Master Of None

Zenith had been excited to record a little extra information on the rock horned vipers and their actions. However, it was nothing compared to her desire to explore the ruins. She had already seen them but needed to retreat as soon as she got near. The only reason she had not snuck past the golems and slimes was the fact that the slimes had targeted her equipment she wore and she knew that she would need it to do her job. 

"Midnight, smell anything ahead?" Walker was a little warry of the ruins. He had the memories of the ancient ruins above ground and didn't want to end up trapped again. It was just a precaution but a wise one to take.

Midnight sniffed a few times then shook her head in disgust. Onyx convened with her for a moment and replied to Walker slowly, "Sister says she smells bones but nothing too rotten. But she says they smell a little burnt." This was worrisome since a fire in caves was a very dangerous thing. 

"I hope that there isn't anything that can cause fire ahead. If so we will need to retreat and come with some golems that have water equipped." Zenith was not happy with this because it would mean even more delays in the exploration of the ruins. 

"Old fire. It is safe." The fire elemental spirit drifted through the air to Walkers' shoulder and spoke. It could feel the residual fire elemental mana and tell that it was nothing recent or active. 

"The fire elemental spirit says it is older fire. We should be fine but if there is anything that can make fire we can retreat." Walker was thankful for the spirits' input since even he couldn't sense that the mana was older or newer. He could just feel the faint fire elemental mana and that was it. 

"Then on we go!" Zeniths' shout pushed Su onward and in to the ruins. Soon the dusty floors were becoming a stone passage with some sand and dust along the sides. It was clear some of the rock horned vipers had passed through here but the strange fact was that they only seemed to travel one way. Meaning that the viper didn't come back out. This put Walker and Su on their guard while Mindoight started to use her shadow wrapping skill with Onyx hidden away in her shadow. 

Walker wasn't sure what to expect but was interested in the slots on the walls. There were some that were occupied by stone coffins and others that just had parts of skeletons there. "This looks like a burial chamber. But the markings on the walls have flame patterns. I wonder what kind of burial?" Zenith wasn't certain she had seen the patterns before. 

"I have a skill that translates languages in writing and here I can read some of these things." Walker wasn't going to hide this and saw that sharing the skill with Zenith brought a wide smile to her face. He didn't make her wait while he looked at the writings on the top ends of the walls. 

"This is mostly unreadable but I can make out, followers of the great flame mage rest here for eternity in service." Walker could tell that this was a burial for a mage that specialized in fire. It would mean that there was most likely a fire mage somewhere deeper that had passed on and been buried here. 

"Ah, we have found similar burials before for warriors and other mages. They usually have a decent amount of elemental crystals and ancient weapons buried with them. They are perfect for research purposes and for historical cataloging." Zenith was even more excited until they heard the scrape of bone on stone. 

"Leader, we have a skeleton incoming." The skeleton Su had locked eyes on was one that seemed weak. It has some burnt and yellowed boens and carried a very damaged and rust sword. The skeleton also was covered in scratches most likely from battles with the rock horned vipers. 

Su stood firm and made sure the attention was on her, "Get over here you waste of space." The skeleton raised the damaged sword towards her and slashed down. 

Su held firm and the sword shattered on impact with the high defense earth dwelling shield. The earth elemental spirit showed a worried action as it thought its home might be damaged, yet it was incredibly happy to see the strength of the shield. 

"Get the bad bones!" The earth spirit started to cheer as Su pushed it back. The downfall for the skeleton came when Midnight unveiled herself and pounced on it. The weak and burned bones crumbled under her claws. 

"It's a wonder how the skeleton even stayed standing. It fell apart so easily." Walker looked at the bones which were crumbling as he watched. He couldn't even take any as materials since they were so brittle and weak. 

"That's very common in these kinds of ancient ruins. They have been here for a long time and naturally came back to life after a certain time. The skeletons that come back rarely can fight the test of time. I'm sure they were zombies at one time." Zenith had seen this before and was sure that this was an older ruin since the skeletons were so weak. 

A cold breeze came through the passageway blowing some of the dust in to the air. Walker was surprised that such a strong breeze came through but was shocked even more when the sounds of more skeletons moving came to their ears. "Why do I feel like beating this skeleton was just the start?" Walker was certain that this somehow was leading to even more.

"Leader, three more incoming." Su move forward and used her shield bash skill to break the ribs of the leading skeleton. It fell and crumbled away like it was nothing. 

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