"I dare you to say that again..." The armoured man murmured, grabbing an overweight man by the cuff.

"Hahh?! You speak too softly. I can't hear a thing you say," The man's unpleasant smile widened as he took a deliberate pause. Brushing the armoured man grip off. 

"You monster." 

The armoured man heard something snapped in him. His mind went blank as rage roared over his ears. Yet. Yet he moved not a step. He easily had the strength to snap a tree trunk in half, yet he froze. Taking on the brunt of his insults, the armoured man froze. A turmoil of despair bubbled in him. 

"Hahahaha," The unpleasant man guffawed. his paunch shaking. "You coward. Abandoned child of a knight family. What do you think you are doing? Wearing that kettle pot of an armour? Playing knight? Dream on! Someone like you could never be a real knight! Yo-" 

A cracking sound cut him off in the middle of his sentence.

The armoured man raised his head. Right in time to see an arm planted right into the unpleasant man's face. 

"Yo." 

Craning his neck around, the armoured man turned his head around to see his companion. Dressed like a clerical nun albeit, without the headpiece, she acted anything like one. Flamed by her rebellious mauve hair, no one will ever mistake her for a nun even if she dressed like one.

"Leer, what the hell were you doing? Letting his mouth run off like that?" Lowering her shades, she questioned. 

"Amanda..."

She sighed. "Whatever, just come. Ferro has a job for us to do." 

"You lowly peasant! Do you know who you just hit?!" The unpleasant man, clutched his broken nose, trying to stop the blood from dripping to his fancy shirt. Getting up from his bottom, trying to piece back his shattered dignity.

"As if I care." She waved her arm.

"I'll remember you! I'll definitely make you pay!" The unpleasant man squealed, running away.

Striding around town, they attracted stares all around, which was not surprising considering their appearance. Every step Leer took, the full body rusted knight armour clung and clanged.

The one who initiated the conversation is Leer, the armoured man.

"...I'm sorry..."

"Hmm? What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong? At least not that I know of." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Unless 'twas you who stole my prized liquor?"

"N- no, of course not."

"Yeah, didn't think so. Must be Ferro, that bastard. I'll find a way to make him confess somehow." She grumbled.

"But, I caused you trouble, that man is sure to come back for revenge."

"Heh, let him come then. That spineless coward, can't do a thing."

"He could still hire people to attack you..."

"Don't worry, don't worry." She pulled her sleeves back to show her bicep. "I'm strong after all. Plus if I ever get into trouble, I know you'll come rescue me." 

At this, Leer fell silent. 

"By the way, your armour's pretty rusted ain't it? Don't you think you should get a new one?"

"It's fine... This one will do. Ah, I will try my best not to be a hindrance with this armour on."

"Nah, that's not what I'm getting at. I know you're always trying hard."

All around, whispers and murmurs flew around. Onlookers stood from a distance, spreading rumours.

"Isn't those two pairs from the three-man party, ?" 

"You mean the legendary one, the adamantine rank one?"

"Yes, yes that one. The black sheep of the adventurer's guild."

"Weren't they the infamous one for..."

Thud! The book snapped to a close. 

"Hmm, it's about time." It grunted. Mysterious hoots of an owl echoed in a distance. The frigid air howled while crescent moon peeked through the window. 

The skeleton slung a rucksack over its draped shoulders. Shutting the door behind him, leaving his birthplace. Looking back not once as he went down the slippery slope. Leaving behind the cottage that sat on a cliffside. With a makeshift graveyard next to it that acted as its cradle.  

A few days after his rebirth, he spent his time holed up reading the treasure trove of knowledge stored in the Necromancer's cottage.  As expected of a master necromancer, his decaying shelves were buried with books that were filled with the vast amount of knowledge for tampering of the dead. After thieving the cape that its dead master wore and wearing gloves to conceal his hands, the skeleton prepared for departure. Waiting for the sun to set before leaving. Learning the hard way that it burns blue in the sunlight. 

Going down on a new path, a new life, in the dead of the night. 

It was around when the crescent moon reached its zenith, that the skeleton saw a change in scenery. From the dried brown earth jutted occasionally with spires of rock, desolate land kind of terrain to a forest. A spiny forest. Instead of the forest with lush green vegetation, this forest was filled painted orange, the same colour as the earth. Sparse and few, the orange-barked trees had thick trunks but its branches were nothing but mere naked stubs with tiny leaves dotting them. Looking similar to an upside-down tree with the branches as roots and has been occasionally called as the 'bottle tree'.

Some reached a staggering thirty metres or so of height. However, most vegetation exists as shrubs, bushes and ferns that barely reached the skeleton's kneecaps. 

"I'm saved." The skeleton sighed. "Luckily this map is right. This forest barely provides any shelter. But it's definitely better than being completely out in the open under the sun.I have the hood, but still, better be safe than sorry... No way am I going to burn to death without achieving anything." 

The skeleton took steps forward, entering the new biome. Traversing for a short period of time, a sound broke the monotonous travel.

"Leave us alone!" 

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

In the edge of its vision, another message popped up. Similar to last time, but this time it had different words.

[Innate Passive Skill: Monstrous Uniligualist]

The skeleton wondered briefly what it meant. As it was interrupted by thrashing sounds meted out by three humans unto a peculiar creature. The creature was roughly humanoid, large and bulky, easily double the size of a human. With pale, lifeless grey skin, it had two tusks protruding from its lower lip. Long black hair sprouted down his head. In the area of clothing, it had a piece of armour tied around its waist. The strange creature held something between its massive arms. It crouched, protecting whatever it was holding. A strange unsettling feeling crept upon the skeleton. 

In the end, his conclusion was: Leave it. Nothing good will come from getting involved. 

However, the closer it got, the more the unsettling feeling grew.

"Is it so fun to bully the weak? You coward!"  

Hearing the same voice speak once again, the skeleton finally realised what has been bothering it.

-I can understand it? The monster's speech? But I can't understand the speech of those humans...

Sounding like a foreign language to the skeleton, the group of three exchanged words.

"Arggh, this is such a pain. Why the heck won't this Orc even die yet? Our quest was just to capture that white Zmei that has recently been sighted around here. Whether we stab him, kick him, shoot him, curse him, nothing works. This orc just won't die. Argghh, such a pain." Ferro grumbled, drawing back his spiked boots before smashing it right into the creature's gut. 

"Enough of this! You guys stay back." Ferro slipped his gloved hand into his leather jacket. Loading the bullets he took out, he cocked the hammer of his pistol.

Moving away, Amanda yawned. "Sure, sure, just make sure to finish it." She shrugged.  

"Time to finish this once and for all." Ferro fixed his one good eye unto the creature. Giving it a hard glare. A silver mask covered the left side of his face. "Well, adios." 

"... Wait, there's someone walking past." One in a knight's armour, Leer called out. His face, obscured by an armet, with the visor down. A sheathed sword was buckled around his waist. 

"Ughh, I was just getting to the good part." Ferro groaned. 

"Hmm, he's wearing a hood. How suspicious. Which do you think he is?" The female dressed in a black, nun tunic. However, her mauve hair was in plain sight, rolling down her collar. Holding a book with one hand, Amanda crossed her arms. 

"Heheh, does it matter?" Ferro tipped his cowboy hat. 

"Damn right you are..." Amanda grinned venomously. 

"Human or monster, only the strong survive!" In a deft motion, he changed his target. Aiming at the cloaked figure instead, he instantly opened fire. 

Wha- The skeleton's train of thoughts immediately wiped cleaned by the gunshot. The moment, the bullet came into contact with the skull, a pillar of flame shot out. A blazing inferno razed, burning right up into the heavens. 

With a loud thud, it collapsed backwards. The cloak fluttered.

The armoured man being the nearest froze.

What's this insanely bad feeling creeping up on me?  Having a sharp instinct, Leer, with his cracked voice, shouted. 

"Run!"

"Leer?" Amanda questioned.  

"Ahhh." A deep voice escaped the cloaked corpse. "That was so fast that I was surprised." Black steam poured out of his fleshless lips. 

Immediately a shiver went down their spines.

The cloaked corpse roused back up slowly, taking its own sweet time as if it had all the time in the world. 

"Impossible! That was my best shot! I prepared that to kill the orc but fired on you instead. To be alive after that is..." His words trailed off. Cocking his head back, he held on his cowboy hat and burst out laughing.

"Wahahaha! Perfect! Fight me you monster! Amanda, Leer, get out of here! I'll beat him!"

"Heh, no way in hell am I leaving, right Leer?"

A clink from his armour could be heard as he nodded.

"Huhh?! I'm telling you that you guys are in the buzzing way!"

Annoyed, Amanda snapped, kicking him in the leg.

"What the hell was that for? You violent bi-"

Another punch. 

"We are in the way? Yeah, obviously we are in the way. If you're looking for your own death, then we'll obviously be in your way!" She puffed. 

"Hah!" He spat. "Don't pull me down then."

"Shut up, you impotent prick!"

"Kuhh,  I don't even care anymore. You still can run if you want, you know?"

"I thought you didn't care anymore."

"Fine then, whatever happens, don't you dare blame me!" Whipping out a second gun, he loaded fired another round of bullets towards the cloaked figure. 

The first shot burst into a pillar of ice. The next few shots alternate between ice and fire. 

"How's the taste of my shots? Those are specially infused bullets. Nice, aren't they?" Ferro smirked. 

"Useless." The Orc muttered. "It was only for a single moment, but I felt it, an unbelievable power enough to even make my skin crawl... An ability?"

"Auuu-. Wait, I don't feel anything?" The skeleton asked. In the corner of his vision, another message popped up. 

[Innate Passive Skill: Heat and Chill Negation] 

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm not even looking for a fight. Can you guys even understand me? Ahh, how bothersome..."

"He's still standing..." Amanda exclaimed, flipping her book. "Thorns of Condemnation, Bind!" 

Thorns shining dark purple materialised, wrapping around the cloaked figure. 

Not looking for a fight? With that kind of murderous aura? The Orc thought. Wait, it's concealing the aura with its cloak, so maybe it's true after all?

"Pay with your life. Condemn!" Amanda screamed. 

The thorns tightened, piercing thorns into the cloaked body. Suddenly exploding at the slightest move that the skeleton did. 

"Heh, these thorns will explode everytime you move. As long as you're alive, they will condemn you to death."

"Rargghh!" A guttural shout came from Leer. Unsheathing his blade, he raised it high above his head, bringing it down on the cloaked figure. 

"Blade of Judgement!" The cleaver glowed amber, accelerating as the seconds tick by. Carrying a lethal force unto the surface it comes with contact to. 

"Auu, auu, auu! Eh? There's actually no pain at all? Ah, is it because I'm an undead, so I don't feel pain?"

[Innate Passive Skill: Adamantine bones] The message popped up.

When the dust cleared, they all could see in plain sight. Leer's cleaver stopped by the bone. Before shattering into a million pieces. On the other hand, the bone had not a scratched on it.

"NO way!" Both Leer and the skeleton exclaimed.

"Wait, why the heck are you surprised as well?" The Orc retorted.  

"I guess it's my turn now? Let's see, the book said that I..." The skeleton muttered to itself. 

In the necromancer's diary, he found a list of its inborn skills and move sets it could use.

"I think it was called 'Bone Rush'? The skeleton pointed its arm in one direction. 

A stream of bones materialised behind it, flying through the air. Flooding towards the aimed direction. 

One by one, a flurry of bones, pierced the ground inches off Ferro's toes. 

"Ahh? You dodged. That's no good, isn't it? You should stay still so that I can hit you."

That guy's going to kill everyone. I got to do something... Its heart pounded right in the orc's ears. Blood rushing up to its head as it frantically searched a solution. 

-Impossible. The word flashed through Leer's mind. That beast is way beyond our level now. I have to look for an opening. Yeah, no way I can allow Ferro and Amanda to die here. 

"GRAAOOOR!" A roar ripped through the tense atmosphere. Slapping his shaking knees, the Orc dashed straight towards the cloaked figure. 

-This is it! My chance. The armoured man, Leer shouted. "Knight's Drive!" Accelerating forward, he dashed towards Amanda and Ferro in a straight line.

Clutching them each with an arm, he crushed three crystals he held in his hand.

"Base Return!" The three of them disappeared.

On the other hand, the skeleton unleashed another wave of Bone Rush towards the charging Orc. 

"Oooaaahhh!" However, the Orc endured. Despite the bruises and cuts it obtained, it charges blindly straight ahead. Every time a wound was incurred, a light would flash and the wound will be healed.

 In the end, its strength triumph over the skeleton. Using its full weight, the Orc bore down upon the skeleton. 

"Wait, I'm not looking for a fight either." The Orc rambled immediately afterwards.

"Is that so. Why are you on top of me then?"

"I just didn't want you killing those humans." 

"Huh? Weren't they beating you up earlier? Don't you want to get revenge?"

"No!" The Orc made a cross with his arms. "I believe that every single life is precious and that we should treasure them." It declared, with its chest thrust out. 

"Ah? I see?" The skeleton replied, not understanding a single bit. 

"AHHH! I completely forgot about the poor snake." He dashed back to where he was a minute ago.

-I see. So this was what he was protecting at the start. The skeleton concluded. But, isn't this counterproductive? He's going to kill it at this rate. It thought, seeing the Orc smacking the head of the albino snake back and forth roughly.

Miraculously, the snake coughed and sputtered. 

"I thought I was going to die back then! Whoever chokes someone that hard on the pretence of protecting them?"

"Ah, the snake talks." Both the skeleton and the Orc stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Of course, I talk! What? Haven't seen a talking snake before? My name is Hebi. I'm a proud member of the Zmei race!"  

"Oh right," The Orc smashed his fist into his palm. "I just forgot to introduce myself. Where are my manners? My name is Cro. I'm the current Orc King."