Chương 12: 12. Skeletons

Orion found himself pondering how his electrostatic energy had worked, realizing he had done so unconsciously.

He picked up a stone from the ground and stared at it intently, willing it to levitate, but nothing happened. It stayed still, unmoved by his desperate efforts.

Frustration boiled within him as he realized his failure. He had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could tap into his hidden reserve of strength, but it seemed that even the simplest of tasks eluded him.

'How did it work last time?'

Confused, he tried every trick up his sleeve but failed measurably.

Despite his best efforts, nothing seemed to work, leaving him increasingly bewildered and desperate.

'Curse those who have skills. They just think, and their skills work. And here am I, trying all sorts of things to even know how to use my talent or curse.'

He felt frustrated by his power, which seemed to elude him no matter how hard he tried to harness it. It felt like grasping at shadows, always just out of reach when he needed it most.

"Guys, skeletons! There are skeletons here!"

However, at that moment, a shout broke Orion from his deep thoughts.

Looking up, he saw Ryfin running towards them, but he couldn't comprehend what he meant by "skeletons" until a moment later, when he saw three skeletons trailing behind Ryfin, likely in pursuit.

To his horror, these skeletons, devoid of any flesh or muscle, raced across the ground with an eerie swiftness, their bony legs moving with surprising agility.

In their skeletal hands, they wielded gleaming swords, their empty eye sockets fixating on their prey with an unsettling gaze.

Despite their lack of flesh, the skeletons moved with a haunting grace, their rattling bones echoing through the air as they closed in on them when Ryfin approached them.

"Prepare for battle."

Famir shouted as he raised his hand, beginning to condense his lightning bolt. Meanwhile, Orion panicked at the side, unsure of what to do in this situation since he couldn't use his powers at all.

"I can hold them in place, you guys attack."

Ryfin shouted to Famir and Orion, raising his staff and pointing at the three incoming skeletons.

"Space Lock."

As if he had cast a spell, the three skeletons suddenly froze in their tracks, their bone-white forms immobilized as if trapped in invisible shackles. No matter how they struggled, their limbs remained motionless, as if bound by an unseen force.

Observing this, Orion sighed in relief. However, his attention was soon captured by the trembling stones around his feet, as if he were a giant stomping on the ground. Despite his stillness since the arrival of the skeletons, the stones continued to tremble persistently, stirring a growing unease within him.

'Is it the result of electrostatic energy? But how did it activate itself when I tried so many methods and still failed?'

"Boom!"

His thoughts were interrupted by a booming sound, prompting Orion to turn his head just in time to witness a lightning bolt striking the group of three skeletons.

In the dim light of the cave, a golden light flashed for a moment.

With a sudden jolt, the skeletons collapsed to the ground, their brittle bones shattering upon impact. Limbs disjointed and fractured, bone fragments scattered in all directions, creating a macabre scene of disarray.

"Thank god, it's over."

Ryfin sighed in relief, but it appeared he had spoken too soon, as something unsettling occurred to the bones scattered over the area.

As if possessed by dark magic, the shattered bones of the fallen skeletons began to stir, drawn together by an unseen force. Piece by piece, they joined and fused, forming a towering figure twice the size of the original skeletons.

With four arms now instead of two, the amalgamation bristled with menace, each hand wielding a deadly weapon—three swords gleaming with malevolence and a bone spear poised for attack.

However, what was most horrifying was its blood-red eye socket, gleaming in the darkness of the cave.

While the source of their terror was the aura emanating from it, which was far more frightening than that of the giant they had encountered earlier,.

Witnessing such a monstrous transformation, the three of them began trembling with fear. Their bodies froze in terror, and their minds struggled to comprehend the horrifying spectacle unfolding before them.

In the face of such overwhelming aura, rational thought abandoned them, leaving only primal instinct urging them to flee from the nightmare that had come to life.

But the paralysis of fear held them captive, rooted to the spot as the monstrous entity loomed closer.

It wasn't their fault that they felt fear upon seeing something like this. Before transmigration, they were no more than humans on Earth. In their former lives, they had never encountered such unearthly horrors and never imagined that such abominations could exist beyond the realm of myth and legend.

The sudden confrontation with the unknown shook them to their core, once again reminding them of their vulnerability in a world far stranger and more perilous than they had ever imagined.

Even though they had fought against the giant, it had been a long-distance battle where they maintained a safe distance. However, the skeleton menace now stood right in front of them, presenting a much more immediate and terrifying threat.

'Move, move your body, damn it.'

Famir internally screamed at himself to move, but it was as if his body had been seized by an invisible force, rendering him unable to budge no matter how hard he tried.

Meanwhile, Ryfin's complexion drained of color, his trembling hand releasing his precious staff, which clattered to the ground as he watched in horror as the menacing figure drew closer.

On the other hand, Orion appeared as though he had seen a ghost. His face contorted in terror, his body trembling uncontrollably as his mind grappled with fear.

'Am I going to die?... Maybe this is my last thought.'

He could only think in terror as he watched the skeleton draw closer.

The trio found themselves rendered useless, overwhelmed by fear in the face of the monstrous skeleton.

Despite their best efforts to move, they remained rooted to the spot, as if fate had sealed their doom at the hands of the menacing skeleton.