Saintess Summons Skeletons-Chapter 833 - Beware the physically weak

The two creatures did not even have time to let out a cry.

Sofia and Pestle rushed in at the same time, in an instant, Sofia was in front of the creature on the left, holding it by the throat, her aura pinning the entirety of its bone in place as she blasted it with repeated [Hollow Heart] casts. Two bloody spots appeared with wet noises on the monster’s chest, dyeing its fur red, then the third cast provoked the sound of something breaking, like a rock being shattered. The monster became cold and limp in Sofia’s hand. On the other side of the room, things went just as fast. Three magical arrows pierced the monster’s skull and throat, before Pestle slashed the monster’s four limbs and head, and buried herself in its chest, digging out a Spiritstone that looked like a tiny green jewel.

From this alone, Sofia could already tell that those things were below level 300. But there was still the possibility of there being stronger ones among them, and more significantly, there were hundreds, if not thousands of them occupying the castle.

Sofia retreated with the dead body in her hands, placing the door against a wall, while Pestle silently ate the other corpse. Sonia sprinkled some translucent powder on the bloodstains covering the ground before following.

Bookie had already dismissed the page with a single Guardian Kidjikkik to make space for the new one, although he disliked eating monsters whole, especially those with fur, he still took in the corpse Sofia presented him with without complaining.

“Hmm… I don’t think it’s very smart…” Bookie commented, scratching his skull.

“Compared to the Kidjikkiks?” Sofia asked.

“Not that dumb,” Bookie said, “more like… The vampires?”

“Oh, that’s not so bad. Right, we should name those, any suggestions?”

“Furry goblins?” Bookie suggested.

“A bit long. Fublins?” Sonia said.

Bookie seemed happy with that, so Sofia settled on that in her mind. Fublins it is, she thought, opening the book.

“One Fublin… A hundred thousand mana cost and +5% mana bonus?” Sofia muttered, slightly surprised. “Those things… Their bonus stat is mana? And such a high cost for a creature that died so easily? Something is not quite right here…”

Sonia already knew about Bookie getting bonus stats from skeletons by now, but she was not clear on the details, so she asked. “Is mana not a common bonus to get?”

“That’s the rarest,” Sofia said, “Rare enough that it might be worthwhile to get a few full pages of these things just for the stats. After all, the more mana Bookie has, the more skeletons he can summon in a short time. But because it’s so rare, it showing up here is really…”

“It could just be because of the night, mana is going crazy right now,” Sonia said, “Anyway, let’s get the information from this guy.”

Sofia nodded and summoned the thing’s skeleton. Without all the fur and flesh, the skeleton in fact wasn’t very far off from a dwarf’s if a bit more beastly. Without the more animalistic skull, the claws, and the pronounced dorsal spikes that were like tiny fins, it would have been hard to tell the difference. Thinking about how dwarves were constantly in conflict with the disgusting goblins, then looking at that skeleton, a disturbing image flashed in Sofia’s head that she did her best to eliminate from her imagination on the spot.

She started questioning the skeleton to distract herself from the cursed mental image.

“Are there others in the castle that are much stronger than you?” Sofia asked, keeping her voice low as she felt a couple Fublins walking nearby on the other side of the wall with her aura.

The skeleton seemed lost for a couple of seconds, before nodding in response.

“Smart enough to understand this, already not bad… How strong? Wait, no. Could ten of your strength beat the strongest in the castle?”

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This time there was no hesitation, the Fublin shook its skull, it even seemed a little afraid, shoulders shaking at the mere prospect.

“What about a hundred of you against the strongest?”

This time it had to think for a good ten seconds, before shaking its skull again.

Only when Sofia suggested a thousand against one did the skeleton seem to think it might have a chance.

Sofia tried another twenty questions or so, but only two of them got anything resembling an answer. When Sofia asked where the Fublins kept their precious things, the skeleton pointed down, and when she asked whether they would attack them no matter what they did, it joyfully agreed.

Sonia, sitting on Crowie’s wing, analysed the situation. “At the very least one Fublin at least level 350, perhaps higher. Valuables on a lower floor or underground, possibly strong magic and soul attacks considering the Spiritstones. Can I also ask a question?”

Sofia nodded, so Sonia asked right away, “How many of the strong ones?” she asked, but the skeleton seemed at a loss.

“Do you have a leader?” Sofia asked, prompting the skeleton to nod. “Can a hundred of you win against your leader?” Sofia continued. This time it was a negative, but most importantly it confirmed the ‘leader’ was the previously mentioned strong individual. “How many leaders are in the castle?” Sofia finally asked, returning to Sonia’s question.

This time the skeleton seemed to understand, raising three fingers.

“There you have it,” Sofia said, “Potentially three Fublins above level 350. Depending on how they fight, this could get ugly.”

Sonia nodded, “Then we continue with the stealthy approach. I know where their stone is located now, so I can kill the weak ones with a single arrow.”

Pareth, Bookie and Crowie had to sit this out, as they were simply not suited to a stealth mission, but Sofia still summoned the rarely used Elf caretaker skeleton with her broom, who could use her cleaning skills to get rid of the ‘evidence’, as well as the rats whose job was to follow from afar and bring all dead Fublins back to Bookie.

Like this, the small squad started moving through the castle. Most of the Fublins, it turned out, were in the courtyard eating, leaving very few inside. This was perfect, as most rooms were occupied by at most three or four of the creatures.

They shifted the cleaning method a bit as they went. Sofia would stay out, spreading her aura to the entire room, greatly hindering the movement of all the Fublins present, preventing even the ones with quicker reflexes from dodging Sonia’s arrows. The magical arrows were fast, silent, and deadly, always getting stuck in the Fublins bodies without piercing through and creating a mess. Even when the Fublins were wearing mithril armor, nine out of ten times the monsters died on the spot from a single arrow shattering their Spiritstone, and when they didn’t, an invisible fairy slit their throat and finished them off before they could scream. There were a few close calls when patrolling Fublins wandered close to the group, but with the hidden rats warning Sofia in advance by unsummoning themselves, she managed to take care of those before they could raise the alarm.

The group quickly accumulated over a hundred kills, cleaning up the entire third floor on this side of the castle. So far not a single of the Fublins had gotten even a chance to fight back, but it wasn’t long before more Fublins wandered in from other parts, and started noticing that something was amiss. There were a few loud growls, followed by the loud, continuous ringing of a bell.

Sofia and the others immediately retreated. They weren’t spotted yet, but it was likely only a matter of time before the strong Fublins started looking for the intruders.

Bookie and the others were still in place, ready to fight. A small pile of dead Fublins in a corner was stinking up the room. Bookie had already replaced the single Fublin page with a hundred Fublin skeletons. The page cost 10 million mana and gave Bookie a significant 25% mana bonus.

Now they activated their passive buffs like [Sanctified Grounds] and [Runeforged Overlord] in this room that Sofia had already fully reinforced with bone walls and given the permanent frame blessing. The small hole they used to come and go was the only entry point. This was their strategy to take care of this castle. Rather than waiting for daylight when they would lose their power, they had swept through as many weak Fublins as fast as they could without incurring any losses, and now they prepared for a siege.

For a time things were still rather calm despite the constant ringing of the alarm bell. They hadn't been found yet. Until an illusory eye appeared mid-air in the middle of the room, instantly noticing them before fading away.

“Artillery divination magic!” Sonia called out, “Defend!”

Sofia keenly felt that cancelling the incoming magic would cost her more than half of her mana. She decided against it.

Everyone hid under Pareth’s raised shield, moments before the room was struck by a magical thunderstorm. Lightning bolts thick like an arm tore through the air, piercing holes through the blessed bone floor and ceiling.

Electricity coursed along Pareth’s shield and bones, but the brunt of the assault was actually soaked in by the suddenly appearing Abereth’s [Aura of stormeye], leaving the entire team unharmed, but the room’s walls were already full of holes and Sofia could feel her aura’s blessing getting stripped away from the bones.

If not for the Abereth’s lucky save, this single spell could have caused serious damage. They all understood at this moment that they had greatly underestimated the Fublin leaders.