Reincarnated as a Lizard

As the interaction between the adventurers and the senior adventurer came to an end with the latter splitting off to search for the necromancers still hidden away throughout the ninth floor of the dungeon, quiet returned to the underground part of the dungeon with the troublemaker who had shown up and caused no less chaos than Scaly had when she had rolled down the side of the mountain-shaped pillar. The group of adventurers who had originally been hoping that they would be able to put this entire thing behind them and leave through the exit they were now tasked with guarding for who knew how long, could do nothing but spend their time exploring every nook and cranny of the bathhouse they might be spending the next week or longer in.

To make this place a bit more livable and not wanting to have to constantly keep an eye out for the different entry points into the bathhouse, the group decisively came to the conclusion that it would be for the best if they sealed off the hole they had created in the ceiling, while at the same time also blocking off the main entrance into the bathhouse to stop any monsters from wandering inside the place unknowingly.

This way, they would also be able to spend their time far more relaxed. The only real problem they faced was the fact that their food supply wouldn’t last forever and if things really did end up dragging on for over a week, they would be forced to go out hunting the monster outside for food. Not something any of them wanted to do, as this might attract attention from the dungeon guardian construct.

Escape might be possible, but the bathhouse would undoubtedly get leveled in the process. Making their task of guarding the exit far harder to accomplish, as they would be out in the open. Fully exposed to the countless monsters living within the underground forest that surrounded the bathhouse on all sides.

Yes, they were strong but staying vigilant and ready for combat for a week straight would be too much even to SS Rank Adventurers like them.

And that was without mentioning the constant monster attacks they would undoubtedly find themselves facing off against in that kind of situation, let alone a situation where the necromancer the senior adventurer had gone off hunting appeared and attacked them while they were already in a weakened state.

Maybe feeling encouraged by the thought of having to sit around in the darkness with monsters specialized in hunting in such an environment living all around them, the bathhouse that had originally been relatively simple to enter turned into a fortified castle over the next few hours as the group didn’t just block off the two main entry points into the bathhouse, but the mages also laid out several magical traps to stop any approaching monsters from getting too close.

By the time everything had been set up, far away in another underground tunnel within the ninth floor of the dungeon, a necromancer who had been sleeping peacefully found herself woken up by the rough shaking of the bone construct beneath her.

”Mmm?”

Did we reach the end of the catacomb or perhaps an attack?

Starting out a bit groggy from being woken up so suddenly, the necromancer soon enough jumped up from her sleeping position before scanning her surroundings.

”Nothing...?” However, the quick glance around herself showed her nothing but the empty catacomb she was moving through along with the skeleton army moving in a tight formation centered on her, though, limited by the size of the catacomb tunnel, they were spread out in a rather long procession instead of a widespread formation.

Together with the fact that these skeletons and even the bone construct beneath her hadn’t reacted to anything and continued marching onwards like nothing had happened, made it clear that her waking up was not something that had been done to warn her of danger. Instead, it was just her waking because her sleeping position hadn’t been optimal.

If anything, the fact that she had been able to fall asleep on top of the bone construct and remained asleep for several hours without waking up was amazing in its own way and a clear testament to just how exhausted she had been.

In any case, now that she had woken up, there was no going back to sleep again.

Not just because she felt reinvigorated after getting a few hours of well-deserved rest, but also because the empty catacombs that seemed to have no end in sight when she had first started her journey underground now had an obvious endpoint.

Well... It wasn’t the catacombs ending, but instead several large iron bars blocking the path forward with a small iron door attached to the side of it. Behind those iron bars, she could still see more of the catacombs. Only different from the catacombs she had been wandering through so far, the catacombs on the other side of the iron bars were still being properly maintained and had several undead and skeletons moving around the place.

”A natural undead birthing location...”

Of course, different from how others might view this active catacomb, as a necromancer, she instantly realized what the place before her was, a natural undead birthing location, a place where death energy naturally gathered without any outside interference and gave birth to undead naturally over time.

This kind of special place capable of naturally creating undead on its own over time was the main reason why an undead kingdom was so valuable in the eyes of the Eternal Life Sanctum, as it possessed several such unique locations capable of giving birth to an endless stream of undead, some far stronger than others.

Just looking at the catacomb before her that was a hive of activity completely different from the abandoned catacombs she had been moving through so far, a growing desire to claim this active catacomb for herself began to take root in the depths of her heart.

Unfortunately, no matter how much she desired to take control of this catacomb, she understood that she wouldn’t be able to do so. Not only because of the lich in control of the undead kingdom, potentially noticing one of the undead producing locations under its command seemingly vanishing, but also because the adventurers from the Adventurer Guild were still chasing her.

Should she sit still in one location for too long, there was a very good chance that the adventurers from the Adventurers Guild would find her. After which, she would have little chance to escape alive, as the ones coming after her this time around was almost certainly not the group of SS Rank Adventurers, she had been dealing with earlier, but instead the true senior figures within the guild.

In the face of those terrifying adventurers, she stood little chance even if she somehow evolved into a lich herself. After all, those people were the main reason why the liches of the Eternal Life Sanctum hid away within their territories and rarely dared venture outside their territory.

Creak~

Lost in her own thoughts for a few minutes as she got closer to the blocked off part of the catacombs, a creaking sound brought her back to the present. Turning to see the iron gate being swung open as a small group of undead and skeletons emerged before approaching her skeleton army.

”Oh? They haven’t noticed these skeletons are under my command and think they are wild skeletons that awakened somewhere else within the catacombs before wandering in this direction together?” Narrowing her eyes a bit before quickly relaxing again upon realizing they hadn’t noticed her presence. ”Hm... Makes sense, the dense death energy from this place would undoubtedly attract wild skeletons to wander over on their own and without my interference in claiming these skeletons for myself, this is exactly what would have happened. Although a few weeks later.”

Feeling reassured that she hadn’t been discovered, she decided to just go along with the flow and blend in with her large army of skeletons. Having the bone construct shrink down to hide her within the vast army of skeletons. Confident that she wouldn’t be noticed. After all, different from a normal living being, she was a necromancer and an especially skilled one.

Meaning, she could easily mask herself from the approaching undead and skeletons using her death energy. The only potential problem that was the skeletons giving her away wasn’t much of a problem, as only another necromancer or the lich in control of the undead kingdom would be able to tell that these skeletons were already under someone’s command.

All she needed to do was make these skeletons revert to acting like wild skeletons instead of keeping their orderly marching like they were currently doing.

In the end, as the skeletons became far more chaotic in how they moved, the group that had come over to inspect the group didn’t notice anything unusual and after a few minutes, the iron bars blocking the path were removed and put aside. Allowing the skeleton army to move through and make their way into the undead kingdom where they would normally be assimilated into becoming part of the undead kingdom itself, something that was impossible now that they had already been assimilated by someone else ahead of time~