Eternal Rest

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the battle between the silver rankers is just a diversion so you could scout out and find a way around the camp and attack the main army from behind. But what do I know..." Bones finished, smirking as he watched the surprise spread across the scout's face.

"You—"

splurt

The scout's expression, when Skully pierced his chest, was a range of emotions. The last sliver of hope drained from his eyes, and the final thing he saw was Bones' wicked grin as he stepped closer.

ding

Level up!

Congratulations! Your class Bonemancer Adept had leveled up!

Golem Mastery had leveled up!

"It's been a while. And it was about time I leveled up! Hm..." Bones mused, eyeing Skully. "Skully could use a gear upgrade."

As ordered, Skully took the scout's gear off and lifted the man, placing him over his shoulder. Bones summoned a shovel, handed it to Skully, and sent him about fifty meters away. Skully obliged, dropping the scout on the ground and digging a shallow grave. He then tossed the body inside and covered the hole with dirt and leaves.

When Skully returned, Bones had him change into the new equipment. The scout’s gear wasn't a perfect fit but was of better quality and provided more defense while still allowing sufficient mobility. With Skully equipped, Bones led the way into the forest, despite disliking the flat forest floor full of leaves, branches, bark, and stems that offered little cover. He aimed to investigate the site where the scout previously engaged in battle, hoping to find something useful.

It didn't take long for Bones to find two bodies on the ground. One had been pierced through the throat from behind, while the other had a nasty gash across the stomach, revealing his insides. Judging by their equipment and the daggers dropped nearby, Bones presumed them to be rogues. The scout he killed hadn't bothered hiding the bodies, understandable given his need to quickly leave enemy territory.

Bones picked up and stored the two pairs of daggers and took the hooded scarves from the bodies. The new headpiece would provide better cover than his current one, leaving only his eyes—or the empty sockets where his eyes would have been—visible. He scanned the area but didn't see anything out of place. He had hoped to find a reason why the scout had engaged in a fight instead of scouting but found nothing.

"Come on, Skully, there's nothing else to see here," Bones said, addressing the golem that stood idly by. He turned to leave and, before climbing back up to his hiding place, unsummoned Skully, allowing the core to recharge in his inventory. He then took out a set of small bones to practice his shaping skill.

Settling back into his vantage point, Bones began working on the bones, his focus shifting between his task and the battlefield. The clash of forces below provided a chaotic soundtrack to his meticulous work. He shaped and refined the bones, considering new designs and improvements he could make to his golem.

As the sun began to set, the sounds of battle died down. Bones looked out over the battlefield, noting the aftermath of the skirmish. Bodies littered the field, and scavengers—both animal and human—began to pick through the remnants.

Most of the fighting had taken place in the clearing and at the distant fortress, but that changed as night began to fall. Bones detected movements in the forest and his surroundings. Dozens of figures were moving through the wetlands. A night raid?

The figures halted just meters away from him. Bones remained still, watching as the leading figure scanned the area.

“Vogel, what’s going on?” one of the men asked. Vogel, the leader, looked around, uncertain, before responding that he thought he’d sensed someone nearby.

“Maybe it’s just nerves…”

“We’re all a little on edge. Let’s move—we can’t be late.” The other figure urged, and the entire group continued on their way.

Second-tier silver rankers? They’re heading straight for the camp…

Bones faced a decision: he could stay and wait to see what happened, or follow the group from behind. Alerting the camp was not an option; he felt no loyalty to the Wezar Kingdom and no obligation to defend it. To him, they were just numbers—experience for leveling up. So, he chose to stay put and observe.

The group of assailants circled the camp, quickly neutralizing patrols, while a heavily armored unit approached slowly from the forest. When they reached the camp and took their positions, the night raid began.

Around midnight, Bones saw the sky light up above the treetops and smoke rising from the camp. It was clear they had raided the entire camp. This could be a perfect opportunity to observe the battle up close and test his new abilities after the racial transformation!

Bones decided it was time to act. He climbed down from the tree and began his hour-long run toward the camp. As he neared the camp, he saw flickering lights through the dense tree trunks. When he finally emerged from the forest, he found the camp ablaze and the battle in full swing.

Keeping low, Bones approached cautiously. He moved stealthily along the camp’s fence, trying to gauge the situation. The Aphitonians were vastly outnumbered but held an advantage in terms of levels. Bones could feel a significant concentration of power near the main tent, indicating the presence of gold rankers in the raid. He wondered why such a bold attack had been launched so suddenly. Commander Stelan had mentioned that no attack of this magnitude had occurred in months.

What had changed? Wait… I see now. News of an assault on the capital must have reached the attackers. The soldiers in the camp were already on edge when the prisoners arrived. The camp was doomed unless the gold rankers at the fortress intervened.

The fortress was also under attack, and the gold rankers from the northern camp were fully occupied. The timing of this night raid was clearly well-planned. Some gold rankers had quietly returned to the capital a day earlier upon hearing of the attack and had yet to return to the front lines. With the Aphitonians pushing hard and the enemy losing ground, third-tier gold rankers had been mobilized.

The clash between the two great powers was so intense that it could be felt all the way to the southern camp, drawing everyone's attention toward the fortress. Bones seized this moment of distraction to slip through a gap in the wooden fence and impale the nearest distracted soldier with his lance.

He marveled at the power of his imbued Bone Lance. Summoning it required no effort, and he felt more in tune with it than ever before. The lance seemed like a natural extension of his arm, and wielding it was effortless. He didn’t summon Skully this time, as his targets were all above level forty.

The man Bones had just pierced was level forty-three—incapacitated but still alive. Bones was astonished by the man’s vitality. With no time to waste, he thrust the lance through the man's head, finishing him off, and moved on in search of another opportunity. Bones crept around the camp, doing his best to remain unseen, and spotted the bodies of several prisoners.

Tough luck. They had no chance of surviving the raid.

Using the burning tents and the chaos of the fire as cover, Bones tried to stay hidden, but it was impossible to avoid detection completely. The enemy fought mostly in close combat, and in the midst of the frenzy, one of them—a berserker—spotted Bones’ shadow behind a burning tent and charged at him. Bones sensed the berserker’s approach and prepared to strike first, but was caught off guard when the berserker’s attack tore through the tent, ripping it in half.

He stepped back just in time to narrowly avoid a cross slash that could have cut him in half. The man leaped through the gash created by his previous attack and landed in front of Bones, wielding a one-handed axe in each hand. With a wild look in his eyes, the man was about to charge again, but Bones quickly summoned Bone Spikes to pin him in place.

He then raised his hand to cast Bone Lance, preparing to finish the fight quickly, but was suddenly interrupted when a powerful arrow struck his hand, almost severing it and disrupting his spellcasting. Bones glanced toward the direction of the arrow but couldn’t spot or sense his attacker. With the chaos of combat all around, he couldn’t detect any archers nearby.

The attacker was likely outside the camp. The arrow was too powerful; I didn’t even sense it coming…

Before Bones could fully react, another arrow flew into his range of senses, heading straight for his head. He ducked and rolled away, narrowly avoiding the arrow and a horizontal slash from the berserker’s axe. The dual-wielder broke free from the Bone Spikes and continued his assault. As much as Bones wanted to test his limits against two opponents, he knew he needed to escape. He sprinted away with the axe-wielder in hot pursuit.

Bones maneuvered around the tents, playing a dangerous game of hide and seek with his pursuer. He knew he had to either escape or end the confrontation quickly. His attacker, though wounded, was faster and much stronger. Bones seized every opportunity to cast Bone Lance, but his opponent’s experience with mages made each spell a challenge.

This can’t go on for long. I can’t escape!

Taking a risk, Bones created an opportunity for himself. Using Quick Steps, he managed to put enough distance between himself and his pursuer to turn around abruptly and unleash a barrage of spells. He drained his entire mana pool in one decisive attack. Finally, he gained the upper hand, but it was too little, too late.

Most of his spell attacks, though powerful and swift, were blocked or parried by his opponent’s quick reflexes. The man anticipated Bones would aim for his vitals, and Bones didn’t disappoint. The few spells that landed brought the berserker close to death, but the ensuing chase attracted more attention, and soon Bones found himself surrounded.

With enemies closing in, he acted quickly. He summoned a skull into his hand and smashed it against the ground. The skull exploded in a cloud of smoke, reducing visibility and obscuring him from sight.

The makeshift bomb spread rapidly and affected Bones' attackers. Soon, they were struggling and gasping for air. Seizing the opportunity, Bones quietly slipped away, scaling the fence and continuing his stealthy circuit around the camp.

That was close! The camp is lost. I doubt a few gold rankers left fighting could turn the tide against a dozen second-tier silver rankers. But it’s odd. The Aphitonians here seem to be soldiers—where are the adventurers?

Bones glanced down at his tattered robe and exhaled. After a moment’s consideration, he retreated to a remote spot at the edge of the forest, about a hundred meters away, where he could observe the camp from a distance.

He saw that his bomb had been effective against the silver rankers. The men staggered, coughed, convulsed, and then collapsed. The sudden influx of experience took him by surprise.

“Did someone actually die? The soldier I made full of holes was on the brink of death. Was it him? It was probably him.”

Bones was correct. The only soldier who died was the one he had been fighting. Already struggling to breathe with one of Bones' lances lodged in his lungs, the man suffocated after inhaling a significant dose of the poisonous substance.

The bomb Bones had created, while potent, shouldn't have had such a severe effect on someone close to second tier, let alone second-tier rankers. These men, in the midst of battle and pumped full of adrenaline, were particularly vulnerable. The poison had a greater impact than expected, resulting in one death and many soldiers being debilitated.

“What an opportunity…such a shame. “

With so many soldiers incapacitated, it wouldn’t have been hard for someone to take them out. But the Aphitonians had already secured victory at the south camp. Bones couldn’t see everything clearly, but he counted three gold rankers still fighting—one on the Wezar’s side. It was only a matter of time now.

Aid wouldn’t arrive in time. The north camp was fully engaged with the fortress under siege, and only a few soldiers had managed to escape the enemy encirclement at the south camp to alert the main forces. By the time the main army could mobilize, the battle for the south camp would already be over.

To make matters worse, Bones sensed a group emerging from the forest, not far from his position. They exuded a menacing aura. As Bones probed with his senses, one of the newcomers suddenly turned and seemed to lock eyes with him.

Did he see me? Bones wondered. The man’s gaze lingered on his hiding spot for a moment before he looked away, focusing instead on the gold ranker who was still resisting. The new arrivals were a group of high-caliber adventurers, far more formidable than those Bones had encountered earlier. With their involvement, the fighting quickly subsided, and the Aphitonians celebrated their victory with loud cheers.

Bones decided not to stay any longer. He turned and slipped into the forest, heading toward the clearing and putting as much distance between himself and the camp as possible. The clearing was about six kilometers away, and at this hour, it was deserted—just him and the silence of the night. He sank down into the grass, which reached up to his knees, and gazed in the direction of the camp, waiting.

There’s no way the night raid ends like this…