Julian wiped his blade clean, eyes cold.
"Let’s move in."
They advanced as a unit, stepping over the broken remains of the gate, and forced the massive wooden doors open with a resounding crack. What waited inside was not a base, nor a fortress of warriors.
It was a graveyard.
A twisted, living nightmare.
What seemed like a village stood within, wooden huts, scorched earth, and the sickening stench of decay. Piles of bones lay scattered around the open square, skulls of adults, and horrifyingly, of children. Silent witnesses to unimaginable horrors.
Dozens of people milled about, their movements twitchy, their faces slack with madness. Sunken eyes. Dried blood on their mouths. Murmured laughter. They stared at Julian’s group with blank, deranged expressions.
"Everyone... don’t look. Step back. This isn’t something you need to see."
"I’m fine, Julian," Celestia said, though her voice trembled faintly.
Then he saw him.
The one they came for.
A man stood atop a pile of bones, his hair wild, eyes feral, wearing armor crusted with dried blood. His appearance matched Vexmond’s description exactly. The butcher.
He laughed, a guttural rasp. "New meat," he muttered. "Fresh flesh. Pretty faces."
Others around him echoed in sick chorus.
"Where’s the scout team?"
"They’re food now."
"Ooooh, new appetizers."
"Idiots," one of them growled. "Don’t get cocky. They’re dangerous."
But it was already too late.
Julian shot forward like a thunderbolt, his body cloaked in lightning and shadow. His blade cracked through ribcages, slicing limbs with surgical precision. Madness turned to panic.
His target turned and fled, weaving through the structures.
"Not so fast." Julian dashed after him.
Skills lit up the village, fireballs, ice spikes, arcane blasts, aimed straight for Julian.
Clarissa’s psychic shield erupted around him, deflecting the barrage.
"Go, Julian!" she shouted.
Aya kneeled and fired bolts with terrifying speed, picking off enemies.
Emma surged ahead, flames spiraling around her fists.
Celestia’s silver threads danced, cutting, binding, splitting open throats.
Veronica stepped forward and chanted softly, her enchantments flooding through the team like ripples of power, amplifying strength, sharpening reflexes.
Then Zoe stepped in.
Her form shifted, ears and tail emerging as her beast mode activated. Her eyes gleamed, fangs bared. She let out a sharp growl, before pouncing into the fray like a black wolf unleashed.
And so began the chaos.
A clash of fire, steel, and madness.
Julian’s blade clashed against the target’s bone-hardened flesh with a sickening clang.
The man grinned wide, eyes bloodshot with glee. "Hehehe... You really are a fool, charging in like that. Did you think it’d be that easy?"
Without warning, jagged spikes of bone erupted from his arms and shoulders, growing, twisting, lashing like tentacles. His body convulsed as his skill activated fully [Bone Eater].
A grotesque mutation.
His body absorbed bones from the piles around them, the mass fusing into a white exoskeleton, sharp, unbreakable, crawling with necrotic energy.
Julian narrowed his eyes and kept slashing, refusing to respond.
"You can’t cut me!" the man cackled. "Your sword is worthless against me! I’ll devour you, every piece, starting with your bones!"
Julian said nothing.
He reached into his inventory. A quick motion.
Click.
He pulled out one of Aya’s handcrafted high-density bombs and shoved it between the ribs of the man’s bone armor, just beneath the sternum. A flash of white light and—
BOOM!
The explosion shook the ground. Splinters of bone and black blood sprayed in all directions. The man was hurled back, screaming in rage and agony. His armor cracked. Broken.
Julian stepped forward, blade raised to end it.
But then—
Crunch.
The man shoved something into his mouth, a red, jagged shard.
A zombie core.
Julian’s eyes widened. "What—"
The man chewed violently, eyes rolling back as the crystal pulsed.
Veins bulged. Skin stretched. Bone surged outward again, growing over his torso, arms, and neck like armor plates, twice as thick, now laced with dark corruption.
"GAAAH! You cheating bastard, using bombs!" the man roared, his voice distorted.
Around him, more of the deranged villagers screamed in ecstasy, eating zombie crystals like candy. Their bodies convulsed. Bones cracked and mutated. Arms became claws. Eyes glowed red.
"They’re actually eating those things!" Emma shouted in disgust. "That’s insane!"
"They’ve lost their minds completely," Veronica said sharply, casting a wide-range buff on the group.
Julian exhaled. "Fine. We do this the hard way."
With a flick of his fingers, three shadow clones emerged from his feet, each one dashing to aid the others.
Julian gripped his blade tighter. Lightning sparked up his arms, crawling across the weapon’s edge.
"Let’s turn up the voltage."
He activated [Boost] and [lightning], his body surging with electrical energy, eyes glowing. Every movement became a blur.
Julian lunged at the bone-armored enemy again, this time a streak of thunder.
Julian’s body crackled with electricity, lightning arcing across his limbs as he drove forward again, blade flashing like a thunderclap.
That guy grunted, his jagged bone-blade clashing against Julian’s with a harsh screech of friction. Despite the relentless assault, The guy grinned wide, unfazed by the pressure.
"Aren’t you with Dawnlight Group?" he asked, voice rasping, twisted with amusement. "No? Hah! No way they could’ve found this place... Then maybe you’re with Vexmond, eh?"
Julian didn’t answer. He slashed, feinted, kicked, each motion calculated, silent, focused.
"You’re no fun! Come on, talk to me!"
He slammed his foot into the dirt and drove his sword forward, forcing Julian back with brute strength. Dust exploded beneath them.
"Maybe you’ll scream once I start peeling your flesh."
Julian skidded backward but recovered immediately, blade spinning in his grasp. His eyes narrowed.
"For a walking corpse... you sure talk a lot, Omet"
Omet blinked. Then burst into laughter. "So you do know me! Heheh, Omet the Bone Eater. Am I really that famous now?"
Julian’s eyes glinted. "No."
Without waiting for another word, Julian surged forward again, this time blindingly fast, sparks flying in his wake.
Omet barely raised his bone sword in time. Their blades collided, a violent crack echoing through the ruined village.
"Heh, impressive," Omet grunted. "I wonder what your meat tastes like."
Julian’s eyes burned with cold fury. He twisted his blade at the last second, feinting to the left. Omet reacted, but too late. In a swift, clean motion, Julian’s sword cut across Omet’s face.
Slice.
Omet screamed, stumbling back, his right ear sliced clean off.
"AARGHH—YOU DAMN—!!"
Blood gushed from the wound, and Omet’s expression twisted, not in pain, but in manic delight.
He laughed. Loud, unhinged.
"Hah... Hahahaha! You got me! You really got me! I like you even more now!"
Julian stayed silent, stance ready.
Lightning surged again, hotter, wilder.
And Julian lunged again, blade wrapped in crackling arcs of lightning.
Omet blocked the strike, but barely. Sparks scattered as bone clashed against steel, and Omet stumbled a step back, grinning through bloodied teeth.
Julian’s gaze flicked to the battlefield behind him.
His team, were holding strong.
Emma’s flames danced through the air, scorching two enemies into ash. Clarissa’s telekinesis sent another slamming into a wall. Aya’s bolts found every vital spot with surgical precision.
Celestia moved like a silver phantom, her threads slicing silently, fatally. Veronica shouted enhancements, boosting their power. And Zoe, even restrained by Julian’s seal, fought in controlled ferocity, beastly instincts working in tandem with conscious focus.
None of them were injured.
Julian exhaled lightly.
Good.
He turned back to Omet, narrowing his eyes.
He’d been holding back, not to test his own strength, but to observe something.
The crystal zombie.
Omet’s power had doubled the moment he consumed it, muscles surging, bone harder than before, reflexes heightened. But... Julian saw it clearly.
There were side effects.
Omet’s body twitched erratically. Veins darkened like spreading rot. His eyes flickered, dilated one moment, bloodshot the next.
He talked to himself, laughed at nothing, and his aggression spiked unpredictably. His coordination wasn’t perfect, his instincts wild, but his mind fractured.
Maybe Omet had eaten zombie crystals multiple times.
The physical enhancements were temporary.
But the mental damage, the corruption, was cumulative.
Julian could see it now. That wasn’t just madness.
It was deterioration.
"Tell me something," Julian said at last, blade pointed low. "How many crystals have you eaten?"
Omet tilted his head, twitching.
"Too many to count... Hehe... But not enough!"
He let out a screeching laugh and charged again.
Julian didn’t move right away. He watched. Analyzed.
Omet was stronger, yes, but not enough.
And Julian... was done playing.
He gripped his sword tighter, electricity surging again, faster, more intense.
He was going to end this. And learn everything he could about these crystals in the process.
With a surge of speed, Julian moved.
Omet barely had time to blink.
A flash of silver and lightning, Julian’s blade sang through the air.
"Analysis complete," Julian muttered coldly.
The strike was clean. Precise.
Omet’s neck split open in a seamless arc, his crazed expression frozen in shock.
His head toppled to the ground, thudding against the dirt.
The body stood still for a fraction of a second, then collapsed.
Silence.
Just like that, the fight was over.
No final scream.
No grand explosion.
Only death. Instant and absolute.
Julian exhaled, eyes scanning the battlefield.
The rest of his team had already finished, no casualties, not even a scratch.
He turned to them, calm but firm.
"Let’s move out. We’re done here."
The others nodded in agreement, not wanting to spend another second in the graveyard of madness.
And with that, they left the fortress of bones behind, without looking back.