The skeletons outside the mansion advanced in orderly, rhythmic steps, drawing closer with every moment.
The rigid teeth exposed on their skulls made their malicious intent unmistakably clear.
Reaching the entrance, they flung the main doors wide open and poured inside. Seeing no one waiting for them in the entry hall, a swarm of bones began spreading throughout the interior.
Suddenly, the doors slammed shut.
At the same time, the lights illuminating the hall went out, plunging everything into darkness. Yet within that darkness, green flames flickered—dim, but bright enough for a few brief seconds to reveal the surroundings.
Drawn to the light, the skeletons rushed toward it—only to shatter into pieces before they could reach it.
Wherever the green glow appeared, the sound of bones breaking and scattering across the floor followed.
Before long, nothing remained but shattered bones strewn across the ground—and an icy silence.
But even that wasn't enough to stop the necromancer.
Sending even more servants forward, he changed tactics. This time, the skeletons did not enter through the door. They forced their way in through windows, cracks, and every possible opening.
Light flooded into the entrance hall.
The trap was broken.
Even so, Valorant and Gustav did not abandon their positions. Both fought with everything they had, trying to halt the enemies surging inside.
Then the skeletons began hurling torches into the mansion.
They intended to burn the house down entirely.
As Valorant crushed the bones of skeletons climbing in through the windows, he shouted to Gustav,
"We change the plan. We fight outside."
Gustav smashed the grinning skulls around him and shouted back,
"You go ahead! I'll handle the ones inside!"
Valorant burst through the doorway, cutting down everything that stood in his path.
Those rushing up the stairs, those attacking from behind—he spared none of them.
He poured mana into his sword and gripped it with both hands.
[Fiery Wrath]
The blade absorbed the mana from Valorant's body, becoming stronger—sharper.
There was no longer any reason for him to hold back.
Inside the mansion, Valorant had been forced to fight cautiously.
The moment he stepped outside, those restraints vanished.
The sword, overflowing with mana, cleaved through everything before it like soft butter. It felt as though nothing could stand in his way.
The skeletons increased in number, attempting to block his path completely.
Valorant halted for a single second—then spun his blade, creating what seemed like a ring of fire around himself. Every one of the necromancer's servants surrounding him was wiped out in an instant.
Then—he sensed something.
The skeletons weren't only coming from the front of the mansion.
They were circling around it as well.
"Gustav won't be able to stop them all… Aster, the rest is up to you."
***
Meanwhile, Aster stood inside the room, staring unblinkingly at the door, sword raised.
There was no sound. Not a single noise.
'This room is terrifyingly quiet.'
Suddenly, he heard something.
Reacting instantly, Aster smashed the window and slashed downward just below it.
His strike connected with the skull of a skeleton climbing up the wall, crushing its bones and sending it tumbling into the snow below.
Looking down, Aster shouted in frustration,
"Why are there so many?!"
More skeletons were already climbing up the wall.
Soon, heavy blows began striking the door of the room, their echoes resounding inside.
Aster lifted his head and shouted toward the barricaded door,
"From both sides?!"
With every impact, the door shook violently before snapping back into place—as if stubbornly refusing to give way.
'The door will hold for a bit… but these things—'
He glanced down and began counting the skeletons below.
"One… two… three… ten."
He struck another that reached the window, knocking it down.
"Nine left."
Confident the others wouldn't reach the window immediately, Aster moved back to the center of the room and positioned himself directly in front of the door.
"Damn it…"
After several more strikes, the door finally split in two.
The furniture propping it up scattered across the room.
Four grinning skeletons burst inside.
Two of them wore rotting, tattered clothing and carried no weapons—clearly once ordinary people in life.
But the remaining two…
Aster didn't hesitate.
As the unarmed skeletons entered side by side, he delivered a single horizontal slash, severing both of their heads.
'Two left.'
The skulls rolled across the floor and stopped against the wall.
Aster looked at the headless bodies.
The rule that living beings stop moving once their heads are cut off did not apply to skeletons.
'Why aren't they falling?'
Without warning, the headless bodies lunged at him, arms outstretched.
"Damn it!"
He shouted as he kicked them in the ribcages, shattering their bones and scattering them across the floor.
'Above!'
Right after the kick, Aster sensed a rusted battle axe swinging toward his head.
He leapt backward toward the window.
"Ugh—! That was close!" he exhaled sharply.
But it wasn't over.
The skeletons climbing in through the window hadn't all been dealt with yet.
One of them grabbed Aster's shoulder and yanked him back.
Reacting on instinct, Aster slammed his fist into the skeleton's skull, tearing the arm from its body. Grimacing in disgust, he brushed the remaining bones off his shoulder.
He didn't stay still for even a second.
Rolling to the side, he barely avoided the axe that crashed down where he had been standing a moment earlier.
The skeleton wielding the axe was massive. Thick bones, heavy armor that barely hung from its frame—it was obvious that it had once been a powerful warrior.
But that wasn't what caught Aster's attention.
'How is it lifting such a heavy axe without muscles?'
The question lingered—but before he could think further, the axe came swinging again, smashing through the wall toward his neck.
Realizing dodging backward wouldn't be enough, Aster leapt to the side.
The massive skeleton lifted its weapon with ease and chased after him.
Each heavy strike reduced anything it hit—furniture, walls—into unrecognizable fragments.
Aster realized that as long as he was still alive, he had no choice but to keep fighting.
In truth, they were far worse.
He had forgotten something.
His mission was to protect the girls.
When the skeletons broke in, there had been four.
Two were destroyed.
The third was fighting him.
The fourth—
Aster narrowly avoided another blow and finally found a moment to catch his breath. A sudden realization struck him.
He scanned the room.
And then—
He saw it.
Standing silently in front of the wardrobe—
The fourth skeleton.