Why reincarnate as a useless skeleton?

Velector had an addiction to power, no matter what kind. Whether it was political, economic, social, military, or simply personal strength, power was everything to him.

Despite not being born with the capabilities to be able to cultivate aura, the heavens had endowed him with two powerful magical eyes and superior physical abilities that gave him an overwhelming advantage against his opponents.

He was someone who was ambitious and liked to be above others. Reason why he had managed to train himself to the point of reaching a power equivalent to the 4th realm even if he was not an aura warrior.

In a short time, Velector managed to build a solid force in the underworld of the continent. He gained influence in the continental brotherhood, made connections, accumulated wealth, and enjoyed the best pleasures the world had to offer.

But for Velector, all those pleasures could not compare to the thrill of fighting an opponent of equal power. A fight of pure raw power, no magic items, no tricks or gimmicks, no weapons, just his body, and his natural skills.

The simple act of defeating his opponent using only the gifts heaven had bestowed upon him and the strength he had achieved was a pleasure that made his blood boil with excitement.

To see the despair on the faces of his opponents, when all their tricks against him failed and they realized that there was nothing they could do in the face of overwhelming power. For Velector, there was no greater pleasure than that.

However, most of the opponents Velector had faced in recent years were below his standards. Many of them were so weak that they couldn't even resist the effects of his magic eyes, so they were no challenge.

But now, even as brutal and savage-looking as he was in his draconid form, Velector was fully conscious and the feeling of his blood boiling from the desire to fight invaded his body.

Velector didn't care about the fact that his opponent was undead. To him, Marcus was the first person in a long time who had managed to hurt and thrill him to the point of making him use his draconic form.

No matter how many tricks, dastardly attacks, and items Marcus would use, Velector would overcome it all, to finally destroy his opponent and prove his superiority. Right now, that was all that mattered to him.

"ROOOAAAAAR!!!" Velector roared from the depths of his soul, letting out all his excitement and desire to fight, he looked at his opponent and charged straight at him, shattering and melting the ground beneath his feet.

But just as Velector was a couple of meters away from him, Marcus pulled out five magic scrolls from his [Storage], quickly opened them, and broke them in half all at once.

*Boom!*

At that same instant, dozens of magic runes manifested in the air, causing an explosion of light blue flames and black mist which began to swirl around Marcus. Slowly, the fire rose until it almost touched the ceiling.

This caused Velector to stop in his tracks.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room, which was like that of an oven, began to drop considerably as if a blast of gelid air had penetrated the room.

A couple of seconds later, the swirl of fire and fog vanished, leaving only a thin layer of frost in the areas where the flames had been and a colossal skeleton of almost two and a half meters (8.2ft) stood in what was the eye of the storm.

Its body was incredibly robust, there was not a single space between the bones that made up its body. Its limbs were wider than a human head and its entire body was covered in a blanket of cold, celestial flames.

Seeing this, Velector couldn't help but get excited and smile with emotion, this had certainly surpassed his expectations. It seemed that the battle had finally reached its climax.

At that instant, Velector concentrated all the energy of his body into his chest and intense burning flames began to build up in his throat. Finally, he opened his maw and spat out a huge stream of crimson fire, causing the air temperature to rise again to a hellish level.

But before Velector spat out his fiery breath, the huge skeleton raised his right arm, causing the light blue flames on his body to intensify and gather in his hand. Then, with his fist covered by the cold flames, the skeleton launched a blow with all his might towards the Draun's fire breath.

*BOOM!*

The blazing fire and freezing flames collided, counteracting each other, causing a loud explosion that made the entire room and (though they didn't know it) the streets of the slums shake and tremble.

The shockwave from the explosion pushed the air out of the room, causing the fire breath to disperse, extinguishing its flames and forcing Velector back a couple of steps.

But on the other hand, the skeleton had not moved from where it stood and the icy fire covering its colossal body still burned brightly. This instead of scaring or intimidating Velector only made him even more excited.

Velector instinctively put all his strength into his legs and without a second thought charged towards the skeleton at full speed. Then he extended his sharp claws and launched a blow at the skull of the undead.

At this moment, Velector's massive flame-shrouded figure looked like a hideous beast pulled from the abyss whose gaze only overflowed with madness and bloodlust.

However, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the skeleton blocked and deflected the claws with its left arm, causing Velector to lose his balance. Then, he closed his right fist and delivered a direct blow to the Draun's chest.

*BAM*

"Kuogh!" The skeleton's blow was so hard, it knocked all the air out of Velector's lungs and caused some damage to his internal organs. Then, his feet came off the ground and he was sent flying several yards until his body slammed into a wall, knocking it down in the process and being buried in a pile of bricks.

'Holy sh*t, that was awesome!'

During his time in the city, Marcus had spent almost all of his time studying and practicing magic, as well as attempting to create a magical artifact that would allow him to block the effects of solar energy so that he could fight to his full potential during the day.

Unfortunately, the creation, combination, and design of runes for the manufacture of magical artifacts was a complicated process that required a lot of practice and study time, things that Marcus didn't have.

However, not all his efforts had been wasted.

After his constant failures, Marcus had not only managed to charge Rehi's crystals with necrotic energy, but he had also learned how to draw and make the spell scrolls.

After his battle against Aylinor, Marcus had meditated on what happened and came to the conclusion that his magical abilities were insufficient to take on someone superior to the 3rd realm like the priest. This was mainly because his MP was too low to conjure high-level spells continuously.

So to solve this, Marcus could only put his trust in magical and enchanted items such as spell scrolls.

Although designing the scrolls from scratch on his own was practically impossible, if it was a matter of copying and following the instructions left in Bairus' book of necromancy, Marcus could do it with a relatively high success rate.

Therefore, before raiding the Black Lions' base, Marcus had manufactured a good number of spell scrolls in the short time he had.

In the case of the five scrolls he used, Marcus had specially crafted them in case he faced opponents with superior physical abilities and who had resistance against magic.

The [Great Bone Armor] increased his defense and strength, the [Mantle of Gelid Fire] protected him from Velector's flames, and the other scrolls improved his strength and agility.

However, the effect of the scrolls was not unlimited, so the spells would only last for five to seven minutes before fading away.

"Hehehehe..." Velector's laughter rang throughout the room and in that instant, the pile of bricks he was buried in began to turn bright red until it melted. Then from within the pool of magma, he emerged "I definitely felt that."

*Puit*

Velector spat out some blood, which evaporated before he fully stood upright.

"Hahaha, but that's okay. If it didn't hurt a little, then this would be boring. COME ON, SHOW ME EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT, AND WE'LL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!"

'Alright idiot lizard, let's beat the sh*t out of you!'

....

{Monarch of the eternal garden: Ha, good thing I made nachos for the occasion}.

....

'Sigh. Seriously, Why do you always have to ruin the moment?'

"GRAAAAAA!!!" Without waiting for another second, Velector simply kicked the ground beneath his feet and charged towards Marcus. He too didn't think twice before running towards the Draun, causing the whole place to shake every time one of the two giants took a step.

*Bam Crack*

When they were finally within a step of each other, they each stomped the ground with the full weight of their bodies, so hard that the rock cracked, forming huge spiderweb-like cracks that spread across the ground. Then, they both clenched their fists and punched each other.

*BAM!*

A great clatter shook the entire room as the two fists engulfed in fire clashed, repelling each other.

A blink later, an exchange between a barrage of blows, each with terrifying force and speed, one gelid and the other scorching, began and the very foundations of the entire place shook as if an earthquake was occurring.

*Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam.*

In a few seconds, each of them had delivered, blocked, dodged, and exchanged more than a hundred blows, so fast, that their moving arms could only be distinguished as blurred figures. However, none of them was willing to retreat even a millimeter of ground.

Beneath them, the ground was still cracking, melting, and freezing continuously as the scaled fists with crimson flames and bony fists wreathed in icy fire clashed again and again without ceasing.

Despite how fast the exchange of blows was, at times Marcus could feel as if time around him was slowing down, managing to perceive every detail to his surroundings.

The splinters of bone flying off his body and Velector's boiling blood in the air every time their fists collided, his opponent's breathing, the ground constantly melting and freezing under his feet and the dust floating around him.

It was a feeling of excitement and exhilaration simply indescribable, such as he had never felt in his previous life and after his reincarnation.

Soon, the cracks that formed in the floor began to spread throughout the room, covering and fracturing the pillars until they reached the ceiling, causing brick fragments to break off.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA... Yes, excellent, I haven't had this much fun in ages! Hahaha, but before I kill you, please tell me, what's your name?"

"Why don't you shut the f**k up, motherf**ker." Marcus replied angrily, then raised his fist and punched Velector's face which made him stagger and spit blood containing a couple of teeth.

However, the Draun quickly regained his balance and continued his barrage of punches without stopping.

"Hahaha, I can feel it in your every move. The force behind your blows, your every attack!" Velector dodged a blow and landed an attack on Marcus' chest causing it to crack.

"You feel it too, don't you? The thrill, the pleasure of fighting, you're enjoying this too!" his voice no longer reflected the calmness and serenity that it had with which he had spoken at the beginning. Now his voice only reflected madness and a brutal bloodlust.

'Kgh, shut the f**k up already!'Although Marcus found the Draun's voice somewhat irritating, he didn't have the luxury of being distracted by something like that.

Even though Marcus was able to match Velector's stats thanks to the spell scrolls, the truth was that he was at a disadvantage.

Their stats may have been about equal, but the Draun had greater melee experience, so he soon got used to the rhythm of Marcus' blows.

About a minute after the exchange of blows began, Marcus was overtaken by Velector's attacks and backed up a step. Thirty seconds later he retreated another step and one more ten seconds after that.

Slowly but surely, Marcus was being overwhelmed by the Draun's blows that impacted his body and was forced to lose ground every second. By the time the exchange of attacks reached four minutes, his back was only a meter away from the wall.

*Bam Crack*.

At that same instant, Velector's right fist struck Marcus' left arm causing it to shatter into hundreds of bony fragments. Without pausing, the Draun launched a swift kick towards Marcus' legs, breaking them in a single blow.

"GRAAAAAA!!!" Before his opponent's body hit the ground, Velector closed his fist and punched Marcus' chest causing it to fracture into pieces.

*Bam...Bam...Bam...Bam...Bam.*

The force of the impact caused Marcus to be pushed backward and crash into the wall, collapsing it on the spot. His body went through a total of five brick walls before finally stopping and falling to the ground.

Then, the [Mantle of Gelid Fire] was extinguished, the [Great Bone Armor] covering his body cracked into black mist that dispersed into the air, and the spells reinforcing his body vanished. Finally, only he remained. His legs were broken, as was his left arm and all his ribs were fractured.

In an attempt to recover, Marcus opened his [Storage], took out another spell scroll, and placed it on his chest. But before he could open it, Velector's figure emerged from between the hole in the wall.

"Hahaha, that was amazing! To tell you the truth I must thank you, I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I'm honestly tempted to forgive you for what you did to my subordinates." Velector said with arrogance and glee as he walked towards Marcus.

Velector kicked Marcus' arm causing the spell scroll to slip from his hand and rested his foot on his already fractured rib cage "But you took my magic eye. So don't even think about getting out of here alive."

*crack*

Then the Draun pushed his foot down, pressing down on Marcus' body causing him to crunch as the flames from the sole of Velector's foot slowly burned and destroyed his enchanted armor.

It was clear that Velector wanted to enjoy torturing Marcus some more before killing him.

"Kukuku, what? You're just going to suffer in silence? You seriously don't plan to say anyt... Cough... Cough... Cough...Cough...Blargh." At that moment, while gloating over his victory, Velector started coughing and suddenly vomited a large amount of black blood from his mouth.