture, staring wide-eyed at them.
"No matter what, it's still a skeleton. Although it's only apprentice warrior strength, we can't be careless."
"Yeah, since it's a monster, let's finish it quickly."
Finally, the archer spoke up. He stepped forward, moving closer to the skeleton, then, without further hesitation, aimed at the soul fire in its skull, drew the bow fully, and released.
Whoosh!
The arrow shot out, straight for the skeleton's eye socket, and the skeleton froze as it saw the arrow coming.
Crack!
Hit by the arrow, the force snapped the skeleton's head back sharply, as if it were finished.
"Done!"
The archer said smugly—but then the skeleton started moving again.
It slowly twisted its head back, Soul fire still burning within its eye sockets. The arrow had skimmed past the soul fire and gone straight into its skull.
"Master's... order... no... can't be... be discovered..."
The skeleton warrior spoke, but its enemy had already attacked—though the shot had missed, it was obvious the enemy had discovered it. Even with little intelligence, it could understand that its stealth mission had failed.
It had been discovered, and had thus disobeyed its master's order.
"De... discovered..."
The skeleton muttered, its burning soul fire now locked onto the three.
Discovered = disobeying master's orders!
Disobeying master's orders = betrayal!
This simple logic led the skeleton warrior to one conclusion: it must not be discovered, or it would be betraying its master, so no one could remain alive to see its stealth!
No living witnesses = no one to discover me!
With that thought, the skeleton warrior raised its longsword in anger, launching a thrust straight at the three.
"Kill... them all, can't be discovered!"
In its fury, the skeleton warrior managed to utter a complete sentence, leaving the three men dumbfounded.
Wasn't this supposed to be the silly, harmless skeleton? How did it suddenly charge at them out of nowhere?!
Thrust attack!
But the skeleton warrior didn't care what they thought. At such close range, its charge was impossible for them to block; in the blink of an eye, it was in front of the three.
Thunk!
The longsword pierced the archer's chest; pain shot through him and he screamed.
"Ahhh!"
With a single slash, the archer's heart was shredded. After a few desperate struggles, he collapsed to the ground.
"Wh-what... is this?!"
"It's too fast... is that really a skeleton?"
"Stop talking and defend yourselves!"
Due to underestimating their enemy, the curious archer had wandered out of the protection of the other two and been instantly killed by the skeleton. The group's core attacker was now gone.
Seeing this, Serea was stunned for a moment, and then three words flashed through her mind.
"Is... is this for real?"
Yet something even more shocking happened next. Faced with the two remaining mercenaries, the skeleton warrior completely dominated them.
One cause was that the mercenaries, after witnessing their companion's death, were left panicked and terrified. Another reason was...
Character: Anka (Mercenary)
Level: 8
Status: Fear
Spirit: C
Strength: C
Agility: D
Endurance: F
Constitution: D
Charisma: D
Luck: B
Skill: Block
Description: Small fry...
This was the strongest of the two remaining men, and the other was only level 7. By their standards, an apprentice warrior was around that level.
But they had mistaken the skeleton warrior for a normal skeleton, when in fact its real stats were—
Character: Skeleton Warrior (Undead)
Level: 11
Status: Loyal
Spirit: E
Strength: A
Agility: C
Endurance: C
Constitution: B
Charisma: F
Luck: F
Skills: Blade Rend (Tier 1), Thrust
Description: In life, a notorious mercenary. After being resurrected by the sovereign, vowed to serve loyally.
This was the first skeleton Serea had revived, and it was the highest level among all her skeletons—far exceeding the two men before it.
And so, with the difference in levels, the scene before their eyes unfolded.
"Damn it! This skeleton's strength is too much! It's definitely not a normal one, we can't hold out!"
"Can't hold out or not, we have to try—wait for my chance to attack!"
The two called out, while the skeleton, still fixated on not being discovered, continued swinging its blade relentlessly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The longsword slammed repeatedly into their shields, forcing the two back step after step, leaving them incapable of counterattack.
Now, they no longer dared look down on this ridiculous skeleton.
(To be continued...)
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
That skeletor warrior has the makings of an assassin.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】