Bones says "Okay. How strong does it need to be?"

"I am not sure yet. I need to find a normal undead that is intelligent to see how much power you will need. After all, turning you into a normal skeleton isn't what we want."

Bones says "No, I want to stay myself. Just free."

"That is kind of what I thought. Getting stronger right now is the right path, but it is still going to take time. After all, you only just told me you want to be free."

To that, Bones just nods and goes back to killing undead, while I return to the beach. Since they are heading north I fly north for a while before I stop and make a soulscape. Then I invite all the kids and play with them for a few hours before ending the soulscape.

It is the middle of the night when I am done and I am tempted to go into the hall. However, it would probably be best for me not to go into the hall until after this thing with the undead is settled. It is too late to contact Stillwater or Brightfire, so I head back into the water to look for Bones.

The lack of bodies in the water tells me they haven't made it this far north yet. Either I flew too far north or the murlocs didn't keep going north after I left. So, I start swimming towards the south while looking for them, or bodies to follow.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Swimming has progressed to level 8!

Swimming

Level 8

Str +8 End +8 Cold Resist +8 Hold Breath: End Stat x 2.5 Minute.

You are a really strong swimmer.

When the skill increases I actually notice an increase in my swimming speed. Considering I am swimming in the ocean currently, it is definitely helpful. Now I would say I am swimming almost as fast as a normal shark and it is quite fun.

After a while I come across some bodies, they lead east, deeper into the ocean. As I follow the trail I get a bit nervous, the deeper the waters the bigger the creatures. There are some things out there that I saw that I didn't dare to challenge as a meg.

For the most part I am small enough that they will ignore me, that is unless they get turned into undead. I am worried that the creatures will eat the zombies and become undead like the sharks did. Some things become less dangerous when they become undead, but some become more dangerous.

Right now I don't feel like finding out what some of those creatures would turn into. Luckily, the trail leads to the edge of the continental shelf and stops there. It doesn't go into the depths, it leads to some caves in the shelf wall, probably the murlocs' home.

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The undead are currently trying to fight their way into the caves while the murlocs are defending. Bones is also outside the caves, he is still killing the undead as fast as he can. He is killing them a little slower than before since he is having to cling to the cliff.

The bubble allows him to swing the hammer normally, but it prevents him from swimming. Luckily, it looks like the fighting hasn't attracted anything from the depths, yet. The bodies of the undead that Bones is killing are all falling down the cliffs.

That means it is probably only a matter of time before something is lured up. I would like to prevent that, so I gather my mana and start manipulating the stone of the cliff. Just beneath the undead I force the stone to extend out and make a shelf.

This not only allows Bones to stand and fight, but it also catches the bodies. Hopefully, this will delay anything from being lured up from below until the fight is over. Bones goes back to his normal killing efficiency, but there are still tons of undead left.

Bones says "Master, is there a way to make this less boring?"

"Sure, I could wipe them all out with a spell, but then you wouldn't get the energy. You would have to wait to get stronger until we find more undead or another source of energy."

Bones says "No, I don't want that! It is just boring to beat them down when they ignore me."

"Would you prefer it if they were attacking you?"

Bones says "Yes! Can you do that?"

"I should be able to."

Taking a small wisp of the extra lifeforce in my body I move it to sit on top of Bones. As soon as I do the undead near Bones all turn and move to attack him. Them coming to him saves Bones the time to move to them, increasing his killing speed a little.

"That's what you wanted?"

Bones says "Yes, master. Thank you!"

"No problem. Are you going to be alright if I leave you here?"

Bones says "I will be fine!"

I turn around and swim back towards the beach and shake myself dry once I am out of the water. The sun still isn't up so I curl up on the sand to take a short nap until morning. As soon as the sun rises it wakes me up and then I gate back to the ship.

Once back on the ship I find Stillwater and Silverstream so I can have breakfast with them. While we are talking I make sure to tell them about Bones so no one freaks out when I bring him with me. While I am at it I also check our position and then order a change of course.

The ship is now far enough south that we can turn and head for the mainland. Once that is done I use the communication amulet I gave to Brightfire to track her location. Then I open a gate near to where she is and head through, then fly over to where she is.

Brightfire says "Ash! Can we have some breakfast?!"

"Sure. How's the hunting been going?"

Brightfire says "Good! Everyone is at least level four now!"

"That's good. Today will be your last day of hunting. The ship will soon reach the coast of the mainland."

Brightfire says "Does that mean it will be out of range?"

"No. It means we will begin searching human port cities for elves to rescue."

Brightfire says "Oh! Yes, we definitely want to return for that!"

"Alright. I will return and pick you up tomorrow morning."

After providing breakfast to Brightfire and her team I fly back to the area where Bones is. When I swim down I find that the number of undead has noticeably decreased. Bones, when I spot him, is killing the undead even faster then he was when I left.

When I take a look at him through my mana scan I can tell him energy has increased again. It looks like this time it went up enough to improve his stats, which is a good sign. When I take a look inside the caves I can see that the murlocs have been mostly wiped out.