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How strong were the skeletons? Yeoman felt like it didn’t matter. The sheer number of them made their individual strengths irrelevant. Even an elephant could be killed by a large enough swarm of ants. Then again, a party like Swirling Wind could easily escape this predicament with magic. Yeoman could too, but he had no idea if his teleportation ring allowed him to bring other people with him. It’d be great if it worked, but if it didn’t, then he’d just be abandoning his party. Yeoman shook his head. He wasn’t much for planning; Cody would know a way out of this. “What’s the plan?”
Cody frowned. “Exactly how loudly can you shout?” he asked. “Is it loud enough for everyone to stop what they’re doing, including the kobolds?”
“Maybe,” Yeoman said, “but I don’t think the kobolds can understand me.”
Cody nodded. “How many people can you carry while flying?”
Yeoman had no idea. He had never tried before. “If I don’t bring the mace, I should be able to carry our party out.” Their combined weights were less than two thousand pounds, right? Was that the plan? Save his party and abandon everyone else? It was a very Cody-like plan. It wouldn’t be the first time the Asian man used a horde of undead on unsuspecting humans.
“Alright,” Cody said. “Shout these exact words: Disengage from the kobolds. There’s a horde of undead surrounding us. Disengage and regroup. Is there anyone that can talk to kobolds?” Cody slapped Yeoman’s arm. “Now!”
Yeoman sucked in a deep breath through his nose, his chest expanding. “Disengage from the kobolds! There’s a horde of undead surrounding us. Disengage and regroup! Is there anyone that can talk to kobolds!?” His voice was like thunder, drowning out the shouts and sounds of battle. When his voice finished echoing, it was replaced by silence punctuated by the clinking and clanking of the skeleton army. The kobolds were covering their ears, their faces clearly showing their pain. The humans stopped attacking and glanced at one another.
“Is there anyone that can communicate with the kobolds?” Cody shouted. He knew Yeoman was going to shout, so he had covered his ears beforehand. “We need to convince them to fight the skeletons with us, or we’re all going to die!”
Yeoman blinked. That wasn’t part of the plan. How did escaping with their party turn into joining hands with the kobolds to fight the skeletons?
“I can!” a girl said, raising her hand. Yeoman took a look at her. She was one of the E-ranked party members who had come to clean up the aftermath of battle. He recognized her; she was the girl with dog ears who wanted to join their party but was ruthlessly rejected by Cody.
“Go,” Cody said, pointing at the frontlines. “Tell the kobolds there’s a horde of undead surrounding us. We have to cooperate if we want to live. Tell them to break out through the west. The army of skeletons there might look large, but there’s even more lying in wait for us in the other directions; they want to pick off the disorganized ones who retreat.” Cody gestured with his arm. “Go, go. What are you waiting for?”
Yeoman furrowed his brow. He could see the skeleton army behind them. They weren’t too far away. There was maybe a minute left before they arrived. However, he couldn’t see any signs of skeletons in the other directions. “How do you know about the other skeletons?”
“Echolocation,” Cody said. Then, his voice dropped down to barely a whisper, “I don’t. It’s a lie. If everyone thinks there isn’t an escape route, they’ll fight more fiercely against the skeletons. Think of all the gene fragments we’ll get from killing these undead.”
Yeoman didn’t know what to say, but he knew he shouldn’t react out loud. Who knew how many other people had improved their hearing? Yeoman took another glance at the skeletons. The majority of them looked human to him, but he could clearly see some bones that belonged to animals or seriously deformed people. “Are you sure they’ll even drop gene fragments?” What good would human gene fragments do? They started with their human genes unlocked.
“Group up! Everyone, group up! Disengage from the kobolds!”
“Grah! Bark bork! Bow wow!”
The humans and the kobolds cleanly separated from one another, much to Yeoman’s surprise. It seemed like the undead were the greater enemy, one that could force two warring races to unite. At least, Yeoman assumed that was the case. For all he knew, those barks could’ve been a signal to backstab the humans when they engaged in combat against the skeletons.
“Let’s head over as well,” Cody said, hopping off the rock and running towards the party. Yeoman followed him, deciding against clashing his Dread Callers together. They didn’t work on undead beings, and he wasn’t sure if they’d weaken the kobolds’ stats.
“What’s going on?” Kat asked when the two arrived. “Are the undead really here? She isn’t crazy, right?”
Yeoman glanced at the dog-eared girl Kat was referring to. She was acting as a translator between the kobold king and the B-ranked party. Judging by the heated exchange of words and barks, the negotiations were not going well. Yeoman wasn’t surprised. They had been trying to kill each other not too long ago, and the leader of the B-ranked party was especially irritated since there was a hole in his pants. Cody’s arrow had long been taken out, and the wound was healed by magic, but there wasn’t any magic for stitching the man’s pants back together.
Cody nodded. “The formation’s going to be different this time. Yeoman and Joanne will be up front while the rest of you will support them from behind. They’re the only ones with blunt weapons. I don’t think anything else will work on skeletons.”
Yeoman nodded. Smashing skeletons, he could do that. Although they were sentient, they were also already dead. Even if he broke them apart, he was sure magic could patch them back up. Killing them wasn’t really killing them. Yeoman went forward, claiming a spot where he could easily swing his weapon without it colliding into anything. Joanne and the rest of the party came up behind him. With his crow eyes, Yeoman examined their expressions. Kat seemed nervous, judging by her twitching ears and wide eyes, but everyone else didn’t show any signs of anxiety. Either they weren’t scared, or they were really good at hiding it.
Other adventurers advanced forward with grim expressions on their faces, stopping when they had advanced as far as Yeoman’s group. The kobolds shuffled forward as well, making sure to keep their distance from the humans. The B-ranked adventurer party and the kobold king stood at the forefront, a few paces ahead of the rest. By the time everyone had gotten into position, the skeleton army was less than twenty feet away.
The skeletons raise their swords, their motions in sync as if they were part of one machine. The adventurers and kobolds by comparison were an unorganized mess: Their colors weren’t matching. They were standing in little pockets rather than in a solid formation. Some kobolds were spitting at humans who had gotten too close. However, the individual might of each person made up for the group’s lack of unity. A mage from one of the D-ranked adventurer parties let out a shout, and a fireball the size of a car flew forward, striking the army of undead. A group of skeletons were blasted apart, their limbs scattering in all directions.
“Charge!” the leader of the B-ranked adventurers shouted.
“Bow wow!”
To Yeoman, the kobold king’s signal for attack was pretty cute, unexpected for a creature of its size. Yeoman narrowed his eyes and gripped his weapon, clearing his head of distracting thoughts. The skeletons were armed with swords, but their reach wasn’t as long as his mace. Yeoman gripped his weapon like it was a baseball bat and ran forward. He had to keep up with the adventurer parties who were on either side of him, so he could focus his attention on the enemies in the front. If one of the parties didn’t advance with the others, then they could expose their allies to potential attacks from the side.
When the skeleton army was in striking range, Yeoman stomped down with his left foot and swung his mace from right to left. The mace traveled through eight skeletons, but Yeoman didn’t feel any resistance at all. It was as if he had struck the air, but there were clear signs of devastation from his attack.
[Obtained Mammalian Bone Enhancement Fragment]
[Mammalian Bone Enhancement Fragment: Collect one hundred fragments to obtain a Mammalian Bone Enhancement (Epic).]
[Mammalian Bone Enhancement Fragments: 8]
Yeoman glanced at his left wrist. That answered his question: the skeletons wouldn’t give out human genes; rather, they’d provide bone enhancements. Yeoman wasn’t sure what bone enhancement entailed, but it was probably a good thing. With one swing, he had killed eight skeletons, and it felt like he had expended no energy at all. Had he become that strong without noticing? He hadn’t tested his strength at all after obtaining the genus Goblin upgrades, but the results were more impressive than he had thought.
Yeoman took another step, this time with his right foot. He swung the mace back from left to right, sweeping away another chunk of skeletons. The next line of skeletons raised their shields to defend, pressing themselves together, bracing for the impending attack. However, when the mace collided against them, all their preparations were for naught. They were swept away in an explosion of shards, dust, and armor. Yeoman swung his mace again and again, destroying row upon row of skeletons. Yeoman had to admit it was a bit therapeutic; all the stress that had been building up inside of him was let out at that moment.
“Yeoman! Pull back! You’re in too deep!”
It was only when Cody called out to him did Yeoman realize none of his party members were with him. Yeoman turned his head to see behind himself with his crow eye, regretting not putting it on the back of his neck like Cody had. His party had been cut off from him. Luckily, he had wings. Yeoman leapt into the air, flying back towards his party.
“Watch out!”
Yeoman wasn’t sure if Cody’s shout was directed at him or not, but he turned his head anyway. A sword was slashing at his back. A skeleton was riding a skeletal horse which was running on the air. Yeoman didn’t have time to react. The sword collided against the [Goblin Shaman’s Staff (Uncommon)] on his back, but the staff remained whole despite its relatively low rating. However, the impact struck Yeoman down, sending him face first into the ground even with his best efforts to slow himself with his wings. Yeoman rolled over and sat up, but two hooves stomped on his shoulders, pressing him against the ground. The skeletal horse couldn’t have weighed more than a thousand pounds, but for some reason, Yeoman couldn’t get it to budge. He swung his mace with one arm, hoping to knock the horse and rider off of him, but a thin sword easily deflected his strike, breaking all the laws of physics Yeoman knew and understood.
The skeletal rider leaned over, off the side of the horse. Its skull appeared in Yeoman’s view, and he made eye contact with its empty sockets. “Aren’t you fighting on the wrong side?” the skeletal rider asked, its voice sounding like rocks grinding together. “You’re not human. You’re an undead, one of us. Who created you?”
Yeoman raised his leg, but the horse kicked it back down with its hindleg. He was pretty sure he heard something snap, and there was a hot sensation in his shin.
“You have a pair of wings too,” the skeleton said, unbothered by Yeoman’s attempts at freeing himself. “A zombie with wings who fights for the humans, interesting. Ah!” The skeleton’s eye sockets widened. “I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. You can call me … Mr. Skelly. How should I address you?”
Yeoman froze. Mr. Skelly, he was an important character in The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons. Most of the time, he was used as comedic relief and very rarely entered into any fights. However, it seemed like the skeleton was as strong as he was funny. Yeoman swallowed. If he teleported away right now, he’d survive, but there was absolutely no chance of his companions escaping, not with someone as strong as Mr. Skelly here to stop them. Even Cody wouldn’t be able to fly away. Then, would words work? “My name is Yeoman.”
“So, you can speak,” Mr. Skelly said and tugged on the horse’s armor. The skeletal horse stepped off of Yeoman’s shoulders, letting him sit up. “Tell me, Yeoman, who created you? Why have they awoken us?”
Yeoman blinked. Who created him? His parents did, of course, but that wasn’t the answer Mr. Skelly was looking for. As for awakening the undead, clearly, that was the Dread Callers’ fault. How was Yeoman going to answer those questions without getting himself or his party members killed? There was one answer he always defaulted to when his boss was angry. Would that work? “I’ll look into it.”
Mr. Skelly blinked, his eye sockets contorting. The skeleton wiped some dirt off of its rusty armor and cleared its nonexistent throat. “No, no. Your creator, who is he?”
If he said he didn’t know, would the skeleton believe him? Yeoman cleared his throat on habit, and the sound of thunder echoed out of his mouth.
“Were you the one that shouted earlier?” Mr. Skelly asked, his eye sockets narrowing. “I heard your voice from quite far away. Not only do you have wings, but you also have a very loud voice. You might not know who your creator is, but I have a pretty good idea.”
Yeoman looked around, taking in the battlefield with his crow eyes. The skeletons were unable to advance, but they weren’t being pushed back either. Whenever one of them died, another one would fill in the gap. Little skeletons, that Yeoman suspected had been the bones of children, were going around the battlefield, picking up bone fragments and rebuilding their companions. If the fight continued at this rate, the humans and kobolds would lose after exhausting themselves.
Mr. Skelly raised a fist, drawing Yeoman’s attention. The skeleton raised one finger. “An item that awakens the dead.” He raised another finger. “Wings tackily added on to a dead human’s body.” He raised a third finger. “A very loud voice thanks to a modified neck.” Mr. Skelly lowered his hand and nodded. “You were created by the cursed dragon, Grimmoldesser.”
Yeoman froze. Obviously, he had nothing to do with Grimmoldesser, but should he say it out loud? Would it be better to let the skeleton think he had a relationship with the cursed dragon? Yeoman had no idea how to navigate in a situation like this. He was used to the usual office politics, but he never had to scheme for his life before. If he lied, there’d definitely be consequences. If he told the truth, the skeleton might not even believe him. What was he supposed to say? That the skeleton belonged to a work of fiction and aliens had transported Yeoman into its world?
“No need to say anything,” Mr. Skelly said and chuckled. “It seems like whilst Grimmoldesser focused a lot on your physical attributes, he neglected your mental facilities. Brains aren’t hard to fix. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Despite the skeleton’s reassurance, Yeoman was worried. What was going to happen to his party members? What was going to happen to him? It didn’t seem like the skeletons wanted to kill him; rather, they were treating him as one of their own. His status, however, was unclear. Was he a prisoner? Was he now a member of the undead? “Are we allies?”
Mr. Skelly rubbed his chin. “I guess you could say that,” he said. “Alright, men, we figured it out. Time to go home. If we slaughter too many people, the mistress will get angry at us.”
The skeletons disengaged and took a step back in sync, parrying the adventurers and kobolds as they retreated. There were a few people who were too focused on fighting, and they had to be stopped by their companions before they realized the skeletons were leaving. Yeoman stood on his tiptoes and made eye contact with Cody. His party was alright; after all, how hurt could they be after he had cleared away most of the skeletons? Yeoman nodded at Cody, signaling he was alright. Then, he turned to face Mr. Skelly. The skeleton leader wasn’t dressed any differently from the other skeletons; he probably preferred it that way. “Am I going with you?” Yeoman asked.
“Of course,” Mr. Skelly said and slapped Yeoman’s shoulder, almost forcing him to his knees from the force. “It’s not like you can go back with them.” Mr. Skelly jerked his chin towards the adventurers. “They’ll kill you quicker than you can say the mistress is our lord and savior who brings great blessings upon the land.” A chuckle escaped from Mr. Skelly’s jaws. “Well, not like that matters. You’re already dead!”
Yeoman scratched his head. Just because his heart had stopped beating didn’t mean he was dead, right? A sigh escaped from Yeoman’s mouth. He couldn’t tell if he was lucky or unlucky. Why did things never go according to plan when he was around? The plan was to kill the goblins, but he became the goblin king. The plan was to kill the kobolds, but he was abducted by the undead. There was also the plan to trick some mercenaries out of their gear, but he had been enslaved by Lucia. Was he cursed?