Sylvia had finished with her tests, she gave Matheson back some bodily control. Not all of it, but some.
Matheson had sensed mana by himself for the first time, despite all the pain and mental trauma, he couldn't help but grin madly, his eyes still bloodshot.
“...Why are you smiling?” Sylvia asked, seeming genuinely concerned this time.
Matheson only leant his head back and smiled, holding onto the feeling of mana sense and imprinting it in his mind.
“...Ok smiley. I'll be back later.”
Matheson ignored her as she left, but couldn't help but repeat what she said...
“Smiley....” he grinned madly, “Smiley.”
Some part of him, deep in his heart was filled with joy.
It was his new name.
Smiley sat there, accepting his new name and continued to focus on the mana, remembering the teachings that Viladore ruthlessly hammered into him.
[Your skeleton has died]
[Your skeleton has died]
“What the fuck?” Jay stopped meditating.
The died so quickly that he couldn't use the host skill.
A little under two hours had passed since he sent his skeletons, Sweeper and Lamp, off to slay the beast chasing them.
Thankfully, his mana was high again thanks to his meditating, but some tension was starting to build in his chest.
“So it has killed Sweeper... three times... and Lamp once.”
“I think it's time I send some extra skeletons.” he nodded with a dutiful look.
He was no longer nonchalant about the situation, and was taking it much more seriously now.
First, he summoned Sweeper and Lamp again, equipping them with the last spear and an ossein sword.
Blue rushed out of the desert, responding to an order and dropping the lizard head on the sand before meeting its master.
Handy was still alone in the desert plucking the red fruit, but it was almost to the other side now, so there wasn't as much of a need to be on fruit-clipping duty.
Jay looked around at his skeletons with him:
Blue, Red, Lamp, Sweeper, Dark, Heavy.
Jay wanted to keep Dark and Heavy practicing, and since Dark and Heavy could be trusted, he decided to send Red along with Blue for extra backup.
Compared to last time, the party of undead was more than double the strength, as Blue and Red were one level higher than Lamp and Sweeper.
Jay also planned to use the host skill to analyze the beast, hopefully learning its level and even weakness before it gets to him, and with four skeletons, he would be able to use the host skill before all of them died at least.
“One spearman and three swordsmen... Good.... Blue, you're in charge of slaying that beast.”
Jay pointed with an officers authority towards the direction of the enemy, and the skeletons all sprinted off once more. Hopefully once more.
His leisurely attitude was gone. He turned to Dark and Heavy.
“You two, start sparring with each other.” he said, a hint of anger in his voice.
The skeletons each nodded, and soon the clanging of weapons and the shield started sounding out on the edge of the rocky mountain.
While the encroaching beast was an ever-pressing matter, the sparring skeletons began to compete with it for Jay's attention.
Besides, it would still be almost an hour before he would receive any notifications, based on the time it took Sweeper to die last time, so it was okay to watch.
*Clang!~*
Dark parried a slash, and using the momentum returned a thrust with its second blade.
The blade dug into the shield and left a small imprint.
Heavy was the smaller skeleton, but its weighty armour stopped it from moving back as it braced itself.
Dark jumped back and analyzed its prey as it thought for a moment. It wasn't happy merely doing damage to the shield, so it was forced to come up with a different strategy.
Heavy gazed at Dark from behind it's shield, slowly inching forward like a moving wall - albeit a very small wall as it was short.
Finally, Dark moved again.
Dark assumed a battle stance as it crouched low, spinning one knife into a reverse-grip and then dashing back in to the fight.
Heavy stepped forward with a slash - however it was a feint, it put zero strength into the slash.
Dark easily deflected the weak strike, but didn't expect the shield to move so quickly.
*Boong~*
Heavy re-directed its strength into the shield.
With a small thud, Heavy bashed its shield against Dark, using the momentum of both of them to create a bigger impact. It was the lower level skeleton so it had to use its opponents weight against it.
Jay nodded in approval as he watched closely.
Dark was thrown off-balance for a moment; it had never experienced such a feeling before.
But now, another thrust was coming directly towards it - this time, it was easy to tell that it had as much strength in it as Heavy could muster.
Dark frantically slashed both of its dual daggers upwards at once.
Even to its own surprise, this was enough to deflect the powerful strike, sending it grazing right past its shoulder.
Dark jumped back once more, re-analyzing the fight after it nearly took massive damage delivered straight to its spine.
While it had dual daggers on its side, there was no getting past the shield. Despite being the level two skeleton, it was tactically outmatched. Plus, its mind was technically younger.
“Hmm... what will Dark do...”
Jay believed the fight was pretty one-sided, especially since Heavy had full set of heavy armour and a shield on its side, while Dark only had the two daggers to keep it light and nimble.
Counter to Jays expectations, Dark jumped back further and turned to the side as it began running through the rocks, weaving in and out of them with tremendous speed. Its light body allowed it to turn at sharp angles without losing any speed.
Heavy had to keep spinning and repositioning it's shield, but suddenly a dagger fell down from the sky behind it.
The dagger was obviously a misdirection and Heavy was only distracted for a fraction of a second, but this was all the assassin needed.
It quickly sprinted from a concealed crack behind some rocks, dashing with undead speed and pouncing with its last dagger out.
Heavy raised the shield but couldn't brace in time. Dark bashed it's body against the shield, ignoring the damage as it raised its arm to block a sword slash, taking enough damage to snap its arm.
With the shield pushed up against its body, Heavy was vulnerable.
The dagger Dark had saved was thrust into its eyes. Time seemed to show as the dagger shimmered with a bone luster towards its face.
Heavy tried to lower its head so the helmet would take the hit, but it was simply too late.
*Donk~*
The dagger pierced its eye socket, but stopped just before it hit the back of the skull. Dark didn't want to hurt Heavy in any meaningful way.
Heavy stopped moving as it stood there with Dark's blade in its face - not because it was dead, but because it was realizing what just happened: it lost.
Dark wasn't sure what to do now either. It had won the fight but lost an arm, so it didn't go to pick up its new dagger.
They were both caught in a strange embrace, as neither knew the ethics around beating an opponent.
However, both of them soon heard a sound.
Looking around, they heard a slow clapping sound and saw a smiling human face.
"Excellent fight." Jay smiled, "now we will do it again, but this time it will be a little different..."
The skeletons finally disengaged; Dark pulled its dagger out of Heavy's eye and stared at Jay for a moment, both wondering what was going to happen.
