After I finished naming the five new skeletons, and also being healed by Rivena, I started thinking about what I was going to do with them, as I sat at the edge of my bed, hardening the tip of the spear I'd been carving over a fire, with human bones as fuel for the flames. They didn't burn as well as wood, but they burned, nonetheless.

The five of them had been clustered together, further away from me, and a bit closer to the E.P.T. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them, as I could try grooming them to delve further into the dungeon for rarer materials and equipment, or I could try making them into bodyguards. I could even split them up to further reinforce the existing teams, although I felt keeping them all together might be a better idea, as they might have better teamwork that way.

In the end, I decided to simply hold off for now, although I'd have them train with the Sentinels, so that no matter what I decided, they would be busy. Before that though, the spear I was making was higher priority, since I intended on having it be used for training, despite the fact that it could probably kill an unarmored dungeoneer.

It took awhile before I decided it was done, since I didn't really know what I was doing, but the information had simply came to mind when I had been trying to think about other ways to solve the equipment problem. It was a bit strange how it worked.

Electing to not worry about it for the moment, I stood up, before walking over to the Sentinels, and asking if any of them would like to have some fun sparring with our new recruits. I could almost sense them grinning at the prospect, but it was still really hard to tell, since none of their bones moved. A Sentinel named Jarran was the first to volunteer, hefting a hammer he'd looted from an earlier kill.

As he prepped his gear for the sparring session, I turned on my heel, and headed for the recruits, who were all looking at me. I wasn't sure, but for a moment, it seemed like one of them even flinched as I got closer. I shrugged it off as I tossed the spear to none of them in particular. Two of them ended up grabbing onto it, before one of them had let go. It was now in the hands of a skeleton named Lakus. "Congratulations, since you caught the spear, you can be the first to spar against Jarran. The rest of you can decide who goes after, when Lakus is done." My voice was deceptively cheerful, although I was mentally grinning at the idea of watching the upcoming bout.

"But... I've never been in a fight before..." Lakus stated, his voice a bit low. He seemed a bit nervous, so I clapped him on the back, before hauling him to his feet. "That's the point, my bony brother. Consider this a learning experience." I gave him a light shove toward Jarran, before glancing at the others, and heading back to the bed where I'd carved the spear.

This should be good entertainment, and it'll help them get stronger. Everybody wins.

----------------------------

William sat at his desk, a large mug of coffee warming his hands as he looked over the reports from the second floor sweep again. Everything had gone well, according to the reports from the various teams that conducted the sweep. There had been a unique skeleton named "Savage," who led roughly two hundred other skeletons from the confines of a former rest point that dungeoneers had used in the past, when the dungeon had been newly discovered.

The team that had dealt with that group directly, going by the name "Bad news for the bad guys," had reported dealing with them via blocking the only way in or out of that room, and holding the skeletons off long enough for their mage to cast a high tier spell called [Void Flare], which was the very reason why that room had now collapsed, as it had quite simply, consumed everything inside, and then also destroyed some of the walls, floor, and ceiling. The room collapsed in on itself soon after, and has remained that way ever since.

In the meantime, two of the other areas had been swept clean by both of the lesser ranked, but still quite powerful teams of dungeoneers, who both swiftly and decisively cut down any of the lesser undead they came across, reporting nothing unusual in either area.

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The final area, however, was what kept his interest on the reports he'd been looking over for the past few days, analyzing them for whatever secrets they might reveal about the behavior of the dungeon. Skeletons wearing armor, using actual weapons, and not just attacking randomly, spoke of a second unique monster, or something with even higher priority. Of course, this would have made him nervous if it hadn't been for the report of the team that encountered these skeletons.

While their supposed defender took an arrow in the neck, he had been healed quite nicely by their cleric, thus they didn't need to be paid a consolation fee from the guild, which would've been rather hefty, considering their background. The team in question also managed to follow this same skeleton back to its lair, where they incinerated everything inside. If there was a unique monster in there, or anything more dangerous, it surely had to have been turned to little more than motes of ash, as [Hellfire] was more than enough for any monster, from the second floor to the eighteenth.

He took a long drink from his coffee mug. There shouldn't be a reason to worry, since even with Sarillum as an example, the monster had only eluded its pursuers for a month on the same floor. It hadn't moved anywhere else. There was no reason for this to be any different, especially since this was only a second floor monster.

So why was it that he was still so immensely worried about this?

----------------------------

Lilith had been leading the other eleven skeletons in her charge around the second floor for three hours now, and had finally stumbled upon a group of dungeoneers she felt confident enough to bring down, without letting a single one escape. There were always more entering the dungeon to try their luck anyways, so she didn't feel even the slightest bit sorry for wanting their lives to end very painfully.

It went smoothly, the group of twelve dividing into four teams of three, all moving to surround and intercept from every direction. In the end, they surrounded the group of obviously new dungeoneers in a hall leading only two ways. With six skeletons on both sides, and the group of dungeoneers only numbering four, it didn't look like they'd be able to get away without bleeding out seconds after escaping. The plan she had used based on how Broken Skull had done it before worked beautifully.

Lilith took a step forward. Her soldiers did the same, closing the distance between them and the humans, who were cowering in fear at the sight of twelve heavily armed and armored skeletons. A man was blubbering at this point, trying to hide between one of his female companions, and what looked like his brother. They both looked very similar, but it wouldn't matter in a few moments.

She took another step forward, eleven footsteps echoing hers. The dungeoneers huddled closer together. The gap was almost short enough for her to reach out and put her axe in the neck of one of the men. Their torch flickered, the light casting dim shadows across stone, steel, and bones.

"Their hearts beat fast now!" One of her comrades growled.

"They know." Lilith responded in kind, her grip tightening on the handle of her weapon.

Her brothers and sisters were growing restless at this point. Lilith finally took the last step forward, eleven sets of bones following her lead. Twelve weapons sailed forth, blades and points and blunt edges whistling through the air. Four humans died, their bodies dropping to the ground, still warm as their blood pooled out around them.

Lilith used one of their cloth shirts to wipe the blood and flesh from the blade of her axe, when she noticed a chip in the blade. It must've happened when the metal met the spinal cord, as her axe had almost gone entirely through the neck of her victim.

I'll see if Broken Skull will part with his whetstone when we get back.

She turned to the others, who were cleaning up the blood with practiced ease. They wouldn't be discovered here. They would eventually take their victory from the damned dungeoneers, and all those that lived on the surface, attacking them, stealing from them, murdering them. They would all suffer for having done so much for so long, without paying the price for doing so.

Lilith ground her teeth together in anger. "Grab their bodies, and everything they were carrying! We take them home! Ultin, Risach, you're taking care of the trail we leave behind as they bleed out!" She turned on her heel, pointing at the two skeletons, who nodded in affirmation. Minutes later, they were walking away, four prizes carried on the backs of those stationed in the middle of the group.

One day, the surface would suffer for their wanton thieving, trespassing, murdering, and desecration of the home of all those who lived inside the dungeon. Lilith staked her life on it. Her victory would only be found when she saw human cities burning, their people dying. One day they would be the ones suffering. Their land being taken, their blood being spilt.

But for now... For now they had to hide away from the world, letting their kin suffer. Broken Skull had set them on this path. They would not be dissuaded so easily from it, nor would Lilith let anyone stop them.

The dead would rise to the forefront of this war, and they would emerge victorious. She would make sure of that.