Isekaied Into An Eroge, Time To Have Fun!-Chapter 189: Surprise~!

"So what do you think? Got the hang of it? Does it feel good to shoot, or are you not liking it one bit?"

We were gathered around the giant pile of corpses that had been the result of the previous horde, taking our time to recuperate and loot them at the same time; the thick stench was somewhat ignorable now thanks to us being here for so long, while the quietness radiating from this forest was no longer as nerve wracking as before.

Retrieving all of my arrows and pilfering the pockets of every zombie I had slain, I got a nice little haul for myself of about a dozen and a half Crowns, a dulled reddish gold dagger, an almond sized orange gemstone of some kind and also a small bundle of mysterious herbs.

"It’s... definitely different. It hurts to move around now - aches, to be more accurate - and my arms feel a little like jelly, but honestly..? I like not being in the thick of things, and I really enjoy still feeling everything whilst not being as at risk... if that makes sense?"

Kha’Miero nodded while Ishtarnii let out a soft grunt as she said "The burning in your muscles is a sign of a job well done and a sign of getting stronger. Supporting your party from a distance isn’t the most glorious role, but it is a very appreciated one. You also seem to have a knack for it, so I was hoping you’d stick with it."

"Yeah, Ishtarnii and I are blessed to have a few different people that took to the bow back home, and having a rain of arrows to whittle down a large monster makes things all the easier~! Plus it makes for a sexy~ figure~! All the strength whilst still being a bit lean, y’know~?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

I just ignored Anwen and continued to go over everything I had gotten so far before glancing at Sera as the blonde moved towards the middle of the group and coughed, getting everyone’s attention.

"If Natalie is feeling comfortable and everyone is in agreement, we should start heading back now. Time is ticking and the last thing we want is to be caught out here when the sun is falling."

The chorus of agreements she got made her nod as she began to orient us around and get us walking in the direction of the beach, keeping things in order as best as she could and spending most of her time halting Anwen’s attempts to get us to take a momentary break for a quickie.

The dark purple forest wasn’t really my idea of a place where I wanted to get down and dirty with someone, and thankfully everyone except for Anwen seemed to agree with that, so the Harekin was made to hold her lust in and walk with us in silence.

We kept our senses strained for another wandering horde, trying our best to avoid them and get to the beach as soon as we could, but like most things it would seem that the Dungeon had other ideas for us when the ground began to rumble.

All around us skeletal hands shot up from the rooted soil, clawing at the ground and pulling the undead up into the world as they emerged all around us, encircling us with a ring of messy bone and the occasional rusted weapon.

Where the zombies had been slow and clumsy, the skeletons that rose up around us were rather limber and coordinated, gathering together before pushing forwards as they took on a united front against our own.

Of varying sizes and sporting all sorts of dangers, the skeletons clacked their teeth at us and let out eery chitters, putting our nerves on edge in hopes of causing us to make mistakes; their ethereal blue eyes were ablaze with bloodlust as they raced forwards, filling me with a jolt of dread and adrenaline as I forwent the bow completely.

My red short sword was engulfed in flames immediately as I linked up with Sera again to fight these undead in close quarters, settling in ’behind’ our trio and facing a less populated front with magic coursing through me.

The first launched itself at me from almost ten feet away, sailing through the air and stretching out its long arms in hopes of tackling me to the ground, but instead of colliding with me it met a pillar of rock that I pulled up from the soil.

Its skull exploded and showered me in shards of bone while the rest of its body immediately clattered to the ground as the thin wisps of mana that held it together faded away; my first kill was one without much fanfare as two more clambered around the pillar towards me, one raising a busted blade at me and the other reaching for me with its jagged fingers.

Stepping up towards the one wielding a weapon, I swung my sword down at its skull and grimaced a little as the blade cracked against the bone, a tremor traveling up my arm and agitating my aching muscles, something I felt even through the adrenaline.

The other met a similar fate as I swung my sword straight at its temple, the flaming blade cracking against the bone and shattering it quickly, though not before its hand glanced across my chest.

Its bony digits were empowered by mana, allowing it to score a thin gash across my cuirass that almost pierced through the armor, spiking my heart rate immensely as I realized how close I had been to getting injured.

I didn’t have time to think too much about it though as another pair of skeletons rushed me from another direction, their chattering giving them away and drawing my attention as I spun around to face them.

A swift slash across the ribs halted one for a moment and allowed me to dodge a stab from a spear that threatened to skewer my stomach, and in retaliation I lowered my shoulder and bashed my attacker in the sternum, knocking it back a few steps.

Freeing the space up and giving myself the freedom to kill them in many different ways, I opted for some more magic practice as I summoned a large amount of Earth Mana into my hand, coating it in rock and allowing me to swing at the first skeleton.

Breaking its collarbone and bashing it down to the ground, I slammed my boot on its skull next before sending a somewhat desperate jab at the other, catching it on its ’nose’ and snapping its head back hard.

It stumbled and reached up to fix its messed up skull, though it had no time to do so as I whacked it with my blade, breaking its sternum this time and causing it to collapse to the ground as a pile of bones.

Four skeletons back to back had me winded a little, but there were another few heading my way still, causing my heart to skip a beat as I wondered if I had the stamina for this; the earlier shooting had strained my back muscles a lot, and now it was coming around to bite me as my arms grew heavier by the second while my upper body mobility took a nosedive.

Moving hurt and trying to fight was even worse, but it wasn’t like I could just opt out of combat right now so I had to endure... to the best of my abilities, which wasn’t that great since I wasn’t really accustomed to this at all.

I still pushed through and managed to deflect a somewhat staggered axe swing, and I also twisted myself out of the way of another spear, but I wasn’t feeling good doing it and I could tell that my body was reaching its ’breaking’ point.

The large horde of undead all around me was offering no reprieve for this, and to make matters worse the ground rumbled again as another bony hand breached the surface, but this one wasn’t normal sized.

It was larger than my head, and the thick ulna that emerged after it was probably the thickness of my waist... which wasn’t even the worst part about it since even from here I could see runes carved into the bone, meaning this was an enchanted skeleton.

One that came from an already gigantic and dangerous race, made even more so thanks to magic carved into it after its death; the horned skull that burst free from the soil was adorned with a golden circlet inlaid with a few large rubies, while flames of brilliant crimson flickered to life within its eye sockets, small embers weeping down its cheeks as it stood up to its full ten foot tall height.

Unlatching its jaw and staring at us, the skeleton let out an ear piercing shriek before slamming its jaw shut, cutting off the noise just as suddenly as it had been created and disorienting us extremely efficiently.