Skeleton Knight in Another World Vol. 4

by Ennki Hakari

  Chiyome deftly dodged the attacks, spinning and using centrifugal force to knock several skeletons off their feet.

  I drew the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg from its sheath and swung the glowing azure blade through the already-dead attackers, cleaving bones as if they were twigs. For every skeleton I cut down, however, two more burst from the ship’s hold.

  “The whole ship’s infested with the undead!” Chiyome shouted. “It’d probably be easier just to light the whole thing on fire!”

  “You’re right,” Ariane said. “We can use magic to set it ablaze, and sink it once we’re…” She cut herself off mid-

  sentence.

  A massive figure had appeared from inside the ship, knocking skeletons out of its way.

  “Roooooooooooooaaaaaar!”

  Unlike the other undead swarming us, this monster was covered in blotchy skin, and looked a lot more human. It was quite a bit taller than me, standing around three meters. It wore armor on its massive upper bodies; it had two, connected at the waist, a human-like head atop each half. Its faces—if you could even call them that—glowered at us through five bloodshot eyeballs, and wore sinister smiles filled with rows of sharp fangs. The two bodies were identical, giving the creature a total of four arms, and it carried two swords and two shields. Its bottom half was spider-like, with eight large, black legs.

  The human-spider hybrid skittered toward us as we continued to fend off the skeletons.

  “What is that?! It’s got the stench of death… Does that mean it’s undead, too?” Judging by the tone of Ariane’s voice, she’d never seen anything like this before.

  I glanced at Chiyome, but her reaction was the same. I couldn’t recall ever seeing this creature in the game.

  Its eyes focused on me as it opened its mouth to speak. “Kill…intruders! Kill…witnesses! Kill them all!”

  “Did it just talk?”

  “Apparently, it’s on an entirely different level than those simple skeletons!”

  The man-spider flexed its legs and leaped toward us. Ariane and Chiyome dove to avoid it.

  I pulled the shield off my back and blocked the monster’s massive swords; my shield reverberated from the strength of its blow. I returned the attack with my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, hoping to chop off one of the man-spider’s torsos. However, it caught my strike with its shield. A sharp clang reverberated off the cave walls as metal struck metal.

  “He blocked it?!” So far, I’d been able to take down most enemies with a single strike, so this was a bit of a surprise. However, I took advantage of the momentary lull to put distance between me and the monster.

  “Stones of fire, heed my call! Slay my enemy!”

  Ariane launched into a spirit magic-powered fire strike. However, the man-spider blocked that as well, causing the fire to dissipate in a cloud of mist.

  “He has a mythril shield?!” Disbelief was plain on Ariane’s face.

  Thanks to mythril’s magical properties, it was an incredibly valuable metal in this world. Setting aside the fact that this monster could speak, it seemed to be of low intellect, which suggested that someone must have given it the mythril shield along with the weapons and armor.

  Here, as well as in the game, the low-intellect monsters I was familiar with were generally armed either with weapons they scavenged from humans, or simple ones they made from wood or stone. Weapons that required more sophistication, like those made of steel, were practically unheard of.

  It seemed pretty clear that someone behind the scenes was pulling the strings.

  Taking advantage of our distraction, the monster thrust one of its long spider legs toward Ariane in a swift, powerful strike. She dove out of the way. The leg tore through several skeletons and into the ship’s wooden deck, opening a large hole.

  “Fire!”

  I shot off a low-level magic attack as the man-spider stubbornly prepared to launch another assault on Ariane. Flames slammed into the ship’s deck and nearby skeletons. I closed in on the monster, but it pulled its shield up once again, causing the magic to dissipate into mist. Its speed and agility outclassed the skeletons greatly.

  However, even though I couldn’t actually harm the monster, I successfully ignited the ship. The crackle of burning wood echoed around us as red and orange flames mingled with the cave’s peaceful pale blue glow.

  “We should get onto solid ground! It’s too dangerous to keep fighting here!” Chiyome smashed through several skeletons and made her way down the plank to the pier.

  Ariane looked to me.

  I nodded. “I can handle this! Get Chiyome out of here!”

  The man-spider let out another loud roar, its face a mask of rage. Its unsettling voice once again echoed throughout the cave as both heads spoke at once. “Meddlers must die!”

  It brandished its swords.

  Ariane and Chiyome were now safely on solid ground, still battling the horde of skeletons. I was free to take this monster down myself.

  Most of my skills were fire-based, and affected large areas. It was a lot easier for me to fight alone, since I didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone else. Also, my next attack would be difficult to pull off with people fighting alongside me.

  “Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!”

  This technique was basically an add-on in the game. It came with my mythical-class weapon. From what I’d experienced in this world, I figured it would be a pretty powerful attack.

  A surge of purple electricity ran up the masterfully crafted sword as a blade of light grew outwards. It doubled my power, adding a holy effect to all my attacks, in addition to giving me a small chance of causing paralysis. It also expanded my sword’s effective range. The increased range was little more than an extra perk in-game, but here in the real world, it changed everything.

  As I swung the extended Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, the nearby skeletons literally disappeared before my eyes, thanks to the holy effect. I also chopped into the base of a nearby mast, causing it to topple.

  This add-on was commonly referred to as “lightsaber mode.”

  The mast fell backward, crashing into the ship before hitting the lake with a splash and sending a massive plume of water into the air.

  “Rooooooooooaaaaaaar!”

  The man-spider wailed.

  I fixed it with a steely glare. “I’ll show you the true power of the force!” That was the catchphrase of the Paladin—this weapon skill’s class.

  The monster lunged forward, bringing its swords down with all its strength. It might have been powerful, but its movements were rather unrefined. Compared to sparring with Glenys, this was like child’s play. At the last second, I swung my lightning-covered sword to catch the attack on the downward swing, cutting straight through and severing one of the monster’s torsos.

  “Gyaaaaaaaugh!!!”

  Its remaining head screamed with anguish. I launched a second strike, this time aiming at the point where the other human torso met the spider body. My lightning blade went straight through the monster’s shield and the body behind it, stabbing into the ship deck.

  Mythril usually negated magic’s effects, but in this case, it only weakened my mythical-class weapon’s impact slightly.

  “Nnngraaaaaaaggh!” The severed monster let out a gurgling scream as it stumbled, its body bubbling and tearing apart.

  I took a few steps backward as a massive blast rocked the ship. Large flames erupted in front of me, and I heard secondary explosions going off as well. Apparently, some sort of combustible material below deck had caught fire. The ship wouldn’t remain afloat much longer.

  I used Dimensional Step to teleport back to the pier. A cacophony of explosions continued behind me, blasting me with heat as I walked to shore. I felt as though I was in an action movie scene. It wasn’t long before the pier decided it could no longer take the abuse. It emitted an awful creak as it began to break apart.

  I looked back to see the pier largely blown away. Due to its relatively simpl
e construction, it sank into the water at an alarming rate.

  “Whooooooa!”

  I raised the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg above my head and ran full tilt toward dry land. It wasn’t an ideal running posture. With my blade still enhanced, I could very easily have cut off my own foot.

  I somehow managed to make it to shore as the last of the pier fell into the water. My shoulders heaved as I looked for my two comrades, wondering if they’d been watching my comical run.

  I didn’t see them right away, so perhaps I’d been spared the embarrassment.

  It struck me then that I could just have teleported straight to shore if I’d been thinking clearly. My unconscious desire to look cool as I walked away from the exploding ship set me up for failure.

  The sound of swords clanging from behind a large rock brought me back to my senses.

  “Huh. I guess a few pockets of resistance made it to shore?”

  I took one last look at the burning wreckage as the ship slowly slipped below the water’s surface. Then I tightened my grip on the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, which had returned to its normal form, and ran toward the noise.

  I found Ariane and Chiyome fending off a horde of pickaxe-wielding skeletons and another man-spider. This man-spider had the same bizarre body as the last one, and wore identical armor, but was armed with four large pickaxes—one in each hand.

  Apparently, the second one was lurking here on the shore the whole time, although it didn’t seem to be faring well against Ariane and Chiyome. Since this man-spider lacked a mythril shield, Ariane was able to use fire spirit magic to great effect, causing the monster to slowly retreat.

  Taking advantage of its blind spot, Chiyome flew up from behind, swinging her water-encased dagger. She lopped off one leg, then a second.

  The man-spider screamed in agony as it tried to face Chiyome. Ariane took advantage of its distraction to sever both its human heads with her fire-engulfed blade. The strength instantly drained from the man-spider’s body, and it slumped to the ground. Its body began to fizzle and melt away, just like the other one.

  The skeletons scattered. They had previously been attacking Ariane and Chiyome as a cohesive unit, but they suddenly seemed to have lost all focus, and simply attacked at random. The man-spider must have had some sort of control over them.

  I slashed through the disorganized skeleton mob and called to the women. “Glad to see you’re safe, Ariane. I can’t believe there were two of those things.”

  Ariane wiped blood from her sword and returned it to her sheath, dabbing at her brow. “As soon as we left the ship, skeletons came rushing out at us from the waterfalls.”

  Chiyome looked down at the rather hideous sight of the melting man-spider and ran her nail against her blade, testing its sharpness. “Those legs were tough. It’d be difficult for a normal blade to cut through them.”

  I looked at the remains of the skeletons around us. “It definitely seems like someone is pulling the strings behind all this.”

  A number of skeletons wielded no weapons at all, and instead wore baskets on their backs. On closer inspection, it appeared that they’d been collecting the rune stones Ariane showed me earlier.

  “It looks like they were mining these.” Chiyome frowned at the mounds of rune stones. “But what are they using them for? And why would they come all the way out here?”

  Ariane furrowed her brow. “Elves have many uses for rune stones, but humans still haven’t developed the technology to harness their power safely. The closest thing that comes to mind is the Burst Spheres they used during the uprising in Houvan.”

  “The ship’s already in pieces at the bottom of the lake, and I don’t see anyone else around, so I don’t think we’re going to find our answers here. We should probably start looking for a way out. What do you think, Ariane?”

  The two women nodded in agreement.

  “You’re right. The elders can perform a more thorough investigation.”

  Chiyome’s ears twitched as she listened intently to our surroundings. “Why don’t we take a break, Miss Ariane? It doesn’t look like there are any more threats in the area. Besides, Ponta seems pretty frazzled.”

  “Kyiiii…”

  The poor fox looked exhausted from clinging tightly to Ariane during the intense battle, and more than a little terrified at the sight of the undead and the man-spider. Ariane pulled Ponta from her neck and hugged it tightly to her chest.

  We moved to the lake edge and sat down to discuss our next move.

  “Well, I could use Transport Gate to teleport us back to the cave opening, and we could start making our way through again. I still have a good memory of what the entrance looked like, so it shouldn’t be hard to get us out of here.”

  Ariane fed some dried beans to Ponta, trying to perk up our furry companion. She shook her head. “That won’t work if we want to send a squad back here to investigate. We need to find a way up and out. We should camp here for the night. Aside from the undead we just fought, this chamber seems relatively safe.”

  Chiyome nodded. “You’re right. It’s probably dark out already. Fortunately for us, we’ve got light and water here.”

  I shrugged in agreement and took off my helmet, settling down for a quick break.

  Chapter 2:

  Of Springs and Curses

  Shortly after noon the next day, we found ourselves facing a vast forest drenched in warm sunlight.

  Behind us, the Furyu mountain range stretched from east to west like a massive wall of rock. Below was an endless sea of trees, looking almost like a green carpet butting up against the mountains. Beyond that, to the northwest, the Karyu and Hyoryu ranges created a near-complete ring of mountains around us.

  After our brief rest, we were fortunate to find a route from the subterranean lake to the upper parts of the cave. We discovered a tunnel above one of the cavern’s waterfalls, and we followed it for some time until it connected to the main path. However, it would have been impossible to reach the waterfall in the first place without my teleportation magic. Fortunately, the cavern was well-illuminated, thanks to the crystals scattered about, which gave me a clear view.

  Now that our long journey through the dark cave was over, Ariane, Chiyome, and I stood side by side at the cave entrance halfway down the Furyu mountain range and took in the view.

  “Well, I’m glad we got out of there before the sun started to set.” Ariane sighed in relief and opened the map Glenys gave her back in the village. “We made it past the Furyu Mountains. The village will be pleased to hear this.”

  “Kyiiii…”

  “Where is the spring that we’re looking for, Ariane?” Chiyome’s cheeks had taken on a rosy hue. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just from Ponta playing with the cat ears on her head.

  Ariane looked back and forth between the scene before us and the map, then pointed toward an area up ahead. “It should be near that mountain’s summit.”

  She indicated a rocky outcropping near a mountaintop jutting from the middle of the forest. It wasn’t far from where we stood, and didn’t seem all that tall. However, a massive tree grew out of the mountaintop, its dense foliage casting the slopes beneath into shadow. Something about it gave off a very peculiar vibe.

  I squinted. “That tree at the top…is that the Lord Crown? I don’t see a dragon.”

  “Well, you can’t see him from here. Anyway, if we do run into the Dragon Lord, neither of you do anything stupid, okay? Just leave it to me. That goes double for you, Arc!” Ariane tapped my chest plate.

  I had no real desire to face off against a dragon, much less one of the most powerful dragons, so I simply nodded in response.

  No paths led down the Furyu Mountains, so we descended by looking for areas where the slope was a bit less severe, eventually arriving at the trees and shrubs that lined the foothills.

  From there, we headed east, making our way back above the forest. There, we once again caught sight of the mountain and its massive tree. Now
that we were directly below the peak, the tree seemed even larger.

  At the mountain’s base was a large, grassy plain. Right at the edge of the tree line, I saw a large, bluish stone lying in the dark shadow cast by the tree high above. Immediately after, I noticed a structure near where the plain met the mountain. I could hardly believe my eyes.

  From that far away, I couldn’t be sure how large the structure was. Judging by the height of the nearby trees, though, I figured it was about ten meters tall.

  Two large, gray stone pillars with two poles—one above the other, with a space between them—ran parallel to the ground. The sudden appearance of that very familiar archway made me swallow hard.

  I managed to choke out a few words. “Is… is that a…?!”

  “What is it? Hey, Arc!”

  Without a second thought, I teleported to the structure. I didn’t catch the end of what Ariane had started saying, but that wasn’t important.

  What stood in front of me was a torii—the entrance to a Shinto shrine.

  Other than the green moss growing around the base of the two pillars, there were no notable decorations. However, it was undeniably a torii. I hadn’t seen anything like that in any town I’d visited since coming here.

  Now that I thought about it, though, Chiyome had wanted to accompany us on our journey because she was looking for the hideout of the Jinshin clan’s founder, Hanzo. It was apparently located beyond the Furyu Mountains—where we were now. Assuming that Hanzo was either Japanese, or a person who knew about Japan, the torii might mark his hideout’s location.

  I looked ahead and found all the proof I needed. Beyond the archway, a stone stairway led up the mountainside. It certainly looked human-made. I decided that I should go back and let Chiyome know immediately. Right at that moment, however, the ground beneath me shook, and I fell to one knee.

  “Wha—?!”

  Who dares set foot on my back? You have guts, little runt!

  A voice boomed inside my head. The world went black, and I could feel the rocks beneath me tremble, throwing me high into the air. Gravity soon took over, however, pulling me—and the heavy armor encasing my body—back to the ground.