The small army marching on the surface quickly outpaced the legions digging underground. After all, it was much easier for the tireless undead to make their way through empty air then through solid ground. The chaotic clanking of their damaged armor freely echoing across the open plains.

What the entity didn’t think about but welcomed nonetheless was that by moving the Core, it encompassed new parts of the corpse-littered fields. What once started as a squad of hundred undead swiftly grew the more distance they covered. One hundred became two, then three, and, by the time It could see the mountain again, the army grew to five times its original size. By that time, however, they went so far ahead that the newly raised dead couldn’t immediately join the original squad. Unsurprisingly, this caused a new horde to begin forming above ground, this one firmly keeping well within the Core’s distance.

It was risky but, considering how the so-called Gods have ignored one army on the march, It hoped the second one wouldn’t make much of a difference.

The mountain was approaching fast, the claps of thunder around it weaving into the beat of metal boots to create a beautiful symphony. The entity found itself so entranced by the melody that It completely missed the remaining way to reach Its destination.

Even though the Core, and the second horde, were still a fair distance away from the cave entrance, the first army pulled into the now tiny opening without hesitation. As more and more undead entered the cavern, It was surprised that nobody greeted them like last time. There were no lines of defenders, no giant humans with swords, nothing. Not even corpses.

It would’ve been disappointed if not for the unceasing incoherent screams that blasted out of cave depths like a literal wall of force. Some undead even seemed to flinch back slightly the moment they passed through the familiar barrier of black smoke.

Regardless, after cramming as many units as possible within the first ‘room’ of the cave, the army continued to march forward, filling any and all empty spaces with dead, yet moving, bodies.

The admittedly small tunnel soon started to get more and more spacious, up until it expanded into a ginormous cavern. A moderately-sized opening far up high allowed extremely thin rays of sunlight to provide illumination, in addition to the torches lining the walls. Numerous walkways stretched along the sides of the massive cave, each sporting several entrances deeper into the mountain with walls of black fog preventing anyone from seeing through.

And right in the middle of the cavern, a trench was torn into the ground, like an unfading scar. It was no result of a minor earthquake, that seemed impossible as the wound split the rock in half and even light seemed too afraid to reach deeper into the gaping abyss.

Right on the edge of the chasm, a small campfire was burning, shadows dancing on the fabric of the tents gathered around it. The last piece of what would make, perchance, a nice painting was the gaggle of people running around in panic. The currently diminished group of humans was clearly freaking out, decibels flying in every direction only getting louder when the undead started to pull into the cavern. The trio that stood out before were like islands of relative calm amidst a sea of terror, the two shield bearers standing pale as snow but standing nonetheless.

At least they weren’t bawling on the ground like one of the younger fighters, his cries were particularly annoying.

What was even more interesting, was that now the entity could distinctly see the shape It could only glimpse last time. A tall thin figure wrapped in a midnight black robe was silently observing the encroaching zombies, its hood pulled up to completely conceal the face.

The entity was a bit downcast after It realized that no corpses produced by the previous encounter were in sight but that was fine, It was about to make some more. One unheard command later, and the undead army half a thousand strong charged at the disorganized humans.

Unlike last time, the scarred man’s screams did absolutely nothing to take control of the situation, and the undead horde crashed into the disarrayed humans like a tsunami into a wooden harbor.

It took a couple minutes, but the outcome was already determined the moment It realized that the humans didn’t leave the cavern. When the tide of corpses reached the hooded one, however, It felt a felt something akin to a poke against the energy gathered in the undead. Confused, It allowed whatever just transpired to resolve, curious to see the result. To Its utter surprise, of the zombies stopped giving It visual feedback the very next second.

The connection was still there, and It was convinced that reclaiming control over the rogue undead would be a matter of a second or two, but the meaning of what just transpired opened some interesting possibilities.

Since It could feel a barely visible string of familiar emerald energy stretch from the rebellious zombie to the cloaked man, It could safely assume that these humans were capable of manipulating mana as well. Or at least some of them could.

The ‘Lord Mage,’ judging by how the others called him even while being ripped apart bit by bit, used the now-allied zombie as a meat shield against its kin, flinging balls of fire out of seemingly nowhere into the mass of the dead. They proved to be surprisingly effective, the resulting blast waves and gouts of flames decimating the zombies by dozens. Mostly because there were so many of them crammed into so little space but still.

Unwilling to lose more units than necessary, the entity seized control over the renegade zombie, causing the Lord Mage to stumble and gasp in pain. The surrounding undead quickly capitalized on the moment of weakness due to Its direct order, and brutally locked the man down, pulling down his hood to reveal a bald gaunt face and stabbing whatever they had in hands through his limbs in order to pin them down.

A similar fate awaited the pair with greatswords and the mace wielder since all of them attracted the entity’s attention due to standing out from the rest of their squad. Needless to say, the remaining humans were lined for slaughter.

At least until the entity reconsidered Its actions, leaving five of the fighters alive but disabled in a similar manner to their leaders. It needed resources both dead and alive, after all.

It ignored the fearful yells of the survivors and the way Lord Mage’s eyes widened when the undead left the remnants of the squad alive, switching Its focus to the Core and using all of Its processing power to increase the digging efficiency.

The Dungeon reached the mountain before the current cycle could shift, ordering the diggers to create a tiny opening from the underground tunnels into the cave entrance. The next part was pretty simple, all of Its undead were ordered to unearth themselves and populate the newfound cavern, while the Core itself was transported by the corpse ooze through the opening created earlier. That way, the Core technically never entered the surface. It wasn’t sure if the Core rising above ground would attract more attention from the Gods but It decided to play it safe.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The appearance of easily double the undead already present in the cavern was enough to make all but the interesting four to pass out.

Correction, the remaining three, one of the shield bearers couldn’t hold it together went limp on the cold stone floor, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

The only one reacting differently from the rest was Lord Mage, as instead of the crooked grimace like the one marring the scarred man’s face, a jagged grin widened on his face with every new zombie appearing before his eyes.

When the four greater undead arrived through the entrance, he outright chuckled before turning to his fellow humans using whatever remaining freedom his locked down position allowed him.

“Well, gentlemen,” A relatively young hoarse voice echoed over the clanking armor, “It’s been a pleasure. As a form of condolence, please accept this piece of knowledge: whatever is about to happen… It’s going to be good.”

“Screw you and your knowledge, you bloody madman!” The scarface snarled at the hooded man, his fingers desperately wiggling in an attempt to reach his mace, “My boys and I followed you to escape from that shithole of a country, not to get eaten by a fucking army of undead! Who, tell me, who thought it was a good idea to settle in the Deadlands, huh?! ‘The Empire would never look there,’ you say, well guess what? They didn’t need to, with all the corpses crawling around! So come on, use your mumbo jumbo and get us of out here just like you promised, you mage freak!”

The young mage only sneered in response and turned away from the enraged man. In a bout of anger, the giant man screamed as he gave it his all to grab the spiked club and show the snot-nosed bastard of a brat not to ignore him. Before he could even touch the leather bound handle of his weapon, however, steel flashed and his wrist fell on the ground, motionless. The nearby zombie lifted up its sword and retained its former position, still as a statue.

The injured man managed to suppress a cry of pain as he watched his rugged stump bleed out. His eyes swirled towards the blade that wounded him, widening at the sight of a jagged rusty surface. Of course it was in such a terrible state, who would expect zombies of all things to maintain their equipment. Still, it meant his injury was infected right now, and even if he were to stop the bleeding, he was doomed without a skilled healer. Not that he had any hopes of surviving this encounter anyway.

Meanwhile, the surrounding undead suddenly started to move, immediately gaining the attention of every conscious being present. The zombie horde swiftly separated into two halves, creating a passage leading from the entrance to the cavern and ending right near the campfire, on the edge of the abyss.

The sound of countless tiny legs striking the stone spread across the cave, as if hundreds of beetles were drumming on a steel plate. Out of the darkness, a fluid shape slowly emerged into the light, a viscous mass of rotting flesh and shattered armor, pieces of which were producing the skittering noise when hitting the ground. Hovering right above it, was a small metallic creature with hooked tendrils extending from its back that plunged into the rock below in order to allow it to move.

The new undead oozed its way in between the ranks of zombies until it stopped right in front of the captives. From within the depths of decaying flesh, a deep monotonous voice drilled right into the ears of its unwilling listeners, causing the men to violently flinch.

“What, is within the trench?” The mass of the liquid undead vibrated in conjuncture with the voice, seemingly speaking with its whole body.

About a minute later, when the entity realized that It wouldn’t receive an answer, the robed mage cleared his throat and croaked out, “Y-your Dark Majesty, please allow this lowly servant to aid you! I’m sure that a Necromancer of your caliber could use the news from outsides the Deadlands, and I possess plenty of such information!”

“Not, a Necromancer,” The entity thought it was safe to say that bit of information out loud, as, from the fairy’s explanations, Dungeons weren’t necessarily hated on their own, “Dungeon. You, didn’t answer the question. What, is in the chasm?”

Several gasps could be heard as well as the sound of a few bodies hitting the floor. It seemed that the just-awaked humans decided it was the safest to lose consciousness again. The formerly decommissioned shieldbearer, however, didn’t pass out this time, only fearfully observing the towering ooze.

“…a Dungeon, I can’t believe it… But, you brought an army of undead above the surface, that doesn’t make any sense! Dungeons are supposed to stay underground, or deep within mountain ranges or something!”

“Answer, the question.”

“I don’t know! I just picked this place as a base because of its proximity to the Empire, while also being located in the Deadlands!” The sweat forming and immediately dripping onto the floor from the visibly terrified man. The air of confidence and superiority he exuded vanished into nothingness after he understood that there was a sapient will behind the army of undead, “I planned to raise a horde of undead and ravage the Empire with it, that’s all!”

“What?!” All of the remaining humans gaped at the mage before the sound of grinding teeth could be heard, especially from the scarred man, “You said we’d stick to raids until we could raise enough money to travel to the Baronies! We never agreed to attack the Empire!”

“Well it’s too late now, Lord Mage,” One of the bound shielders, which the entity just noticed looked absolutely identical to each other, sneered, “We’re all about to become dead meat here, so you better say prayers to your God! Oh wait, you don’t have one, do you? Even your freaky kin know better than to deny their Gods, but you’re oh so special, you godless trai-!“

“Shut it, Albert,” The other man said to his twin, “It doesn’t matter now. Nothing does.”

As the humans bickered with each other, the entity was deep in thought. The was some ‘Empire’ near this mountain, a country by the sound of it. Which meant civilization. Adventurers. Also Heroes, but mainly Adventurers. This place really was perfect, especially with that chasm looking so inviting, so… safe.

Every single lesser undead with the exception of the slime burst into motion, instantly silencing the humans. Like a single well-oiled machine, rotting hands clasped each other, and the zombies began to lower the fellows into the abyss one by one. The men watched, speechless, as dozens of undead disappeared into the darkness, driven by the monumental will of their creator.

Eventually, the entire trench was covered in zombies clutching to each other along the walls, solid rock becoming all but invisible behind the curtain of swarming undead. The entity, meanwhile, felt Its puppets reach the bottom of the chasm and, after confirming the safety of the location, ordered the ooze to come down. Flowing between the net of zombies, the carrier of the Core finally reached the absolute darkness of the bottom a few minutes later.

Mentally shuddering in content, It willed some of the zombies to fuse with each in the likeness of Its first creation, ensuring that the trench was truly under Its control. The job done, It merged the ooze into the construct, exponentially increasing its size, and stationed the four greater undead around the earthly maw for additional protection.

After that, It raised the recently fallen humans and commanded them to form a separate group for later examination. Then, some of the remaining lesser undead were ordered to surveil the passages within the cavern, while still leaving some more to look over the captured humans. Every other puppet was sent outside with the sole purpose of gathering more corpses and bringing them into the cavern to be animated.

Having run out of things to do indirectly, It returned Its attention to the prisoners. Seeing the zombies around them suddenly turn to stare directly at them, the humans flinched. One of the younger unmarked ones whimpered under his breath, but the entity still caught the whisper.

“Please, Relios, I don’t want to die… I, I’ve been your devout follower, wasn’t I? Save me, please, save me…”

Filing this ‘Relios’ away for later, the entity discovered some strange feeling roiling within Its mind at such a pitiful sight.

…Pitiful…

Yes, It guessed It could sympathize with the young being. It, too, didn’t want to die. Hearing the shuffle of feet approaching, the youth fearfully turned his head, almost breaking the neck in the process, and came face to face with a half-exposed skull. The shrill instantly attracted the attention of the rest of the living occupants of the cavern, so the entity decided to address all of them at once.

“Do, you wish to live?”

“Yes, anything!” The young man was echoed by the mage and a bunch of other, causing the three giant men to scoff in disgust.

“Do, you fear death?”

“Y-yes…” This time, they sounded unsure. Doubtful.

“Then I have a deal to propose…”