The dungeon had three spaces separated by doors, and you had to clear each stage to open the next one.
Since they had already cleared the first stage, the door to the second stage was unlocked.
"Let's get in," Jonathan said with a serious expression as he pushed the door.
He used only a little strength, but as if that motion had triggered something, the door opened on its own, revealing an even wider and larger cavern inside.
As soon as the double doors swung fully open, the torches hanging on the walls lit up on their own with an eerie silence, illuminating the cavern with a grayish glow.
Rows of skeletal soldiers stood like statues of a legion.
And behind the skeletal army, five towering skeletons, each standing eight feet tall, were clad in massive armor and holding long, thick white bone swords.
Their skulls burned with gray flames, releasing an ominous aura.
Ethan narrowed his eyes and used Detection Sense on the five skeletons standing at the back.
In the next instant, he received the rebounded information.
---
[Skeleton Guards]
[Level: 14]
[Skills]
-Bonebreaker Slash: Deliver a powerful strike with a bone-forged sword, coated in dense bone energy, dealing 200% increased damage.
-Bone Shield: Generates a barrier of condensed bone energy that absorbs 70% of all incoming damage.
---
"The Skeleton Guards can use skills… be careful, everyone. Look out for their offensive skill," Jonathan warned as his sword ignited with intense flames and he stepped forward.
There seemed to be a certain activation range, because as soon as the raid team took formation and moved a bit closer, the skeletons that had been standing like statues suddenly began to move.
Hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers, each wielding bone swords, advanced toward them.
Their numbers were at least twice as high as those encountered in the first stage of the dungeon.
They were led by five Skeleton Guards, all level five, yet possessing attributes far higher than normal monsters of the same level.
In addition, the skills they wielded made them even harder to kill.
As soon as the raid team crossed the threshold, the Skeleton Soldiers attacked all at once, swarming them like ants ganging up on a lone cockroach.
"Let's go!" Jonathan shouted, rushing in with his blazing sword, while the other class professionals activated their skills one after another.
Ethan raised his hand and activated his skill.
[Mourning Rain: Skill Activated]
Within a second, the cavern was drenched in blackish raindrops summoned from the world of souls.
Immediately afterward, he began issuing mental commands to his summons.
Following his orders, three of the Dragon Spirits soared upward into the cavern's vast open space.
They attacked the skeletal monsters with their massive fanged jaws, tearing them apart, and swung their huge, razor-sharp tails like sweeping weapons.
Meanwhile, the two remaining Dragon Spirits continued supporting the assault.
Unlike his elemental spirits, the Dragon Spirits possessed no skills, but they were gifted with massive bodies and extremely high vitality.
They served as powerful tanks, and they could fly.
Ethan could use the dragons to handle flying monsters and to shield himself from incoming attacks.
For offense, he relied on his Undead Knights and his remaining elemental spirits.
Except for the Dragon Spirits, every other spirit he had possessed skills, and as magic-class spirits, they wielded powerful long-range elemental attacks.
---
[Undead Fire Spirits]
[Level: 9]
[Skills]
-Fire Manipulation: The spirit can generate intense flames and shape or mold them into any form at will.
-Heat Wave: Releases a wide, sweeping wave of scorching flames that deals high fire-attribute damage.
-Fire Ball: Creates a globe of scorching flames that explodes on contact, unleashing a blast of destructive damage.
---
[Undead Lightning Spirits]
[Level: 9]
[Skills]
-Lightning Manipulation: The spirit can generate and control lightning, freely shaping or directing it at will.
-Lightning Arc: Releases a swift, arcing bolt of lightning that deals heavy lightning-attribute damage, temporarily stunning and slowing the target.
-Volt Burst: Releases a sphere of lightning that detonates on impact, unleashing countless violently erupting lightning strands that deal high damage and inflict strong stunning effects.
---
[Undead Ice Spirits]
[Level: 9]
[Skills]
-Ice Manipulation: The spirit can generate and control ice, freely shaping or directing it at will.
-Frost Wave: Unleashes a wave of freezing ice energy, causing freezing effects on a wide range of targets, slowing them down.
-Frozen Spear: Releases a projectile spear made of hard ice, causing highly level physical damage and a freezing effect.
---
The Fire, Ice, and Lightning spirits all possessed powerful skills.
Under Ethan's complete control, the spirits began to unleash their abilities.
The Fire Spirits acted first, activating their [Heat Wave] skill.
As all five spirits cast the skill simultaneously, the waves of heat overlapped, amplifying both their offensive power and the intensity of the flames.
A massive surge of fire erupted forward, sweeping across the caravan.
Within moments, the temperature inside had risen dramatically, becoming blisteringly hot.
The heat wave crashed into the legion of skeleton soldiers, but to Ethan's surprise, they took no noticeable damage.
"They're skeletons. They don't have flesh to burn. You severely lack experience," one of the Controller-class professionals said as he smashed a skeleton soldier with his massive hammer.
"Yes, I lack experience," Ethan admitted, nodding. He pointed at the skeletons. "But they are taking damage."
"What are you talking about?" the Controller professional asked, giving him a puzzled look.
He glanced back at the skeletons, and to his astonishment, faint signs of damage were indeed appearing, not much, but definitely present.
Even though the skeletons had no flesh to burn, something was harming them, something invisible, but far too weak to be effective.
"How is that possible? How can a skeleton burn?" the man muttered, baffled.
Still, he had no intention of investigating further and returned to fighting.
"Could it be related to my spirits being undead? That even without flesh to burn, they still take damage?" Ethan wondered as he watched the skeletons under the lingering effects of [Heat Wave].
They had no flesh, yet flames clung to their bones.
Upon closer inspection, Ethan noticed a faint green tint flickering within the fire.
"Could it be that my summons can damage souls?" He frowned and shook his head. "Even if they can, it is too little. Not very useful. Maybe once their levels increase, their soul damage will rise too."
"I should switch to a different attack." Ethan dismissed the idea of continuing with the undead Fire Spirits, since they were not effective enough.
"If skeletons will not burn, then let us see if ice can freeze them."
With a mental command, the Fire Spirits immediately ceased their assault and used their [Fire Manipulation] skill, restoring the temperature to normal, exactly as it had been before the [Heat Wave].
Then the Undead Ice Spirits took action.
The two Ice Spirits released their area-of-effect skill, [Front Wave].
Similar to the [Heat Wave] skill, massive waves of concentrated ice energy manifested and swept across hundreds of Skeletons.
Strangely, the attack did not affect any of Ethan's teammates.
All the Skeletons struck by the frost waves were covered in a layer of ice, their movements slowing down significantly.
In the next instant, Ethan commanded his Undead Knights and Undead Lightning Spirits to attack the slowed Skeleton soldiers.
While lightning attacks could not kill the Skeleton soldiers outright, they still dealt damage, and the shockwaves created on impact pushed back the Skeletons and inflicted additional area damage.
The Lightning Spirits used both [Lightning Arc] and [Volt Burst].
In the next moment, hundreds of lightning strands erupted across the battlefield, while the other teammates watched in shock and disbelief at how powerful Ethan was as a summoner.
They had never seen a summoner capable of summoning and controlling so many spirits simultaneously with such precise coordination.
Even a high-grade summoner-type profession would not be able to summon this many spirits, let alone such a wide variety of them.
Not to mention, Ethan was the lowest-level member of the raid team, yet right now the battlefield seemed completely under his control.
On one side, the Undead Ice Spirits repeatedly unleashed [Front Wave] every few minutes, continuously slowing enemy movement.
On the other side, the Undead Knights used that opening to deliver physical attacks, while the Undead Lightning Spirits continuously cast [Lightning Arc] and [Volt Burst] one after another.
Each hit released countless lightning strands, and every time the skills landed on the Skeleton enemies, the impact created explosive bursts of damage.
There were also the Dragon Spirits, huge-bodied creatures with sharp, long tails and massive, fanged jaws, which they used to tear apart the Skeleton soldiers.
Ethan himself was not holding back either; he used [Mourning Rain], which, strangely enough, worked on Skeletons despite their lack of flesh.
Ethan's experience soared.
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]