Broken Skull

I was honestly a bit surprised that a newly made skeleton had managed to kill someone that high level even though it was clearly a fatal blow for anyone normal. However it had worked made no difference as I stripped the corpse of all the armor before having it sent to be burned.

As for Krieg, I had decided to personally oversee his growth and skill acquisition. It wasn't out of any sense of pride or to raise him up as a successor, but instead as a bulwark against any and all attempts at retaliation. It was one of the predictions I'd written down on a private sheet of parchment. That when we killed even one more of them that they might retaliate with the fury of a hundred suns.

It was for this reason that I had spent the last several hours advising, directing, and training with Krieg so that he could not only wear the incredibly thick armor, but also fight on the same level that Lilith and I did while all that metal weighed him down.

The back of my axe clanged against the front of the torso armor leaving nothing more than a superficial mark, even as the heaviest hammer Tyrant could find sailed over my head. I brought my shield forward and bashed it against the thick plating, causing Krieg to stumble back three steps. "You must be unshakeable! I am only ten levels above you! If I'm too strong then redirect my attacks! Do not just sit there and let the armor take it!" I advanced, axe and shield whirling around again and again, slamming into shield and hammer and every joint I could reach.

Krieg had accepted the training the moment I offered it, though I still wasn't assured of his conviction. He might have killed a dungeoneer tens of levels above him, but it wouldn't make the slightest difference if he wasn't able to push himself further and further than the rest. His reasoning for undertaking my training was that he wanted to make it so no others had to watch their friends die because he was too weak to do something.

It was for this reason that I was attacking him with full force, [Haste] active even as I attacked from every direction I could manage, hitting him in the front, the back, the sides, the hammer, the shield, and the head. None of my strikes could actually hurt him purely because the armor he wore was so strong that I had to use the blunt end of my axe like a hammer. His attacks however held the power to do serious damage to me and as such this was as much training for me as it was for Krieg.

"Come on! I'm just fast so all you have to do is hit me and you win! Now hit me or fall over!" I slid under his legs as the hammer swung up toward me, his arm rotating back even as he began to turn toward me. As I came to a stop I rolled to the side in an attempt to evade an armored foot that stomped down, punching it with the edge of my shield and knocking him off balance. In that fleeting moment I leapt back to my feet and backed off, eyeing my opponent.

He stood with the tower shield held in front of him, the hammer resting atop his shoulder as we both stood there watching each other. A few skeletons who weren't currently busy had gathered to watch, either hoping to learn something or relaxing after training against wandering orcs. Some were even making friendly wagers, though I had no idea what they were betting with.

I moved in again with [Haste] allowing me to close the distance in less than a second, moving around the hammer as it swung down and hacked at his left leg. The back of my axe only hit the tower shield as Krieg pivoted his entire body to face me, his own weapon coming back around for another attack. Unable to move out of the way in time, I instead raised my own shield at an angle to deflect the force of the blow.

It worked to an extent, though I felt something in my left arm cracking from the impact as I was subsequently thrown a few meters away, landing in a roll that ended with me using my axe as leverage to get back on my feet. I noticed Iliana had joined the spectators with what I could only assume was an expression of irritation, as she'd crossed her arms and was likely glaring at me.

Lakus had sent her down here after one of the new recruits had shown potential for magic, though recruitment had slowed considerably in the hours after the successful operation. The second floor was now next to impossible to venture into, the fury of the remaining three dungeoneers seeming to never tire no matter how many of us they slaughtered. Only those who were closest to the stairs were currently able to be grabbed, the rest condemned to a quick death.

I ducked under a sideways swipe from the hammer and stepped inside Krieg's guard, though his shield made hitting him a bit more of a daunting task. It was however for precisely this reason, as the shield arm came around to wrap me in a crushing hug that I kicked back against the shield, using the momentum to push myself into him with my battered left arm raised. Metal knocked against metal, the force of which knocked him off balance again, turning his attempt at a grab into wild flailing. I took advantage of this and lunged again, completely knocking him onto his back.

Standing above him with my arm crumbling a bit, I spoke. "If you don't keep your balance at all times during a fight, then you'll be knocked down and slaughtered just like the one who wore that armor before you. Find a way to stay on your feet or you'll fail long before you begin to face off against anyone of substance. If you were facing Lilith instead of me you would've been unable to hit her while she stabbed straight through that visor you're looking out of. Don't just use your eyes, use your hearing. If you have to pick up a perception skill then do it, but you need to get used to that armor fast, because the moment anyone sees you wearing it, you'll become a target which is if I am remembering correctly, the very reason you agreed to this in the first place."

I wasn't directly suggesting any specific form of training to get him used to the armor only because it was totally uncharted territory. While we did have some slightly heavier sets of armor, none of them even came close to the hulking mass that Krieg wore over his entire body. I simply couldn't predict what might work best to keep him alive in a fight, though I could most certainly point out any flaws which needed to be corrected. If enough time passed and Krieg wasn't brought down, I was incredibly excited to see what he might become in the future.

I offered him my unbroken arm to help him up, nearly being pulled to the ground as he took it and got to his feet. "I've still got a few skill points left, though if I get something called [Immovable Presence] I won't have enough left for something like [Perceptive] which is probably a passive skill if I'm thinking about it right. I'm just not sure which would be better in this moment. I could also get something called [Heavy Blow] that would speed up my attacks, so I'm uncertain." Krieg scratched the back of his helmet after resting the hammer in a loop of leather that had been fastened to his side.

"Pick whichever one covers up what seems to be the biggest flaw when you fight. I know that if I had to fight wearing a visor like that I'd need better perception for certain, but I also know that I've knocked you down over six times now, so it all comes down to what seems to be the biggest flaw. We're done for now, but I expect to be training with you again soon, so don't slack off just because you're not training with me." With that all said and done I left Krieg to ponder what path he would choose, heading toward Iliana who was most definitely glaring at me, her fingers drumming against her other arm.

"I'm not even sure if I should heal you this time, since you've been told again and again to not be so reckless. Suffering an injury like that for just a training exercise." She continued on even as she moved my armor aside so as to heal the break more effectively, her hands glowing a faint green as my arm slowly reconnected with a few crackling noises.

As this happened I noticed Krieg talking with a few other skeletons who were off duty, before a small group followed him out the gate. I just sighed inwardly, trying to let go of my worry that he might get killed or lose the armor in a fight. It was easily the most powerful bunch of gear in our arsenal, and I couldn't help but want to keep the set of invaluable armor locked away for emergency use.

The only reason I didn't do so was because Krieg had to get used to the armor in its entirety, and if I took it away every time he wasn't using it then I would only be stifling his potential. He wasn't necessarily faster or smarter or stronger than everyone else, as the average levels of everyone on the fourth floor were nearing thirty at this point, but I was the same way when I had first started out. The only advantage I had at that time was the fact that I was more ruthless and determined than everyone else.

So I let him take the armor, not hearing the scolding Iliana was giving me as I lost myself in thought, not even realizing she had left in a huff until I took a look around and realized there was nobody else around me, the spectators having all gone off to do something else.

I shook my head and strode back to the command tent, taking up my quill and inkwell with a new sheet of parchment from the dead dungeoneer's pack. I had been working with Tyrant to ensure we'd have an adequate amount of supplies for the day we broke free of the dungeon, and it was looking like we were running low on usable arrows as of late, though we'd come across a chest full of wooden clubs with which we had both debated on the feasibility of turning them into arrow shafts.

There was also the matter of the fifth floor which Lilith's people were exploring. Apparently they'd found some weapons that had a slightly corrosive effect, the veracity of which I couldn't begin to guess at. I sighed openly and got to writing, wondering if it would've been better to keep training with Krieg instead of plotting alone.