632 Skeleton, Skeleton, Skeleton
And here I am before rows of neatly lined up skeletons which are neither marching nor moving randomly in all directions.
Each has got a sword and a shield on hands. Guess you could say they're the typical game-like Skeleton Soldiers?
And in the furthest back is a big skeleton double the size of a normal one wearing a nice looking armor. It looks like it's commanding the rest.
But that doesn't matter to me. I don't need to know the how and why when I can just deal with them all.
(Now then, if I recall right, monsters move outside a dungeon by expending their internal mana.)
Just like those goblins I saw near elven village back then. They dispersed into mana when they took fatal hits.
That must be applicable with these skeletons as well.
I drew the knife on my waist and cut the nearest skeleton in half.
That was when a weird blue glimmer caught my eyes. I looked for the source and found a 3mm small blue stone inside the skeleton's breastbone.
(...Is this a mana core? Are you telling me these things will keep reviving back?)
It's gonna be a pain if every single skeleton is like this.
Monsters like undead tend to have an immortal setting. Stuff like regenerating wounds or reanimating from getting smashed into smithereens.
There's a high chance of them reviving from dead if they have ways to refill their mana outside dungeons.
(There's around... 500 of these skeletons. Judging from their line of sight, their destination must be the square. Isn't that too plot convenient?)
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I undid Acceleration and observed the skeleton to check on that hypothesis.
Every single skeletons turned their skulls toward me all at once.
It looked so eerie from where I stood. They made that move in a perfect unison without the slightest delay despite their number.
Then I observed the skeleton I cut. Sure enough, the wound I made regenerated.
Its blue stone shone all the while which confirmed my suspicion.
"Aah, I was kinda hoping I got it wrong ever so slightly at least. But nope, it's exactly what I think it is."
This means there's no end to them if I don't do something about their cores.
(Should I just crush them along with their cores? No wait, I'm sure these stuff fetch a lot. What a waste.)
I want to end this ruckus asap. I got nothing to do with it originally.
But there's no turning back time if some people fell victim. I am aware about my capability to end this problem. Not by choice.
It would fill me with regret later on if some people got hurt or died because I didn't bother sticking my nose into this mess.
(Wait, maybe it's usually impossible because these cores are inside the skeletons? Can't I just grab and pull them out?)
As someone who lacks common sense about this world, I always choose the path with the least resistance.
I'd save coming up with more complex plans for when they're needed. I entered Acceleration.
I shoved my hand in the abdomen of the skeleton I cut earlier and took the core out.
(Ah, there's no way I could have done this if this was a creature with flesh and blood.)
Afterward, I cut the skeleton with my knife from its head down once again.
Next up, I gotta undo Acceleration and observe the fate of this skeleton.
(If things go well, I'd profit off this while dealing with the problem... But all 500 of these skeletons?)
I let out a sigh when I think about the labor awaiting me if this experiment goes well.
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