Chapter 24: Metamorphosis

The skeletal beast gripped its broken leg, ready to slam it down toward Lucas, but Lucas remained unmoved, standing his ground.

An ice arrow shot out, striking precisely into the skeletal beast’s hollow eye socket.

The beast’s attack missed once again.

Seizing the opportunity, Lucas grasped his short sword and thrust it toward the beast’s head.

The bone was surprisingly tough; Lucas’s strike only left a faint scratch on its face.

Coupled with the electricity crackling around its body, Lucas’s hand tingled numbly.

With no other choice, Lucas had to back off.

This guy’s ability to discharge electricity definitely needed to be dealt with first.

Yet Noli’s arrows still lacked sufficient power.

Although they dispersed some of the electricity around the skeletal beast, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

Several ice arrows shot toward the skeletal beast again, causing the electricity to dissipate once more, this time significantly weakening its intensity.

The skeletal beast seemed to realize the threat Noli posed; it stopped focusing on Lucas and turned its attention to her behind.

“Keep your eyes on me, you bastard!”

Lucas shouted, stepping protectively in front of Noli.

“What’s the matter? Can’t beat me, so you want to pick on a little girl?”

But the skeletal beast ignored Lucas’s taunt, its eyes fixed solely on Noli.

It crawled forward using both claws, raising its leg to smash down.

With a loud clang, the attack didn’t land on Noli but struck Lucas’s round shield solidly.

The force was tremendous; Lucas was knocked to one knee by the powerful blow.

He knelt, holding his shield against the skeletal beast’s assault.

Electricity coursed through the shield and into his whole body.

Lucas felt a sudden, stabbing pain followed by numbness and burning.

It was like thousands of steel needles were stabbing into his internal organs, almost making him lose consciousness.

“Lucas! You—”

Noli, pulling her bow halfway, wanted to rush forward to pull him back.

“Attack! Don’t mind me!”

Lucas yelled.

“Hurry!”

He knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

Damn, the sensation of being shocked was unbearable.

If only the weapon didn’t conduct electricity—if it weren’t for that damned current, how could he fail to block this guy’s attack?

The skeletal beast’s claws pressed down relentlessly, ready to crush him and take his life at any moment.

In just an instant, Lucas felt the electricity running through his body dissipate.

Although a slight numbness lingered, his strong regenerative ability quickly banished the discomfort.

Looking down at his shield and short sword, he realized a golden coating had somehow formed on their surfaces.

When had that happened?

Was it this coating that protected him from the electricity?

No matter the cause, he definitely felt much better now.

Lucas felt strength flood back into his body.

He gritted his teeth, pushing up the skeletal beast’s claw and stood up.

“Don’t get too cocky, you bastard,” Lucas said, eyes locked on the skeletal beast.

“Your time is up.”

The skeletal beast opened its mouth and let out a silent roar.

The white light around its body grew even brighter, preparing to unleash a powerful electrical discharge.

But suddenly, for some unknown reason, it stopped moving.

A cold breeze brushed past the back of Lucas’s head, making him shiver.

Such a strong cold wind—where could it be coming from in this place?

Turning around, Lucas was shocked by the scene not far behind him.

It was Noli.

Snowflakes swirled all around her, her hair and skirt fluttering wildly in the icy wind.

A massive ice arrow hovered, ready to be fired.

Without hesitation, Lucas flashed aside, clearing the way.

Lucas’s sudden dodge caused the skeletal beast’s attack to miss.

Its body slammed heavily to the ground, exposing a glaring weakness.

Now was the moment.

Noli’s arrow shot out, striking the skeletal beast’s head with pinpoint accuracy.

Electricity scattered, and the white light dimmed noticeably.

But Noli didn’t stop there; a second arrow followed.

With the electricity fully dissipated, the skeletal beast was completely stripped of its threat.

Lucas reassembled his saw spear, pulled the serrated blade, and charged at the skeletal beast.

Still dazed from the two arrows to its head, the beast was vulnerable.

Lucas leapt up and landed atop its head.

“This ends now. Die.”

The saw spear swung down, severing the connection between the beast’s neck and spine.

Bone shards flew everywhere as the skeletal beast’s head was forcibly cut off, rolling several times before coming to rest in front of Noli.

Lucas looked at Noli, who cupped the severed head. Ice rapidly spread over it, freezing the skeletal beast’s head solid.

Then, with a heavy thud, Noli smashed the head to pieces on the ground.

Even without its head, the skeletal beast’s body still struggled weakly.

Lucas gave it no chance, swinging his saw spear to dismember the beast’s body into eight parts.

This time, it was truly over… at least for now.

Looking back at Noli, the blizzard around her had ceased. Yet something still weighed heavily on Lucas’s mind.

“Wh-why… are you staring at my feet again?”

Noli blushed, fiddling with her skirt and averting her gaze.

Lucas wasn’t looking at her feet.

“Noli…”

Lucas pointed at her legs.

“Take a look for yourself…”

Noli looked down at her legs.

Originally, the green markings only covered her feet and ankles, but now, like growing vines, the green patterns were creeping upward along her legs, reaching all the way to her upper thighs.

“Th-this is…”

Even Noli didn’t understand what was happening.

“Do you remember what happened just now?”

“Yeah, I shot those really powerful arrows, and the blizzard started swirling,” Noli rubbed her temples, recalling.

“I don’t know why, but I felt really anxious. I was afraid something happened to you, so I rushed to save you… and then this happened.”

“You don’t know what’s going on with the markings on your legs?”

Noli shook her head.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, and neither has anyone else in my tribe.”

It seemed the mysteries surrounding the elves ran deeper than Lucas had imagined.

“Hmm… what do we do now? It’s one thing if it were just on my feet, but like this…”

Noli stroked the green patterns on her legs with concern.

“Now’s not the time to worry about this,” Lucas said, looking toward Ivina’s direction.

She had long since stood up as if nothing had happened.

“Ivina, how are you?”

Lucas asked with concern.

“I’m not dead,” Ivina replied, picking up the sword lying among the skeletal beast’s remains and sheathing it.

“I recovered a while ago—when you were holding the beast off alone. I saw everything clearly just now.”

“What about Noli’s condition? Do you know anything?”

“I’m not an elf, so how would I know?”

Ivina glanced at Noli, who was still troubled by the markings on her legs.

“You’ll probably have to figure that out yourselves. By the way, what’s with your saw spear?”

Ivina’s mention of it jogged Lucas’s memory.

His saw spear had suddenly gained that golden coating, allowing him to withstand the skeletal beast’s electricity.

What was going on with that?