Stuck As A Dungeon Mob

As far as Ed was aware, there was no method to fight a giant blood beast in his mind. Maybe if he recovered his memories but as of right now most definitely no. Considering the fact that the gauntlet more or less acted as a core, the closest comparison would be a golem.

‘You go for a golem’s core usually’ That was already what he instructed Var Agus to do so the question was therefore how exactly did one go for the golem’s core?

Logically speaking, as long as the beast could control that much blood it was near impossible to go near it, no?

Eliminating close combat it left only ranged attacks as a viable strategy. The problem was that spears and arrows or any other rudimentary weapon of that sort would just bounce back or prove entirely ineffective. Thus, the most obvious method to attack the beast would be with magic.

Unfortunately, Ed was fairly certain there were no magicians amongst the lizardmen at the very moment. That left the task of killing the gauntlet beast to the reinforcements he sent, however…

‘I don’t think they can handle this either’ The gauntlet beast was no small matter. No matter how many spells they threw towards its center it was very likely that the gauntlet would not just move positions, but that it would also form a thick protective layer.

Luckily, if the beast was in the defensive that was still a positive outcome. While defending itself the chances it had to attack others were lessened. Not just that, but Ed had just come up with what might be the most effective method of attack for the lizardmen.

‘Bombard it with the ship’s cannons’ Ed instructed Var Agus.

Magic was a great offensive weapon but it couldn’t keep up a constant barrage unless there was a great quantity of mages. Knowing there were no mages, the cannons Ed made were the best and most explosive weapon to drill a hole towards the core.

Of course, there was still a problem. Putting aside the small number of ships, there was unlikely to be anywhere near enough ammunition. Adding to that the fact that in order to accurately aim at the exposed weakness the ship would ideally have to remain stationary or at a near constant speed…

‘Any ship would be taken down almost instantly’ If it remained still then a couple of tentacles would make quick work of the crew and if it moved at a constant speed its path would be predictable so it might only last a few more seconds.

Moving more erratically to avoid the tentacles however, would also mess up the aim of the lizardmen. The target was quite large but the whole point of the cannons was to make a path towards its core.

If the sacrifice didn’t seem worth it, why did Ed instruct Var Agus to follow this method? It should by all means be a poor method.

‘This is the only way the lizardmen can successfully distract the beast’ Ed didn’t think that was enough to kill it due to the above stated conditions but it shouldn’t be impossible to temporarily distract it. As long as they ceased the moment it was possible to minimize casualties.

‘Var Agus, have your men suppress the beast with the cannons while you go around separately to get a better angle’ Ed’s idea was to have Var Agus eliminate the beast on his own or with some help from the reinforcements.

‘A better angle to the gauntlet…?’ Var Agus asked feeling perplexed by the plan.

‘I will make you a spear, and pass onto you part of my strength. I will need you to puncture past all the blood in a single strike’ Previously, Ed also stated that spears and arrows were ineffective but that was only under normal circumstances.

Spears had a great ability to pierce through monsters and objects. Though it would heavily depend on the quality of the spear and its blade, another factor was raw strength. With enough strength even a pebble could theoretically pierce through a tank.

‘In practice the rock would probably destroy itself before it can even reach the tank’ Which was precisely why both strength and quality were a must!

To Var Agus’ favor, Ed had a couple of great materials that would not fail to get the job done. Out of all of these materials Ed only trusted one, however.

Still being in the crypt teaching the skeletons a variety of crafts, Ed broke off two of his arms.

‘My constitution is at 10 as a skeleton, these bones ought to be sturdy enough’ The skeletons were stunned to see Ed remove his own limbs but they knew better than to question their all-knowing teacher and liege.

Entering the system space, Ed hurried over into the forge room. He ceased all the ongoing operations in the forge and placed the focused solely on the creation of a divine spear.

‘It needs…’ Ed asked himself as he watched his arms melt away in the forge flames.

‘It must have some skills!’ The divine weapon required divine skills and for that it had to have a consciousness. Luckily, this was something fairly easy to arrange.

[<(General) Pinpoint lvl. 1> Skill Ink]

[<(Metal General) Metal Body lvl. 0> Skill Ink]

[<(Wind General) Wind Affinity lvl. 0> Skill Ink] ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

[<(Lightning General) Electrify lvl. 1> Skill Ink]

[<(General) Resonance lvl. 0> Skill Ink]

Ed brought out a bunch of skills he reckoned could help deal with the core as well as sell the divinity of the weapons. By the time Ed procured all those inks, his bones were ready to be turned into a spear.

Upon returning to the forge, Ed shaped the liquid bones and made sure to sharpen the edge as much as possible.

‘It’s still a bit blunt…’ It was hard to sharpen it without the proper tools in the system’s forge.

‘I’ll have to modify it in the physical world in the future’ For the time being the spear could remain as a foundation for a much greater weapon.

With that sorted, Ed promptly moved onto the insertion of a consciousness into the spear. Since the bones were part of his body previously Ed wasn’t quite sure if there would be any sort of rejection.

‘I don’t think there will be’ His consciousness was already independent of those arms so unless the dungeon made his bones from a mythical source the godly spear should be born.

With these potential apprehensions, Ed inserted an empty consciousness with the skills he chose and hoped for the best. After a whole half minute of waiting there appeared to be no real rejection.

‘Good’ Ed thought before taking the spear out of the system space alongside him.

Immediately, the brilliant white spear fell onto the ground. He looked around and noticed he was still armless. The body recollection skill didn’t yet have enough to start its regeneration process it seemed.

‘Ahem, I will grant you the privilege of a name once you prove you are useful, obey the commands of the individual to whom I will send you’ Ed commanded the spear. Since it had its own consciousness it was not at all unlikely for it to chose to electrify Var Agus if it deemed it necessary.

That said, even with this command Ed didn’t think it would be easy for the spear to be controlled. It didn’t have a real way to communicate with its wielder. Hopefully the resonance skill could help it understand where it stood and when it was optimal to activate its skills, however.

Having done this, Ed used his legs to return the item to his system space and soon thereafter activated his link skill.

‘Var Agus, I will hand you the spear now’ Ed transmitted to Var Agus. The link skill had previously entered cooldown when Ed passed on his sixth sense skill but it was fortunately not a long cooldown.

[Link is on cooldown]

Following the prompt on Ed’s end, Var Agus immediately saw an object appearing in front of him out of seemingly nowhere.

‘Huh?’ He was confused at first but upon noticing the brilliant white of the spear he regained his wits and hurried to grab it before it could fall onto the dirty ship deck. Such a beautiful and clean looking item should not be dirtied!

‘Var, the spear has its own life so it might not be very cooperative’ It really couldn’t be helped.

‘Huh? Its own life?’ Var Agus was once again confused. How could a spear have its own-?! No wait, the gauntlet they were fighting was alive so why couldn’t a spear be alive?

Var Agus didn’t question anything anymore. He felt that no matter what Ed said his words would be perfectly acceptable.

‘Yeah, so just make sure it doesn’t electrocute you while you are in the water’ The skill wasn’t very powerful having only been branded as a level 0 skill. The ink was level one but it was only branded at 0.

Still, it could cause a bit of damage. Ed hadn’t gauged what the lightning spear could do after all.

‘Un- Understood’ Var Agus responded almost having been thrown for a loop by those words.

Var Agus’s eyes then glittered. This was a true divine weapon! Var Agus felt more and more reverence with every second he stared at the resplendent object. He could almost feel victory at their grasp.

Looking back at the sea of crimson however these thoughts evaporated.. It would still be a very tough battle.