Demonic Skeleton God
Chapter 45: Genocide of the village

Chapter 45: Genocide of the village

The Steward stared at him, then a wide smile spread across his face. "I accept. We’re on the same stage, after all. Hahaha, finally, a proper fight. You know, it’s pretty boring here. From time to time, some monsters attack the village, but they’re so weak I usually kill them in a single strike," the Steward said.

’Bingo, so he’s Stage 2. Hehe, my plan can be carried out,’ Flain thought.

"But let’s go outside the village. If we fight here, we’ll end up destroying it for sure," the Steward said with a smile.

The Steward and Flain’s group stood in a meadow just outside the village. Flain and the Steward faced each other from opposite sides, weapons drawn in front of them.

"The fight may begin," Itai announced.

The Steward instantly charged forward. His movements were sharp and precise. Flain reacted as the Steward struck from above. He raised his swords and blocked the attack, but his feet sank into the ground under the force of the impact.

The Steward pushed off and stepped back, smiling. "Our strength is quite balanced."

Flain didn’t rush. He drew his second sword and began circling slowly to the side.

The Steward attacked again, this time with a rapid flurry of slashes. Flain crouched, dodged, and deflected. His swords clashed against the Steward’s blade multiple times, each impact ringing out with a loud metallic screech. The Steward then distanced himself to catch his breath, standing still for a brief moment.

Flain lunged forward and whispered, "Swift Slash."

His blades shimmered as he unleashed a barrage of slashes upon the Steward. His strikes landed on the Steward’s armor, cutting into his arms, legs, and sides.

The Steward barely held his ground under the assault, but then... suddenly, he vanished.

Flain felt a sharp pain in his back. The Steward had used some technique to appear behind him, stabbing him in the back.

[-140 HP]

The Steward jumped back, breathing heavily. "I’ve never seen a technique like the one you just used," he said.

For a moment, they stared at each other, then charged simultaneously. They clashed in the middle, swords colliding repeatedly, the sound of metal ringing through the air. Flain used his smaller stature to maneuver under the Steward’s attacks, but the Steward had a flawless stance and adapted quickly. Suddenly, half-meter-long spikes burst out from Flain’s armor.

Flain leaped backward and whispered, "Tornado of Spines."

Immediately, he began to spin, bones shooting from his body and whirling around him in a deadly rotation. He hurled himself at the Steward.

The Steward barely managed to dodge in time. The spikes slashed his shoulder and stomach.

The Steward stopped, panting heavily. "What the hell kind of technique is that?! Is it even a technique and not a spell?!"

Suddenly, the Steward’s eyes widened, veins bulging across his forehead. He began circling around Flain at high speed, too fast for Flain to keep up with. Flain felt a sword slice into his stomach, then a slash across his thigh.

[-200 HP]

Flain smirked, craving some real aggression.

He started attacking relentlessly, without pause, using his swords to their full potential. The Steward tried to keep up, but the wounds kept piling up. Flain felt no fatigue—undead feel neither pain nor exhaustion.

The Steward began to slow down. His strikes lost precision. Flain smiled.

The Steward managed to leap away, collapsing as he gasped for air and coughed up blood. Flain stepped toward him.

"A great fight... but I lost, hahaha," the Steward said with a chuckle.

"I know," Flain replied and, without hesitation, severed his head. Shock was frozen in his lifeless eyes.

[+8000 EXP]

[+1 Evolution Shard]

Flain straightened up and turned to Itai.

"Done," he said calmly, as if he had just finished a meal.

Itai simply stared in silence. Flain wiped his sword and glanced at the corpses. Then, a wide grin spread across Itai’s face.

"Now I understand," Itai murmured, catching Flain’s attention.

"I understand that humanity and concern for random people are weaknesses—weaknesses I have discarded, just like my father," Itai said.

"As it should be," Flain muttered.

"Aran, absorb his soul," Flain commanded.

Aran emerged from Flain’s body, stepped toward the corpse, and began the process.

"It’s time for the harvest. Itai, release your undead army and command them to kill every villager," Flain said.

"Won’t that be too obvious?" Itai asked.

"Don’t worry, I have it all planned out," Flain assured him.

Suddenly, hands started emerging from the ground, followed by entire undead bodies. Zehren approached Itai.

Zehren bowed before Itai.

"Kill everyone in the village ahead of us," Itai ordered.

"Aran, you go absorb souls there. And once you run out of souls to absorb, start killing as well. For someone at Stage 2, this should be child’s play," Flain said to Aran.

Then, the undead army charged into the village. Soon, cries for help and terrified screams filled the air, and blood splattered everywhere. Meanwhile, Flain safely accumulated EXP.

"Heh, Itai, go resurrect your second Stage 2 undead. He’ll become a zombie—a Stage 2 zombie. That should be interesting," Flain said.

Itai approached the Steward’s corpse and began the summoning.

Meanwhile, the village was in complete chaos. Blood was smeared everywhere, and the villagers ran for their lives while being hunted by zombies and skeletons.

The two guards at the entrance had long been dead. They were probably at the level of a Black Lizard, and since the undead had swarmed them from all sides, they didn’t last long. Eventually, one skeleton found the last child hiding in a pile of straw—and killed it.

[+9400 EXP]

[+23 Evolution Shards]

[+5 Evolution Dusks]

Flain was fairly satisfied with the reward, though he could’ve used more EXP since the cost for the next level was 75,000, which was quite expensive.

As Itai continued resurrecting the Steward, Flain had a question for the system.

’System, do stages have any sub-stages?’ Flain asked.

[Tip: Yes. Each stage consists of six sub-stages: Early, Novice, Mid, Advanced, Pioneer, and Peak. This structure applies to all stages. You will understand it better once you fully master the sense for detecting magical energy.]

’Hmm, so I’m currently Mid Stage 2,’ Flain thought.

Itai finally succeeded in resurrecting the Steward on the 21st attempt. The Steward began to rise from the dead...