Chapter Ninety-One

As Edward and Aelor walked through the massive encampment, every single skeleton that saw them turned to look at Edward with either surprise or curiosity. Many of them seemed to be afraid of Edward as well, considering they would take a step back or immediately hide within the safety of their tents as soon as they caught sight of him. Aelor noticed this behavior as well and turned to Edward with an apologetic smile.

"It's been a few centuries since we've invited a human to visit our clan," Aelor explained, "The last time, one of them went berserk and destroyed dozens of tents. Some of us have been guarded toward your kind ever since."

'I'm not technically a human, but I won't tell them that,' Edward thought to himself. He looked to Aelor and asked, "Why did you invite my help, then?"

I was supposed to bring in anyone who looked strong. Desperate times call for desperate measures," Aelor answered with a shrug, "My chief will explain more, but we've needed help for several decades now. You arrived at the perfect time."

"I see," Edward mumbled, "So you've been ordered to bring in any humans that seem trustworthy? If that's the case, isn't there a chance some of my friends are already here?"

Then, as if by divine intervention, Edward heard a cheerful shout from up ahead. Edward looked away from Aelor and turned to the source of the voice. A moment later, Edward saw Brandon's figure waving at him with a giant smile on his face. Brandon ran up to Edward, his sudden movement startling many skeletons nearby, before stopping only a few meters from Edward and Aelor.

"Brandon?" Edward cheered as the smile on his face grew wider. Brandon smiled and walked up to Edward before embracing him in a short hug. When they separated, Brandon looked at Aelor and smiled once again before Edward continued to speak, "How did you end up here?"

"I was teleported here after the boss went nuts," Brandon chuckled, "I swear, when I saw how many skeletons were around me, I nearly soiled myself. Thank god they were capable of speech, otherwise one of them might not have been able to calm me down so quickly."

'Of course he was teleported directly into safety. His Luck stat wouldn't have allowed anything else to happen,' Edward thought to himself with a smile. He looked to Aelor and waved his hand to Brandon, "This is my brother, one of the friends I was hoping to find."

"Ah, well, that's one of them down," Aelor laughed. He put out his hand and introduced himself, "My name is Aelor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure. I've never thought monsters could be intelligent enough to hold a conversation with. My day's been made," Brandon smiled as he shook Aelor's hand. He looked back at Edward and shrugged, "I've been bored out of my mind since I was teleported here— there's nothing to do."

"Have you logged out?" Edward asked. Brandon shook his head a moment later.

"I didn't entirely trust the skeletons around me, so I decided not to risk it. It appears we're not able to log out while we're down here. Not safely, at least," Brandon shrugged.

Our bodies won't despawn, I know," Edward nodded, "I was hoping that would change if we tried it here, but I guess we got unlucky. Maybe we're not able to log out because of how deep we are?"

"Maybe. I was hoping to regroup with one somebody else before I even tried it, just in case," Brandon explained. He put his hand on Edward's shoulder and smiled, "Now that you're here, though, I don't have to wait any longer!"

A moment later, before Edward could convince him otherwise, Brandon logged out. As soon as he did so, Brandon's body went limp, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Edward quickly jumped forward to catch his brother's falling body. Brandon didn't weigh anything in Edward's arms—courtesy of Edward's power stat—though his body was too tall to hold normally. After a moment, Edward threw his brother's body over his shoulder and turned back to Aelor.

"I'm assuming you've been told to bring me directly to your chief?" Edward asked. Aelor didn't hear the entire question, considering his focus was on Brandon's limp body, but he eventually turned back to Edward to give a solid nod, "Good. Let's go."

—

As Edward and Aelor walked through the tent, Edward made sure to turn his gaze on as many of the nearby skeletons as possible. As he inspected every single one of them, he quickly came to the understanding that they were all around the same strength. None of them were the type of skeletons to stay home and take care of the kids, so to speak. Not that Edward could see any kids.

From what he understood, every single skeleton before him was capable of fighting with as much strength as some of their strongest fighters. At that moment, Edward considered whether he could win against such a strong mass of soldiers— all of which had over 300 HP.

'I have to start learning some good AOE moves,' Edward thought to himself as he looked back at Aelor.

As Edward and Aelor approached the chieftain's tent, a skeleton guard approached and held up his sword. His eyes were directed to Edward's as his body stiffened for combat. Aelor quickly stepped forward and stood between Edward and the guard in question before raising his hands in defense.

"Hold on, Yraevor. This human is friendly," Aelor quickly said. The guard, Yraevor, slowly brought down his weapon. His eyes never left Edward's body, but his shoulders became more relaxed after Aelor calmed him down.

"Are you sure?" Yraevor asked as he turned to the skeleton friend standing at Edward's side.

"Calm down. We're here to speak to the chief. Edward has promised to help with our 'problem'," Aelor explained. After a moment, Yraevor took a step back and sheathed his weapon. As he did so, he finally brought his gaze away from Edward and looked at Aelor, "I hope you know what you're doing," he said.

Aelor didn't respond but instead turned to look at Edward with a determined gaze. The two of them walked into the tent and prepared themselves to meet with the chieftain.