It was a brutal, one-sided beating without any screams.
Although even Buhara and Uvogin joined in the assault, they had restraint, not letting the skeleton experience what true bone-breaking felt like.
In fact, even with the formidable physical strength of Uvogin and Buhara, using their full force could at most create a few fine cracks in the skeleton's bones.
This fact had been overlooked because of the skeleton's easy surrender.
But conversely, the skeleton truly couldn't break free from Stargie's binding Nen net.
Being at a disadvantage, the skeleton had no intention of resisting, letting the punches rain down continuously.
It still hurt, but this level of beating wouldn't make him lose calcium, so it was acceptable.
After hitting for a while, Shiro and the others stopped, feeling the bones were too hard, almost like they were at a disadvantage.
"Alright, now you get a chance to rephrase."
"I only know the Demon King was one of the participants in the Great Purge Operation, but I can't say what it actually is." The skeleton's tone held a touch of grievance.
"You've never seen the Demon King?" Ging caught the key point and frowned.
"I have."
"Brother, that's contradictory," Nobunaga said, tapping the skeleton's frame lightly with his Vein Stone long sword, as if testing which was harder: the sword or the skeleton's bones.
"Exactly. Since you've seen the Demon King and were turned into this state because of it, how could you not know what the Demon King is?" Buhara said righteously.
"You're trying to hide something?" Tonpa questioned.
"Bones, you better cooperate honestly, or you'll regret it," Nique said with a tone of someone who'd been through it.
Under such pressure from everyone, the skeleton felt helpless. He wasn't lying, but he didn't know how to explain.
"He isn't lying."
At that moment, Bruna proactively spoke up for the skeleton.
The Blu Tribe could not only establish communication bridges regardless of species but were also very sensitive to creatures' emotions. In short, they were natural lie detectors.
With Bruna's words, everyone naturally chose to believe, which made them even more puzzled.
The skeleton glanced at Bruna. Both before and now, he was very willing to get close to non-threatening species and was genuinely grateful to Bruna for speaking up for him.
"If you're willing to listen to some rambling, then I'll tell you. Before turning into this ghostly form, I was human too." The skeleton gathered his thoughts, though his prone position was undignified.
"Originally a dwarf?" Tonpa threw in a not-too-light jab.
The skeleton clenched his tooth club. If not for the Nen net binding him, he would've jumped up and smashed Tonpa's head in.
'Calm, calm!'
The skeleton chanted inwardly a few times, then ignored Tonpa and continued, "Maybe four or five hundred years ago, maybe seven or eight hundred. I don't remember clearly. Back then, my tribe lived in a valley, supporting each other with the Stone Tribe within the valley, jointly defending against external enemies."
Everyone looked at the skeleton, mentally prepared for a long story.
Even if the skeleton's subsequent narration might be rambling, their understanding of the Dark Continent was limited. Even ramblings could become important intel.
"Then one day, the Demon King came. I saw with my own eyes the Stone Tribe's bodies disintegrate in an instant… even the stone hearts within them weren't spared. In that short time, they turned to dust and vanished."
"At the time, I didn't realize what was happening. Then I saw my own flesh and blood..." At this point, the red dots in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered several times. He said gravely, "...flowing like water to my feet, then turning into wisps of blue smoke that drifted away with the wind."
"..."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
The skeleton continued, "When I came to my senses, I had already become this ghostly form. My tribespeople and the Stone Tribe were gone without a trace. In the suddenly empty valley, there was only a sound that seemed very harsh to the ears."
"I couldn't tell where the sound came from, but I wanted to understand what had happened, so I actively searched for the source."
"In the end, I finally found the sound's source but only saw a square shadow flash before my eyes. Along with the sound, it vanished into thin air. By then, the entire valley held only me."
"Honestly, even now, I don't understand why I survived."
"But I don't dwell on meaningless questions. Because here, every species' top priority is survival. So I left my homeland, just wanting to live longer, the longer the better."
"Then, I accidentally entered a human settlement. Fortunately, they accepted me. As for the Demon King and the melody, they were the ones who told me about them."
The skeleton specifically emphasized the kindness of that settlement's humans, then glanced at Tonpa, as if making a strong comparison.
Actually, back then, when he accidentally entered the human settlement, he was naturally seen as an intruder and got ganged up on by a group of people. Luckily, his bones were hard enough… otherwise, he would've been finished.
It was also because of this that he eventually managed to communicate with those humans and stayed there.
"The human settlement you mentioned, how did they describe the Demon King and the melody to you?" Ging asked.
"They were also vague. They said the Demon King was linked to 'order' and told me never to actively seek out the Demon King," the skeleton replied.
A gleam flashed in Ging's eyes. He then asked, "And afterward? You left that human settlement?"
"Yes." The skeleton paused and sighed, "One day, the settlement was invaded. The attackers were highly corrosive gaseous lifeforms. They came in swarms, ignored the good defense facilities, and easily caused the settlement to be wiped out overnight."
"Maybe because of my form, those gaseous lifeforms didn't attack me, so I luckily survived again."
"From then on, I understood that species with poor self-defense capabilities couldn't stay in one place for long. So I began wandering everywhere."
"Along the way, I encountered many species I could communicate with and witnessed quite a few tribes perish in a short time. So I absolutely wouldn't linger in one place too long. Coming underground this time was purely accidental."
"But what I didn't expect was that there were many beings like me here. I wanted to get close to them, but nearly got chewed up as bones. So I decided to settle down here."
"Huh?"
Tonpa and the others were stunned.
"To be honest, although I'm bones, I actually have dietary needs too. Because if I don't frequently supplement calcium, my body will fall apart and collapse. So I'm quite happy to chew it out with the big guys here."
"..."
Everyone was left speechless.
'So this was your reason for overturning past experience and deciding to settle here?'
"By the way, you guys are quite lucky. If you'd come two months earlier, you probably would've been finished," the skeleton suddenly said.
"What do you mean?"
"A few years ago, a jinx came here. It only left two months ago."
"Jinx?"
Upon hearing this, everyone quickly thought of the situation at the Slu Tribe's settlement.