Inside of its body were barriers. No, there were pillars. Pillars made out of its own being. For it was everything and everything was it.
RAAAAARRRRGHHHH
It was therefore angered. It, therefore, felt betrayed. The only thing that was not itself was the only thing giving it problems.
Its mind was thrown into disarray and its power became chaotic. Why?
It was scared. There were pillars. Pillars were meant as support.
The space around it suddenly began to compress and the power which squeezed it in its entirety forced it to suffer unprecedented pain.
A feeling it had long forgotten. For what could harm it when it was so mighty? No, when it was so protected, so guarded.
Almost instinctively, the pillar was mended and the likely culprit was the intruder. This was no question.
It watched but soon found the thing was merely curious.
Yes, it had learned of this. Human curiosity. The bane and boon of humanity. But…!
It was not only them that knew to be curious, for it had learned this too.
So it thought.
…
It thought with a mind intent on trying.
…
But nothing changed.
Though it had been keen on storing and preserving its power, the small scuffle had caused it a significant loss.
It was a loss that couldn't be easily recovered from. At least not without a sudden influx of ener-
…
There was something.
It was beyond elated. Yes! This was precisely what it needed!
With pure excitement, it watched and waited for the foreign life to kill the humans and for it to then reap the reward for its patience.
…
…
But, wait was all it did.
How could that be!?! Where was its boon!? Where was…
So it thought and a thought dawned upon it once it had. For it had long since learned to reach an epiphany.
It was weak. No, not it, for what could harm it when it was so mighty? No, it was life. It was weak.
The foreign invader, the unwelcomed guest, the visitor from another missus. It couldn't kill the humans.
It was incensed, No, not the foreign life. IT was angered.
But how could it not? The thing that had the cheek to ask for its support was not pulling its own weight?
It had to take matters into its own non-existent appendage.
Its pillars were a restriction but the gates that bound itself together was akin to its territory. The remnant of a successful operation.
'I don't want to die!' This cry for help was not unique. There were many like it in the hectic scene. Yet, this was the one!
It did what it had to and with the help of its favorite tool a new killing toy had arrived to be used and consumed.
It was happy with the plan, it would be happy with the outcome.
Or so it thought… it should have long since learned that things were bound to lead to disappointment.
RAAAAARRRRGHHHH
The spatial disturbance it had assumed was taken care of had once again sprouted.
It panicked! It had worked hard to store and conserve energy for this moment but the previous incident had left it lacking!
It was once more frightened.
But it calmed down, for it long since knew to control its emotions.
…
It pondered deeply on what to do as the stable space around itself began to destabilize and its progress was slowly being lost.
…
…
It had to wait. It had to wait for the good news. It had to trust the life and the useful tool it had just created.
Until then… It had to use what it could to try and force a breakthrough!
***
The earth rumbled and shook back and forth before slowly beginning to calm down. Once it did, tranquility returned to the boss room.
Nonetheless, this peace was short-lived.
Gwydion's flames were doused but the new lesser lich was not discouraged. On the contrary, its enmity was enlargened. It instantly began to chant hate-filled words!
'This is looking bad' Ed wasn't sure why exactly the earth had shaken. He could assume that perhaps the dungeon's interference had somehow resulted in some backlash. Still, what Ed knew was that liches were supposed to be smart.
'Gwydion won't survive at this rate' But the furious lesser lich was Ed's last hope.
'St- Status!' In a moment of desperation, Ed had no choice but to try and come up with things to do!
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Skeleton
Health: 325/900
Mana: 2/260
Strength: 7
Agility: 5 (+1)
Constitution: 8
Dexterity: 5
~Skills:~
[Adept Throwing lvl. 5] -Show-
[Swordsmanship lvl. 1] -Show-
[Hoarding lvl. 8] -Show-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 8] -Show-
[Transmission lvl. 6] -Show-
[Explosion Resistance lvl. 1] -Show-
[Assessment lvl. 2] -Show-
[Assimilation lvl. 7] -Show-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 1] -Show-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 8] -Show-
[System Link lvl. 3] -Show-
[Eloquence lvl. 4] -Show-
[Sixth Sense lvl. 1] -Show-
[Crystallize lvl. 8] -Show-
[Instruction lvl. 3] -Show-
[Requiem lvl. 1] -Show-
[Body Recollection lvl. 2] -Show-
Ed swept his gaze past the entire window. He only stopped and froze for a moment after seeing his single best skill.
'System link!' Ed didn't hesitate a single second before immediately jumping right into his mind.
Upon entering his mind, Ed was met by a weird sight. There was no cutscene. There was no light. The boundless white space had become an endless grey space. It was dull.
[Due to Emergency Circumstances, System is in stealth mode]
Ed was about to ask why but the glowing message that appeared before him was much quicker.
'Emergency circumstances…' Ed was puzzled. Was he enough to warrant the system's risk-taking? Or could it be that there was something much more important hidden below the surface?
'Nevermind that, what can you do to help me?' Ed had come in here with a couple of ideas but most of them required him to have his arms, spirit insertion didn't work well without them.
[Nothing]
',,,' Ed was now wondering why the system was risking itself for nothing.
But this lasted only a moment. Ed was far more concerned about the situation outside and how far it would deteriorate with every passing second.
With no choice, Ed will his body to have teeth so that he could grind them in frustration.
'Show me the storeroom!' Ed shouted inwardly hoping to find something there.
After only a second, a room rose up from the grayed-out ground. This room was none other than the storeroom.
Ed dashed right in and glanced around hurriedly before finding exactly what he needed.
'System, is there a way to take out items without having them fall out randomly?' Ed's spirit insertion did not work very well without hands. That didn't mean it didn't work at all.
Plus, the main reason he said it didn't work was that it was a struggle to put together a skeleton with nothing but his legs. If the system gave a positive answer then Ed had a chance.
[Acquiring 'Area Withdrawal' costs one orc consciousness. Y/N]
'Yes!' Ed was annoyed it even asked during an emergency but he said dared not utter this complaint.
[Taking offerings…]
The system soon began to work its magic. Surprisingly, Ed wasn't kicked out, however.
Still, that was a good thing. He was able to spend his time quickly sorting through the smart piles of bones to assemble the skeletons he would summon for the occasion.
'What better place to hide the anti-skeletons than my head?' Ed had hidden all of his anti-skeletons inside of the system space. He originally planned on leaving some behind but soon realized it wasn't plausible. There was too large a room for error.
For example, what if he didn't kick back the adventurers in the orc plains, and when they retreated they were at full strength? That would mean that the help that anti-skeletons could have provided would have been wasted instead.
Ed's anti-skeletons were quickly formed.
[Iron (Windstone Deathknight)]
[Gold (Golden Age Deathknight)]
[Pioneer (Anti-skeleton)]
[Prairie (Anti-Skeleton)]
[Scaven…]
All of Ed's anti-skeletons were built before him as lifeless skeletons inside of the storeroom. It sounded stupid but it was indeed the case. None of them had their consciousnesses inside of them after all.
[Expelling User]
'W- Wait!?!' The sudden message caught Ed off guard but he hastily used the Area Withdrawal upgrade before being promptly kicked out by the system.
Once outside, he saw a magnificent sight.
'Wha- What happened here?' Ed had spent less than five minutes inside of the system space yet things had devolved into pandemonium.
Trees were lit by radiant flames, corpses and skeletons littered the battlefield. It sounded like Gwydion was doing a great job but on the contrary. The corpses were the ones slain by Ed and the skeletons were those of its would-be allies.
Gwydion was left alone. This told Ed he was desperately running out of time.
'If Gwydion dies then my own skeletons won't be able to hold on' With this thought, Ed struggled to get up and observed the ground around him.
The skeleton and armor of Iron. Ed walked over hurriedly and pressed his foot against the helmet. The consciousness of Iron was promptly inserted and Ed scampered off to the next skeleton.
All of a sudden, a figure came catapulting forward. With a bang, the figure collided with newly arisen anti-skeletons. Bones scattered everywhere in fragments.
'Gwydion!' Ed turned away from the figure of Gwydion and looked back towards where the knights were. All sorts of spells were being hurled in his direction. Ed could even catch a glimpse of the holy archer.
Things were looking grim, but all he needed was a few more kills.