The atmosphere was chilling as usual but something about seeing the remains of a safe room made the knights and adventurers feel especially afraid. It went against their common sense.
Although Kiano and the others had already seen it and made a report to the Freedom Union, they couldn't make sense of it. But the most troubling part was getting the carts down the stairs.
"We did it before we can do it again" Kiano said looking at the semi-crumbled steps.
The carts were made to fit just about right through most dungeon stairs. It was a common occurrence to use magic carts in areas with even more treacherous environments and floor transitions.
So why was the atmosphere so… creepy. As if something was tailing them from behind and observing from the dark. Such a description was too specific, Kiano had to verify these doubts and he had.
Yet every time the result was zilch.
"Unload the ramp board" Since the situation was entirely normal and unchanging, they had to proceed.
Eyad the magician slid out a long flat board from a compartment under the cart while Wiley lent him a hand. Then, with the help of the warrior Glaive and the archer Zhang the board was placed to ramp up the stairs.
"We should just use earth magic, it's more convenient…" Eyad muttered in complaint stretching his back briefly before sitting down on some debris.
"You know we need to be on tip-top at all times" Glaive who sat next to him said bruskly. Eyad couldn't help but feel reprimanded since he, of course, knew that was the case. It was only a rhetorical 1complaint! That was a thing, right?
The adventurers watched the two bicker a bit while sitting on some debris themselves. They also watched Mons, the shield-bearing knight, push the magic cart down the ramp carefully. Although the ceiling had caved in causing there to be more space, the cart ramp was still rather narrow.
The ramp was folded when inside the compartment, but it couldn't be too thin either. Otherwise, the ramp would break. That meant its width was in fact limited.
"Slowly!" Lea said anxiously from the bottom of the stairs.
"F*ck Lea this is already pretty damn slow!" Mons who was at the top said irritated.
Kiano could see why the atmosphere was so chilly now. It was because everyone was on edge.
How could it not feel cold when underground in a place full of the living dead? Add on irritable teammates and the atmosphere would not become any warmer. The only heat would be the heated arguments.
"Argh!" Suddenly, the cart that Mons was holding slipped from his grip and started to immediately speed its descent.
Kiano who was beside him however realized that he hadn't committed a mistake.
"Enemies!" "The cart!" Kiano's shout and Eyad's concerned voice both rang out causing the knights and adventurers to become stunned.
"Lea, stop the cart!" "Enemies?!" That cart was their livelihood! But with the enemies, they might have no liveli to hood! Cause hooding liveli was a thing, right?
The cart sped downwards and the confused Lea jumped in front of it apparently intending to get run over.
"Urgh-" The heavy cart crashed onto the knight's prepared arms causing her to skid back from the force. Fortunately, she had reinforced her body appropriately. Though much of the brunt dissipated due to her position, it was still too much for a human body to take unassisted.
As for Mons who had received a long-range attack, he was already pulling out the arrow from his shoulder and preparing to battle-
"My shield is on the cart!" Mons shouted noticing a problem. By this point, a group of skeletons was starting to appear from the shadows. They were the creepy abominations from earlier but with an interesting twist.
"They are wearing armor…? Eyad! Boost me!" Kiano shouted seeing the 20 fiends darting towards him with brown pieces of armor.
Three arrows shot towards Kiano which he deflected adeptly and then shot out himself to intercept the undead horde. His sword shone red from fire and cooled down to create steam following the application of water elements.
Kiano then stopped and reinforced his arms before forming a great horizontal swing. This was no normal swing however, it was like what one would do to fan a flame. More specifically, to blow away steam. Kiano started to spin while permitting such a motion.
The steam blew towards the armament skeletons but even after it reached them, they continued to run forward. Blinded? How could that be if the only way was forward? The steam seemed practically useless.
Kiano who was spinning momentarily stopped after feeling waves upon waves of energy enter his body. No doubt it was the work of Eyad. But the timing was fortunate, the first armament skeleton exited out of the fog. It reached out with its bladed hands towards Kiano in front of it.
With a swift motion, however, its piked head was cleanly sent off its body without resistance.
The earthen armor crafted in a hurry by Survivor could not compare to the buffed-up Kiano. To make matters worse, the wave of thick blinding steam softened the dirt, and the first armament skeleton to come up to the plate was hit afoul.
Judged solely on the earlier numbers, Kiano believed they had 19 more to go.
"Huh?!" A wall of earth suddenly sprouted from the area in front of Kiano causing him to jump back out of instinct. The special skeleton loved to use earth spikes!
"Lea, Glaive, Eyad! Scram! No! Everyone scram! Mons stay here!" Kiano shouted as a decree. With the skeleton's involvement, all things changed!
Could they win? Perhaps but that wasn't their mission. Plus, that skeleton seemed to only pick fights it could win if given the choice. How did Kiano come to this assessment?
The last time the skeleton used intimidation tactics to chase them out of the dungeon. It wasn't that it couldn't try attacking them, but rather that it wasn't ready to do so. Killing a couple of them wouldn't have been impossible so why not face them?
When thinking solely of loss and benefits, the trade-off might not be the best. With such thoughts, soiling the pants of one of them was a big enough victory.
"But Kiano! Sir!" Eyad who was an upright and bright young mage couldn't bear to abandon him just like that. As for Mons, it was a pity that he was getting death sentenced.
"Screw you all!" Mons shouted before stomping on the ground and forming a shield of earth. If he got them to despise him, they would all leave. That was the sacrifice Mons wanted to make here.
"Let's go!" The others said in response. This was the exact reaction Mons was expecting but he had to admit, that his tactic was so effective was a bit hurtful.
With one group fleeting with a magic cart, it was up to Kiano and Mons to protect this remaining one.
"They were hired to defend this thing you know?" Mons asked Kiano who was warily watching the earthen wall.
"They are too young" Was all Kiano said back. Mons shook his head lightly before preparing himself. Kiano was only a decade older so what gave him the right to be so reckless?
Silence.
The two waited patiently but the wall of earth did not part nor move an inch.
"Damn it…" Kiano silently cursed before deciding to bite the bullet.
"Argh-!!" Suddenly, Kiano felt an arrow lodge itself into his back. He grunted in pain but it didn't prevent him from turning around with a determined expression.
Kiano swung his blade to intercept an attacker. The axe head of the assailant slid down his blade before being parried off and followed by a slash.
"18 more, Mons!" Kiano said looking at the small horde that came at him. They were armed to the teeth as was natural when your teeth were formed out of small knife blades.
Just before any of these attacks had a chance to even come close to Kiano, Mons jumped straight in front of him carrying the heavy earthen shield.
The onslaught of strikes started to befall him and the shield was beginning to suffer. Yet it held, the armament skeleton needed a new strategy.
This strategy encompassed their creepy skulls perhaps intending to shriek- Intending to Bite?
"Argh!" Mons screamed after one of the armament skeletons pushed the head off of another and made it clamp onto his shield-bearing arm. His hold on the shield didn't stop but the mana he sent it ran amok and the reinforcement was ruined.
The next couple of stabs made the shield crumbled the skeletons which intended to pounce on Mons were ruthlessly stopped by a wave of heat.
"Great job!" Kiano praised. He had controlled his swing to avoid Mons and center back onto the special skeletons. Being made of metal weapons and just mixes of iron and antimony the skeletons started to suffer meltdowns.
Kiano was grinning seeing the sight but it seemed he had forgotten something.
The cart! The cart was behind them!
Behind the melting armament skeletons was a trashed metallic cart made with expensive circuitry and holding essential materials. Kiano suddenly realized he had been duped.
The battle had never been about them. Kiano didn't know how, but it was evident that the orchestrator knew what would hurt him.
A deafening howl surrounded the entirety of the crypt that day. Many said it sounded like the regretful shrieks of the damned. ...or a person with a very expansive vocabulary.
