[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 9]
[Your skill Summon Undead Knight reached Level 9]
[Your skill Summon Undead Spirits reached Level 9]
[Your Undead Graveyard capacity increased by 1]
Killing half of the skeletal soldiers gave Ethan enough experience to reach Level 9.
"I should be able to reach Level 10 if I kill a few more skeletal soldiers and a couple of skeletal guards, right?" Ethan smiled widely as he turned his attention back to the battlefield, only to see the skeleton guardians acting up.
"Let's see just how much it takes to kill you guys," Ethan muttered.
His hand glowed with a faint green light, and a moment later, bluish droplets of water began to rain down, summoned from the world of the dead, covering the entire cavern.
The cold rain blurred the skeletons' vision and made their attacks inaccurate and imprecise.
At the same time, he gave a mental command to his summons.
His Undead Knights charged at the skeletal soldiers, followed by his Undead Dragon Spirits, who used their massive bodies to smash into the skeletons and bite through their bones with their huge fanged jaws.
After leveling up, the difference between the attributes of his summons and the skeletal soldiers had narrowed greatly, and with every moment, Ethan's experience points began piling up.
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]
Meanwhile, his Undead Ice Spirits continued mass casting their Frost Wave skill without pause.
It only took ten uses of the skill to force the skeletal soldiers to activate their defensive ability, unable to withstand the freezing energy threatening to lock them in ice.
They stabbed their bone swords into the ground, sending vibrations through the cavern as five massive shields made entirely of bone materialized, blocking the incoming waves of freezing power.
"Now's the chance!" Jonathan, who had been waiting for this moment, quickly leaped into action.
He charged into the legion of skeletal soldiers, ignoring them and leaving them to Ethan's Undead Knights.
As soon as he neared one of the skeletal guards, momentarily vulnerable due to using Shield Bone, Jonathan unleashed his powerful skill, slashing his sword and releasing a pillar of blazing sword flames.
The pillar of flames surged forward, smashing into the skeletal guard, destroying its front section, and pushing it back.
Jonathan was about to finish it off when he was suddenly interrupted.
"Graaah!"
A deafening roar echoed through the entire cavern as the Skeletal Warden activated its ultimate skill, Warden's Rally.
"Damn it, it's activating its skill," Jonathan muttered, gritting his teeth in irritation.
The skeletal guard Jonathan had struck, suddenly released a gray aura.
A heartbeat later, every skeletal guard and skeletal soldier emitted the same thick gray aura.
Instantly, their movements became faster, their attacks sharper, and their physical strength surged dramatically.
For the raid team, handling them became several times more difficult in an instant.
Jonathan activated his own skill, flames erupting around his entire body as his strength and speed rose rapidly.
He clashed with the incoming skeletal guards and the hammer-wielding one, who was also using a temporary attribute boosting skill.
Meanwhile, the rest of the raid team went all out, using every ability they had to overpower the five skeletal guards and the horde of skeletal soldiers.
Ethan also commanded his summons, everyone except his Undead Wood Spirits, to focus on attacking the skeletal soldiers, who had become much harder to deal with.
Their numbers still in the hundreds, the entire raid team was beginning to feel the full pressure of Warden's Rally, as the skeletal soldiers grew far more dangerous than before.
Then Ethan began to make his offensive moves.
He ordered all his undead Ice Spirits to use their [Frost Wave] skill, and in the next instant, waves upon waves of ice energy surged from the hands of the undead Ice Spirits.
Within moments, layers upon layers of ice covered the skeletal monsters.
Yet, even after the compounded effect of fifteen [Frost Wave] skills, the skeletal monsters were only slowed down.
Ethan commanded his undead Wood Spirits to use [Verdant Blood] and [Bloom Beam] on him and on his undead Ice Spirits, restoring their spiritual energy.
Immediately after, Ethan made the Ice Spirits use [Frost Wave] again.
Once more, waves of ice energy assaulted the skeletal monsters.
After more than fifteen consecutive uses of the skill, the skeletal soldiers finally froze solid, but due to the [Warden's Rally] skill, they were already beginning to resist the ice energy.
"Let's reach level 10 before I leave this dungeon." Ethan smiled confidently and gave a single command to his summons, while his raid team struggled desperately against the five skeletal guards who were pushing them back with overwhelming strength.
The undead Ice Spirits continued using [Frost Wave], repeatedly trapping the skeletons in ice.
Meanwhile, his other summons, the undead Earth Spirits, the undead Lightning Spirits, the undead Dragon Spirits, and his Undead Knights, launched relentless attacks against the frozen skeletons.
The Earth Spirits unleashed [Stone Spikes] in rapid succession.
The undead Lightning Spirits fired their [Volt Burst] skills dozens of times, one after another.
The undead Dragon Spirits used their massive bodies to thrash the frozen enemies.
The Undead Knights swung their dark swords, shattering the frozen skeletal soldiers.
It did not take much; just a full-power strike was enough to reduce them to piles of broken bone.
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]
Just as Ethan was considering summoning a new type of spirit, a massive explosion echoed across the dungeon, followed by a powerful gust of wind and dust slamming into him.
"What the hell…"
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he saw the five skeletal guards standing firm against the raid team, who were clearly struggling.
After the skeletal warden activated its skill, not only had the other skeletal monsters' strength and speed increased, but even their skill effectiveness had risen sharply.
Now, even with the skeletal guards using their [Bone Shield], they were no longer as immobile as before.
Their reaction speed had increased as well, making it even harder for the raid team to counter them.
It had become a complete stalemate.
The raid team's attacks were losing effectiveness, their stamina was draining rapidly, and meanwhile, the skeletal monsters, being undead, felt no fatigue at all.
The skeletal guards continued using [Bonebreaker Slash] in rapid succession, making it nearly impossible for the raid team to fight back.
"We have to finish them off before our stamina runs out," Jonathan muttered through clenched teeth.
"I did not expect the skeletal warden's skill to be this effective. It is far stronger than the one we fought in hard difficulty. It is like two different dungeons," the hammer warrior said, glancing at the skeletal guards.
"Why do you not step back and let me handle this?" a calm voice said from behind them.
They turned around and found Ethan standing there with a small, casual smile.
"W-What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.
"I want to test a skill of one of my summons," Ethan replied as five rays of [Blood Beam] landed on him, rapidly restoring his spiritual energy.
In the next instant, his hand began to glow with a faint emerald light.
"Fall back, guys," Jonathan ordered.
Everyone fell back, putting distance between themselves and the skeletal guards, who did not chase them.
The guards simply stood in front of the skeletal warden as if protecting him was the sole purpose of their existence.
"You will not mind if I clear this stage myself, right?" Ethan said, turning toward the team.
His eyes glowed faintly green.
"N-No," Jonathan stammered on behalf of everyone.
"Great." Ethan smiled widely as he activated his skill.
[Summon Undead Spirits: Skill Activated]
In the next instant, five multicolored undead summoning circles manifested in front of Ethan.
They transformed into five greenish white undead gates pointing toward the sky.
From each gate, a creature crawled out.
Their bodies were oval-shaped, like liquid metal, multicolored but dominated by a green tint.
They resembled slimes, yet they had no eyes, mouth, or limbs, only a smooth, globe-like body.
"Another new spirit?" the others whispered, watching with curious eyes and wondering what Ethan had summoned.
Ethan only smiled as he looked at his new spirits.
---
[Undead Mirror Spirit]
[Level: 11]
[Skill]
-Reflection: The spirit transforms into a chosen target, inheriting all of its attributes and skills for a limited duration. The smaller the level disparity between the spirit and the target, the longer the transformation remains active. If the level disparity is too great, the skill will fail to activate.
(Note: Due to your profession's influence, every skill the reflected form possesses will carry the Undead-Attribute.)
---
"Use Reflection on the Skeletal Guards." Ethan gave the command, and in the next second, the five summoned Undead Mirror Spirits locked onto their targets.
They activated their [Reflection] skill, releasing a faint wave of energy as their slimy bodies began to shift.
Within moments, they transformed into five Skeletal Guards, unlike the ones they had been fighting until now.
These new forms had green-tinted bones, black armor, and swords made of green bone, all possessing the attributes of the undead.
"Kill them."
As soon as he issued the order, the five Undead Mirror Spirits, now in the form of Skeletal Guards and wielding their attributes and skills, charged toward the enemy Skeletal Guards.
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider adding it to your library and supporting it with some Power Stones. Arigato!]