Skeleton King (Level 20)

Skeleton King is a mid-ranked undead monster. The Skeleton King has a stronger constitution than low-ranking skeletons and because of its armor, it is difficult to reach the core. It stops moving when the Core in its chest is destroyed.

Skills: Swordsmanship (Rank G)

I face the Skeleton King and get a tighter grip on my weapon. It is about two meters tall and wears an old iron chest plate. It will make it really difficult for me to reach its core. But that is not the biggest problem. The bigger problem is its sword. It’s a huge broadsword. There is also the level difference, but since I already fought skeletons with a higher level than me, that feels like a smaller problem compared to the sword. If the sword hits me, it will definitely split me in half. And there is no way I can block a gigantic sword like this.

That decides that I should focus on evading the Skeleton King’s attacks. And if I get the chance, I strike its arms to make it lose its sword. Just like I did with the Skeleton Knights. If the Skeleton King loses its weapon, then the fight will become less dangerous for me.

The Skeleton King is still walking towards me, but I am almost in reach for its sword. I circle around it so that I don’t get stuck on one side of the room.

As soon as I get in his range, the Skeleton King starts with a diagonal downward slash and I duck below to evade it, but the Skeleton King immediately shifts its sword for a second attack. I have no choice but to jump backwards to evade the attack.

The Skeleton King continues its attacks towards me and I keep evading. There is currently no hole in its offense that gives me the option to counter. Right now I can only kite the Skeleton King through the room and keep evading. Luckily, the Skeleton King is not really fast, because of its armor and sword. I think that is the point I should try to exploit.

Bot how? Due to its gigantic sword, the distance between us is too big, so I am still not in a position where I can utilize the difference in speed. I have to somehow get it into a position where I can make a counterattack. I have an idea, but it will be risky. If it doesn’t work, I might be going to cut my escape route. But I think that is my best choice.

I slowly guide the Skeleton King back to the center of the throne room and then I slowly back away to the wall at the side. I think this is the best position to try my plan, because there I have the option of running to either side. When my back touches the wall, the Skeleton King is starting its next attack and slashes at me. But this time, the sword got stuck in the wall. It actually worked better than I hoped. This is the opening I need. I jump forward and attack its arms, but…

*kling*

“Wh-What?”

Instead of cutting the Skeleton King’s arms, my sword just bounced off. Are you kidding me? While it still confuses me that my attack just bounced off, the Skeleton King frees its sword from the wall and is now ready for the next attack. So I jump back and fire a Blood Needle at its arm. But even that is not enough to destroy the Skeleton King’s bones.

Shit, I was really hoping I could win the fight without relying on my Blood Needle. But now I realize that even my Blood Needle is not enough to damage the Skeleton King. So what should I do now. I need to think of a new plan. But this time I am going to include my Blood Needle.

I observe the Skeleton King closely and try to find a weakness. If the Skeleton King just didn’t have its armor, then the fight would be so much easier. With that thought, my eyes fall on its armor. Wait… Isn’t that actually a good plan? I just have to get rid of its armor. Let’s think more about it.

At each side of the chest plate, there are leather parts to connect the front and back piece. I can easily destroy them with a Blood Needle. But I guess there are some at the shoulder too, but the shoulder parts of the chest plate cover them. I fire a Blood Needle as a test at the shoulder piece. The Skeleton tries to block it with its sword, but my Blood Needle is too fast and explodes at its shoulder. Sadly, there is no actual damage.

Maybe the attack will be successful if I fire it at a better angle. I hurry to the plateau where the Skeleton King’s throne is. Now that I got the high ground. I fire another Blood Needle aimed below at the inside of the shoulder part, and this time the shoulder part actually falls on the ground. And I can see that the connection part got destroyed too.

I fire another Blood Needle at the other shoulder and destroy the second connection. But it is not enough. The chest plate is not completely off yet. That’s why I fire a third Blood Needle at one of side connection pieces and the chest plate falls off to the other side.

I finally revealed the Skeleton King’s core and my next Blood Needle explodes in its chest, but it is still not enough to destroy it. Still, there are some cracks on the core, so I fire another Blood Needle in its chest. There are more cracks. I fire a third Blood Needle and this time the core shatters into pieces and the bones of the Skeleton Kings fall to the ground. And I get a level up notification. Twice. I reached level 13.

I finally defeated the Skeleton King and I hear a door opening next to the throne, revealing a staircase. After reaching the top of the staircase, I came out in the basement of some tower ruin. Half of the tower still seems to be intact, so I should definitely explore it later.

When I get outside, the sun shines so bright, that it almost blinds me. I should have thought about that. Of course, that would happen if I were underground for so long. But besides that, there is nothing wrong. I was actually a bit worried that I would have problems with the sunlight, since I am a vampire now. But it seems that part is not true. At least not in this world.

Well, outside of the tower is not much to see. Behind the ruin there is a vast mountain range and in front is nothing but forest. Next to the ruin is a small spring, which turns into a river passing through the forest. The first thing I am going to do is to take a bath in the river, then I check the tower ruin and create a plan for the future.