Chapter 180: Iron Will

In the hot and stuffy dungeon, the anti-skeletons had just finished accumulating mana for their allotted time. Trench, as the head lich, was the one responsible for making this distinction.

The earth moved and formed letters.

SPAR

A single word. Nonetheless, the accustomed anti-skeletons already knew what to do with such a basic instruction. They all picked partners and began their spars. Instantly, the gate hall was filled with bright lights as spells darted towards opponents, and weapons clashed violently causing sparks to fly about.

Trench also found his own sparring partner. He was no exception to the rule. No, as a matter of fact, he was usually kept the busiest. His sparring partner was none other than Blaze.

READY?

New words formed from the soil. This time addressed solely towards Blaze who nodded after a quick read over. Following the nod, the air became lit by floating flames.

The summoning of the elements could be done in one of two ways. One was through chanting and the other was manipulation. Chanting was useful for creating predetermined shapes thus becoming a prominent way of battle.

Blaze and the other anti-skeletons didn't have such a privilege however as they could not speak. The lack of flesh also made it difficult to manipulate the mana with the movements of their hands or limbs.

That left them with nothing but the archaic yet flexible method of mana manipulation,

The flames that had been summoned by Blaze lived true to his name. They were a blazing fire without shape or container. They were wild and surely scalding to the touch. For the anti-skeletons flames were a death sentence.

Those same flames darted towards Trench with reckless abandon, it was as if Blaze did not care for a second about the fact that the searing flames could melt Trench and deform its body.

Had Blaze not considered the potential consequences of its actions while being the third smartest skeleton in the horde? Maybe, but even if that was the main reason it wouldn't matter.

As soon as Trench noticed the darting flames. The word READY quickly shifted and changed form, he had them expand from the ground up and close to form a sturdy wall.

The scorching flames met their match as they only managed to give the earthen wall a new black coat of paint.

A duel or spar between mages was arguably a bore. That was because they were a game of wits. Like a chess game but with the chance of being burned alive when performing a single wrong move.

The main difference between both was complexity. There were far too many factors to consider in a real battle that a two-dimensional grid could not translate.

The earthen mana in the vicinity gathered at a single point turning into a large chunk of earth. The chunk was launched forward and the wall parted open allowing the flames to enter.

Some of these real-time factors meant that one of the two sides might have inherent disadvantages.

The chunk of earth quickly plugged the flames however as it passed right through the opening and sped towards Blaze who immediately ran for his life. A skeleton, and a mage to boot, Blaze's moves were anything but nimble, however.

The heavy chunk which seemed to defy gravity by sheer will however was slow and Blaze had also been expecting such a move. A game of wits required thinking ahead, failing to do so meant losing from the very beginning.

More flames darted towards Trench's location after Blaze ran aside as to not hit the wall. But the wall seemed to come to life as it crawled into the way of the flames.

Once more, the radiant flames were stopped.

Unlike a chess game, those disadvantages could stack against you to ensure a loss before even starting the match. Blaze would never win.

But the flames kept on streaking across the sky with a single target because Blaze would also never give in.

The spar thus continued for many minutes. The single wall became a large obstacle for Blaze throughout the entirety draining his mana. Trench had many opportunities to directly end the battle but the purpose of the spar was to test one's ability not to emerge the victor.

The spar had come to an end and silence then returned to the gate hall as all of the other anti-skeletons also finished their respective spars be it their first or second.

All of the skeletons then entered an earthen temple. It was the place their lord slept.

Trench stood at the forefront facing both Ed and Iron. Iron always stood next to Ed like a statue of a deceased knight.

It was stifling silent, the skeletons didn't even allow the occasional clack of their metallic bones as they stood hoping for the return of their lord. It was a tradition that Trench had created. It knew full well that if they wished to improve further they had to receive the blessings of their lord.

At that moment, outside of the temple, enemies were approaching.

"Stay alert, the rumors mentioned the skeleton was really strong" An adventurer said warily as they entered the gate hall with sharp eyes. The first thing that caught his attention was an imposing wall. It seemed simple but what it represented made it fearsome enough.

The adventurer motioned for his friends to stay put and unsheathed his long blade. He then began to slowly and quietly approach the wall. He wanted to find something. He knocked on it softly a couple of times and discovered it to be completely solid.

He also scanned both ends and saw no hint of an opening or gate. The only thing that stood out was the intense silence as his party members and him both stood on edge. He quietly returned to his party members and provided them his two cents

"The wall is solid and without opening. We need to break through it or climb over" The adventurer informed with a small frown.

"Let's break it then" An experienced adventurer who wielded a thick and heavy mace as well as sturdy armor suggested.

"Hm… We don't know what's beyond the wall though" The only mage of the party spoke words of reason.

"I say we go for it anyway" This was the fourth and last member of the party. She was a recent yet promising addition to the party.

The adventurer knight who had checked on the situation pondered on it a bit. Their mage was of the wind element meaning they couldn't easily climb over or under the strong fortification.

"There doesn't seem to be any other way" The adventurer said convinced.

They came up with a basic plan of action and then approached the strong wall. The man with the heavy mace lugged it over, gripped it tightly, lifted it, then swung.

A loud bang reverberated inside of the closed corridor instantly breaking the silence as the earth broke into chunks and stumbled around. An opening large enough to squeeze through opened up. The adventurer prepared to make another swing.

On the other side however… the anti-skeletons were shocked out of their quiet state of wait. The loud noise was alarming and many of them wanted to immediately jump into action. Yet… for some reason… the one that made the first move was actually Iron.

The knight statue gripped firmly its iron sword. Iron was irritated by the fact that the moment of peace was disturbed as it was dedicated to their lord but that alone didn't warrant it taking action though.

What tempted it to move was the thought of a challenge. Iron had finally become a complete consciousness. That was monumental. But it also meant that his strength became stagnant.

Putting aside the strength the armor granted it, the superior intelligence alone made it vastly superior to all of the other skeletons. It had no sparring partners. Stagnating strength meant it could one day fail to protect their lord. That was unacceptable.

Another bang sounded. The hole of entry was made much larger. Enough that a person could crouch in.

"You all go first" But with such heavy armor and gear crouching in would still prove difficult.

"Ok" The woman responded before quickly crouching into the other side. 

"Holy sh*t!" The woman after taking the opportunity to assess the area past the wall." The mage and their small figure quickly followed after her hearing those words and was also shocked. 

The next to cross and the knight struggled past but made it across. He narrowed his eyes and instantly adopted a cautious status.

"It's a temple" The mage finally spoke and said. Of the adventurers that entered the dungeon, they were one of the first to reach the third floor. It was an untouched territory.

Hearing all of this, a third swing quickly followed.

"Hey! There it is!" The knight was the first to notice the appearance of an armor-wearing skeleton. A death knight.

As soon as that thought entered it gulped nervously. Truthfully, he had never faced such a thing before. He had only recently reached the B-class meaning his experience against B-class monsters was lacking.

Not only that but his party members were of the C-class meaning that they still seldom face such an enemy.

"This is it! What we have been waiting for! Focus because this is going to be a tough battle!" The knight was the leader. He was also their shield and it was his duty to protect. Those words he spoke out loud were mainly targeted at himself.

The last adventurer made it through and wore a similarly grave expression. He was the eldest and peak C-class adventurer with much experience. He knew many of the monsters by heart even those above his own ranking. A man could dream, right?

Iron on the other hand did not show any particular reaction. Its thoughts when it first faced humans were blank. It couldn't clearly remember them. This time, however, there was no bloodlust that blinded his memories.

Iron dashed forward lifting his blade and not wasting a single second. His steps each carried weight yet he seemed rather nimble to the adventurers. This was due to the Windstone armor and its special properties.

But they had no time to admire the gear. The knight charged forward with their long sword. Although he was their shield he didn't actually own one. He was simply the vanguard.

He had long since unsheathed his blade. It was a solid iron blade. Sturdy and well made. He had yet to upgrade his gear as such a thing required money. That was the goal of their current expedition, no?

The two swords met creating dazzling sparks, the weight of the knight was higher than the anti-skeleton's though resulting in it being disadvantaged and promptly pushed back.

At that very moment, the most recent addition came in with another swing. She used a simple broadsword yet the sword itself seemed particularly sharp. She was applying mana.

Iron took on the hit leaving a gash on his armor. The adventurers were really surprised by the ease of their first exchange but that didn't stop them from continuing to take the matter seriously.

Before Iron could recover himself, she took another swing. Iron quickly retreated a couple of steps back and quickly reanalyzed the battlefield.

The wind mage started to reposition himself and the mace wielding adventurer who wore heavy armor started to quickly close in. The situation seemed dire but realistically Iron still had everything under control.

First of all, Iron lacked battle experience. But it was willing to learn, and it had lots of room for growth. Its mind was an empty space with nothing but simple memories. The complexity of its thought found it lacking.

"We got this!" The eldest adventurer said from behind the duo almost catching up.

The air was cut apart. Blinding sparks flew and the clanging of metal falling to the ground sounded.

"W-what?!" The swordswoman exclaimed in surprise before being pushed back by the heavy hand of her leader.

Iron had not mustered its full strength. It had just then released a strong horizontal swing that nearly cut both her and their leader.

Luckily he was a focused man. Not once had he lost focus, each moment his breath was calm and his mind steady. Yet… the sudden sharp swing barely gave him time to position his sword for a block.

His hands were throbbing from the strong swing and his longsword was flung right out of his hands. He was still wise enough to retreat though.

"Thi- this might be harder than I thought…" The eldest adventurer with the mace muttered as he ran forward correcting his earlier words. Books turned out to be quite different from reality...