At this moment, his bones had taken on a white, jade-like texture.
They were as smooth as fine porcelain.
The soul fire in his eye sockets and chest cavity had also turned into a sapphire-like hue, flickering gently.
Li Xiuman had no time to lose himself in his new power. He scrambled out of the crater blasted by Pound's horn and resumed running frantically in the opposite direction of the battlefield.
As he ran, he dumped all his remaining Free Stat Points into Spirit, raising his Spirit stat to 16.
After all, Spirit determined the strength of magic.
Before Li Xiuman could get very far, a group of succubi blocked his path ahead—all of them Low-Tier Demons.
There appeared to be more than ten of them.
Damn it.
These succubi had probably fled the battlefield to hide here after seeing Pound lose his temper.
Li Xiuman forced himself to calm down, manipulating his bones to regrow back into their original rough, withered yellow state.
By then, the group of succubi had also caught sight of Li Xiuman in the darkness, letting their guard down.
“It's not human, just a Low-Tier Skeleton,” one of the succubi said.
“How did a Low-Tier Skeleton end up all the way out here?” Another taller succubus frowned.
How could a skeleton disobey Pound's orders and flee the battlefield?
Pretending to be mindless, Li Xiuman drifted past the group of succubi, wandering toward the depths of the forest.
“Fireball.”
But in the next moment, without any warning, a fireball shot toward him.
The succubi had made their move.
He couldn't keep up the act any longer.
Li Xiuman swiftly sidestepped, narrowly dodging the fireball as it grazed past him.
The few succubi had only attacked as a precaution and never expected this Low-Tier Skeleton to actually dodge.
Seeing Li Xiuman dodge, they were all stunned for a moment.
Was this really just a Low-Tier Skeleton?
“Wind Vortex!”
Li Xiuman raised his hand, and a sudden gale erupted.
The nearest two succubi were instantly swept down from the air and slammed into the ground.
He then slammed both hands onto the ground, casting Earth Magic and Water Magic simultaneously.
“Quagmire!”
A large patch of ground turned into a soft quagmire, swallowing the succubi who had fallen to the earth.
“Incinerate!”
Raging flames erupted, engulfing two succubi.
[Ding, killed Succubus Lv12, Experience Points +200]
[Ding...]
Li Xiuman was already Lv13 and mastered Elemental Magic Lv2, which theoretically made him a Tier 1 Elementalist.
However, he had never formally studied magic, so he didn't actually know how to cast Tier 1 spells.
His current magic relied entirely on the racial advantages of being an Elemental Skeleton, channeling the elements through raw, primitive instinct.
“This skeleton has intelligence!” the leading tall succubus shrieked as two of her companions fell in the blink of an eye.
Startled by her cry, the rest of the succubi snapped out of their shock and launched a counterattack.
Li Xiuman retreated swiftly, stomping his foot heavily onto the ground.
The muddy water of the quagmire exploded upward. Splattering mud filled the air, stalling the flying succubi for a split second.
Seizing the moment, Li Xiuman plunged headfirst into the dense forest.
“You two, go report this to Lady Lucia.”
“Perhaps Lady Lucia's experiment succeeded, and this skeleton simply hid its intelligence during the test.”
“The rest of you, follow me! We cannot let this skeleton escape!”
The tall succubus gestured, quickly assigning tasks.
Two of the succubi flapped their wings and flew back toward the battlefield, while the remaining ones gave chase in the direction Li Xiuman had fled.
Within the deep forest, branches and thorns scraped against his bones.
But Li Xiuman didn't dare to stop for a second, hunching over as he ran for his life.
Yet, the succubi in the sky still hung tenaciously onto his tail.
He had to deal with these succubi; otherwise, escape would be impossible.
The shoulder blades on Li Xiuman's back slowly elongated, connecting with his spine and ribs as they grew outward.
Soon, a pair of menacing bone wings unfurled from his back, aligning against his skeletal structure.
This was the skill he had obtained from Pound's horn, Bone Wings.
However, since this was his first time flying and Bone Wings was only Lv1, Li Xiuman had no idea how effective it would be.
But he had no time to practice—it was do or die.
Li Xiuman quickly raised his head to scan the sky, locking onto the nearest succubus flying at a low altitude.
Then, in the middle of his sprint, his body came to a sudden halt, and he spun around.
The phalanges of his toes and fingertips elongated simultaneously into razor-sharp bone claws.
He then charged at a large tree, scrambling up with all four limbs as his claws dug deep into the trunk.
Scaling the vertical trunk as easily as flat ground, he rushed to the treetop, then leaped with explosive force toward the succubus.
The succubus frantically flapped her wings to dodge while channeling Wind Magic to blast a gust at the skeleton.
Without hesitation, Li Xiuman snapped open his menacing bone wings and flapped them violently. Accelerating through the fierce wind, he locked his arms around the flying succubus.
The flying succubus wobbled unsteadily in the air.
“Got you,” a sound like grinding bones grated next to the succubus's ear, sending a shiver of pure terror down her spine.
Within his hollow eye sockets, the blue flames burned silently.
Then, his bone claws plunged straight through her throat without a shred of hesitation.
[Ding...]
“Fireball!”
“Wind Bullet!”
“Decay!”
The remaining succubi swarmed the skeleton, unleashing their magic all at once.
Using the falling succubus corpse as a springboard, Li Xiuman spread his bone wings, propelled himself off her body, and leaped into the air again, dodging the incoming spells.
Seeing this, three of the succubi flapped their wings, their hands transforming into pitch-black claws as they lunged at Li Xiuman.
These were the melee fighters among the succubi.
The three succubi brandished their claws, weaving through the air with extreme agility as they tried to slice up Li Xiuman's bones.
Meanwhile, the remaining spellcasters provided long-range fire support, bombarding Li Xiuman with spells.
Li Xiuman had absolutely no sense of chivalry.
Snapping off one of his own ribs, he grew it into a bone sword, which was instantly enveloped in deep blue flames.
Next, clenching his left fist, his arm bone shifted and warped, expanding into a narrow bone shield.
Seeing an Elementalist adopt the stance of a warrior, the melee succubi felt their worldview shatter.
Utilizing Elemental Magic to stabilize himself in midair, he flapped his wings violently and propelled himself forward with Wind Magic, throwing himself at the nearest succubus.
As the succubus slashed out with her claws, Li Xiuman raised his left arm, blocking with his bone shield.
His other hand swung the bone sword in a savage arc. The flames seared the air, erupting with a loud pop as they slashed toward her.
The succubus's claws went numb as her sharp talons were easily deflected by the bone shield.
What kind of insane durability was this?!
The skeleton's density completely caught the succubus off guard. Panicking, she was quickly pierced through the neck by a rapid combination of Wind Magic and sword strikes.
Grabbing the corpse's neck, Li Xiuman activated Great Strength and hurled her body violently at the two succubi approaching from behind.
“Damn it!”
The two pursuing succubi cursed, their hatred for the skeleton reaching a boiling point.
But Li Xiuman was not one to show mercy to his enemies.
Swinging his arm, he hurled a fireball right behind the corpse.
“Detonate.”
The fireball exploded, blasting the two succubi back.
Pivoting swiftly, his bone sword rapidly elongated into a spear. He wrapped the spear in a swirling vortex of Wind Magic.
“Hah!”
He hurled the spear. Under the influence of the Wind Magic, it spun like a drill as it shot forward, clean through a succubus's arm.
Li Xiuman tore off another rib to form a new bone sword, using it to slice open two incoming fireballs.
But with two fireballs exploding at such close range, even with his Elemental Resistance, Li Xiuman felt a searing pang of pain.
“Bone Hyperplasia!”
Knocked backward by the blast, Li Xiuman focused his mind to remotely control the bone spear that was impaling the succubus's arm.
The bone spear began to squirm and grow rapidly, boring through muscle and pulverizing her bones.
“Ahhh!”
The succubus let out a blood-curdling shriek.
Li Xiuman silently lamented the missed opportunity for a clean kill. He was about to flap his wings and charge in to finish her off.
But in the next split second, a cold shiver of dread shot deep into his marrow.
He frantically threw up his left arm—the one shaped like a bone shield—to protect his neck.
A black line flashed across Li Xiuman's left arm, cleanly severing his limb along with the bone shield.
A tall succubus emerged from the darkness.
The dagger in her hand gleamed with a cold light as she swept it downward, aiming straight for Li Xiuman's bone wings.
Rate on N.U.
