Master Of None

”They shift the floors and the walls as they wish, so can’t they just make a passageway that needs earth mana to move?” The sigh behind Remey’s words was enough for Walker to give her a glare of his own. Mostly because he was working on making that exact thing happen.

After another moment of channeling heart mana, a small staircase started to move up from the ground opening the way beneath. With it though, came two skeletons wearing what appeared to be stone armor crumbling off of their bones.

’Earth coated skeleton

This undead monster was once an earthen warrior that used earth and stone to coat their body. This was the case for them in life and the same in death. They were considered one of the strongest magical warriors of the earth mages on this continent in life due to their potent defense. They even used to fight head to head with some monsters that other mages of the time would flee from on sight.

Their weakness came in their slower movements which still follows in their undead state. They will need more time to get near their enemies and will gladly sacrifice their bones and armor to ensure that they are able to land a definitive stroke…’

Midnight leaped forward with Remey by her side. They each slammed down a harsh punch at the center of the two skeletons chests. Their ancient stone armor easily broke since they were old and unable to maintain enough mana to make sure they were properly defended.

”That was easy. We need something more interesting than just these dirt covered bones.” Remey had looked at fate right in the face and said, i dare you. Everyone else gave her a side glance but then Midnight somewhat nodded since she was also looking for a little better of a fight.

”I think you should all try and think a little clearer. Did you not notice that we didn’t find the spider or whatever had been making all the threads we saw up above?” Su pointed this out and made sure that Remey and Midnight both saw her sharp glare. She wasn’t playing with fate and didn’t want to see either of them run right in to a worse trap that would actually cause them damage.

She knew all too well that their party was powerful. But when she remembered that these undead had once been beings that were able to face ancient monsters that would use them as snacks… Well, it just went to say a little about the strength of people nowadays compared to the strength of people who once used to fight for survival from their very birth.

”We need to remember that these undead are weak because they are so old and only cared for survival. If they had more intelligence, they could easily cause this entire place to be our prison. And let me remind everyone, that whatever powerful undead we face deeper in here, we are not going to easily beat it since it most likely has more strength because it could face ancient monsters!”

Su’s reprimand was followed by Alice enchanting her song and making the buffs she gave to them more powerful. She too wanted to make sure everyone would be safe and was not going to play around with fate. If she had mana to spare, then she would be using it to help everyone.

Walker took the lead on the staircase without saying a word. He was sensing that the undead mana was denser because they were moving to the place where the ancient mages living here must have fled when they were alive. They were earth affinity and the underground would be the place that they fled to feel safe.

This was the same with those with dense water affinity or more. Everyone always went where they felt safest in times of danger. Whether that was actually the case was another thing. Sometimes the safest place was anywhere near where you were used to being. It all depended on the situation.

When Walker set foot on the ground, he found that some of the skeletons he expected to suddenly leap up were actually already rotting away. Not in the natural sense but in the sense that their bodies had not withstood time. They had certainly been undead at one point but their bones had started to become dust. Meaning that they could no longer exist as undead either.

This was a case of them not being powerful enough in their undead life. Time would always catch up with everyone and everything. Or so the saying would go.

Regardless, it was nice to see evidence that more earthen warriors and other earth affinity classes at the time of the ancients were existing here. It also spoke to the magnitude that the earth mages survived here and exactly why.

While they had yet to explore other magic tower ruins from ancient times, it was clear that the earth tower had a lot more strength than the others in numbers as well. That could be the fact that earth affinity is common due to the fact that many races live on the land itself. But that was all theory with some proof thus far. No one truly knew what the true essence of decision in an affinity would be.

”There is more spider silk and webbing around here too. If the undead move the passageways then whatever is making the spider webs is somehow moving with the undead or moving when the undead move the walls and ceilings.” Onyx shrank his body and took a spot on Walker’s shoulder to avoid the webbing. Just because his scales were tough didn’t mean he enjoyed the feeling on them when the webbing touched his scales.

”That would mean that it might be intelligent. If it’s an undead it will be tough. If it is alive… then it’s been alive for years. Generations even.” Walker sighed even louder than before as he created a small fire ball and burned the webbing that was covering the ground.

The same appearance as if this monster had covered the ground after many laps was here too. But it was denser, like it had more access to this area. Walker also noticed that small bones from smaller monsters had been captured. Proving that this area was connected to others. If rats and mice could get in, then there was a high chance that the underground chambers created by ancient mages and arcane builders connected to a cave system.

”There might be caves. I would guess that the destruction didn’t come from just above. I would guess that the mages expanded in to caves and caused themselves the trouble of a battle above ground and below ground. That might be what ended them.” His theory seemed correct as a lizard’s bones were caught in the embrace of stone spikes. Next to it was the body of a broken skeleton mage.

”Bones, but they were both fighting each other. Walker, should we keep going?” Su tried to stop them since she could hear the others well behind them documenting everything they had already explored. The deeper that the party went the riskier it would be when they encountered a truly difficult opponent.

”I think we should keep going. We need to handle whatever is down here and we are mapping it. The small mapping orbs have been valuable and we need to make sure what we record gets to everyone for whatever we need. I have to guess this level has what Walker wants to find now.” Having Gil support the exploration felt a little odd but he was also keeping a sharper eye on the ground and walls too. He was having a gut feeling and everyone saw him focusing in on it.

With gil taking the lead and everyone else not saying anything, they followed. He was sharp in terms of what he learned with archers, scouting, and even some magical forms of crafting for his arrows. He has also brought back lost techniques for the daggers elves used all the time. He could be trusted.

Yet, when he stopped and fired an arrow at what seemed to be a wall, everyone thought he had lost it before the rattling of several bones proved that he had exactly the focus needed for the moment.

The wall shifted and crumbled revealing several undead who were hiding behind it. The undead mage had created a false wall to ambush them. The fact that this was done by an undead proved it was terrifying for the average adventurer to venture here. But it also proved that the party needed to remain careful. Especially since the undead they had just encountered were eight prepared to ambush them in a smaller crosspaths of the passageways here.

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