14: Battle Prelude

Battle Prelude

Ed and his entourage of six were traversing the creepy corridors when Ed suddenly heard distant footsteps.

'Always footsteps!'

The dungeon clearly had an echo problem. And it seemed the other party also heard the rattling of bones coming from his direction.

The dungeon rarely had any enemies outside of rooms so hearing a full group of skeletons in the hallway was extremely unusual. That is unless there was some sort of anomaly. An irregularity.

Ed halted his steps and his group soon followed. Only the eerie flicker of the torches could be heard in the dim hallways.

Who would make a move first?

It was the scouts. They suddenly ran away.

It was an unexpected situation but Ed didn't feel happy. It meant the enemies were wary and that his position got exposed. He motioned his group to turn around.

'Kenny, we are heading back'

Kenny saluted and motioned for the others to turn back as well. Due to Kenny's loyalty, Ed made him the leader of the group.

As if things couldn't get any worse, he received an alarming message.

[Two trespassers have entered your floor]

He doubted it was in any way related to them being found but the timing was certainly bad.

'Just send a whole army at me, why not?'

Ed once more started to feel the hopelessness of his situation.

There was an important question that he never dared address. Could he fail? Could he afford to? If the dungeon was cleared would he still exist? If not he wasn't sure if it was for the best.

[Basic Transmission has leveled up]

A hopeful message, it dismissed his momentary doubts.

'If they are bringing more people I just need to bring more as well'

The disparity in combat experience would mean his party with the likely exception of himself would be wiped out. At least that was the ideal situation.

He was looking at Kenny's back as they all had turned around as soon as he gave the order. He didn't need to take the lead.

But was that situation the most ideal?

'Can I... do it?'

What if the Skeletons in the dungeons are just like him? What if they just remember nearly nothing about themselves causing them to be dumber than they should? The naive Kenny reminded him of an overly excited child.

Ed shook his head. It didn't matter. He wanted to survive.

[Mental Fortitude has leveled up]

Ed's mood was lightened by the message, he wanted to chuckle. There were many things he needed to get.

***

The two scouts had a tacit agreement. They would try to be as quiet as possible and approach the irregular monster but if that wasn't possible they would flee.

Why risk it? They were scouts! Their job is to gather information before battle! They didn't need to fight!

The only reason why they could was that the dungeon was a low leveled one. But that belief costed the lives of two of their companions, they wouldn't let their guard down again.

An easy mission. The scouts were tasked to investigate the disappearance of a magician called William. It wasn't unusual for an adventurer to fail the first clear so they didn't think much about it.

As a matter of fact they thought that six scouts might have been an excessive number. Find the magician's body and bring back his belongings. They didn't need a large group for such a simple task.

"How long until we get there?"

A scout holding a map replied quickly as they ran towards the safe room.

"At least 30 more minutes"

"We should pick up the pace"

They had grown tired of the creepy dungeon and wanted to leave as soon as possible. And to do that they needed to complete their mission.

They made it to the safe room where they were greeted by their companions. They also spotted a burly man donning the outfit of a warrior next to them.

One of the scouts reported to a young woman as soon as they entered the safe room, ignoring the man's presence.

"We found traces of the monster"

"Good, we were waiting for you guys to move out"

The woman was a bit impatient. She was the leader of their group of scouts and was responsible for the lives of her party. Still she failed to keep them alive, she felt aggrieved and could only blame herself.

She then introduced the man in a hurry.

"This is Bruce he was hired by the Union to take care of the irregular monster"

Both of the scouts greeted him in a simple manner after their introduction. Bruce reciprocated in kind.

"Since we are all acquainted let's get moving"

Bruce was also feeling impatient. He received a message from a Union staff asking him if he wanted to be part of a secret quest in the dungeon that William was sent out to. He immediately assumed the worst.

After he entered the dungeon he was briefed on the situation. Unfortunately William was dead. As an adventurer you get used to that rather quickly but this time it hit differently.

Bruce had confidence in his skills and he also had confidence in William's skill. A genius magician! That was how Bruce saw William.

Bruce was a veteran adventurer, he had seen many things and dealt with many people. But it was the first time he met such an indifferent genius.

William could pass off as some noble's son but in reality he came from a poor family. It was one of the few things Bruce managed to learn about him during their half a year together. He didn't like to let others in on his issues, he preferred to take care of problems all by himself.

For some reason he started to cheer for the young man, he was nearing his 30's but was stuck as a mediocre adventurer. He wanted to see someone that came from a similar background succeed, who wouldn't?

He wanted inspiration and motivation, If you can do it so can I! But the world is cruel, that genius magician, who was a commoner, met his end in a low leveled dungeon. He couldn't change it, but he could avenge him.

Bruce took the lead out of the third floor safe room. The scouts followed behind him.

***

Ed was recruiting more skeletons, his names were getting out of control.

[Tennis (Skeleton)]

Tennis is a pan wielding Skeleton. It is relatively weak. Susceptible to blunt force.

[Henny]

Henny is an ax-wielding Skeleton. It is relatively weak. Susceptible to blunt force.2

[Yenny]

Yenny is a knife-wielding Skeleton. It is relatively weak. Susceptible to blunt force.

He found Yenny and Tennis in a kitchen. Tennis was holding a pan which could pass for a racket so he dubbed him Tennis. He wasn't sure how useful a pan would be in combat but Tennis wouldn't accept any replacements no matter how hard he tried.

'Anyways... Status!'

[Name: Ed$#&!]

Type: Skeleton

Health: 200/200

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Constitution: 1

Dexterity: 2

~Skills:~

[Adept Throwing lvl. 0] -Show info-

[Swordsmanship lvl. -1] -Show info-

[Hoarding lvl. 6] -Show info-

[Mental Fortitude lvl. 2] -Show info-

[Basic Transmission Lvl. 7] -Show info-

[Minor Explosion Resistance lvl. 0] -Show info-

[Deduction lvl. 5] -Show info-

~Achievements~

[First Kill] -Show info-

His attributes were still lacking and his skills hadn't seen much of a rise but he still felt he stood a chance.

Ed didn't want to face the enemies so he planned to wait for them near the boss gate. They could always lure the enemies into the room and get help from the lich.

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