Working quickly, I placed my naginata in my Inventory and retrieved the quarterstaff that I had obtained for the sole purpose of defeating enemies like the skeletons that we were about to fight which had resistance to slashing damage. As I did this, I felt my Dexterity drop by a single point and my Constitution drop by 2 since I had only increased the Level of my Quarterstaff Core to Level 3. The loss of the Stats was a little disheartening, but a blunt weapon was just more effective against certain types of undead than a slashing one was.

The low Level of the Soul Core also meant that I had only 2 Skills for my quarterstaff. The first was Bash which was similar to Slash and Thrust but dealt Blunt Damage instead of Slashing or Piercing. The second was called Counter Stance which was a Channeled Skill that increased my ability to block incoming attacks and gave me a small bonus to counterattacks. It was actually a surprisingly powerful Skill if you used it correctly, but it was also quite costly costing a whopping 20 SP per second which you had to be very careful when using it.

As soon as we were sure that everyone was ready to fight Warren stepped out from behind the bush and activated his Taunt Skill. The Skill caused his whole body glowed red, and he shouted incredibly loudly at the two skeletons which immediately raised their weapons and started moving towards him. Fern activated one of her Stealth Skills and started circling around the skeletons so that she could attack them from behind once we had sprung our ambush and hopefully finish one of them off or at least badly damage it before either of the skeletons even had the chance to attack Warren.

Once the skeletons were close enough everyone other than Fern who was now almost in position for her own surprise attack fired their ranged attacks at the skeletons. As one might expect my Lightning Magic didn’t deal all that much damage but since I was able to deal damage continuously with Lightning Stream that didn’t matter all that much. On the other hand, Evie’s new Light-based attack spell was seemed to be doing quite a lot of damage judging from the cracks that appeared on the skeleton that she was focusing on with each passing second. It was normal for undead monsters to be weak against Light magic but it was still nice to see that we had some advantages in the magic department.

Then the skeletons stepped on the magical mines that Kelly had set up exploded underneath their feet sending them sprawling. It was this point that Fern finally decided to launch her own assault and pounced on one of the skeletons. Before it could recover from the ground underneath its feet exploding, she slammed into the skeleton on my right and started hammering it with her brass knuckles making sure to focus on hitting its head and important joints that she could get at from her mounted position. However, the skeleton recovered with surprising speed and Fern was forced to dismount its body when it attempted to gouge out her eyes with its bony fingers.

But before the other skeleton was close enough to attack Warren, he managed to use another Taunt Skill to prevent it from targeting Fern before engaging the second skeleton. The now very severely damaged skeleton turned back to Warren with rage burning in the blue flames that occupied its eye sockets just in time to meet one end of my quarterstaff as I joined Warren in melee combat. It was at this point that we realized why Harmon had warned us that we were far too weak to fight these monsters when he had given us the Quest to search the Barrows.

The skeleton shrugged off my attack and countered with its spear which struck my chest plate with enough force to gouge a line across the armored plating. The attack was so sudden and powerful that I was almost knocked off my feet, but I managed to stay upright and deflect the follow-up attack with my quarterstaff. I was already starting to regret using a weapon that I wasn’t quite as good with as I was with my naginata because this thing was a surprisingly good spear wielder and the one that Warren was fighting was just as good.

However, the damage that they had already taken allowed us to finish them off before either myself or Warren took any real damage. Honestly, it was a good thing that we had managed to deal quite a bit of damage before engaging them in melee combat or this fight could’ve gone quite differently. We probably still would’ve won but we probably would’ve taken quite a lot of damage doing so which would negatively affect the party’s morale.

“Well, that was a bit more exciting than I had anticipated,” Warren chuckled as he pulled his scepter from the shattered skull of the skeleton that he had just finished off. “I think that we could’ve won against these things without the same sort of preparation, but it wouldn’t have been easy.”

“Yeah,” I panted in agreement as Evie healed the small amount of damage that I had taken. “These things were pretty good with their spears.”

“Do you think that we should continue or turn back?” Kelly asked me carefully and I considered her words for a few moments before answering.

“I think that we can continue for now,” I replied eventually. “But we should also be proceeding as carefully as possible. What I’m worried about is that the skeletons that we just fought didn’t use any Skills which we were led to believe they would be capable of.”

“What are you saying?” Fern asked. “Isn’t it normal for weaker monsters to be at the entrance of Dungeons?”

“Yes, that is correct,” I nodded. “But remember that what we’re here to do. We’re supposed to be working out what’s interfering with the Warding Crystal which presumably isn’t something that you can do accidentally. Which means that whatever we’re here to investigate is probably much more intelligent than an average monster.”

“Which means that the skeletons that we just fought could have been posted here because they’re weaker or were somehow prevented from using their Skills to make us let our guard down,” Kelly finished for me and I nodded in agreement.

“If this is the case then there’s a pretty good chance that we’re walking into a trap,” I said. “For all we know there could be a couple of monsters in Stealth waiting to ambush us as we walk in.”

“So, which of us should go first then,” Warren asked. “Because normally Fern sneaking in while in Stealth would be the right plan, but I don’t think that she would survive an ambush like that if they managed to detect her. No offence.”

“Oh, I agree,” the brown skinned young woman nodded. “But I still think that I’m the best choice to go first. If I end up getting killed, then I think that you guys should turn back though.”

“Yeah, if that happens then we’re definitely not prepared enough for this,” Kelly agreed.

“So, we’re in agreement then?” Fern asked as she looked around at the rest of us who all nodded in agreement. Evie still looked a little bit unsure of what was happening, but she was willing to bow to our collective experience on the matter. “All right then. Here goes nothing.”

Fern activated one of her Stealth Skills and slipped in through the entrance to the Barrows before any of us could say anything else. A couple of minutes passed as we all stared at Fern’s small HP bar that floated just below our own. Then Fern messaged us to let us know that she had scouted out the area just inside the entrance and hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary, so we decided to proceed inside.

The inside of the Barrows was about as macabre as I expected. Even at the entrance there were several alcoves in the wall that either looked like they had been recently emptied or had severely damaged skeletons in them. I was guessing that these alcoves had once contained the two skeletons that we had just fought. There were also several sconces on the wall with eerie green flames burning in them lining the walls as well as four passages branching off from this entrance area.

“Okay, so that’s not a good sign,” I said as I nodded at the flames. “I sure as hell don’t think that the skeletons that we just fought could’ve lit those. That looks like magic to me and if I’m right about that then whatever we’re here to find could be the thing that lit those flames.”

“What if they were just enchanted to light when something started moving inside the Barrows?” Evie asked.

“That’s a good point,” I admitted. “But the entrance to the Barrows was open so I don’t think that making Enchantments that activate when they detect movement would be very efficient. From what I’ve learned from my Focus Creation Skill something like that wouldn’t last anywhere near this long if it was turning on and off all the time so it’s far more likely that something deliberately activated an Enchantment or is using its own magic to light the area.”

“Okay I guess that you have a point there,” Evie admitted. “Any other observations?”

“As you can see some of the skeletons in the alcoves are damaged,” I said ignoring the fact that Evie didn’t actually want me to answer. “However, that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be dangerous, and we don’t know what traps the people who created these Barrows left behind for us either.”

“Alright Zeke, I think that’s enough of that for now,” Kelly chuckled as Evie glared at me irritably. “If you keep bringing up everything that could go wrong, we’ll never finish this Quest.”

“Fair enough,” I chuckled. “Which passage are we going to take?”

It didn’t take us that long to come to a decision and Fern took the lead as we headed down the passage on the far right. At first things seemed to be going smoothly but then Fern suddenly froze and held up a hand to tell us to stop. Immediately I glanced around and noticed several crevices in the walls which told me that Fern had either spotted or set off some sort of trap. Sure enough, as soon as I thought this Fern spoke up.

“Be careful everyone I think that I’ve spotted a trap and the pressure plate that activates,” she said in hushed tones in case there were any monsters nearby waiting for us to make any foolish moves.

“The groves in the walls?” I asked carefully and Fern nodded in agreement.

“That’s right boss,” Fern agreed. “If I’m right then the pressure plate is the stone block just in front of my left foot. Should we set it off or try to go around it?”

I glanced back at Kelly who had a thoughtful look on her face. As much as my friends usually let me take the lead, I knew that Kelly was the better tactician of the two of us and was confident that she would make the right choice.

“I think that we should try to avoid setting the trap off if possible,” Kelly said eventually. “We don’t really know what the trap is or if setting the trap off would also activate some sort of alarm.”

“I don’t really like the idea of leaving the trap active like this if we have to retreat in a hurry, but Kelly is right,” I decided. “Besides if we play our cards right, we might be able to use this trap to our advantage later.”

“Alright, we should be able to get past it if we’re careful,” Fern nodded. As she pointed out the stone block in question. It was slightly offset in the middle of the passage which meant that there was about half a meter on the left side and almost 2 meters on the other thanks to how wide the passageway was. I wasn’t sure who built this place, but I was guessing that these Barrows were pretty important to them because despite the austere aesthetics of the place it was well-made and had room for people to move around. Of course, this was still a game so the real reason that the Barrows had been designed by the AIs running this world was probably so that players like us had plenty of room to move around in.

We continued down the passageway until we came to a set of stairs that went down into the depths of the Barrows. After double checking everything one last time we slowly made our way down the stairs.

As we had assumed once we got to the bottom of the staircase, we were confronted by two more skeletons. This pair were both armed with short swords and shields which were a much better to be using in the confines of the Barrows than the spears that the other two that we had fought had been using. The skeletons also seemed to be in slightly better condition than the ones that we had fought earlier but that didn’t stop Warren from reacting before any of us and activating one of his Taunts.

I followed behind my armored friend immediately as both of the skeletons immediately lashed out at him with their swords as he charged into range. Warren deflected the first skeleton’s sword and the other with his scepter before smashing into the first skeleton with enough force to send it crashing to the ground.

Brown light washed over him as Kelly cast a spell that increased his defense while I engaged the skeleton that he had knocked to the ground with a powerful overhead strike that the skeleton barely managed to block with its shield but then I activated Bash and brought the other end of my quarterstaff around with enough force to splinter its right temple before it could recover.

However, my moment of triumph didn’t last long as the skeleton’s shield flashed with light for a brief second before smashing into me hard enough to send me flying into the wall even from the skeleton’s prone position. Evie and Katy both cried out in surprise as I fell to the floor with a thump completely stunned by the blow.

The skeleton managed to get to its feet and pull its sword back just in time for Fern to crash into its chest feet first. Her sudden attack knocking it to the ground once more. Instead of continuing her assault she then turned and quickly helped me to my feet knowing that I was going to have a better chance trying to fight this thing head on than she would even in my current state.

Quickly thanking her I activated Static Armor and Counter Stance as the skeleton lashed out again. But this time I was ready for its attack, and my quarterstaff knocked the surprisingly heavy blade of its sword away before I spun and slammed the butt of my weapon into its ribcage while the electricity was still running through what remained of its body. Fern ducked in behind it while it was knocked off balance and delivered a powerful blow to the back of its head that sent it careening into the path of my quarterstaff again.

A quick glance in Warren direction told me that his own fight was going pretty well thanks to the backup that Kelly, Evie and Katie were giving him. I didn’t begrudge him the extra help either as the skeleton that he was fighting was almost a full head taller than the one that Fern and I were trying to deal with and seemed to be considerably more powerful for it.

However, despite the fact that these skeletons were quite a bit more powerful than the ones that we had fought outside we were already starting to get used to fighting them and Fern and I managed to take the one that we were fighting down a couple of minutes later and turned to help Warren when suddenly I heard a whirring sound and quickly tackled a surprised Fern to the ground as an arrow shot over our heads and clattered off the roof.

“Shit!” I exclaimed angrily as I spotted the source of the projectile which was a smaller skeleton that was already knocking another arrow to the string of its bow. “Fern you help the others. I can take this one.”

The bow wielding skeleton did have a knife hanging from its hip, but I was pretty confident that I would be able to beat it if I could get close enough. I scrambled to my feet and activated Ward just in time to block the skeleton’s second arrow before charging headlong towards the skeleton. It managed to get another three hurried shots off in the time that it took me to get close enough to attack it. I was able to deflect the first two of these arrows but the third hit me point blank in the shoulder causing me to grunt in pain.

Knowing that my ability to use my quarterstaff was going to be limited with an arrow sticking out of my shoulder I lashed out with a kick and grunted in pain once again as I bruised my sin on the skeleton’s hard bones. Thankfully, the attack was powerful enough that it did knock the monster off balance forcing it to put out a hand to try and steady itself against the wall instead of drawing its knife which bought me enough time to rip the arrow out of my shoulder.

Blood ran from my shoulder as I quickly pulled a potion from my Inventory before quickly ducking under a wild swing from the skeleton which had now managed to draw its knife. It was hard to tell without any flesh, but I could’ve sworn that the monster was snarling angrily at me as I danced back and poured the potion down my throat with the ease of long practice.

Rolling my shoulder as the potion did its work, I struck out at the skeleton which clumsily blocked my attack with its knife. As I had hoped this skeleton wasn’t particularly good with its knife and after making a mental note to put Katy through some drills at the first opportunity, I proceeded to attack the unfortunate monster.

In the end, despite its lack of skill with a knife the skeleton was still tough enough that it managed to weather my assault right up until the moment the glowing head of Warren’s scepter quite literally knocked its block off causing the rest of its body to simply fall to pieces with a clattering sound.

“Well, that was a little more exciting than I thought it would be,” my friend chuckled as he rested his weapon against my shoulder. I could see several marks on his new armor and there were even a couple of places where the skeleton that he had been fighting had actually managed to injure him but from what I could tell things had gone pretty well on his end and said as such.

“Yeah, things went pretty well considering that thing was Level 13,” Warren nodded in agreement. “I had been hoping that we wouldn’t have to deal with monsters that could use Skill like we can for a bit longer but apparently Harmon hadn’t been kidding when he warned us how powerful these things were.”

“No kidding,” I chuckled. “Still at least they’re worth quite a bit of Experience and Soul Points.”

The previous two skeletons had only given us 2 Soul Points and about 5% of the Experience that I needed to Level up each when we killed them but all three of the skeletons that we had defeated just now had given us 3 Soul Points each and had put me a whole 30% closer to Levelling Up again which meant I was just over halfway to level 10 now. I also only had to get another 10 SP to Level Up my Quarterstaff Core which would give me some more Stats to work with as well but reaching Level 10 would allow me to equip two sets of gear which might be the difference between life and death if there was anything other than skeletons down here to fight.

We quickly looted the bodies before making sure that everyone was ready to continue before moving on deeper into the Barrows which were considerably larger than I had been expecting.

“Surely, we must be getting close if we’re heading the right way, right?” Evie asked as we continued down the only passage that branched off from the small room where we had fought the skeletons.

“I’m sure we are,” I replied as I continued to check the walls for any traps that Fern might have missed. “But yeah, these Barrows are pretty big, aren’t they?”

“I wonder if the other passages also went this deep or we got lucky,” Kelly mused as she glanced at me. “Good thing we got the randomness magnet here to make sure that our lives are always interesting.”

‘Ha ha,” I replied drily as I turned to mock glare back at my friend. “Just remember that you guys are one of those ‘random’ things that I somehow managed to attract.”

Kelly silently raised an eyebrow at me as we stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before we both snorted in amusement. We almost broke out into full-fledged laughter but both of us knew that sort of noise would just attract unwanted attention, so we managed to control ourselves. Barely.

Once our amusement passed, I turned my attention back to the task at hand in much better spirits than I had been in before our little exchange. I hadn’t really noticed it up until then but there was something about this place that left me feeling uncomfortable. Even more so than I would normally expect a place like this to affect me. Like there was some sort of oppressive aura pressing down on all of us.

“Okay that’s weird,” I muttered before voicing my concerns to my friends. “Guys, I think that there’s something about this place that is affecting our mood.”

“I think you’re right,” Warren nodded in agreement. “I hadn’t really noticed it until now, but it’s been getting stronger the deeper that we get.”

“What do you think it means?” Katy asked.

“Well, I don’t really know,” I replied thoughtfully. But whatever is causing it I’d wager that it’s what we’re here to investigate.”