"You, are one ugly pile of bones." Verum said, as he hastily rolled back, speaking to the silent armored skeleton that had swung it's hammer at him.
It's face was covered in green and yellow moss, and a few of it's teeth were missing from their place.
[Fallen Guardian]
"I can't see any of your stats, except for your name and description. Are you like, a special mob or something?" Verum questioned as he swung at it's chest, but the armor didn't even get scratched.
He leapt away and the ground he was standing on shattered.
"That's quite some power you have, don't want to get hit by that." A boom sounded as the undead was consumed by flames, only to come out unscathed.
"At least you live up to your description." Verum muttered, as he again moved back.
[Once a mighty knight, this undead fell in honor, and still possesses a bit of his power from when he was alive, though most of his battle instincts have dulled, he can still fight off a legion on his own]
'I wonder how powerful he was during his prime, if this is the power that he has after death.'
Verum dashed forward, and then leapt over the once-proud-warrior, and mid-flight stabbed his blade into the yellowed neck-bone, which promptly cracked.
'That's new.' Verum thought as he once again jumped back to evade another swing. 'The other skeletons did not show such damage, they just took it, and then disappeared.'
To test this theory, he again charged at the skeleton, and again jumped over it, but as he aimed his blade, a shockwave blew him away about a dozen or so meters.
"Finally using a skill, it seems like your instincts are still there, but why the second time? Why not the first?" He questioned, but got no answer and again moved to evade.
'It's gotten faster.' His clothes rippled, as he narrowly evaded the hammer, 'Time to get serious.' His blade started sparking, and he prepared for a hard fight.
He gained some distance, and threw an ice spike at it, which it shattered with it's hammer.
'It's gained some amount of fighting ability, but how? and why? Is it a skill? If so I will have to end this quickly.' It charged at him, then leapt up.
'Not good!' He jumped away, and a shockwave spread from there.
'Stronger as well, need to be careful.' Verum started to gather fire element mana in his left hand, as he dashed towards it.
It swung, he side-stepped it and thrust his crackling blade into it's hip bone, then quickly withdrew to narrowly miss a swing from the side.
'That would have incapacitated me, damn it. It's getting too strong too fast, I need to end this now!'
His hand was now glowing orange. 'It should be enough.' He sprinted forward, and then slid underneath it.
"Take this!" He yelled, as the orange on his hand shot out in the form of an explosion, launching the big guy forwards.
'Did it work?' He wondered, as he cautiously studied the fallen.
It did not move.
'It's not disappearing, let's hope it's dead.'
Verum crept forward, ready to leap back at a moment's notice, but there was no need.
It was dead.
"Whew! I do not want to fight another one of these!"
'But why is it so different?' Verum crouched to get a better look at his enemy. "What do you hide?" He softly murmured, as he began to take off it's armor.
To his surprise, it was missing half of it's spine, as well as it's legs. He did not notice since they were covered by armor before, but now without it, he could clearly see that this skeleton should not have been able to walk, or swing that hammer, heck it should not have been alive at all!
"How?" He thought.
He picked up the chestplate, and jumped back when it suddenly changed.
'It shrunk?' He thought as he grabbed it again.
'To my size?' he put it on, and to no surprise, it fit perfectly.
'Size-adapting armor, impossible movement, and that lore of yours, you keep making me more and more curious about your tale.'
He raised his blade, and cleaved down with full force upon a gauntlet, but upon contact, it only sunk a little, and there was not even a mark on it's surface.
'What is it made of?'
He put on the remaining armor, and picked up the hammer, but it did not change at all.
"The weapon was for you only." He spoke aloud.
Reluctant to leave anything behind he put the bones into his inventory, as he started dragging the hammer, leaving behind a trail.
He did not have to walk far till he came across three graves, arranged in triangular formation, a skeleton standing in the middle.
'Not again.'
The skeleton was armored, in the same armor that he was wearing, but instead of a hammer, this one wielded a spear.
'Spears have more range and mobility as compared to a hammer, even if the destructive power is reduced. This will be a harder fight than the one I just had.'
He dropped the hammer.
'Hopefully, this armor is strong enough to stop that spear, otherwise, there is quite a high chance that I will make one wrong move, and get impaled like meat on a barbecue.'
'That was... a weird thought.'
Verum stepped forward tentatively, hoping that it would not attack out of nowhere, as the previous one had, appearing from behind a tree where it could not have possibly fit behind it.
[Fallen Guardian]
'Still no status.'
He took another step forward, now nearing the imaginary triangle made by the graves.
One more, and he was at it's edge.
Still no movement from the skeleton, which was as still as a statue.
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword, his muscles tense for immediate reaction.
He took another step forward.
No movement.
One second,
Two seconds,
Three.
Five seconds passed by, and it still did not move.
Still battle ready, he took another step forward.
And immediately jumped back.
It moved.