Chapter 186 - Willed Away
As soon as Ed touched the carvings on the wall and triggered assimilation, he was fed plenty of information.
[Assimilation is on cooldown]
It was all the information on the advanced lightning application. That was obviously to be expected. Still, describing it as nothing more than that was downplaying its effects. The advanced lighting application technique provided general information on how to take one’s mana manipulation to the extreme. It was almost on an entirely different level.
The only potential problem Ed now faced was that Electricity was scarce in the orc plains. That was probably how the technique even came about. Any mage or warrior looking to benefit from the lightning element would find themselves inside a desert and they would need to make the most of any water they were to find while there.
‘Scarcity can create necessity and necessity drives innovation’ Such a saying seemed fitting for the particular situation.
After a couple more seconds of receiving information, the carvings on the wall disappeared, they were now in Ed’s head.
[Mana Manipulation has leveled up]
‘Hm?’ Ed wasn’t expecting any of his skills to receive a level up but if he had to pick one it would be assimilation given that he had just used it.
‘Huh, I guess assimilation can also be used to level up skills’ That also made one thing clear for Ed. Techniques and skills were not that much different, learning certain procedures could translate into learning a skill.
But Ed didn’t pay too much attention to that and refocused on the new knowledge he had just received. What he was most interested in was learning to use the lightning element but…
‘I guess that’s what happens when you learn to run first’ Ed now had no clue how exactly to test whether or not he had an affinity for the element.
‘Luckily mana manipulation lets me control pretty much any type of mana’ That meant it would still be possible for Ed to borrow Dakgu’s crystal and insert some lightning elements into himself.
Would it kill him? Probably not. Putting aside his constitution, his vitality was more than strong enough to heal any small injuries.
Ed then proceeded with the next logical step, planting a bomb in the form of fire magic.
He walked into the narrow corridor, took out all of his fire and wind element crystals, and tossed them on the ground. Afterward, he sealed off the small chamber and proceeded to walk out of the tunnel.
He could still try to preserve the other carvings. He couldn’t guarantee he would have any usage for them but it wouldn’t hurt to simply hide them.
‘Let’s hope that’s enough’ Ed thought as he turned the corner.
By themselves, the crystals wouldn’t create an explosion. Otherwise, Blurak would have died while sleeping peacefully in its cavern. Ed still needed to cause them to react to one another and destroying the crystals was the most direct way to do this.
‘I could have just sealed the area but then Dakgu could one day return and find the missing scripture’ Ed’s biggest trump card was a mix of thought manifestation and assimilation. He couldn’t leave any clues about either of those.
‘Dakgu is probably trustworthy but…’ It never hurt to go the extra mile, right?
Not too long after Dakgu exited both the room and building, he heard the sound of a small explosion and some soft vibrations. Some seconds and he caught a glimpse of Ed.
He came out of the house and like the secret chamber most likely had, it too collapsed. Ed did that by manipulating the earth, orc architecture wasn’t up to the necessary safety standards. He might need to create some sort of Orcupational Safety and Health Administration for Sanctuary.1
The surrounding orcs had only vaguely felt the explosion and its soft vibrations but they most certainly didn’t miss the sound of the house crumbling. Some came to take a look but found nothing other than Dakgu resting on the remains of the collapsed building.
Ed had only briefly communicated with Dakgu and left the settlement almost immediately after. He wanted to compare the effects of mana manipulation after leveling up through assimilation.
‘This should be far enough…’ The thunder cry settlement was half its size from the current distance. Before Ed could even try and cast anything though…
[Recalling Champion Soul]
He was interrupted by a message and his stirring mind. His body soon thereafter and by the time he recovered, he was already inside the boundless black void.
Ed was instantly alarmed. Putting aside that the dungeon was now wary of him, the adventurers returning so soon and him being summoned every time they did would make it difficult for him to truly create kingdoms.
‘Can’t you just summon a new boss or something?’ Ed asked expecting that the dungeon would get the message. Ever since the previous boss was defeated he had not had peace. It was as If the dungeon planned on using him as the boss for every floor. He could only call it stingy.
‘Although I suppose such an arrangement could have its benefits…’ He would get to audit the adventurers and get used to their fighting styles after facing them a couple of times. That would result in him wiping them out at later stages.
[Champion is required to kill intruders] ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
As Ed pondered on this he surprisingly received a response in the form of a glowing message. This made him hopeful that they could perhaps hold a conversation.
‘How did you fare before my existence then?’ Ed said implying that the dungeon could do just fine by itself.
‘Although I have definitely become a great hindrance for the adventurers the beefed-up bosses that this dungeon has is enough to give anyone a headache.’ The lich and Blurak were both strong characters.
[Champion is required to kill intruders]
‘Stubborn…’ Ed grumbled inwardly while also feeling cautious. Why was it insisting? If it wasn’t for the system’s warning Ed might have passed it off as normal dungeon behavior but now he felt it was some sort of plot.
‘I can’t underestimate the dungeon’ Especially not while residing inside of it as consciousness.
‘Let’s wait and see for now then’ Ed didn’t have much of an option in that regard.
***
The new party of adventurers, having seen someone getting cooked alive in front of them, instantly ran for it.
“We need to warn everyone, let’s get out of here!” So screamed the young man, the leader of the party. He had two other party members next to him who also understood the importance of gauging situations. They didn’t hesitate to turn tail and run alongside their leader.
As for Blaze, he couldn’t give them chase. It was simply impossible for him to catch up to three human adventurers, being dead did have its consequences.
Nonetheless, it also had its upsides, Blaze stayed perch atop the fortress wall while on the lookout for intruders. Due to being dead, he didn’t really get bored at all while staring at the merging corridors and the dim flicker of the torches.
It was only after many minutes passed that things finally settled down and the skeletons were able to relax their guard. Blaze hopped off the fortress wall at that point and Trench gave them all new orders.
Gather the loot! It was the customary next step.
Like worker ants, the skeletons all worked together to move the items from the dead adventurers to respective piles.
While they did this, Iron returned next to the side of Ed’s body as if it never left. The main difference was how its armor now had small gashes or cracks.
Eventually, peace returned and the skeletons prepared to continue their usual routine. Some trained their mana and others in their martial arts. That same routine went on for a good couple of hours…
“Remember, C-class adventurers should stay in the backline” A man spoke with a tinge of contempt. They were a B-class spearman and a leader of a B-class party. That being the case, how did C-class adventurers join him?
The adventurers didn’t just relay warnings, they formed alliances. They formed a sort of impromptu extermination squad with those they found on the third floor. Their efforts were leeched off by the stronger B-class adventurers however as they felt much more confident in their own leadership skills.
This punitive force headed into the gate corridor where they faced the bland yet intimidatingly tall fortress wall.
“Tear it down!” One of the B-class party leaders yelled to their own members and some C-class adventurers who also yielded to their command.
Instantly many spells flew towards the wall from the merging corridors. Aside from that, the melee-based adventurers all ran up ready to cross over as soon as it broke down.
Pioneer who just so happened to be training close to the wall heard the darting spells and alerted its comrades who all dropped their training and watched as cracks were formed along the wall created by Ed.
Thick killing intent emanated from all of the skeletons feeling that they had been slighted. On the other hand, the adventurers that had been too rude to even knock were overcome by fear after being blanketed with the thick killing intent.
“Wh- what!? You said one lich!” The B-class leader exclaimed with a mix of anger and trepidation. The number of liches in front of them was at least half the size of their party!
He went ahead and asked for the wall to be knocked down so confidently but it was because there was only one lich. Who was he to court death?
As for the reporters they could only awkwardly take in the glare of their fellow adventurers. But how were they expected to know that a dungeon could casually toss out mini-bosses?
“Don’t falter, it’s too late now!” Killing intent meant that the skeletons intended to kill, they weren’t statues. Spells had already started to be cast.
Most of the mages snapped out of their stupor and cast defensive spells to aid the large party. Knights and the like took to the front where they had to trust in their armor’s capabilities.
Just like that, the gate corridor suddenly turned into a chaotic battlefield.