Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

While Ed started to re-explore the abandoned elven city, W continued on his journey. The blood bat skeleton body was quite useful. He quickly coursed through the sky taking in the repetitive landscape.

He flew over dunes of sand, took in the arid soils counting the cracks as he went, and… that was it. The rest of the time he admired the sand dancing in the wind or the blue sky as it turned darker with each passing hour.

As W took in the sights, the transmissions from Ed kept on coming.

'He still hasn't moved' That was generally the content of the transmission, however. W suspected that the orc skeleton was stuck somewhere somehow.

'I might have to postpone the ruins depending on what we find…' W thought while staring at the starless sky.

'Am I close yet-?' W wanted to ask a question when he finally noticed something. The sky wasn't as starless as he first thought.

In the otherwise empty night sky, there was a small cluster of twinkling lights. They seemed tiny yet… W couldn't help but get the feeling that their position was directly above Idrisi's general direction.

'You are pretty close' Ed said in return to W's inquiry.

'Is something up?' Ed added. As intent was transmitted Ed was able to feel the sudden distraction of W when he first proposed the question.

'Oh, nothing. It's just there are stars in the sky' W said before landing on the ground.

'I see... Hmm... I can only see a single star though' Ed commented through transmission. W imagined he was looking out a window or something.

Not long after that the conversation came to an end.

'This flying business is quite tiring…' W thought taking a short break. While the undead did not have stamina, it was still taxing on the mind to see so much nothingness for hours on ends.

Which was why W took a moment to admire the stars. It was only a moment but he did feel reinvigorated.

Soon after this break, W reached his destination. Still in the air, he assessed the scenery and it was… the same old. There were sandy dunes and nothing else.

'No anomalies…' The wind blew as normal and the sand remained in place as per usual.

'Hm? The sand remains in place?' Wait… That was an anomaly! 

The sand in a desert was always moving. The sandy dunes which the wind formed did not stay in place for long. When the dunes were blown away by the wind, all that would be left was the arid land underneath.

W continued to watch the ground like a hawk. There were no movements that could escape his vision. The only problem was that there were no movements to speak of.

'This place is really weird, Ed can you confirm I am in the right spot?' W transmitted to Ed.

'Yup, that's the spot. But Idrisi is quite a way lower' Ed replied causing W to flinch. A way lower...?

Underground!?! How was a skeleton bat to get that far into the soil!?!

'Ah damn it!' W did not want to spend his time digging.

The worst part was that Ed only gave the skeleton bat some basic skills. There was tough skeleton, charge, flap, screech, and nothing else... Outside the sixth sense, spiritual mark, assimilation, and transmission skills he received from Ed there was nothing that could help him dig into the soil.

'There is a literally a dig skill!' Ed had killed plenty of moles when facing waves of monsters with his mushroom kingdom. Why didn't he think to give him that skill!?!

Well, it did sound a bit ridiculous to give a flying mob a skill like dig but… Fly wasn't really digs equivalent at all!

After some hesitation, W decided that he had to toss aside his unease and land on the ground.

'The sand is suspicious so I have to be careful' It was possible that the ground could somehow swallow him up.

But standing on the sand, he quickly realized that it actually didn't swallow him up. It felt like normal sand if anything just a bit sturdier.

After taking a couple of steps, W flinched.

'No wait... it's impossible-!' W didn't even leave footsteps as he walked on the soil. The ground was definitely being manipulated. Just a bit sturdier!?! What a joke!

W suddenly fell forward. A strong force had collided with his preserved wings.

'Ambush!!' W thought before jumping off the ground. Using the flap skill, the speed of his jump was not slow.

"No you don't!" W then heard an unknown cry. Something struck his back as he attempted to fly off. His body fell down onto the sand helplessly exposed. The only cover were his large wings.

But any cover was good enough! W quickly flapped to gain some air and then used his wings to enveloped himself into a sort of cocoon. He then used the charge skill whilst in midair.

"What-!?" He was like a giant bony missile. He shot straight into the sky and then let out an ear-piercing screech.

"Urgh…!" "Ah!" "Damn!" The assailants suddenly struggled to maintain their balance allowing W to catch a momentary breather. With this breather, he assessed his attackers.

'Humanoid figures!' There were humanoid figures wearing what appeared to be ragged hoods. It looked like their clothing had braved through countless sandstorms.

'They should be… elves!' W felt he could make this assessment with confidence. What other human figures existed in his current floor? None that he knew of. The intelligence of the assailants also suggested they had to be elves.

'Stop!' Ed decided to try and communicate with them considering this tidbit.

The hooded figures who had regained their balance and concentration flinched anew. A voice in their heads?

'I came in peace' W added. This transmission made the elves hesitate.

"Peace!? Don't fall for its wicked words!" One of the hooded figures yelled without warning. Immediately after, the hesitant looks turned into sharp glares. W was being showered with hostile gazes.

The figures who were all wielding staves got themselves into a fighting stance and awaited for W to make his next move. As he was in the sky there wasn't much they could do to harm him.

They were equipped with stones to throw but W was pretty high up and given that their surprise attack did practically nothing, any subsequent throws would fail miserably.

"This is the first time I've seen a flying beast like this" Someone commented in a language that W could not possibly understand.

"Doesn't matter if it's the first or last, kill it!" Another figure replied.

There were about five of these figures. W watched them struggle to come up with a method of attack, he thus decided to continue his negotiations.

While that sounded stupid given their obvious hostility, killing any of these likely elves creatures would ensure he was not welcomed into their abode no matter his nature or initial intentions. Since Ed was a curious person, W was too.

He couldn't NOT investigate this.

But even outside of curiosity, the whole point of his journey there was to find the orc skeleton. Leaving without it at the first sign of struggle would be rather mean. The orc skeleton was one of his subordinates after all.

'I can guarantee I will not attack anyone, I am only here for the skeleton that came before me' W said hoping that his knowledge of the orc skeleton's presence would give him some credibility.

The elves didn't believe him, they instead became much warier.

"Unbelievable! We've been exposed!" One of the figures shouted.

"You- You…!" The figures didn't know how to react anymore.

"We can't win this anymore, we have to move!" Another of the five figures said frightened.

W noticed their adverse reaction and sighed inwardly.

'The image of an undead is not helping me here…' It would seem that only Ed might be allowed into their underground or have a chance to communicate with these figures.

Just as W was starting to believe he should give up and report the matter to Ed, waves of sand parted. Out of a hole in the ground, a figure carrying a staff appeared.

They didn't wear any hood so W could clearly bask in their beautiful yet roughened face.

"Riniya! Why have you come?" A hooded figure shouted in surprise noticing the arrival of this elven woman.

'I see, there must be mages controlling the sand from beneath' W wasn't sure why they needed to be so occult but at least he figured out how they were doing it.

'Those that mean all arid earth have a natural affinity towards the earth element?' Ed definitely had earthen affinity and the earthen mage that appeared before him had tanned skin singling her out as a an arid elf.

The other hooded figures most likely shared this arid subspecies but Ed couldn't see their faces from above. The hands they used to grip their wooden staves were covered and so was the rest of their body. Still, he could at least ascertain they were definitely elves.

"You are all taking too long, I figured I'd lend a hand" The elven woman replied.

'It seems none of you want to speak with me, I will take my leave' W transmitted. He secretly hoped this mage would react differently to the others but he didn't pin his hopes on it.

"It can talk…?" The mage muttered in surprise. She held a pensive look for a moment before quickly telling the others to put down their staves.

Transmission could transmit intent, the woman did not feel threatened by W.

W smiled inwardly, there was a logical person here! His hopes weren't dashed!

While W didn't come off as a strong, he definitely was not weak! He could severely injure lots of them so why was he wasting his time in the air?

"I haven't met a smart monster before... we should discuss" The elven woman said to what W now assumed were her subordinates.

Though W could not understand them, he saw their reactions as positive. He now looked forward to finding out how these elves lived in this arid land.