Since he was used to the situation of humans coming over, Ed remained calm. He had dotted traps around so even if some had rewards, the adventurers would not be getting close to him anytime soon.
Plus, what he wanted them to do most of all was spread the word. Since he had received the message of intrusion the dungeon must be watching. That also meant it would soon order him to eliminate them.
[Intercept trespassers, failure to act may result in a penalty]
On cue, a message asking him to intercept them had appeared. This was normal. The only thing weird were the choice of words.
'Intercept? Not eliminate or kill?' Did the dungeon think he might not be able to eliminate the trespassers? What was the merit of sending him out then? Was that why it used the word send rather than will?
It was weird for it to be so considerate otherwise. Whatever the case, this seemed like something that would likely work in his favor. Ed was not keen on complaining about it if that was the case.
'Since it might result in a punishment, I may as well act' Not to actually intercept them, but to observe them. Observation required him to hide from them though and Ed wasn't sure he could pull that off.
'Learning a way to thin me out might be useful' Ed could still remember that the skeletons acted respectfully to him out of either fear or awe. He feared that this awe-inspiring aura wasn't necessarily exclusive to skeletons.
There existed the possibility that skeletons were innately sensitive to it while humans weren't. If that was true then he might still get away with using nothing but eventually, he'd be given away.
'If I become some sort of evil fiend known by all it will be impossible to hide myself' By that point he might have found a solution naturally, but there was nothing wrong with being precautious. He didn't need to wait for it to screw him over before making the changes.
While Ed was thinking, Zephyr and the others managed to return with new piles of bones. He was a bit disappointed that they only managed to get dead skeletons, funny as that sounded, but then again their consciousnesses didn't amount to much.
The new pile of bones was tossed to a corner where other piles were located. Ed watched as this happened and finally came up with something.
For now, there was no need to scout things out himself. It was in fact a better idea to simply send some dummies over. This wasn't revolutionary or too dissimilar to what he usually did, but the main difference was that Ed had sent competent ones like Zephyr.
This time, he wanted to create an enhanced version of the basic skeletons. He wanted to create a new type of skeleton that would habituate the dungeon until they became completely normal to outsiders.
Now, all Ed had to ask himself was how to go about it. Giving them armor was a good solution but if he did this he would be burning through resources he was yet to have.
'I'll need to be able to switch bodies to make use of the metal mushrooms' Stockpiling in advance would only get him so far.
'Here's to hoping the system can solve this' Making the bodies was definitely a dungeon thing but transferring wasn't necessarily unique to it now, was it? At most, Ed figured that one would need permission when traveling from floor to floor.
But he was starting to digress too much, it was time to put his cheap solution into play.
Ed's bony palm was lit once more by the forge sparks. Well, the ethereal flame as it was called. He had used it for a good while before so he had gotten rather accustomed to its quirks
The forge was convenient, but Ed also felt pretty restricted. Jumping into the forge to mold things was obviously not wise and doing it any other way was a tedious process.
Using the ethereal spark was different, he could use it as a welder. He could get some bones and melt them atop of other bones. He could make armored skeletons. Armorless armored skeletons.
To start he needed to assemble the piles of bones Zephyr and the others had brought though. Ed did this with lots of ease, the extra dexterity attributes were not for show. In no time at all, about five skeletons were ready to have consciousnesses inserted into them.
It was time to reinforce them and send them out towards the direction of the intruders.
'Wherever that is…' The only thing Ed knew was that they would have to pass near the middle of the floor if they acted like the previous intruders.
Thus, Ed got to work on his reinforced skeletons. He had to hurry too otherwise there might not be time for additional changes. He needed to add some small simple skills to these skeletons before sending them off too after all.
Just like that, the creepy crypt and its flickering torches had a new flickering source of light. The ethereal sparks of a pristine white skeleton.
***
Back in the orc plains, the humans finally managed to settle somewhere. It was near the area where the goblin den had been found. This meant that the groups could now split itself according to their designated tasks.
Kiano was set to leave the dungeon so he selected only five people to accompany him. This was a group formed of an archer, a magician, and three knights. One specialized in defense, another in attack, and the last was quite flexible. Though if it had to be stated their specialty was definitely in speed.
The balance of the group was a bit skewed with four knights including himself but Kiano was not worried. That was because regardless of whether the group was balanced or not they'd be screwed if destiny willed it.
"We are here, be careful on the other side" Kiano said with relief while looking at the portal to the crypt.
The reason for his relief and why the balance didn't matter was that if they had encountered the orc while returning… having more magicians would mean decimation!
The point of the group was to relegate news not to fight strong monsters. Knights had greater stamina so they would obviously run for longer and faster even while covered in heavy plate mail.
A magician could use magic to try and escape, but mages did not have infinite mana. Though knights did not have infinite stamina either, recovering stamina was faster than recovering mana.
Not just recovering either but conserving stamina was also easier. Not every magician had a wide repertoire, using simple magic to defend themselves was not always possible.
Fortunately, their team composition did not need to show any of this. They had one more floor to go but Kiano was much more confident with handling this floor.
After no more than half an hour the team was already making their way through the third floor with maximum awareness. The skeleton floors were much safer than the orc floor, but that was only in comparison.
One moment of carelessness and they'd be dead on either floor.
"We are approaching the safe room" Kiano announced after much trekking. Thankfully, one of the benefits of a small group was definitely fast travel.
"Phew…" The magician said looking forward to taking a break. Even with mana as a supplement, his stamina was still weaker than the knights and the archer.
"Don't let your guard down" Kiano chastised while looking down at something. It was his compass. The device was pointing with a slight diagonal tilt. This made no sense since they should have been really close.
The device could only be in one of two extremes. Pointing forward, or pointing diagonally. The former meant they were in front of it and the latter that they weren't approaching from the center. Whatever the case, the closer they were, the more the magic compass should spin.
Kiano was therefore afraid of something. Unfortunately, this fear came true.
"Th- The safe room!!" The magician cried out before falling on their knees. His whole world had crashed down at this point, where was the resting area he was promised?!?
Most important was the fact that the ceiling of the room had collapsed leaving only the stairs up. It was as if a barrier had been removed, something that differentiated this area from the rest of the dungeon.
Kiano instinctively thought back to their peaceful excursion through the third floor and made a frightening connection.
"...Did the skeleton do this?" That notion was much more frightening than the safe room crumbling. The safe room was safe from monsters after all. To break it could only mean the monster was strong or had used some method unknown to them. Both were scary options!
"We will take a break to investigate" The team did just that for a quarter of an hour but found nothing in the end. No trace of attacks, no trace of footsteps, no trace of anything.
"This… Let's proceed forward" Kiano said with reluctance. The safe room still felt somewhat safe in his mind so he was reluctant to leave.
No, actually, what he was reluctant to do was increase his chances of encountering the freak on the way out. Who knew if the first safe room survived?
Nonetheless, they did proceed forward. Only once they were halfway through the floor did Kiano think that maybe something else caused the collapse.
"Hm?" The archer said with confusion. Were they seeing things correctly?
They were currently walking out of a hallway and the archer could spot hulking bone creatures.
"New skeletons?!" Someone exclaimed. The giant skeleton from before still fresh in their mind.. Now they had to think if facing such an obvious provocation by the skeleton lurking somewhere was worth it.