Chapter 287 Clone Resurgence 2

Red stepped forwards, snapping its sword into the elder-connection root on the back of the Ora.

Red landed the hit, but its foot slipped on the root floor and slid forward.

The Ora shrugged off the hit, ceasing the opportunity and spun around with the only attack that had worked so far.

Vines sprung from its spire claws, hitting the chest armor Red donned.

The vines crept into the gaps of the armor but couldn't pull anything away. Perhaps they weren't long enough.

They quickly pulled back, not taking any prize with them, but this little detail didn't slip by Jay.

"So… the armor can stop that scavenger attack. Good to know." he smiled.

Red also noticed. Finding a tactical advantage, it responded by standing closer than the other skeletons. Jay nodded, glad to see its skeleton thinking for itself.

Sweeper and Lamp returned to the fight and attacked while the Ora focused on Red, attempting more attacks against its armor.

Each time, the vines found a way into the armor, but it seemed they were not long enough to do any significant damage. It pulled Red towards itself, but the momentum channelled into a shield bash, and helped Red to scramble back.

The skeletons attacked without restraint, and with forty damage raining down each second, the Ora became sliced up pieces at their feet.

[831 Exp]

The living roots which made up its body slithered away, escaping somewhere into the floor, and other roots poked out of the floor, claiming the remains of the human body parts that were the Ora's shell.

Jay sighed, glad it was finally dead - or so he thought.

(Alright, move forward as a group. Go slowly.), he ordered, not taking a step forward himself.

The skeletons to moved over the roots, but something began moving behind them.

From the floor, another Ora rose.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Jay looked at it hopelessly.

The skeletons were out of range of the new Ora, so at least it was no longer blocking the way.

The new Ora seemed to be smaller, and after analysing it, Jay confirmed it was only level five. It reconstructed itself from the remains of the body parts.

"I wish the skeleton could do that." Jay thought, a little jealous at seeing the creature rise again.

"Seems like it gets smaller as we destroy its body parts. I wonder if the opposite is true - if I give it more parts, will it become a god in this dungeon?" he pondered, obviously not willing to try it out.

The skeletons moved forward into the room, and the roots opened up ahead of them - two more Ora sprang from below.

"Hmm… focus on one of them." Jay thought, not wanting to waste any more time; his stomach was feeling hunger pains.

Both were level eight, but he would only need to kill one to slip past. The exp was good, but not worth it.

The skeletons got to work with Red at the forefront, tanking the hits. The only attacks which landed were the vines, which had little effect against Red's armor. It wasn't long until they brought the Ora down to half health.

Jay had moved through the room and stood just behind the skeletons. He kept one eye watching the fight and another on the roots below, monitoring them for any changes - but between the clashes of swords on woody flesh, he heard something different.

Something faint, but familiar. Distant clunking of rusted iron and steel.

"The knights are coming." He squinted back to the stairs and glanced towards the giant head through the next room.

"We're going too slowly." he thought, noting that all that was between him and the stairs was a measly level five Ova.

The level eight Ova ahead was down to seventy-eight health. The skeletons had been fighting cautiously to conserve their health, but the time for caution was over.

(Go all out and end it fast.) Jay ordered, while keeping his ears focused on the sounds of the coming knights. They grew louder each second.

The skeletons each sprung forwards, hacking their swords, and now, slashing their bone claws too. Unfortunately, the Ova didn't bleed.

Yet the damage was enough.

The Ova didn't expect such a sudden change in aggression.

It struck back fiercely, its spire-claws jetting through the air.

They slashed across two skeletons, sending spatters of its poison to coat the bones.

Four damage was all it could manage; the skeletons cared not for poison - their very being mocked the idea of it.

Some of the poison landed on Jay's flesh. It was sticky and smelt sweet, but it was harmless unless it could enter his blood.

Before it fell in battle, the Ova released a last attack, and the spire claws pierced through Sweeper's ribcage.

[831 Exp]

Jay received a notification, but ignored it as the battle was still in progress. While it was the Ova's last attack, it seemed to be quite a strategic one.

Sweeper was standing between the two Ova, and the force sent it reeling back into the other Ova, who all this time could only watch the fight unfold.

Finally, it had a chance. The skeleton wobbled backwards, towards it.

Without hesitation, it used its [Construct Scavenging] ability on the skeletons turned back. Sounds of dry snapping and twisting wood sounded as it caught the skeleton in its vine embrace.

*Snap!*

The vines curled around Sweeper's spine and, with a sudden twist, it ripped out the lower back of the skeleton.

The lower torso and legs of Sweeper fell into pieces, and the hungry roots below claimed each of them as prizes.

The Ova continued the attacks against the remaining upper half of Sweeper.

Sweeper defended itself, still holding its sword even while sprawled across the ground, though it would not last much longer.

(Lamp, pull Sweeper out. The rest of you, move up.) Jay immediately ordered.

Already, the Ova they had just slain was reviving, coming back as another level five specimen.

It forced Jay to dash ahead too, getting just past the range of the level five Ova - otherwise it would separate him from the skeletons.

Lamp raised its sword, blocking the spire claws while it pulled Sweeper away from the other level eight Ova, and brought Sweeper's pathetic body to Jay.

Jay and all the skeletons had made it past the two Ova, and for a moment there was some respite.

While sending the other skeletons forwards to find the next Ova lying in ambush, Jay fed Sweeper bones.

Sweeper was down to [12/65] health. The spine-rip did much more damage than any single attack; splitting the skeleton in half was farm more damaging than Jay predicted. Sweeper's max health was also 75, having gained 5 extra health from each part of its spectral armor, yet two of those were on its legs which were now non-existent.

For now, it would have to eat bones for them to reform. A slow process.

Jay crouched at Sweeper's side and let Lamp rejoin the other skeletons. Feeding the skeleton bones was a relatively slow process, which was made slower as he didn't want to drop anymore bones into the floor of roots as the floor collected everything that was dropped on it.

Jay didn't use his [Shell Restoration] as it used far too much mana, was still level one, and it was necessary to conserve his precious mana.

Meanwhile, the sounds of the coming knights grew louder, yet Jay couldn't help but wonder why these two Ova didn't spring up when Blue crossed over them.

"Hmm… there's something I'm missing here. But what?" he pursed his lips, continuing to feed Sweeper as he thought for a moment, trying to ignore the imminent threat.

Most of Sweeper's lower spine had reformed, but its legs and the spectral greaves would still need time.

(Stop. March no further.) Jay ordered; each of the skeletons froze.

Before the skeletons could get too far ahead, Jay stopped them before more Ova could spring up to face them. The skeletons, having minds, were confused - yet each of them trusted in their master and obeyed without question.

"I need to test something…" Jay whispered.