It was the perfect opportunity to test what the skeletons were capable of- No, what I was capable of. But, as unkillable as I might be, I wasn't taking any chances.
Unlike the one I had killed before, these seemed to be on high alert. Probably not a coincidence. The odds weren't quite on our side, since it was four armed and trained robbers against two recently killed skeletons, not including me of course.
I edged one of the skeleton guards closer behind, wondering if I could use their hearing just like I did their vision. Though they were still quite far off, it worked just as well as I hoped.
"-no time to dither, that's what happened to him." One of them was saying, pointing agitatedly at the dead bandit. "See? He dithered, that's what he did. Got what he deserved."
"New guy, innit? Always too greedy, thinks they can get away with anything. Us veterans know our places. We take for the boss, he returns our cut and nothing more."
"Ya hear that, Yorstaf? You get too greedy and you'll end up like that other new guy- killed by a roaming dread-spawn! Hahah- Now fill this bag up as well!"
The last guy was thrown a large sack and grumbled something under his breath before snatching everything he could find from a nearby corpse and starting to fill the sack up with the others peering curiously over his shoulder.
A perfect moment of distraction.
Visualizing the combat panel in my mind, I gave orders for the attack. If things went well, I could catch them by surprise and kill half before the other two can realize.
The skeletal town guards moved methodically and more well-coordinated than I had expected.
The first one snatched a sabre off the ground and made a lunge at the nearest pillager, while the other that already inched quite close tackled another from behind. There was a yell as the bandit was pulled back, trying to wrest free whilst producing his only weapon: a flintlock pistol- which was instantly seized by the skeleton.
The other bandit however, had been on guard. Hearing the footsteps, he had already swung around with cutlass in hand and intercepted the skeletal town guard's attack. His partner jumped up to help, but a sudden gunshot erupted through her head.
"Damnit, retreat!" The bandit yelled but was getting forced into a duel with the undead guard. "Somebody help me out here!" With the other bandit still struggling to break free from being strangled, the last robber had already decided to abandon them both, grabbing the bag of valuables and scrambling away.
Angrily, the bandit jabbed his cutlass heavily through the skeletal guard's eye socket. On the map, the skeleton's soul health dropped nearly more than half, but its only reaction was to reciprocate with a similar stab. Of course, the human body was unable to withstand it.
The other skeleton had also wrapped things up, killing off the robber with a small skinning knife from his own pockets.
"It was a good plan, not exactly the best execution," I said to myself, motioning for the skeletons to follow me. "We really need to work on our element of surprise. Alright, last one left. He thinks he can hide."
It made me remember playing hide and seek, or 'butcher the bandits' before my loop of death began. Now, it was for real. And I didn't even need location-revealing skills this time.
I had been keeping a close eye on the combat map throughout the entire fight. The bandit's indication marker seemed to have disappeared, but I knew exactly where the coward went.
Rounding a corner to where I last saw the marker, I didn't have to look further. Like how he betrayed his companions, his terrified breathing betrayed his position. One of the skeletons managed to move some rubble, revealing the bandit crouching in a corner. No sooner had he seen the skeletons standing before him, a sabre had already slammed through his shirt and jacket, pinning him to the wall.
"AAAH!!! SOMEBODY HELP!"
"There is nobody left. Your buddies are dead because of you." I said from behind the two skeletons standing over him menacingly.
"WAAAAAHHH!! T-TA-TALKING MONSTERS!!" He screamed, backing up further against the wall as if he was trying to dissolve through it.
"Where did you come from? Talk fast or you'll never talk again."
"F-from a small northwestern village! I come from a poor family! I have a wife and children to feed! P-please have mercy, D-death!"
'I doubt that.' I thought, wondering how a person this dumb could get a wife. "I meant who sent you? How did you know to get here so fast to loot Wruens? It should've only been a few days since the Lwich attacked."
I didn't know how long I had been dead, but there was no way bandits and brigands could swarm a town right after it was destroyed on such short notice.
"It's been a day." He corrected.
"Fine, a day. So?"
"I-it was all Toryne's idea!" He stuttered in fear, crouching into a ball. "And I don't know much myself but e-everyone already knew that Lwich- or somebody- would invade Wruens days ago."
"Unbelievable." I thought out loud. How could anyone outside have known about it if even the town inhabitants themselves didn't know about it? Unless that's why communication was cut with the pretext of a quarantine. "Who's Toryne?"
"O-our boss. He said there would be piles of wealth in Wruens and that it would be easier than picking up sticks. I never would've agreed to go if I knew the grim reaper himself would be guarding the place."
"Somewhat accurate," I muttered, pleased. The more frightened he was, the better it would be to get answers out of him. "But you can't be the only one left. Excluding the four I just killed, how many of your buddies are still roaming about?"
"I- I'm not lying- Only five of us were sent here as scouts to collect as much valuables as we can before the Royal Bluebacks arrive! Boss said he'll send the rest next week with spades and wagons to pluck the place dry- that was his plan! N-not mine!"
"Imperial Bluebacks... You mean the Felegan Chevaliers? So you know of their coming?"
"I-it was Toryne that told us! I don't know how, but he knew! I'm just a lowly mercenary, I've never come into contact with any imperial soldiers before!"
Toryne... He had now caught my attention. Whoever this person was, he seemed to be someone with a lot of information. Some of which may be what I was looking for. "Where is he?"
"W-who?"
"Toryne. Where is your boss?"
"T-that's... I'm not allowed to-"
There was a scraping noise as the skeleton wrenched his sabre free. With a loyalty as fragile as glass, it was enough to jolt the robber into spilling the beans.
"H-he has a camp near Filchin City! It's in the woods... or thereabouts- It's just straight west!"
'Perfect.' I thought. Having gotten all the information I needed, I called away the skeletons and decided to plan what I would do next. In the split second I forgot about our hostage, the bandit was already prepared to turn on me.
"Screw you! I'm not going to known for being defeated by bunch of talking skeletons!"
A small mana-imbued medallion spun through the air toward me, a stream of smoke trailing behind it. Glowing mana rushed through the grooves of an engraved magic circle which I recognized straight away from books and guides.
Explosion magic. If I didn't move, the mana release would blow up half my skull. I didn't know if even my 'immortality' would still work after that.
'Do something!' My mind screamed at my body. But before I could even react, a skeletal hand caught the coin, instantly errupting into a cloud of fire and gunpowder with the sound of two simultaneous blasts.
The noise faded away, leaving me a bit disorientated. The undead guard beside me had stopped the explosion, sacrificing his arm in the process. Tattered cloth fluttered freely at his shoulder, no longer having an arm to cover. I was relieved that it understood my orders in time, though I realised that would me it could also sense my thoughts.
A few feet away, the second skeleton had already finished off the attacker even before the medallion had exploded. Now, it pocketed the flintlock before joining me without any further reaction. Just like the other undead, he betrayed no sign of sentience with its stiff expressionless skull rigid like a mask.
Obviously, this levelling system was more powerful than I expected. I hadn't given them any specific commands, yet they were capable of acting on their own.
I didn't think the undead were able to think for themselves; this was usually never the case in any of the novels I used to read. The dead couldn't think, could they? Or perhaps it wasn't 'thinking' that I had just witnessed. They definitely weren't talking, that's for sure. They weren't sentient like the system, except for responding to commands. What if it wasn't a consciousness that they had, but a situational awareness?
Up to this point, I had been treating them and the system as either an object or a person. What if they weren't both? What if they were more of a responsive anomaly or artificial intelligence that could read a situation accurately and act on it? That would also apply to taking commands, regardless of complexity.
I stared long and hard at them, trying to piece together all the answers and the new questions they created before I shut everything down and emptied my mind.
I had something else I needed to do first. Something I had intended to do before meeting these thieves. And if the corpse burglars were right about the Felagan Chevaliers arriving, then I had better do it fast.
Visualizing my status, I checked what I had gained from sweeping out the rest of the bandits.
Beep. [ Victory! ]
Beep. [ 4 enemies vanquished ]
Beep. [ Rewards:
- x74 soul stones
- Skill Lv.1 Dismiss Undead Obtained
- x2 Soul Leveled Up ]
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[ System Host: Arius Scerriton ]
[ Race: Skeletal Undead ]
[ Rank 2: Trainee Soldier ]
[ Soul Stones: 94 ]
[ Authority Level: 2 ]
[ Soul Level: 101 >> 103 ]
[ Soul Health: 28/30 >> 28/40 ]
[ Soul Mana: 32/40 >> 32/55 ]
[ Skills: Enlist Undead, Dismiss Undead, Mending ]
[ Troops under command: x2 Town Guards ]
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'74 soul stones for 4 enemies... That would make it around 19 stones for each. Should be good enough.' I thought after a brief check. It didn't seem like much had changed, but I was glad my health and mana had improved. 'Now, let's see if these undead skeletons can be useful in another way.'