Ed was still piling up stones in the leftmost room when he heard a faint boom coming from his left.
'That's it!' It was the sound of a fireball spell exploding.
As if he could forget such an unpleasant experience. He would be lying if he said he wasn't ever so slightly traumatized. He tightened the grip on his shield. He felt safer just by having it. He let out a breath in spirit and calmed down.
'It will be different this time! hopefully...' It is hard to motivate yourself when you don't believe in yourself.
Ed looked at his work, the dozens of piles of stones gathered from all over the immediate vicinity created a path to the safe room.
'I might have been excessive in my preparations...'
There was nothing to do in the dungeon since his allies weren't very talkative. He just kept on gathering chunks of walls. He managed to find rusty swords and shields which he also gathered into piles.
Ed only managed to hoard so many stones and decorations into both the left and right rooms all the way to the hallway because the magician was taking his sweet time. Based on this Ed believed that the magician might be heavily injured.
'If the strategy goes well the magician will be annoyed to death' He felt ever so slightly guilty about killing someone just to avoid extreme pain but he had to get used to it eventually.
He really hoped the magician would die of annoyance, he wouldn't feel guilty about that. If a man died because he got scared of you for example you can't entirely say it's your fault right?
He shook away the stupid thoughts and hardened his resolve.
'If I don't steel my heart now my life as a dungeon mob will be a rough one from now on' He paid close attention and stopped gathering more items. He couldn't miss a single sound.
He noticed his skeleton friends weren't as vigilant though...
'Do they not get messages from the dungeon? Can't they hear anything?' A stupid question. Can a skeleton hear anything? They can see so it isn't a stretch to say they can also hear.
'Their senses must be more limited than mine' He didn't know if he should chalk that up to being a Skeleton Champion or to being a reincarnator.
'Are all champions reincarnators?' He heard another boom off in the distance.
'Focus!!!' Slapping his cheekbones, he got back on track. Perhaps being a consciousness made him a lot more pensive.
He took multiple glances at his shield and the pile of stones next to him. He was deliberating over choosing to hold his shield or to grab more rocks for ammunition.
But he learned a lesson from his planning session earlier. When making decisions, you don't always have to compromise!
'Both!'
He held the shield as a plate on which he carefully placed a couple of stones. He kept one in his other hand to immediately hurl. If he were to need the shield he could just drop off the stones. All Ed had to do now was wait.
The light of the torches flickered as Ed carefully listened to the distant explosions. The environment wanted to increase the tension it seemed.
Each explosion shocked his very core. He was determined to win this time but each subsequent explosion lessened his resolve.
'Let's hope he doesn't run' In actuality he wouldn't mind if the magician decides to live in the dungeon away from him. He couldn't make way for the magician but as long as the System or dungeon sees him trying to do his job they can't fault him right? In the first place the command was to make sure the magician doesn't leave the dungeon.
[Trespassers must be eliminated]
Never mind, the system has no thoughts of coexisting.
The explosions were finally close enough to the room he was in that he felt real pressure.
The magician had to pass by the room Ed was in unless he took a detour. Taking a detour would be noisy though and he could just switch to the other side as well.
'No lightning so far' There were also no foreign spells. The magician must only have two or three spells.
Ed noticed something different now that the explosions grew closer.
The sounds of explosions, were much weaker even at closer range, not only that but the interval between each explosion was larger. The magician is either conserving mana or exhausted.
No more explosions, only silence, and the rattling bones of his allies.
The magician was finally in the hallway connected into his room, he could hear hurried yet light steps.
'This is scary...' He tightened the grip on his stone and got ready to throw it. The footsteps were super close!
'He will appear any second now!' He anxiously awaited the moment.
The time has come!
'Haah!' He let out a scream in his mind as he gathered all the strength his boney arms could muster and let go of the chunk of rock. He threw it anticipating the position of his target.
The Chunk flew across the room heading for one of its multiple entrances. The magician who donned a bloodied and tattered blue robe appeared at that moment.
The magician who seemingly wanted to avoid alerting any mobs if possible was shocked to see a piece of rock rapidly approaching him.
He tried his best to dodge the stone but his injured body would not be able to dodge in time. Even if he wasn't injured it would be too late!
Luckily for the magician due to the hurl skill's low-level he only got hit in the chest. He let out a mouthful of blood as his injuries worsened.
He had a resolute expression as he fell to his knees and tried to quickly chant a fireball. His attempt was only met by more stones that quickly pelted him.
Ed had no idea things would turn out the way they did. He expected to get blocked by a shield which he would have to slowly wear down.
They would battle for 100 days and 100 nights until finally deciding a victor. Even so he didn't hesitate to chuck more stones from his shield which he ended up using as a plate. When he ran out of those he picked up more stones from the nearby piles.
[Hurl has leveled up]
He completely ignored the message, he had nothing on his mind other than throwing stones. His nerves which he was holding in check until now were let loose. His mental state in complete disarray.
The stone chucking slowed down, in front of his vision laid a bloodied corpse.
The magician's blue robe was tattered beyond recognition and the magician's face was nearly disfigured.
'F*ck!' He cast his glance away from the unmoving corpse as he tried to avoid reality.
[You've hit a milestone! <First Kill> achievement is awarded.]
[First Kill]
The reality of killing for the first time lessens the mental impact of subsequent kills
'...'
Unfortunately the System reminded him of his deed and even celebrated it.
[Do you want to receive your reward? Y/N]
'Yes!!!' Ed was looking for anything that could distract him from the disturbing imagery.
[The system has observed your actions up until this point, selecting a suitable reward...]
[<Hoarding lvl. 1> acquired>]
'St-Status!!!' He managed to stutter his thoughts somehow as he anxiously awaited the only good distraction the place had to offer..
[Name: Ed$#&!]
Type: Skeleton
Health: 100/100
Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Constitution: 0
Dexterity: 0
~Skills:~
[Hurl lvl. 2] -Show info-
[Swordsmanship lvl. -1] -Show info-
[Hoarding lvl. 1]
Allows the skill holder to place objects in a much neater and compact form.
'This is all I get for killing a person! A crappy hoarding skill!' The only thing he voluntarily wanted to kill was the sh*tty system!
He almost missed the new dexterity attribute in his blind rage.
'Is it because of all the movement I've done with my hands today or something?!? Or the sh*tty skill?!' He really wanted the system to alert him on attribute changes but technically nothing actually changed, the base stat of 0 is just now being displayed.
His bones grew languid and he fell to the ground.
'I am tired....' Ed was mentally exhausted.