The party of four finally reached Barta Village, the fog still hasn’t dissipated. The others think it’s just the weather, but I’m pretty sure something’s wrong..

We were walking down the village path after we saw a sign that spelled “Batra Village”. We’ve been walking for less than 30 minutes and a building was finally in sight.

“Hey look! A house, it seems kinda weird.. let’s go closer”

The house looked like it had been abandoned for weeks, like something was trying to get in and succeeded..

“What happened here?!”

Margaret shrieked

“You know I don’t like scary things!”

“Let’s go further, maybe the other buildings are fine.”

We continued to walk down the village, but all we saw were ruined houses and blood. We all thought the same, this was probably caused by the skeletons which were reported over a month ago. They probably found and attacked Batra Village.

We were planning on splitting up to search for some survivors but then a noise came from the alley..

Clack- clack-

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, Elizabeth spoke in a soft voice

“Rag, come with me, let’s go check where that sound came from”

I nodded, we then went to the alley between two houses, after we reached the end of it there was a trail of blood..

“This doesn’t seem good..”

A rusted sword then swung at me, but I barely managed to dodge it, only suffering a scrape on my skin..

Clack-

“Skeletons! Quick regroup with Ponte and Margaret!”

We then hurried back to the middle of the village, while running we heard sounds of fighting and magic going off from the distance

“They were probably ambushed by the skeletons while we were gone!”

When we got there all we saw was the sight of a swordsman and a mage that were holding off a group of skeletons in the distance. Elizabeth shouted

“Ponte! Margaret! Come quick, regroup with us!”

“We can’t!”

Shouted Margaret

“Ponte is injured! He needs help fast!”

I look back to Ponte and he was fighting with his left arm, he originally always used his right arm for most things, then he swung, his right arm which was cut off was flailing each time he swung his sword frantically..

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Let’s go Rag! Lightning Step!” Tak~! tak~! tak~!

Elizabeth used her lightning magic to quickly get to them, she was faster and each step she took left behind a trail of lightning..

“Damn, wait for me!”

I ran as fast as I could, I tried focusing all my strength on my legs to get there faster, and my body felt as light as a feather..

(What is this?) I thought to myself.

“This’ll help”

It seems unstable as of now as it keeps reappearing and disappearing depending on how hard I focus on my legs.. but it’s enough to get me to them faster

Clang~

Elizabeth has already made it to them, they’ve already halved the amount of the skeletons but the skeleton knight was nowhere to be seen..

“Stone bullets!”

Margaret raised her staff in the air and uttered these words, a number of rocks as big as the instructor William’s fists launched towards the skeletons, 2-3 skeletons looked like they were fatally injured from it or lost a limb, I couldn’t see well..

Ponte was holding off 2 skeletons by himself so I ought to help him first

“I’m here!”

I jumped past the other skeletons with this mysterious surge of power I got earlier and swung my iron greatsword right at the skeletons against Ponte. Crrck- the sound of bones crushing under my greatsword, oh what pleasure it is to fight against their brittle bones

“Ragriel!”

“Don’t worry Ponte, I can handle them. Go and regroup with Margaret and get your wound bandaged up, you’re losing too much blood!”

“Thanks..”

I was refreshed when Ponte started to limp back to Margaret, she could probably handle a handful of skeletons with her Earth magic..

Kakakak- “It seems like there’s a few of you left!”

Hooo~ I focused my strength again but this time onto my arms, it feels like I could probably carry this huge iron hunk of a sword with one arm.. I swung once and it slashed straight through the first skeleton onto the other..

Hah-! Swoosh~ Crrck- thud- the skeletons bodies fell apart…

“Now, where’s Elizabeth”

“Oh, hey Rag! I’ve finished up already, took you long enough” she says as she wipes off her sweat

“Hah~ hah~ I just finished on my side, Ponte seems like he needs immediate treatment from a high priest fast” Ragriel was exhausted from using his new found strength..

Ponte looked like he was dying, we managed to stop his bleeding with a bandage and lesser healing magic meant for first aid, this isn’t enough to fix his severed arm..

“The skeleton knight still hasn’t shown himself.. I don’t think this is all of them”

“I agree, we need to rethink our plans now as we have someone unfit to fight right now”

I nod my head in agreement, Ponte was strong enough to handle a handful of skeletons but he was caught off guard in an ambush..

“The skeleton knight is probably commanding the remaining skeletons and the ones we fought earlier”

None of them thought it was going to be an “advanced skeleton knight” since it’s an evolved version of itself. An advanced skeleton knight’s strength is on the brink of D class almost breaking past onto C class. They are incredibly rare, at the cost of its rarity and smarter capabilities, slaying it will make it drop either an armor piece, a shield or a weapon.

“We have to be careful now, they can strike from all sides because of this fog”

The fog was supposed to disappear within a few days, but it only seemed to be getting bigger

They were currently residing on the second floor of a building, it was better than camping outside

“Let’s rest up first, we can think of what to do tomorrow morning”

We all went to sleep after Margaret placed some earth magic traps outside the house so we’ll know if anyone or anything comes close

(I could finally rest, what a tiring day)

Tschif- the trap activates burrowing the ground for whatever activated it, tshif- and another

“Hmm?” Ragriel woke up scrubbing his eyes “what was that sound?”

Tshif- “The trap! Elizabeth! Margaret! Wake up, they're here!”

I picked up my sword and got ready to fight

(sigh~ how dare they disturb my sleep)

I look out the window and saw the skeletons and two red eyes were staring eight back at me

“It’s the advanced skeleton knight”

I put my right leg up on the window readying myself to jump out, I look back to the others still gearing up, I smirked then uttered

“I’m going first”

“What?”

In their eyes I was probably a crazy lunatic, like who would jump into a crowd of skeletons? Especially someone who wasn’t even a D rank, but I’m confident. I was only able to reach power 8 all this time since I was so focused on training starting from the basics, unlike those who trained from a young age and have already started hunting monsters..

Again I focused my strength onto my legs, then a slight black aura covered my legs (it seems like this is what it looks like, I didn’t really get a good look earlier, heh~)

I leaped off the window, holding my greatsword above my head

Haa-

I switched the focus from my strength onto my arms

“Hmph-! Heavy Strike!”