Chapter 21
The hall fell into a complete silence.
The temple guards looked bewildered. Dropping an entire room with one spella Necromancer was clearly not one to mess with. The temple was at fault here, and after reluctantly reaching an agreement with the mage for compensation, they were about to let the issue slide when this fellow just had to pick on the skull of the opposing party!
Was he out of his mind?!
Young priest John started to open his mouth, hands raised swiftly to cover it. A soft "woo-woo" sound escaped, freckles on his face distorting, almost protruding.
Spearman Raymond gaped, shield-bearer Vali widened his eyes, and archer Tom, with his fiery red hair, seemed on the verge of combusting...
"Garrett, snap out of it!
This is a Necromancer, a Necromancer! What are you fussing about the skull for? A perfectly fine child, raised by everyone, and how did a little enlightenment from the deity of nature turn you so peculiar?"
Priest Donald lay face-up, pinned down by a large cat, not daring to move. The cat on him, however, lifted its head, its golden eyes swirling as it glanced at Garrett, then the golden skull, its tail swishing, brimming with curiosity.
Pets being like this, naturally, piqued the interest of the Necromancer. Taking a step forward, he lifted his gaze to the skull, then bent to inspect the pelvic bone. Left, right, couldn't figure it out, turned to Garrett and asked:
"...How do you even read this?"
"It's simple!"
Garrett replied without hesitation:
"See, this skull..."
The golden skull was quite tall, making Garrett stretch a bit. The skull twisted to "look" at him, then suddenly lifted its own head, holding the skull and offering it to Garrett. Flames flickered in its dark eye sockets, gazing eerily from within the skull's palm, fixated on him.
Garrett: "..."
Please, not this way, this makes me feel like Alexander...
He tried to compose himself. As long as the skull couldn't change its gender on its ownthere's a point to be made.
Of course, anatomical features in other worlds might differ, that's a whole other issue.
He refrained from reaching out and instead sidestepped, gesturing towards the skull as he spoke confidently:
"Look at the frontal bone and the top. It's curved here; in females, the forehead is vertical and the top is flat. Also, the brow ridge, it's pronounced and has several tiny holes, see? In females, the brow ridge isn't pronounced, and there are hardly any holes. Then the nasal root..."
Content from his Forensic Medicine course during his third year flowed fluently, without omission.
Normally, he would have forgotten it long ago.
Finished the exam, forgotten.
After all, he studied clinical medicine, not forensicsa non-essential subject, not worth keeping in memory.
But now, he recalled it vividly, every page, every line, the diagrams in the textbook.
Garrett even remembered the silly face he drew in the corner of the page.
It seems, along with the journey, there might be some unexpected benefits...
Just a little bit delighted ^_^
With the hope of surviving smoothly after crossing, there's a bit more, hey!
Good news always lifts spirits. Garrett, unknowingly, curled his lips, his pace of explaining to the Necromancer and the golden skull quickened, his tone growing gentler. Unconsciously, he adopted the demeanor of a senior physician teaching students in the medical school.
With this increased pace, the skull remained expressionless (not that it could express), only the flames within it, previously shimmering, now absolute stillness. It seemed to have completely given up, treating itself as an emotionless display rack;
Meanwhile, ripples appeared in the Necromancer's eyes. Legs trembling, seemingly on the verge of collapsing...
"Ah, we're done with the skull, let's examine the pelvic bone..."
Garrett poked the skull on its head, then again. It took the skull a moment to react, hastily readjusting itself. Satisfied, Garrett nodded, then bent to inspect the pelvic bone:
"This is the hip bone. The pubic symphysis is this wide, this flat, the angle definitely exceeds 90 degrees, absolutely female. Tsk, let's turn it around and see if there are traces at the backaha, this woman has given birth!"
He bent, the Necromancer followed suit. He bent further, the Necromancer followed. He twisted his neck to look up after bending, the Necromancer...
The Necromancer straightened, raising his left hand and snapped his fingers.
Clatter-clatterjust a moment ago, the upright golden skull collapsed in a heap right in front of Garrett.
Garrett jumped back!
Why did this thing collapse? Lost its magic? But then again, it doesn't have joints, ligaments, or muscles on those bones; it should collapse, not stand...
He speculated, then saw the metacarpals, radius, vertebrae, ribs, like a slow-motion sequence from an animated demonstration, autonomously assembling. Vertebrae stacked up, ribs attached front and back, scapulas on the sides, arms and fingers stretching out...
Finally, a half-headed skull lay straight on the ground. One hand on the floor, the other groping around, finding its own pelvic bone, shakingly raising it.
Garrett: "..."
Is it because we were too tired from bending and looking, it disassembled itself to show us?
But this height isn't enough!
He glanced at the Necromancer, who looked back. After a moment of staring, the Necromancer snapped again; the toe bones, tibia, femur of the lower half of the skull began to connect...
The lower half stood on the ground. The upper half, headless, extended a hand, grabbed the femur, yanked itself up, then dropped it. A skeletal hand held the pelvic bone, the other hand dug in the ground, finding the skull, and raised it identically...
Then, the upper half, without the pelvic support, wobbled and fell to the side.
Thud.
"Meow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow"
A loud cat's cry. Garrett turned, seeing the black cat with white boots leaping off the priest's body. Its tail slapped the ground, rolling around, paws in the air...
Hey, laughing like this is going too far! You're just a cat!
The Necromancer couldn't contain it anymore. He tapped his bone staff, restored the golden skull to its original state, then gestured forward, the deepest part of the hall revealing a passage. He twitched his facial muscles, managing a smile:
"Shall we go in?"
Garrett happily nodded. The Necromancer stepped forward, the black cat swaying its tail, leading the way, the golden skull clattering behind. Just a few steps outside, the Necromancer abruptly stopped, coldly shouting:
"You lot! None of you think of running!"
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