Chapter Eighty-Eight

When Edward opened his eyes, he felt the cool wind of the dungeon's icy halls brush against his face. In the distance, he could hear the repetitive sound of water dropping to the floor and the deep howling of wind against stone. As he looked up, he saw the familiar ceiling and walls of the dungeon's hallways, each of them covered in the same frosty blanket as before.

As Edward pushed himself to a sitting position, he looked around for the other members of his party— but couldn't find them. Not even Ikarus was nearby. Edward was entirely alone.

"Hello?" Edward shouted, hoping to gain their attention somehow. Only the eerie sound of silence answered his call. Edward stood up and summoned a small ember to keep himself warm. Afterward, he looked down and inspected his own body. Luckily he was uninjured, though his clothes were as wet as a riverbed, "I remember the gorilla exploding, but everything after that is dark. Where am I?"

Edward knew he was still inside the dungeon, as told from the familiar environment around him, but he didn't know which floor. The dungeon map was in Brandon's possession, yet Brandon wasn't with him. Edward looked around some more, then opened his menu.

All of his friends were still online, so he tried messaging them. However, soon after his message went through, he was met with an error.

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Your message has been canceled. Please find a safe location before sending another message

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As you are in an unsafe location, your avatar will not despawn when you log out. Please find a safe location

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"That's not good," Edward sighed to himself. For a moment, he briefly considered logging out and talking to Leila, but she was probably in a similar situation as he was. Without Brandon with them, Edward and the others would be wandering the dungeon without a clue as to where they were going.

Therefore, it was imperative to find out where they were.

"I'll have to find some enemies," Edward mumbled to himself, "That'll tell me which floor I'm on."

—

With a game plan established, Edward decided to begin wandering around the dungeon floor. He made sure to keep his left hand on the wall at all times so he wouldn't get lost. As he walked through the dungeon, Edward turned to look up at the chandelier and found that none of the candles above were lit. The hallway would've been met with complete darkness— had it not been for the flame in Edward's hand.

'The others will probably have to walk through this blind,' Edward realized, 'Other than Leila and Ikarus. I should hurry.'

After ten minutes of walking, Edward finally heard his first enemy. A strange clicking noise echoed from around the corner before him. As Edward slowly approached, the clicking noise— which sounded similar to bones thumping against stone— became louder. Within moments, the source of the noise walked into Edward's hallway and turned to look at him.

"What the?" Both the skeleton and Edward stammered upon seeing each other. The skeleton spoke in perfect English, though its voice was an octave deeper than most voices.

To his surprise, the skeleton before Edward was perfectly human. It was tall— almost Edward's height— and stood with a straight posture. Unlike the skeletons on the floors above, this skeleton wore a set of dark leather armor, though it appeared old and tattered because of the many holes and marks on the armor's surface. The skeleton wore a small black cape that fluttered in the wind like a large national flag. In its hands was a small rusted sickle and a broken shield.

"Shit!" Edward muttered as he took a step back. He summoned two balls of flames in his hands and prepared himself to throw them— hopefully to drown the entire hallway in fire.

"Wait!" The skeleton shouted as soon as it saw Edward move. It took a step back, then quickly threw its weapons to the floor. As soon as the sickle and shield clattered against the stone ground, the skeleton quickly raised its two bony arms and took another step back, "I surrender!"

Edward stared at the skeleton, surprised by its actions. His body froze as he was unsure of what to do next. This was a monster, technically, but Edward had never seen a monster willingly surrender to him. He didn't know what to do next.

"Huh?" Edward managed to say, though he refused to drop his hands. The flames surrounding his hand grew brighter as if urging Edward to throw them forward.

"You heard me! I surrender!" The skeleton repeated. It nodded to the weapons on the ground, "See! I'm unarmed! Don't you humans have some sort of philosophy about not killing unarmed enemies?"

"Uh-"

"Here, I can take off my armor, as well! Just please, don't chuck that thing at me!" The skeleton pleaded, "I don't want to burn."

Edward became even more confused as he watched the skeleton slowly remove its leather armor. Within moments, the skeleton was nude— as nude as a monster could be— and had all of its possessions placed before Edward. Slowly, Edward lowered his hands.

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Aelor - Frozen Skeleton Soldier (NAMED MONSTER)

Lvl 16

HP: 395 | DMG: 121 | DEF: 95

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"A name?" Edward stammered. He quickly appraised further, intent on finding more information.

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Named Monsters are creatures known for their superior intellect. They are the only known monsters to be completely sentient, which means they are all capable of conversation. Such intelligence allows them to escape the natural alignment of their race, allowing them to become allies or close friends. This allows some occurrences of evil monsters to have a named monster capable of good deeds. 

While it's rare to meet a named monster, they are seldom alone. Where one named monster resides, often an entire clan will follow. 

Named monsters are not physically stronger than unnamed monsters, but they are recognized as creatures of legal status and are therefore allowed inside civilization.

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