The temple of Ed was a peaceful place and although eternally silent, it was bustling. The sight of metallic skeletons diligently training was everywhere. Not just that, but some skeletons were starting to gain some more autonomy.
While some were training or watching the perimeter, some others were teaching.
|LIKE THIS|
Words of earth appeared before being rapidly replaced by an attack. At this moment, Trench was sharing his own battle experience and tricks to the other lesser-known earth anti-skeletons.
He wasn't teaching all of them, just the newer ones. The unnamed ones that remained from the first anti-skeleton batch were only slightly worse than himself. Trench knew since he was often challenged by them.
This highlighted something, Trench was not against being overtaken if it would help Ed. In fact, he had advised the likes of Blaze and even Iron to pass on their skills to the others.
The undead that Ed made were all loyal to him but that didn't mean they weren't selfish. Many of the named ones actually opposed the idea of Trench afraid that they'd be forgotten or replaced. Who wanted to train their replacement?
Trench was already at the top so perhaps his qualms with it were smaller. Regardless, Ed had given the role of head lich and constantly offered him other opportunities. In his hollow sockets, he was confident he would never be replaced.
Plus, the fear of being surpassed was something that only cowards would be afraid of. When he put it this way, Blaze felt challenged and started teaching the fire mages his explosive ways.
Although named, Kenny Jr. still joined Blaze's class. In this case though Blaze was the teacher while Kenny Jr. was the teaching assistant. Trench had no problems with this, he didn't oppose the decisions of some of these named skeletons.
The likes of Callow did not have any experience to pass on and sometimes, they were better off only offering some assistance or learning.
With so much teaching, the sound of spells being cast and of bones moving about were the only sounds that could be heard. At least, that had been the case.
The ground rumbled as if it would break apart. It shook fiercely back and forth with terrifying fervor. This earth-shattering sound was not something that other noises could contend with.
A large distance away, Kiano and his party who had just returned into the dungeon were shocked by the intense tremoring.
"...This is weird" Kiano said after the frightening event subsided.
Lea who was beside him also accented with a small nod. The support mage, Eyad, was not thinking about this, however. He was much more focused on making sure the cart carrying the cargo was still alright.
There were two of these magic-driven carts. They were pretty slow yet quite expensive. The goods they carried was also quite crucial.
While most of the goods were not fragile, Eyad still had reason to be concerned. Putting aside the fact that he was made responsible for this one, these materials and food were what would determine their future. Whether he and his company mates had failed their mission astronomically, or if they only performed very poorly depended on this.
"Hehehe! I knew my gut about this place was right! Gah!" Wiley, now a near-peak B-class Spearman, said before receiving a slap from Prissy.
"Please! If you are right we are all going to die, tsk" Prissy said feeling lightheaded and ticked off. Why was he such a handful? Though annoyed, she could still not muster the strength to do more than just a slap or hit on his head.
"Please stop messing around, this is a good opportunity for us" The leader, Agalia, spoke to the two of them from atop one of the carts.
Kiano had worked quite hard to make the Freedom Union actually give Samuel some liberty. This liberty had in turn allowed Samuel to form an expedition team.
The first thing Samuel did was look through the list of B-class adventurers that originated from Arbor Town and to the surprise of both of Agalia's party members, she was present there.
Her explanation was that she only lived a couple of years there as a child. Her parents had to move into the city looking for opportunities after having her.
Ultimately, the point was that she and her two party members became the first to form part of Samuel's expedition team. That gave them many benefits for a variety of reasons but the most prominent were the following.
Knowledge and stability.
Samuel was an important figure and as Agalia and her party members edged closer to the peak of B-class, his knowledge and experience could help them perhaps surpass the wall between B and A class.
As for stability, apart from oddballs like Wiley, everyone wanted stability. The problem was that B-class adventurers could live today and die tomorrow. If they joined an expedition or subjugation team, as they slowly became more and more accustomed to their respective dungeon they'd be far less likely to perish.
This was all while receiving a salary and gaining the opportunity to make connections with adventurers from other regions. An expedition team was sometimes required to help certain parties and naturally formed connections in the process.
"Sorry leader" Prissy apologized but Wiley continued being just as flippant. He was like a small child in a room full of toys, he had no idea which toy he should grab first.
Wiley was able to think like this due to the many things Ed hid around. The puzzles and the traps brought sufficient reward. His lust for both thrill and profit were being met and to an extent even exceeded.
After some more walking, the group of 9 spotted a distant oddity. Closer inspection revealed what it was.
"A portcullis?" Kiano who was up ahead muttered. This was a question without curiosity. It was filled with trepidation.
Wiley however was all smiles. What would they see behind this-
"Ah!" They were spotted first.
Behind the earthen portcullis was a fearsome figure. It was a skeleton-like any other but its head was like a mace. It also had a sword for one hand and it wore simple iron armor.
This didn't sound that intimidating but the surprise they felt for suddenly coming across such a thing could not be put into words.
"The hell!" Glaive shouted after suddenly seeing an arrow whiz past him. The arrow which was shot right through a hole on the portcullis was shot by another freak.
The skeleton's arm had somehow turned into a detachable bow that it then fired and drew back using its mouth.
"To desecrate the dead like this…" The archer Zhang shook his head disapprovingly.
"These things are weird, we should wait for them to come out" Kiano said looking at the semi-fortified structure past the portcullis. Kiano preferred not to take chances. In fact, Kiano would not mind ignoring this thing at all.
The main problem was that they also couldn't leave such a danger in place. Part of the mission was to secure a route. With those things in the vicinity, the route was not secure.
The group including Wiley agreed and they backed up a fair way away. It was just enough for them to see the portcullis and the things behind it anyway.
As they waited, more and more of the freaks gathered behind the portcullis and continued making threatening gestures. Yet, they didn't come out.
"What's going on with these things? Can they not exit?" Mons the defense knight asked
"It'd be nice if it was like that" But Kiano was doubtful. The brutes last time ran into a narrow corridor allowing them to be cleanly picked off but these things… They didn't seem much smarter yet they remained in their fortification.
After much consideration, he decided to be cautious.
"That white bone devil might be behind them, we are leaving" The white bone devil was of course Ed who had been kind enough to walk them to the exit last time. This kindness caused Glaive to wear brown pants on this trip, however.
"Really?" Prissy asked feeling hopeful. Those things were damn scary. She wanted nothing to do with it. Unlike Wiley, she was already fed up with the dungeon. The party was used to following Agalia but there existed the possibility they'd have to break off.
"I can't leave this idiot Wiley by himself though... " She grumbled inaudibly. Wiley however had evolved a sixth sense for knowing when Prissy was badmouthing him.
"Tsk, it's not like I wanted to face them anyway" He said looking away from the fearsome creatures. But not even a minute had passed and he found his head slowly turning back to look at the creatures.
"Gah!" He received a hit on top of his head. Why was he so helpless against this woman? He could definitely beat her in a fight. Yet, Wiley could not raise a hand against her. He was always defeated by her angry expression.
The small caravan of 9 people and two carts proceeded further into the dungeon. They were unable to see the portcullis open up and how 20 of the undead freaks exited. They were following the very route the carts were taking.
In the heart of this group was a skeleton mage, this skeleton mage was Survivor. He was hoping to make some contributions from within the inside of the gate but it looked like they had to give chase.
If they could help it, those humans would never leave there alive.