-- Welcome to Argentuvalur's Tomb --

-- You have entered a dungeon. Experience gain is increased. --

Liz had just crossed an archway, beyond which the sloped corridor opened into a large brick rotunda topped by a massive dome. Dozens of small passageways left the room in every direction. Between each of the archways, dozens of alcoves were filled with stone sarcophagi. Some broken and empty, others still intact. Liz couldn't see the ceiling in detail in the dim light of her orb, but she could make out that at some point a massive mural must have adorned the ceiling as occasional patches of dulled paint still stuck to it.

'What the hell? Another dungeon? Directly under the fort? And in a tomb?'

Liz quickly backed out of the room, out of fear of suddenly appearing opponents. The cats never had time to enter the domed structure.

'So there are Undead? Zombies? Yuck! Of course the only place I can reach where the mana is high enough to make crystal growth possible, has to be an some dungeon tomb, probably filled with massive amounts of monsters. But I really want - nay need - those crystals! How hard can one dungeon be? I survived the spider cavern. And now I have more training and experience under my belt. And I rather know what lives -or not lives - under my feet than have something come up the tunnel some night in the future. Not sure if the fort's defenses also cover the underground. Yes, I just need to find out what inhabits the cellar below my 'home'. And it would definitely also constitute a change from the monotonous training with the cats, so win-win. I am just gonna test how well I am going to do in a real-life situation. I need to cross the mountains somehow. And I need to know how to fight. But that can't be my main objective. No, I am going in for reconnaissance and crystals first and, should it be easy enough, training with some monsters second. Yes, that's it.'

Having justified the possibly foolish adventure to her own conscience, Liz moved back into the structure. Her gaze was again caught by the impressive dome. While some stones had fallen down, the majority of the dome was surprisingly still standing. Even millennia after the tombs likely creation.

While Liz had admired the architecture, the cats had spread out around her, already in a battle-ready stance. Seeing this, Liz also nocked an arrow and charged a bit of mana, leaving the aura be for the time being. Her daggers were still there as backup, but Liz wanted to try herself with the bow first. Should anything cross her path that didn't want to go down easily with an arrow, her daggers were still there, or her feet depending on the threat and feasibility of flight. So far it had only worked sometimes.

Liz truly hoped that someday she would be able to chose her battles and not get them chosen for her. Another reason to test the waters here in the dungeon.

But right now she needed to focus on her surroundings. Something had the cats on edge and Liz just couldn't decipher what. But when it came to sensing danger she trusted the cats senses fully, leaving her to move carefully through the room, on guard against all.

Or not all, as with a horrendous screech a small figure clad in dark armor emerged from behind an alcove she had just checked and charged at her, taking Liz completely by surprise.

Liz and the cats both managed to whirl around and Liz could even let go of the nocked arrow towards the assailant. While for once it flew true, it simply passed through the small vaguely humanoid figure. The next moment the still-screeching figure reached her. And simply ran through her. Liz shivered at the sensation of cold sweat breaking out where the being touched her. And felt the flesh go numb in its wake as well as her health dwindle.

The being still screeched its high-pitched war cry as it charged again.

[Revenant - lvl 32]

There was no time for Liz to nock another arrow, instead she rolled out of the way, and drew a dagger just as she was getting up again. Her aura was activated as well, already healing the damage she had sustained in a slow pace. The cats tried to reach the screaming enemy but when they should make contact with it, they simply went through it as well, emerging on the other side shivering.

'A ghost?'

Seeing no way to harm the apparition with physical weapons, Liz discarded her dagger and tried her only mana-based weapon.

It seemed to be the right choice as the Revenant instantly vanished once the Blast entered its form. In the blink of an eye and without a trace it was gone, taking the remnants of Liz's spell with it. But no notification appeared.

'Where did it go?'

Expecting the ghost to reappear just behind her, Liz spun around and around. It took nearly two minutes before she stopped her frantic spinning.

'Is it dead? Why is there no kill notification? I mean I guess it was already dead... but still... Or did it teleport away? No, I have definitely hit it'

The fact that the Revenant simply disappeared didn't sit right with Liz. So far every creature or monster she had killed had been registered by the 'system'. But now she had encountered something not obeying the laws of reality in this realm as she knew them.

She was uneasy. Not really afraid of the power of the Revenant itself, but rather of what caused this weird behavior. And whether it extended to the whole tomb. Having an anomalous dungeon just a few dozen of meters below one's bed, wasn't comforting in any way.

'Oh shit, reconnaissance just became so much more critical. Either I have some kind of immortal monsters beneath the fort, or I am missing something crucial here'

Hoping to gain some insight, Liz inspected the spot the apparition had first appeared in and retrieved her arrow on the way. There was nothing special about it, at least to her eyes that is. It was just another dark alcove. The only remarkable thing was the still intact sarcophagus. Most of the others were open. Liz also realized that the stone hollows were way too small for a human, maybe a child would fit, but an entire tomb with dead children was too much for her to imagine, so Liz rather saw herself affirmed in the knowledge that the small ghost, probably one of the buried, was normal-size for its species. The size would even fit the structure in the Nuurtor Cavern. It was just a bit weird that all the coffins bore the same inscription, a runic script Liz couldn't decipher. And the odd star-like pattern of different colored stone in the ground, reaching each of the alcoves was weird as well.

What worried Liz was the way the empty coffins were opened. They seemed smashed in. By something massive. And brutish as some coffins were only present in small bits.

'Graverobbers? But where are the skeletons? Are they running around now?'

Liz shuddered at the thought. It just reminded her too much of the one she had stashed in a chest upstairs, its story and how close she came to the same fate.

She wandered through the domed room for a bit longer without gaining any more insights as to what happened there. Eventually she questioned whether to enter the dungeon further.

'So far there has only been the Revenant, but that can't be all that inhabits this tomb. Either I fear the unknown or I search for a bit further and know my opponents'

It was really a rhetorical question. Liz had no idea how many exits the inhabitants could crawl up into the fort and knowing what might come to get her was invaluable if she wanted to defend against it. While she had no qualms about possibly clearing the dungeon, she also had no delusions of achieving it.

Having learned from her chaotic exploration in the cellar, Liz decided to follow the wall to the right of the entrance, instead of just picking a way at random.

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The wall left the room in a tunnel with a vaulted ceiling around twice the height of Liz. If this tomb was made by those now buried in it, it would have been truly enormous in comparison to their size.

The tunnel was lined with further sarcophagi, all neatly placed in their own alcoves in the brick wall. At least every second one was broken. None held any organic remains. After a few dozen meters, Liz became irritated by the complete lack of remains. Against her better judgement she went to the next intact sarcophagus and with some effort managed to lift the stone slab covering it.

Only to drop it back down as a half-rotten hand reached for her hers out of the dark interior. Liz shrieked and sprung back, activating the aura and charging mana on instinct.

'WHAT. THE. HELL! Nope. Nope. Nope!'

She sprinted back the way she came. Her heart racing a mile a minute. The cats were equally flustered. Liz's distress agitating them.

Liz only came to a stop when she reached the hole in the wall leading to the ramp. While her sprint had barely affected her breathing, her heart was beating like crazy. The sudden appearance of the hand had impacted her more than most in the past weeks.

'WHY IS EVERYTHING IN THIS REALM SO FUCKING HORRENDOUS!!!'

It took her just shy of ten minutes to calm down. Just sitting in front of the hole in the wall, focusing on her breathing and nothing more. The cats did their best to calm her.

'Why couldn't the body fully decompose before rising? God, that stench! And that texture!'

Liz had to gag at the memory.

'So there aren't just ghosts, there are also animated corpses? All in a tomb just underneath the fort? There are so many sarcophagi. Are all of them filled? Would the defensive enchantments hold all of them? Because if not....'

So far Liz had wholly relied on the defensive frameworks. Sometimes intentionally, other times by circumstance. It had provided her with a - rather - safe haven in the chaos of her new reality. But now she felt her safe haven threatened.

'I need to find out what the corpses are capable of. If they are strong individually, I am fucked.'

Reluctantly reentering the dungeon, Liz made her way to one of the intact coffins in the antechamber. In her eyes, the stone plates sealing in what was inside were way too light to keep anything wanting out in.

One reasonably sized Arcane Blast could probably move the cover. With her bow drawn, this was exactly what Liz tried.

Her estimates were slightly off. It took her two shots before the plate was moved enough that it fell off the side of the stone on its own. It was way too easy, really as if the coffins were designed to let their contents out.

Two hands, most of the fingers missing their flesh, were immediately clasped around the stone edge. Liz watched from behind her bow as a small figure hoisted itself out of the stone hollow.

It wore rotten rags, its body faring not much better. The barely waist-high humanoid was missing close to all its facial features. Only one eye was still there, the other socket empty. Few spots still held flesh. The few bits made up for it by a stench, that was barely bearable even twenty meters away.

[Lost Warrior - lvl 32]

For a moment it was completely still. The next it turned towards Liz, its eye focused on the light-orb in her hand and charged at her. Just like the Revenant. Only at a tenth the speed. And stumbling two steps in. It really looked just like a trash zombie movie. Well, the rotten look was perfect down to the last detail. So not quite trash film level.

The cats had started to advance at the zombie from the flanks, but Liz directed them to stay back. This was to be her fight, for now.

When the warrior was just getting up again, Liz released her arrow. She had chosen one labelled as 'lesser explosive'. She had aimed for the center of its torso, but hit the creature's shoulder instead.

The arrow exploded on impact, taking away a good portion of the torso and the whole left arm, and spraying foul smelling flesh in every direction. Including Liz's. Where before the stench had been barely bearable, now it was insufferable. Liz had to gag and emptied her stomach on the stone floor. In the midst of a fight. But it was no issue as the warrior had been thrown to the side by the explosion. And while it was still moving, it was now missing close to its entire left side, making its movements even more shaky.

When Liz had finished, even going as far as cleaning her mouth with a vial of water, the undead had barely moved five meters towards her. It seemed to repeat a simple pattern when it walked and failed to compensate for the missing arm, throwing its complete movement off balance.

Unwilling to close in on the stench, Liz readied another explosive arrow from afar, aiming for the head, and hitting the torso front and center instead. After another spray of rotten flesh, the creature toppling over and not getting up again, Liz felt a notification enter her mind.

-- You have killed a [Lost Warrior - lvl 32] --

'So YOU can get killed! But that was way too easy. But the system seems to agree, as it got literally no gains from this. But I easily bested an enemy 12 levels above my own! Why did I even fear them? Dana would have probably said something along the lines of 'Humans always fear the unknown'. Gah, this thing just reminds me of trash-film-night in college. Now I am in the trash film! How the tables have turned!'

Despite being underground in a gloomy dungeon, Liz felt cheerful. At least she felt it, when she had brought enough distance between herself and the foul-smelling heap of bones and flesh.

The cats had one sniff at the pile before leaving it to its own devices as well.

'Hey, if that is all these corpses have to offer, I could possibly level my skills faster than ever before. And possibly even the class! But the stench...'

The stench was a big nuance. But Liz had a whole workshop to find a solution. After a quick trip back to the surface. That is to say close to half an hour later, she had fix for the problem. The fix she concocted was truly ingenious; two small pieces of wax in her nose.

Equipped with her innovative wax plugs, Liz released a second undead.

[Lost Warrior - lvl 32]

It looked just as rotten as the last, and it also started to hoist itself out of its confinement shortly after it was opened. Just as it crested the edge, Liz, now much closer, tried Arcane Blast on the animated corpse. It felt not very effective. The energy seemed to just seep into the body without an effect. But subsequent shots started to show effects, just not what Liz expected. Instead of damaging the corpse, it seemed to energize it.

While still shuffling over the stone floor, it became faster with every Blast.

'Shit! Is it absorbing the mana?'

Liz was forced to resort to the bow, but replacing the explosive arrows with health draining ones. The notes added to their batch marked them as experimental. And it seemed they would remain experimental, as they had no effect on the shuffling corpse.

For the first time, Liz was forced to move backwards to evade it as she was nocking another explosive arrow. Releasing it on her opponent provided similar results to the last warrior, removing the remaining flesh in a violent spray of gore and the occasional piece of bone. Still it took her three arrows to finish this one. It seemed irrelevant where she hit it as the first arrow to the chest did not kill but the last to the leg did.

-- You have killed a [Lost Warrior - lvl 32] --

'Are they all lvl 32? Why do they become faster the more mana I give them? And seemingly more resilient... Wait... Sooo... I can adjust how fast and resilient they are?'

'If it weren't for the disgusting remains, this is a wonderful training system if it really works!'

Liz contemplated it for a moment. Also taking into account the morality of her actions. As far as she knew, these were the remains of sapient beings, animated by the dungeon. So far she hadn't really sympathized with the beings, but if she imagined them to be humans, there was a part of her that would want them to rest in peace and not be disturbed for some levels.

But she questioned whether an undead existence, locked in a stone coffin for possibly millennia, was considered rest. She wasn't sure how much these creatures felt and whether anything of their former selves remained. Technically her actions had put two of them to a hopefully final rest. Then again, her mangling of the corpses wasn't really respecting of the dead either.

Her stomach took this moment to complain about its emptiness, making Liz move away from the antechamber and halfway up the ramp before slowly sipping her venison broth from a vial. The wax plugs really helped with this experience as well. Still one should only ever take small sips, as to not upset ones taste buds too much.

'Ughh, this batch didn't really work out. The recipe definitely still needs some work!'

Taking small and careful sips, Liz dove back into her internal ethics discussion.

Despite her reservations about the mangling, Liz knew that she also had to take her survival into account. One of the few bits of pieces of information from Garuna she trusted was that this valley and its side-valleys were easy in comparison to the rest of the Wildlands. If there were things as powerful as the stag or the moss out there, there also had to be others of their caliber. Liz was truly lucky that she hadn't encountered any of them so far. Though she possibly knew about two more such creatures. For one there was the roaring creature deep in the valley. And whatever agitated it was likely also a powerful being.

So if she wanted to ever leave the valley and the Wildlands and not die along the way she would probably have to level quite considerably. Currently, she was just too fragile. Just like the stag had said. And to level she seemed to require opponents just slightly above her own level. And level 32 almost immobile zombies were perfect for that position.

Eventually Liz decided to go on with her extermination efforts, the benefits to herself just to great to ignore them in respect of long dead warriors. Still, she decided to keep from using the explosive arrows for now.

Even just for keeping her new armor from smelling even more like rotten flesh.

And so Liz went back into the fort to gather supplies for her endeavor. Her initial goal of gathering crystals had become an afterthought at this point.