A way to escape

Aster landed on a pile of bones effortlessly and immediately noticed the difference between the ravine and this pit.

He noticed the moving skeletons first.

'Undead huh? Well, it makes sense. The whole area is bustling with miasma after all.

Though, it is weird that I didn't see any undead on my way here.'

The second difference was the variety of the bones flooding the pit. The ravine was filled with humanoid skulls and bones.

But there were more types of carcasses here. Aster could see some skulls that resembled a canine's and a few that looked like an exoskeleton of something unknown.

'This is somehow spookier.' He thought as he examined the skeletons charging straight at him.

The smooth surface of the half-rotten bones magically being held together and the clacking sound it makes whenever it takes a step.

CLACK

With just one slap, Aster turned a skull into a dozen pieces.

'No kill notification huh? Well, it's not like I'm starving for exp.'

Aster took care of the remaining skeletons without much hassle and continued to press forward.

He didn't rush as much since he had concluded he was in a much more dangerous environment now.

Even the little gremlins known as ferocious swarm goblins could injure him whilst being an intermediate, low-level monster.

'Those skeletons could very well carry a zombie virus or something considering how filthy this place is.

Cautiousness is the way to go.'

Every step cracked a bone that echoed throughout the dead silence of the pit.

Aster had just realized the sound he made when running here probably alerted a ton of monsters and probably the demons too.

'Oops, gotta be even more careful now.'

His speed was drastically reduced to ensure stealth.

It allowed him to catch his breath and think about his immediate goal.

'Uhh, let's see…

The ravine was incredibly long, I would say about a hundred kilometers and it was covered by the barrier without a single spot left.

However, there is a possibility that the barrier only covered the opening.

I can probably go through this volcano to go around the barrier. 

If this is a volcano then there should be more openings than the main one right?

Something like a secondary vent should exist. I'm certain that not all volcanoes have it but I have to try.

If all else fails then I could try brute forcing my way through this volcano.

In fact, I should probably just brute force my way through. I need to find the thin part of the volcano though, I wouldn't want to dig more than necessary since the danger of the ground collapsing exists.

Come to think of it, can I use earth magic to drill a hole and support the tunnel I created at the same time without it collapsing?

…

Wait a sec, could have I just dug a hole in the walls of the ravine and then kept digging up until I reached the surface? Was avoiding the barrier that way possible?'

Aster felt like a dumbass. He felt the need to climb up to the ravine and dig up from there but his anxiety stated otherwise.

'It's too dangerous to go back now. Gotta keep moving.'

Like a cat, he moved as slowly as he also stepped as light as he could so as not to make any more noise than necessary.

He climbed skeleton mounds and obliterated the occasional skeletons.

As he roamed on the endless pile of skeletons, he just couldn't help but feel how strong a necromancer would be here.

'The quality of the corpse and its strength before death probably plays a role in a reanimated corpse but man, if I was a necromancer I would have close to a million skeletons right now.

If I could get a skeleton merging skill then that would even be better. I could command a couple of goliaths.

Not to mention the possibilities of them evolving and obtaining a class too. *Sigh* Damn.'

Aster's pace sped up as he went deeper into the pit. He hopped over a smaller bone hill and landed on top of an undead skeleton.

CRASH

The skeleton would have died but the miasma reanimating it was still present within it so it struggled under his weight.

Aster paid it no mind and kept going. It's not like it would give him exp anyway.

And then a thought struck his mind and he stopped.

'There is plenty of corpses around me.' He masterfully investigated.

'Isn't this a perfect opportunity to study necromancy?'

Indeed, acquiring a corpse was one of the difficulties for a beginner necromancer to start their career yet Aster was in a lake on corpses.

He had no knowledge of necromancy but he was willing to spare a few minutes to experiment.

The few minutes spent experimenting could be called a waste since he is on the run currently but then again, if it works the pay-off is worth it.

'Strength in numbers.' This was a phrase Aster had experienced its true meaning a couple dozen minutes back and he wasn't going to underestimate the value of numbers ever again.

A single piece of plastic that was a single corpse might not be comparable to the bomb that was Aster but if someone were to suddenly pour millions of pieces of plastic into a river or a lake then the plastic is unarguably more dangerous to the environment than the bomb.

If successful, then the corpses Aster has reanimated would buy more time than the couple of minutes he spent experimenting.

With that thought, he went back to the skeleton he had knocked down as it was the only intact skeleton nearby.

His heartbeat got faster and an innate curiosity took hold.

He kneeled and placed his hands on the skull of the skeleton to hold it in place.

[[True sight] has been activated]

His skill revealed a purple-colored fog haunting the remains of an unknown person. 

In its chest, something like a pseudo-core existed. And if Aster wasn't wrong… the core was made out of mana?

Aster felt something was wrong but he continued further. Time was of the essence.

With no knowledge of what to do, he channeled his mana into the skeleton's core.

The intrusion of unfamiliar mana was greatly resisted but it could not do anything against Aster's massive amount of mana pool.

Tendrils of blue light emerged from his hands and traveled further into the skeleton until it reached the core.

Suddenly, a feeling of intense hatred emerged.

"Whoa!" He jumped away from the skeleton.

"Urgh, damn it."

He destroyed the poor skeleton without any remorse.

Aster could feel that the sudden burst of negative emotions was not his. He had been wrong about something.

'Those skeletons… They didn't just pop into existence.'

The lake of skeletons was a perfect place for undead monsters to be born and it wasn't just limited to normal skeletons. He should have known that there was a chance for something much stronger to be born.

He had been wrong, this unholy place already had an owner and a necromancer at that.

And it wasn't happy that Aster dared to touch his tool the way he touched it.

"Oops."

His keen ears detected vibration but he didn't budge from his spot.

Not even a minute later, hundreds of skeletons could be seen climbing over a small hill.

The lich had arrived and it was itching to get a new toy.