by Yuu Tanaka
Unfortunately, we couldn’t use it to its full potential as of yet. I could change myself into a spear, a shield, and other such instruments of war, but it was of no use to us at the moment.
First off, it consumed a huge amount of mana to get started. Further, maintaining the change drained even more mana. I only had Sword Skills leveled up, and I couldn’t change my size either to make a bigger weapon. There had to be a creative way of using this skill, but I couldn’t think of anything at the moment. I’d need to experiment with this, too.
Monsters began to spawn more frequently by the time we got to the seventh floor, and most of the hateful fiends came equipped with special abilities. Our fights started taking longer as stronger monsters were mixed in with the mob. D-Rank threats such as the Hellhound Zombie, Naga Skeleton, and Skeleton Dark Paladin started spawning on the ninth floor.
We wouldn’t have gotten this far if not for Jean’s preparations. The monsters were relentless in their assault, and letting our guard down was a sure-fire way of getting pummeled. Jean, who would purify and control his enemies, was as versatile as a Joker card in this Undead Dungeon. We didn’t get lost and were able to explore smoothly thanks to Selkan and Fly.
Jean’s cornucopia of items proved their worth many times over.
I never expected that the skull-shaped lamp was used to set up an anti-undead barrier. We were able to rest at night without worry, although the constant groans of the zombies outside the field was a bit disturbing. I was amazed at how Fran, and Jean for that matter, were able to sleep without a care in the world despite this.
Jean probably slept better between the two. Some zombies had approached the edges of our safety field while we were eating and Fran scrunched her face at the sight of them, adjusting her position so they wouldn’t end up in her line of sight. Jean, on the other hand, was completely unaffected and chowed down his food without pausing.
They were zombies, you know? Shambling corpses? They were rotten and strange fluids leaked out of their bodies. Jean was used to them since he was a necromancer by trade, but he still made me squeamish when he took a bite of his meat and said, “Those zombies look quite fresh.”
We carried on our trek of the ninth floor until we reached the boss room.
As it was with all the floors before this, the boss room was sealed off behind a great heavy door. We’d seen it many times by now. The layout of this dungeon was complex like a maze, but it consistently ended each floor with a boss room.
So that’s the ninth floor boss room.
The Ogre Zombie we fought on the second floor had been weak, but stronger monsters had protected every floor after that. The eighth floor had been guarded by an Elder Zombie Great Lancer, a magical spear wielding undead who had Advanced Spear Mastery and Advanced Spear Arts. His spear was able to deflect magic, and Fran’s health dipped below fifty percent for the first time since we got to this dungeon. We got Advanced Spear Mastery and Advanced Spear Arts for our troubles, at least. I might be able to debut my spear form sooner than later. Unfortunately, we got a little overzealous and destroyed the enchanted spear in the process. It would’ve fetched a fair price since it was a decently strong piece of enchanted gear.
“Are we ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Selkan, open the door!”
“Varg!”
Selkan slowly opened the heavy door. We started casting our spells in the meantime. By the time the door was fully opened, we let loose our barrage of magic into the room.
Flare Blast!
“Hexagon Tornado!”
“Hell Blaze!”
“Grr!”
The opening spell volley had become our standard approach. Our spells immediately went after the skeleton clad in golden armor who was standing in the middle of the room.
“Kakaka!”
The skeleton stood its ground, however, with no sign of taking damage.
The eighth floor boss had defended himself using his spear which had anti-magic powers, but the same could not be said for this skeleton. It didn’t even go into a defensive stance. Magic didn’t seem to affect it much, thanks to its high level of Magic Resistance. It stood intimidatingly after taking our spell barrage which destroyed its sixth floor cousin in one round.
Name: Legendary Skeleton Dark Knight
Race: Undead
Status: Guardian; Undead
Level: 24
HP: 1568/1693; Magic: 988; Strength: 637; Agility: 436
Skills: Sense Jammer 6; Sword Arts 10; Advanced Sword Arts 1; Sword Mastery 10; Advanced Sword Mastery 1; Regeneration 8; Automated Mana Strike 6; Abnormal Status Resistance 9; Control Undead 4; Necromancy 8; Mental Abnormal Status Resistance 9; Elemental Blade 6; Poison Magic 6; Magic Resistance 9; Dark Magic 4; Spirit Manipulation
Extra Skill: Unleash Potential
Title: Dungeon Guardian
Equipment: Enchanted Sword Death Gaze; Orihalcon Full Plate; Nether Mantle
The skeleton began moving slowly. The mere sight of him was intimidating, not to mention his massive amount of mana. This was a B-Rank Threat to be sure.
The skeleton was the same tier as the daemon we had faced. The daemon was the stronger between the two where stats were involved, but the skeleton definitely had more defense by way of skill selection.
Regeneration 8, Abnormal Status Resistance 9, Mental Abnormal Status Resistance 9, Magical Resistance 9, are you kidding me? It also donned an orihalcon armor, known for its high resistance to magic. Spells would be useless against it. It was without a doubt a deadly enemy.
However, Jet, Fran, and I weren’t scared. In fact, we had been waiting for this moment.
Hello again, bonehead!
“Time to pay for what you did to us in the skies.”
“Woof!”
This had been the Skeleton Knight which blocked our path on our initial trip to the floating island.
Heheheh. Finally, time for some payback!
Jean, this one’s ours. Back off.
“This is a difficult foe for me to face. I shall focus on healing you.”
The Skeleton Knight drew his sword as if understanding our desire to fight. It was as motivated as we were.
“Kukaka!”
“Hm.”
I guess his horse is a summon.
The Skeleton Knight swung its sword and immediately a magic circle appeared at his side. A Skeleton Horse galloped out of it, shrouded with purple mana. That horse had given us a lot of grief, too. We’d beat this dead horse yet.
“Brr!”
The undead horse stood on its hind legs and neighed. It was ready for a fight.
However, the Skeleton Knight showed no signs of climbing on his horse. It was obvious when I thought about it. We might be in a large hall but it still wasn’t big enough for a horse to run around in. He would immediately smash into a wall if he tried to run at full throttle. He had summoned the horse purely to bolster his offense.
“Grrr…”
Jet growled as he watched the horse. The horse had also locked on to Jet in return. They looked like they were talking to each other as fellow summons.
All right, you can take the horse, Jet.
“Don’t lose.”
“Woof!”
Fran and I turned our full attention back to the Skeleton Knight.
“Teacher.”
Yep.
Fran sheathed her phantom augite dagger. I had been flying around to my heart’s content up until now but we wouldn’t be able to beat the Skeleton Knight if we didn’t get serious.
Fran gripped me, assumed her position. Having her wield me just felt right.
“I knew it. Wielding you feels just right, Teacher.”
Hahaha!
I burst into laughter upon Fran’s sentiment. Fran and I were the perfect combination.
“?”
It’s nothing. Together we’re unstoppable.
“Of course.”
All right, we haven’t had a tough fight in a while.
Let’s put our backs into it!
Yeah!
And with that, Fran leapt towards the Skeleton Knight.
She swung her sword, fully intent on ending the fight with the first strike. We already had our skirmish in the sky, after all.
But the Skeleton Knight proved to be a formidable swordsman. He parried Fran’s frenzied slashes while countering them with equally powerful strikes.
The two of them fell silent, the sound of clanging swords filling the large hall instead. Their duel was straightforward but anyone watching it would fall into captivated awe at the two non-human combatants.
However, Fran was the weaker of the two; her stats were much lower and they were evenly matched in the number of battle arts they had. With a little help from my support skills and magic, they were just about evenly matched.
There was also another reason why she was in a stalemate.
Our enemy had Sense Jammer 6, making us unable to spot its crystal location even when we had Mana Sense. I had wanted to launch a surprise attack using Telekinetic Catapult at first but that was not in the cards for us. I could use a chain of Catapults and hope to get lucky, but…
“Urgh! Ha!”
“Kaka!”
The Skeleton Knight’s title, Dungeon Guardian, was the real problem. Its health and mana would heal as long as he fought within the dungeon.
I didn’t want to blindly use a skill which greatly consumed my mana against an enemy with such great regenerative capabilities. Moreover, he might develop a counter to the Telekinetic Catapult if I used it too early. We were forced to whittle it down…
Another annoying move was Automated Mana Strike 6. As its name implied, it automatically attacks its surrounding opponents with bursts of mana. Seeing that it was automated, the Skeleton Knight’s movement had nothing to do with it. It was difficult to predict, and it often activated when we were off balance or trying to catch our breath. The damage was significant, too. It made Fran reel with the recoil, and she had already had several close calls that day.
We had leveled up Mana Barrier as a countermeasure, so damage wasn’t as much of an issue as before. Mana Barrier reduced the damage of other attacks, too, so it was much more worthwhile than I initially thought.
Still, all my saved up EP was steadily dropping.
How are you doing, Jet?
I looked over to Jet’s battleground, where he was getting pushed back. He and the undead horse were about evenly matched in terms of physical size, but the horse had had more combat experience. Jet tried to ambush the horse from behind only to receive a kick to the face which threw him across the room.
The horse had better regeneration since it was undead; it was able to recover quickly from most of its wounds. The horse was also highly resistant towards Dark Magic. Jet found it difficult to land a single hit.
Jet and the horse were going to take more time.
But we were really stuck in the same situation!
“Haaa!”
“Kakaka!”
Clang!
The fight must have been going for ten minutes.
Crink!
I heard the high-pitched echo of glass bells, completely unlike the clanging between steel and steel. The sound was apparently Fran’s Black Cat Protection activating. The Skeleton Knight’s sword, Death Gaze, had activated its latent power of Instant Death. The sound signified the protection of the Black Cat Armor.
Thanks, Garrus! We’ll see you in Ulmutt! The Black Cat set you made had saved Fran’s life.
But Fran was still at a disadvantage even with the Anti Death embedded in her armor. Our opponent was undead and didn’t know what exhaustion was. If this turned into a battle of attrition, we would lose body and soul.
Still, we hadn’t dragged on the fight this long for nothing.
Fran, it’s probably the head.
“Hm!”
I observed the Skeleton Knight’s movements even as I let Fran swing me around to try and figure out where its crystal was located.
There were some attacks he didn’t bother to deflect since he didn’t feel pain and could just recover from the damage. It was much more effective to launch a counterattack from that position. However, he would always block all attempts we made at attacking his head.
Which meant his head was the one part of his body he had to protect at all costs. Bad things happened if his head got busted open.
Your immortality will be the death of you!
“Haa!”
“Kakakaka!”
Our opponent was still a tough nut to crack. He wasn’t going to let us attack his weak point that easily.
The duelists became more intense in their defense and offense. Fran went on the aggressive, prepared to take a hit for an even trade. The bone knight focused on landing a counterattack as he started to solely focus on protecting his head.
“Hmph!”
“Ka!”
“There!”
“Kakkaka!”
The skeleton was now completely focused on Fran!
Jet!
“Growl!”
“Ka?”
Jet immediately responded and leapt at the Skeleton Knight from behind.
I had told Jet to hinder the horse’s movements since killing it proved difficult. He would wait for my signal and then hop over to our duel for an assist. He kept a close eye on both the Skeleton Knight and his steed for a chance to jump in.
Jet clamped on the Skeleton Knight’s right leg and locked him down.
“Now!”
Rraaargh!
Fran jumped towards the horse who was stunned by Jet’s disappearance. The Skeleton Knight was unable to help his steed as Jet had a strong lock on his leg.
“Brr…?”
I already know where your crystal is, buddy.
Fran pierced me into the undead horse’s neck.
“Brrrr!!!” The Skeleton Horse’s death cry was pitiful.
“Kaka!”
The Skeleton Knight tried in vain to reach for his dying steed. By the time he got to his horse, there was nothing left of it.
Now Jet could help us in beating this guy. It should make our fight easier.
Our chance to kill the skeleton knight had already presented itself. Who knew he would be in shock upon the death of his beloved horse? The Skeleton Knight stopped in his tracks, exposing his back to Fran.
“Teacher!”
I know! Take this!
It was finally time to use my secret trump card!
The Super Short Distance Telekinetic Catapult.
Yaaaargh!
No one could block a fully charged catapult launched from behind at this distance! Jet even had his legs locked down!
Even if you could somehow react to it at the last second it would be too late to dodge—or so I thought.
“Kakaka!!!”
Boom!
“Aroo!”
“Kuuh.”
“Guaah!”
I was seconds away from victory, inches away from penetrating the Skeleton Knight’s skull when it happened. Bright light shone from the knight’s body and blew me away.
Damn it, what happened?!
The sudden impact flung me all the way to the wall. I immediately looked around me to survey what had just happened.
Where is he… There!
“Kakakakaka!”
“Ah!”
Fran!
The Skeleton Knight, who was supposed to be locked in position, disappeared from sight. At least, he moved so fast that he gave the impression of disappearing.
He reappeared in front of Fran, who was sprawled out on the floor, a second later. Fran immediately reached out for her Phantom Augite Dagger but he knocked it out of her hand with one blow.
I flew towards Fran as fast as I could, the knight still carrying out his assault on her during my flight. Fran dodged by rolling on the ground but it was a matter of time until she got skewered by the knight’s sword.
Raaah!
Clang!
> I clashed against the knight’s sword in the nick of time.
Such force! If I hadn’t used the full power of Telekinesis I would’ve been blown away again. Our clash would buy enough time for Fran to get back on her feet.
Fran jumped up, grabbed me, took a few steps back. I was back in her hands now, but that didn’t mean the skeleton had stopped his onslaught.
“Kaka, kakaka!”
“Kuh! Aagh!”
“Ka!”
“Wah!”
Middle Heal!
Damn it, Fran was getting pushed back! She was receiving more damage than I could heal through, her health fiercely dwindling. Her mana was decreasing too as the attacks pushed Mana Barrier to its absolute limit.
The Skeleton Knight’s strikes were incomparably faster than when we started, and each blow was much stronger because of it.
His Automated Mana Strikes got stronger to the point that Mana Barrier couldn’t brush them off.
What happened to have made him power up this much?!
Identify!
Name: Legendary Skeleton Dark Knight
Race: Undead
Status: Guardian; Unleash Potential
Level: 24
HP: 1229/1693; Strength: 637→1137; Agility: 436→1036
Uh, what? His stats got a huge boost all of a sudden. His Strength was over 1000! What were these hacks?!
Unleash Potential was written on his status. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the result of his Extra Skill!
Unleash Potential: Unleashes the potential of its user. Increased stat depends on the latent power of each individual user. Unleashing potential takes a toll on the user’s body and depletes health on top of requiring additional cost. Additional cost differs from user to user.
The Skeleton Knight’s health was depleting at quite a rapid rate, to be sure, but Fran might expire long before he did!
“Kakaka!”
“Ugh!”
Damn it, he was ridiculously strong! I felt like I was going to be knocked out of Fran’s hands just from blocking his attacks, which would have been the case had I not reinforced myself with Telekinesis.