Chapter 23: Uphill Battle

The skeleton he straddled was still alive, constantly chomping up at him as he devoured its arms piece by piece.

All the while, the skeleton he’d dubbed Larry fought off the other three.

Eventually, he heard a quiet phrase whispered in his mind:

[???] — (condition to unlock: 11/100)

He learned three things...

First, there was indeed a threshold. He had to devour a certain amount of something before it added to the condition.

Two, the target of his devouring didn’t have to be dead.

’Well, I guess this thing’s already dead...’

But the point still (somewhat) stood.

And, three...

He could devour something while in the body of the Night Elf, and it still counted. That suggested even more strongly that there was some link between his Night Elf and monster forms, beyond both being piloted by him.

Though, he could mull over all of that later.

With his external bleeding slowed by the passive healing effect he received from eating, it was time to say goodbye to his feast.

Gripping the top of its skull with one hand and pushing down on its sternum with the other, he pulled with all his might.

With an unceremonious pop, the skull separated from its spine.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

’How many was that... three?’

’No, four. The one that kicked off this whole fiasco...’

The one whose skull had aggroed them all.

Finally, the skull in his hands stopped chattering.

An awkward lull settled over Peace.

Larry was still holding his own against the remaining skeletons, but he was now armless. The future awaiting him was inevitable.

Peace sat on his ass and drove a hand into the hollow skull resting in his lap, thumbing around the inside.

’Ah... there you are.’

Attached to the back of the cranium on the inside was a stone.

His nails dug around its edges before prying it loose. He pulled out a small, shimmering gray stone that looked almost like a shard from a broken mirror.

It was the monster’s Spirit Stone.

Twirling it in his hand, he awkwardly studied it.

It was something he absolutely needed to keep if he wanted to make any money, but...

’Both the body and the Wisp gave something...’

What would happen if he ate the Spirit Stone? Would it add to the counter?

Curiosity eroded caution in his mind as he slowly brought the stone to his mouth and slipped it in.

Like it was some gigantic pill, he swallowed it whole.

His entire body erupted with the sensation of a grenade packed with pins and needles detonating inside him.

’Geerauahahahah!’

It was so painful that his (pitiful) internal screams stretched outward:

"Buurhagarhgh!"

Thankfully, the skeletons were also deaf...

Though not everything in the area was, so he still had to be careful with noise.

After the sharp pains finally faded into dull aches, Peace managed to compare the sensation to something familiar...

When Lacan had doused him with the potion.

The effect wasn’t much, but patches of his body began to glow green. He watched as the fibers of his skin unnaturally knitted themselves together, closing several of his wounds.

’Woah...!’

And while he could only vaguely sense it, the same thing must have been happening to whatever injuries he’d suffered internally.

Even his ankle felt marginally better...

Marginally.

Peace smiled wryly as he stood and turned, his eyes finding a skeleton lying nearby with a backwards skull.

It was the one he’d elbowed to death.

With little hesitation, he descended on the corpse. Bone cracked between his teeth as he ground it into paste and swallowed. He ate and ate until the voice finally returned...

[???] — (condition to unlock: 12/100)

Then, he dug into the skull and took out the stone.

Bracing himself, he shoved it in his mouth...

Only for the experience to be more excruciating than the last.

’Ah, shshshsshiit! I sh-sh-should’ve’ve k-known!’

The debuff in the game that prevented potion spamming...

Repeated potions became less effective while causing increasingly long staggers.

Well, now he knew the reason for those staggers!

And apparently, eating a Spirit Stone triggered the same effect, albeit with much weaker healing and even greater pain.

Still reeling from the pain, he forced himself to his feet.

’A-alright! I’m ready now!’

His eyes found the last four skeletons.

A short distance uphill, all three Skeleton Warriors were still clustered around Larry.

Larry was now missing both arms and simply standing there, taking it.

It was time for Peace to help his situational ally.

Grabbing a femur, Peace marched up the hill toward the skirmish.

He slowed as he drew closer, keeping his movements deliberate so as not to alert the Skeleton Warriors.

Threat Level was more than simply who hit it the most. Something could do little damage yet receive the most threat. If Peace made his intent to attack too obvious, they might swap their attention onto him...

’Well, maybe not these guys. They are blind and deaf.’

But he didn’t want to chance it and end up in a cascading situation again.

It was best to be slow and safe while he could.

Keeping just outside the cluster around Larry, Peace circled behind them until he stood directly at the back of one Skeleton Warrior.

’This is why I wish I had a party.’

Someone to distract while another attacked was a simple, yet effective strategy.

Especially on the first floor, where monsters possessed very few AoE attacks and followed painfully predictable patterns.

Peace drew his hand back.

Then, like a catapult released from its restraint, his arm whipped forward and the femur crashed into the back of the skeleton’s skull.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

’Five.’

Peace circled behind the next skeleton before giving it the exact same treatment.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

’Six.’

Finally, killing monsters in the vicinity of something registered in battle caused his Threat Level to finally surpass Larry’s.

The final able-bodied skeleton immediately spun toward him and swung its Bone Sword in a wild horizontal arc.

Peace hopped backward, letting the blade pass in front of him. As his weight shifted onto his rear leg, he leaned farther back and drove his other foot straight into the Skeleton Warrior’s sternum.

The impact sent it stumbling downhill. Its heel caught awkwardly against the loose bones beneath it, and the skeleton toppled backward.

Peace charged after it before it could recover, raised the femur overhead, and brought it down into its skull.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

Finally, it was only him and Larry, the armless skeleton now hobbling after Peace with shattered ankles.

"I almost feel bad..."

Such fleeting feelings weighed little against what came next.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

Peace took a deep breath while desperately resisting the urge to scream out in triumph.