Rin could see traces of battle from a distance. There is blood on the road and he could see blue-colored bodies, those are bokin bodies. Rin walks closer to the scene while staying vigilant.

‘There are 5 bokin bodies. The blood is already dry, it’s been a while since the fight ended. Are these bones?’

Rin located some bones nearby. He doesn’t know what creature these bones belong to because it is broken into different pieces.

‘Maybe something ate one of the bokin down to its skeleton?’

No longer interested in the bones, Rin walks toward the bokins to take their cores. When he got closer to them, he notices that they had claw marks. Judging from the injury, whatever fought them had 4 claws. There are also puncture wounds as well, presumably from the same set of claws.

Rin got the 5 cores and puts them away in the backpack then he walks to the house on the left.

The house has a sky-blue color theme. It is surrounded by a short white wooden fence that gives more of a sense of welcome rather than a sense of security. There are a number of mini statuettes that decorate the front yard alongside various kinds of flowers.

Rin peaks through all the windows to check the situation before entering. He only spies 2 dead bokins inside. The house looked safe enough so he enters but checks the place again from the inside to make sure there was nothing else.

Seeing that the place is clear, Rin grabs the cores first. He notice that the 2 bokins here got different injuries than the ones outside. These two were stabbed by a knife, probably by the humans who lived here.

‘Since there are no human bodies around, they might have survived and decided to head to town to meet up with others. That means I might have a high chance of encountering humans over there.’

After grabbing the cores, Rin searches the house for useful items. There were a lot of cloth and a few sewing machines, he could tell that the original residents were tailors.

Not finding anything of use, Rin heads to the other house. The house has a green color theme and has a row of roses on the side. This house isn’t as decorated as the other one but it has more outdoor chairs and tables.

Rin looks through all the windows just like before. The inside looks normal but one thing stands out: there are 4 intact human skeletons in the living room and they are all sitting on the sofas. 2 are sitting on a 3-seat sofa while the other 2 are sitting on their own sofa.

At first, Rin didn’t think much of it. He just figured that those skeletons were the leftovers of whatever ate them. He was at the door ready to head inside when a realization dawned upon him.

‘Why are they sitting? If something did indeed eat them, surely they wouldn’t go through the trouble of placing the skeleton on the sofa in a sitting position. It almost looked like they walked there and sat down themselves…’

Wanting to confirm it, Rin leaves his backpack outside and enters the house cautiously. He slowly walks to the living room and takes a peak. When the living room came into view, 4 pairs of empty eye sockets were already staring at Rin.

The skeletons, who were motionlessly looking down before, were all facing Rin. Each skeleton has a faint red glow in one eye socket. They are barebone and unarmed. Neither their body language nor eyes display any emotions, almost as if they are puppets.

The skeletons get up from their seat and walk toward Rin. He doubts that they intend to give him a warm welcome.

‘Their speed is pretty slow. It looks like they’re not capable of running.’

Rin is still holding a spear and a staff in each hand. Aiming for the neck, he goes up to the nearest skeleton and thrusts with the spear. But because the neck is thin, the spear only slides off to the side without dealing much damage.

The skeleton uses its sharp fingers to attack Rin. It swipes with its right hand and then swipes with its left. Rin was already backing away when he saw that his attack proved to be ineffective so he successfully dodge the skeleton’s hands.

Rin goes in for another attack but he swings the spear this time. He uses the wooden part of the spear to smack the skeleton on the neck. The force of the spear causes the skeleton to stumble to the side but there was no visible evidence that the attack did any damage.

The spear also broke. Rin doesn’t know how the bokins obtained their spears, whether they made them or found them. But if these spears were made with the technique and technology of today’s society, they would be sturdier. Even the wooden handle of a farming tool wouldn’t break so easily if one tried.

Rin backs away again; the other skeletons were getting close. That interaction was about 4 seconds long so they hadn’t joined the fight yet. Rin drops the broken spear and heads outside. He’ll fight them as they come through the door, that way he can face them one at a time.

‘Although slow, their defense is quite something. Now how do I get through that thick skull of theirs…’

Rin’s gaze falls upon his backpack. At that moment, one can see a lightbulb on top of his head.

‘The club! A blunt weapon should make a heavier impact. This time I’ll aim for the head. Since it’s hollow inside it shouldn’t be as sturdy as the other regions.’

Rin grabs the wooden club and puts the staff to the side. He hadn’t tried to use [water magic] because the skeletons were already slow so he didn’t find the need to use it.

It didn’t take long for the skeletons to come through the door. Rin steps up to the first one. He raises the club and brings down judgment on its head. The first strike causes the skeleton to stagger back a little and also puts it in a daze.

Cracks can be seen on the skeleton’s head after that first strike. Rin hits the skeleton 2 more times before its skull gave in and crumbles.

From the 2 clashes, Rin notices that the skeletons’ behavior is like a machine. Although they can detect him from a distance, they won’t actually prepare an attack unless he enters their striking range.

Knowing this, he strikes a small distance away from them. By the time he enters their range, his club is already milliseconds away from bashing them. He easily defeated the rest in this manner. It wasn’t difficult to defeat them once he learned their strengths and weaknesses.

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[4 Tier 1 skeleton has been slain]

[+4 exp]

[Exp: 0/7] 🠖 [Exp: 4/7]

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