Settling in to meditate and recover his mana while on the back of Scaly as the two of them continued over the frozen desert towards the main battlefield, Verdell found himself pondering over the strength of the Eternal Life Sanctum currently present within the swirling sands dungeon. Having already partly confirmed that there shouldn’t be any lich leading the necromancers of the Eternal Life Sanctum attacking the dungeon core, he was left wondering just how powerful the necromancer leading the undead army on the main battlefield was.
From what little he had learnt about the Eternal Life Sanctum during his time as a trainee adventurer, he knew that while a necromancer at the crypt guardian rank was just a single rank below that of the highest ranking lich within the Eternal Life Sanctum, there was a massive difference between these crypt guardians, with ancient crypt guardians in some cases being necromancers even stronger than a lich who just hadn’t taken the final step to transform into a lich.
Faced with that kind of being, he knew there wouldn’t be much difference between such a powerful necromancer and a lich. If anything, it was far more terrifying to face a crypt guardian comparable in strength to a lich than an actual lich, as those necromancers were almost always holding themselves back from undergoing the final evolution into a lich in preparation for becoming a unique and stronger than normal lich.
Not just that, but also because a crypt guardian like that was almost always an ancient being that had existed for thousands of years.
Even if most of their time was spent in closed meditation or sleeping to keep themselves alive for such a long time, their accumulated knowledge made them far scarier of an opponent compared to a normal lich.
At the very least, from what he had managed to learn about the necromancer in charge of the attack on the dungeon core of the swirling sands dungeon so far, he guessed that the crypt guardian shouldn’t be that kind of terrifying ancient necromancer.
A guess that had formed because of the simple fact that the necromancer hadn’t yet noticed his and Scaly’s presence. Even allowing an entire undead army more than ten thousand strong to simply fall to them.
If there truly had been a necromancer comparable to a lich in control of the overall situation, they would have long since noticed something wrong and potentially even directly taken control of the undead army before they had the chance to destroy it completely. The fact that no such thing had happened meant that the necromancer in charge of the undead army fighting the dungeon core at the main battlefield didn’t have the mental strength to monitor the situation beyond the main battlefield beyond a few important locations like the staircase leading down to the eighth floor of the dungeon.
In fact, there was a good chance that the state of the undead army had already been noticed by some weaker necromancer observing from afar on behalf of that powerful necromancer who couldn’t monitor the situation on his own.
But... If their battle with the undead army had truly been noticed, why hadn’t any of those necromancers stepped forward to take control of the situation from afar? After all, while the necromancer in charge of the battle against the dungeon core might have lacked the mental strength to control this undead army from afar while locked in battle against the dungeon core, the same couldn’t be said for those necromancers who should be monitoring the situation outside on behalf of the crypt guardian necromancer.
However, none of this had happened and they were able to cut down the undead army without any real resistance. Taking advantage of the lack of control from the undead and skeletons who would just recklessly attack them without any clear goal in mind other than killing them.
Wait... What if the crypt guardian necromancer in charge of this attack on the Swirling Sands Dungeon isn’t an older one, but instead a newly promoted one looking for quick success...?
Continuing to think along this line as Scaly continued flying forward while also recovering her mana along the way, Verdell suddenly realized that the crypt guardian rank necromancer they were facing off against this time around might not be a strong one, but instead a newly promoted one looking for quick success by taking down a dungeon under the control of the guild to prove himself or herself to the upper echelons of the Eternal life Sanctum.
Keeping this in mind, the mistakes in the planning and layout of the operation could be chalked up into an honest mistake made by someone inexperienced.
"I really hope it’s someone inexperienced... Would make everything far simpler..." Muttering this to himself as he had almost convinced himself that the necromancer from the Eternal Life Sanctum they faced off against was indeed someone inexperienced that had just recently been promoted to the rank, Verdell felt himself relaxing his body. Leaning backwards to lay flat on Scaly’s back staring straight up into the sea of clouds above before silently closing his eyes to focus back on recovering his mana.
Not only was it best for the two of them if the necromancer in charge of the Eternal Life Sanctum’s attack on the swirling sands dungeon was someone inexperienced, but it would also be good news for the group of adventurers that should have been tasked with taking down the necromancers before they could seize the dungeon core of the swirling sands dungeon.
After all, faced with an inexperienced necromancer, the group of adventurers who should all have at least reached the SS Rank, would be able to easily sweep through anything in their path as the number of SS Rank undead or skeleton available to a newly promoted crypt guardian was limited.
In a way, the attack on the swirling sands dungeon wasn’t just an attempt to seize the dungeon core, but might also be a way for this newly promoted crypt guardian to get his hands on a vast quantity of SS Rank Monster corpses so he could grow the number of SS Rank undead and skeletons under his or her control...
What is he talking to himself about all of a sudden?
Unaware of the thoughts going through Verdell’s head, Scaly could only tilt her head a bit in confusion upon hearing his quiet mumbling before he went back to meditation to recover his mana.
Although she felt it was something important, the fact that he didn’t mention anything about it to her likely meant that it wasn’t something that would affect the two of them.
So, without a second thought, she returned her attention to the frozen desert below. Keeping an eye out for any potential monsters or undead that might be hiding below.
Even if there seemed to be nothing within the frozen desert, she understood from the battle between the undead army and the monsters under the control of the dungeon core that most of the monsters found within this frozen desert existed below ground.
For this reason, even without seeing a single monster below, she didn’t dare lower her guard in the slightest and even made sure to linger around close to the clouds above to conceal herself from any prying eyes.
Unknown to her, this action was completely useless, as the monsters that had once inhabited the frozen desert had long since left, either joining the attack on the undead army she and Verdell had finished off or joined the main battlefield that had been carved out next to the frozen desert itself.
What was left was nothing more than an empty desert whose sand dunes were covered in a thin layer of ice and snow without a single monster in sight.
Still, this might have been for the best, as the absence of monsters, undead or skeletons along the way gave Scaly a chance to follow Verdell in recovering the vast quantity of mana she had used during the battle against the ten thousand strong undead army.
Even if the few hours of peace the two of them were going to experience wouldn’t be enough for either of them to fully recover the mana they had expended during the battle, it was at the very least long enough for them to recover enough mana so that they wouldn’t end up stuck in a helpless situation unable to fight when they got to the main battlefield.
Not to mention, neither Scaly nor Verdell had any intention of jumping in and joining the battle the second they reached the main battlefield. Instead, the two of them were fully intent on first observing the situation before finding a proper way to sneak into the battle and take advantage of the situation to improve their strength- or that was at the very least Scaly’s intentions for when she got to the main battlefield, one that Verdell would inevitably have to follow along with...