Dungeon Novel: Chapter Nineteen (Patreon)

The necromancer had a small party of Undead with them, several of the Weakest Heroic Skeleton, two Bone Plated Undead: Bear variant, and two new humanoid undead covered in massive bone spikes.

They didn’t enter the Dungeon for a moment and the necromancer simply stood outside and stared at the entrance. The person seemed to be examining the entrance made of quartz to give a curious mixture of reflected light and shadows.

The necromancer then walked into the Dungeon and gave out a small snort upon seeing the cave system, Unbound felt insulted by the dismissal they gave upon seeing his work and effort. The small group walked through, the small group of Undead defending the necromancer from the attacks of the defenders.

Similarly, to last time the Undead made better use of their bodies, instead of the skeletons using their swords as cudgels they were slicing into the defender’s bodies. The Bone Plated Undead fighting like their pre-Undead state. The bears rising upon their back legs to bring their great paws down in massive smashes.

The spiked skeletons acted as the necromancer’s personal guards, standing by their sides and deflecting and preventing attacks upon their person. The necromancer simply inspected the Dungeon as they marched through, looking at the walls and ordering the Undead to take a small sample of the copper ore.

The Purge Undead spikes within the tunnel outside the boss room caused a strange nod of their head when they shattered the spine of one of the skeletons, the rockfall held up by the two large undead bears.

The necromancer analyzed the boss and saw its name before sending in the Undead to battle it. The skeletons and Bone Plated bears attacking it together. As they did so the necromancer addressed Unbound directly.

“I wish to speak to the dungeon personally, I will proceed through until I reach the core if I have to.”

Unbound felt extremely confused, Elvinia had said almost no sentient beings tried to address Dungeons themselves. Their only interaction being as enemies or the sentients trying to enslave the Dungeon as a resource farm.

Apparently, the church that had first inspected him was a mainly human religion and the human kingdoms had several enslaved dungeons underneath the royal family’s control. It was likely that the Priestess who he had granted sanctuary within him was likely part of a royal family, a younger member with the correct affinity to serve within the church.

“I don’t know why they are here but let us see if they can pass the Ant’s nest first, I am also glad you placed the other's house out to the side slightly. That should stop the two groups of people from meeting.” Elvinia said to him.

“I am curious what this necromancer could want, they are living somewhere well suited to themselves. I don’t know what one of them could want from a non-Undead Dungeon.” Unbound replied. “I also feel I will not like the answer to that question.”

Elvinia didn’t reply to that so Unbound simply refocused upon the necromancer as the Undead decapitated the spider boss and moved into the second floor. The necromancer spied the ant’s mound and let out a sigh, the sigh was distinctly feminine to Unbound’s senses.

For some reason, it felt wrong to Unbound and he said so to Elvinia.

“You are not wrong, whilst a woman can have the necessary affinities it is far, far more common for a man to be a necromancer. It is the same way a man is far, far less likely to be a mage, necromancers being the exception, women have naturally better suitability towards the arcane arts.”

That fit in with the knowledge from Unbound’s past life, he was a lumberjack with immense physical strength and skills designed to use axes properly and take down the massive mana-infused trees of a Magic forest.

The Undead party were entering the Ant’s nest and the venom of some of the more lethal ants would be ineffective upon the walking dead. The crushing mandibles would be slightly more effective upon the exposed bone even when the cutting power would be mostly ineffective.

In addition, the smaller party would attract less of the swarming ants and they would move further in whilst less hindered. They were also working as one which meant they would not get in each other’s way as the bandits did.

They advanced further whilst also refusing to enter the flooded tunnels as the bandits did, Unbound should consider putting a chest with good loot within the Aquatic ant’s area so sentient intruders entered within before they moved into the Queen’s chambers.

The eggs pulsed slightly upon the edges of the chamber even as the Queen stood within the middle, looking formidable even when exposed out in the open. Her dark armor caught small shards of light within the cavern and gleamed with a dark red sheen that screamed danger. The ax-like forelimbs occasionally twitching with almost instant movements of the deadly armaments.

As the party moved in the Queen turned towards them and charged at the first Bone Plated Bear which was closest.

“I repeat that I seek the Dungeon Core’s spirit for an audience. I do not wish harm upon the Dungeon or it’s fairy in any way, shape or form.”

The necromancer said again and this time Unbound focused upon their voice and heard the feminine undertones that indicated their gender. This necromancer was very likely to be a woman and that added to the significant feminine presence within Unbound at the moment.

The Queen took down both of the Bone Plated Bears and three of twelve skeletons before she was cut down. And the necromancer proceeded to the third and final floor in her quest to meet with Unbound.