Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

[Summoning Dungeon Champion]

In the black void, the timer had stopped and Ed's mind was sucked into a vacuum and tossed into a body, his skeleton body. The familiar sense or rather the lack of a sense of touch returned to Ed, this meant he had regained his lucidity. That also meant he could hear a violent commotion and see sparkling lights in front of him.

'Intruders…!' Ed was shocked. This was the first time he had ever been summoned while already being besieged by adventurers. To make matters worse, all of the dazzling spells that flew past were getting rather close. A stray fireball even blasted into the temple!

Iron, who acted as Ed's bodyguard, did not miss this either and stopped playing statue to immediately jump into the line of fire but the ball of fire was instead stopped by the earth. The temple which had been brightly lit by the red roaring flames returned to its usual ominous red as the crystal torches once again became the main source of light.

Iron then immediately turned to Ed with a mix of awe and respect, it hadn't expected its lord to suddenly defend it when that duty fell on it and not the other way around.

[Iron (Rugged)]

An artificial death knight created through the efforts of the system and the intuition of its host. Its armor has been roughened up in battle.

Ed's first step when dealing with anything unknown was to first discover what exactly it was and whether or not it posed any threat to him. It, therefore, didn't come as a surprise that the first thing he did was scan the beaten Iron.

'Looks like the Windstone armor isn't that durable' The speed had come at a definite price but Ed had more pressing matters to attend to. He slowly stood up from his adorned stone throne before suddenly dashing out of the temple.

In the chaotic battlefield, nobody noticed as Ed suddenly exited from the unique earthen temple wearing a simple robe. Ed on the other hand couldn't miss them even if he wanted to.

With a bang, a skull spiraled backward and the anti-skeleton in question dropped to the ground lifelessly. On another side, Blaze fought brilliantly with its dazzling flames but soon found that the fire was working against it.

The heat had caused his already frail body to weaken and smoothen out enough for sword wounds to cut deep into his bones. If it weren't for Trench's timely backup then he would have perhaps already perished.

Ed couldn't tell for how long this particular battle had been in action but he knew that it was long enough. His skeletons, his hard work, was being washed down the drain as some of the anti-skeletons were literally melted into puddles.

'STOP!!!' Under normal circumstances it wouldn't be a bad idea to simply attack with the element of surprise as his partner but his main goal was to stop all of the adventurers. It was also to give his anti-skeletons an opportunity.

[Transmission has leveled up]

Ed's broadcast reached every single one of the adventurers at the same time making for a weird phenomenon as all of them flinched in synchrony. Ed had foreseen such an effect. Still, perhaps due to the level up it went even better than he had expected.

Many recovered from their short lapse of judgment in less than a second or two but in a battle that may as well have been a millennium.

Pioneer who had been fending itself against two swordsmen simultaneously saw an opportunity to thrust its blade onto one of their necks. Due to their short lapse in action, neither of them could act causing one of them to suffer a quick death.

Prairie performed similarly as it sliced up two or three adventurers at the same time with a manipulated blade of wind. Due to the skeleton's relative newness to being a mage, however, the effect was nothing more than a deep bloody gash in the ones wearing armor.

Trench on the other hand knew better than to waste such a phenomenon. The mages in the backline who were usually protected were suddenly caught by the earth. Unfortunately, that was basically as far as Trench could go given that most of the mages were rather distant.

Nevertheless, Ed could tell it was thinking which was exactly what he wanted from any of his subordinates.

"Hey! Stay sharp!" The effects were less pronounced on some of the more experienced B-class adventurers. Some were lucid enough to avoid the sudden opportunistic strikes as well as warn their temporary teammates. Others simply had the skills to move out of harm's way even with a less than opportune time window.

Still, just because they had snapped out of the momentary daze it didn't mean that they couldn't once more be distracted.

"H- Hey!!! Th- that's the skeleton!!!" A C-class mage excitedly yelled from the backline after having spotted the source of what it could only describe as a mental attack.

Usually when coming out of such an attack one would be worried or anxious but most of the others that heard these words also beamed with excitement. That was a walking pile of 1,000 plus gold!!!

For them as mere B-class and C-class adventurers to have the opportunity to even come across such a thing and still have a fighting chance could not even be described as a rarity, no, it was an impossibility!

"The big boss has left their lair! These liches aren't much, let's get our loot!" One B-class adventurer took this as an opportunity to rile up its fellow allies. Many similar voices echoed this same sentiment.

"These piles of rusted bones aren't a threat!" "Hanz! bring ze flammenwerfer!" "Pointless cannon fodder let mama get her treasure"

How they spurted themselves or others on was different for each but the members of every party received a serious morale boost. This left Ed somewhat speechless.

'A- Am I that valuable?' The transmission had indeed allowed his skeletons to get a short upper hand but with a sudden boost to the adventurer's morale, he was no longer sure if the exchange was worth it.

'Or… are they underestimating me?' A cold glint flashed past Ed's empty sockets as his undead energy briefly materialized as a result of his anger. Ed, therefore, decided to teach them a quick yet painful lesson.

"pþihot uw oæg thfiostire ðe eulpc" And that lesson began by chanting. That was right, chanting.

[<Requiem lvl. 0> Acquired]

The dimly illuminated corridor that was filled with the remains of the anti-skeletons and the blood and corpses of dead adventurers somehow turned even creeper as deadly prose rang in the ears of the adventurers.

"Whatever it's doing stop it!" An adventurer pitched in and yelled but… could they actually do anything? The reality was that while the anti-skeletons didn't pose nearly as much risk as Ed, they were still tricky. Mishaps could create casualties and the current situation could not be any more stressful.

Abruptly, the dimly lit hall turned bright orange.

"Keep me clear!!" Yelled a B-class mage through gritted teeth as they held a red crystal and amassed a large ball of fire that slowly took the shape of a volley of arrows.

Hearing this, all of the experienced adventurers pushed out any confused adventurer out of the way to help protect the casting mage. But against their expectations, the anti-skeletons didn't actually charge out. No, they looked… calm.

Undead were well known for craving for the living. That was at times attributed to deep seethed resentment or jealousy against them. Regardless of the reason however it was standard behavior. Higher-level undead might be less affected but it was still in their nature.

The atmosphere thus seemed eerie. All of the violent undead were peacefully listening to garbled speaking. This in turn made for still quiet. The sizzling flames as arrows formed overhead and the eerie vocals were the only sound. Of course, there was also the sound of fearful heartbeats.

"hey íc ioð of ivr mtni" The ominous sound continued when a realization dawned upon one of them.

"F*ck its requiem!" Screamed out an experienced mage breaking the temporary silence. 

They hadn't realized it at first since they had never seen it for themself but mages were known to hole themselves up in libraries from time to time. They were especially fond of researching liches as some of the magical monsters closest to humans.

This realization had come late though as they heard something behind them. It sounded like munching. As if someone was taking bites out of a hearty meal. The ones closer to the sound turned only to see a zombie crunching down on a fellow adventurer. As if that on its own was not terrifying enough, the zombie was one of their own!

"It- It brings back the dead-!" The Bosque kingdom had a serious problem with its education system. That was to say it didn't exist. 

Most adventurers were commoners who had missed out on an education and who were raised by parents that simply worked and worked tirelessly to provide them with shelter and food. What did that mean?

This meant that they knew nothing. Most smart adventurers would study things intensively before engaging in such dangerous endeavors but they hadn't. No, it wasn't just at that level. It was at the level that some in the B-class found themselves to be high and mighty. They carried themselves with an air of arrogance, many never even returning to their hometowns.

Plus, even if they did try to research this particular dungeon they would have found little records. The freedom union did not provide or sell that information to outsiders. The rumors had only given them a basic understanding. It's a little dangerous but… money!

With this alone, they had pitted themselves against the unknown. And when facing the unknown who could ascertain victory?