With the function of Lucius' aspect restored, the second skill of his aspect called Sucker Punch, was also returned to him. This skill increased the critical hit rate of any attack he made while the enemy was unable to see through his stealth. Lucius looked down at the unconscious leader lying in front of him, considering for a moment whether he should take the time to finish the man off now. But with the ghostly aspect the leader possessed, who knew how many attacks it would take to finish the job—and the skeleton was already casting its gaze toward the injured David.
"Tsk."
Lucius clenched his teeth as he pulled his gaze away from the leader's defenseless body, turning toward the skeleton as he rushed back toward it. Luckily for David, he was on the opposite side of the clearing, and Lucius was able to close the distance before the powerful monster reached him.
"I'll handle the skeleton!"
Lucius shouted at David as he let his aspect fall away for a moment, drawing the creature's attention back to himself as he led it away. Lucius rolled forward to avoid the ethereal gray whip that sliced through the air toward him, quickly returning to his feet before launching himself into the air. He reactivated his aspect and escaped into the canopy. The moment the skeleton lost sight of Lucius for the second time, it began destroying the surrounding trees with one powerful strike after another in a misguided attempt to remove his hiding place.
Meanwhile, Lucius had already returned to the ground behind the skeleton and aimed a Piercing Throw at the back of its skull. With how small a target the rest of the monster's bones were, the relatively wide skull was the easiest thing on its body to hit. This time, with the additional critical hit damage from his aspect, Matriarch's Fury managed to chip away a small flake of bone from the hard black skull.
The skeleton screeched in fury as it spun its body around with incredible speed, forcing Lucius to jump into the air as he pulled his knees to his chest to avoid the gray whip passing through the spot he had just been standing. Lucius' jaw tightened as he stared up at his foe when it seemed like the skeleton had known his exact location, but he relaxed a second later when he realized that was not the case.
The skeleton began attacking its surroundings in a blind rage, proving it's inability to see him as Lucius maintained his distance. He carefully avoided damage while peppering the cursed monster with one Piercing Throw after another. Lucius aimed for the skull whenever he could, but sometimes he was forced to target the pelvic bone or spinal column because of the skeleton's rapid and erratic movements.
Whisper began using his shadows to flood the creature's attention, making sounds and throwing stones from all around it to overwhelm its senses and destroy any ability to pinpoint Lucius' location. The tables had clearly turned now, and the damage buffs from Assassinate continued to increase the power of his attacks.
As Lucius kept the skeleton occupied, and with the leader out of commission, David turned his attention to the remaining humans. The remaining men in the camp were all standing around the fire, watching the battle warily from a distance, but none chose to intervene. A few members of the group grew visibly nervous as they saw David approaching, and when they noticed him staring right at them with a terrifying grin, they did not hesitate to turn and run toward the forest.
The closest man to David only managed a few steps before a large axe came spinning through the air, quickly catching up to the man as it sunk into his back, directly between the shoulder blades.
"AAARRGH!"
The man let out a pain-filled cry as he fell to the ground, his hands clawing at his back as he tried—and failed—to reach the weapon piercing his body. David walked up to the man slowly, stepping on his back with one leg as he wrenched the axe free, heaving it over his head as he prepared a mighty swing.
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"NOO—" CRUNCH!
David brought the axe down on the man's skull, ruthlessly and casually ending the man's life like he was putting down a wild animal. He pulled his axe free from his slain foe and set off after the two remaining men. The rest of the men in the camp stood silently around the fire, frozen in terror as they watched the slaughter unfold.
Back in the area where Lucius was battling the skeleton, Assassinate had finally built up enough power to overcome the incredible hardness of the black bones. The proof of this was now sticking out of the creature's skull after successfully piercing one layer of bone. When Lucius retrieved the blade, gray smoke poured from the hole it had left behind. The skeleton seemed to panic at this new development, halting its pursuit of Lucius as it hastily covered the hole in its skull with one hand, trying to stop the smoke from escaping.
The creature thought it had averted the disaster, but seconds later, it let out a wretched, wailing cry as Matriarch's Fury plunged into the opposite side of its skull. Another hole appeared, releasing more smoke, and the creature was forced to use both hands to seal the openings.
Lucius mercilessly continued his assault, opening one hole after another until the area around the skeleton was filled with smoke. When the creature's skull began to resemble Swiss cheese, the smoke flooding out started to thin. A few moments later, it stopped flowing completely. When that happened, the red light behind the skeleton's eyes began to dim, quickly fading out completely as the tall black skeleton went limp.
The next moment the bones collapsed to the ground and immediately began shrinking, returning to the size of the bones of the child they had been stolen from.
You have defeated sceletus sacrificium, Level 31!
You have reached Level 24! You have 8 attribute points available for distribution!
Congratulations! You have defeated a powerful creature. You have been awarded one [Rare] grade item upgrade!
Lucius watched the bones return to their original size with a heavy frown across his face. Looking down at the child’s skull, now riddled with holes from his own sword, left a heavy feeling in his chest. He looked toward the area where the leader lay, clenching his teeth as he moved toward the despicable man responsible for this tragedy.
When he reached the man’s body, his anger reached a crescendo, and he didn’t hesitate to drive his blade into the leader’s still-breathing chest. The overuse of magic must have rendered the man's aspect unable to activate, because Matriarch's Fury pierced blood and flesh rather than the ghostly vapor Lucius expected to see.
"Ughh!"
The leader's eyes shot open wide as he stared up at the dark night sky above him, blood pouring from his mouth and eyes as he struggled to speak.
"M-mother Yaga!"
Lucius' eyes widened as the terrible cackling of an old woman echoed through the forest. He pulled his blade from the leader’s chest, watching the man topple over to the side as he looked around warily for the source of the sound. Something was wrong. That strike had fully destroyed the leader’s heart—he was certainly dead. But why was there no message from the system?
As Lucius continued to watch, a massive flood of gray smoke, unlike anything that had happened before, began to pour in from all directions toward the body. The amount of smoke made it difficult to see anything at all. At the same time, the quiet voice of an old woman entered Lucius’ mind.
"You have my thanks, little bloodsucker. It cost me a great deal of magical energy and careful planning to control the mind of this child of mine, but even with all my efforts, something inside him refused to submit completely. He had surrendered his body to me, but despite the effects of my hypnotic spell, he refused to surrender his soul. That is... until you drove a sword through his heart. As thanks for the favor, I'll give you a few minutes head start. Hahahahaha!"
Lucius' eyes widened further as he took a few steps back. The leader’s body began to shudder and twist as the flood of gray smoke entered it through every wound and orifice. The man’s form began to rapidly grow, doubling and tripling in size, it continued to enlarge until it became at least ten times its original size. The leader's clothes had long since torn away, and long gray fur began to sprout across the darkening skin. His arms and legs lengthened and distorted, large paws forming at the end of each limb as a long, shaggy tail sprouted from his back.
Sense Danger has detected a C-Class threat!
When Lucius saw the message from Sense Danger he knew that his luck had run out, he glanced back in the direction David had gone with an exhausted frown weighing down his face as he shoutout out a single word.
"Run!"