After hearing that, Erwin calmly said, "Looks like that would be my first guest." He then walked toward the direction of the voice. There, he saw his skeleton pointing a gun at some people with clothes he had never seen before. From their equipment, he assumed that those people were hunters, but one of them wore some kind of white priest cloth and another was lying on the ground.
"Three men and two women. One of the men is unconscious. There's also some kind of creature that doesn't look human. So my soldiers still follow my orders to only kill creatures that are not human. I should stay here and watch for now to see their intentions. This would also be an interesting experiment for my soldiers to see how they would react in this situation," Erwin said.
The group of strangers didn't seem panicked with the skeleton that pointed a gun at them. They even seemed ready to fight the skeleton. They were talking to each other in a language that Erwin had never heard before, but suddenly he could understand what they were saying. It felt like something inside his head was translating the language so that he could understand it.
"Careful, Weyne. This skeleton seems abnormal. It wears weird clothes and holds a weapon that I've never seen," said the archer.
"Do you think I didn't notice? And did you just forget the fact that it just killed a young wyvern that was chasing us? Of course, it's not a normal skeleton," said the swordsman sarcastically.
"It also didn't disappear after I cast purify on it. I've seen many types of skeletons and undead before, but I've never encountered one that has the power to kill a wyvern, except high-level undead like the dullahan," said the priest.
"What?! You mean it's as strong as a dullahan? Then do we have a chance to win? We also have to protect Mr. Josh, who is unconscious right now, at the same time," said the witch in a panic.
"We'll probably lose. That's why, if this attack doesn't succeed, we must retreat and inform the guild. Our lives are a priority here," said the swordsman.
"It seems that the swordsman was giving orders. He must be the leader," said Erwin.
"Erika, cast a speed increase and strength up spell on me. Sara, cast black smoke in the area. I will try to give it a surprise attack. If it fails, Felzo, prepare your holy arrow and shoot it at the skeleton when there is a chance," said the man with a long sword.
The priest began casting a buff spell on the swordsman, and the witch cast a spell that made the area around the skeleton filled with smoke. The skeleton did nothing and just stood there. The swordsman started his attack by jumping and attacking the skeleton from the back. But before he landed a hit, the skeleton turned around, as if it had known the swordsman was there. The skeleton dodged the attack, and the swordsman quickly disappeared into the smoke. He then tried to strike again, this time from the skeleton's right side. The skeleton quickly parried the attack with its rifle. Suddenly, an arrow came toward the skeleton's head, but it didn't pierce the skull and just fell to the ground. The skeleton didn't even react to the arrow.
The swordsman prepared to attack again, this time directly from the front of the skeleton. The skeleton used its rifle to hold the attack, and even though it was able to withstand the strike, the skeleton looked overwhelmed. But the skeleton released one of its hands that held the rifle and punched the swordsman in the stomach, knocking him back out of the smoke. His friend quickly helped him stand again.
"Argh, that thing is too strong. It even managed to block my ultimate move. It's impossible to win. You guys must carry Mr. Josh away from here. I will try to hold this thing as long as I can," said the swordsman while trying to stand again.
"We're not going to leave you here. We came to this place together, and we must leave together," said the archer.
"He's right, Wayne. We're not going to leave you here with that skeleton," said the priest.
The group prepared to fight the skeleton again, but then they saw a red eye shine through the smoke, followed by the skeleton revealing itself. Once again, it made the whole group tremble and think if this would be their last adventure.
"That's enough, soldier. There's no need to fight them anymore," Erwin came out of the bush near them while giving orders to the skeleton not to hurt his guests more.
The group got alert, knowing a man was able to give orders to the skeleton, and started pointing their weapons against Erwin.
"So, you're the necromancer that controls this skeleton, huh?" said the swordsman.
"I don't know what you mean by necromancer, but I am indeed the one who gives orders to this soldier," answered Erwin.
"So we just need to defeat you, and the skeleton should disappear," said the archer.
"I have no intention to fight or hurt you. I am here to offer you help. And are you sure you could win against my soldier while your friend is starting to die right there?" replied Erwin.
"You think we're going to believe you after your skeleton attacked us?" said the witch.
"All necromancers are the same, cannot be trusted," said the priest.
"My soldier attacked you? From what I saw back then, it was only defending itself from your attack. It didn't even try to attack back, and my order that I gave to it was only to bring humans to me, not kill them. But if you guys still want to fight, I will respect that. I will show you a little bit of my power," said Erwin while giving them a little smile.
"Deploy."
Four skeletons were summoned by Erwin, the same-looking skeletons that were similar to the one they fought before.
"Are you sure you don't want to accept my offer before?" said Erwin while standing in front of the skeleton.
The swordsman then lowered his sword and said, "Alright, we accept your offer, but if you hurt my friend, I will cut your head off right away."
His friend seemed surprised by what he said.
"What are you doing, Wayne? You trust what this necromancer said?" said the priest, asking.
"Did you hurt your brain after the fight before?" said the archer.
"Did you guys just forget how strong the skeleton we fought before was? We don't have a chance to fight four of them at the same time," said the swordsman.
"That doesn't mean we have to follow this necromancer either," said the priest.
"At least there is a chance of survival rather than none. We also still have Mr. John, who was injured after fighting that wyvern. If we don't get help right away, he's going to die," replied the swordsman.
After hearing that, the other members started to lower their weapons.
"Finally, we've reached an agreement," said Erwin while giving a friendly smile.
.