Chapter 4 · 10 min

Chapter 4

'Huff...'

I had no lungs to pant with, but my entire body buzzed as my joints trembled.

'Did my mana circuits overload...?'

It meant I'd gone all out just to kill a single wild dog.

'Even after such a trivial fight, my body...'

My left arm was completely shattered below the elbow and dangling uselessly, while my leg had deteriorated to the point where simply standing was difficult.

A miserable state.

The durability of a low-rank skeleton was truly hopeless.

'At this rate, I won't even make it ten steps before becoming another monster's meal.'

Forget escaping the forest. I was in danger of getting beaten to death by a passing slime.

That was when the corpse of the dead Black Hound entered my vision.

The body was still warm.

Beneath its taut hide, I could clearly make out the bulging contours of muscles that seemed ready to burst.

Supporting those powerful muscles had to be a skeleton perfectly designed to withstand the force of its explosive leaps.

[Precise Observation(EX) activates.]

[Transplantable bones detected.]

In that instant, its hide and muscles became translucent like a wireframe model.

The shape of the smooth, springy bones hidden inside its hind legs was laid bare.

A density on an entirely different level from my old, brittle bones.

Even the curved lines that perfectly absorbed impact and the mechanical structure of the joints designed to launch like springs were visible.

'The modeling on this is seriously incredible.'

Along with a pounding sensation, a system window appeared as expected.

[Bone Replacement(Lv.1)]

[Target: Black Hound Femur(Grade: Common)]

[Target: Black Hound Lower Leg Bone(Grade: Common)]

[Estimated increase in Agility upon transplantation]

'So I can pull out those leg bones and use them.'

[Would you like to replace them?]

The system window shimmered before my eyes as though tempting me.

Perhaps because they weren't human bones, there was no warning message or sense of rejection like before.

'I don't really feel guilty if they're monster bones.'

I reached out without hesitation.

Riiip, riiip.

Using the femur I'd been holding in place of a dagger, I roughly cut through the dead Black Hound's hind-leg hide, revealing smooth white bone buried beneath the red flesh.

'Wow, look at that shine.'

It was stained with dark red blood, but the luster radiating from within was on an entirely different level from my dry, brittle bones.

I pulled out the bones of its entire left leg. The vibrations of tough tendons snapping one after another traveled through my fingertips. It should have felt disgusting, but a strange thrill ran down my spine.

Now it was my turn. I grabbed my cracked, dangling left leg bones with both hands.

'Huuup.'

I had no lungs, so I couldn't actually take a deep breath, but I still needed to brace myself. Without hesitation, I applied force.

CRUNCH!

"...!"

No scream came out.

There was no pain either.

But the bizarre sensation of part of my own body being forcibly ripped away slammed through my entire frame.

The heavy, unpleasant vibration of the femoral head being pulled from the socket of my pelvis.

I tossed my useless leg into the bushes and pressed the Black Hound's blood-dripping leg bones into its place.

'Stick, please!'

[Unique Skill: Bone Replacement(Lv.1) activated!]

SSSSS.

The moment I aligned the joint socket, black smoke rose with a sound like welding.

As the bone of another species locked into my hip joint, fine threads of mana extended from the ends like blood vessels and wrapped around one another.

A strange pleasure ran through me as bone fused with bone and the severed mana circuits reconnected in a new configuration.

[Transplant successful!]

[First Skill Use Bonus!]

[Proficiency has increased, and 'Bone Replacement' has grown to Lv.2.]

[Proficiency in Skill: 'Beast's Leap(Lv.3)' has been inherited.]

'It worked.'

With trembling excitement, I carefully rose to my feet.

The world looked tilted.

My left leg now had the reverse-jointed structure of a beast, making it longer than my humanoid right leg.

That left me standing lopsided, but the springiness I felt the moment it touched the ground was completely different.

I barely put any force into it.

'Huh?'

A far stronger rebound than I'd intended kicked in. My body shot forward five meters in an instant.

I nearly lost my balance and crashed into a thick oak tree, but managed to grab the trunk, swing around it, and land.

'Whoa, transplanting bones brings the skills with them too.'

My jaw dropped open in silent amazement.

This was it. This elasticity, this explosive response speed.

It felt like I'd gone from driving a clunker to stepping on the accelerator of a sports car.

I guess becoming a skeleton didn't mean I was simply doomed to die.

'At this rate, I could replace my entire body.'

Greed began to stir. Conveniently, my left arm had been reduced to tatters when that thing bit it earlier.

As an experiment, I even stripped the bones from the Black Hound's front leg.

If the hind leg was this good, the front leg ought to be useful too.

'Let's see.'

I boldly removed my shattered forearm bones and pressed the beast's front-leg bones into place.

Tap.

But instead of attaching, the bone fell limply to the ground.

[Warning: Incompatible body part.]

[At your current skill level, the structure of this bone cannot replace an 'arm'.]

'Ah.'

A sigh escaped me. So I couldn't just shove in any bone I wanted.

'Structural similarity.'

That seemed to be the condition.

A human arm was meant to grasp and manipulate objects, while a dog's foreleg was meant to support weight and run.

Since their range of motion and roles were fundamentally different, they apparently weren't compatible.

'Then what about this?'

Just in case, I picked up the arm bone from the skeleton I'd used as bait earlier, which was lying nearby.

Since it came from the same humanoid skeleton type, its structure should have been perfectly identical.

But this time too, the bone failed to attach and bounced away.

[Warning: You have already acquired a bone from this individual.]

[You may acquire bones from the same individual only once.]

'...Ah.'

Come to think of it, I'd personally pulled out this guy's femur earlier to use as a dagger. Apparently that had already counted as an 'acquisition'. So the moment I physically pulled out a bone, it was simply counted.

'What a pain in the ass.'

In the end, there were two conditions. First, the bone needed to have 'structural similarity' to my body. Second, I could only take a bone from the same individual once.

'So there's no way I can pull out the Black Hound's right leg too.'

I'd thought it was a broken skill, but apparently it had its own balance patch built in.

That meant I'd have to make do with these grotesquely mismatched legs for a while.

Well, it was still a hundred times better than having a cracked leg.

'Let's move. The smell of blood will attract more of them.'

Using 'Beast's Leap', I awkwardly bounded through the forest.

Step with the right foot, spring off with the left. The rhythm was uneven, but I was fast.

Hop, hop.

Each leap sent the forest scenery rushing backward.

After traveling for some time, I heard a commotion beyond the nearby bushes.

"Kekeket! Hit him! Hit him!"

"Smash him! Bone bastard!"

It was the strange language of monsters. Yet I could naturally understand its meaning.

'...This really makes it sink in that I've become one of the monsters...'

For some reason, that made me feel a little miserable.

I hid myself in the bushes and activated [Precise Observation].

[Chief Green Goblin(Lv.6)]

[Green Goblin(Lv.5)] x 2

In the clearing, three green-skinned goblins were surrounding something and cackling.

The target they were beating with clubs was a skeleton like me, but it was considerably larger.

Two thick horns protruded from its skull, with broad shoulder bones, a frame as thick as logs, and a rib cage far larger than a human's.

[Orc Skeleton(Lv.8)]

A skeleton created from the bones of an orc.

Normally, an Orc Skeleton should have been able to tear apart three ordinary goblins without much trouble.

Yet that one couldn't even fight back properly and was simply taking the beating.

Even though the goblins were armed with nothing more than clubs made from animal bones and crude stone axes.

'Why is it just sitting there taking it?'

It held a worn axe in its right hand, but couldn't swing it properly. It seemed barely able to curl up and protect its vital areas.

[Precise Observation(EX) activates.]

Within the glowing white wireframe structure, a defective area marked in red caught my eye.

'Aha, dislocation of the right hip joint.'

The right femur was twisted out of the pelvic socket and hanging loose. With the axis supporting its weight compromised, it couldn't exert any strength.

It dragged its right leg while desperately raising its arms to block the goblins' clubs.

"Kikik! You idiot! Give us your bones!"

"We'll make soup out of you!"

The goblins rampaged excitedly.

'...'

Seeing another pile of bones get ganged up on while I myself was stuck in a bony body didn't feel great.

Maybe it was a sense of kinship.

Then my eyes fixed on the hand of the goblin that looked like the leader.

The heavy white club it was swinging. Looking more closely at it...

'That's an orc arm bone, isn't it?'

And a very sturdy, thick forearm bone in excellent condition at that.

My empty chest throbbed again. That was it. The perfect replacement part for my shattered left arm.

At that moment, the cornered Orc Skeleton raised its head.

The distinctive blue flames of a skeleton flickered within its empty eye sockets.

Its desperate gaze looked almost as though it were begging to be saved.

'Don't worry. I happen to need a left arm too.'

I lowered my body and put strength into my new left leg.

Like a spring compressed to its limit, explosive elasticity gathered in the limb.

"Heeheehee! Die!"

The Chief Goblin raised its club high over the Orc Skeleton's skull.

Whoosh-. The sound of air being cut.

But before the club could come down.

FWOOSH!

With the sound of my foot kicking off the ground, my body shot forward. The propulsion generated by the Black Hound's leg bones was beyond anything I'd imagined.

I closed the distance in an instant and landed on the goblin's back.

"Gwek?"

The goblin made a stupid sound as it turned around.

Its eyes widened into circles.

'What? Never seen a skull drop out of the sky before?'

Before it could resist, I drove the femur I was using as a makeshift dagger into its spine.

STAB!

"Gw, gwek...!"

A blow that pierced all the way to the heart. It toppled forward without even managing a proper scream.

"W-What?!"

"Has that pile of bones gone crazy?!"

The other two jumped in shock and readjusted their grips on their clubs. But they were already too late.

Because I was a proud gamer from the Republic of Korea who understood the importance of landing the first hit.

I snatched the club from the fallen Chief Goblin's hand—no, the 'Orc Forearm Bone'. Its satisfying weight settled into my grip.

'Nice grip.'

I leaped and spun my body, smashing the head of the confused goblin on the left.

CRACK!

A dull yet satisfying impact.

The goblin's neck bent at a grotesque angle as it slammed into the ground.

"E-Eek! R-Run away!"

The last remaining one stumbled backward in terror before turning to flee.

But I couldn't allow that. My experience points were running away.

I put strength into my left leg once more.

[Skill: Beast's Leap(Lv.3) activated!]

From above, the crown of the goblin's head was completely exposed.

I shifted the femur dagger into a reverse grip and dropped straight down with gravity behind me.

CRUNCH!

The moment my foot crushed down on its shoulder, the femur dagger pierced straight through its body from top to bottom.

It couldn't even scream properly before being skewered like meat on a spit and slammed into the ground.

[You have defeated the goblin group.]

[Your level has increased.]

[You have become Skeleton Soldier Lv.5.]

'Wow, that's a generous ruling.'

The Skeleton Soldier Is Good at Replacing Bones

Author:

Metdoyo

Publisher:

Jakga Dabang

Publishing Registration:

No. 2025-000022

Address:

3rd Floor, 50-9 Myeongmul-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Telephone:

02-313-7388

Email:

info@jakgadabang.com

ISBN/UCI:

G720:N+A475-20261015075

Publication Date:

October 23, 2026

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