Hours had passed since things were set in motion. By this point, night had already set. Ed chose to assimilate grass rope. He found it while walking back home and began to wonder if the flexible grass rope would net him any dexterity.
He was a bit surprised to find such a thing existed, Duma's settlement was unexpectedly advanced when compared to other settlements. But it was a good thing. In the end, he gained two dexterity stats. As the grass was already dead he couldn't gain any vitality from it.
Increasing his dexterity also helped Ed improve his axemanship. After a couple of swings, he could feel the improvements and the skill had leveled up once more. Overall, it was all very productive.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 1200/1200
Mana: 272
Vitality: 8
Strength: 6
Agility: 2
Constitution: 8
Dexterity: 3
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Assessment lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Assimilation lvl. 5] -Show info-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 1] -Show info-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-
[???] -Show info-
[Instinct lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 6] -Show info-
[Axemanship lvl. 5] -Show info-
[Eloquence lvl. 2] -Show info-
Ed only took a quick peek at the status window. He was only trying to see how everything was holding up. The system link skill was once more concealed but as he didn't have any consciousnesses to offer it didn't matter. Thus, he simply continued walking home.
'I don't know what's taking those adventurers so long but I am thankful' Ed thought sincerely. The things he had achieved in the past few days were really not much. But whenever he thought back to his previous life, as vague as it was, he felt a sense of accomplishment.
Ed reached his house and the first thing he did was sit on his bed.
He decided to rest his body by meditating, Getting more mana was just as important as axe fighting. Assimilating crystals was much more efficient but he found that to be ultimately a waste. With his current mana capacity, he would only be saving himself 3 or 4 hours. Which, while great, would make him lose out on attributes that he couldn't acquire easily through training.
However, not even a minute went by before he felt his concentration break. The reason was simple…
[Recalling Champion's soul]
Ed's consciousness started to fade and his relaxed body instead became limp. He fell back on his bed knocked out for good.
Once he recovered, he was surrounded by the boundless darkness. There was a precedent so Ed instantly recognized what was going on.
[10 minutes before respawn]
And the glowing message that appeared in front of him also reaffirmed this.
'The adventurers must have turned back then' Ed thought curiously. Their initial purpose was either not to clear the dungeon or the boss had actually given them a run for their money,
'This is better for me' Ed thought confidently. He would be able to assess the adventurers' numbers and strength before they could get to the plains. This was obviously to his benefit as it could help reduce casualties on the orc side.
Plus, if he was lucky, he would be able to level up. The previous confrontation could be said to have been enlightening. He already had a couple of ideas on how to better improve his set up. Of course, everything would still depend on the adventurer's level as the power gap was simply too overwhelming.
'I'll wait patiently, it's a good idea to try and see if I can come up with more countermeasures.' Ed said inwardly. Usually, he would skip the waiting process if he possible but this could be his last confrontation. It wasn't a good idea to rush things.
'So let's just wait' Ed's consciousness floated pensively in the dark abyss.
***
Many hours later, Samuel had led the company-sized party all the way to the third floor.
They had faced many treacherous traps or at least the C-class adventurers had. Since Clarys came along there weren't any injuries that couldn't be healed, not to mention the experience and awareness of Drake and Samuel. There were zero casualties all-around.
"The tunnels don't seem to have been tampered with…" Samuel muttered at the front.
Nobody was willing to fall for the same trick twice. Samuel constantly checked his maps as well as just his memory to make sure they always traveled on the right path. This could mean that the special skeleton didn't spawn or it was trying a different strategy and Samuel was sure it was the latter.
"There aren't any skeletons around here" Said Christian, one of the few B-class adventurers and party supervisor.
"That's normal. We might have to face that strong cannon fodder near the boss room again." Drake explained in a weird manner.
"Don't underestimate it" Samuel warned. Since the abnormal skeleton learned from its previous experience it was bound to hit them much harder this time. As such, he didn't dare to lower his guard.
The party was exiting a hallway when they were forced to a halt by a shout,
"Pitfall!" Yelled a group of C-class earth mages almost in tandem.
They were overall not as good as having a B-class mage but the small group was evidently still pulling through.
"Reinforce it then" Samuel said in return. The mages nodded and the ground was secured. It seemed that the skeleton didn't give up on the pitfalls Samuel thought before giving the order to advance. But as soon as they passed over the area...
The floor trembled slightly, Samuel instantly looked up and saw what seemed to be falling earthen stakes. He immediately jumped into action.
In one swift move, Samuel unsheathed his new sleek green sword and lashed out towards the incoming projectiles before they had a chance to fall on a large area of the group.
The casualties would be less than 20 or so since the hallways were actually quite narrow for a party of 100 or so adventurers. Nevertheless, Samuel preferred to keep the number at zero.
With a swish, his sword seemed to cut through the air. The adventurers expected the falling stakes to be slashed in half and were hence minding their heads. Surprisingly, that wasn't what Samuel cast at all!
Raging gusts of winds blew the stakes away, the winds speed and strength was still worthy of the sharp cut. The stakes simply broke apart after hitting a wall on the side of the large room they were walking into.
"We will have to be more careful. Remember to always stay alert." Samuel yelled to the terrified C-class adventurers. The ones in the danger zone were especially willing to listen. Being at the front didn't seem like such a good thing all of a sudden. They were envying those at the back who were being guarded by the B-class adventurers.
They faced multiple similar traps as they continued moving forward. Based just on memory and the map, Samuel knew that they would soon reach the boss gate.
"Stop!" Samuel yelled. All of the adventurers were now inside of a very large room. It could accommodate all of them even if a bit crowded. The real problem was something else though…
"We are surrounded! Anyone who knows skills capable of blocking off passageways do so right now!" Samuel shouted the reason for their stop as well as the first order that came to mind.
They were currently surrounded by weak skeletons so his reaction could be said to be excessive. But the large rectangular room had as many as ten entrances!
Some of the adventurers heeded the message like the small group of earthen mages he assembled who blocked off the front entrances.
"Samuel! What's going on?" Christian asked warily with a hold on his sword.
"There should be a threat coming from one of the many hallways. If we seal them up the threat will have to break the sealed off corridors to enter alerting us of its presenc-" Samuel was quickly explaining his thought process but the sound of an explosion took his attention.
Things were messy. B-class adventurers were fairly well disciplined but C-class adventurers could be summed up as mostly being filled with talented beginners or failures.
They weren't trained by the Freedom Union, they were either affiliated with it or just freelance adventurers. Most had probably not undergone any sort of proper training. Keeping such a bunch under control was already troublesome. Doing so for such a large group could be said to be an insurmountable task.
That is to say, friendly fire was likely to happen. He needed to try and take hold of the bunch somehow.
He unsheathed his sword and prepared to do a move he hadn't done in a good bit. The main reason was that his previous sword could only afford to do it a couple of times in a row before showing signs of damage.
With this new one, however, such a thing shouldn't happen. He also decided to take inspiration from Augustus. While his preparation wouldn't be as exaggerated it would definitely be attractive.
He had already unsheathed his sword and raised it into the air. All of a sudden, the wind in the surrounding started to converge towards him. His green sword started to glow furiously as more and more wind coated its blade. It wasn't a bad glow, it was the opposite. The sword yearned for more.
Samuel instantly became the center of attention. Some of the C-class adventurers who were stuck in the middle and therefore lost had the luxury to look towards his direction.
"Block those entrances!!!" He yelled pointing with his sword at a couple of leftover openings.
Samuel then grimaced. He needed to release the wind he converged onto his sword but for some reason… there was no target!
Did he get pranked? He could see waves of skeletons rushing in through the opened entrances so where was the smart one?