Chapter 52 Mission: Capture the murderous Skeleton 2

Ava checked the stone before safely storing it with a nod. "You boy, remain behind me. Let Ava be my backup, you just make sure no one is around us, in case something goes wrong." Aron too nodded, not knowing exactly how he was going to do that.

"Come, now we got away to catch it. Take your position." Ava and Aron both ran opposite to the blonde, standing on one side of the corridor on the 3rd floor. Similarly, Julia too stood in her place, looking into the distance. Between them was the room that was supposed to be the target for the skeleton.

During dinner, Aron made sure to locate the last two remaining guys. He had followed them back to their room, that's how they got to know this place. While he was following them, Aron can tell that both were extremely vigilant, always checking their backs. If he had to take a guess, they must have anticipated that the deaths of their friends might be related to their assault on Kyla.

Aron had no idea why they had not yet alerted the authorities, but it was a blessing for him. They had to put an end to the matters tonight. 10 minutes passed like this and both sides can see each other at each end of the corridor, waiting patiently for the killer to approach.

With every passing second, Julia was growing restless. Their only tool to locate that damn thing was destroyed, leaving them in the dark. *Flicker* *Flicker* The dim yellow lamp over her head began fluctuating. Looking around it was not only her lamp that was malfunctioning, rather it was the case for the entire floor itself.

*Crash* Inside one room on the same floor, a burst of cold wind sent chills down the spine of two individuals who stood side by side. They were the same two men Aron had followed this night. They had figured out that these recent killings were all deliberate, someone was hunting their group.

Deaths were common in slave quarters so they didn't believe that even the authorities will be helping them. Hence both of them had armed themselves with whatever they could, staying awake to confront their killer if he decided to show his face today.

Both their eyes were focused on the door, ready to act at a moment's notice. *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* Their ears perked up to the sound of footsteps over the hard wooden boards outside their room. The sound kept increasing in volume. The person certainly was approaching their room.

They looked at the fear in each other's eyes, both of them getting to their feet. Their hands gripped the pole in their hands firmly as they took a deep breath. *Knock* *Knock* Both men gulped down their saliva wet their throats. Unfortunately, the lamp in their room had stopped functioning, leaving the moonlight seeping through the window as their only salvation.

*Knock* *Knock* "Who.. who... Is it?" *Knock* *Knock* "Open the doors, bastards. I am here to save your sorry asses." Outside the door, Julia stood with an annoyed face. She had a hunch that not everything was right here, hence she didn't want to take any risk, making sure that these people were fine.

The first man turned his head towards his buddy. They had not expected a girl to be the killer, but anyhow they were not foolish enough to let her in just yet. *Grrrsshh* Just when he had turned to ask for his friend's opinion on the matter, his knees went weak.

Blood splattered on his face as a shiny knife punctured the throat of his friends. A large skeleton was holding onto the struggling man in a vice-like grip on his mouth. "Mhhhh.. mhhhh.. yuuuughh.." *Thud* Looking at the deathly hallow eyes of the assailant, the man fell on his butt, his bravely leaving him right then and there.

Right in front of him, he saw his friend's struggles die down as life escaped his body. *Thud* The lifeless body of the dead man fell to the floor, covered in his own blood. "Noo.. please.. nooo.." Terrified of the undead creature, the man propelled himself back with his legs, until his back stood against the wall. His dry throat was even unable to call for help.

"Fuuck!! It's inside already." Ava saw the girl panic and clench the door handle tightly, trying to force it open. She immediately crushed the stone in her pocket realizing the situation had gone haywire. "Get back!!" She pulled the blonde away and kicked the doer with all her might.

A dead body lay on the floor, leading to a struggling man in one corner. A large skeleton had a knife pressed against his throat ready to chop his artery, only to be stopped by Julia's shout. "STOP... Bastard you are only going to make things worse. Wait... We will talk.. let him go first!!"

Watching as her shout didn't have the desired deterrent effect on it, she resorted to a soft voice trying to reason with the thing. Prior to today, she would have never imagined herself to be negotiating with a skelly. Yet, she was sure that this thing can understand her.

"Say something, Aron... Stop him." The boy who had been too stupefied to say anything jumped into action. "Hey.. hey.. we can talk this through. Please wait. Don't kill him." At this point, they can't do anything but beg the undead to listen to them. Each one can see the cold glint shining right next to the captive man's neck.

*Puchi* "Mhhhhh????" They saw the blade cut through the neck of the guy in a brutal manner. Ava hid behind Aron, unable to see the gore and blood. "You fucker!!" Julia knew how foolish it was to expect a summon that too an undead to show any emotion at all. Realizing that there was no chance for the man held by the skeleton, she jumped into action.

"Ava.. to the window. Aron on the gate. It should not escape." The boy picked the spear from over in the back, holding it in front of him. The formation that Ava had activated meant that no matter how much ruckus was created, as long as they can contain it inside this small room, they are safe.

*Crash* Julia had pulled her sword from her ring within a blink, landing it straight over the skeleton's head. Despite being as big as a tall man, the undead was rather agile. A single clash of swords with the knife confirmed the blonde's suspicions. This was definitely a higher-level summon than a regular skelly.

*Boom* "Strengthening magic!!" "Mana deficiency!!" "Purify Undead!!" One after the other a slew of magic circles were blasted by Julia with her left hand, even when her right one remained engaged in combat with the strong skeleton. She was a seasoned fighter, although strong the skeleton was no match for her agility and experience in fighting.

*Crash* The spells had ultimately begun taking effect, as the bony structure was getting pushed back by her sustained attack. She was a high-tier E-level mage. This fight was nowhere as dangerous as the one in the woods. Her blade has swiftly tried to cut across its left shoulder, intending to render it useless.

*Tnnnngg* Vibrations ran through the long sword, passing to her arms. "Dammit.. is this guy made of steel or what?" There was not even a scratch on its pristine bones, rather the girl felt her arms go numb from the heavy strike. "Enough, messing around. Summon undead!!"

*Thud* 5 minutes later Julia wiped the cold sweat off her forehead. Two of her undead skellies were holding onto a rope that tied around another kneeling skeleton that had even shiner bones. "Send it back." She had already told Aron what he had to do and the boy leaped over the dead bodies, reciting the same spell once again.

Julia smirked when a shiny portal opened right under the feet of the captured skeleton. "You sure were difficult to deal with. Now go back." She can't tell but for once it seemed like the cold light in its eyes was mocking her.

She noticed the problem soon enough. This guy was not moving through the portal, staying still on the floor. "Are you reciting the spell correctly, Aron?" The boy's own head was filled with sweat, aware of the gravity of the situation. "Yes, I tried twice. It's like this thing is refusing to leave."

Julia felt a headache coming. Even though she had captured this guy, they need to send it back to its world and remove all traces that it ever existed. It's going to be a great problem if they can't get rid of it. "Keep trying." She would have resorted to destroying this thing completely as well, but the earlier fight had made her aware that while this one can be weakened with spells and then restrained, it was a completely different ball game if she wants to break it up.

"Isn't this how our spells work? We cast a spell, skellies emerge. We cast the same spell, they return." Ava felt like even her basic knowledge was being challenged by these series of events. "Yeah, in normal cases that's how we roll."

Ava can tell that Julia was trying to safeguard a secret of Aron's, hence she didn't put her nose too deep in the matter. They wanted for another 10 minutes when she returned to look back at her friend. "What's the plan, next?" Julia observed the boy fall back on his butt after trying everything he can but failing to return the skeleton. "It's time to take some drastic steps."

***

*Knock* *Knock* Deep in the night Yana was in her bed when she heard continuous knocks on her door. Getting on her feet she rubbed her eyes to adjust her vision. She fixed her sleeping gown before checking the door. *Yawn* "Haaah... What's up with you guys? Is this the right time to disturb a lady's beauty sleep?"

Julia was cringing hard at her acts to sound all cute. Her hands forced the boy to the front with a glare. "Ahem... Mrs. Yana, actually we are in big trouble. We hope you can help." Aron had not made the cutest expression possible to evoke the motherly response from the lady.

"Huh.. okay, but what are you guys carrying in there? Please don't tell me you murdered someone hahaha..!" She was talking about the big black bag Julia's skeleton summon was carrying on its back. At her words, both the boy and girl can only look back at each other.

A few minutes in the conversation Aron was fiddling with his fingers, his face red in embarrassment. "Ahahahaha.. he did what?" Julia was at a loss of words at this rare reaction from her teacher. She was laughing? Her lips twitched. The more the way the woman laughed, the more the blonde glared at the boy who had already sunk into the deep section of the couch.

She was pretty sure that she would not have been this jovial, had one of her students had done the same. What's with this clear bias? "Ahem... Mrs. Yana, five people are dead because of all this." The lady just waved her hands. "They deserved that. I might have done the same, had I been in the boy's place."

"Come here, little Aron." The boy stiffly walked over before Yana pulled him down in her lap. "No need to take all this to heart. Every day many thousand people die. As long as you don't kill an innocent person, everything is alright. Rather, I would say that you did a service by getting them killed. Think about it, are you sure that your friend is the only girl they were assaulting?"

"Speaking from experience, I can tell that people like that are repeat offenders. It's a service to the society that they were taken care of. No need to be depressed about that, okay?" Aron truly never thought about this. Who can tell that Kyla was their only victim? Suddenly, the downcast expression on his face was replaced by a serene one.

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