At the next sound of movement I lunge with Blitz, it hits but the feel is not what I was expecting. It feels like I hit bone but without going through anything else first, but since I can't open my eyes to check I back off and wait. Hearing it moving towards me again I set my footing and use pierce.

I feel pierce tear through something hard and hear pieces of something hitting the floor. Shortly after I hear the thing collapse to the floor, I carefully walk over and kick it then jump back. Hearing no reaction I carefully open one eye to look and see what is going on.

What I see is the skeleton of a basilisk laying on the floor with its skull split in half. So it was an undead basilisk, that is wrong in so many ways! Well, that's one part of the problem solved, now I just need to figure out how to restore them.

Maybe if I finish exploring this place I will find something useful, if not I will probably have to ask the goddesses for help. The room I am in has five other doors besides the way I came in, but first I will go back and check the other two openings in the last courtyard. A few minutes later I know they mirror the hallways on the other side and there are nothing but empty rooms.

Returning to the big room the heroes are in, it looks to be either a meeting room or maybe a dining hall. Again starting from the left I find a big room that was a kitchen with a few skeletons in it. I know it was a kitchen because the enchanted ovens are still here.

The room next to it turns out to be large but empty, probably storage for the kitchen. Moving to the other side of the dining hall the first door I check leads into another empty room, which looks like maybe another barracks. The other door on that side turns out to be locked, remembering I still haven't made any lockpicks, I kick the door into splinters.

As soon as I do, dozens of zombies and skeletons come rushing out to attack me. Dealing with them is not even a workout for me, I simply swing my fists a few times and they are destroyed. Behind them however is something different, I can't tell if it is a skeleton or a zombie because it is wearing full plate armor.

It is wielding a sword and a kite shield, which along with the armor is all enchanted. Having experience with the ancient empires' enchanted items I really don't want to destroy them. So I wait until it swings its sword at me and dodge to the side, then before it can recover I move in close.

Grabbing the helmet and tearing it off reveals that it is a skeleton type undead. Since my hands are full with the helmet I headbutt the skeleton and shatter its skull. Once it has collapsed I retrieve the armor, sword, and shield and move them into the dining hall.

Going back and checking the room reveals that it is now empty and was once probably a barracks as well. That just leaves the last door which should lead deeper into the mountain. I am really starting to wonder about this place, it isn't designed like a fortress meant to control the surrounding area, but more like it guards something.

Either way the only way to learn more is to go deeper into the fortress, I hope some records have survived so I can satisfy my curiosity. Moving to the last door in the dining hall I find it is also locked, but unlike the others it is a steel door and seems to be barred from the other side. The door doesn't show any signs of damage, did the enemy not make it this far?

The door isn't enchanted so I use my claws to get a grip on it and start exerting my strength. The door itself holds but after a minute the surrounding rock crumbles and gives way so that I tear the door, frame and all, out of the wall. When I toss it aside and take a look I find a long corridor filled wall to wall with undead.

'Summon Bones!'

Bones appears and starts attacking without having to be told what to do. Between us every single undead that steps through the doorway is destroyed immediately. Some of the undead are wearing armor and wielding weapons, but even those are no real challenge.

The only thing the undead have is numbers, they just keep coming no matter how many we kill. Over the next hour Bones and I destroy at least a thousand undead as they come through the doorway. Bones as an undead has unlimited stamina but by the time the last undead is destroyed I am exhausted.

"Bones, I need to go rest. I want you to guard this doorway until I come back. Also pick out all the magic weapons and armor from the pile and put them over there."

Bones just nods to me and starts picking through the pile of undead. I walk off and head back to that nice magic bed and collapse on it. In both this life so far and all of my old life I can't remember ever sleeping so well. My determination to take the bed with me goes up a few notches.

After examining the bed a bit more thoroughly I decide that it can't contain any more magic without exploding. So adding a shrink enchant like I did to the forge won't work. That means I will need to find either an object that can hold it or something that will shrink it.

When I return to the dining hall there is a big pile of magical gear next to the heroes. All the zombie bodies have been moved into one of the empty rooms, but there are no bones from the skeletons. Bones is standing facing the doorway keeping watch as if he hasn't moved since I left.

"Bones, did you eat all the skeletons?"

The only response I get is a happy chatter from Bones which I am assuming means yes. Not that I really mind, if he gets stronger that is a good thing. After using the old kitchen to make some breakfast I take Bones with me and head down the long corridor behind the doorway.

The corridor is completely straight and empty, nothing to hide behind, enemies would lose a lot of men here. This place was definitely designed to protect something, the question now is what was so important. At the end of the corridor is another room split by a waist high wall with another reinforced door behind it.

Again this room is designed solely for defense and to cost invaders numbers. The thought and strategy that went into this place is quite impressive. After hopping over the wall to check the door I find it is also barred from the other side.

"Bones, be ready there will probably be more enemies behind the door."

As I rip the door from the wall Bones takes a battle stance, even before I can put the door down he is attacking. There are far fewer undead this time but they are much stronger. It seems that all of them are skeletal knights and their equipment is much better than the previous stuff.

"Bones, try to not destroy their equipment!"

We end up working together on each one, Bones holds it in place until I can get its helm off, then Bones finishes it off. Luckily there are only twenty of the skeletal knights but it still takes us a half hour to defeat them all. Then as I remove and pile up their gear Bones eats their bones.

Bones has gained a level!

'How come he gained a level after eating them instead of defeating them? Human bones, no matter how old, shouldn't be that powerful. Was it because they were high level undead?'

Following the corridor behind the door brings us into a small round room with seven exits besides the one we enter through. This is worrisome, it looks like the beginning of a maze, which would make sense from a defensive point of view. Exploring all of it is going to take more time than I had planned on spending in here.