Li thought about this for a second. If the strange hybrid of dragon and oculon that they had just fought was easily nearing level seventy, then it stood to reason that the master of it was even stronger. Though perhaps that was not true as well, considering that the undead haze had so strongly empowered the former drake.

In any case, from what he had seen in this world, Li knew there were precious few entities beyond level fifty, let alone beyond seventy. In all likelihood, this dragon master was going to be the primal spirit that presumably resided within the Triforge mountain.

An entity single-handedly responsible for bringing an entire race of dwarves to ruin, killing so many that even now, undead haze oozed from the mountain, fueled eternally by the agonized souls of a whole people.

But Li did not worry. For at the end of the day, he was absolutely confident that no threat was beyond his means.

"Even if this mystery fellow in the mountain wants to fight," said Li. "You, my dragon, are not going to. Rest is just as important as fighting, and you've fought hard today. Harder than I would have ever expected."

"No fair. Boring!" said black-scaled Tia as she frowned, but green-scaled Tia gave her a withering leer before smiling at Li. "Okay, papa, I rest for today. Tired anyway."

Black-scaled Tia did not object, lowering her head, and Li knelt down to pat both heads. "Thank you for being understanding."

At that moment, Li heard the rapid fire walk of the Vukanovi, its leg-roots pattering atop the cratered ground in frenetic pace. He looked back to see the Vukanovi no worse for wear with the rest of the party atop it.

There was the advance party with Old Thane, Vilga, and Sheela, and they nursed a fair amount of wounds. The old man, in particular, had various lacerations and puncture wounds littering his body, and even now, he sat cross-legged atop the pumpkin creature, using his hand to pull out a shaky arrow. His wounds quickly began healing, no doubt his Berserker subclass's regenerative abilities coming into function.

===========

Vilga sat next to Old Thane and Zagan's sleeping form and meditated, using her monk subclass to heal her wounds by flowing mana to them.

Sheela, however, was not so lucky for her subclasses did not give her strong access to healing, only pain tolerance. She instead used her long, rough tongue to lap up wounds for Feli saliva had a minor effect of halting bleeding.

The rear group was mostly unharmed. Asala sat atop her coils, rapidly writing atop a tablet. She had no wounds about her, which made sense due to her high level and the fact that as a mage, she likely had a mana barrier to aid her. Mason and Mercer lay unconscious but breathing and bearing only minor wounds behind her.

Li picked Tia up and jumped, soaring several dozen meters in the air before he gracefully landed on the Vukanovi's head.

Immediately, he snapped his fingers, and everyone's wounds healed, little streams of green energy flowing from his hand to mend every hurt and harm.

"Old man, what happened?" said Li. "The wounds you had were pretty bad. Not the kind you'd get from the weaker undead you were facing before."

Old Thane slammed his chest with his fist and smiled broadly. "You should have been there, lad! The moment ye breached that whirlwind of death, knights of the great twilight rose up against us. How many was it again, lass?"

The old man slapped Vilga's broad back excitedly, and she opened one eye in minor irritation at having her meditation interrupted.

"Twelve," said Vilga. "Thirteen, counting big one."

"Aye, the big one. A mighty powerful one, he was," said Old Thane. He clenched his scar painted fists with a sigh. "And another to fall below my blows in glorious single combat."

Li knew that undead knights were generally powerful monsters, but from what he heard, he could not place what type of the many undead knights they had fought. Regardless, it was evident they had been through quite the struggle.

"You took a lot of hits, old man," said Li. "One of them looked like a sword went right through your gut. I know being a Berserker means you don't drop dead from vital hits like that, but you should watch yourself more."

"Hoh, I am more humble than you think, lad," said Old Thane. "That knight was a fierce one. No doubt in his past life, he must have been the vanguard of an entire kingdom. A warrior of superb merit such as Leonid Drozdov. Or perhaps Ironheart Alain of Montagne. Or Gale the Immovable were he still young and spry.

Alas, the duel was beyond mine own advanced years. Thus, I drew from another."

Old Thane tilted his head towards Zagan, and the demon twitched an ear in recognition, but nothing more than that. So Zagan had given Old Thane some help at the end. A comforting thought as in Li's absence, the old man would always be protected as he doubted there was much that could overpower Zagan.

"Strange familiar," said Sheela as she cocked her head at Zagan, her nose twitching as she tried to ascertain the demon's scent. "But very strong."

Zagan stirred in his sleeping position, taking offense to being called a mere familiar.

"Not quite a familiar," said Li. "He is a friend and advisor to me. That alone should tell you of his significance."

Sheela nodded, stopping her investigation of Zagan but still having enough feline curiosity to side eye the demon.

"And you," said Li to Asala. She looked up from her tablet with her trademark bored face, though it was evident at how her pointed ears stiffened that she was at alert for his words. "Did not find much trouble? Especially with those two holding you down."

Asala shook her head. "They were mine own burden to choose to bear. But nay, not much struggle did I encounter. Merely the lesser undead."

"And they got knocked out by lesser undead?" said Li as he looked to Mason and Mercer's unconscious forms.

"Ah, not so," said Asala. "When I came upon my travelling companions here-," She pointed a long-nailed finger to Old Thane, Sheela, and Vilga. "I perchance happened upon their predicament. Twelve Rotguard Knights matched to the Lupi and Feli, and a Rotguard Elite to the aged human."

"Let us start using our proper names," said Li, and Asala nodded.

"My apologies. A habit of mine." Asala continued. "The overwhelming pressure the Rotguard loosed felled the two young adventurers, and myself, lacking of the healing arts, could do naught but carry them. 

The twelve Rotguard, mine magic aided in destroying. The Elite, Thane felled."

"The Serpi, I mean, Asala is strong," said Vilga as she opened an eye to look at Asala with some degree of respect. "She says she has not learned to fight, but her magic is powerful.

"Of course," said Old Thane. "In the far flung eastern Sandrivers of the Republic, littered as it is with horrific Deathworms, Gigantopedes, Rattlewyrms, and other monsters of such slithering and poisonous ilk, adventurers will find nothing but death. Unless they happen upon the Serpi, for then, they will find solace and safety."

"All adventurers, we grant refuge," explained Asala. "Lodging in exchange for their unique stories and tales. Though, of course, should they lose our interest, they will be left to the will of the sands once more."

"Ah, I remember mine own adventurers in the Sandrivers. It was through there that I passed from the Northwastes to the Elven tribes, then to Beaumont. Never before had I known scorching heat til' then."

"Explains how you handle the Soleilan sun so well," said Li. He spoke to Asala. "You could identify the exact type of undead they were fighting. Is that part of what you learn as a recording scribe?"

Asala nodded. "That is so. Never before had I seen a Rotguard-class undead before, but I knew of them well from description and mannerism recorded in tablets among mine sisters before me."

"A good thing, too. Rotguards are pretty nasty, as far as enemies go," said Li, reminiscing. "Undead born from the powerful and trained flesh of superb warriors, most often the vanguard of a monarch, and among them, the Elite can be considered a champion among champions.

So, in a way, old man, you are right. The Rotguard Elite probably was the reanimated corpse of the strongest warrior from a kingdom. And considering where we are, I am going to guess from the dwarves that once lived here."

"Hah, I knew my instincts were not far off," said Old Thane.

"You too seem to possess deep knowledge," said Asala. "The last recorded instance of Rotguard emergence, to mine memory, is the year 333, three years after the fall of Ardenhelm, the fortress of frost Lupi in the northwastes. That thou possesseth knowledge of creatures so obscured by the shroud of time and geographic expanse is quite intriguing to me, as if thou held access to the great Compendium of the gods themselves."

"Hm." Li thought about this. He knew what Asala was talking about. The Compendium was an item that all players had that was basically an encyclopedia that they could open up which recorded monster encounters and item discoveries automatically.

In the lore, Zahaka the serpent goddess created it to aid adventurers, though it would seem that in this world, the compendium was not mass produced. Or even known of, if the raised brows of Old Thane and the Feli were anything to go off of.

"I come from a far flung land in communion with a far flung deity. It is likely I have knowledge not even your goddess knows of."

Asala's eyes brightened up for the first time, an eager smile flitting about her thin black lips. "And shalt thou be inclined to share some with me?"

"Keep recording what we do and what I say, and you'll have more than enough to record," said Li. "I would not want to burden yourself anymore than that. And besides, long and boring lectures on what I know do not belong on an expedition such as this.

Come, let us instead ready ourselves to wade into the Triforge Mountains."