Reincarnated as a Lizard

”I got out...”

Looking back to see the shimmering door she had just tumbled out of disappear behind her, a certain necromancer let out a quiet sigh of relief knowing how she had just managed to get through the most dangerous situation she had found herself in since she reached her current level.

To say she was overjoyed, though, would be wrong.

After all, while she might have managed to successfully escape from the dungeon with her life, her original goal hadn’t been completed, and she was still just as far away from surpassing the SS Rank as she had been before stepping inside the Swirling Sands Dungeon. The main difference compared to when she had stepped into the Swirling Sands Dungeon being the fact that she had lost her trump card along with the vast army of undead and necromancers that had been beneath her.

In a sense, she had been reduced back down to zero when it came to strength. The only thing that was somewhat reliving about her situation being the fact that her strength at the very peak of the SS Rank remained intact. Meaning she would at the very least have an easier time rebuilding her strength in the future.

Still, this was a setback nonetheless and the fastest she could imagine herself recovering to her previous peak and attempting to break past the SS Rank was in thirty to fifty years...

Just imagining spending all that time just rebuilding her forces was enough to smash apart any of the joy she had felt following her successful escape from the Swirling Sands Dungeon.

If anything, the only positive thing she had obtained from the dungeon was the fact that it had given birth to an undead kingdom.

Along with the Adventurers Guild not having had the time to properly fortify the dungeon entrance against a potential attack, this information would at least be able to help her obtain some precious resources from those liches sitting atop the Eternal Life Sanctum.

Any thoughts of seizing the undead kingdom herself had long since died after she had been forced to abandon her earlier plan of using it as a steppingstone to ascend beyond the SS Rank. Now, all she wanted was to hopefully get something out of this information and help make her future recovery easier.

At the very least, though the liches sitting atop the Eternal Life Sanctum weren’t exactly good people, with her only being a single step away from becoming a lich herself, they would at the very least be willing to lend her a hand in recovering her strength with this information as a bargaining chip. After all, to these liches, another lich joining them wasn’t something bad and would help increase the overall strength of the Eternal Life Sanctum.

As for how things would have gone if she was just some weak little necromancer bringing this kind of information back to that little council of liches? She would be lucky if she even made it out alive...

Shaking her head as she thought about this, she began rummaging through her small pockets before finding what she was looking for. Pulling out an eerie looking card that looked somewhat similar to the identification card used by the Adventurers Guild, the main difference being the somewhat eerie vibe and dark color scheme.

[Yeva]

[Rank: Crypt Guardian]

Looking at the top of the card that had her name alongside her rank within the Eternal Life Sanctum, she, Yeva, quickly swept her gaze downwards past different other small bits of information before stopping at the last line at the very bottom of the card.

[Remote Information Sharing: Active]

[Time Left before recharge: 32 Minutes]

The information recorded there was a unique feature of the card that was only available to those who had managed to reach the rank of crypt guardian like herself, remote information sharing, something that allowed her to communicate directly with those back at the Eternal Life Sanctum if she was close enough.

Luckily for her, the active status indicated that she was indeed close enough to use this feature and with 32 minutes left before the thing ran out of the unique mana used to fuel this communication, there was more than enough time for her to inform the council of liches about the situation without her having to rush back to the Eternal Life Sanctum first.

Undoubtedly, this was far better for her. Not just because she didn’t need to face off against those liches face to face, but also because she would be able to get far more resources for the information given how the value of the information would drop with time as the guild began fortifying the Swirling Sands Dungeon and the different dungeons and guild branches around it.

Diiing~

Looking over her card as she silently activated it to connect back to the Eternal Life Sanctum, Yeva found herself becoming increasingly nervous thinking back to the terrifying adventurer she had ended up running into within the dungeon.

Although she didn’t know much about him, she had heard about how he had killed a lich from the Eternal Life Sanctum in the past... And... For this reason alone, she had a feeling that mentioning him to the liches of the council might not be a good idea. Knowing how cowardly some of them were.

But of course, it wasn’t just because the liches might not make a move for the Swirling Sands Dungeon, but also because the value of her information would go down significantly if they knew such a powerful adventurer was guarding the place in person.

If anything, she felt that it would be fine for her to ignore the existence of that powerful adventurer and just mention how she had managed to successfully escape. Subtly hinting that she had managed to escape just before a senior member of the guild could show up.

This way, even if these liches realized who was guarding the Swirling Sands Dungeon when they showed up to conquer it, it wouldn’t be her responsibility, as she wouldn’t have known about this person’s presence beforehand. In a way, it would be the liches own fault for failing to properly scout the situation beforehand.

Of course, knowing those old bones of the council, she understood that there was a very good chance that they would blame her for the entire thing anyway and because of this, she had already planned to get her resources before laying low for a bit to recover her strength. Planning to make another attempt to try and surpass the SS Rank before she showed herself before the council again.

At the very least that way, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to her even if they wanted to, as she would have become a lich herself!

”Hello? Yeva? Why are you contacting the council?” As she was partly lost in her own thoughts dreaming about how she was going to become a lich herself in the future, a solemn old voice came from the card in her hand. Interrupting her train of thought.

”Huh!? Ah! Elder, I’m contacting because I managed to obtain some precious information from my recent attempt at surpassing the SS Rank and evolving into a lich.”

”Attempt? Huh... You failed...”

”Yes... But that isn’t important, the reason for my failure this time around was out of my control, the dungeon core decided to suddenly expand and add a new floor during my battle. Making it rather difficult for me to take care of it afterwards.”

”Hm? The dungeon expanded? Is this the reason why you contacted the council?” Hearing what she said, the old voice on the other side changed as a clear hint of surprise could be heard within the solemn voice.

”Indeed, the dungeon expanding isn’t the main reason. Instead, it’s the fact that an undead kingdom emerged following the completion of this new floor.”

”An undead kingdom!? Isn’t the Swirling Sands Dungeon a dungeon with 8 floors? How in the world did a- Ah... I understand... Your undead armies should have served as perfect building material for the dungeon core. Allowing an undead kingdom to take shape even though the dungeon itself should be far too weak to accomplish it under normal circumstances.”

”Yes...” Hearing the other party see through what had happened, Yeva could only respond slowly. Pain filling her heart thinking about how her vast army had ended up serving as the foundation for the undead kingdom that had taken shape inside the Swirling Sands Dungeon.

”Good, I will record your merit, and the sanctum will assist you in recovering. Any extra information will also add to this merit.”

”Thanks, senior, first...” Knowing her information was accepted, Yeva let out a silently sigh of relief before informing the elder about the situation she had gone through inside the dungeon in great detail. Avoiding any mention of the powerful adventurer and the destruction of the undead kingdom at his hands. After all, destroyed as it might have been thanks to a said adventurer, it would ultimately recover over time...