Chapter 91: Giant Skeleton
Whoosh! The arrow shot whizzed through the air and collided into a pile of stones not far from the Giant Skeleton. The minute sound made by the arrow caused the Giant Skeleton to turn around and investigate the disturbance. Its fearsome, empty eyes emitted a dazzling light and shone at the pile of stones.
Holy Soul... what a quick reaction!
Old Walker swallowed his saliva subconsciously. He thought he had already mentally prepared himself but the Giant Skeleton's reaction speed still overwhelmed his expectations.
How can such a giant frame of bones have such a keen sense? That's just too terrifying!
Just as he was about to take a deep breath, Rhode's low voice sounded beside him.
"Retreat."
Both of them slowly traced back ten steps. Then, following Rhode's orders once more, Old Walker shot another arrow which hit another area.
The Giant Skeleton lumbered forward to the noise.
From afar, it seemed as if its movements were tremendously slow, but it only looked that way because of its massive body size. In just a few steps the Giant Skeleton already arrived close to the group. It opened its mouth and revealed the terrifying boundless darkness within. Then, it leaned over and scanned the surroundings with its two fiery eyes.
Rhode raised a finger.
That was the signal.
Marlene raised her wand and a gray light shot out in a straight line towards the Giant Skeleton. Within less than a second, the gray light formed a hemispheric barrier which enveloped the Giant Skeleton like a bird trapped in a cage. The barrier then flashed for a moment before disappearing into thin air. However, a thin line remained connected between Marlene's wand and the Giant Skeleton. In a blink of an eye, everything went deathly silent.
"We have 30 seconds!"
Marlene gripped her wand tightly while channeling the magic spell. She then quickly reminded the group of the duration of Silence. For such a massive monster like this, 30 seconds was already her limit.
But 30 seconds was more than enough for Rhode, Celia, and Sereck to reach the Giant Skeleton.
"———!!!"
The Giant Skeleton's acute senses immediately picked up the enemy and raised its head. Its intense gaze met the angel's Holy Aura which made it furious. In a flash, it raised its giant club and roared at its eternal nemesis.
As though wielding a toy hammer, the Giant Skeleton swung its bone club and pulverized a few large boulders near the cliff. Some loose rocks rolled off the precipice and smashed to the ground below without creating any sound. It was quite a strange occurrence... somewhat like watching a mime perform.
Celia swung her silver sword to meet the Giant Skeleton's club. Although no sound came from the clash, the many sparks revealed the intensity of the battle. Initially, the Giant Skeleton's immense strength caused the angel to stagger, but she quickly used her wings to unleash a jet stream which propelled her forward, leading to a stalemate. Clearly, the Giant Skeleton wasn't going to give up as it took a step forward and lifted its club to launch another attack. It just wanted to pummel this small insect to death as soon as possible.
But it was unable to do so.
A rotating blade sliced at the giant's arm, forcing its attack trajectory to tilt and miss Celia by a hair's breadth. Although the strong wind still caused her to stumble, at least she escaped from being crushed. Then, the Giant Skeleton shifted its attention to Rhode who suddenly appeared at its feet.
"————!!!"
This provocation made the Giant Skeleton even more furious. As the Death Knight's minion, it clearly wasn't a creature with high intelligence. The purpose of its existence was to destroy life which could grant it a brief respite after each kill. However, after such a long time, nothing of that had happened. This made the Giant Skeleton angrier and desperate. Now that it had finally found an opportunity to vent its anger and hatred, it would stop at nothing until either itself or its foes were dead.
The Giant Skeleton lifted up its club once more, ready to turn Rhode into minced meat. Sensing an incoming attack, Rhode retreated a few steps back to dodge.
Meanwhile, a pillar of Holy Light fell from the sky and wrapped the Giant Skeleton.
Lize lifted both of her hands. She bit her lip nervously as she concentrated on her spell. Just beside her were the other Clerics who were also casting Divine Brilliance to weaken the Giant Skeleton.
Marlene was still holding the same position. She clenched her wand in slight displeasure as she couldn't help the group with anything else. According to the plan, she wasn't allowed to use any powerful elemental spells because the impact might attract other undead. It was quite a distasteful position for her.
"20 seconds!"
The Giant Skeleton's club smashed into the ground, propelling pieces of stones and debris in all directions. Some stray debris managed to hit Rhode's body.
Rhode could dodge it, but he didn't as he was charging an attack. Sword energy began to condense around him when he consumed his Soul Power. After a moment, Rhode took half-a-step forward and raised his right hand before slashing down with all his might.
On the surface, the attack appeared rather ordinary, but when the sword was in mid-arc, the tip suddenly lit up. When his sword touched the ground, the brilliant light that condensed at the tip suddenly burst out. The flat ground immediately split apart as though a giant sword divided the earth. Everyone was shocked at the light which instantaneously spread to their immediate surroundings.
That was the new Swordsmanship skill in 'Starfall' — Fury Trial.
Compared to Moon Shadow and Dark Dance which utilized intelligence and agility respectively, Starfall was a Swordsmanship based on pure strength. Starfall didn't boast flashy or quick moves, but instead, it flaunts its raw destructive power. Even though the Giant Skeleton's strength was nothing to laugh about, Rhode was confident that this skill would be able to contend with it.
The Giant Skeleton who was in the midst of an attack couldn't block the incoming strike. Its massive body lost its balance and tipped backward, but before it could regain its footing, another light already aimed towards its unprotected torso.
Silence swallowed all sources of sound. And at this moment, the Giant Skeleton's body was no longer intact. After the violent attack, its ribcage cracked and the rest of the bones shook as though it would break at any moment. It appeared that they were on the verge of victory, but Rhode knew that this was the most dangerous moment.
"10 seconds!"
"Sereck!"
Sereck, who was hiding, finally appeared after making his preparations. His entire body turned into light and rushed forward — his sword in his hand burst out with glorious brilliant circles which shot towards the Giant Skeleton. Both Celia and Rhode followed up and attacked, sending two crescent moon slashes towards the Giant Skeleton.
When it detected the aura of the Swordmaster, the Giant Skeleton reacted. It instinctively stretched out its left hand in an attempt to block the attack but failed miserably.
A full-power attack from a level 40 Master Swordsman wasn't something that could be easily blocked by a mid-level undead. In fact, Sereck's sword had not even touched the Giant Skeleton's hand and it was already showing signs of disintegration. The next moment, Sereck's sword pierced through its mouth.
In a blink of an eye, the giant's skull blew into pieces. Everything from the lower jaw to the chin was missing, and the rest of the skull was filled with cracks. The Soul Fire flickered as if it was about to do something, but at that moment, another crescent moon slash passed through it and completely extinguished the flame.
Followed by the loss of its life source, the massive body crashed down to the ground the same time Marlene's Silence spell ended.