"So, are you in?" Asked Ed ignoring Duma's presence entirely.
"I can't understand you." Said Sharog while shaking her head, things had progressed far too quickly for her to be able to accept the situation.
And what she said also made sense to Ed, he was being a bit eccentric. But if anyone else knew what he knew they might behave similarly. The best way to brave the coming wave of adventurers was by unifying the region even if just temporarily.
'Come to think of it, I wonder how the dungeon will force these orcs to fight the adventurers…' They seemed to have more free will than the undead who just naturally attacked all things living. These orcs had life and while some would likely take the initiative to attack, well many... some might instead opt to hide out the storm.
"I also can't trust you" Sharog's clear voice brought Ed back out of his thoughts.
"That's a valid point" Ed nodded pensively hearing Sharog's words. It was his job to convince her now.
"Well, you have two alternatives." So Ed decided to list out her options to allow her a better look at her situation. As it stood, Sharog might have some sort of prejudice or natural distrust of others. Her first words were quite telling in that regard.
"One, you give up." Ed raised one finger as he proceeded to tell Sharog his thought process.
"You ask me to kill you again and your tribe loses their leader. Maybe they elect a new one who is much better than you, or maybe they all starve to death. It won't matter to you anymore" Ed felt that giving up was the same as abandoning her tribe. He hoped that with these words Sharog would realize this and she seemed to have as her face visibly distorted.
"Option two, you take me up on my offer." Ed observed Sharog's grim expression as he raised one more finger.
"I let you loose and you now have to join me in battle. Your tribe gets fed though, you also get to live. Worst case scenario I lied, I don't feed your tribe. You however are free and therefore able to back out of the battle and or flee. The way I see it there is only one option." Ed said casually and then shrugged as if it had nothing to do with him. Because it didn't, this was for Sharog to decide.
All things considered, if her tribe's numbers were really that small and their physical condition had deteriorated from starvation then he was the one suffering a loss. So he wouldn't try to convince her further if she were to choose to decline.
Perhaps she found his words to be logical, or maybe she never intended to decline. Her grim expression turned resolute and her eyes regained color, they gleamed with determination.
"I'll take you up on that" She ultimately agreed to the alliance which made Ed reveal a slight smile, loss or not the more the merrier.
[Eloquence has leveled up]
'Oh?' Following his successful persuasion, his eloquence skill managed to level up. Maybe it was easy to level up or the assimilation skill was showing one of its perks, nevertheless, Ed was happy with the outcome.
He now had over 200 orcs that he would be able to use in the upcoming battle if nothing unexpected were to happen.
"In that case, I hope you keep your part. Head over to the Angakok tribe's settlement and talk to Vorgarag. You just mention what happened and I am sure he will understand" He didn't doubt that Sharog would betray them since her tribe depended on them to provide food for the time being. If her numbers were correct than they were also weak in battle and although their tribe wasn't the greatest especially in terms of numbers it was still formidable and therefore reliable.
"Ok, please set me free." She said while looking down at her bindings.
Ed nodded and the grass instantly withered no longer able to support itself as Ed cut off its steady supply of mana.
"Make sure to sneak out, Duma should be able to help you." Those were Ed's final words for his new ally.
"I thought I was an ally, not a subordinate…" Duma muttered under his breath.
They both bid farewell leaving Ed by himself inside of the cabin.
'I should head out as well then…' Sharog would probably contact her tribe and Duma would come back soon after seeing her out. Although he told Sharog to tell Vorgarag he sent her that might not be necessary since he might actually get there before her.
He felt a bit regretful for saying that now but it wasn't like he was doing anybody any harm so he just shrugged it off.
He should hurry up and sneak out before some of the orcs start to remember he had been part of the enemy tribe in the previous battle, his appearance was brief but some might still be able to remember him.
With haste in his step, Ed promptly made his way out of the settlement.
Given that pretty much everyone had gathered to hear out Duma the security was pretty lax allowing Ed to easily slip out, not that he would have had a problem doing so anyways as he had already previously demonstrated.
He went down the path just like last time and headed out in the opposite direction of the landmark he had left before. He should be able to make his way towards the settlement without issue.
[Assimilation is off cooldown]
'Oh nice' Ed was about to bring a crystal out of his bag but quickly decided against it.
'I can train up my mana but not my other stats.' While the path of a mage was a powerful one he couldn't neglect his physical skills.
A good example was when the fire swordsmen back in the crypt easily cut his health in half. He should increase his vitality or constitution to prevent a similar incident from occurring. You have to be alive to release a strong barrage of spells after all.
He glanced around the dense forest and caught sight of nothing but grass and trees. He hadn't expected much else to appear but he still felt slightly disappointed.
'I guess I can just assimilate a tree then' A tree was bound to provide him vitality and maybe even constitution. Two birds with one stone.
Ed approached a nearby tree, he observed its thick branches and lush canopy.
'Here goes nothing then, assimilation!' The tree rumbled back and forth, its green leaves falling to the ground en masse.]
The rumble softened and one of the smaller branches of the thick tree disappeared. Nonetheless, the rewards were still satisfying…
[Vitality +2]
[Constitution +2]
The additional two vitality attributes would give him 200 extra health and while he didn't really know by how much the constitution attribute would help dampen damage it was a good thing to have.
Ed nodded to himself and continued on his way but he didn't make it very far…
[Recalling Champion's soul]
The unexpected message caught the running Ed off guard, his body went limp and his vision started to fade. He fell face-first on the ground even skidding a couple of meters.
But it was seemingly none of the dungeon's business as he soon found himself inside of the dark abyss without a single explanation.
'This can only mean one thing…' The dungeon was going to punish him again! Well no not really. The adventurers had likely come and Ed was to inconvenience them.
That's right inconvenience them. He had gotten many interesting techniques and increased his strength but that was as an orc.
His skeleton self would only benefit from things like mana manipulation which he should be able to quickly learn. The way he saw things he only existed to buy a couple of seconds at best, the chances of a weaker party than last time coming was after all close to none.
[10 minutes before respawning]
The system kindly informed him.
Ed could only mentally sigh and try to come up with some countermeasures for the incoming enemies.
***
A new challenger was approaching.
Eon had just now entered the dungeon's first floor. Once he saw the missing adventurers his first thought was that he missed them.
He still went back to arbor town to check quickly before making his way towards the dungeon which inevitably delayed him. He intended to teleport to catch up once inside but…
"It seems some of my teleportation magic is being interrupted" Mumbled Eon to himself as he leisurely walked around the dungeon's first floor.
The dungeon acted like another space, another plane. The dungeon core would be like its master or god, without its permission it was difficult to alter its space. Long-range teleportation skills like the one he had at first tried to cast were impossible to use and teleporting overall was limited.
He expected this to a certain extent so he didn't panic.
Eon was an experienced veteran, even without those grand spells the dungeon would still be a piece of cake.. With his skill and the adventurers having cleared up the path, he should be able to catch up easily regardless.