How to Raise Your Skeletons - Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Time For Education

The world was neither simple nor clear-cut. It would be nice if everything fit together perfectly, like the answers to a test, but that was never the case. In a way, it was only natural. Countless people coexisted, tangled and intertwined like a forest, so there was no way it could be so simple.

Even now, it was the same.

“What? Are you going to resort to violence?”

I couldn’t have guessed that a randomly picked teammate would turn out to be someone like Olivia Rodrigo. People could stand out and have unique personalities. But there should be a limit to that. This wasn’t too much, was it?

“Wow, scary. So you’re also going to solve this with violence after all? Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? I recognize you as the team leader. Ha, fine. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry. Damn it, I’m the asshole here, eh?”

I selected nine people besides myself. If eight were fine, but one stood out, whose fault was it?

Ah, not eight. Because Olivia had her little lackey. How pathetic. Who would want to follow around a woman like that?

“It’s kind of absurd. A team where you can’t even speak your mind…”

“…?”

“A disgusting group of team members. What, are minority opinions not even considered opinions?” Olivia muttered, making sure everyone could hear her.

“Haah,” I let out a light sigh then shook my head. “I tried to bear with you, but it’s just not working.”

“Huh?” Olivia’s lips twisted as she looked at me. “Even if you were the top performer in Theme 1, there’s a line you shouldn’t cross.”

“A line?”

“What I mean is, you should accept it graciously when I treat you with some respect as the team leader.”

“Heh,” a laugh escaped me.

Does she even realize that I briefly overpowered a double-digit ranker earlier?

“What? You’re laughing?”

“Yeah, I’m laughing.”

I made a decision—from now on, I wouldn’t respect her anymore.

“You don’t know how crazy I can be, do you?” she said.

—Swish!

The whip in her hand moved flexibly. The sharp aura emanating from it might have been intimidating in the past, but now, it just seemed cute.

I casually slipped my hands into my pockets. “Sorry, but I think everyone here pretty much already knows that.”

Yeah, you’re indeed crazy.

“Well, well?” Olivia raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think you understand that this is a cooperative team game. What are you going to do if I decide to sabotage the team? What if I deliberately disrupt things in the tower?”

“Well.” I slowly began channeling the energy of my staff. “Honestly, it might be better if you and your idiot sidekick weren’t here.”

“What? Are you really going to do this?”

“Haven’t you been whining all this time, asking for a fight?”

Fine. Let’s just deal with her now. I’ll worry about what comes next later. If the game requires teammates, I’ll just carry her unconscious body around. That might even be more helpful to the team.

“My lord.”

“Master.”

—Whoosh!

Soon, my two loyal subordinates appeared beside me.

“Oh?”

Frowning, she glanced at the young man beside her. Her boyfriend-looking companion drew his sword, and the situation escalated in an instant.

“Do you need help, Hoon?”

“I’ll help too! Honestly, I’ve been itching to fight that bitch!”

The surrounding team members gathered, offering to assist me.

“No.” I shook my head as there was no need for the team to step in just to discipline someone like her.

“Wow, how pathetic. Isn’t this what you call bullying?”

This woman didn’t seem to understand who was bullying whom right now.

“Fine, dammit. Let’s see what you’ve got!”

No more words. Sunny lunged forward, launching a surprise attack.

—Whoosh!

They moved so fast that one could hear the sound of ripping through the fabric of the air.

Olivia gasped. Her eyes widened, and she quickly bent her body to avoid it. But before she’d even done that, her left cheek stung sharply.

—Drip.

Red blood trickled down.

“Wh-What?”

Eldrin’s arrow had grazed her by a hair’s breadth. And then…

—Thwack!

Sunny, who had already closed the distance, struck her left side with the shaft of their spear.

“Urgh!”

She didn’t even have time to use the whip in her hand. As if mirroring my intent, Sunny and Eldrin began dealing with her “seriously.”

“What? Is that a skeleton?”

“I never knew that a skeleton could do that! Not to mention that our team leader can control a ton of them.”

“Wow, Hoon really is an amazing hunter.”

The tense atmosphere was soothed at the overwhelming result. Some even sat in a crouch, watching smugly and enjoying the show.

“Wh-What the hell.”

The ease on Olivia’s face had completely disappeared. All she could do was quickly distance herself, her expression full of disbelief.

“You’re trying to take me down with just skeletons?”

As if unwilling to accept the situation, she stomped the ground. She barely managed to secure some distance with a backstep.

—Thud!

But then she flinched as something bumped into her from behind.

—Creak?

It was Boney 4, wielding a large shield. It pushed her back as if asking her where she thought she was going.

“Wh-What is this?”

—Thwack!

At that moment, Sunny struck Olivia’s thigh once more. What was impressive about Sunny was that they never stabbed or slashed with the spear blade. They only used the shaft to inflict bone-rattling pain.

—Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Sunny kept beating her until Olivia’s pale skin was bruised and purple, her nose smashed, and her eyes swollen shut.

“W-Wait?”

Olivia coughed and looked around desperately. She seemed to be searching for the man who planned to fight alongside her, but there was no need. Because that guy was already…

“I-I’m sorry. Please spare me!”

He was on his knees, his skin cut all over by Eldrin’s arrows. He even hiccupped from fear.

“W-Wait. Stop it!”

—Thwack! Thwack!

Sunny kept beating her slowly and at regular intervals as if moving to a rhythm.

“Stop! It hurts! Fuck! Aaaaaagh!”

He hit her legs to knock her down, then struck her upper body to prop her back up. As soon as she was standing, he hit her thighs and calves again to topple her.

“Ugh! Argh!”

Whenever she tried to speak, as if the issue was her mouth itself, he focused his blows there.

Honestly, the fight was already over. This wasn’t even a fight anymore—it was just one-sided violence.

“Guh! Gah! Ack!”

Of course, I had no intention of stopping the beating. Whether it hurt or not, I figured that would be nothing compared to the massages I usually got from old man.

“Damn it! Aaagh? Aaaaaagh!”

When Olivia tried to curse again, she let out a different scream this time. Sunny had sliced the roof of her mouth with his spear to silence her entirely.

“Gah! Gaaaah!”

Olivia rolled on the ground, clutching her mouth. Blood poured out between her fingers as she flailed in agony.

“What did you say? That everyone else is too kind, so they’re undervaluing themselves?” I watched her expressionlessly. “Then is this what your worth looks like?”

—Thwack!

“And when did I take your share, huh? Tell me.”

—Thwack! Thwack!

“Calling the vice leader’s hard work a dictatorship?”

—Thwaaack!

“Dictatorship? Freeloaders?”

Freeloaders referred to people like Olivia, who did nothing during Theme 1 but got picked anyway.

“If you were picked for the team, you should work hard and contribute to the team. Where did that desperation go when you were begging to be picked? What are you, a politician?”

“Ph-phease. Shpare me.”

Sunny struck her in the mouth so many times that she couldn’t even speak properly anymore. Usually, I might’ve felt sorry for her by now, but I didn’t feel a thing.

“Ph-phease.”

“Please?”

“I-I wi’ wisten! I wi’ do wha-ever you shay, phease…!” Olivia nodded frantically.

Why. Just why did some people only come to their senses after getting beaten up?

“You’ll listen now? Why? Didn’t you say you might just sabotage the team a moment ago?”

“N-No!”

“See? If you’d just listened from the start, this could’ve been avoided.”

“…”

“It would’ve been better if you’d just listened while I was being nice, right?”

“…” Tears streamed down Olivia’s face.

Wow, she was crying this much over such little pain? If she got one of the old man’s massages, her bones wouldn’t even be intact by now.

They say beasts that can’t be rehabilitated must be tamed through a good beating. The old saying was absolutely right.

Yeah. I wasn’t beating up Olivia—I was fixing her so she could function normally in society. I helped her change. I taught her a lesson. This was what I’d like to call a real education.

“Haah.”

At my signal, Sunny stopped his beating. The difference in power was so overwhelming that even winning left a bad aftertaste. If I’d been fighting someone like Floa instead, this wouldn’t have felt so unpleasant. Though, in that case, I’d probably have ended up a roasted corpse before even landing a hit.

—Plop!

Finally, leaving the limp and unconscious Olivia behind, I turned to look at the team members.

“…”

As silence filled the air, I saw a variety of expressions. Some looked relieved, and others were astonished by the sheer difference in power.

“Hm, we’ve wasted a lot of time on something pointless.”

In a situation where we couldn’t afford to waste time just walking, too much time had been taken.

“If any more bothersome trouble breaks out, let me know.”

That was to say if Olivia caused trouble again when I wasn’t around, they should tell me.

Finally, someone let out a held breath—James. “Well done, Hoon!”

Following his lead…

“That was satisfying to watch.”

“You did the right thing.”

“Now we just need to keep moving forward?”

The atmosphere returned to normal—no, it felt even livelier than before. I should’ve acted sooner if I’d known that just knocking Olivia out changed everything this much.

With a smirk, I turned to the man still kneeling. “What’s your name?”

He’d been stuck to Olivia all this time, so we hadn’t even spoken—not that I cared much.

“I-I’m Kane!”

“Alright, Kane. Could you carry that for me?” I pointed at Olivia.

Kane shouted “Yes! Yes!” and ran over to hoist Olivia onto his back.

“Phew.”

With that, everything was settled. I felt refreshed and clear-headed.

Yeah, from now on, no more holding back. If someone crossed the line, I’d show them through action. That was what I’d endured so much pain to gain strength for.

“Well then.” I turned to the others. “Everyone, gather ’round.”

I then pulled out the six scrolls I’d purchased from the shop—three distance-shortening scrolls and three distance-lengthening scrolls. There was no time to waste.

[Item: Grade S Distance-Shortening Scroll]

[Rank: S]

[Type: Scroll]

[Description: A scroll that shortens the distance.]

[Effect 1: Works within a 1 km radius of the team leader.]

[Effect 2: Reduces the distance to the giant tower by 50%.]

[Item: Grade S Distance-Lengthening Scroll]

[Rank: S]

[Type: Scroll]

[Description: A scroll that lengthens the distance.]

[Effect 1: Works within a 1 km radius of the opposing team leader.]

[Effect 2: Increases the distance to the giant tower by 30%.]

[Effect 3: Applies to two opposing teams simultaneously.]

The distance-shortening scrolls reduced the total distance by 50%, 25%, and 12.5%, depending on the rank, with a total reduction of 87.5%. The distance-lengthening scrolls increased the total distance by 30%, 15%, and 7.5%, depending on the rank, with a total increase of 52.5%.

“I’ll explain later. For now, let’s start heading forward immediately.”

With the bewildered team members behind me…

—Rip!

I tore all six scrolls simultaneously.