General Tarmut was inspecting the walls and checking the readiness of his troops. It was his morning routine, but now they were facing hordes of undead surrounding his citadel, so it was much more important. The first attack last summer was a hard-fought battle, and there were a few places where the walls were almost breached. The price was high, and he lost a lot of knights, but they prevailed. Necromancers also lost a lot of undead, and most importantly, momentum. Cultists decided to encircle the castle and take it by starvation. Despite the dire situation, it was actually a source of fun among residents of the castle. They were prepared extensively to survive the winter, when they could be cut off for months, and a siege didn't significantly alter their situation. But cultists, on the other hand, weren't so lucky. So what that zombies don’t eat, necromancers still get hungry and cold. And it was always the same story. They came, they stormed the walls, they failed, and then realized that they didn’t have enough supplies to survive the harsh northern winter. They were so accustomed to comfortable lives in the citadel of the undead that they forgot what real life looks like. Sane people, and cultists, who weren’t known for that, will retreat. Instead, they hide in tents, usually held by zombies, to prevent them from being swept away by a blizzard or collapsing under the weight of the snow. And also, necromancers were starving. Used to feasts in the citadel, now they needed to survive on the flat bread and roasted meat at best. It was hilarious to watch how the obese silhouettes get thinner and thinner over the passing months.

  Defenders, for now, don’t have problems with food, only because of earlier preparations and strict control of supplies. But in a few months, they will have to face hunger like the necromancers. Hopefully, until then, the reinforcements with plenty of supplies will arrive. Or even better, all necromancers will starve to death. For now, they must wait and keep watch. While for now it was too cold and soon will be too muddy for necromancers to organize an attack, no one ever knows.

  General Tarmut looked south. Two miles later, a small break in the tree line showed the way. He did not expect to see anything there, especially because of yesterday's snowstorm. To his surprise, something reflected the morning sun there. He took out his telescope to check it out. It was most likely just a scout. But if so, he will need to ready his men to assist in a counterattack that would happen in a week or two. What he saw stunned him. There was an elephant. It was a strange creature, large, especially compared to the trees, with shiny skin the color of gold or brass, and most importantly, completely insensitive to the cold. On its forehead was a painted banner, but he didn’t recognize it. The picture was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t remember.

  “Ready the troops to open the southern gate. Rainforcments arrived.” He gave an order to the knight standing close by. The dwarf's eyes went wide, but he saluted and ran to deliver the order. The general, in the meantime, continued observation. Now, on the back of the beast was sitting a person who was observing the surroundings through his spyglass. Suddenly, he saluted. The general returned the salute, and the man raised his hand to acknowledge that he saw him. He turned back for a few moments, almost like he was giving the orders. When he turned back, he started creating a fireball.

  “Sige magic,” General whispered and smiled viciously. Necromancers were sleeping or waking up at best. It will be a massacre. He was thinking about a similar tactic, but the roaming undead made it impossible to sneak close enough. When the spell flew away, it wasn't one fireball, but three, and even before they exploded, the second volley was in the air. All spells landed with unbelievable precision and tremendous power. By the number of zombies turning to dust, it was safe to assume that only one or two necromancers survived. The rest are dead or dying.

  “Reinforcement arrived!” The general shouted to the surprised knights. ”Open the gate, and kill the undead! Inform the northern garrison that they should watch the lich, and make sure he hides in his hole!”

  In the meantime, the beast moved forward. Slowly at the beginning, but soon it was charging through the remnants of the undead. And it wasn’t just one, but three of them. Fearless and, for some reason, the undead weren’t attacking them. When they were much closer, the general finally saw what those beasts were.

  “Golems.” He whispered.

  Half an hour later, the three enormous golems were standing at the beginning of the drawn bridge. They were too big to enter the castle. General, meet the commander of the golems there.

  “I’m Lieutenant Henley. I’m the commander of the first On Taram Golem Platoon.” The human presented his path.

  “Welcome, Lieutenant. I’m General Tarmut. I must say I wasn’t expecting anyone so soon.”

  “That was the plan, General. Imagine how surprised cultists were when our fireballs hit them.” He jouked, and the general laughed.

  “You destroyed half of the siege alone. What’s your order, Lieutenant?”

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  “Regretfully, we can’t stay. But before we return to Skalamyr, we'll leave a few things for your people. I will need to request help for unloading them.”

  “Understood. While it's true that I could use your help in destroying the rest of the cultists, you and your men have already destroyed a third of their forces. And if I’m guessing, you will be delivering supplies to other citadels?”

  “Yes, General. That is the plan of the Dungeon Mistress. And frankly speaking, a very good one. Those golems are powerful, but without proper assistance from the regular army, you can stop them easily. We tested it in On Taram. Today’s victory, we can repeat two, maybe three more times before the news spreads. After that, it wouldn’t be so easy.”

  “Agree. And thank you for confirming my suspicion. You are indeed marching under the Dungeon Mistress banner.”

  “Yes, General. And we will make sure that coultists will learn to respect her name.”

  After the elephant golems depart from On Taram, the days of hard work come to an end. People still have a lot of work to do. The number of people was growing, and for now, only a few corridors and chambers had been built in the underground city, which were to serve as homes and workshops. But more people mean more hands to work, and the town was growing every day.

  During the waiting time for mana for the new floor, there were only two moments when the Dungeon Mistress did it again.

  The first one was about fire mana stones. She caught Hyrra, Eiriser, and Venancijs arguing one evening about something.

  “Good evening. What happened?” She approached them.

  “Just discussing distribution of fire mana stones among the craftsmen in the oasis, Dungeon Mistress.” Grand Merchant answered.

  “And the usual list, and distribution based on who came first, don’t work?”

  “The number of people wanting them grows. In the future, we will need to decide which jobs have a priority, or just can’t be substituted with wood, for example.” The dwarven priest explained.

  “Wait, are you saying we are running out of fire mana stones?” Naomi’s eyes went wide.

  “Not yet.” Eriser shakes his head.

  “With respect, Grand Priest, but I think we are already at that point. I can’t order the next furnace because I couldn’t get enough elemental mana stone for it.” Hyrra protested.

  “I’m sure that when we sort everything, we will find stones for you.” Eriser waved his hand dismissively.

  “The list won’t hurt, but we need to think about other options.” Naomi said, “So, what do we have, besides me adding more of them on the new floor in a few months?”

  “Not much, Dungeon Mistress. Some of us will need to return to using wood to make a fire. Coal will be better, but for that, we will need a mine.” Eriser explained.

  “And what about filing them again with fire mana?” Hyrra asked.

  “It can be done, but for that, you need a source of great fire. We, dwarves, do that in the hearts of volcanoes.”

  “And my floor won’t work because it will absorb used mana stone if you leave it.” Naomi closed her eyes and frowned, thinking intensely. “You know what, all of this makes me hungry, and makes me remember about barbecue.”

  “Barbecue?” Hyrra asked.

  “Yeah. It’s a way of spending a free day with family or friends. You roast some meat, drink beer, and have a lot of fun. Sometimes you can also come up with some good ideas. Yes, let’s do that.” Naomi nodded, stood up, and approached Lisusa.

  “Hello, I have an order.”

  “Certainly, Dungeon Mistress.” The tavern keeper smiled.

  “I want four raw pieces of meat with seasoning, ale for the four of us, and bread. Can you help bring all of this outside? I placed a tent there for barbecue.”

  “I will prepare everything at once, Dungeon Mistress. I overheard you describing this, and it sounded like a lot of fun.”

  “Yes, it is. You can join us if you want.” Naomi invited her.

  “Thank you, Dungeon Mistress.”

  Outside indeed waited for them a tent with one side open. Inside stood a table on which her order was placed. However, instead of a fire or perhaps a strange stove, there was something even stranger. It was a two-meter-long bowl whose interior was covered with small mirrors. In front of it, on the long arm, was an iron plate where the Dungeon Mistress placed the meat. Then, using two cranks, she moved the entire device for a moment until it was positioned towards the sun. The tray that held the meat immediately heated up, and the meat began to sizzle.

  “What a nostalgic smell,” Naomi said with a tone of deep nostalgia.

  Grand Forge Master and Hyrra immediately understood what the dungeon mistress was showing them. They wanted to run and start building their own version of this strange mirror, but Nami stopped them.

  “And meat? Wait until the meat is roasted. You can discuss your crazy ideas over the food and ale.” She pretended to be surprised, which made Lisusa laugh. Even though she had no idea what this was all about, she knew when someone was being mischievous.

  It takes a whole week to build a replica of a solar oven. It was made from wood instead of iron, like Dungeon Mistress did. The structure was easy to build. Just making enough of the mirrors took time. The arm with a spot for placing an empty fire mana stone was made from iron to prevent it from catching fire. Then they spent two days correcting the placement of all mirrors and learning how to aim the device in the direction of the sun. But when they finished and placed a mana stone on the end of the arm, they stood and watched amazed, how the stone was filled with fire mana again.