Chapter 198: SS-Rank Crystal Skeleton

Emma’s shoulders slumped. She closed her eyes for a fleeting second, as though finally permitting herself to draw a breath after days of holding herself rigidly taut.

Thunder stepped forward, but his numbed legs caused him to stumble. Kai caught him by the shoulder. Thunder stared at Kai’s dragon claws, then back at the familiar face that had just materialized once the transformation spell dissolved.

"You really came to rescue us, Kei-nim!"

"Yeah," Kei offered a faint smile. "Though everything isn’t quite wrapped up yet."

The smile on Thunder’s face vanished. He glanced toward the reddish tunnel, then nodded. Emma set her mallet down as well, attempting to soothe her aching, numb hands.

"Is there any way to keep the Boss from noticing that the two guards have vanished?" Kei inquired.

Emma shook her head.

"They typically rotate shifts in scheduled waves. But if the Golden Mithril isn’t delivered inside on schedule, the Boss will realize it immediately."

Kei swept his gaze over the remaining refined ore. They were neatly stacked beside the furnace, their golden sheen reflecting off the scattered shards of broken bone. An idea flashed across his mind.

"Then we’ll let the delivery proceed as normal."

Kai raised his eyebrow.

Kei stared down at the golden skeleton that had just been smashed to pieces, then pivoted to look at Kai.

"Emma and Thunder, the two of you stay right here. Don’t let anyone notice anything unusual. If anyone else returns, just claim that we’re hauling a fresh batch of Golden Mithril inside."

Thunder let out a dry, forced laugh.

"You want me to keep right on working as though nothing happened?"

"Just a little while longer," Kei looked at him. "After that, we’ll take care of the Boss."

Emma gave a subtle nod. She gazed at Thunder, her eyes softening for a fleeting moment, before turning her attention back to Kei.

"Be careful. Those two skeletons outmatched every single one in the mining sector. The Boss waiting inside there is definitely not something you can take lightly."

Kei understood that better than anyone.

He had already expended half of his current mana reserve during the opening ambush, while Kai was still actively reining in his true might so as not to collapse the entire cavern network. If the Boss truly matched his dark premonition, the slightest misstep would suffice to let everything spin catastrophically out of control.

Yet he couldn’t abandon the people imprisoned here.

Kei crouched down, retrieving a shard of golden bone. Its surface was laced with faint, glowing veins, as though the Golden Mithril had permeated straight down to its marrow. That golden luminescence extended far beyond a mere surface coating.

It was actively transforming them into something entirely different.

Kei tightened his grip around the bone shard within his palm.

"Let’s move to the Boss’s place, Kai."

The transformation magic draped over the pair once more, though this time they morphed into a pair of Golden Skeletons identical to the two that had just been pulverized, while their authentic corpses were safely stowed away inside Kei’s Space Ring.

The two of them advanced toward the red tunnel. Behind them, the rhythmic pounding of mallets resumed, though this time Thunder and Emma were no longer operating under direct supervision. They were striving to keep the charade alive, buying precious time for Kei and Kai to push deeper into the Boss’s inner sanctum.

Kei and Kai pressed deeper down the reddish corridor.

The closer they drew to the terminus, the more dazzling the illumination surrounding them became. The golden streaks tracing across the rock walls no longer shimmered like raw ore; instead, they appeared crystalline and ice-cold, as though some foreign substance was bleeding straight through every individual grain of stone.

Kei perceived a heavy, oppressive wave of mana rolling in from ahead. The Boss’s lair lay directly on the other side of the bend.

Kai noticed Kei’s pace slowing.

Beneath the layer of transformation magic, he couldn’t visually read his expression, yet he could vividly sense the suffocating tension tightening around Kei. Kai reached out to clasp his hand. Just for a brief beat, before pulling back, as though terrified that such a gesture might compromise their disguise.

From the parched throat of the skeleton issued a gravelly, hushed rasp:

"I’ll protect Kei. So just... don’t worry."

Kei paused fractionally, then offered a faint smile.

"Yeah. I know you can."

The pair rounded the final bend.

The Boss’s lair unfurled before their eyes, sprawling so vast that even the reddish firelight spilling from the rock fissures failed to illuminate its farthest boundaries. At the very center of the cavern stood a motionless skeleton.

Its entire body had transformed into transparent golden crystal, every single joint radiating a shimmering luminescence akin to divine radiance cast from celestial light. Piles of pristine Golden Mithril formed a ring circling its feet, while all the golden veins traversing the cavern walls converged toward a single epicenter, that very skeleton.

Kei shuddered.

He had harbored dark suspicions beforehand, yet witnessing it firsthand weighed heavily upon his chest.

This was no longer a mere Golden Skeleton.

It had absorbed the Golden Mithril, shattered the structural ceiling of a golden skeleton, and evolved into a Crystal Skeleton, the second-most formidable species of skeleton, trailing directly behind the Skeleton Monarchs, entities capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Demon Kings.

Kei’s gaze swept across the transparent crystal physique. The oppressive aura radiating from his opponent felt so glacial it made his skin tingle. High-tier SS-rank. An adversary yielding nothing to Kai in sheer power.

At that exact instant, the twin eye sockets of the Crystal Skeleton flared brightly.

It tilted its head to inspect the two fraudulent skeletons that had just entered, before bursting into a dry, grating laugh. The sound slammed against the cavern walls, echoing like cracking crystal.

"A cheap and stupid transformation magic spell."

The golden fires within its eyes flickered.

"You foolish humans."