Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Why was W in the orc plains? Ed was trying to make sense of this when the lizardmen beside the human, no, W gripped their spears tightly and thrust out with vigor.

[You've been dealt damage. -47 hp]

[You've been dealt damage. -45 hp]

The thrust seemed to push back the air and form an invisible projectile as streaks of red blood spewed out of both of Ed's shoulders. He had been a bit too late to dodge the synchronized attack of the two lizardmen assailants.

Were it not for the instinct skill, Ed would likely have failed to realize the deadly intent of the attack and dodge appropriately.

'I don't know why you are attacking me but…' Ed's transmission slurred at the end as both of his arms shot forth and grabbed the handle of the two outstretched spears.

'Be prepared to get a beating' If they were the type to attack indiscriminately they were also the type to only listen to fists. Ed held the two spears tightly and pulled both of the lizardmen forward.

A risky maneuver because the lizardmen could let go of them at any time but at least he would have unarmed them.

<"ARGH-!"> But Ed's worry was unfounded. The lizardmen could not bear to let go of their prized spears personally enchanted and crafted by their deity.

<"Urgh…!"> In the end both received a heavy blow after the one to suddenly let go was Ed. He punched the two on their guts, fists tightly clenched. With his monstrous strength, the lizardmen were instantly put out of commission.

Unlike humans, they did not know any fancy body reinforcement techniques. The lizardmen's scales were pretty tough but unlike mana reinforcement, the protection could not be scaled up or down.

The humans had the opportunity to learn to make an exchange of mana for protection or even attack power in regard to physical combat. Though that was not to say a spell with more mana wouldn't be more powerful than one with less.

Whatever the case, the lizardmen were not Ed's opponent.

'They got away' W transmitted to Ed who turned around and looked at the forest scenery. The dark shadow of the canopy contrasted greatly with the light that shone past it, but it did not magically highlight an enemy. 

It could be that Ed was not fortunate enough to have it that easy or that the enemy had already escaped. And as it would turn out, not being very fortunate was not necessarily exclusive to the former.

'You are right… Sigh…' Ed transmitted back, sighing internally. It turned out there were at least two scouts, which wasn't farfetched. Sending one seemed inane unless they were low on personnel. 

Ed could only lament now. If it weren't for the sudden attack of the lizardmen Ed might have been able to prevent the mage from disappearing. But lamenting was also not going to teleport the mage back over.

'How did you get here?' Ed shot the human W a curious glance and asked.

'It's a long story' Ed did not even know that W had been put into a piece of Bloody so W had to explain from the start.

"Hmm…." If it was a long story they couldn't remain.

'Let's go into Sanctuary' Although Ed ran far and the scout man also did, it wasn't like Sanctuary was- Ed's thoughts backtracked a bit.

"Ah! He escaped too damn it!" Ed cursed in orc language causing W a headache. Did he really have to not understand anything even when back with Ed? The mushroom language skill he had received from being split at that period of time was not helping W understand things any better.

'Are you going to lead the way…?' W transmitted interrupting Ed just as he was starting to regret all life choices.

'Ah, yes!' Ed said snapping out of it. He was more curious about W than he was that mage anyway. The value of a human body was insanely large! Ed's plans would change greatly based on a couple of simple factors alone.

But before that, there were four lizardmen, not just two. These other two were still circling Ed with intent to kill at first move.

To Ed who was clearly being lenient with them, this was quite the boorish behavior.

Luckily, W motioned with his hand for the lizardmen to stand down. They still listened to him, so they slowly lowered down their weapons, making Ed infinitely more curious. It wasn't any random human he acquired.

'No, wait… Why did I find another human in the mushroom cavern?' Ed quickly noticed a problem with his thinking.

'Was there some sort of Lizardmen king in the human world?' The answer was likely not, but believing otherwise when there appeared to be evidence was inane.

W seemed to notice the continual downward spiral of thought Ed was going through and as himself, he could confidently declare he was going down the wrong path.

'Let's hurry in and discuss' W reminded Ed, he snapped out of his thoughts immediately.

Watching W and Ed quickly retreat towards Sanctuary, the two lizardmen had put down their weapons and aided their two squirming warrior comrades off the ground.

These lizardmen's abdominal scales were cracked and broken, they oozed red blood but didn't hide the tender skin underneath, it could be seen almost too plainly. These were egregious wounds to suffer after only a single blow.

The lizardmen who originally had thoughts of conquering the entire floor had to re-evaluate these thoughts. With a monster like Ed on the loose... Only an army could stand a chance for a clean sweep.

Kurgher had just that at his disposal, so the lizardmen's thoughts were not dispelled. They were if anything only momentarily suppressed.

Unaware of the lizardmen's decision to take a step back, Ed led the five of them into Sanctuary, where confused orcs were waiting just inside the gate.

"Erm… didn't you all leave just now?" One of the orcs asked awkwardly. What was the point of all the fanfare if they were just going to return after a short while? Could it be that they wanted to make sure the gate still worked for some reason?

"We… we were told to go back" Someone amongst the warriors answered.

When Ed returned just a couple of minutes after them, this crowd was still present. Dakgu and Gurln were even waiting at the gate for Ed's return.

"Ah! Human!" Dakgu exclaimed, surprised and then angered. But this anger was replaced when four weird creatures appeared in succession.

The injured lizardmen were given a potion and were now walking on their two feet again. These lizardmen stood tall and seemed rather sturdy and tough. To Dakgu who was still young, they were rather intimidating.

The orcs who were watching were also surprised. But more than fear or intimidation they felt challenged. While they were burly and appeared very rough, the lizardmen seemed to have this lean and refined aura about them.

For some reason, they felt like rivals at first sight.

"Who the hell are these weirdos!" Someone exclaimed.

"Kill the human bastard" another shouted putting the focus back on the human.

Ed could only smile wryly seeing the mixed reactions. In his thoughtful stupor, he had forgotten to be more careful about showing the lizardmen and most importantly, showing W.

"Everyone! There were human spies! Please return to your lodging while I deal with this!" Ed roared for all to hear.

"Really?" Someone amongst the crowd exclaimed.

"Filthy humans!" "We want bloodshed! Bah!" There were some insults as well as disappointment but Ed ignored it all.

"Ed, what's this…?" Sharog who had just sent them off asked now that she had the opportunity to. There was a free-roaming human. It was one thing to see him restrained in some way or just beaten up, but the human wasn't. He was like a guest that treated their house as his own.

"Don't worry about it for now, this isn't a human, but they will help us all the same" Ed's words were confusing but they were true. Ed believed that W might have been able to become some sort of fungal parasite and started controlling the human body.

This hypothesis was oddly enough not far off.

"Well… If you say so Ed" Sharog decided to trust Ed and watched as he and the lizardmen headed towards an uncleared area of Sanctuary. This area was nothing but rubble from the destroyed stone houses, but there were also few standing walls.

'You can tell me everything now, right?' Ed transmitted to W who sent him a nod. They walked far enough to have an undisturbed conversation.

The lizardmen who were being kept out of the loop couldn't help but become deeply confused when W and Ed just stared at one another.

<"Hey… what's going on?"> One asked in a hushed tone.

<"Th- They are…. Settling our dispute with a staring contest…?"> Another responded with uncertainty.

<"Really?"> A third asked skeptically.

<"DEITY! EON!"> But the fourth skipped all questions and started to root for his side. He wished that their deity would grant his blessed the strength to overcome this challenge.

"Erm, Eon!" This started a cheer squad for W, who was currently transmitting to the best of his ability.

'Yeah, maybe I'll be able to understand how you got a cheer squad better if we merge' Ed said looking at the lizardmen's confused cheering.

'No, I don't think you will' W said with certain confusion.