After sending Amelia and Harold off to take care of the resources they have gathered, Chris takes down the protective wall leading deeper into the mountain. He comes back to the smaller cavern and starts to investigate the different paths. He can only sense the dark and ominous energy from one of them. Chris decides to follow the evil energy.
After an hour of walking in the tunnel, he starts hearing low noises. It sounds like footsteps and armor. After turning around a corner he finds a group of skeleton warriors. They soon notice him and slowly advance toward him.
Chris sends forth a large flame and the entire group of twelve skeleton warriors is turned to dust. The weapons and armor are mostly intact. Some wooden parts, from axes and spears, were destroyed in the flame, but the metal is still there. Chris makes a mental note to collect all the equipment at a later time.
He can hear more skeletons approaching from the tunnel ahead. They must have heard the fighting, however brief it was.
Soon a larger group of skeleton warriors arrive, some of them are even wielding bows and start shooting arrows at him. However, the few that make it to him simply bounce off of his armor.
These lowly skeletons are not a match against Chris' current power. His strength has increased a lot since coming to this world and it seems that the more he fights the stronger he gets and not just by becoming more experienced. He feels as though he is somehow nourished by defeating enemies. He would relate it to how one can level up a character in games by defeating enemies, that is how it feels, but without a game interface.
More and more skeleton warriors run to attack Chris, but he simply waves his hand and they are gone. It feels like an endless horde of undead, but somehow Chris doesn't even feel tired after fighting them non-stop for an hour. He starts testing out different techniques with his fire magic.
Against one wave he conjures a large flaming claymore and slashes them down. This technique is a combination of his energy crafting and skill with fire magic.
Against another wave, he conjures an exploding fireball, but the force is so strong that he is also knocked back a few meters. He decides not to use this method in this confined space.
He tries holding a continuous flame, like a flamethrower for some time, but after a while, he actually starts to feel a bit drained.
Then he tries to conjure flaming arrows, in the exact number of enemies that he has a clear line of sight of. This method actually seems to be the least arduous one so far. He only uses as much energy as he needs to.
After a few more hours of fighting, the waves are being thinned out. He continues forward and just after turning a corner, he can see the source of the undead. A dark-looking mage is summoning a large number of skeletons. "Hello, mister necromancer! Surrender or face my fiery wrath!", Chris shouts and then chuckles quietly to himself. He is feeling very powerful and perhaps a bit arrogant at this time, but he just can't help himself after clearing out all those skeletons without breaking a sweat.
The necromancer is startled at Chris' presence. The necromancer is dressed in an all-black robe and it isn't possible to see his face at this time.
"Who are you to intrude on my domain?", the necromancer shouts, but Chris can feel his apprehension. It wouldn't be strange if Chris has managed to intimidate the necromancer, he has undeniably incinerated a lot of his skeletons and there aren't many left. The necromancer doesn't seem to be able to summon skeletons as fast as Chris is destroying them.
"I am a powerful adventurer looking for evil in this mountain. You seem to fit the description. Now, surrender or face my flames!", Chris yells back with a booming voice.
"Do you promise not to hurt me?", the necromancer answers.
"I promise that your chances of survival are much better if you surrender than if you don't.", Chris says in a reassuring tone.
The necromancer stops summoning skeletons and orders the existing ones to be still. "I have the source of evil that you are looking for.", the necromancer says and pulls out a dark orb. It is very similar to the other ones, but it happens to be larger.
Chris moves closer and says, "Yes I can feel the energy coming out of it. Where did you get it, and do you know what it is?".
"It is a weapon that enhances dark magic. It was given to me by the Lord of Undead. He found me starving and struggling for my life in a different world. He told me that he would grant me the chance for revenge against the living that had left me for dead and that I would become powerful enough for everyone to fear me.", the necromancer answers.
"This was many years ago and I have ever since struggled to claim this mountain with my horde of undead. However, I have met far too strong opposition and my progress has been very slow. My anger has turned to exhaustion and despair. I am even lonelier than I was in my old life. Now that you have come here with your god-like power, I have decided to accept my fate. Kill me and be done with it.", the necromancer continues and pulls down her hood. Yes, her. The Necromancer is a tall woman with dark skin and shoulder-length dark brown hair. Her eyes are also brown.
Chris looks at the woman, stunned by both her words and beauty. She doesn't look evil. She looks more like a model.
"I have no desire to kill you as long as you cooperate with me. The answers you have given are already a very good start. If you promise that you will follow my command, I could even give you a home. Would you be interested in that?", Chris answers earnestly.
"Oh and, you can call me Chris."
The woman is confused and just stands there staring at Chris for a few minutes. Then she says, "My name is Serena. I will follow you, master."
Chris is taken aback by her calling him master. "I am not your master. You will be free as long as you don't hurt anyone. Please don't worry. I understand that you have led a difficult life, but there is good in the world too. Let us discover it together.", Chris says with a warm smile.
Chris motions for Serena to follow him out of the cave. They start the long walk back.
"Can you control the skeletons that you summon?", Chris asks.
"Yes, as long as I don't summon too many and don't use the dark orb. If I summon too many I may lose control of some and they will simply start attacking anyone or anything that isn't dead. If I use the dark orb they will follow the Lord of Undead, an evil deity. So far that seems to mean that they will first gather in a large army and then set out to attack some unlucky target.", Serena answers.
While they are walking, Chris tells Serena of Amber Village, Harborton, Amelia, and Harold.
After a few hours, they reach the large cavern near the mountain entrance. They go out and Serena sees sunlight for the first time in years. It takes more than an hour before she actually manages to adjust her eyes and step outside. Just as they take a few steps outside, Chris sees Amelia, Harold, and a bunch of workers with wheelbarrows approaching.
The workers carry on inside, Amelia and Harold stop to greet Chris and his new friend. "Hi Chris, who is this you have with you?", Amelia asks with surprise written all over her face.
"This is the former evil necromancer of the mountain, Serena. She surrendered and has agreed to abandon the path of evil.", Chris answers matter-of-factly.
Harold's expression darkens and his expression turns wary. "Can we trust her?", he asks.
"As strange as it may sound, I do think so. She has explained her situation and it is understandable. Besides, she has seen my power and is not interested in facing my wrath.", Chris answers with a warm and confident smile.
"I wonder what happened in there and how much of Chris' power she has seen. I do agree that it can be daunting.", Harold thinks to himself, but not fully convinced that he can trust this woman.
"I feel that you may be too naive. How can we make sure that she doesn't harm anyone?", Amelia says with a worried expression.
"She can stay by my side for some time while we get to know her better and we can have a few guards watching her when I sleep.", Chris answers feeling happy to have a solution.
They continue discussing Serena and also discuss what she knows for a while longer. Serena also tells them that the tunnel goes on even further and that she has been fighting a dwarven hold deep inside the mountain for many years now.
After the discussions, they all head back to Harborton using the now-functioning teleportation circle. Chris arranges for Serena to have a room next to Chris and Amelia and for some guards to stand outside at all times. He also forges and installs bars on her window so she can't escape without causing a major ruckus.
The workers are accompanied by a mage for protection and control of the teleportation circle. They will have to continue gathering resources from the cave system for several weeks.