Chapter 158
“Kayden! Kayden! It’s a disaster!”
Revolutionary Army camp, the Commander-in-Chief’s tent.
“The newly emerged Bone soldiers are too strong. What should we do?”
The executives leading the commoners rushed in, all talking at once.
“The bones aren’t just bones. They’re harder than steel! Swords don’t work, and arrows bounce right off!”
“And that’s not all. Their martial arts are no joke. We’re one thing, but even the Emperor’s Faction—trained soldiers—are being overwhelmed!”
“Hmm.”
Kayden frowned.
They were reporting what was happening, but he didn’t need to hear it.
He was already watching from the high ground.
‘What on earth are those things?’
Kayden focused energy into his eyes and looked toward the battlefield.
The power of the thousands of Bone troops was overwhelming.
In clashes between soldiers, he realized for the first time what it meant when the gap in strength was absolute.
‘Thwack! Screeeech!’
Thousands of soldiers were being pushed back without the enemy even slowing down.
Deflecting or ignoring the swords of allies trying to stop them, the Bone troops kept advancing.
What was truly frightening was how precise they were even while moving.
No matter how big the skill difference, it was rare to see anything like that in a large-scale war.
“Uwaaaagh!”
A commoner soldier clutched his ankle and rolled on the ground.
“It hurts! It hurts! Stop!”
Having lost his will to fight, he threw away his weapon, covered his head with both hands, and lay flat.
Strangely enough, the Bone soldiers simply ran past him.
‘This is…’
Kayden’s eyes gleamed.
Come to think of it—
‘Why aren’t they killing?’
The Bones were peculiar.
Despite their tremendous power, they didn’t take the lives of allied soldiers.
They only neutralized those who charged at them.
‘What on earth is going on?’
That was why the confusion was even greater.
War was supposed to have a purpose.
“Kayden!”
Just then, someone came running in from outside the camp, out of breath.
Judging by his attire, he was a squad leader.
“I’m Hugo, squad leader of the 3rd Division! I know the owner of those bones!”
“What?”
Kayden’s eyes flashed.
He immediately brought Hugo inside and listened from beginning to end.
“So. It’s the work of a sorcerer from another land?”
“Yes, that’s certain! He had stamina and stealth—he could run for hours without tiring, and so could his subordinates made of bones. And he was clearly looking for Commander Kayden.”
“Looking for me…”
Kayden stroked his chin, then turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
That was when something he had missed came into view.
Far away, in the Emperor’s Faction camp—
‘Thwack!’
A bone sword beheaded a general on horseback.
With Kayden’s sharp eyesight, the scene was vividly clear.
‘They do kill?’
His heart thumped.
It was the first time he had ever witnessed something like this.
An absurd reality he had never dared imagine.
And yet—
Why did it feel like the very scene he had wanted his whole life?
“We have to stop it.”
Kayden muttered, gripping his shield until his fist tightened.
“This is a judgment from the heavens—and an opportunity. Until that judgment ends, we preserve our strength. Only then can we change the world.”
The Bone soldiers charging into the allied side had no murderous intent.
That meant losses could be minimized if they reorganized properly.
‘Especially…’
Kayden looked down at his shield.
All his life, he had been more confident than anyone in blocking what needed to be blocked.
Kayden raised his voice.
“Gather all forces behind me! Shift from offense to defense!”
Thud!
He slammed his shield into the ground.
Kayden was going to descend to the plains and build an impregnable fortress.
—
At that time—
‘Whoooosh!’
Dana moved with elegant hands, healing the wounded.
The Religious Order’s Saintess.
She could have stayed behind, treating the injured brought back from the front.
But she didn’t.
She ran directly into the front lines and treated the dying where they fell.
“Uwaaa, S-Saintess!”
“Th-thank you! Saintess!”
“Saintess… Has God abandoned the Empire? This is madness. It’s a disaster!”
“That’s right! How can we fight an immortal monster? Saintess, please evacuate! We’ll hold on somehow!”
“……”
Dana bit her lip.
Fear spread like an epidemic, and the imperial soldiers trembled.
She could feel that emotion as if it were her own.
‘But…’
Something was strange.
Even though she was clearly on the front lines, the Bone soldiers ignored her and passed by.
As if they had someone else they needed to kill.
In short—
“W-what the hell are those bastards doing?!”
An imperial general on horseback shouted.
“It’s good that you’re protecting the Saintess, but come around me too! Build a wall and protect me too—!”
‘Thwack!’
A bone arrow pierced straight into his mouth.
“Cough, cough—!”
The general toppled from his horse, shock frozen in his eyes.
‘Ah.’
Dana let out a quiet sigh.
He was already dead.
Even if she ran, she couldn’t save him.
The Bone troops were like a tsunami.
They swept through the imperial forces like an overflowing tide.
In a disaster like this, there wasn’t much she could do.
Only—
‘I have to save them.’
So she kept moving.
In the chaos where allies and enemies were tangled together, she didn’t distinguish between sides.
Light poured from her hands as she clung to the lives of the dying.
“Cough, cough! Saintess…!”
Even when the Bone soldiers spared lives and moved past, patients kept appearing.
In a battle where thousands collided, there were always deadly impacts.
Some choked on their own saliva from fear.
And the swords of those who went mad in panic were more terrifying than the enemy.
“Just a little longer—hold on just a little longer!”
Her heart ached.
How nice would it be if she had ten hands instead of two?
No, several bodies.
Even while treating the patient in front of her, she could see someone dying behind her.
But she couldn’t reach them.
No matter how desperately she moved, there was a limit.
At that moment—
“Huh…?”
Dana saw something unbelievable.
So absurd that she rubbed her eyes with her left hand while continuing to heal with her right.
“Healing…?”
One of the Bone soldiers—
Was emitting a light similar to hers, healing a patient.
‘Flicker!’
And it was healing the patient who had been dying behind her.
“You are…?”
Dana couldn’t finish.
‘Ah.’
Maybe—
These Bones weren’t demons.
Rather—
This might be a judgment granted by God.
She was human, too.
She had asked herself those questions before.
Why did only the nobles eat their fill while commoners died?
Why did they tacitly allow innocent people to die, even while knowing?
Was this truly the world God desired?
‘Flicker!’
The bone healing the patient turned and looked at Dana.
Dana stared back.
A Bone with a similar build to her.
Its presence was faint and heartbreaking.
Drip.
Without realizing it, the Saintess shed tears.
‘Yes.’
And in that same instant, she made a decision.
A demon would never heal the dying.
‘This is God’s will. I only need to be faithful to my duty.’
The light in her hands burned brighter.
The Saintess kept moving.
Just as she always had.
—
“Hoo.”
I exhaled.
It had been three hours since I struck both camps.
The Elder had only come out briefly after twelve hours had passed.
‘Swish!’
Stepping through shadows, I sprinted to the front of the Imperial Palace.
I had concentrated most of the Bone forces on the Emperor’s Faction.
‘Shoosh!’
A sharp rain of arrows poured down from the walls.
Thud!
But the shield troops, already in formation, blocked everything.
‘Actually…’
There was no need to block them.
Those arrows couldn’t pierce the bones of Dragonkin.
– “Master, let’s begin.”
‘Whoong!’
Sunny spun his spear once.
In that moment, the energy dominating the area pressed down on the battlefield.
– “Siege warfare is meaningless before overwhelming power.”
‘Swoosh!’
Her spear shot toward the walls in a flash.
As if flashes detonated in succession, the earth shook.
Kwaagaagang!
Solar Chain Strike.
The spear forged in the image of the Sun Spear (S-grade) that Dmir had made embedded itself directly into the wall.
Kwaaang! Kwaaang! Kwaaang!
Each impact punched open massive holes.
My skeletons sprinted through the gaps.
The overwhelming sight shattered the morale of the Emperor’s Faction soldiers.
Arrows, rocks, fire, oil—
They had prepared everything atop the walls, but even the will to use it vanished.
“Nice, Sunny.”
We surged in.
The palace courtyard.
The palace interior.
Nothing could stop the skeletons.
What could the well-fed nobles hiding inside possibly do?
If they had any courage, they would have come to the front lines in the first place.
They wouldn’t have hidden their tails while sending soldiers to die.
‘Thwack! Fwoosh!’
“Kkeuaaagh!”
“Kkeuaaagh! Save me!”
The bones’ merciless massacre began.
‘I don’t hate you.’
But to resolve Bone Four’s resentment, it couldn’t be helped.
If you exist in this world, we’ll shed blood again in the name of revolution.
It was bitter, but I closed my eyes and kept walking.
Toward the final boss of this Imperial Palace.
Toward the Emperor of the Thousand-Year Empire.
‘…I’ve gotten really strong.’
Even though I had been clearing absurd dungeons one after another, I was now facing an entire empire alone.
And this time, I wasn’t borrowing the power of Essence or Toxin Mist.
This was purely my own strength.
Even if an A-grade Special Dungeon applied correction.
Even if I wasn’t following the Dungeon’s intended route.
The fact that I had grown stronger didn’t change.
‘But I can’t get arrogant.’
The world is vast.
Even on Earth alone, there are countless Rankers whose power can’t be measured.
And beyond Earth, countless new worlds glitter like stars.
Essence.
Dragonkin.
So many things.
“Hoo.”
After walking for some time, I arrived at an audience chamber draped in red silk.
‘This audience chamber…’
It was familiar.
“Uwaaaah!”
At the far end of the chamber I had seen in Kayden and Dana’s memories, the fat Emperor was screaming.
“Uwaaa! My Thousand-Year Empire! This is absurd! Who are you?! Who are you to do this to us?! What do you want—gold? Power? You should have said so first! Why invade like this all of a sudden?!”
I looked at the Emperor, shouting about how unjust it all was.
Nod.
I nodded quietly.
It was time to end this.
‘Swish!’
Sunny stepped forward on my left.
– “Emperor.”
His spear shot like a serpent toward the Emperor’s heart.
‘Thwack!’
There was no way the Emperor, whose body held no strength at all, could block it.
– “If you have any sin, it is that you met my master.”
“Cough, cough!”
The Emperor stared at Sunny as if he were a demon.
Then—
Thud.
The arm that had been clinging to the shaft went limp and fell.
[Hidden Condition Clear!]
[Defense Master, Kayden’s memories are being reversed.]
[Defense Master, Kayden rests in peace.]
[Great Saintess, Dana’s memories are being reversed.]
[Great Saintess, Dana rests in peace.]
Light flashed across my vision along with the messages.
[Progress Time – 26:00:50]
Since entering this place.
In about a day, I had destroyed the empire.