With all eight minion slots filled, he needed to open up one for the boss of the dungeon. And out of all his possible summons, only the Stormheart Oak had a role which was easily replaced by the Earthlord Python. Without a storm already in place, its area denial capabilities were lacking compared to the python. And Caesar was not fond of sitting in a single place for a long time, using up one of his three active summons.

He aimed to at least discover most of what lay inside Hidden Grotto before the auction, so that. Thus, he needed the Ripjaw Ant Queen again to excavate the resources located within the earth. Its more delicate digging capabilities allowed it to retrieve objects with less damage compared to the Earthlord Python, while the oak tree failed to fit into his plans.

A small twinge of guilt rose inside him as he thought about the tree’s accomplishments: disrupting his enemies at the Black Market Massacre, guarding the Hidden Grotto, striking the Serpent Mimic Stranglers, and exposing the two invisible Fox Cultists at the lakeside house. Goodbye, he thought, and mourned his other dead minions for a while before turning those feelings away.

“Let me first fuse my minions together,” he said to Alta and handed her the two Squall javelins he let the Skeleton Mage carry. This would take a few hours, so after they entered the tomb and located his Earthlord Python, he sat down under its bulk and entered his mind. Since the tree was a Rare, only the Ripjaw Ant Queen with its already present Rapids Octopus fusion was a viable choice for a Rare fusion.

----

Ripjaw Ant Queen: Rare (Fused Rapids Octopus, Stormheart Oak)

Talents: … Aquatic … Weather Affinity

[Aquatic]: A talent that allows the entity to swim better in water and hold their breaths for longer periods of time.

[Weather Affinity]: A talent that allows the entity to maintain their effectiveness for longer periods in harsh weathers and even flourish in milder weathers.

Vitality: 33 -> 35

This seems quite useful for venturing forth in the world. Now he felt more confident in letting ant swarms explore around the world, allowing them to search for dungeons.

But was the second Minor Fusion better because it was the second, or because it was from fusing a Rare essence core? Probably the second, but to confirm, I’ll need to test fusing a Rare for the first attempt. And only Epics can do that. He wondered about the third fusion attempt. Would it allow Epics to be fused into a Rare? Then he shook his head. Too far for now.

He stood up and unsummoned the python, too large for most forms of combat inside these stony walls, and replaced it with the more suitable Skeleton Mage. The two followed the ant queen and Alta into the tunnels – enlarged by the python – and located the first treasure room. A quick glance, from the ant queen hanging on the ceiling, revealed nothing dangerous or even moving. Thus the party felt safe enough to directly drop down into the medium-sized room and looked around.

It contained about seven ajar coffins flat on the ground, with their owners clasping weapons across their chest and wearing different types of equipment, making them all appear dazzling. At the front of the room, two especially armored corpses each had a bag that rested on their feet. Those two laid inside golden coffins, whilst the other five slept inside silver.

Alta had faced enough undead from these coffins to discern the differences between them. Golden coffins were the strongest, and always contained undead called “Draugr” by the system. But this tomb was insidious, attempting to fool adventurers at every turn. Even silver coffins could contain these menaces, who were even more durable than the Grave Guard, requiring most of their bodies shattered.

After discovering their immense defenses, Alta had grown suspicious and began to probe their behavior. Although Rare, their wits weren’t a match, unlike the Ghoul King from Mansion of the Lost. By putting down the other awakened undead with the Earthlord Python, and keeping only one alive, she studied how they acted once the ant queen and python left the room while she became invisible. The remaining Draugr had stopped attacking to pace around the area restlessly, never stopping once even after her Illusory Veil disappeared.

Wary of their unknown powers, she had dragged all the corpses away to remote locations in case they resurrected somehow. Although the system’s Identify failed to detect anything, she still took that precaution since it seemed a real possibility. This would allow the party to individually kill them much easier than before, while the ones in the sewer would remain in the same area and not involve the city above.

Caesar began to prepare for an attack, replacing the Ripjaw Ant Queen and Skeleton Mage for more capable melee combatants that fit inside the room: the Kelpie and the Tomb Hippopotamus. Although biting these corpses might give them diseases afterwards, the essence acquired after the battle would keep them healthy. He positioned the two summons near the strongest and allowed barriers to flash over them all, protecting them from any sneak attacks.

“Are they truly dead, or merely inactive?” he whispered to Alta as they roamed near the other corpses, viewing the equipment.

“I don’t know. We only found one more room after the trapped room and before the boss room, and those undead awakened the moment we stepped inside. No chance to identify them while sleeping.” Since the system’s Identify failed to provide any information on them, these undead were either dead or disguised.

Before interacting with the coffins, he set down the Horrific Halberd beside him – the only other thing the skeleton carried with it inside this dungeon. Then, he glanced into the silver coffins and peered closer, even touching their rancid skin a few times to check for any differences. Fortunately, they had not awoken from simple touches. This close inspection revealed that only one had the most vibrant blueish-black skin, unlike the other paler four, and was thus most likely to be a Draugr.

The only thing this monster wore was enchanted cloth and non-protective equipment such as belts, boots, and jewelry. His silver-coffin compatriots had even less equipment, with duller items and clothing worn down by time. They were nothing compared to the two foes in front, one of which wore iron armor and carried a spear suited for throwing.

Caesar moved to the front of the Draugr’s silver coffin, behind its head, preparing to strike with his Umbral Dagger. He took a deep breath to remind himself of his hippo’s might and slammed his hand down just as the Curse of Impotence fell onto the Draugr with the spear. It cut cleanly through the thing’s skull, yet its eyes still blazed with a terrifying light as it growled and clawed at empty air – its own dagger forgotten in its right hand.

Draugr – Level 26 … 30 … 30

[Rarity]: Rare

As the other undead awoke around the room, he refused to stop slamming his hand downwards, perforating the thing’s entire head before he moved down to its chest. He slashed it open completely before dodging the jab from the dagger. Another slice bisected it horizontally, then vertically as well. Fortunately that second slash had killed it, confirmed through the rush of black essence.

A thud shook the walls of the room as both beasts slammed their chosen Draugr into the wall before biting downwards. Twin axes, glowing in runes and filled with power, swung downwards but bounced off a barrier. The other growled and thrust its spear forwards, attempting to fight off the behemoth on top of it.

Caesar sheathed his dagger for the halberd and swung at the nearest Grave Guard, taking off a chunk of its neck. More blows followed before he maneuvered the thing into the wall and rammed the point into its chest, pinning it there. It scrabbled at the halberd while he unsheathed his dagger and cut its head off.

As more black essence poured forth, he glanced at Alta, who was completely fine fighting off three at a time. Her khopesh hacked away at one Grave Guard, before she leapt over a coffin to reposition once the second drew close. Thus, he wrenched out the halberd and ran for the Draugr that posed the most threat to him: the axe-wielder, who was not quite pinned down by the Kelpie.

Using the tip of his polearm, Caesar jabbed away at the monster and drove it back. While his hippo threw its enemy into the walls over and over again, he and the Kelpie slowly worked to pin it down, move in for a good blow, then retreat. They fought for long enough until Alta had managed to kill her three Grave Guards, upon which the three collapsed onto the axe-wielder.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Kelpie has leveled up to Level 28! +2 Free Stat Points

His hippo crunched the Draugr’s head between its teeth and ripped it off, finally having secured an advantage after Caesar’s halberd began to impale its limbs onto the floor. Although the undead’s strength had allowed it to rip itself off a few times, delaying the inevitable, it wasn’t enough. Under the behemoth’s weight, it died miserably.

Caesar sighed in relief and began to calm himself, the blood still rushing through his veins and pounding his head like a river. With all monsters slain, he picked up the bags off the floor and identified them.

[Item]: Raider’s Bag of Holding – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: Bag is weightless and can contain up to five different artifacts at a time, within the same rank and rarity. Artifacts must fall under a certain size and weight, otherwise bag will contain less than normal.

Two of these made a very good spatial storage artifact for him. Finally, his skeleton mage did not have to lug around every single item he had collected on his journey. They were also very valuable – guaranteed to sell for a lot in the auction, although he much preferred to keep them.

Unfortunately, the spear-wielder Draugr’s iron helmet had been damaged by the fight against the hippo, losing even its status screen. That made it immensely difficult to repair, so he left it there. Its iron armor was less damaged but still needed heavy repairs, which the Pax Society could provide. The weapons, however, were perfectly intact, and the scale armor on the axe-wielder was not as damaged.

[Item]: Spear of Slaughter – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: The spear is sharper and much lighter. When thrown with a living entity as the target, the spear is imbued with True Strike. When enough blood is spilled from that targeted entity, the thrower may summon the spear back within a minute of activation.

[Item]: Axes of Massacre – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: The axes are sharper, heavier, and more durable. When enough blood is spilled within three minutes by the wielder of these axes, the user may send a wave of energy outwards once a day from each axe.

Overall, not bad weapons, he thought. That spear was very good for him while the axe would provide Alta with a much needed power boost.

[Item]: Death’s Clasp – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: The armor has self-repair. When worn, damages the wearer and nearby entities with necrotic energy and reduces Mana regeneration. Increases Strength by 3, Endurance by 5, and Magic by 2. Once a day, the wearer may double these stat bonuses for five minutes.

What is this? He frowned a little but regained his enthusiasm when he realized Alta had much more health than others. She could use it safely, although humans would not appreciate it much.

The silver coffins’ corpses contained miscellaneous jewelry, some of which weren’t even enchanted. But some were: two Rank 2 necklaces which gave their wearers an extra point in Magic, and two Rank two rings which gave a point in Vitality. He equipped both rings and kept the necklaces on his Skeleton Mage, which unfortunately did not provide two Magic. Another two corpses carried Earth Gems, while he collected the rest for sale.

Although other enchanted equipment was present, they were simply vanity items and felt soft to touch. Presumably they felt amazing to wear. But since he didn’t need them, and they needed repairs as well, he left them behind.

----

As they continued traveling deeper into the tomb’s depths, a Gravekeeper scampered across the tunnel in front of them.

“Have you fought these before?”

She shook her head. It seemed these things were not even in the area, or sleeping, while they walked through the dungeon. Perhaps the Fox Cult had dealt with them, and thus knew more about their abilities, but Caesar’s party lacked that information. And although he could easily secure it by making one his minion, he wanted to save the slots for the fourth unknown room instead.

“I will assume their purpose is to maintain the dungeon and the undead. They probably have augmentation abilities or other support-type abilities,” he said and ignored it.