Intelligence for the skeletons was a spectacular thing, it wasn't correlated to artistic, or mathematical intelligence. The more intelligent they got, the more self aware they got. That could lead to multiple things, but primarily their attacks and teamwork changed, it became more efficient.
Noah and Ferro had no armour, or weapons. But they kept travelling deeper into the ruins, it was mid day now. Noah saw no archers on the roof tops yet, and felt fortunate about that. He kept a wary eye for any other adventurers in the area, he did not want it to end like last time.
They saw a group of skeletons in front of them, their rib cages had no holes in them, the bone had grown to become similar to a shield. Their bone swords were a lot sharper and Noah saw a skeleton that towered at two meters, he held a club in his hands. All around his bone was thick.
"Do you want to take them?" surprisingly, it was Noah speaking.
"Are you insane, we have no weapons and they seem strong"
"Don't tell me you are afraid" Noah flapped his arms and walked around in circles, Ferros eyes almost popped out of his skull from the pressure he put into them.
Ferro could not accept that insult, they ended up taking the battle. Noah climbed a ruin, he would ambush them and take one of them out, as a start to the battle. Without a weapon it would be hard to break their crystals, but they had discovered other ways of beating the skeletons.
Whilst they could detach and then reattach their body parts, without seemingly any repercussions . Their body parts still did tasks, especially their head. Their head gave them vision, and hearing. If they managed to detach their head from the rest of the body, the skeletons would almost always tumble over. They swung their limbs around on the floor viciously, but it did not accomplish much.
Noah had climbed to a spot above them, he saw Ferro sitting in a bush waiting for him to begin the attack. He breathed in, he jumped at the skeleton. He fell vertically, and stomped the head, detaching the it and making the skeleton fall over.
Then he ran away from the skeletons crosshairs before they could hit him, he felt wind brush up against him, and heard a large thump. The larger skeleton had swung its club at Noah, but instead it had hit its own teammate.
Ferro had gotten quite close before their focus reverted to him. The bigger skeleton seemed more intelligent, and wary. The smaller one rushed at Ferro with his sword held high in his hand. If he could roar, he'd given out the largest battle cry there was.
A low kick, stumble, grab, pull, kick. In one swift motion, Ferro had detached the head of the lower skeleton leaving him spirattically shaking on the floor. That left only the larger skeleton, Noah and Ferro circled him. One at his back, one at his front.
Noah ran up and attacked, the one who strikes first, strikes last. Without seeing him, the skeleton extended his club and swung around, creating a deadly force with his club. "Backtrack", Noah thought as he was transported back to his original position.
Now they were both more wary. Ferro attempted to approach it. He slowly made his way towards the skeleton, its eyes staring at him. His back at it. The skeleton went for another attack, raising it's club above its head and swinging it at Ferro.
He jumped backwards, dodging the attack, the ground shook from the attack, Ferro almost stumbled. Noah, had seen his chance and ran forward towards the skeleton. He attacked the shoulder attached to the arm holding the club.
He drop kicked it, it made a twitch, but didn't detach fully. Whilst he was running back, his gut revolted. Something felt off. He rolled to the right, on his previous spot the club landed, shaking the ground vigorously. Dry saliva ran down his mouth.
'The god of adventure takes pleasure in watching your actions and has gifted you with one agility point'
'The skill "Danger sense" has been acquired��
Noah gave no response, his eyes were focused on something else completely. Ferro ran towards its shoulder whilst the skeleton had attacked Noah, he jumped on it, and using raw force he separated the arm from the rest of the body. The heavy arm fell on the floor making a "thumb" noise.
The skeletons rage had been turned towards him, but he didn't release his grip. His arms had found themselves around its neck and he was pulling his hardest. The skeleton did not breathe, but it had figured out that its head was important from seeing what happened to its companions.
It started moving and shaking trying to rid itself of the pest named Ferro. Its other hand was swinging wildly in the air, trying to slap Ferro off him. Ferro dealt with the painful slaps, not releasing his grip. Suddenly. the giant skeleton had stumbled landing on its face. Noah had put his legs in front of the large skeleton, trying and tripping the skeleton.
The force exerted, whilst its head rebounded from the drop, gave Ferro the extra push he needed. He had detached its head from the rest of its body. Its body started shaking furiously like the other two, Ferro got off its back, "Catch" he said, as he threw the skeletons head towards Noah.
Ferro was in a good mood, he had just won a difficult fight after all. Noah caught the head, and inspected it closely. It was shaped like a normal head, but where the eyes were, there existed two red dots. The red dots stared at Noah, it felt slightly off putting.
"Catch" Noah said as he threw the head back. This was the start of a silly game, using the head of their enemy. They stopped after a few minutes. Strangely, the big skeleton was not shaking any more, Noah looked at the head in his hands and saw his eyes spinning around in circles.
They had to somehow break its ribcage, it was hard but not thick. They both stood on its back and started jumping, like two happy kids. First a crack surfaced, then another one, and finally it shattered leaving them face to face with its crystal. It was almost double the size of other skeletons, and shining twice as bright. Ferro grabbed it with both of his hands, and broke it.
The entire skeleton sulphurized precisely that moment, and on the floor there was a single drop. A large ass, fierce-looking club. Who would get it?