I'm the Skeleton Lord-Time to Show My Hand!

Boom-

A deafening crash rang out.

It happened so fast that none of them even saw it clearly. Lin En merely shifted sideways, easily avoiding the terrifying fist of the tattooed man named Nox. At the same instant, his eyes still closed, he clenched his fingers into a fist and drove it straight into Nox's face.

Nox went flying backward and slammed heavily into the ground, his body carving a long furrow through it.

"How is that possible..."

The doctor's expression changed abruptly, and the hand gripping his blade gave a sudden shudder.

He knew perfectly well that Nox was formidable even among Exorcists. His primary sequence was [Beast Transformation], and combined with his [Burst] sequence, the speed and strength he could unleash in an instant were certainly not something an ordinary person could evade.

And yet this man had...

The figure beneath the black cloak narrowed his eyes slightly, the two ghostly flames blazing.

Clearly, he too had noticed that Lin En was no ordinary man, but he had done nothing to stop Nox's impulsive attack.

Lin En shook out his hand, looked at the tattooed man named Nox, and smiled.

"Is that all? That's way too slow."

Nox scrambled to his feet, fury surging in his eyes. He spat out a mouthful of blood as sharp bristles sprouted all over his body. His frame rapidly expanded, long fangs growing out with a series of clicks as he fully unleashed [Beast Transformation].

His eyes turned crimson, and his voice became as hoarse as a wild beast's.

"You bastard!"

Whoosh-

He leaped up again, his massive body like a bloodthirsty berserker as he charged madly at Lin En once more.

But Lin En remained utterly at ease, repeatedly tilting his head to dodge.

"Hey, hey! Are you a circus monkey? Hurry up and show me something real. If you keep playing around with me like this, I'm going to get upset!"

Those enormous fists swung so quickly that they left layers of afterimages, yet every time one was about to smash his skull, he easily avoided it with a slight tilt of his head.

What kind of joke was this?!

Did he have origin substances related to [Swiftness] and [Speed]?!

Yet Nox could sense no sign of any sequence being activated. It was as though Lin En really was avoiding every attack with nothing but that scrawny body!

"Hey, hey, hey, speed it up!"

Lin En kept tilting his head to dodge, even patting his mouth with his other hand as he yawned.

"Practicing monkey boxing?"

[Ding! Nox's anger toward you +30]

"I'll kill you!"

In an instant, he abruptly retreated, and another pattern began taking shape within his crimson eyes.

Whoosh-

Scarlet markings suddenly wrapped around his fist. With a furious roar, he shattered the ground beneath his feet, leaped wildly into the air, and drove a punch toward Lin En's face.

But at the very instant his fist was about to strike Lin En's face-

Boom-

"How is that possible?!"

His pupils abruptly dilated.

Lin En slowly opened his dead-fish eyes. He held the fist that had stopped just short of his face, and no matter how hard Nox struggled, that hand remained as immovable as a steel clamp.

"Is this everything you've got?"

Nox knew the power of this sequence perfectly well. Called [Bone Shatter], it was his proudest sequence, capable of concentrating all his strength into a single point and unleashing it in an instant.

It was precisely because of this sequence that he could draw out the full power of [Beast Transformation] and [Burst]!

How could this...

"If it is, that's truly a shame."

Lin En sighed.

In an instant.

Crack-

Lin En crushed his fist into a pulp, and he immediately let out a piercing scream.

Lin En glanced sideways as countless tiny tentacles emerged all along his arm, swarming toward his fist.

"In that case, want to see how my punch compares to yours?"

Boom-

In an instant.

The head of the tattooed man named Nox exploded into a cloud of blood.

Thud, thud, thud-

The headless corpse staggered backward several steps, its knees buckled, and it collapsed heavily to the ground.

He died on the spot.

Clang-

The doctor named Igor trembled as he watched the horrific scene. The blade in his hand fell straight to the floor, and he dropped onto his backside.

Clearly, he had never imagined that Nox's head would be smashed apart in a single exchange.

This... what kind of joke was this?!

Hana Ye, hiding in the corner, also covered her small mouth in shock.

Lin En glanced sideways, his face once again breaking into a cheerful smile. The tentacles on his arm receded with a wet, rippling motion. He opened his hand and looked at the [origin substance] he had smashed out of Nox's brain.

"That easy to kill? Come on."

The origin substance's panel soon appeared before his eyes.

[First-order origin substance]

[Implant location]: Brain

[Sequences possessed]: 3

[Current sequence]: Beast transformation, burst, heart block

Then he smiled at the cloaked skeleton opposite him, tossed the origin substance in his hand, and said:

"What? I just killed one of your people, and you're going to stand there doing nothing?"

The ghostly flames in the skeleton's eyes flickered. He slowly stepped forward and spoke hoarsely.

"So that's how it is."

"I was wondering how that Lin Ke could suddenly come back from the dead. Now it seems something merely possessed him."

Crack, crack, crack-

In an instant.

Two pale skeletal hands extended from the black cloak. Huge bone spikes sprouted all across his back, and an enormous black scythe materialized within the green ghostly flames. He seized it in his hand.

The green flames in his eye sockets blazed as he spoke hoarsely.

"My apologies, though. Just like you, I also come from... the [Spirit Realm]."

"..."

"What Spirit Realm?" Lin En asked, his expression darkening.

What was he talking about...

The skeleton spoke impassively.

"There's no need to pretend. Those tentacles on your arm already exposed your identity. You're an [Abyssal Species] from the Spirit Realm, aren't you? I've had dealings with you tentacle monsters before. I simply never expected you to take an interest in the real world too."

Lin En's expression darkened further.

Why couldn't he understand a single thing this guy was saying?

The skeleton watched him and said calmly:

"Of course, if this is because we offended you, I can offer my sincerest apologies. After all, the original owner of the body you're occupying had some entanglements with our people. But now that two of our people have died at your hands, I imagine your anger should have subsided."

Lin En folded his arms with a cheerful smile.

"What are you getting at?"

The skeleton answered hoarsely:

"You go your way, and I'll go mine. From now on, we stay out of each other's business."

Lin En rubbed his chin, then held his hand straight out toward him and smiled.

"Sure. Then give me this body's [origin substance] first. As long as you return it, I'm certainly not an unreasonable person. Heh."

The ghostly flames in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered twice as he spoke hoarsely.

"That's his origin substance, not yours. You're merely a parasite. Why be so greedy?"

Lin En's smile remained unchanged.

"Is there a problem with me taking back what's mine?"

The skeleton's gaze flickered, and he slowly tightened his grip on the scythe.

"So we can't reach an agreement?"

Lin En looked at him with interest.

"What else? What are you going to do about it?"

Two faint, mocking chuckles came from beneath his black cloak. He abruptly gripped the scythe with both hands, and blazing flames instantly spread over his entire body.

"Heh, heh, heh... it seems you don't understand the situation."

"Although Shakira's outstanding intelligence-gathering skills earned her a promotion within our organization, humans are still humans. In our [Secret Cult], the ones who truly call the shots are the core members from the Spirit Realm, like us. After all, how could we feel at ease simply leaving humans to do our work?"

He reached out and removed a ring from one of his skeletal fingers.

There was a crack.

The ring shattered.

He shook his head with a hint of regret.

"You brought this on yourself by refusing to see sense. Don't blame me."

In an instant.

Crack, crack, crack, crack-

As Hana Ye watched in utter shock (ΩДΩ), the skeleton's cloak cracked apart. Countless white bones grew out of his body like sinister vines, and his frame expanded with a rumble, casting an enormous shadow over them.

In just those few short seconds, he transformed into a skeletal monstrosity seven or eight meters tall, wielding a gigantic scythe.

An immense sense of pressure swept over them in an instant.

Even the doctor scrambled trembling to his feet and backed away repeatedly.

Whoosh-

Two jets of sickly green ghostly fire erupted from his skeletal nostrils. The flames in his eye sockets suddenly flared, and one terrifying skeletal arm after another grew from his back.

"I hadn't wanted to make a scene in the real world. After all, attracting those Exorcists would be troublesome... but since you're so determined to reject my goodwill, I won't keep up the act."

Dong-

A clear peal of a bell rang out from a distant tower.

He spoke hoarsely:

"I'm the Skeleton Lord of the Spirit Realm. Time to show my hand."

P.S. We've reached a hundred thousand words, (✪ω✪). Could all you lovely readers who've made it this far leave a five-star rating? Or just post any review-that works too. These numbers are very important for a new book, so this lazy author can only shamelessly ask for your help. (Bow) (Bow) If this book does well enough, I'll work hard to release loads of extra chapters too!