Why is everything in hardcore mode?

We follow the passage deeper into the cave. Suddenly, footsteps come from the distance, which seem to get closer and closer. The sound of cracking bones echoes through the corridor.

"What is that?" Sisli shouts, while the others are already taking their fighting poses.

"Did you hear that?" Lionel asks.

I step behind the others like a conscientious healer and start speaking.

"That sounds like undead! Normally there are a lot of such creatures in dungeons... I heard. Undead are not very strong enemies, but they fight in troops. So indeed they can be a bit challenging."

"Easy!" Knox shouts.

"I will defeat them all," Sisli shouts in megalomania. I think she probably spent a little too much time with Knox.

We are on a one-way passage, so walking back to the closed door is really no option. We stand in position until the undead appear and attack us. They look like rotten human skeletons armed with swords, axes, or shields and dressed in rusty armor. They once were humans, but they lost their humanity and are now nothing more than mindless puppets placed here by necromancers. They feel no pain or fear. They just fight.

Knox storms ahead and smashes several skeletons with a powerful blow. But these undead are not as weak as they seem. Slowly they regroup and begin to harass Knox.

From behind Caspian shoots arrows, but the skeletons that were struck are hardly deterred by that. Lionel also storms at the skeletons, and he strikes as many as possible. But they keep getting back up.

Sisli uses her vines to tie some skeletons to the ground by their feet. But this only slows them down, as they cut through the plants quite quickly with their swords.

I stay in the background and observe the enemies. How did it work in the novel? The skeletons stay dead if their connection to the necromancer is destroyed. Right next to me, a skeleton is struck down by one of Caspian's arrows and does not move anymore. I look down. The arrow hit the back of the skeleton's head, and just as I expected, it destroyed a slightly reddish glowing seal.

"Watch out!" Lionel shouts as one of the skeletons runs past them and toward me.

The skeleton swings its sword in my direction. I narrowly dodge, step behind the skeleton, and stab my dagger through the seal into its skull. The skeleton falls apart and doesn't get back up.

"Destroy the seals on the back of their heads. Then they won't be able to get up again!" I shout to the others.

The others react quickly. Sisli binds many of the skeletons with her vines. Knox sprints toward the troops from the left, and Lionel from the right. Caspian shot his arrows from a distance.

With his axe, Knox smashes one enemy after another. But an enemy rushes up behind him. Before he could react, Lionel shatters the skeleton into a thousand pieces with a swift blow. Now Knox and Lionel stand back-to-back, smashing one skeleton after another.

"I could do this the whole day!" Knox says with a smile and fighting spirit.

"Nice that you have fun, but we should end this as soon as possible!" Lionel says with his usual serious face.

Actually I should stay in the background, but just watching feels wrong. Suddenly I see a skeleton getting dangerously close to Caspian, who is firing one arrow after another. I run in its direction and throw my dagger at the skeleton's head, as the distance is too great for a direct attack. The skeleton falls to the ground. 

"Yeah, I hit him!", I shout excited. 

"Thanks!" he shouts, while shooting an arrow at the last skeleton left. It also falls to the ground, and we stand in a pile of bones.

The fight is over for now. Caspian begins to collect the usable arrows from the ground, as we could need them. "I will help collect the arrows!" Sisli shouts.

As no one except me can hear her, Caspian did not know of his tiny helper. Sisli collects some arrows and holds them out to Caspian, who's just getting up after picking them up. To him, it looks like arrows are floating above the ground.

"What the...?" He shouts in alarm, stumbles, and falls backward into a pile of bones.

Well, maybe I should have told him what she was up to.

"Caspian! Sisli is helping you pick up your arrows!"

"Thanks for the warning in advance...!" He shouts a little sarcastically.

I laugh a little nervously while I pick up my dagger.

"Are you OK?" she asks, knowing that he can't hear her, but with a bad conscience. She hands the arrows in his direction and grows a white rose on one of the arrows as a sign of apology.
Still sitting on the ground, he hesitantly takes the arrows and stands up again.

"Thank you, Sisli," Caspian says.

"Is anyone hurt?" I ask.

"I am!" Caspian says.

"Is anyone seriously hurt? No? Good!" I ask again.

"Do you even take your job seriously at all?" Caspian asks, a little disappointed.

"This is simply clever crisis management," I say with a fake smile. Then my face becomes serious.

"But seriously, the deeper we advance into the dungeon, the more we'll depend on my powers. Since they're not inexhaustible, I should only treat wounds that limit your ability to fight or are life-threatening."

"Well, I tried. You don't even get a woman to look after you here," Caspian says, a little disappointed and sarcastic.

"No time for jokes!" Lionel says.

"Sure, sure!" Caspian says while picking up his last arrows.

"Nice that you found the weakness of the skeletons!" Knox says and hits me on my shoulder.

I flinch slightly and hold my slightly sore shoulder.

"Thanks, but maybe we should talk about personal boundaries and personal space sometimes. But listen, wherever there are summoned creatures, a necromancer is usually not far away. And beware especially of undead necromancers. They are not bound to their summoner and do not bear a seal on their bodies. Their seal is usually hidden on an object, such as a summoning book! It's the source of their powers."

I hope they understand the subtle hint and know what to do. When I would tell them everything that will come, they would be suspicious of me. So we have to work our way through.

"How do you know that?" Lionel asks.

"Basic knowledge about dungeons," I say with a serious face. But inside, I'm very nervous. Please don't question anything.

"Oh...Ok," Knox says in thoughts.

Lionel has also only taken note of it. At least they don't question anything.

"We should move on," Lionel says with a serious expression.

We walk through rooms full of skeletons. But now that we know how to deal with them, we make good progress, I think. Until now...

We enter a large hall. Ornate pillars are placed in the middle of the hall, and a throne stands at the rear center. Upon it sits a slightly mummified, lifeless-looking skeleton with a golden crown on its head and a golden sword in its hand. An army of roughly hundred soldiers kneel before the throne, facing it.

Nothing moves. But next to the throne stands a figure wrapped in a dark, ragged, old robe. A glowing red, sealed book hovers above its skeletal hands. It is the undead necromancer. Before we can take a step, the necromancer raises his hands, palms up, and a magical shockwave is sent through the room. The shock causes us to stagger from our feet.

"What was that?" Caspian shouts.

Then the eyes of the skeletal regent on the throne begin to glow red. He raises his bony arm with the sword in his hand. Now the army stands up, and runs towards us without hesitation.

"Caspian and Sisli, support us from a distance and protect Aria." Lionel says.

"Understood!" Caspian says.

"Knox, come with me and give me cover!" 

"Yes, Lionel!" Knox answers and runs after Lionel, who is rushing into the opponents.

Lionel smashes the enemies and their seals with one blow after another, but the necromancer immediately resurrects the skeletons. Knox covers him and even seems somewhat amused by the fight, smiling while he destroys the enemies. But things are slowly getting tight. 

They can barely get close to the necromancer because there are too many enemies. And Caspian shoots arrows as fast as he can. They're really good. But in the book they only had to defeat the regent and the necromancer, not another army. Why do I have to go through everything in hardcore mode? 

Skeletons keep breaking through Caspian and Knox's defenses. I can fend off some with my dagger, but my dagger-fighting skills also have their limits. Sisli defends me with her vines as best she can, but Caspian, as a distance fighter, gets in real trouble too. A skeleton runs to him from the side.

"Ignore me and protect Caspian!" I call out to her.

"Yes!" she shouts.

With her vines, she throws the skeletons away or binds them to the ground.

Then the necromancer begins to use magic to loosen the rocks on the ceiling above me and Caspian. They begin to crumble.

"Caspian!" I shout.

But the rocks begin to break away from the ceiling. It's impossible for us to dodge the debris.

But just before the rocks crumble down, Knox and Lionel come sprinting up. Knox grabs Caspian by the collar, Sisli grabs Caspian's trouser leg, and he throws himself to the left with both of them. Meanwhile, Lionel grabs my arms as he sprints and sprints with me to the right. We land roughly on the floor, while the rocks crash to the floor between us. But wait a minute. The hall is now split in two. I jump up and yell, "Knox, Caspian, Sisli! Are you fine?"

"We're okay, but we have fallen into a room under the hall!" Caspian says. 

"There are just a few skeletons here. We'll finish them off and join you as fast as we can!" Sisli calls.

I'm so relieved. But wait a minute. Lionel!? He's lying on the ground, not moving. He must have been hit on the head. Fortunately, he is just unconscious.

I look at the enemies. Now that the others are gone, the enemies' attention is focused on me and Lionel. His unconsciousness actually plays into my hands quite well. Because now the fun can really begin.

"Now you'll get a taste of the true powers of a witch!"