The hobgoblin swung his club, but Lilith blocked the attack with the noir blade. Soo-Ah noticed the pristine sword, wondering where she got it from. But there was no time to ponder on such things.
Soo-Ah grabbed Mickey's hand and threw him towards the hobgoblin. The other skeletons followed. Some slid between the hobgoblin's legs, attacking him from behind.
The hobgoblin hadn't expected such a bold assault from the humans he had been chasing. He was taken aback and yelled at the top of his lungs. The goblins noticed their lord was in danger and were about to rush to his aid.
But a wall of skeletons stopped them. Even if they could break through the skeletons, YuWon's intimidating aura was enough to make them flee. They took a final look at their fallen leader and ran away.
"Good choice." YuWon scoffed. "What are you waiting for? Help the rest."
The skeletons looked at one another before jumping in to attack the hobgoblin. Within minutes, the skeletons stomped the hobgoblin to death.
YuWon sighed once the hobgoblin had died. The monster who had given him so much trouble before died at the hands of skeletons, of all things.
Soo-Ah panted, looking around her. They defeated the hobgoblin, but they had taken some losses. Only ten of her skeletons survived the fight, including Mickey.
In contrast, YuWon and Sena showed no signs of fatigue. Moreover, they had treasures no one else had, like that black sword and the bracelet YuWon gave her.
Something is off about them.
Soo-Ah thought, but was interrupted.
"Raise him," YuWon instructed, pointing at the hobgoblin.
.net
"...right."
Unlike the last time, Soo-Ah had enough mana to raise Skullee without help. It was all thanks to the bracelet YuWon gave her.
As Soo-Ah raised her hand, the hobgoblin discarded its skin and high-five Mickey. It was as if the two already knew each other. Even YuWon found it weird but chalked it up as overthinking things.
"Li—Sena," YuWon said, picking up a fallen key. "You guys return to the safe zone. I'll be back in a second."
"...I'll try," Gina replied.
"What is he doing here?" Hoon's voice rang out. "Throw that freak out of here!"
People were about to raise their voices in solidarity when YuWon stood, and they all got silent. He wasn't the frail-looking man they knew before. He now had an intimidating aura around him. YuWon didn't bother replying and got up, turning to Soo-Ah.
"How's everyone?" he asked.
"We have a lot of injured people," she replied. "But a healer is healing them."
YuWon nodded, his eye shifting towards Yeji. It was weird seeing her averting her gaze after everything they had been through. But it was what he signed up for.
"Don't ignore me!" Hoon yelled, rushing towards YuWon.
Big mistake.
Soo-Ah's skeletons, Lilith and Gina reacted simultaneously, surrounding YuWon. Their quickness took aback everyone. But none more than Hoon.
He was used to picking on YuWon when no one was there to back him up. But now that others were standing up for YuWon, it caught him off guard.
"You—" Hoon spoke with gritted teeth.
"Give it up," YuWon sighed, shaking his head.
YuWon had long given up on any grudge he held against Hoon. Not because he was forgiving, but because he wasn't interested in playing with ants anymore. He had no interest in Hoon, but to get Yeji by his side, he had to make a scene.
"What did you say?" Hoon yelled pointing at YuWon.
In a flash, YuWon disappeared and reappeared in front of Hoon, lifting him by his neck. People gasped, but that's all they could do.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," YuWon mumbled emotionlessly. "Easy way, you'd admit to framing me and planting those photos on my phone with the help of your buddies."
YuWon slowly increased the pressure around Hoon's neck before continuing, "Hard way would be tiresome for me and painful for you. So make your choice now."