Broken Skull

I watched Lilith leave through the open doorway. I hated the feeling of being cared for by someone else, because it made me feel a kind of weak that just seemed wrong. Regardless, I sat down in the dirt and let Iliana put my busted head back together.

Iliana was suprisingly short, but she seemed to make up for it with how serious she was about keeping us all from dying. For others, she adopted a very compassionate tone, keeping them from focusing too much on their own injuries while she put their bones back in order. For me however, she seemed much more professional, not talking to me as if I was a patient, but instead telling me that I needed to work more on my defensive capabilities, considering the fact that I was constantly coming in for various injuries.

What she couldn't deny though, was my rate of growth. I'd been fighting harder than almost everyone other than Lilith, Rivax, and one other skeleton, who had shown a particularly passionate love for combat. My level was still the highest, however, sitting pretty at level twenty six.

Status.

Name: Broken Skull 12: 33 PM Race: Undead Sub-race: Skeleton Class: N/A Sub-class: N/A

Level: 26

Available Skill Points: 3

Hp: 600/600

Mp: 52/52

Stamina: N/A

Head: Slightly Injured

Torso: Healthy

Left Arm: Healthy

Right Arm: Healthy

Left Leg: Healthy

Right Leg: Healthy

Buffs: Debuffs:

Looking at my status, I felt as though I might just be able to handle myself against a group of dungeoneers on my own, so long as I didn't become arrogant, or lose myself to my own anger. It was strange, but fighting against an enemy I knew I could beat, feeling the impact of my weapon against their flesh, and now, using [Haste] to essentially dance around a slower opponent... It was cathartic. More so than anything else I'd done so far. Like hurting something was the only genuine activity I enjoyed. I still wasn't sure how to feel about my particular fondness for killing.

As I mulled over those thoughts, I could feel my bones clicking together as they melded together with the broken edges of my skull. I'd missed a few fragments, so there were some marks that could almost resemble scars. It always felt like putting a puzzle piece exactly where it was supposed to go, not that I'd actually been able to complete any puzzles lately, unless you counted the puzzle of how I should seperate an orc from his head.

It wasn't too much longer before Illiana patted me on the shoulder and told me that I was good to go. I couldn't see well through my now repaired eye socket, but I could see through it at least. Every time that part of my skull got cracked, I lost all sight with that side of my skull. It made it several times harder to fight, since I still wasn't used to it. Giving her a quick nod in thanks, I stood up, made sure my axe was still secure, and then walked out into the encampment.

Several skeletons were wandering about. I could hear the telltale sounds of sparring from a few huts down, while I saw another small group of skeletons using orc bones to create spikes that we could use for pitfalls, although we couldn't cover them up with anything, so it wasn't likely for any dungeoneers or orcs to actually be injured by them. At the very least, the skeletons that were recruited were starting to really show initiative on their own. While it couldn't be the smartest or most effective things in existence, it was a major step up from simply waiting in the third floor hideout, and only occasionally heading out to kill dungeoneers.

I noticed the skeletons grouping up more and more often for when they left to kill orcs or dungeoneers for experience, but I hadn't bothered trying to create a hunting group of my own. Those that could keep up with me already had their own jobs to do, and pulling them from those jobs would create unnecessary issues. I walked past the trap makers, heading towards a hut with several skeletons sitting outside, using whetstones and treated cloth to maintain their weapons and armor. One of them looked up at my approach, still cleaning some leftover dried blood from the blade as he did so. I nodded to him as I passed, and he went back to his task. I'd been getting better at figuring out which ones were male and which ones were female. I'd asked Lilith how she could tell them all apart awhile back, and she'd treated me like I was completely insane. Apparently for her and everyone else, it was as easy as just looking.

Comes with being unique, I guess. Pain in the ass, though.

Stepping into the hut, there were several whetstones all haphazardly laying in a pile, with cloth rags ranging from bone dry to wet all lying on a half broken bench. At the moment, this was all we had to really maintain our gear, and as such, there was very little we could do about armor, and our weapons still degraded more quickly than they would if we had an actual smithy.

Two skeletons were sitting inside, sharpening and cleaning their weapons. I grabbed a whetstone and one of the damp rags, before sitting down as well, cleaning the viscera off the blade of my axe. It had lasted for some time, although there were scratches on the head of the axe, and a few nicks on the blade that hadn't been there last week. It still worked well enough for my needs, though I really wanted to get my hands on a more durable sword. The axe just didn't have enough reach sometimes, and several of the swords I'd seen so far would simply break when used as often as I used the axe.

Minutes passed, and the sound and sensation of metal grinding against stone felt soothing, as I dragged the stone over the blade, slowly getting rid of the nicks and imperfections. I found myself drifting, my thoughts becoming still, and quiet as time went on. I barely noticed as the other two finished with their weapons and exited the hut, leaving the whetstones and rags in their respective piles.

I only came out of my stupor when another skeleton ran in. "I was told I'd find you in here! We've got a situation!" His voice sounded generic at best. At worst... There really wasn't any way that could be worse. Regardless, I stood up immediately, inspecting my axe, which only had about two nicks left in the blade that needed to be dealt with. "Go ahead." I said, gesturing for him to walk with me as I exited the hut.

"It seems that one of the scouts on the second floor heard some dungeoneers talking about some sort of raid on every floor we're on. When he tried to report back, it turns out that the dungeoneers were deliberately talking about it in order to find us. There's someone watching the encampment from afar. It looks like he believes we can't see him, so the sentries sent me to report to you while they act normal. What do you want us to do?" His words were hushed, but several others seemed to notice the urgent whispering, and took it as a sign that something was happening. The air in the encampment all of a sudden seemed to turn heavy.

Followed our scout here? Fuck, we're not ready. Not by a long shot. And a raid? Shit. We could try and decieve them again, but I doubt they'll be as gullible as last time. I'm gonna have to make an appearance, aren't I? Why can't this ever be easy?

"If he's watching us, he's likely prepared to escape if we send out any large forces. Make it seem like the camp is business as usual. Don't let him know we're preparing to kill him. I'll find Lilith, and then we'll deal with this. We're the only ones I know of that are capable of killing someone like this quickly and efficiently. Go." I clapped him on the back, and watched as he took off through the camp at what seemed like a leisurely pace. Taking the scenic route through camp to the sparring grounds, I notified everyone via monster telepathy to act as if things were normal, as we had a guest to dispatch. Most of the responses I got were growls or mental shouts of "Kill the bastard!"

It didn't take long to get to the sparring grounds, where Lilith was currently teaching two new recruits a lesson in humility. "Lilith, there's a situation. I need you to stop harassing our new recruits for a bit."

She glanced over at me, before giving an axe wielder a swift kick in the pelvis, which resulted in him falling to the ground. "Dead." She poked him in the ribs once, as she danced around the wide swings of a swordsman. She slapped the tip of her scabbard against his head as she moved to the left of his sword as it came down in an overhead arc. "Dead. Practice with each other for now." She moved away from the both of them, as they slumped against the ground, their shame visible even to me.

After explaining the situation, Lilith nodded once, her jaw clacking with what almost felt like excitement as she secured her rapier to her side. "I've seen your skills, so let me be the one to sneak up on him, while you talk with the sentries. Keep him focused on you. If I don't make the kill, you can rush over and help me finish him. I've been thirsting for dungeoneer blood for weeks." I nodded once to her, before making my way toward the sentries, who guided me toward the closest sentry to the human scout. I commended him for keeping himself composed in this situation.

I could see the scout a good distance away, though I didn't look directly at them. They were crouched low to the ground as they were observing the camp, somewhat covered in dirt, meant to camoflauge them, I assumed. I could just barely recognize the seriousness in their expression due to the actual distance they were from me. Their facial features denoted little experience in staying genuinely hidden, but I had to admit, they were serious in the attempt, poor as it was.

I personally wasn't sure how to keep the attention of the scout. I'd been trying to keep myself hidden for so long, attempting to hold someone's attention felt completely foreign to me. I thought about the sentry for a moment, before an idea popped into my head. "I'm going to shout nonsense at you. Try and look like you're cowering before me." I turned to him, not bothering to wait for him to respond, before I began using [Dark Speech], shouting at him nonsensically. The skeleton sentry took a moment to take the hint, before cowering profusely at my non-words, even going so far as to kneel before me.

I glanced at the scout out of the periphery of my vision, seeing that they seemed very interested in what was going on.

He took the bait. Surprising. Now for Lilith to do her job.