Chapter 8 - Lucky Break
10 days had gone by since Ed decided to put his base building plan into action. Ed couldn’t remember how much work he had done in his past life but he was sure that the last 10 days had beat that number by a long shot.
He gave up on mapping the floor however due to his poor memory. He instead gathered as much furniture and weapons as possible and made himself a living space.
He was getting odd looks from any even slightly intelligent mob as he dragged desks and chairs from all over the dungeon back to his abode.
Ed had hoarded so many items that his hoarding skill went up by 3 levels. His living area could be considered a very organized mess.
As a matter of fact he was currently laying on a bed of creaky wooden chairs while staring up at the dungeon’s ceiling. It would be extremely uncomfortable if it wasn’t for the fact that he was a Skeleton and therefore didn’t have a real sense of discomfort.
This was where he rested while deciding what to do for the day. He got up hesitantly and grab some stones from a very organized pile.
He started chucking them at a wall. After only two tosses he got an alert.
[Hurl has leveled up]
‘What level is it at now?’ Ed asked the system.
[Hurl lvl. 7]
Able to accurately hurl moderately sized objects medium distances.
When Ed wasn’t lazing around he would either hoard more items or chuck stones to level up his skills. He tried levelling up his Basic Transmission skill but his nearby allies weren’t very bright, he didn’t manage to raise that skill more than one level after many hours.
‘Hey system, when can I get out of here?’ His only conversational partner wasn’t quite social either. He let out a mental sigh and prepared to train his Swordsmanship skill.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get it past level -1 but he couldn’t let the system have its way with him.
He went to his pile of neatly arranged rusty swords and lazily grabbed one. Of course that was just his imagination since outsiders would only see a very odd Skeleton.
‘Let’s go for 100 practice swings’ As an ex avid gamer and an average college student he knew nothing about swordsmanship. Games don’t really teach you much in that regard.
After a few swings he was met with a message.
[A group of trespassers has entered your floor]
That was a message which he hadn’t seen in a while, 10 days to be exact.
[Intercept trespassers to obtain a reward, failure to act will result in a small penalty]
The message made it seem as though the dungeon or system wasn’t expecting much from him.
‘It did say something about meeting expectations last time. Maybe the expectations are lower because it is a group of trespassers that entered this time’ It was either that or Ed failed so miserably that it lowered its expectations of him.
Knowing that failing wouldn’t result in a severe punishment took a huge load off Ed’s shoulders. Even with his new Mental Fortitude skill he was very reluctant to go back into the endless darkness for another 24 hours.
His base was a fair distance away from the safe room. He did that deliberately since it would give him more time to prepare, as such he couldn’t hear any loud noises.
‘Then again they don’t all have to be magicians’ Swords and bows would make noises but the sound was nothing when compared to an explosion.
‘That could make it hard to find them…’ In the first place, most dungeon mobs don’t actively seek out targets. How was a mob to know where the pesky adventurers are located?
‘If I can’t find them d-?’
[Yes]
The system cut him off with a simple yes before he could even ask.
‘Better get to it then’ He grabbed a bunch of sharp rocks and stuffed them in his robe. He had long thrown away the empty glass vials, they were the most fun thing to hurl in the entire dungeon so they didn’t last.
Although he was unable to make a map for the entirety of the 10 days, he was still able to memorize the path towards the safe room.
‘All stocked up! Let’s go’ Since he probably wouldn’t feel extreme pain upon failing he didn’t really mind dying for the twisted system. Does the dungeon hold no regard for life? Sending him to his death like that!
After walking for 10 or so minutes he finally heard something, it just wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
‘Footsteps!’ With the trespassers being so close by he wouldn’t be able to form any sort of plan. He was currently in a very large hallway that splits off into all sorts of directions. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
‘Wait it sounds like only two people’ Some good news! He just might be able to take care of the intruders!
Holding a trusty sharp stone in one hand, he readied himself for the engagement. He could only hope his opponents weren’t very tanky or even his level 7 Hurl would have a tough time.
The footsteps grew nearer increasing his nerves. But thanks to [Mental Fortitude lvl. 1] and the [First kill] achievement his emotions were still in order.
He threw the moderately sized and sharp stone towards where he predicted the opponents would be. The stone flew faster and more accurately than during his last encounter.
Unfortunately, the noise of an object rapidly approaching their position alerted the adventurers who nimbly moved aside right before entering the corridor.
They were experienced and instantly charged towards Ed’s direction one holding what seemed like a pair of daggers and the other a shortsword.
Ed was caught completely off guard by their fast reactions but almost instantly brought himself back. He anxiously grabbed more stones from inside his tattered robe and chucked them at high speeds.
The rate at which his arms move was worthy of praise!
[Dexterity +1]
Is this what they call breaking through in the midst of battle!?
Even though the stones suddenly got faster one of the assailants still managed to flawlessly dodge. He seemed to be a thief or assassin based on that alone.
The other one, a woman with a bow on her back holding a shortsword, got pelted but managed to persevere as it only hit her arm!
Ed quickly ran out of stones, his robe didn’t have infinite space after all. The assasin had basically closed the distance.
Ed gripped his rusty sword with both hands and prepared to intercept the assassin’s sharp strikes.
But while getting in position he tripped on his robe.
‘F*ck!’
He started falling backward and managed to dodge the assassin’s strikes. Instead the assassin cut apart more of Ed’s fluttering robe.
The robe which was slashed apart suddenly imploded! Enchanted robes were not simple cloth!
[You’ve been dealt a direct hit! -50 hp]
Out of the robe came a barrage of items. From swords to crossbows and even vile looking potions!
It caught all of them off guard! Ed as a Skeleton was not as affected when getting buried but the assassin wasn’t so lucky! Some of the potions even spilled all over him causing all sorts of weird reactions.
The archer was further due to her slower speed and her eyes were widened. This was a completely unexpected situation!
[You’ve been dealt damage. -5 hp]
This all happened too quickly, Ed couldn’t recollect himself properly and was buried under the clutter. With the help of his hoarding skills and his nimble hands however, he managed to dig himself out of the pile.
The archer also recollected herself and closed the distance to attack!
Ed who had barely managed to crawl out of the clutter while still holding his sword would not be able to intercept the vertical swing. He braced himself for death!
‘Eh?’ He blanked for a second as the shortsword went past in between his rib cage and missed the strike. The archer was clearly not accustomed to using a sword.
‘A chance!’ He rolled sideways almost instinctively and slashed at the archer who was very close with his rusty sword. He only managed a shallow slash across her stomach but that was enough for her to wince in pain as a person who is not usually on the frontlines.
Ed wanted to slash at her again but the crappy sword started to fall apart. In the heat of the moment Ed grabbed a random item and launched it towards her head.
The archer ignored the shallow cut and made motions to tilt away from the item. But a throw from a master hurlsmen such as Ed could not be avoided from such a close range!
The metal ore which Ed mistook for a regular stone hit the archer straight on her forehead. The impact killed her instantly!
Ed, who finally got a second to breathe had only one thing on his mind.
‘What. The f*ck!