[Vol. 8] Chapter 9: A Tower Built from Sand
The holy knights remained calm even in the face of chaos. The retribution knights, who were in charge of attacking, swung their heavy halberds to take the fight to the enemy. Meanwhile, the guardian knights held up their shields to block the attacks coming from deep within the forest and used their one-handed swords to deal with any enemies that got through. They worked together smoothly, helping one another with great coordination.
The priests kept casting protective and support-type holy magic in an organized way, while also maintaining a shield over the non-combat members riding in the wagons. From time to time, they would cast healing magic, which allowed any holy knight hit and knocked back by fireballs to get right back into the fight as if nothing had happened.
Even though the group was surrounded by what felt like an endless sea of undead enemies, the situation was still completely under control. Not a single skeleton had broken through the defensive formation.
Since Violet and the other top fighters in the group didn’t need to waste their strength on these clearly weak enemies, they didn’t step in. Frederica, after cutting down and striking back at that mysterious spellcaster at the beginning, had also stayed out of the fight. She simply stood quietly, watching the battlefield with a thoughtful look. And before long, her expression began to show doubt.
“This is strange... What’s going on with these undead?”
Violet, who was also watching the battle from a wider view, understood what she was wondering.
It wasn’t that the enemies were too strong. Actually, it was the opposite. These skeleton soldiers were too weak.
Their pale white bones might look scary, but they weren’t even as strong as normal animal bones. A holy knight swinging a heavy halberd could easily smash several skeletons into pieces with a single blow.
On the other hand, the white bone swords they used couldn’t even scratch the knights’ shields, let alone break through the armor blessed with holy light. At most, they left faint white marks, barely visible lines that posed no real threat.
It was the same with the arrows shot by the skeleton archers. And although the occasional black fireball from the forest had decent power, there weren’t enough of them, and they didn’t come often enough to matter.
If the enemy thought these kinds of attacks could break through the formation of elite holy knights, they were dreaming. The only way this would work is if they kept attacking non-stop for three whole days and nights, trying to wear the knights down through sheer exhaustion.
Thinking this, the Saintess glanced at the black-haired girl beside her.
Normally, she would have considered these skeletons as simple cannon fodder. But since that girl had clearly said earlier that something was strange about them, there had to be some kind of hidden danger. They couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
So then, where exactly was the problem?
Since she was born, the Saintess had never felt her mind work as quickly as it did now. Her Divineness had clearly already figured out the answer, but chose not to reveal it completely. It was obvious she was testing her, to see whether Frederica Cecilia truly had the wisdom and ability to be worthy of her divine position.
If Frederica made a mistake because she wasn’t paying attention and her team got hurt, her damaged reputation would be the least of her problems. If her companions, who trusted her, were harmed, or worse, if the Goddess herself felt disappointed in her follower, then she would be guilty beyond forgiveness.
As she anxiously watched and thought, Frederica’s gaze shifted, and she suddenly noticed something.
When the skeleton soldiers were defeated, or when their bone arrows shattered against shields and barriers, they left behind broken pieces of bone. After all these waves of attacks, there were now white bone fragments scattered all over the ground. Not just outside the formation under the holy knights’ feet, but even inside the defensive lines.
Normally, when a skeleton is shattered, it basically dies completely. Except for rare special types, the remaining bone pieces are just harmless junk that lose all power…
Wait a minute! Why are these bone shards moving!?
Frederica’s eyes widened. She suddenly remembered what she saw yesterday in that graveyard, an undead mage who was putting together dead bodies. If that mage and today’s attackers were part of the same group…
If dead bodies can be put back together, then what about bones!?
Realizing a terrifying possibility in that instant, the Saintess’s heart skipped a beat. Without hesitation, she shouted loudly.
“Everyone! Watch your backs!!!”
“Clatter-clatter-clatter...!!!”
Almost at the exact moment Frederica gave her warning, the broken white bone fragments lying all over the ground suddenly began to move. Faster than before, as if they realized their secret had been exposed. They wriggled and crawled quickly, gathering together like rivers flowing into the sea.
In just a blink, they formed several large, powerful skeleton warriors, much taller and stronger than the normal ones. Blue soul-fire burned wildly in their eye sockets. Without warning, they raised their bone swords and slashed hard at the blind spots of the holy knights!
“What!?”
“Ugh!”
“To bring back the dead again and again... this is a terrible act of disrespect toward the souls of the departed! O Lord, please shine your light of creation and purify these lost spirits...”
Even though the priests were shocked and began to pray while casting new holy spells, those new skeleton warriors, formed from many bone fragments, were clearly much stronger than the weaker ones from earlier. Even though the team was more alert now, several holy knights were still cut down immediately, bleeding heavily.
The team’s tight formation was broken in a small spot. The regular skeleton soldiers, still charging in wave after wave, rushed through the opening and started attacking the inside of the formation. The entire group’s defenses began to fall into confusion.
At that moment, the angel girl standing next to the priestess took action.
“Boom!!!”
With a powerful flap of her four snowy-white wings, she shot forward like a blast of wind. While still in the air, she threw her long spear like a shooting star. The weapon flew faster than any of the enemies could react, piercing straight through the head of a skeleton warrior that had just raised its sword to finish off a fallen knight. The spear, filled with holy power, crushed the burning skull to bits, then spun in the air and flew back into the angel’s hand as she charged toward another enemy.
“Splat!”
Another tall skeleton warrior was sliced cleanly in half from the side. Pieces of bone scattered everywhere. In just a few seconds, she had already taken down two of the powerful enemies. But she didn’t stop, she became a blur again, dashing forward at high speed, clearly aiming to eliminate every elite enemy that had gotten into the team’s formation!
At the same time, the few remaining skeleton warriors seemed to sense how dangerous she was. They didn’t dare attack random soldiers anymore.
Instead, they started working together, gathering in one place and, in a strange way, merged with each other. Their bones broke apart again and reformed into a single, even larger monster. It swung a bone sword several meters long with all its strength, trying to avoid the same fate as the others.
“Good... We avoided a disaster.”
Thanks to Leila’s quick action, the formation didn’t fall apart completely. Seeing her teammates quickly regroup on their own and the priests rushing to heal the wounded, the Saintess finally let out a breath of relief.
She had been about to take action herself, but now paused. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked toward the giant skeleton warrior now fighting Leila. Though it was losing, it wasn’t being destroyed instantly like the others.
“What’s going on with these undead...? I’ve seen skeletons come back to life before, but these... Their soul flames were clearly destroyed. So how are they able to come back together, and even become stronger than before? Those skeleton warriors from earlier… they even seemed to combine, like they did it on purpose…”