Skeletons

"Is this it?"

After almost two weeks of traveling on horseback, we had arrived at a considerable cemetery, probably thrice the size of what I regarded as normal. As we had left our mounts behind in the village where we would spend the nights, a small village called Tristen with no more than a couple of hundred inhabitants where we had warmly been welcomed, we were currently standing outside the cemetery looking over the short, stone wall.

It was such a large piece of land that I was almost inclined to call it a village, a village filled with tombstones everywhere, as well as some square mausoleums looking like small, square houses.

In the middle of it, there was a large, gothic-looking church, as well as the building that we knew contained the stairs into the crypt. However, as our eyes trailed along the massive area of death, it seemed like just getting to that church would be a challenge.

"That's a lot of skeletons...", Jeffrey said with a grim face, a face that was now decorated with a huge bushy beard after our many days of travel, proving the dwarven genetics that was now part of him. His body was protected by a sturdy yet flexible set of brown leather armor, and his two axes were currently resting on his back.

Nodding a bit, George naturally saw the same thing as we were, but his face didn't carry the same stress, though I suspected that he was consciously trying to keep the morale up, "Yeah, but I don't think they are that strong."

All over the cemetery, walking among the gravestones and mausoleums, unclothed skeletons were walking around, all holding different kinds of weapons in their bony hands, ranging from simple clubs to sharp swords.

In contrast to Jeffrey, George was wearing a full set of steel armor, and although the silvery metal looked heavy, he was moving around as if he was wearing nothing at all.

The petite girl who wasn't that much taller than the two dwarfs entered the conversation as well, her experience with novels and games shining straight through the green robe covering her body.

"I agree. The villagers told me that most skeletons weren't even rank 1 monsters, so I don't think we have to be all too afraid. It also wouldn't make much sense for simple skeletons to be strong."

All monsters were divided by ranks, and the ranks were simply just based on their levels.

Levels 0-9 were called rank 0, 10-19 were called rank 1, and so forth. So if a monster hadn't even reached rank one, that meant they weren't even level 10.

Granted, all of us were only level 10 at the moment as well, but not only had we been trained a lot, but we also had enough intellect to think of plans and strategies to fight.

In the end, however, we still all stood still, feeling extremely hesitant to walk through the thin, steel gates of the cemetery wall, taking a while to try and process the animated bones which clattered as they were walking around.

'But we should be able to deal with them... no matter how scary they look...'

Looking at the composition of our party, with Jeffrey and George acting as the vanguard, me and Julia acting as long ranged damage dealers consisting of my magic and her crossbow, Stephanie being a rogue, and Olivia taking the role of a supporter and healer, we didn't have any particular gaps that needed to be filled.

Knowing this, aware that we should be more than able to bring down the monsters wandering around the cemetery, our leader took a step forward, approaching the open gates in front of us.

"Let's start by hunting the skeletons above ground and gain some levels. Even if we want to grow stronger as fast as possible, there's no reason to rush into the crypt hastily."

Unsheathing his longsword underneath the cloudy skies, there was no one that didn't understand our leader's will and intentions.

Therefore, we followed him, as no one objected to his suggestion, while also readying all our weapons.

Just like me, Olivia was also carrying a wooden staff, and just like her, I was wearing a magician's robe, only that it was blue with red decorations instead of green. Stephanie and Julia were also wearing similar clothing, with both of them equipped with very light leather, sacrificing a bit of protection for mobility.

"Get ready!"

Passing the gates, it didn't even take a second before three skeletons noticed our presence and began running toward us, raising their weapons high into the air.

Without wasting even a second, I began to channel mana through my body into the staff, which acted as a conductor for the magical energy.

*Click!*

Before I managed to construct a fireball, however, Julia had already prepared her crossbow and began to launch iron bolts at the skeletons, hindering their approach while at the same time creating small cracks in their bones.

Although her attacks were visibly wearing their physiques down, the skeletons just kept on running forward, determined to not allow the fleshy invaders to walk away with their lives. But I had already managed to construct the fiery flames in front of my staff.

"[Fireball]!"

*FWOOSH!*

A relatively large explosion rang out as my fireball made contact with one of the three skeletons, blowing away one of its arms and, with it, the wooden club it had been holding on to. Yet, it also didn't stop moving forward.

"Jeffrey!"

"I know."

George and Jeffrey dashed forward, with the dwarf showing off some impressive speed that contrasted his short legs, both of them fully intent on stopping our enemies' approach.

*Tang!, Tang, Tang!*

And that they did, with George skillfully parrying and dodging the attacks on two of them, one of them being the one-armed skeleton who had lost his weapon and the other attacking him with a steel sword.

At the same time, Jeffrey's eyes lit up in red, as he activated the ability he had told us about. [Frenzy], an ability that increased all his physical abilities for a short time in return for his stamina. With this, he began to attack frantically with his two axes, not allowing the skeleton equipped with a mace to breathe for even a second.

"[Enhancing Winds]!"

Olivia waved her staff into the air, buffing our three melee combatants with a spell that increased their strength. Then, following this, I got to see something that I absolutely wasn't expecting.

With Jeffrey and George keeping the skeletons busy, which also made it hard for me and Julia to launch any attacks, Stephanie had completely disappeared before our sights, only to suddenly appear behind the one-armed skeleton that George was fighting with.

In contrast to the shy and timid girl that I had known for a long time, there was an insidious smile on her face as her dagger shone with a bright red.

*Sching!*

In an instant, the skeleton fell to the ground as Stephanie had taken its nonliving life with a creepy grin.

Though seeing the black-haired girl smiling like that sent shivers down my back, I was also pretty happy to see that she had been able to adapt to this world.

"Good job, Steph!"

Happy to have some of the pressure taken off him, George dodged the steel sword coming at him yet again, but this time he also took a large step backward, and his sword started to shine with a bright, almost holy, aura.

"[Judgment]!"

*BOM!*

A blinding light shone as his sword cleaved the skeleton in two, forcing us all to cover our eyes so we wouldn't have to, even if temporarily, lose our sight.

"Man, you really have to warn us before you use that."

As the light died down, a very grumpy dwarf looked at the hero, not too amused by him suddenly using his skill like that, with Jeffrey having already dealt with the skeleton he was fighting with.

Scratching his head a bit in embarrassment, although not enough to make his cheeks redden, he had no choice but to apologize.

"Ah, sorry. I just got a bit caught up in the moment."

"Tch!"

Despite Jeffrey clicking his tongue, his face still told the story of someone extremely proud of our accomplishments, like we all were. It was not that we felt like it was a great accomplishment to defeat these three skeletons. No, it was that we had now fought together for the first time and we had proved to ourselves that we could do it.

Looking around, inspecting all of us now slightly smiling, we all felt the same thing.

This was the beginning, and although we knew we had a long way to go, we had taken our first step. And we all instinctually knew that we would take these next steps together, supporting each other while growing stronger.

Strong enough so that we could create a better future, strong enough so that we could bring down the beast in the east that was the demon king.