Chapter Ninety-Five

"What the? Where am I?" Leila asked in a panic as she turned around. Her eyes settled upon the skeleton mage before her before turning to look at Edward. 

"Edward!" Leila cheered. A sense of relief crossed across her face as she skipped forward. Then she took him in a tight embrace and held him close. 

'Holy shit!' Edward thought to himself as his eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, Edward fumbled with his hands as he wondered where to put them. After a moment, he returned Leila's hug and felt his heart beat faster than he thought physically possible. When Leila let go of him, she quickly looked away and turned to Brandon.

"You're here too?" She asked— this time with a little bit less enthusiasm. She was still happy, but this time it felt like she was only greeting an acquaintance. She didn't hug him— something that Edward felt oddly happy about— before turning back to Brandon, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere safe," He explained to her with a smile. Edward turned his attention to Relassa— who he found hunched over. The blue glow in her eyes was significantly dimmer now— a possible symptom of mana exhaustion. He wasn't surprised by her newfound condition considering the complicated spell she just performed, "Thank you, Relassa."

"How— ah, whatever," Relassa whispered. She took a seat on the ground to replenish her MP before she turned back to Edward, "I won't be ready to do that again for a few more hours. You'll have to find something to do until then. I don't care what it is, just leave."

Edward chuckled to himself as he and Brandon led Leila back outside the tent. As he left, he heard Relassa whisper, "Gods, I'm exhausted."

—

As Edward and the others left Relassa's tent, they immediately turned to make their way to the chieftain's tent. On their way, Leila's gaze moved from one skeleton to another as the shock of her newfound situation increased with every passing second. After a few moments, she looked back at Edward.

"What exactly happened while we were separated?" She asked.

"These skeletons are all named monsters," Edward explained to her, "That means they're sentient and aren't affected by the alignment of their species. They may look a little different, but they aren't that far from ordinary humans."

"What are we doing with them?"

"Helping them," Edward told her, "They're being invaded by another group of monsters so we'll help them resist. That was their condition for bringing all of us back together, so I agreed. After all, this floor is far too large to walk through normally."

"I see," Leila nodded, "What exactly are we up against?"

"A few thousand enemies— each of which are skeletons a little stronger than the ones surrounding us," Edward chuckled, "But they won't be in very large groups. They most likely have a summoner with them, which is why their number is so high. We have to kill the summoner as well as the floor boss."

"Hopefully we'll be rewarded handsomely," Brandon whined. He looked at Edward and sighed, "We might be here for a long while, but I don't want to stay here any longer than a few more days. I'm starting to miss the sun."

"After we kill the boss and the summoner we'll talk to Balaegon," Edward told him with a smile, "I don't think he'll be stingy with rewarding us considering their continued safety relies on our success. Besides, we got lucky by teleporting this far down the dungeon. Now we can directly level up before moving onto the last floor."

"What do you think is down there?" Brandon asked with a smile, "Treasure beyond count? Legendary gear? Maybe even a blood origin?"

"Whatever it is, it better be worth it," Leila added, "Otherwise I might just burn down everything— this place included."

—

A few hours later Edward, Brandon, Markus, and Leila stood before Relassa as each of them waited patiently. Markus had been summoned only two hours prior, yet the man was barely used to the skeletons surrounding him. During his time alone, Markus hadn't managed to kill any skeleton champions as he wasn't able to. Their HP, at the minimum, was around 1,000. Markus was only able to damage them if he used his own HP, which didn't reach one thousand. Although he could've healed afterward, Markus didn't risk it. Afterall, he didn't want to not have any MP when he needed it.

Edward made sure to leave Ikarus for last considering the dragon could be revived while Markus would have had to go through the entire dungeon again.

He wasn't worried about Ikarus's safety, though, considering the dragon was as fast as a speeding car on a highway. No creature in this dungeon would be able to hit him when Ikarus was at his top speed— especially not the skeleton champions. From what Balageon described, none of them were capable of long-range attacks.

He also wanted the surprise of Ikarus's existence to be as quiet as possible— so he decided to summon him as late as he could. Of course, though, a dragon could never be quiet. Thus, it was no surprise that a few other skeletons had joined them, including Balaegon. It seemed that his interest in Ikarus rose to extreme heights after hearing that he was a dragon, though that sentiment wasn't his alone.

Aelor joined him as well, as did Varador and a few other mages. Luckily, though, their number had not reached over ten.

"Get ready," Relassa spoke as she lifted her hands. Like before, Edward felt a chill wind move through the tent before converging at Relassa's position. Her skeletal hands began to glow violet and the wind grew stronger. Ten seconds later, she opened her palm and completed her spell. A flash of violet light pulsed through the tent.

As Ikarus's figure appeared in the center of the circle, a loud roar echoed from the tent. Edward and the few living people surrounding him immediately put their hands to their ears to protect themselves. The skeletons, on the other hand, gaped in a mix of horror and awe as they looked upon Ikarus. However, Edward didn't take his eyes off Ikarus's body as he gazed upon his soul companion.

Ikarus had grown once more. It would be accurate now to say Ikarus had matured to a young-adult age. As Ikarus looked around, his massive blue eyes immediately focused on Edward's frame. His tail, which was as long as a truck, swung back and forth in excitement as the blades upon the end carved deep into the stone circle below him. His arms and legs, which were once the size of a man's arm, were now as thick as a horse's torso. Ikarus's feet had grown another talon, providing him more stability on the ground. Ikarus's main body was even bigger— almost the width of a pickup truck— and his wings were so large they immediately popped through the top of the tent before casting a massive shadow on the ground below. 

All across his body, numerous spikes and sharp edges had grown in where once was only flat scales. His body was now a lighter color— perhaps because of the greater quality of the scales covering him— so he was almost as white as snow. Had his scales not reflected all manner of color when he moved, Edward would've assumed he was a white chromatic dragon.

When before he was about the size of a large dog, now he was about the size of a large van. Yet despite his sudden change, Ikarus still looked at Edward with excitement and joy.

"Shit," Edward muttered as he watched the large dragon approach him.

—

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Lvl: 20

XP: 5%

Race: Platinum Dragon

—

HP: 650

MP: 650

SP: 590

—

DMG: (Breath - 20) 150

DEF: (Dragon scale - 55) 185

SPEED: 123.1 MPH or 198.1 KPH

—

POW: 10

AGI: 118

END: 130

WIS: 130

LUC: 2

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