Chapter 38: Small Skeleton Armies? That's No Fun!

As he falls to the ground, Saiba spins around with his sword out, similar to a spinning top. He clears out the skeletons in his immediate vicinity. All the while, he is gaining experience points and various items.

Lily follows suit and starts slashing the skeletons around her. Although the skeletons are made out of hard bone, it's quite easy to defeat them. Saiba also sends out a few maroon waves while shouting,

"Crimson Strike!"

At this point, Saiba has adapted to using [Crimson Strike] multiple times and in quick succession. The skeletons around them continue to get thrown away and turned to dust.

As the number of skeletons decrease, Saiba and Lily's movements also decrease and slow down.

Finally, their surroundings clear out, leaving just Saiba, Lily, Uma the wagon. During the battle, Saiba manages to gain five more levels along with a good amount of [Skeleton Bones] and [Skeleton Skulls]. Lily gains an equal amount of levels, but less items. Lily asks,

"Where to next, Hero?"

Saiba answers,

"To the Skeleton King, right?"

Provokingly, Lily asks again,

"And where would that be?"

Saiba answers,

"I don't know. You're the smart one, you should know."

Lily replies,

"Even though I'm happy you called me smart, I don't know where this Skeleton King is either."

Saiba suggests,

"Why don't we ask this guy?"

He points to a stray skeleton that they left alive. The skeleton starts limping over towards them as Saiba grabs it by the skull and stops it in its tracks. Saiba asks,

"Do you know where the Skeleton King is?"

The skeleton ignores Saiba and tries to break free while making screeching noises. Saiba pulls out a [Skeleton Bone] from his [Inventory] and waves it in front of the skeleton while saying,

"If you tell me where the Skeleton King is, I'll give you this."

Seeing the remains of its deceased ally, the skeleton begins to make sad, sobbing noises. Saiba is taken aback and quickly brings the [Skeleton Bone] back into his inventory.

Instead, he pulls out the [Goblin Hide] that's been sitting in his inventory for a while. The skeleton gets excited and gets on the ground like a hungry dog. It also makes noises similar to a dog. Saiba notices and bribes,

"If you tell me where the Skeleton King is, I'll give you this yummy, delicious, scrumptious [Goblin Hide]!"

The skeleton stands up and starts marching away. Saiba gets on Uma and Lily sits at the front of the wagon as they trail behind the skeleton.

The skeleton leads them through the halls of the stony dungeon as they pass by multiple other passageways that lead to darkness.

From one of the ways, they hear a familiar ear-shattering scream. It's the same one they heard at the front of the gates. Saiba says,

"Skeleton man! Wait here for a bit!"

Lily notices something and asks,

"What are you gonna do?"

Ignoring Lily's question, Saiba hops off of Uma and runs towards the source of the scream. He runs through the halls of the dungeon, which are completely dark since Lily is not with him. Saiba runs into multiple walls as he tries to traverse through the pitch-black passages.

Finally, he hits his head on a hard stone wall and flops down on the ground, tired out. Suddenly something taps him as Saiba jumps up and gets into a defensive stance. The mysterious thing starts to glow as it is revealed as just being Lily. She bonks him on the head and says,

"What were you thinking, leaving like that without telling me anything!?"

Awkwardly, Saiba answers,

"My sense of justice was just too strong, I guess..."

Lily lets out a disappointed sigh. Right after, they hear the scream again as Saiba starts running towards it while shouting,

"Come on Lily! Follow me!"

Lily grabs Saiba by cape and stops him in his tracks. She shouts,

"It's this way, you dummy! Follow me!"

Saiba turns around and follows Lily as she runs toward where the scream really came from. While running Saiba asks,

"Doesn't it feel like we're forgetting something or someone?"

Lily answers,

"If you forgot it, it probably wasn't important. We don't have time to be trying to think about other things right now, anyways! Just focus on getting to the scream!"

Saiba nods. Finally, they spot two people. A boy that seems to be around twelve or thirteen and a girl that seems to be around nine or ten. The scream seems to be coming from the little girl. Saiba calls out,

"You two! Are you guys okay?"

A loud, bone-rattling screech follows. Saiba looks up from the kids and notices a large, giant-like skeleton menacingly posing.

The giant skeleton swiftly brings his hand up and prepares to bring it down. Meanwhile, the two children cling to each other, scared to death. As the skeleton brings his arm down, the little girl lets out one final scream.