Skeleton Soldiers
"Stop!" The driver at the front suddenly crouched and raised a fist. Everyone immediately stopped in their tracks, tense and holding their breath.
The driver used the tip of his knife to brush aside a layer of damp, soft fallen leaves and moss, revealing loose soil beneath. Several clear footprints were pressed into it.
The prints were larger than a human's and canine in shape, but the toes were more distinctly separated, and the claw marks were deep. There was more than one—a series of them, crisscrossing haphazardly into the depths of the forest.
"Footprints... fresh, no more than an hour old."
The driver kept his voice low and grave. "There are quite a few. Judging by the claws and stride, they look like wolves, but something's not quite right..."
Su Ran carefully moved closer and examined them in the dim light. He noticed some faint, irregular drag marks along the edges of the prints.
And the way the weight was distributed in some of the prints seemed closer to... that of some kind of semi-upright creature.
Putting together the scraps of information he had seen about certain common otherworldly creatures in the forum's general discussion section, and the few characteristics these footprints revealed...
"Not ordinary wolves."
Su Ran spoke quietly, drawing everyone's attention. "They could be [Gnolls]. Humanoid monsters that live in groups, are cunning, and have some degree of social structure.
"They usually walk semi-upright, but they drop to all fours when running fast, so their tracks fall somewhere between a human's and a wolf's. These drag marks might have been made by crude weapons or belongings they were carrying."
"Gnolls?"
The driver's brow furrowed even more tightly. He had evidently heard of these troublesome monsters too. Individually, their combat strength might not be top-tier, but they were a serious problem when they appeared in groups.
As if to confirm Su Ran's judgment and everyone's ominous premonition, a clamor rose from deep in the forest ahead, a mixture of low growls, howls, and sharp whistles. The sounds rapidly drew closer!
"Prepare for battle!!" the driver shouted, crossing his two knives before his chest, his gaze sharp as an eagle's.
Rustle...
Branches and leaves shook violently, and shadows loomed.
More than a dozen pairs of eyes gleaming with cruel red light lit up among the dark trees.
Then hunched but swift figures sprang out one after another, blocking the path ahead and the woods on either side.
They stood a little over half a person's height, their bodies covered in dirty, coarse yellow-and-brown fur. Their muzzles protruded, their fangs were exposed, and drool dripped from the corners of their mouths.
Most held crude stone axes, wooden clubs, or short spears tipped with sharp stone shards. They were Gnolls!
A rough count put them at fifteen at least! They gave threatening growls as they half-encircled the team, their bloodthirsty gazes sweeping over everyone.
Amid the ordinary Gnolls, a particularly tall and burly figure slowly stepped forward.
It stood a head taller than the others, with knotted muscles and several pieces of rusted metal and crudely tanned leather armor on its body. It carried a long whip made from unknown beast sinew and hardwood, with sharp bone spikes embedded in its tip.
Its scarlet eyes were even more vicious, and as it swept its gaze over them, it showed unmistakable arrogance and brutality.
[Gnoll Warlord Lv.4]
"A warlord... and fifteen others..."
The driver's heart sank. A chill swept through his body in an instant. He was Lv.4, and so was the warlord facing him, who also had fifteen underlings.
On his side, counting the scholar, they could barely muster five and a half fighters, and their levels were generally lower than the enemy's rank and file. There were also several ordinary people holding them back...
Despair seized his heart like icy vines. This fight was on a completely different level!
Break through? In this terrain, against Gnolls known for their agility and pack hunting, the chances were vanishingly small.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the knife fighter, the swordsman, and the others behind him. Their faces were already as white as paper, and their weapon hands were trembling. The ordinary people were practically collapsing to the ground.
I can't fall apart! If I do now, we're all finished!
The driver bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The searing pain forced that despair away, and a fierce light burst into his eyes, like a cornered beast's.
"All of you, hold steady!!"
He roared, his voice distorted by the force of it, yet carrying the madness of a man who had smashed his cooking pots and sunk his boats. "When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave win! If you want to live, be ready to fight for your lives!"
He quickly surveyed the battlefield. Their formation was loose, and they lacked a reliable melee screen. With only him, the knife fighter, and the swordsman holding the front, they would be overwhelmed in an instant by more than a dozen Gnolls attacking from all sides.
His gaze snapped to Su Ran, who was being protected in the middle, and he all but shouted:
"Scholar! Where's that token of yours that summons skeletons?! Now! Right now! Summon everything you can and send them to the front! Make them my meat shields! Hurry!!"
It was the only way he could think of that might temporarily shift the balance of power and give them a sliver of hope.
No matter how weak the summons were, as long as they could draw some of the fire and relieve a little of the pressure, perhaps...
Everyone's eyes fixed on Su Ran in unison, filled with either their last hopes or utter doubt.
Summon skeletons?
At this critical moment between life and death, could this Lv.2 scholar's token, which sounded so vague and fanciful, really summon the undead?
The driver's roar was like a final war drum, shattering the silence of despair and igniting the last flicker of resistance in their desperate situation.
Su Ran did not hesitate. His thoughts raced, and he immediately took the [Skeleton Summoning Token] from his personal space.
It was cold in his hand, but the skeleton rune seemed to sense the aura of death and slaughter pervading the place and grew slightly hot.
Holding the token in one hand, he poured his mental power into it without hesitation, like a stream rushing through an opened sluice gate!
A ghostly green light suddenly lit up the token's dull gray-white surface. The skeleton-outline rune wriggled as if it had come alive, letting out a silent shriek perceptible only on a mental level.
A cold, eerie wave carrying the scent of grave soil spread outward from the token.
"Clack... clack..."
Under everyone's astonished and faintly expectant gazes, two small whirling clouds of gray mist appeared out of thin air over the muddy ground in front of Su Ran.
The mist rapidly condensed and took shape, becoming two deathly pale skeletons with faint green soul fire flickering in their eye sockets.
They were about the height of ordinary people. Their bones did not look sturdy, and were even somewhat slender. They held translucent bone swords and battered small round shields, all formed from energy.
Their soul fires flickered sluggishly, and their movements were somewhat stiff.
[Lv.2 Skeleton Warrior (summon)] Status: Can receive simple commands (attack/defend/follow). Duration: approximately 180 seconds. Continuously consumes the summoner's mental power.
Su Ran felt a slight heaviness in his head, as though some of his energy had been drained away. About one-fifth of his mental power had been consumed.
Summoning and controlling these two low-level undead was a heavier burden than he had expected, but still within what he could bear.