Chapter 70: The Holy Gauntlet vs. the Spear of the Void

  Whoosh! Boom!

  A white dragon swooped down and landed in the middle of the Paladin Lord and Mel.

  It was Idmon and his dragon allies.

  Mel: "Milord! You have arrived!"

  Idmon: "Thank you all for holding on as long as you can. I am proud of you."

  Paladin Lord Harb: "Hah! Your arrival here just makes it easier. You just saved me the trouble of finding you in this disgusting region."

  Idmon: "(t) Now. I think you have bullied my soldiers long enough. It's time for you to fight someone who is your equal."

  Harb: "Fool! How dare an undead being call me his equal! You heartless monsters are nothing but scum that are to be squashed by our holy powers."

  Idmon: "(t) Are you not the same as us? You massacre us and destroy our homes indiscriminately. Is it a special privilege that you humans are allowed to do?"

  Harb: "Silence! You cannot fool me. You undead have no feelings. Stronger undead like you are just using deceit to display emotions, but in reality, the only emotion you have is hatred for the living."

  Idmon: "Then, I will let my spear do the talking. Shiro, help out the others who are fighting. This battle is far from over."

  Shiro: "(t) Got it, love."

  Love? I thought she just said to me that it was a marriage without love.

  Shiro: "(t) Hahaha! Relax; it's just an expression. Even for a skeleton, you are very expressive."

  After that, she flies away.

  The others (Bon, Lina, The Searcher, and the other Dragons) are fighting with the Paladin soldiers.

  Mel also retreated and joined the other defenders.

  Harb: "Dragons, huh? I should have known that you would ally with all the enemies of humanity."

  Idmon: "(t) There's no convincing you with words. Let us fight!"

  I started the fight by throwing my Void Lance.

  As expected, he would deflect the spear with his shield.

  However, I have a trick to bypass that.

  Just as the Void Lance was about to hit the shield,

  It disappeared.

  Harb: "What!?"

  I had put it back inside my via a new spell I have, .

  While he was still confused, I dashed to his unguarded side to stab him.

  I swiftly pulled out the Void Lance from my
  Harb: "Guh!"

  He took the stab, but the Void Lance didn't penetrate his armor. It must be the defensive spells.

  The Paladin Lord steps back. He must regret underestimating me.

  The battle will start to get serious now.

  Harb: "A trick befitting of a fool like you. Your signature move won't even make me flinch."

  Idmon: "(t) Oh, I know you wouldn't die from that. How about we get serious?"

  I activated my
  Of course, it only affects creatures that are weaker than the owner of said aura.

  Still, it would affect the Paladin Lord's stats a bit. Around 5% reduction.

  Idmon: "(t) Also-"

  I appeared from behind him with .

  Idmon: "That was not my signature move."

  !

  It's a skill I developed through rigorous training of my spear skills.

  Tink! Tink! Tink!

  Harb's shield deflected all three thrusts. Even though I launched a surprise attack, he was still able to react.

  He is, without doubt, a Paladin lord.

  !

  I didn't let him counterattack; I quickly blasted him with negative energies and used my skill to back up.

  Harb: "Oi! Get back here!"

  !

  His stomp caused a mini-earthquake and shattered the ground beneath me.

  My legs got stuck in the cracks.

  Harb: "Get crushed!"

  He jumped and performed a falling strike with his gauntlet.

  I took out a from my inventory and used a defensive spell to negate his damage.

  !

  I put a lot of my energy into this shield. I can't risk taking one of his hits directly.

  Oof!

  Even though I took all these precautions, he almost buried me in the ground.

  I negated the damage, but the ground beneath me gave up. Fortunately, this gave me the space to dash away and make space.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Harb: "I haven't even used my holy spells yet. Are you really the leader of the undead?"

  Idmon: "(t) I am. And if you're asking that because you think I am too weak to be a leader, then you are right."

  Harb: "Huh? What are you talking about?"

  Idmon: "(t) I am not like the other Skeleton Kings who were brimming with negative energy and can blast human armies with their death rays."

  I put the Void Lance back inside the
  Idmon: "(t) I'm just filling in the role of the Skeleton King. My powers are not enough to call myself one."

  I raised my hands, and a lot of Void Portals opened up above the Paladin Lord.

  Idmon: "(t) However! I will use all my power to crush all those who seek the destruction of my race."

  !

  It's one of my unique spells. I used my to store thousands of Bone Lances and dropped them on my enemy by opening a portal above them.

  Harb: "This bastard!"

  The Paladin Lord raised his shield high.

  ! !

  !

  He used defense-enhancing skills to help him block the projectiles.

  Unfortunately for him, I can still attack while he's occupied.

  !

  My right hand keeps the Void Portals open while my left hand blasts him with a
  Harb: "Curses!"

  I could see the invisible aura that has been shielding him for a while now. My is slowly eroding his shields, and he will soon take damage.

  Harb: "This. is . nothing!"

  !

  He roared, and its shockwaves deflected the Bone Lances.

  It also closed the Void Portals and stopped my channeling
  That's a powerful skill. However, he must not be able to use it again and again.

  No matter. My supply of bone Lances is almost gone, so it's not a significant loss.

  Idmon: "That skill is your trump card, isn't it?"

  Harb: "Fool!"

  He's rushing towards me, readying a punch.

  His gauntlet and his shield are glowing with holy power now. He must've activated its enchantment.

  Dodge. Thrust. Dodge. Thrust.

  I do my best to dodge his attacks, and I'm barely succeeding.

  From time to time, I use my to block his vision and insert sneak attacks.

  !

  !

  My spell collides with his, but my loses because his magic power is stronger.

  Idmon: "(t) Ugh!"

  The hit me, and I lost a lot of HP.

  Harb: "Is this the limit of your false desire to protect your kind? Why don't you admit that you are just a mindless monster!?"

  I absorbed my to restore my HP because I couldn't risk getting destroyed in one hit.

  !

  Ice spells came out of my hand and targeted the ground he's walking on to hinder his movement.

  Harb: "You can try to delay all you want, but this will end with the same result."

  Harb breaks free from the frozen ground easily and dashes towards Idmon.

  !

  This attack is his finishing move; it's my chance!

  I used to dodge at the lost moment and activated my trap.

  A bunch of storage crystals filled with negative energy are on the ground.

  Ready to explode.

  !

  He blew up in a dark explosion. It sucked all the life around it and left only death in its wake.

  It's another one of my unique skills. . I was able to lure him into attacking me by using a weak ice spell.

  Then I used the to drop the storage crystals into the ground before running away.

  Even after all that, I could still see the silhouette of the Paladin Lord.

  He's unharmed, but his shields are down, and he must be stunned.

  !

  I boosted my dash with and by blasting a behind me.

  It's an old skill I used to pierce the tough hide of the behemoth.

  I need to end it before he reveals some monstrous trump cards!

  Harb: "Guhuk!"

  It penetrated his armor. Blood came out spurting, and he's coughing a lot of blood too.

  However-

  Harb: "Now, it's time for me to spring my trap."

  He dropped his shield and held the spear tightly with his shield arm.

  He then rained on me non-stop.

  Idmon: "(t)Ugh. Gah!"

  I can't feel pain, but losing chunks of my HP (negative energy) in a few hits gives me a similar feeling.

  After a few more punches, he planted my broken body into the ground.

  I am still alive thanks to my equipment, but I no longer have the negative energy to make my body stand up.

  Harb: "Now I will kill you, and I will have revenge for my family when I exterminate your kind!"

  .

  .

  .

  (Third Skeleton King POV)

  Back in the Void, the Third Skeleton King was discussing something with his fellow Skeleton Kings.

  Fourth Skeleton King: "Oi! Wake up, jerk. Stop daydreaming."

  The Fourth Skeleton King slapped Arit back into reality.

  And it might sound weird, but the Fourth Skeleton King is a woman who wields daggers. During her reign, her enemies didn't think that skeletons had genders, so they dubbed her the Skeleton King.

  Arit: "Alright, alright. I'm just thinking about the future."

  Second Skeleton King: "Stop it, fool. Don't anger the Overlords any further."

  It was rare, but the Second Skeleton King was in attendance. So all of the Skeleton Kings are present except for the First.

  Nor (Fifth Skeleton King): "Don't tell me you're planning to help Idmon again?"

  Arit: "Nah, don't worry! I already handled that. I gave him my new experiment."

  Nor: "The
  Sixth Skeleton King: "Isn't that just an orb that disperses a lot of negative energy for limited times?"

  Seventh Skeleton King: "It's the same as a resurrection token for humans because it activates when you are about to lose all of your negative energy."

  The Skeleton Kings agreed that it wasn't that much of a help to the newbie, Idmon.

  Arit: "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You guys are missing the point."

  All the Skeleton Kings were surprised except for the second.

  Arit: "Excess negative energy also contributes to the evolution of an undead creature."

  Fourth: "Cut the crap and tell us what it's for."

  The Fourth brandished her daggers.

  Arit: "Alright, alright. In short, the orb will help Idmon reach his next evolution quickly."

  Nor: "So, you say that, but it had already activated once, but he hasn't evolved yet."

  Arit: "That's because he will have enough for evolution when the activates for a second time."

  .

  .

  .

   activated.

  The area around Idmon exploded with negative energy shockwaves.

  His HP went back to full, and now he's glowing purple.

  Harb: "What black magic is this?"

  Idmon was evolving from his Skeleton Spear General class to the next.

  His specialty and preference are wielding a spear or lance and manipulating void energies.

  He also has leadership skills and is the leader of his own country.

  It would be reasonable that his evolution would be Skeleton Baron because that is usual for Skeleton Officers, Captains, and Generals.

  However, Idmon has acquired a lot of unique achievements, so he has unlocked a secret class.

  The Void Baron class.

  Typically, the Skeleton Baron class will only have leadership skills that improve the combat ability of Skeleton Minions. Also have access to summoning spells that are worthy of the baron class.

  Now, the advantage of the Void Baron class is that it gives all the bonuses of the Skeleton Baron along with unique Void spells that are not accessible to low-ranking skeleton mages and wizards.

  They can use any weapon they wish, but the damage will come from the Void spells.

  The Skeleton Baron is ranked 6th in the Monster Registry. However, since Void Baron is a special variant, it could be classified in the upper half of the 6th tier, if not the 7th tier.

  Harb: "This is impossible. That skeleton has the same power level as mine."

  Paladin lords are not ranked because their powers vary greatly. However, they are assumed to be in the 7th tier and higher.

  Harb: "Damn! You have to die now!"

  In Harb's mind, he thinks that if this monster lives long enough, he could evolve into the next Skeleton King.

  Idmon: "(t) Hahhh. I feel-"

  I raised my hand, and a large spell circle appeared.

  It's purple, and the energy originates from the Void.

  What is this spell? It's like a tidal wave coming from the Void.

  

  Vast amounts of negative energy started to pour out from the spell circle, and it crashed against the Paladin Lord.

  Paladin Lord Harb quickly picked up his shield and planted it on the ground.

  He used all the defense spells in his arsenal, along with
  VOOOOSHHH!

  The pitch-black energy washed away his recently installed shields.

  Next to suffer the endless wave of negative energies was his enchanted shield.

  Harb: "GRAHHHHH!"

  The void energies swallowed his shield.

  A shield that was supposed to stand against the darkest magic of this world.

  It disappeared in a few seconds.

  The spell stopped there. And what was left was Harb's shield arm, turned into bones.

  Harb: "Fuck! It burns!"

  The negative energies are still spreading throughout his body, but he stopped them by using potions and healing spells.

  It restored his arm, but he still lost a lot of HP.

  While he was still recovering, I prepared for my next spell.

  

  A colossal portal from the Void opened up, and you could hear the horrifying noises the monster on the other side made.

  Next, a giant skeletal fist came out and struck the unprepared Paladin Lord.

  Harb: "Guh!"

  He flew towards the castle walls, and his body stuck to them.

  I'm not done yet.

  !

  Another cast of that powerful spell should finish him off.

  Harb: "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

  No human body could last under that much pressure.

  No human-

  BOOOM!

  A shockwave of holy energy came out of Harb this time.

  The spell should have ended. It should've-

  Harb: "Argh! Hah. This body is the form I acquired to surpass Hero. I uncovered ancient magic to make a contract with the angels."

  Wings came out of his back, and his equipment transformed into an angelic aura. It's a cloak of holy energies that has the form of his original armor.

  Holy light from the heavens shined on him and restored him to full health.

  His appearance was almost the same as that of the angels.

  Harb was no longer human.

  

  Harb: "This is the end."