Chapter 69: The Field of Bones

After the battle was finally over, Neo walked toward the fallen Direfang, kneeling down beside its massive body. He carefully began tearing off sections of the thick, plate-like skin. He’d noticed how well it had held up against his ice blades, and skin that durable would fetch a solid price in any market. More importantly, it could be reforged into armor or weapons far tougher than anything ordinary steel could offer.

Once he’d gathered what he needed, along with the small, pulsing mana core still resting inside the beast’s chest, Neo decided it was finally time to leave the cave behind. He stepped out into the open forest, the warm morning air and thick greenery a welcome change from the damp, bloody cave.

He still had no idea where he actually was, or how he was supposed to find his way back home. He walked without much direction at first, his thoughts drifting toward his family. His parents, Evelyn, Yuki. And Nora.

He had no way of knowing just how badly his disappearance had shattered every single one of them.

He pushed through dense bushes and low-hanging branches for what felt like hours, eventually reaching a wide field thick with tall grass, easily as tall as a grown adult. With no clear road or path in sight, he decided to simply push forward in a straight line, letting a thin edge of mana gather along his palm to slice through the stalks blocking his way.

Then, a foul, rotting smell hit him.

Neo wrinkled his nose, cutting through the last stretch of grass, and stepped out into a smaller clearing.

His irritation vanished instantly, replaced by something far colder.

Bones lay scattered everywhere across the clearing, some old and bleached white, others still clinging to strips of rotting flesh that a few carrion birds were picking apart. Dried trails of blood streaked across the flattened grass, long since turned dark and brittle.

’What the hell is this place?’

He stepped closer, studying the remains carefully. Most of the skeletons belonged to magical beasts, some recognizable, others twisted into shapes he’d never seen before. But his gaze eventually landed on something else entirely.

A human skeleton.

He crouched down, inspecting it from a careful distance. His suspicion was confirmed almost immediately. It wasn’t just one either. Several more human remains lay scattered a short distance away, half buried beneath the overgrown grass.

’Did some beast do this? Or is something else going on here?’

Broken, rust-eaten swords and shattered shields lay near the bodies, along with pieces of corroded armor still clinging to the bones beneath. Neo reached forward and brushed away the dust covered across one breastplate, revealing a faded but still recognizable emblem.

A golden lion wrapped around a crown.

His blood ran cold.

"That’s the royal family’s crest, These were royal knights. What the hell were they doing all the way out here? How did they even die like this?"

No answer came, only the eerie silence of the clearing, broken occasionally by the soft rustle of feeding birds.

Neo stood back up slowly, glancing around the field with a wary, unsettled expression. He had no idea what other dangers might be lurking nearby, whatever had killed an entire company of royal knights certainly wasn’t something to take lightly. Without wasting any more time, he turned and pushed forward, moving quickly through the tall grass, determined not to linger any longer than necessary.

He’d barely gone another hundred paces when a heavy, guttural growl rumbled from somewhere ahead.

Neo froze, instinctively calling up the system.

[Ding!]

[Do you want to Appraise the target?]

[Y/N]

He clicked yes, watching as a massive, bear-like creature emerged from the treeline ahead, its thick brown fur matted with dried mud, curved claws easily the length of daggers extending from each of its massive paws.

[Name: Ridgeback Crusher]

[Type: Magical Beast]

[Level of Threat: Moderate]

[HP: 1800/1800]

[Description: A territorial predator found throughout mid-tier forest regions. Known for its brute strength and thick hide.]

Neo let out a restrained breath, the tension in his chest easing only slightly.

’Weaker than the Direfang, at least. But that doesn’t mean I can afford to get careless.’

The creature let out another rumbling growl before charging forward with surprisingly fast for its size, one massive paw swinging out in a wide, sweeping arc aimed straight at his torso.

Neo sidestepped just in time, though the sheer force behind the swing sent a sharp gust of pressure slicing through the air, tearing clean through his sleeve and leaving a shallow, stinging cut along his forearm.

’Damn, those claws are stronger than they look.’

He didn’t give the beast a chance to recover its stance. He immediately condensed every ounce of available mana directly into his palm, compressing it tightly until it practically hummed with barely contained pressure, and drove his fist forward in a single, decisive punch straight into the creature’s exposed chest.

A massive, jagged shard of frost erupted instantly from the point of impact, tearing violently through the beast’s body before bursting clean out through its back in a spray of ice and blood.

The Ridgeback Crusher’s eyes rolled back, its massive frame swaying unsteadily for a brief moment before collapsing heavily onto its front knees, then toppling sideways onto the grass with a final, shuddering breath.

Neo lowered his hand, exhaling slowly, before stepping calmly past the fallen creature without so much as a second glance, continuing forward through the dense forest, his mind already focused on finding some way, any way, back toward home.

Neo pushed on through the thinning treeline, the adrenaline from the fight slowly fading, leaving behind only the dull ache in his arm and the growing exhaustion he’d been ignoring since he woke up by the river.

’Two magical beasts in one day. Whatever this place is, it’s definitely not somewhere normal people wander into by accident.’

He glanced up at the sky through the gaps in the canopy, trying to judge how much daylight he had left. The sun was already sliding westward, casting long shadows between the trees. If he didn’t find some kind of landmark soon, he’d be spending another night out here with nothing but his inventory rations and whatever luck he had left.

He pressed a hand briefly against the cut on his forearm, letting a thin trickle of mana seep into the wound. It wasn’t much, nothing close to proper healing magic, but it was enough to slow the bleeding and dull the sting a little.

He kept walking, weaving between the trees, his senses stretched as wide as he could manage, listening for any sign of movement, any hint of another predator, or better yet, any sign of human civilization. The deeper he went, the more the forest seemed to swallow every trace of sound beyond his own footsteps, the eerie quiet pressing in around him like a weight.

Somewhere behind him, the field of bones remained undisturbed, its silent mystery left completely unsolved, one more unanswered question added to the growing list Neo was quietly starting to fear he might never fully unravel.