Cade was awoken when he heard a ding, like a small bell, followed by a very robotic voice.

Hero blessing activated. Nullifying curse. Mentality restored.

'What was that? Where am I?' He thought to himself.

"I'm telling you, its eyes just lit up." A female spoke with a shaky voice. She was afraid of something.

"There's no way. I just smashed its body to bits." A male responded with a deep voice.

"It doesn't matter, we got what we came for, so let's get out of here." A different male spoke.

'What are they talking about? Who are they?' As soon as he thought those words, he felt his body heat up, as if his core temperature was rapidly rising.

“What the hell? Why is it glowing?" The same female asked.

As the heat increased, Cade felt pulling tension at the ends of all his joints. That feeling disappeared when he heard bones hitting each other, almost rhythmically.

"Holy fuck. It just came back together. How is that possible?" The first male yelled out.

He heard feet shuffling and metal hitting against rock. He couldn’t bear not being able to see what was happening. The heat that was heating up his body began moving to his eyes. He didn’t feel his eyes open; everything simply came into focus.

His eyes landed on the male standing among the others. He was a large bodybuilder of a man, wearing silver armor on his chest, with the rest of his body covered in what looked like leather woven with fur. He held a large, double-sided ax in his hands. Due to the insufficient light, Cade couldn’t discern his facial features, but he could tell from his clenched jaw that he wasn’t happy about this predicament.

The man on his right stood a few paces behind him, dressed in dark green clothes that draped passed his waist like a tunic. He carried a wooden bow with an arrow already knocked, and a sack of arrows hung from his back. His long hair tucked behind his ears, which came to a point—something Cade found peculiar.

On the left stood a female figure adorned in a lavish red dress that reached down to her ankles. The neckline of her dress formed a V-shape, stopping slightly above her chest and accentuating the dress. Her hair was a mix of blue and purple, an unusual combination with the red dress. She held a wooden staff, with a glowing, red gem embedded at its tip, casting a glow over her face, and flickering in her eyes.

They all stared at him as if he were a ghost, which reminded him of the only thing that should matter. He looked down, and his heart skipped a beat—or rather, he would have felt his hear skip if he still had one. He was staring right through his ribcage, seeing everything. More accurately, through everything.

He was a skeleton.

Bare, naked, and exposed.

No wonder they were staring at him like that. He would too. He looked back up and good thing he did.

The ax wielder swung the giant weapon down at him. How did he not hear him approach? He lunged out of the way and flew further than he intended. His body felt extremely light.

“It’s faster than before, for some reason,” the male in the middle said. “Slone, use you arrows.”

Clearly, he was the leader.

The pointy-eared person, Slone, drew back the arrow and released it. It landed at Cade’s feet, creating a crack in the stone ground.

Cade looked at Slone. His jaw moved as if trying to talk, but nothing came out.

‘No vocal cords. Fuck’

“Is it trying to talk?” the female asked.

“Freeze.” As soon as Slone spoke the word, ice erupted from the arrow and wrapped itself around Cade’s left ankle. He did not feel the chill of the ice like he normally would have. With his nerves and flesh gone, he probably wouldn’t feel much of anything. He struck the ice with his bare knuckles but only managed to create small fractures.

"Buff me, Mary," the ax wielder said.

"Okay, Marx," Mary replied. She began whispering to herself, and the red gem on the staff glowed brighter.

As Marx advanced, his body was engulfed in the same red light. He swung his ax, faster this time.

Cade had a feeling he could dodge the ax, but not without receiving some damage. As the ax reached his head, he leaned back, causing the ax to slam into the ice, sending him flying backwards from the shockwave.

As he shook his head, he heard that bell sound again, and a red screen appeared before him. It was see-through and didn't disturb his view. He stared at it, reading the white words displayed.

Durability has decreased to 94%

'Durability?' he thought. He tried to get back up but instead fell on a bony ankle. His left foot was gone.

A shadow loomed over him.

Cade dove out of the way as the ax swung down at him once again, barely dodging the massive blade. It sent chunks of rock flying as it split the floor upon impact.

He looked around and located the female, Mary. That girl was troublesome. Whatever she was doing with that strange stuff, it was making Marx stronger, and Cade didn't like that.

He got on his hands and began hobbling towards her. He needed a weapon; bare handed fights probably wouldn’t work, as he is nothing but a skeleton with no protection. He didn’t like attacking females, but he didn't have a choice now.

When he was a few feet away from her, he pushed off his good foot and crashed into her, causing a yelp to escape her lips. The pair tumbled back, but he already had a plan in mind. He sprang up and crawled toward the staff. Grabbing it tightly, he bent it over his knee, and it broke in half with a crisp snap, red light flickering where it had broken. Was it supposed to be this feeble?

"No! Do you know how expensive that was?" Mary explained. She reached for her ankle and pulled out a dagger, raising it high and swinging it down. With a surge of reflexes, Cade intercepted Mary’s attack by seizing her wrist firmly in his skeletal grip. He applied pressure, twisting her wrist upwards, resulting in an audible pop. She cried out in pain, involuntarily releasing the dagger. Cade caught the falling weapon and thrust it into Mary’s stomach, smoothly slicing sideways in one fluid motion. As a result, she fell to the ground with a thud.

A blue screen popped up.

+4 Attribute Points

"Mary!" Marx yelled out. "You damn skeleton! I'll destroy you for that!" Marx heaved the ax over his head and lunged at Cade. He crawled back as fast as his three limbs would allow, the dagger scraping against the floor.

He heard a whistling sound and looked to his right. An arrow was flying towards him. Was it his imagination, or was the arrow moving slower than it should? Cade swung the hand holding the dagger, causing the arrow to bounce off the blade. Changing directions, it impaled itself in Marx's left eye, eliciting a cry of pain. Marx dropped the ax as he reached for his face. This was Cade’s chance.

Cade reached for the ax, attempting to lift it, but it wouldn't budge at all. A red screen popped up.

Insufficient strength. You are unable to use this weapon.

He continued to yank at it, but the same message kept appearing, frustratingly repetitive.

Insufficient strength. You are unable to use this weapon.

Insufficient strength. You are unable to use this weapon.

Insufficient strength. You are unable to use this weapon.

Not seeing any results, he gave up and made his way towards Marx. The dagger will have to do. Marx was still trying to pull the arrow out, but Cade advanced first, stabbing Marx in the neck repeatedly, relentless in his attack. He continued until he received the strange message once again.

+6 Attribute Points

He stopped stabbing and stared at the message, unable to make sense of it. The concept of receiving Attribute Points for taking a life puzzled him. What even were they? Despite having spent much of his life in the military, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the ruthless way he had just killed two people. However, he had always followed his instincts and training, as it was crucial for his survival up until that point. That’s all that should matter. Moreover, they had attacked him first, making this an act of self-defense.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when an arrow passed through his ribcage, scraping against a rib bone, and knocking it off. The bone skidded to a halt a few feet away, while the arrow disappeared into the dark void beyond his limited vision.

Durability has decreased to 89%

Even though Slone froze for a few seconds after witnessing the massacre of his comrades, he remained a threat with his ranged attacks. With the ax unusable and the dagger already showing signs of damage, it would likely break after another hit or two.

When Cade quickly assessed Slone, he didn’t spot any alternative weapons that could be used in case he lost his bow. As Marx had mentioned, Cade’s enhanced speed as the new skeletal host gave him an advantage, catching the opponents off guard. They seemed to underestimate the difficulty of the fight.

With a plan in mind, Cade threw the dagger just as Slone reached for another arrow. The dagger pierced Slone’s left shoulder, causing him to drop the bow with a cry of pain. Cade charged towards Slone, leaping at him, and delivering a powerful right fist to his chin, knocking him back. Slone collided with the wall behind him and slid down. Cade swiftly retrieved the dagger from Slone’s shoulder and thrust it into his neck. After a few seconds, the same message appeared once again.

+3 Attribute Points

He hobbled back towards the ice patch, which had melted as soon as Slone stopped struggling. Picking up his foot, a message popped up.

Would you like to activate auto-reassembly? Yes/No

'Auto-reassembly? Interesting. Yes.'

With those words, the foot slipped out of his hand and seamlessly merged back with the base of the ankle, the cracks mending together. He also felt a slight shove from behind as the missing rib flew back into place.

Durability has reached 100%

He balanced on his now repaired leg, feeling good as new. Since there were no more visible threats, he simply sat on the ground with an invisible sigh. Everything had happened so quickly; he wasn't sure what to make of it all. He had come from one battlefield to another without a chance to gather himself, and the chance he did get was accompanied by some sort of magic trick.

He shook his head and surveyed the damage he had caused. Three lifeless bodies in a cave with a walking, talking skeleton. If others were to discover this, they wouldn't hesitate to attack, just as this unfortunate group had done.

He needed to clean up this mess.