Chapter 22: The Ossified Taste of Victory

The cortical shards cracked beneath Peace’s teeth before finally shattering altogether.

As the skeleton drove its sword down, the sudden imbalance caused it to tip forward, drop its Bone Sword, and tumble over Peace as well.

Peace tilted his head to watch as the skeleton slid into the three others clambering back up the slope towards him, all the while smashing their teeth together.

A sudden pain snapped Peace’s eyes forward.

The Bone Sword had landed in Peace’s thigh before the handle swayed, tearing free of his skin and falling onto the bone mound.

’Gerugh!’

Pain. Unimaginable pain erupted through his body.

Everything felt hot, while his abdomen was gripped by a static sensation that caused pockets of the heat to flare.

He wanted to cry out, but bits of bone were still in his mouth. Almost instinctively, he’d been chewing on them, crushing them into fine grains like chalk before swallowing.

Like with the Wisp of the Sun Drinker, he felt his body heal slightly. Although to a much lesser degree.

’Get up...’

His body didn’t heal enough to mend his ankle, gut, or thigh. But...

The miniscule heal was enough to ignite the ardent desire for life.

Peace rolled onto his stomach, causing blood to gush from the wound and splatter across the ossified ocean.

’I said get up!’

Through sheer force of will, Peace drove his hand into the bone mound and pushed. Then, he managed to grab a nearby femur and use it as leverage.

Now missing an ankle, the fallen skeleton wasn’t an issue, but the original two and the other one they’d aggroed had finally closed the gap.

He managed to drag himself upright just before the first Skeleton Warrior reached him.

"Aragh!"

Facing the detestable foes, Peace spat a mouthful of blood at the nearest one, then hurled the femur with all his meager might.

It smashed into the nearest of the three, but barely even slowed it down.

’Shit!’

Turning on his heel, Peace kicked into the bone and drove one leg after another, running up the Maw of Hell as fast as his battered body would allow.

He ran and ran, kicking loose bone after bone behind him in a feeble attempt to trip up his pursuers.

Finally...

’Get up, piece of shit!’

Peace arrived at the body of the Skeleton Warrior, which was still making rigid motions, yet to figure out why it wasn’t able to move properly.

Kneeling, he gripped the clavicle of the fallen skeleton and yanked it to its feet. Then, gripping its cervical spine, he dragged it between himself and his charging foes.

Relentlessly, the Skeleton Warriors unleashed attacks at Peace, either uncaring or unaware of the brethren he held haggardly in front of him.

Their swords bit into the skeleton one by one, but some strikes still found Peace on the other side of the hollow beast.

They lacerated his fingers and arms, while a few more carved into his torso...

To be honest, Peace didn’t seem long for the world.

Just when he felt his body was nearing ’E’ in the tank, Peace ripped out the bone locking down the Skeleton Warrior’s spine.

The creature creaked and groaned before springing into motion against its three compatriots.

Peace shot his situationship ally a bloody smile.

’Get them... Larry.’

It wildly attacked them, eventually drawing their attention away from Peace and onto itself.

Perhaps, ironically, their swords were terrible for taking down one another. Even if Larry would eventually be defeated by the three, he’d last a considerable amount of time given the skeletons weren’t smart enough to trade their Bone Swords for regular bones or use their limbs.

’Ah, damn...’

Peace huffed and swayed, nearly falling backward.

He’d finally managed to switch the aggro and buy time... but time for what?

Even if he momentarily escaped, he had already sustained too many injuries.

He would bleed out.

’I can’t... give up yet.’

Awkwardly, Peace shuffled through the ongoing skeleton battle, ignoring the possibility of danger.

As long as ’Larry’ lived, they wouldn’t attack him on purpose.

[Your health has dropped below 5%]

’Cold.’

Through slow shuffles, he managed to get past the group.

’It’s getting cold.’

He didn’t even pick up his feet anymore as he descended, sliding one foot forward after the other.

But the slow shuffle was enough.

Before him lay an unarmed skeleton that repeatedly tried to stand and leap towards its sword before falling over and sliding right back to where it began its struggle.

Before Peace could even consider the ramifications, he threw himself upon the beast.

Driven by no mental block, only an indomitable will, Peace straddled the bastard. He held its arms down with his hands while pinning its legs with his shins, then lowered his face towards its right shoulder.

The Skeleton Warrior floundered like a fish trying to knock Peace off, but the thing was way out of its weight class. Even if it was only fighting Peace’s dead weight, it had no muscle to drive its strength, and whatever power allowed it to move was waning.

In the end, all it could do was harmlessly chomp its teeth at him.

Peace’s own set of teeth clamped around the top of its humerus.

He bit down on the bulb with all his strength. There was some resistance, but his teeth broke through.

He’d managed to completely separate its arm.

Instead of instantly moving on to the next, Peace chewed and swallowed the chalky substance. Then, he bit another chunk from the humerus into his mouth.

It didn’t taste good.

It didn’t taste like anything.

The only taste Peace could give it was that of victory.

Little by little, Peace bit off chunks and swallowed the bone until he’d eaten the entire humerus.

After that, he began on the other.

He crushed through where it connected to the shoulder, chomping it down little by little. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Each time he swallowed, a little vitality returned to him, and color slowly returned to his skin.