The Soldier Shouted Save

Chapter 13

The place where the priest was.

There was no way I had taken the wrong path.

Clatter.

Countless skeletons were pointing towards this place.

In truth, even without their guidance, I already knew the priest was here.

In my “previous life,” I had seen it with my own two eyes.

I grasped the heavy iron door handle.

Even though it was just the simple act of opening a door, my body screamed in pain, protesting.

‘Don’t make a fuss.’

Ignoring the pain, I pulled the door handle.

Creeeeak.

The door opened.

Moonlight, shining down from the sky, seeped through the crack, but it was still dark inside.

As I stepped through, the scent of incense that numbed my body filled the air, stinging my nose.

Covering my nose with my sleeve, I approached her.

Clatter.

As I got closer to the woman bound in chains, the sound of the skeletons outside grew more unsettling.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with an “alarm.”

He had woken up and was starting to control the skeletons again.

Clatter, clatter.

The skeletons that had been lingering outside were now in full attack mode, moving through the iron door.

Creak.

As the skeletons flung the door wide open, the inside became bathed in moonlight.

There wasn’t much time.

I had to act quickly.

“Hah… hah…”

I slipped to the ground, sitting.

I was now so close I could feel her breath.

But she hadn’t even noticed my presence, her head still hanging low.

I grabbed her chin and lifted her face towards me.

Through her tangled hair, her lifeless eyes appeared.

I pulled a Red Potion from my pocket.

I pressed her cheek to open her mouth and poured the potion inside.

Gulp. Gulp.

Thankfully, she swallowed it.

Clatter. Clatter.

Hearing the skeletons getting closer, I turned my head toward the door.

The skeletons, no longer acting of their own will, were approaching aggressively.

I checked on her again.

Her breathing, which had been rough, seemed to have eased somewhat.

But it would take time for the potion’s effects to spread throughout her body.

Meanwhile, the incense with its floral scent dulled my senses.

Despite my dulled senses, the pain was overwhelming, as if my legs were about to give out.

Clatter.

There was no time for complaints.

I had to protect her from the skeletons until the potion took effect.

But I was in no condition to fight.

In this life, the priest’s Red Potion hadn’t passed through my throat.

I had walked all the way here, writhing in pain, without the aid of the potion’s healing effects. Asking my body to fight skeletons now would be unreasonable.

There was no choice but to drink it.

I pulled out “another Red Potion.”

This wasn’t the priest’s item.

Her one and only Red Potion was gone.

The one in my hand was the “fake Red Potion” the necromancer had given me.

I didn’t know what effect it would have, but after drinking it last time, I had died in bed.

Gulp. Gulp.

But I drank it anyway.

I didn’t know what would happen afterward.

But right now, I needed its immediate effect.

I needed something to make me forget the pain.

‘I need to endure.’

I drew my dagger.

Then, I charged toward the group of skeletons.

Clatter. Clatter.

Even as I rushed at them with a dagger, the skeletons didn’t retreat.

‘Do they think the dagger isn’t a threat?’

If that’s what they thought, they were wrong.

Clatter.

I swung my dagger at the skeleton that raised its bony hands toward me.

Its skull melted away, and its entire body collapsed.

With that momentum, I swung the “potion-coated dagger.”

As I fought the skeletons, I realized something.

‘Ordinary undead’ could never win against a priest, not even if they came back to life.

Clatter.

I didn’t even need to put much strength into it.

Just by applying the “White Potion” to my dagger, the skeletons melted away at the slightest touch.

A priest capable of making such a potion was undoubtedly the natural enemy of these creatures.

But—

‘Ugh!’

Suddenly, my legs wouldn’t move, and I stumbled.

A sharp bony hand grazed my cheek.

Blood trickled down my jawline.

Was I lucky that the attack didn’t pierce my skin?

No.

[Great Achievement: Incarnation of Grimgal (Flame Resistance -200%, Physical Resistance +50%)]

Another miracle left behind by the hero had been protecting me.

Whoosh!

The more I was pressed, the more desperately I swung my dagger.

Clatter. Clatter.

Skeletons kept flooding in through the iron door.

The only fortunate thing was that they were targeting me, not the woman bound in chains.

Was this their defiance against his “control”?

Or was it the necromancer’s will, letting his guard down?

There was no need to ponder such things.

All I had to think about was dodging and swinging my weapon.

‘Ugh!’

But I quickly reached my limit.

A skeleton’s bony hand pierced through my toughened skin and lodged in my arm.

Luckily, it was my left arm.

I tried to swing my dagger with my right hand, but—

‘I can’t move…’

The fake Red Potion had dulled my pain.

But whether it was due to its aftereffects or the incense, I could feel my body becoming paralyzed.

Clatter.

I tried to move my legs to avoid the skeleton’s raised bony hand.

‘When did this happen…?’

But my legs had already been pierced by another skeletal hand.

My vision tilted downward.

As I collapsed onto the floor, the skeletons loomed over me.

I came face to face with a skeleton.

Not that there was much of a face to speak of.

All they had left were bones.

What were they thinking?

Were they disappointed, seeing me—the one they thought would save them—fall?

Or were they worried about me?

If they had such thoughts, if they had the ability to speak, I would have told them this:

It’s alright.

I am not a hero.

No matter how many White Potions I have, I cannot defeat all these skeletons.

In that case, there was only one thing I could do.

Endure.

It was almost time.

She would awaken soon.

The skeletons’ natural enemy.

The specialist in slaying the undead.

Whoosh.

A faint ripple swept across the floor.

Dust on the ground lifted into the air with the ripple.

The inside of the building turned golden.

Ssssshh.

The golden light enveloped the skeletons.

Not even the sound of their bones collapsing could be heard.

Like dust scattered by the wind, they vanished.

I stared in awe at the scene.

‘She’s no ordinary priest…’

Her divine power was overwhelming, enough to obliterate countless skeletons in an instant.

However, that light did not last long.

Though the skeletons inside the building had vanished, new ones were already pushing in again.

“Your arm…”

A soft voice rang out.

It was the priest speaking.

Clank.

The priest could unleash even greater power when kneeling in prayer with both hands clasped together.

But the chains binding her arms prevented her from doing so.

‘How heartless.’

I had once asked a priest during my days as a royal guard about the significance of clasping hands in prayer.

He had told me this:

Prayer was the minimum respect one could show the goddess.

‘So without that respect, no power is granted?’

I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen if the goddess were a little more lenient. As that thought crossed my mind, I glanced around.

‘There’s no other choice.’

All the skeletons inside had been destroyed.

I had to break the chains binding her before the new skeletons crossed the iron gate.

With great effort, I pressed my hands to the ground and forced my body to rise.

But as I tried to stand, someone was already there, standing before me.

It wasn’t a white figure.

It had flesh on its bones.

He was human.

“Hmph, so it was you. Did you figure it out from the start?”

I unconsciously bit my lip at the sound of his voice.

“Necromancer…”

At the sound of my voice, his body slowly began to change.

His hunched back straightened, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out.

“So you know who I am? How did you find out?”

I remained silent, my lips sealed, and his face twisted in frustration.

He kicked me in the face.

Thud.

I clenched my teeth.

Kneeling on one knee, I forced my body to endure.

“Even if you know my identity, it doesn’t change anything. A walking corpse like you, worse than a zombie, can’t do anything.”

With a sneer, his foot aimed for my face again.

I had a thought as I saw that.

His necromantic skills might be genius-level, but his fighting skills were amateur at best.

Just as his foot was about to make contact, I let my body fall backward.

Whoosh.

His kick sliced through the air.

I forced my bleeding left hand to reach up and grab his leg.

Then, I stabbed.

Stab, stab, stab!

I drove the dagger in my right hand into his calf over and over again.

“Argh! Aaarghhh!!!”

Clank.

He grabbed the dagger stuck in his leg and flung it aside.

His face twisted in pain as he clutched his leg, stumbling backward.

“Kill him! Kill this bastard!!”

The skeletons that had been lingering around me now closed in.

They raised their sharp bony hands toward me.

But—

“Kill him! I said kill him!!”

They didn’t move.

“Kill him! Why are you just standing there, you worthless fools!!”

Black waves seeped from his body and engulfed the skeletons.

Their white bones turned black.

Clatter.

Their bodies moved unnaturally.

Gone were the human-like movements; they stared at me like ‘ordinary’ skeletons.

Whoosh!

They swung their sharp bones at me.

But they stopped right in front of me, as if they were puppets frozen in place.

“These skeletons dare defy me!!”

More black waves poured out from his body.

But they were swallowed up by something.

A faint golden light.

Softly blending with the moonlight, the light emanated from the priest’s body, consuming all of the necromancer’s black energy.

“Hah… hah… Necromancer… give it up…. You can no longer… control… the skeletons….”

The priest’s delicate voice reached my ears.

“Ha, how ridiculous! I don’t need these failures!”

The necromancer, furious, swung his right arm wildly.

Clatter.

Dozens of skeletons crumbled to the ground.

“I was wrong. Skeletons with memories are failures after all…. But as an artist, I can’t show only failures, can I?”

Clatter, clatter.

Someone approached, stepping over the remains of the fallen skeletons.

It was a skeleton wielding a longsword.

Its bones were engraved with countless magical runes.

“You… you dare, necromancer?!”

The priest’s face flushed with rage.

The necromancer grinned wickedly.

“What’s the matter? Are you happy to see the bones of your beloved hero again?”

“…What?”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

‘That’s… the hero’s bones?’

“Amazing, isn’t it? It has to be! Do you know what all those magical runes are? They’re holy magic! Holy magic! The heroes were incredible! Even as an undead, this one can still walk around with holy magic carved into its body! How about that? It’s on a whole different level than those other failures, right?”

Was it the same hero I had seen during my days as a soldier?

I couldn’t be sure.

There were many heroes in the Gerard Continent.

The hero who had told me about ‘Save,’ the one who wielded the holy sword, was a legend to me.

To me, he was the ideal I could never hope to reach, even more than Rian viewed the royal soldiers as his heroes.

And now, that skeleton—

“My hero…?”

Satisfied with my stunned expression, the necromancer laughed.

“Don’t worry. You’ll soon become just like your hero!”

Clatter, clatter.

At the necromancer’s command, the hero of the continent approached me.

The hero is reduced to mere bones.

No longer wielding the holy sword, but instead a simple longsword.

“Kill him!”

Whoosh.

The hero swung the longsword toward my neck.

My mind screamed at me to dodge, but my body wouldn’t move.

I instinctively shut my eyes.

But nothing happened.

Clang.

The longsword had been stopped.

It trembled against a golden barrier, flickering faintly.

“Damn that priest!”

The necromancer glared at the priest, his face twisted in rage.

“You mustn’t give up! If you give up… who will save the hero?”

‘Save the hero? Me?’

At that, I lifted my head and looked at my hero.

A being from another world.

The heroes who had been summoned to the Gerard Continent.

I had heard that all of them came from another world.

Leaving behind their friends, lovers, and families, they came here for the sake of our world.

Whether by choice or by force, their actions were so noble that the people of this world owed them endless gratitude.

And yet, even in death, they could not rest.

Trapped in that grotesque form.

This couldn’t be allowed.

At the very least, their souls should be returned to their homeland.

And so, I stood up.

My legs trembled, barely supporting me.

But still, I stood.

[Your choice will change someone’s fate.]

This was a battle I couldn’t afford to lose.

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