Chapter 274 - 154: The Aberrant’s Secret
"Holy shit, what's going on?" Liu Xingxing cried out, stunned by the scene before him the moment he stepped into the main building.
The Frenzied Skeleton had cornered the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear and was giving it a brutal beatdown. It completely ignored the bear's claws, adopting a stance of "I'm all offense; defense has nothing to do with me." The more it fought, the more intense its Frenzy Qi became, beating the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear back again and again.
The Sharp Clawed Burst Bear tried to fight back, but every attempt was met with an even more savage assault. The Frenzied Skeleton was fighting with complete abandon. If the bear swiped at it with a claw, it would break the bear's arm. If the bear tried to stab it with the spines on its back, it would punch a hole through the bear's sternum and rip out a rib for good measure.
Even without a sense of pain, the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear couldn't take such a relentless beating. The red in its Soul Fire flickered constantly, and it was actually beaten into a state of fear.
It retreated instinctively, but the Frenzied Skeleton had no intention of letting it go. It launched a flying kick, striking the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear's leg. CRACK! The leg bone snapped. The Sharp Clawed Burst Bear's body listed to one side and collapsed. The Frenzied Skeleton immediately mounted the bear, aimed for its head, and began to hammer down with its fists.
BANG! BANG! BANG!...
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! That's brutal! Tsk, I can't believe it's still not dead after all that." Liu Xingxing winced, a look of pity on his face, but his eyes shone with the light of a gossip-lover enjoying the show.
Li Ziyu glanced at Liu Xingxing and rolled his eyes. 'This kid has gone bad. Where's his compassion? How did he get so into watching the drama?'
He didn't order the Frenzied Skeleton to stop. He was furious.
'I've really seen it all now. My first time, too. A freshly summoned Undead actually turned on me. If it weren't for the Dark Skeleton and the Frenzied Skeleton, I might have had to respawn. I almost became a laughingstock.'
'The system said these guys were a little hard to control. A little hard? This isn't 'hard to control'—it's completely uncontrollable!'
The Frenzied Skeleton just got angrier the more it fought, as if it were the one being beaten up. The Soul Fire in its skull had become a raging inferno, constantly spewing out of its mouth, with sparks occasionally shooting from its nostrils.
'Huh, something seems a bit off with this guy's state, too.'
Li Ziyu didn't care if the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear died, but he couldn't have the Frenzied Skeleton causing more problems.
"Stop," Li Ziyu called out to the Frenzied Skeleton.
The Frenzied Skeleton's hands paused for a moment. It looked up at Li Ziyu, then back down at the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear beneath it. It gave the bear's head two more punches—BANG! BANG!—before finally hopping off and walking toward Li Ziyu, its body still radiating Frenzy Qi.
Before it could get close, the Dark Skeleton suddenly flashed in front of Li Ziyu, blocking the Frenzied Skeleton. Its black Soul Fire was fixed on him. The Frenzied Skeleton's appearance was just too over-the-top; there was no way to associate it with the word "harmless."
Blocked, the Frenzied Skeleton's Soul Fire flickered violently, showing signs of going berserk again. Fortunately, it quickly suppressed the urge and returned to its normal state. The Frenzy Qi slowly dissipated, and it reverted to its usual dumbfounded look.
Seeing the Frenzied Skeleton return to normal, the Dark Skeleton melted back into the shadows.
Li Ziyu raised an eyebrow. The Dark Skeleton's action just now hadn't been on his orders; it had acted on its own. 'This guy... is not so simple. Its intelligence seems to be much higher than that of other Undead.'
The Frenzied Skeleton took two steps forward, came before Li Ziyu, and thumped its chest, making a CLANG! CLANG! sound. Then it pointed at the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear, which was still cowering on the floor, and tilted its head back, looking immensely proud.
"Well done," Li Ziyu said with a smile, offering his praise.
Upon receiving praise, the Frenzied Skeleton looked even more smug. It gave a thumbs-up toward the shadows, then used its thumb to point at itself. Provoked, the Dark Skeleton immediately leaped out from the shadows. It looked at Li Ziyu, then at the Frenzied Skeleton, and started jumping up and down in frustration.
"You did a good job too," Li Ziyu said, feeling obligated to praise the Dark Skeleton as well.
'These two are like a couple of kids,' Li Ziyu mused. 'But having them around does make me feel safe.'
This incident successfully changed Li Ziyu's perception of the Dark Skeleton and the Frenzied Skeleton. He had originally thought of them as nothing but a pair of troublemakers. The system's Introduction had even stated that the Dark Skeleton was a very dangerous being, which was why he had never considered using the two Skeletons, opting to keep them benched.
But today's incident with the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear made him realize that these two Skeleton Undead were also loyal—at least toward him, they held no ill will. They were much better than that berserk Sharp Clawed Burst Bear.
Li Ziyu ignored the two Skeletons, who were overjoyed at being praised, and turned his gaze to the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear. His expression darkened.
'As an Undead, not only did it disobey my command, it even tried to attack me. This is a big deal. If all my future Undead are like this, then what's the fucking point?'
Li Ziyu opened the system page to check the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear's loyalty. It was bizarre. The value displayed was ∞. If the creature's loyalty had been low, reaching a rebellious Level, Li Ziyu could have accepted it. But for it to be infinite... 'Then why did it attack me? Did the system bug out?'
Regardless of whether it was a system error or not, he had no intention of keeping the Sharp Clawed Burst Bear. He didn't want a ticking time bomb by his side. If this happened again, even the Dark Skeleton might not be able to save him in time.