episode_0020

A skeleton, still ablaze, slowly climbs up the hill.

After breaking through the log trap and flames, the creature finally reaches the top of the hill and rushes towards me.

I swing my sword with the intention of shattering its flaming skull.

Clang!

A strange sound of bones and metal colliding echoes around.

However, to my surprise, the creature’s skull remains intact.

Was my strength lacking? No, if it were a normal human bone, it would have broken.

Swinging my sword once again, this time I aim for its shoulder bone with all my might.

But the creature raises its arm, using its arm bone to block the sword.

“Ugh….”

The hand holding the sword trembles.

It was incredibly powerful for a being made only of bones.

Furthermore, its monstrous endurance was unmatched.

“Yunoa was truly a dullard with no adaptability, learning one thing only to barely understand another.

He definitely knew a way to bring down the monsters for sure.

But in his rush to react, his mind froze, and he simply swung his sword.”

As multiple skeletons and a few zombies rush towards the village while crossing the hill, a voice is heard.

You already know a way to bring down the monsters for sure?

In that case…

“Are you talking about this?”

I transfer the magic imbued in my body to the sword after crossing it behind my back.

The technique that the bronze adventurer Oren showed me.

I had tried it once in the forest, slicing a log from afar with that technique.

Clang! Clang!

As the skeleton with glowing blue eye sockets tries to swing its arm at me.

Feeling the surge of magic to the tip of the sword, I swing it horizontally.

Zzt zzt zzt zzt!

The trajectory of the sword that cuts through the air materializes into a blade and flies towards the creatures in front of me and behind them.

Clang! Clang!

The rib bone of the skeleton that tried to swing its arm at me shatters upon colliding with the blade.

After that, dozens of creatures stagger after being hit by the blade.

But the opponents were undead.

Even if one arm, one leg, or most of the torso crumbled, they crawled up the hill in that state.

I focus my mind once again and send out the blade.

Once more.

And again.

Continuously, I relentlessly send out the blade like a madman.

Yes, as the narration said, it was certainly more extensive and destructive than just swinging the sword.

But something was lacking in decisiveness.

Is this really the ‘way to bring down the monsters for sure’?

Clang clang…

The skeletons whose arms, legs, and torsos were shattered began to gather and reassemble themselves.

The ones with broken arm bones picked up and inserted other’s arm bones, and those missing leg bones found and inserted leg bones.

After the reassembly, the skeletons rushed towards me with renewed ferocity as if they hadn’t received any attacks.

While I tried to block them as much as possible by continuously sending out the blades, there was no end to their numbers.

Before I knew it, I was about to be overwhelmed by them on the hill.

“Yunoa indeed lacked adaptability.

Even though he could freely control the flow of magic in his body, with this catastrophic adaptability, he couldn’t stop the monsters.”

“Damn it! What should I do?!”

In response to the repeated criticism from the narration, I shouted in frustration.

I swung my sword again, but the destructive power was noticeably reduced compared to the first swing.

Now, it was truly dangerous.

Even at a glance, the number of undead, which had exceeded 100, still had more than half remaining.

According to the plan, at least two-thirds of them should have been dealt with before they crossed this hill.

However, no matter how battered my body became, their annoying ability to reassemble and resurrect as long as there were movable parts was frustrating.

Even if I took down 10 of them, 4-5 of them would revive as if they were brand new by combining their intact parts.

On the other hand, the weapons I had prepared were quickly running out.

In the end, I had no choice but to abandon the hill to them and retreat towards the trap-laden side.

I abandoned the hill and sprinted towards the entrance of the village.

As I retreated, the undead swiftly crossed the hill and chased after me with a clattering sound.

Thud! Roar!

I saw a few skeletons that were chasing me fall into the trap and tumble inside.

I immediately threw a torch into the hole, turning it into a pit of fire.

Sizzle!

The flames inside the hole burned more fiercely than the open surroundings.

The traps I had set up burned the undead like a large hearth for cooking them.

However, I had not prepared a large number of traps.

It was because I had lacked time to prepare.

Honestly, considering the time given, it was a miracle that I was able to prepare this many traps.

If it weren’t for my superhuman strength trained by magic, it would have been impossible.

I hoped that more monsters would fall into the pitfall that had turned into a pit of fire.

But when the trap was triggered and a large hole appeared in the ground, the creatures following behind did not fall into the hole.

They began to leap over the hole like long jump athletes.

Some even leaped over the obstacles I had set up to restrict their path and ran straight towards me.

“There are still that many left….”

All the remaining traps were triggered, turning into pits of fire, and I had used up all the traps I had prepared.

And when I roughly counted the remaining creatures, it looked like there were at least 30 of them.

1 vs. 30.

It was still a desperate situation.

These creatures were not like the Blue Slimes that could be easily defeated with a single blow, and their attacking power was incomparably strong.

If I thought I had defeated them, they would reassemble their intact parts and come back to life.

But it was better than facing 100 of them.

Now, all I had to rely on was my sword.

I steeled myself and stood alone at the entrance of the village, facing the creatures.

That’s when it happened.

As I prepared for the final battle, a few people from the village rushed out of their homes and ran towards me from inside the village.

“What’s going on?”

“Fire? Fire! There’s a fire at the graveyard!”

“Eek! What are those things! They’re monsters! Monsters have invaded!”

Hearing the sounds of fighting and the fire at the graveyard, the villagers who had woken up from their sleep came out to see what was happening.

More people came out of their homes in response to the cries and gathered around me at the village entrance.

“Stay back! Go back! It’s dangerous!”

I shouted at the villagers who were crowding around me.

They were not people who had trained their bodies with magic like me.

Having them come closer would only be a hindrance.

“Who is that adventurer?”

“Oh! Is he from the extermination team?”

“Was he the one guarding this place alone?”

The villagers who had gathered behind me each muttered a word, not knowing how I felt being pushed to the edge of a cliff, and cheered me on from behind.

If I were to be defeated by the monsters here or flee, it would be a disaster for the villagers.

And at least from my perspective, that possibility was not at all unlikely.

However, the villagers who were unaware of the situation gathered around to watch my fight, thinking that I was just an adventurer left behind by the extermination team to protect the village, without even considering running away.

It’s like in those comics where they power up by saying, ‘I can feel the hearts of the people!’

Unfortunately, the cheers pouring down on me only felt like a burden, not strength.

Clack clack clack.

Dozens of skeletons gathered at the village entrance, making unpleasant sounds as they rushed towards it.

I stood alone in front of them, holding a sword in hand and ignoring the onlookers behind me.

What should I do?

The sword technique I used, similar to Oren’s, lacked destructive power.

If I couldn’t find a way to decisively defeat them, there was a high chance of finding a gap to exploit against the numerous enemies.

If the ones I thought I had taken care of were to come back to life and rush towards the villagers after passing me…

– Yunoa was truly a dullard, lacking any adaptability, barely grasping one thing after being taught one.

– Despite being able to freely control the flow of magic in his body, with such catastrophic adaptability, he couldn’t stop the monsters.

The narration that I heard earlier resurfaced in my mind.

The sword technique had already been used plenty.

But even so, the narration didn’t stop blaming me.

That means, the sword technique wasn’t the answer the narration wanted.

Let’s think about it again.

Despite being able to control the flow of magic in his body, he couldn’t defeat the monsters due to a lack of adaptability.

The sword technique is a skill that sends magic flowing into the blade and uses it.

And the sword technique that is sent out like that lacked the destructive power to take down the undead in front of me in one go.

So, to increase this lack of destructive power…

I focused my mind and started to send the magic flowing in my body back into the sword.

But this time, I concentrated the magic at the tip of the blade, making sure it didn’t escape, like concentrating a large amount of liquid to gather essence.

The sword technique has a wide range but lacks destructive power.

So if you narrow the range with the same power, the destructive power increases.

The monsters were now close enough for the sword to reach.

I swung the sword, filled with magic, with all my might towards the skull and forehead of the closest one.

Crack!

The once solid skull of the skeleton shattered like a cookie.

The sword that shattered the skull continued down, breaking every bone it passed through into pieces until it reached the maximum range it could go down, without any resistance.

“Oh! As expected of the extermination team!”

“Erase them all!”

From the skull to the pelvis, the major parts that made up the skeleton were destroyed in one strike filled with magic.

No matter how they tried to resurrect themselves like assembling used parts, they couldn’t survive being so ruthlessly shattered.

“I… I did it….”

I still felt a thrilling sensation lingering in my fingertips.

But there were still dozens of skeletons rushing towards me.

However, I was no longer afraid.

If I could defeat them in one blow, skeletons, skeleton grandpas, or blue slimes were all the same.

“You jingling skull-faced brats! Novice adventurer is coming out!”

I rushed through the undead crowd, filled with magic at the tip of my sword, ready to strike.

* * *