Chapter 285 Cautious

Jay and the skeletons moved around the circular platform and went through the passage at the back of the observation deck. It led into another laboratory-type room.

The room had various machinery along with various tools designed to extract plant samples, but Jay ignored it all and continued down a set of stairs at the very back of the room.

[Your skeleton has been slain.]

The last skeleton fell at the T-intersection in the gate room.

"That's Blue and Sweeper both down. The knights will push through the wall of bones, escaping to warn their army. Not much time."

Jay sent Lamp downstairs to scout while he created a pile of bones and summoned all of his skeletons, excluding Heavy and Dark, who are still outside of the dungeon.

Yet Jay couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied with Blue's performance and its decision to not keep Lamp.

"Blue didn't really do a good job up there… it could have lasted longer with Lamp, but only kept Sweeper with it. They barely killed any knights at all. Something must have happened." He thought.

As the skeletons formed, Lamp came back up the stairs, which was surprising as it had not been scouting for even one minute.

Jay raised a brow. "Everything ok Lamp?"

Lamp gazed at Jay through the eye-holes in its human skin… and slowly shook its head.

"Ah, I guess not?… What could make a skeleton retreat?"

Jay stepped away from the top of the stairs, paranoid as he was, and sent Lamp down again - except this time, he used the mana-hungry [Host] skill, entering the eyes of Lamp and seeing through its eyes; Lamp came back safely, but there was no assurance that he would.

There were only the faint dark-red emergency lights, but it didn't bother Lamp with its shade vision. At the bottom of the stairs, a sheet of interweaving roots covered the floor.

Lamp stepped one foot onto it, and suddenly something moved in the darkness.

The roots opened up like a coffin, and from them, a humanoid figure appeared.

It had no armor, but was not naked either. Instead, a covering of wriggling roots moved all over its body. Many of them poking out and twisting through its flesh.

The being didn't charge at Lamp, as there were roots connected to it from the back of its spine.

"So that's why Lamp stopped… probably why the knights don't bother coming here either. The plant has its own guards."

Jay ended the [Host] skill, conserving his mana.

"Looks like we'll have to fight that thing. It seems like it can't move, so I'll just wait at the bottom of the stairs." he thought, after seeing its body entangled into the ground.

Jay sent the other skeletons down first before going down himself. If he was wrong, five skeletons would be there to lie down their lives for him.

As Jay reached the bottom, it was much darker. They had destroyed many of the dark-red lights, and only the dark silhouette of the enemy remained. In the shadows, it looked like a simple knight as the roots covering its body moved in all the right places.

The knight army was likely closing in by now, but Jay took a moment to analyze his enemy as it had caused Lamp to hesitate.

< [Workless Ova - Level 8] >

[Type - Construct, plant, vessel]

[HP - 208]

<[Skills]>

[Spire Knife-Hand]

- 8 damage

- Piercing

[Spire Claws]

- 4 Poison damage per second

- Can Stack four times

- Long spines have pushed out and replaced the finger nails of this living construct, each of them coated in poison.

[Construct Scavenging]

- The construct steals the parts of its enemies to rebuild or reinforce itself.

[Elder Tree Conduit] (Passive)

- Sustained by a greater being.

- Immortal as long as it remains connected.

- 1% HP regeneration per second

- Immobile.

[Sleeper] (Passive)

- Does not work. Does not hunt. Only waits.

<[Description]>

[The Ova is not alive, but it is not dead either. Its body is composed of colonies of living roots working together, which account for more biomass than the human flesh they inhabit, and it is more closely related to puppet types than a pure construct. They have discarded most of the human parts, or let them rot away, and it's a wonder why the living roots need the flesh at all. Perhaps they have not discovered how to make bodies on their own, and we can only hope they never do.]

Jay thought about how much damage he and his minions could do. "Hmm, the health regeneration will give it two health per second, but there are enough skeletons to ignore it. The poison won't do any harm to them, either. The problem is its scavenging ability… there's no telling how dangerous it is." Jay thought, watching it.

The Ova had no eyes; curling tendrils of roots poked out instead. The room was wide enough for Jay to pass by it, but there was no telling how many more of these enemies were hiding under the bed of roots. For now, it would be safer to take it out.

(Blue, you handle this one.)

Blue nodded, and the skeletons stepped off the stairs, onto the root-covered floor.

Jay couldn't see the ground, but based on the height of the room above, guessed that the roots would be about up to his knees if he could touch it.

The four skeletons walked towards the enemy and encircled it; one on each side. A simple but effective tactic they had used before: strike when it turns its back.

The Ova lashed out, not liking this cheap strategy. Swiping its claw-like fingers, and spatters of poison landed on the skeletons.

Its claws whistled through the air to little effect. Harmless unless they approached.

It could do little against the skeletons, and without its back covered, a hacking sword landed on its back.

Sweeper cleaved away a chunk of its flesh with chips of wood mixed in.

Jay analysed the enemy, tracking its health. The first hit did ten damage. A small piece of the enemy's 208 health, and already it was regenerating. Five seconds would be all it took to be whole again, yet Jay noted the damage of the skeleton's attack was exactly ten.

"Ah… so the skeletons can make level two swords?" Jay thought, "It's nice to see them learning in all areas."

Jay himself could make twelve-damage swords, as he could craft them as level three, but right now, it's better to save his mana for summoning.

Two more skeletons landed blows, escaping unscathed by the spire claws of the Ova.

The health would be at 188 if the enemy didn't regenerate so quickly; already it was back to 194.

Yet simply attacking wouldn't be that simple as Jay noticed the creature became more enraged when its health lowered, swinging its claws more furiously and chaotically.

The random swings made the skeletons back off of their attacks, which allowed more of its health to regenerate.

"Dammit. We need to speed this up, otherwise this will take a while… maybe this isn't enough to even defeat it."

(Be more aggressive.) Jay ordered, and joined the battle himself.

Jay stepped onto the roots and walked closer, just outside of the skeleton encirclement.

The ethereal head of the necrotic helminth appeared on his shoulder, and a bolt crackling with necrotic energy shot out, landing on the knee of the Ova.

It staggered to one side, and the skeletons took complete advantage of it as they brought their swords down over its back.

The root which connected the Ova's body to the Elder tree took damage, but was not severed.

Its health lost large chunks. In seconds, they brought it down to 124 health.

Before it could be severed, the Ova stood up and released a flurry of swipes, sending the skeletons back.

"Huh?" Jay thought, checking its knee.

The knee of the Ova had turned to white bone liquid, but after a moment it solidified, giving the creature stronger shins. It simply reconstructed the knee with the living roots and returned to fighting.

"Ah, this thing is a real pain." Jay pursed his lips.

(Target the elder tree root connection.)