Ed didn't bother to check if the trap had indeed worked as intended. Why? He didn't doubt it would. Plus, if he made it past the regular skeletons the adventurer would end up reaching a dead end.
There was a reason that Ed chose this room. One might think that the middle rooms would lead to other rooms but what type of crappy labyrinth would that be? There was only an office at the end adorned with crappy furniture.
'Let's get back to it then' Ed merely glanced in that direction before quickly shifting gears back to the adventurers. He just needed to choke them out.
'I wish I could use other elements' Ed lamented his lack of offensive spells. He could have easily ended the whole thing with a meteor rain if he had the right elements.
'Although it might just be called meteor drop while in here.' The ceiling wasn't sufficiently high.
Felix, Scarlet, and the rest didn't check for Mort's safety either. It was more so because they were unable to. Felix could easily slice the skeletons but his broken foot was making it hard to properly balance himself and perform his swordsmanship.
At the moment, he only managed to kill one skeleton before that one was quickly replaced by another. As the other adventurers died, or in Mort's case escaped, the worse things got for him.
That was what made Ed's strategy especially sinister. He didn't target one's like Buster at the start since they could easily dodge or resist the spike. No, he targeted the already struggling C-classes that held back his minions. That is unless of course, the opportunity presented itself as it just had.
'Let's have fun' Ed transmitted while imagining the various new sets of equipment he would acquire. He was also looking forward to seeing what his skeletons attained.
'My mana reserve is at half' He hadn't cast many spells yet it had already reached such a state.
[Mana Manipulation has leveled up]
Ed rose the ground to swallow a C-class adventurer granting him a quick death. He was being held back by three skeletons so his mind had been preoccupied. It was quite easy and Ed couldn't help but mentally shudder. Being buried alive could not be pleasant.
"Damn it! We need to kill that thing!" Felix yelled anxiously as he finally eliminated one of the skeletons. Unfortunately, the three from before came to him.
"Go, I'll provide support." The earthen mage from earlier said.
She was having a relatively easier time since Ed's attack couldn't easily reach her without her notice. The skeletons could also be pushed back among other things. She couldn't deal much damage but the number of deaths she had prevented was already numerable.
"My leg!" Felix yelled to signal his plight. He then jumped back as four cleaving swords cut his previous location.
Ed was on the other hand leisurely eliminating more and more C-class adventurers. The count had already gone down to 13 in less than a minute. All he had to do was get reasonably close to conserve mana as well as pressure the adventurers.
The others could only watch this all happen.
That was until Felix decided to grit his teeth and squeeze out some more mana. His surroundings were suddenly covered with heat. This was close to Drake's own heat field but not quite there. The main difference was that it was an actual fire.
Flames were ignited from Felix's body which burned brightly and dangerously. The four skeletons had their swords break from the oppressive heat as well as their body turn waxen.
"I'll give you an opening! Someone get in there!" Felix yelled mainly referring to the remaining two B-class adventurers who didn't seem to have much of a presence.
The move he had just performed pained him as the bright flames could not be easily withstood. But he still performed a follow-up attack.
His sword suddenly seemed quite holy as the yellow flame that usually coated it turned white. With a fierce slash, these white flames shot forward. Their aim was the skeletons lined up and fighting the many adventurers.
The intensity of his flames was something that Felix had never witnessed. But he had no opportunity to relish in its appearance and the feeling of breaking through one's limit.
That was because Ed wasn't having it. He hurriedly attempted to raise a wall.
Ed felt some interference likely coming from the earthen mage but he dealt with it swiftly and decisively. More mana!
'I knew that guy couldn't be left alone!' The Felix person was quite mischievous! Doing things without Ed's permission.
The wall of earth withstood the raging flames but the heat it radiated could still be clearly felt. Felix's attack seemed like it could make a potent flamethrower but it was unfortunately entirely dependent on the speed of his swings. With his current state, It could only come in bursts leaving much to be desired.
"F*ck do something, you people!" Felix was seriously losing his cool as his irascible personality kicked in. He started to feel like he was the only one capable of doing anything there completely disregarding his broken foot.
"Felix, calm down!" Scarlet who was next to him fighting a single skeleton told him. If he kept wildly swinging like that he would only be wasting mana so she tried to warn him.
But...
Carelessness, even when backed by good intentions, brings disaster.
Ed took advantage of the opportunity to send a stake through her chest. Ed did so as quickly as possible exhausting more mana than necessary. That's because it was completely worth it.
"Sc-Scarlet!" Felix who was shocked by the sudden occurrence failed to notice the approaching Ed.
In his mind, there was only Scarlet throwing up blood with a ghastly expression. His heart tightened at the thought of what usually came next. He could already picture Scarlet's eyes rolling to the back of her head as her organs are mercilessly pierced by the white menace.
"Felix!" Someone yelled causing him to blink in confusion. Why did he suddenly feel so light-headed?
He looked back towards the front only to see Ed's chilling appearance. At that moment he knew what had gone wrong! There was a sword in his chest!
"No…!" He unwillingly yelled as he suddenly burst into white flames. His mana burned briskly as he desperately tried to shake off the skeleton and remove the sword that pierced his body.
And it did work to some extent. Ed's sword rapidly melted and his armor clung to his bones painfully but…
[You are burning. -3 hp]
[Melting surface. -5 hp]
Those two messages repeated themselves quickly in that immediate second but what did such meager numbers matter for?
Ed let go of the grip on his sword and grabbed Felix's blazing body with both hands. It happened too quickly for him to even react.
"Awk...!" Felix was lifted into the air by the neck properly matching his gaze with Ed's tall body. The melted armor coupled with the raging white flames which he still so desperately clung to for salvation struck paralyzing fear into his heart.
The empty eye sockets seemed to hide malicious intent as Felix's fear kicked into high gear and he wriggled furiously. He tried to loosen the grip amidst the raging flames and reinforce his neck but...
Ed mustered strength into both hands. Felix's neck then crumbled as if it was made of nothing more than sticks. The white flames that surrounded the two dispersed revealing Ed lifting Felix's horrified corpse.
His armor which had melted apart coupled with his burnt bones and hollow sockets created an image directly from hell. The molten armor still glowed in the eerie and dimly lit room.
'Let's wrap this up' Ed told them. All semblance of rationality was thrown out the window some adventurers tried to instinctively run away. This only helped them receive a couple of sword wounds to the back or having their spine directly crushed by Brutus and his morning star.
With the simple elimination of Felix, all of the dominoes fell into place. The battle had suddenly turned into nothing more than a cakewalk.
"Ah!" The earthen mage who was used to leisurely defending herself and others was suddenly faced by an onslaught of the undead as the anti-skeletons all finished their designated foes.
The 20 plus skeletons didn't leave any room for mercy as they assaulted the dome of earth she hurriedly cast creating holes through mad hacking and vicious pounds.
The petrified adventurer didn't need to fear much longer as Ed walked over to finally eliminate one of his biggest headaches. He simply punched a hole in the structure causing it to almost immediately crumble.
The skeletons who were originally in a maddened state yearning for the living suddenly turned passive as Ed approached the terrified adventurer. She had long since collapsed on the ground tripping on her robe.
'If you look at me I'll feel bad' Ed thought as he borrowed one of the skeleton's swords and pierced her throat.
The room was finally overcome with silence. The flickering torches and the clacking bones were the only sound that entered his ears.
'27, not bad' Ed assessed how many of the skeletons survived. The amount was more than half although by a small margin.
Nonetheless, it was an acceptable result for their first fight.
Ed then surveyed the battlefield. Some of the corpses were still hung up by the earth. The ground was charred a deep black following Felix's mad outburst. The floor was also painted red by the various pools of blood or the ones coughed in a hacking fit of the least fortunate.
'This is what I did huh…' He glanced at Felix's lifeless corpse and could help but feel… nothing.
[Mental Fortitude has leveled up]
The worst pain came from the knowledge that he felt nothing.
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