Night time on the Selemus Plains.

Camping out in a location where undead roamed about naturally meant no time to leisurely do things like pitching tents.

To keep out the cold of the late autumn night, everyone stayed close to campfires while the carriages formed a defensive circle around them. Further out, those on guard duty kept vigilant watch by their campfires.

It was a completely different scene to how their journey had been up to this point. Those in the group, former guerrilla unit members aside, looked out into the darkness with fear.

Even they had expected the journey to the Mireana Kingdom to be easy.

Still, before reaching the Selemus Plains, they had mostly slept at villages. Even when camping out in tents, it hadn’t been as tense, so they all felt the difference this night.

「I wish we could have gone all the way through the night.」

Rei muttered as he leaned against Set, who was lying on the ground outside the ring of carriages.

「Guru~……」

Set gave a cry as if to say it couldn’t be helped.

Both Rei and Set had good night vision.

If they wanted to, they could have flown over the Selemus Plains in no time.

However, that was only the two of them.

Even ordinary humans with good night vision would struggle to see in the dark when the moon was covered by clouds.

「The moon can’t be seen at all. If we had moonlight, we might have been able to push on a little further.」

Rei muttered to himself, but forcing the horses to keep going at night without rest would mean risking injury. Even ignoring that, the horses would still eventually collapse from exhaustion.

Unlike a normal merchant caravan, they weren’t carrying any extra luggage on their persons and the number of people in each carriage wasn’t high, so it wasn’t a problem for the horses to be a little tired. Still, these carriages and horses weren’t rented but owned by them.

They were moving to Gilm, an unfamiliar location to them, so no one wanted to risk such assets which would be of great use once they arrived.

「Considering all that, I guess this was the best option after all……」

「Gururu~」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s words.

However, it wasn’t because he agreed with Rei or because he was hungry. Instead, it was a warning cry.

Hearing Set’s cry, Rei stood up, picking the Death Scythe off the ground.

As he waited, he soon heard the sound of light footsteps.

Rei already knew what monster was coming from the sound.

While he wasn’t an expert in fighting undead, he still had some experience from the time he gone to the dungeon with Elena and the last two times he passed by the Selemus Plains, when going to Exil and the Bestir Empire.

The approaching footsteps belonged to a monster he had fought several times before.

Using only the light from the campfire, Rei’s night vision captured the monster that came into view.

「So it was you after all.」

A fragile looking monster, made of bone.

But, these weren’t ordinary bones, they were somewhat strengthened by magic power.

That said, these were ultimately still Skeletons, the lowest ranking undead.

It might have been a different matter if they were more powerful variants.

「If they were at least a higher ranking or rare species, I might have been able to make good use of their magic stones.」

Rei had already obtained Skeleton magic stones in the dungeon he had explored with Elena.

Both Set and the Death Scythe had absorbed one each, but hadn’t gained any skills.

Considering that Skeletons were low ranking monsters, it wasn’t entirely a surprise.

Rei readied the Death Scythe and, as the Skeletons approached, unleashed a single horizontal slash.

The Death Scythe, empowered by Rei’s magic power, was enough to strike several Skeletons……cleaving them in half at the chest, where their magic stones were located.

Because they were undead, the Skeletons didn’t die immediately.

Rei had to reach into the cavity above their severed ribs to forcibly snatch their magic stones out of their bodies.

Once the magic stones were removed……the Skeletons immediately collapsed to the ground.

For Skeletons, their magic stones were both a material and proof of subjugation.

For a high ranking adventurer like Rei, he could easily ignore Skeleton magic stones……but since he had them, he decided he might as well keep them.

After repeating this several times, all the Skeletons that had attacked him were annihilated.

Storing the magic stones back into the Misty Ring, Rei went back to Set, leaving the remains of the Skeletons behind to enjoy the comfort of Set’s soft fur……when he heard metallic sounds coming from somewhere else.

「Are Skeletons attacking other locations as well? ……No, it’s not!?」

At first, Rei thought that more Skeletons were attacking, but the metallic sounds weren’t just clashing weapons, but also the sound of metal armour rubbing against itself.

Of all the people currently on night watch, none of them wore metal armour.

Of course, Rei wasn’t entirely certain of that.

It could be possible that someone who had metal armour had decided to help out, or that a former soldier or adventurer on night watch had pulled out their old metal armour.

But, when hearing the sound of metal armour on the Selemus Plains, where undead roamed about, Rei’s first thought went to Living Armour.

Rei had fought Living Armours before, armour infused with the grudges of the dead.

With Rei’s skills, they weren’t a particularly tough enemy, but their physical defenses, their metal armour, made it extremely troublesome for those who couldn’t use magic to deal with them.

「Set, I’m going to provide support……」

Now.

Rei was about to finish his sentence when he stopped himself.

More footsteps could be heard heading his way along with the rattling of bones.

「Tch, more Skeletons? ……No way!」

Emerging from the darkness was a monster that seemed to be made from human bones, undoubtedly a Skeleton type monster.

However, the bones that made up its body was very different from the earlier Skeletons he had killed.

While the bones of the Skeletons from before had been white, this Skeleton’s bones seemed to be made of crystal.

No matter how you looked at it, it was definitely a more powerful monster than the Skeletons from before.

(Come to think of it, someone once told me that with so many undead on the Selemus Plains, they would sometimes fight each other. Those that survived would eventually become a higher ranking species or something. In other words, it’s like raising poisonous insects.)

Realising the true nature of the Skeleton that had appeared, Rei stared at it with a small smile.

「I’ve mostly fought humans in the Bestir Empire. It’s been a while since I’ve fought a new kind of monster.」

He readied the Death Scythe as he stared at the Skeleton with crystal bones……Crystal Skeleton, if you will.

「Guru~?」

「Yeah, leave this to me. Set, go help to deal with the Living Armour. Someone has to stay here anyway.」

Rei gave a brief reply to Set, who seemed to ask what he should do.

Whether he or Set was the one to stay behind, the outcome would probably have been the same, but as it was an unknown monster, Rei decided it would be better for him to fight and learn.

Perhaps guessing Rei’s thoughts, Set gave a short cry before running off.

After seeing Set off, Rei turned his attention back to the Crystal Skeleton with Death Scythe in hand.

Every single bone in its body was made of crystal……and it definitely looked superior to an ordinary Skeleton.

The weapon in its hand wasn’t a broken or rusty sword, like what ordinary Skeletons would have, but a crystal sword, likely created by the Crystal Skeleton themselves.

「Being able to make your own weapons is quite the handy ability. ……However, using crystal also means your rank is too low for me.」

Whether it understood Rei’s words or not, the Crystal Skeleton shook its jawbone as it let out what seemed to be a roaring laugh.

It was unclear whether it was genuinely laughing or whether the night breeze had just caused its jaw to let out a laugh like sound.

However, Rei still recognised its reaction as laughter as a ferocious smile appeared on his own face.

「If you have the strength to laugh at me, I’d be more than happy……but I wonder if you really do? As a show of sympathy, I won’t use Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour. I’ll fight you normally. I haven’t had much combat training in my usual form lately.」

Swinging the Death Scythe, Rei sent a slash flying out as he stepped forward.

The Crystal Skeleton watched Rei take one, then two, then three steps towards it……before swinging its own weapon.

It was definitely faster compared to the other Skeletons.

Dodging the long sword that was swung at him, Rei sliced towards the Crystal Skeleton’s outstretched right arm with the Death Scythe.

His attack, a counter attack of sorts, easily slice through the Crystal Skeleton’s right elbow.

「Eh?」

Rei was a bit surprised at the result.

While his attack had been sharp, it had just been a test from Rei.

Surely the Crystal Skeleton wouldn’t be taken out so easily?

Rei’s anticipation for the fight promptly vanished after that.

(I guess a Skeleton is just a Skeleton after all.)

I’ll just take its magic stone and be done with it.

As he thought of that Rei went to swing the Death Scythe again……when he saw the Crystal Skeleton catch its right arm that had flown into the air after he had cut it off.

But, the next moment, all his doubts were cleared away.

Pushing the severed arm against its elbow joint, the arm was firmly reattached a moment later.

「……Wow.」

Rei let out a small exclamation at what he saw.

While he had seen many monsters that could regenerate, he had never seen one that regenerate……no, repair, using crystal.

It might not be particularly strong, but it was hard to kill.

Facing the Crystal Skeleton, Rei felt a sense of joy in his heart.

That was because he knew that the likelihood of learning a new skill from the magic stones of such monsters was quite high.

「Besides, their crystal bones will probably sell for a pretty high price as materials.」

Rei muttered to himself as he spun the Death Scythe around.

The Crystal Skeleton approached Rei with weapon in hand as its jaw clacked together.

「If you can repair yourself with crystal, then a wound doesn’t mean much……but Skeletons already have a weak point!」

Rei dashed straight towards the Crystal Skeleton.

As they approached each other, the gap between them closed in an instant.

The Crystal Skeleton swung its crystal sword to intercept Rei’s Death Scythe.

Before, Rei had counter attacked after the Crystal Skeleton’s attack. But, this time, Rei pulled the Death Scythe back just before they made contact, making the Crystal Skeleton’s sword swing through empty air.

Perhaps expecting a clash between their weapons, the Crystal Skeleton lost its balance as the anticipated clash never eventuated.

Just as the Crystal Skeleton’s body was pulled forward by the momentum of it’s missed attack……the Death Scythe swung out again.

The Crystal Skeleton was slashed right across its rib cage, where its magic stone was located, as the upper half of its chest was sent flying into the air.

Rei saw crystal growing out from where he had cut, an attempt to repair itself, but now that he knew what it was doing, there was no need to watch it happen.

He quickly reached into the empty space above its rib cage and took away its magic stone.

As soon as he did that……the Crystal Skeleton’s body crumpled to the ground.

「……Well, I guess that’s that.」

After storing the magic stone, crystal long sword, and crystal bones into the Misty Ring, Rei muttered to himself as he looked over at the direction Set had gone to.

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