The Skeleton Legion

“Karazat, huh…”

The man in a dark navy hooded cloak gazed toward the Karazat Great Forest in the distance.

He stood on a public bench in the plaza, staring far ahead, his eyes fixed tightly on that primeval forest.

“It’s time to go.”

He muttered to himself.

The crowd continued to flow endlessly through the plaza.

Bustling voices mixed with merchants’ shouts.

No one paid any attention to his murmuring.

Even if someone noticed, he was just another passerby.

There was nothing suspicious about him at all.

At most, someone might secretly mutter, “What a weirdo, talking to himself.”

He pulled his hood lower and blended into the crowd.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

………………

Too many…

Lilith looked at the bones before her and gave a helpless, bitter smile.

Countless skeletons were piled around the Demon Castle.

They lay beneath the flower fields.

It was precisely because of these bones that the flowers grew so lush and beautiful.

But under Lilith’s blood ritual, the skeletons crawled out from beneath the flowers.

From top to bottom, they emerged as if blooming like flowers themselves.

From top to bottom, most of the remains were nothing but complete skeletons.

The older ones were so decayed that even their frames were incomplete.

Still, they were power.

These tens of thousands of skeletons were enough to withstand a wave of demonic assault.

Lilith had them form ranks.

They arranged themselves into formations.

They were obedient.

As if they were her second body.

They moved freely.

They understood Lilith’s thoughts and followed every detail of her will.

She inspected the skeleton troops as if joking.

Some skeletons had been damaged in past battles.

Yet the fine armor they wore was completely intact.

The armor hung loosely on their bony frames.

Some lacked helmets.

Those buried closest to the surface crawled out with small flowers from the Demon Castle’s fields perched atop their skulls.

They looked utterly ridiculous.

“Pfft—hahaha.”

Lilith couldn’t help but laugh.

This army was truly interesting.

They had no archers.

No mages.

No flesh.

No independent thought.

Yet they shared one single will.

Lilith.

This was the most perfect collective.

And also an absolute forbidden art.

This was exactly why forbidden magic was unacceptable to humans.

Bodies meant to rest in peace were instead bound and forced to fight for the living.

This was the most unforgivable violation of human morality.

And the complete opposite of the Church’s doctrine.

It was time to meet them…

Lilith walked slowly out of the Demon Castle.

She passed through the inner and outer walls.

Skeleton soldiers filled the surroundings.

Dense ranks gathered outside the castle in neat formations.

Within several of these formations were skeleton cavalry.

Each skeletal rider sat astride a mount.

Though the flesh had long decayed, the magnificent armor still shone brightly.

Black iron barding gleamed upon the horses.

These were troops forged by centuries of human sacrifice.

Now, they had reappeared in the world.

Faint traces of their former glory could still be seen…

Thinking back—

Wrapped in horsehide in death.

Heroes falling before their time…

Led by one hero after another, they traveled thousands of miles for fame and merit.

Before so-called honor, they sacrificed their lives.

“For Emperor Louis!”

“For His Highness Louis! Long live!”

“For the Pope!”

A young cavalryman swung his saber at Lilith.

Lilith grabbed the blade with her wrist and yanked both rider and sword off the horse.

Through the slit in the helmet, she saw his youthful, crazed face.

The saber fell to the ground.

He didn’t pick it up.

Instead, he drew a dagger from his boot and lunged at Lilith like a madman.

Just as the dagger was about to strike her, Lilith slashed horizontally with her sword.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

It poured over her armor like a fountain.

Like bewitching crimson lotus petals…

He was about to stab her…

One strike.

He was about to wound her…

Another strike.

“Damn Demon King!

For the Church!”

Those shouted slogans once terrified Lilith.

Her body trembled uncontrollably.

Yet for her own survival, she continuously used her afterimage sword techniques.

Like crushing ants, she slaughtered these humans driven by faith.

They feared no death.

They surged like tides.

As the invading human coalition was endlessly cut down, she gradually grew accustomed to bloodshed.

She grew accustomed to killing.

Every swing of her blade sent another soul from the world.

The stench of blood became a numbing agent.

It dulled her nerves again and again.

She bore too many lives upon her back.

In the end, she no longer knew how to express emotion at all.

When the war ended, the Demon Castle resembled hell on earth.

Amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, only one figure stood atop the bodies.

That was Lilith.

Her purple armor had been completely dyed into a ferocious crimson red by blood…

………………

“Advance!”

Lilith cried out sharply.

Hundreds of thousands of skeleton soldiers surged forward in unison.

They crushed the battlefield like a plague of locusts…

They met.

…………

“Cavalry corps!

Attack!!”

From a distant hillside, Lilith commanded the skeleton cavalry.

They didn’t even need her order.

They charged on their own.

This was the terror of forbidden magic.

From the rear of the demon army, volleys of arrows rained down.

Yet they did nothing to the skeletons.

Arrows passed straight through gaps in their bones and fell harmlessly to the ground.

“What?!

Skeletons!”

Sharred exclaimed in shock.

At first, he hadn’t noticed they were skeletons because of their armor.

Only now, up close, did he realize the truth.

“Send orders!

Have all troops sweep with spears and smash their bones!

They’re skeletons!”

Sharred shouted to the standard-bearers.

He hadn’t expected the Demon King to use skeletons as troops.

But fortunately, he had a countermeasure.

Skeletons…

Just break them apart.

The skeleton cavalry slammed into the enemy spear formations at high speed.

The demon soldiers hadn’t realized their opponents were bones.

They tried to hook them off their horses with spears.

Only when their spears thrust through effortlessly did they realize something was wrong.

The next moment, cavalry charged through them, sabers flashing, heads flying.

Quick-witted demons immediately understood.

They began sweeping attacks, knocking skeletons off their mounts one by one.

Yet the dismounted skeletons were even more ferocious.

They rushed straight at the demons.

Wielding sabers, they closed in on spear-wielding enemies who couldn’t counter at close range.

Like reapers, they harvested lives.

The demon soldiers reacted quickly as well.

They discarded their spears and drew waist blades.

They battered the skeletons, smashing their limbs apart.

“Use sweeping attacks!”

A centurion shouted to the others.

But it was already useless.

By the time the order reached the spear formations, they were already locked in chaotic melee.

Though skeletons had no flesh, they fought as if they did.

What made skeletons truly terrifying was their lack of emotion.

Every strike was a killing blow.

No matter how many comrades shattered beside them, they felt no fear.

In contrast, despite their experience, the demon spear formations began to collapse.

“Report to the commander!

The spear troops have suffered heavy casualties!”

A messenger rushed back to the command tent.

“What?!”

Sharred exclaimed.

He strode out of the tent and climbed the cliff to observe the battlefield.

“Relay my command!

All spear troops retreat at full speed.

Replace them with shield-and-hammer troops.”

He stared at the sea of white skeletons and spoke in fear.

Those skeletons numbered at least five times his forces…

“Chain-hammer troops, advance as well!

Hold this hill at all costs.”

The remaining momentum of the cavalry was finally spent in the last charge…

With demonkind able to fight five-to-one, this was still manageable…

Behind the camp, demon formation mages chanted healing spells together.

They gathered spheres of magic into a single point, forming a ritual array.

The spell condensed into a massive green orb.

It arced from the rear toward the front lines.

In an instant, half-dead demon soldiers regained vitality.

Wounds healed at a visible rate.

But skeletons were different.

The moment they touched life magic, they turned into ordinary bone piles.

They crumbled instantly.

In the blink of an eye, they became ashes.

“Skeletons…

That’s all they amount to.

Hahahaha!”

Sharred mocked the skeletons below.

……………………

“Cough, cough…”

A-Lian coughed.

Kallianna placed a hand on A-Lian’s forehead, breaking into a cold sweat of worry.

This little one had no idea what madness struck her yesterday.

She went out into the rain and came back completely dazed.

She didn’t say a word.

By the next day, she was burning with fever and had caught a cold.

Coincidentally, the duke had also fallen ill today.

Likewise from being soaked in the rain.

That spared Kallianna the trouble of finding a doctor.

She simply grabbed the physician and had medicine prescribed for A-Lian as well.

“Be good.

Take your medicine.

You’ll be better tomorrow…”

Kallianna coaxed gently.

“I don’t want to…”

A-Lian replied lifelessly.

“If you take it, I’ll buy you pineapple buns from Crescent Pavilion.”

Kallianna coaxed and tricked her.

“I want to be alone…”

A-Lian said softly.

“I’ll leave after you take the medicine…”

“I said I want to be alone!!”

A-Lian hoarsely screamed at Kallianna.

“Oh…”

Kallianna was frightened.

She slowly set the medicine down and left.

A-Lian wanted to cry.

But she couldn’t.

She felt that her tears were completely spent.

Now, she felt an unusual calm and clarity.

She began to think.

To think about what she was now.

A-Lian was dead.

So what was she?

A body carrying A-Lian’s memories?

That didn’t seem right…

Was she still A-Lian?

She pondered endlessly.

Like a philosophical question.

She couldn’t find an answer.

This question seemed unsolvable.

…………

With the cooperation of chain-hammer and shield-hammer troops, the skeletons began to retreat steadily.

Suddenly, all skeletons changed direction and fled into the canyon.

“Pursue them!

Don’t let them escape!”

Sharred ordered.

The demon army obeyed and launched a full assault.

“So this is all the Demon King amounts to!

Hahahaha!”

He mocked.

“Keep chasing!”

He laughed madly, watching the retreating skeleton legion in the distance.

Yet he forgot one thing.

The skeleton legion had no emotions…