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Chapter 94: Spooky Scary Skeletons
🕑 Added 2024-12-04 02:04:47 +0000 UTCChapter 94: Spooky Scary Skeletons
Monsters needed darkness to spawn. That was one of the few undisputed truths understood by humanity, on a subject that remained little understood; the masses remaining shrouded in superstition, misinformation and simple ignorance despite the tireless efforts of a legion of researchers spanning the entire domain of mankind. I sympathised with them, truly, because research was never the easiest of things, not when performed with sufficient rigour for the results to be useful. It was hard enough even with bog standard animal testing and modern science, so it was surely harder by several orders of magnitude when dealing with test subjects that were uniformly feral, reproduced asexually and harboured and undying hatred of mankind. The lack of knowledge still irked me though; it couldn’t be helped, given I’d grown used to the wonders of the internet, where every conceivable subject was just a few clicks of the mouse away.
[Skeleton Soldier - Level 5]
Monsters needed darkness to spawn, and there was no darkness to be found, only flames, fear and fury. The strategically placed pools that called up monsters to block our escape could only have been planted in advance, hidden from the regular patrols and whatever magical oversight existed, until they were activated on the orders of the enemy to capitalise on the chaos of the first strike. Up until this point, the possibility still existed that I’d stumbled into an isolated plot and a few unlikely coincidences, but seeing this finally doused that hope for good.
[Knife withdrawn.]
The Skeleton Soldiers didn’t look too threatening, with their brittle bodies and rusty scimitars, except that there were a lot of them: half a dozen were already active by the time we reached the line, with two more in the process of spawning. Against just the two of us, quantity could have a quality all of its own.
“They’re resistant to cuts and thrusts, so use blunt force instead.” Kyle instructed, side-eying my knife as he switched the ammunition for his crossbow.
I knew that already, having had enough exposure to fantasy tropes over five decades in Finance; not every stereotype was true, but there were certainly plenty of geeks in the industry, to the point where it was inevitable. Even so, the thought did count for something, and I mentally moved Kyle up a notch for knowing the right answer and being composed enough to share in the heat of battle.
“Break through and keep running,” I answered, putting words into action as I barreled headlong into the enemy.
Despite their names, they showed no sign of working in tandem, remainly loosely grouped together in front of us, rather than forming ranks as any disciplined troop would. I took full advantage of that, darting towards the edge of their line up. This placed me close to one of the green spawning pools, but I decided it was worth the risk, especially as only the new skeleton's head was visible at the time. I’d played enough Sunday Football to know what to do, giving the skull a mighty kick that sent it flying off into the distance, the newest spawn neutralised before it could even leave the cradle.
[Goaaaaaaaal!
10 XP gained.]
That left only the leftmost Skeleton within arm’s reach to retaliate, swiping down with a clumsy diagonal slash aiming to chop me up from shoulder to hip.
My front foot was still outstretched from my kick, making repositioning on the spot an awkward affair, so I didn’t bother trying; instead, I used the oldest trick in the book, one that was always available to every man standing upright. I went totally limp, dropping like a sack of potatoes as my dead weight brought me to the floor, the enemy slash passing harmlessly overhead. Now it was the one over-extended, leaving itself open as I rose into a pommel strike, smashing its right knee into splinters. That wasn’t enough to kill the undead, but it left him unbalanced and unable to respond as I got to my feet, followed by a heavy shove that sent him into the next Skeleton Soldier in line, tying it up and keeping myself out of blade range. All of this happened in just a few seconds, which was how long it took for Kyle to get a shot in.
“One for All.”
Kyle fired a single round from his crossbow, a blunt bolt with a thick metal head resembling the face of a hammer. Halfway to the target, one bolt became seven, the first continuing on its original flight path while the remaining six diverged without any loss of momentum, reminding me of old military footage from a MIRV missile test. All seven rounds struck home in the vulnerable necks of the Skeletons, sending decapitated skulls flying every which way while their bodies crumpled to the ground, bereft of command and control. A single shot, and they were gone, even the spawning pool opposite me having lost its head; needless to say, I was starting to appreciate the potential of the Sharpshooter Class, which was looking quite a bit more versatile than the sniper I’d envisioned it as.
Still, that was no excuse to dally, as fresh heads were already bubbling up in the spawning pools. I had no idea how to stop that from happening, or even if that was possible, so we had to get a move on before sheer attrition did us in. On we went, leaving the monster checkpoint behind. By now, the air was thick with smoke, forcing me to constantly absorb it from my immediate vicinity, dumping it into my inventory to allow myself to breathe. Glancing briefly over my back, I saw that Kyle had covered his face with a mask; how much good it did I wasn’t sure, but it was probably better than nothing when it came to smoke inhalation. We ran past two more sets of spawning pools on the way, both substantially larger than those spawning Skeletons, but their increased size seemed to slow the process down, as nothing emerged to stop us from exiting the slums, returning to the bosom of civilization.
It was also on fire.
