Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

In the dungeon, the wave through space and its resulting earthquake caused many deaths for the humans, and some skeletons, but most dungeon residents continued their lives as per normal.

Part of that was that some had greater things to worry about. The likes of Var Agus couldn't afford to dally.

"Var, some people have started to go missing… I'm afraid that… It must finally be here..." A lizardman reported with some hesitation. 

Everyone knew what the it was, they were all informed to watch out for it after all. Knowing how catastrophic this it might, this lizardman didn't like being the one to deliver this bad news. The task was usually Yoashk's so this lizardman was just out of his element.

Var Agus frowned deeply.. He and this temporary assistant were currently inside the tribal chief's hut, this was the very hut that used to be occupied by Kurgher. Since his existence however many things had changed. 

The earthquake made the lizardmen realize that their structures weren't strong enough. Taking some limited inspiration from Ed's ships they managed to learn a few simple tricks to build better huts and docks.

This hut therefore received some upgrades. That was beside the point however, a sturdier dock was not helping them with their current problem.

The beast was killing and consuming their residents.

"There's no other explanation…" Var didn't want that to be the truth as he knew their deity was out on an expedition. Without them Var lacked confidence in facing the beast they had created.

"We should send someone to return his divinity and prepare a hunting team" Var decided to cut his losses and someone to pick up their divinity.

"Can… Can we beat it?" The temporary assistant lizardman asked.

"Probably not…" Var Agus didn't have confidence in taking down the bloodthirsty beast but he believed that maybe if they injured it they could buy some time to enlist the help of their divinity.

As for what was the beast in question… Of course, it was the blood gauntlet monster they created with the sacrifice of a divine blood warrior. Well, that made it sound as though it was intentional.

Whatever the case, the thing had feasted on the wildlife in the area of its escape and that naturally drove away all monsters in its vicinity. Through this process it was only a matter of time before it ran into lizardmen settlements.

One couldn't say for certain whether this was in any way intentional on its part. Thinking logically, the gauntlet was made with a blood clot which weren't particularly smart. Its intelligence couldn't be much so these happenings had to be natural.

"By the way Sir, how… how should we prepare for the fight?" The lizardman asked. This question stumped Var Agus.

They didn't know much about the beast except that it could cast elemental spells from its finger maws. Its method of movement was also the only other thing they knew of. It used blood-like tendrils to move about.

With just this limited information, formulating a basic means of defense was actually quite the challenge. That was because if it already had enough lethality to eliminate lizardmen silently its abilities had definitely evolved far past the information they currently held.

So how could they prepare?

Var Agus decided that just sending someone to fetch back Ed was not enough.

'Your divinity, we are in need of help' Var Agus determined that he might as well send a direct message. He originally intended to send someone to pass on the message fearing both the safety of their divinity and also to prevent them from being alarmed.

Plus, sending a direct message at the first sign of danger was also a sign of weak leadership. Well, it just showed some incompetence on Var's part. Still, he also knew that his pride was not more important than his people.

Var Agus also knew that their divinity was not one to judge. So why not give them a call? Var was now a lot more wiling to put down his pride than in the past. Plus, this was an almost all powerful god, why not?

'Var Agus, what's the matter?' Ed transmitted back quickly much to Var's delight.

'Lizardmen are disappearing, we suspect the blood gauntlet beast is the one responsible' Var transmitted to Ed who couldn't help but recall the creature that was made with the blood bat divine warrior. 

But Ed also frowned, the timing for this ordeal wasn't quite ideal. There was a lot going on in the dungeon at the moment and while he certainly could afford to handle this, he would much rather focus on something else.

'I'll see if I can return, mitigate the damage until then' Ed didn't have any contingencies plan for the creature which was actually a mistake. He could only hope that using his link to aid Var Agus would suffice.

'Understood, thank you!' Var Agus responded faithfully. His transmitted thoughts suggested that the matter was done and dealt with now that Ed knew.

Ed wanted to correct him but chose to stay quiet.

'It's good that he is enthusiastic' Ed thought before backing away from where he stood.

Currently, he was still in Azalia's chamber and before him stood a masterful array drawn onto the ground. Ed was finally done.

'It took a while, but hah... ' He could finally declare himself finished!

'That part is no good!' Azalia suddenly intervened and corrected causing Ed's celebratory mood to suddenly sour.

'Yes…' Ed transmitted back before diligently correcting the responsible runes. Their size made it very difficult but it didn't take long.

Now the array was truly finally ready, all it needed was power which…

'It looks like I'll be running out soon' Ed would need to go back to his skeleton body and create some new crystals. He didn't have an infinite supply.

But he did have enough for now and maybe even another month or two. Ed quickly scoured his storeroom and promptly retrieved a handful of water and earth crystals.

Due to the size of the array, these crystals had to be inputted at an edge of the humongous drawing. There were also other input zones to balance the entire array. Doing just one input area might result in one part of the array getting more power than another.

"While I don't know how bad that might be it's better not to take risks…" Ed mumbled to himself as he dropped in the final crystal.

Immediately, the spiral input formations started to spin and glow. They let out a satisfying hum as the energy whirred through its runic lines. Soon enough, the entire chamber became illuminated as the energy was then transferred to the whole array.

One by one lines of energy colored the dull orange-red color of the special ink. The runes shone brightly and fiercely and Azalia who was surrounded by these dancing lines of energy became overjoyed.

'It's pretty!' With her ability to sense mana, Azalia could see the mana take its course and she could see the strong brilliance they gave off. For the sightless tree, this was a mesmerizing sight.

Moments thereafter, Azalia's joyful transmissions stopped…

She was feeling great! The mana started to enter the soil over which she was rooted and the water she took for nourishment. Of course, some energy entered her directly but as that was not the point of the array this energy quickly dissipated. 

'The trick for this array to work is to increase the mana content of the nutrients around the plant' Applying the mana directly would make the tree overly reliant. While this different method caused lots of energy loss, that was actually the point.

'How is it?' Ed asked Azalia with a grin.

'Great! Great!' Azalia replied chirpily.

Ed nodded satisfied with the customer's reception of his product.

'Ok, that means you don't need me to take care of you anymore' Ed transmitted to Azalia whose thoughts were immediately halted.

'Nooo! I need you!' Azalia cried out causing Ed to chuckle.

'I don't know how to feel about making a thousands of years old tree fall for me' Ed joked. He knew that wasn't the case, the damn tree just wanted him to continue feasting on his vitality.

'You can't have both things, Azalia' Ed told Azalia who harrumphed angrily in response.

Having had his fun, Ed switched gears back to the problem Var Agus was facing.

'A, you are going to need to return to the swamp alongside my mushroom body' Ed transmitted to A who was supposedly caring for him.

'Huh? What happened?' A who received the transmission was confused. He understood that without Kimani there he didn't need to stay anymore but he still found the order a bit sudden.

'Var Agus needs your help' Ed transmitted.

'Please elaborate' A said while immediately putting Yoashk's body into motion. He needed to gather the lizardmen and promptly return to the marshland.

'The blood gauntlet beast, I think that's what they are calling it, finally appeared' Ed told A whom's eyes shone.

'That's great!' They were previously interested in researching the thing, no? Now that it had shown up there was finally an opportunity!