Reincarnated as a Lizard

At the same time Scaly and Verdel began their journey in the direction of the snow-covered region Verdell had made sure Scaly learnt about along the way, back inside the dungeon they had just left, the necromancer found herself digging straight into an already excavated underground tunnel shortly after she had her newly formed undead army dig downwards. Barely getting a few meters down before one of the undead squirrels fell through into the tunnel.

”A catacomb...?”

And when the necromancer herself finally poked her head through to the tunnel below after having a few of her undead test out the safety of the place, she realized that the tunnel she had ended up digging into by complete accident was a catacomb. Not a small one at that, as the catacomb itself was in the shape of one long tunnel, with the catacomb itself having been constructed in a somewhat archaic architecture she had only encountered once before back when she had been promoted to her current rank as a crypt guardian and had an opportunity to meet the liches sitting at the very top of the Eternal Life Sanctum.

Back then she had still been rather inexperienced compared to her current self, but she still distinctively remembered this unique architectural style. Not just because of how unique it was, but also because of how she had once obtained an ancient book that depicted this unique style of architecture as having come an ancient power that had long since disappeared in the long river of history. The only valuable information she had managed to obtain from this ancient book about this equally ancient power was the fact that it was noted as having been the origin point of necromancy throughout the world.

This fact alone along with the existence of this ancient power’s unique architectural style within what could essentially be called the seat of power within the Eternal Life Sanctum, made her understand just how important this ancient power should be in the eyes of the liches sitting at the very top of the Eternal Life Sanctum.

Even if this ancient power wasn’t the origin point of necromancy like the ancient book had claimed, the fact that the seat of power of the Eternal Life Sanctum had copied their style made their importance clear even to someone like her with little to no knowledge about this ancient power.

That was, until today, when she encountered this unique architectural style for the first time since the day she became a crypt guardian.

From originally having felt somewhat worried about what she had ended up digging into, she now only felt an overwhelming sense of excitement knowing that there was a very real chance that the dungeon core had somehow ended up basing this catacomb on that ancient long extinct power.

Although it meant that there wouldn’t be any hidden texts to be found within the catacombs, the importance of the catacombs like these to necromancers wasn’t just in creating a safe guarded place to store away information, but also to have a place that would create a constant field of death energy perfect for nurturing skeletons.

Texts on the different techniques used by her predecessors might be missing, but the skeletons all around this catacomb had very much been created perfectly by the dungeon core when it had created this part of the dungeon. Meaning she would still be able to copy and learn from the ancient inscriptions, seals and other things used in the creation of these skeletons. In other words, she had a plethora of information at her fingertips.

But of course, this wasn’t the most exciting part about finding this kind of catacomb. Instead, it was the fact that she would be able to easily gain control of the skeletons lurking within this catacomb. Avoiding the fate of anyone else who might end up accidentally stumbling upon this catacomb, as these seemingly harmless skeletons around her would come back to life again the second they sensed someone alive entering the place.

The only reason she wasn’t attacked had to do with the unique passive ability of a necromancer that allowed them to blend in among their undead creations and look no different from a normal undead or skeleton in the eyes of the countless skeletons sleeping within the catacomb.

Whoosh~

Knowing that now wasn’t the time to admire her surroundings as she was still in an incredibly deadly situation, she didn’t take the time examine the rather spiky and bone themed ancient architectural style and quickly got to work converting the skeletons all around the catacomb into a large skeleton army that fell under her direct command.

From originally only having a ragtag army made up of a few weaker monsters she had killed along the way, she soon enough grew that army to 500 and then 5000 before finally stopping just below ten thousand.

Not because she couldn’t handle any more skeletons, but instead because she emptied the entirety of the ancient catacomb.

Still, she was more than satisfied with this undead army she had managed to build for herself, as the general strength of the skeletons exceeded her original predication of their strength. Finding that while most of them hovered somewhere between the D Rank and the C Rank in terms of strength, there were a few especially powerful skeletons within the catacomb.

Of which, five had reached the S Rank, while one had just barely crossed into the SS Rank in terms of strength.

Although this was still nowhere near the vast army of undead under her command during the initial assault on the dungeon of the swirling sands dungeon, she didn’t exactly have the luxury of replenishing her combat forces in her current situation.

Not to mention the adventurers she would inevitably have to deal with, there was also the local undead forces who had by now undoubtedly learnt to some extent about the presence of others capable of controlling undead thanks to a few necromancers who had managed to get through into the developed part of the dungeon in the past having undoubtedly ended up fleeing to the undead kingdom for safety where they undoubtedly ended up revealing themselves in the process.

And of course, how could she forget, she also had to deal with the dungeon core potentially looking to get revenge against her for the earlier battle, as she was essentially the one who had ended up forcing the dungeon core to expand ahead of schedule to save itself.

In other words, she still had a difficult journey before she could consider herself as having escaped danger.

Not... The problem that stood before her was whether to follow the empty part of the catacomb leading in the direction of the undead kingdom or to go the other way and move in the direction of the underground world that the dungeon core had hidden itself inside of.

Both of these options were undoubtedly tempting to her, the first offered clear insight into necromancy and a potential chance to contend with the lich in control of the undead kingdom within the ninth floor for control, something she felt might be possible with the assistance of what she might be able to learn from the catacombs.

The second choice was the safest of bunch, but wouldn’t help her much in the long term, as the exit leading out of the dungeon would almost always emerge somewhere close to the dungeon core itself. The problem with this option outside of the dungeon core itself and the annoying dungeon guardian construct under its control were the adventurers, who would undoubtedly have found the exit out of the dungeon before her and sealed it off. Guarding it with their life while waiting for a senior to show up and help them kill her.

Great as her chances of winning against the adventurers might be now that she had a small-scale skeleton legion under her command, the commotion caused by such a battle would undoubtedly draw the unwanted attention of the dungeon core.

Because of this, while it looked like she had a choice in what to do, she didn’t actually have much of a choice if she wanted to escape from the swirling sands dungeon alive, her only real option was to fight for survival against the lich sitting at the top of the undead kingdom and use the undead kingdom as a foundation for surpassing the SS Rank.

Although her original target for advancement had been the dungeon core, there was another harder one that involved taking control of an undead kingdom.

The problem with this kind of advancement path was the simple fact that to take down an undead kingdom, you would also have to take down a lich and even the weakest of liches were beings whose strength exceeded the SS Rank. Not something a little crypt guardian like herself could realistically take on.

That was... If she played it fair, something she had no intention of doing. Commanding her legion of skeletons to move forward through the now empty catacombs in the direction of the undead kingdom...