Slowly we transitioned away from using traps and into fighting fair as the rituals became less and less effective. It was not that we were at a disadvantage because even outnumbering us the zombies could not really do anything unless we made a mistake. The princess was gaining levels and becoming more powerful, while I was stockpiling mine but becoming better at using the resources I had.

The only annoying events were the appearance of the occasional shield-wielding soldier as it required flanking to defeat in any short period of time and the dungeon regaining its ability to change the walls. Deciding to fuck the dungeon over once more, I developed a simple spell based on the shield capturing method of my trap formation that would absorb a portion of the dungeon mana into a small mana crystal. This would not eliminate the dungeon mana as thoroughly as the traps but it would syphon it from every kill. Eventually draining it to the point it could not move walls.

The faster we killed the faster we would climb and unlike others, we would not need to spend days clearing a floor. Using our skills we reached the stairs to the next level after about four hours. It was guarded by a zombie that could have been a clone of the one guarding the safe room, except this bastard had a shield. After killing this annoying undead tank we advanced up the stairs that were no longer dark wrought iron but a polished stone similar to granite.

The fifth floor was a copy of the fourth, just with more zombies to fight and slightly better armour. The shield zombies also seemed to become more common though that might just be because they were annoying and thus memorable. I did, however, discover a new technique to deal with these pests. The anti-magic property of their shields was entirely mana based so I imitated the old elf we met in port and used real materials. Superheating real stone fragments with fire magic before flinging them with earth magic took longer than my fire spell or my wind-space combo but the additional real mass allowed it to pierce right through their shields. This trick allowed us to drop the floor clear time to five hours.

Discovering that the stairs were also listed as a safe zone through a zombie walking up from behind, only to hit an invisible wall. we stopped for lunch in between the fifth and sixth floor. Looking at the princess eating roasted lobster I had to ask. “Did you ever think you would be eating high-class food in a dungeon?”

Smiling at me, she replied, “It's not even my first time. I ate a five-course meal when delving with my father. In comparison, both the food and the company are sub-par.”

Despite having the perfect retort in mind I kept my mouth shut. It was clear to see that I had reminded her of her family and father, there was no need to add insult to injury. Devouring my roast beef sandwich and sculling some water, I advanced up the stairs to both scout out then next floor and give the princess some space.

The scouting was rather unsuccessful revealing that the floor was the same as the last and after about twenty minutes the princess caught up. Now you might be wondering, you guys eat so why are you never described using the toilet. Firstly because that kind of shit does not make for an interesting read and secondly because there is this nifty little spell called purify or purge that eliminates this problem. It's one of the main reason mages are envied and invited to join raids even if they suck at fighting.

Proceeding with the exploration, it became obvious the teamwork of the zombie soldiered increased as they gathered. While they did not employ strategy, they did begin to aim for weakness and cover each other. During this level, the princess discovered a way to undermine their grouping habit using a simple lubricant. Due to their lacking coordination, they had an incredibly hard time regaining their upright posture and it was as effective as it was comical. It became even more devastating when holy water was added because despite weakening the damaging effect of the holy water it locked the zombies in place, causing them to melt slowly while they were unable to escape.

Watching the zombies fall over each other while liquefying the princess murmured, “This is almost unfair.”

She had been silent since her arrival on this floor after my faux par, “If it helps, the undead don't feel pain. Probably anger and frustration but not pain.”

Looking at me, she replied, “I guess its no less brutal than burning to death in a magic trap. In fact, it seems more useful since it does not take twenty minutes to set up.”

It was clear she was still somewhat annoyed as displayed by the cheap shot, so I let her have her moment of triumph.

With the combination of the princesses technique and my ranged support, the sixth and seventh floors were easier than the fifth, taking a combined time of seven hours. Deciding that sixteen hours of delving was enough we found the safe room on the seventh floor and prepared for the next difficulty increase that would happen on the eighth. From the gathered reports, apart from the enemies equipment being superior and the environment being slightly more annoying the soldiers were still relatively killable.

It was a fact that the soldiers would now be supported by a general that made the next floor deadly. The general, while not physically stronger than the soldier zombies, was much smarter and commanded them when fighting. They would force the soldiers to began marching in patrols, fighting in formations and make them attempt to surround their opponents. According to the dungeon guide, there would only be about three generals on the eighth floor but their numbers would increase on each subsequent floor until one was present in each squad. If it reached the level of each squad containing a general they would begin to work in combination with one another planning attacks across the entire floor, incorporating traps and ambushes.

Rested and recovered we advanced. The eighth floor once again changed the dungeon's appearance with the granite becoming marble and the flames becoming vibrant purple. The walkways expanded allowing pillars to form along both walls, a perfect place for hiding lone zombies, while the storerooms became small Gothic chapels complete with zombie statues.

Our first encounter with a General was interesting. The shock factor of seeing a zombie wearing a military uniform similar to a tuxedo was only matched by the RUNNING zombies. That's right, under the command of a general the slow-moving undead could sprint. Needless to say, this made them much more deadly and while the princess slip potion combo still worked, its effectiveness was vastly reduced due to their momentum carrying them out of the damage zone.

“What the actual fuck!” I shouted at the oncoming undead, “This is cheating. Zombies should not be able to run!”

The princess only replied, “Stop freaking out and kill them!” Before casting out several vials of undiluted holy water.

The fights from then on were brutal. With the ravenous, motivated and running undead working in groups. Despite being similar to the soldiers on the lower floors these enemies made their prior versions look like a joke. They exemplified peoples fear of the undead as they didn't stop if they lost a limb and never tired. Our only reprieve came with the death of the general. Without the presence of this undead, they reverted to their shambling making his elimination our main priority.

Fighting our way thought the now organised undead army was tiring. Often a case of hiding until we could manage to assassinate the general before eliminating the soldiers. This level target our weakness. Despite our power, our limited numbers meant we could not win against a true undead swarm. Drawing too much attention would force us to retreat into a previously prepared safe zone. These zones were massively complicated barrier formations using around a hundred small mana crystals. We decided that should one of these zones be breached we would teleport out of the dungeon.

The inclusion of the generals was not all bad since these monsters rarely dropped large mana crystals and were guaranteed to drop medium-sized ones. It also extended the respawn time allowing a cleared section to remain clear for several hours and introduced trapped chests containing the occasional piece of bio-armour.

The ninth floor was similar in structure to the first but the generals had once again changed the formula. Where the eighth-floor zombies all rushed us the ones on this floor acted smarter. While about half the zombies would rush us those with shields or spears would remain to defend the general. When added to the increase in the number of generals and their overlapping area it meant not only was their elimination harder but even if successful it did not guarantee that the zombies would lose their tactics. Twice on this layer, we were forced back to a safe zone and after finding the safe room we decided to call it a day.

Upon seeing the zombies piled out in front of the safe room an idea hit me, "Why not exploit this?" The following seven hours were spent luring the zombie waves to the safe room and elimination them from within. While intelligent, it appeared the generals could not understand why they could not reach us and thus kept changing tactics in an attempt to breach the barrier and kill us. From the use of a phalanx formation to an all-out charge, they even tried throwing their members at us but nothing worked and we freely culled their numbers.

Proceeding with this exploit, we ascended into the tenth and eleventh floor over the next four days using both the stairs and safe rooms as invincible bastions. This plan was however foiled as we reached the twelfth floor. Once again we noticed a shift in decorum as the marble began to have murals and the scions were replaced by chandeliers with brilliant silver flames. The flames were strange since staring into them seemed to distort your sense of time. This was not the first time the odd flames had an effect but it was vastly more potent than their earlier counterparts.

As to follow the previous pattern the change in appearance coincided with a change in enemies. Physically superior knights were now added to the undead army. Though few in number each could almost match us in battle due to them wearing full plate while wielding both a sword and a shield. Knights were normally found leading the squads without generals or protecting the general in their squad. These undead were the reason for our exploits failure as they had the ability to enter the safety areas if their squad was attacked from within one.

The first time this happened was met with a tirade of elven swearwords from the princess as two of these bastards surprise attacked us leading to the princess getting cut. After we killed them the princess rested against the wall while I healed her. “Where was the fucking information on their ability to enter the safe rooms?”

As I watched the gash on her wrist repair itself I replied, “There wasn't any. I'm guessing any group strong enough to get to this level didn't try to exploit these rooms.” Finishing the healing I joined her against the wall and continued, “And if the knights can do something like this I would hate to see what the monsters on the higher floors can accomplish. I think it might be time we retreated with our spoils instead of dying for more”

Looking slightly depressed the princess murmured, “Your probably right.”

The appearance of the knights made us accept this was as far as we could go for now and we had multiple reasons to return. I had capped out my sixteen level storage while the princess gained eighteen. We were almost out of resources, plus our isle permit was about to expire rendering anything left at the premises forfeit. It was a great accomplishment for a group of two to reach this floor. Normally the magic school students would only delve this deep in groups of ten being led by a high-level teacher. The other reason not to push deeper was the knowledge that the advancements would continue every four levels adding archers on the sixteenth floor, mages at twentieth and lich at twenty-fourth.

Deciding to rest, restock and solve our permit problem I used a spell to return to my modified space gate back in our rented home. The warm shower after we arrived was much welcomed. As was the knowledge that the creature I had requested had been located, captured and was awaiting collection. After spending an entire day readjusting to real light, the princess applied for a one year permit while I collected my prize.