Me and nine of my companions kept on running through the corridors in the tunnels, hoping that in the maze's twists and turns we would manage to lose the horde of beasts that decided to tail us. Unfortunately, the ‘Dungeon’ didn’t want to make this task any easier for us and the “maze of tunnels” was… non existing. It was but a one, straight corridor, here and there wider or more narrow, maybe curved more or less, but not with even a single crossroad.

The monsters were tirelessly running after us - the same thing couldn’t be said about the rest of us. Wearing armors and additionally burdened with bags of spare equipment and food made running long distances at a full sprint an exhausting - not to say agonizing - experience. At this pace, we would be caught… But, we were about to reach another twist of the corridor! Hopefully, after passing it we would manage to find some hideout! Or crossroad, or anything else that we could use!

That was the thing that all of us were hoping for back then.

But, instead, what we saw after that was even more of a long, empty tunnel going for at least hundreds more meters. There was no way we could keep on running. And the sergeant leading us knew that too - I could tell by the way that light of excitement died in his eyes. He slowed down as if accepting reality.

“Commander?” I asked, trying to urge him to continue running “... we need to keep on running!” “No. We won’t make it… Instead…” he started looking around, breathing heavily “... the tunnel here is narrow, they won't be able to use their numbers effectively. LISTEN UP MAGGOTS!...” he yelled in a powerful tone, resembling the one of Captain Godricks “... as you probably noticed - we are officially fucked! We can keep on running, and get those bastards to pouce at our backs, or we can fight them here, and either hopefully win, or at least die like the knights we are! With a sword in hand!”

The more experienced knights quickly nodded, agreeing with the leading commander's words. Scavengers were… less excited about this prospect.

“On your command, sergeant.” one of the shield bearers said in a tone, which he forced to sound proud and fearless, though I did hear a hint of panic in it. “We need to make a choke-point. Shield bearers - secure the sides, Alabaster, take the middle! Duelists, stand behind the shieldsman and cut down everything that could try to get past them, scavengers, take those crossbows of yours and fire above them - aiming at a crowd like that you won’t be able to miss… and Robert… Please, we need a miracle.'' He Addressed the last part to the mage. “Best I can give you is a fireball.” The mage deadpanned. “What a coincidence.”

And so, we took our positions. The tunnel - in that place - was less than three meters wide and few over five or six meters tall. Two colossal men raised their tower shields and forced them onto the ground, digging their feet in the dirt and pointing their spears to the front. Between them, there was only a small gap which I quickly filled with my humble person. Behind my back I could feel two more knights taking their stance, nervously balancing their thin weapons.

And much further behind us, the four archers climbed the rock shelves, aiming at the other side of the tunnel above our heads. The mage took a position yet even deeper in. I could just about hear him starting a chant, readying his spell.

Nervous and tense, we waited, listening to the cacophony of hisses, cries, and sound of razor-sharp claws scratching over the stone floor of the dungeon and the mass was approaching.

We didn’t need to wait long. In less than a minute the first lizard came out from behind a twist in the corridor, it barely managed to slow down, not smashing the dungeon wall with its own face due to all the momentum it generated in it furious charge, as it hissed in wrath seeing us boldly standing on its way.

Seconds later, another lizard jumped out, and another. And another. And yet another. Very soon our vision was covered by a mass of lizards that stormed through the tunnel-like a green avalanche. Five, ten, twenty… eventually I stopped counting. It was simply an impossible, futile task.

Commander looked at the archers, a bit confused.

“The hell are you waiting for?! They are not running in a formation! Fire at will, damn it! Trim them down!”

Only then did four projectiles get sent over our heads, digging into the middle of the green wave. I could tell that some of them fell down. However, the swarm quickly trampled down the bodies of their kin, still mad with pure wrath and desire to rip us into shreds.

One last time I looked at the still approaching crowd before I raised the shield above and in front of me, hiding them from my gaze.

The pressure of the first body hitting my shield was nothing extraordinary - it did make my left hand shake a little, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

I didn’t manage to choke on my words before another similar pressure hit me. And another. And another. The lizard that hit me first, was soon hit by another one standing behind it, adding to the pressure. Soon, I was being pushed not by one, not by two, but by dozens of beasts. The leg which I dug into the ground to keep myself in place was pushed a few centimeters behind. All this time, the monster which was sandwiched between my shield and its kinsmen didn’t just idly wait, no! It kept on scratching, trying to force its claw and head in between the cracks of our shields.

That was when the duelist started their job. Their narrow, thin blades kept on piercing, stabbing and slashing from the secured positions. Blood was being spilled left and right, and my perfectly white armor once again became crimson.

Slash after slash, arrow after arrow - the swarm kept on losing their warriors, and yet the wave seemed to have no end. Some of the less patient Ratptoxes tried climbing on their kin and got past our defenses this way, but again our archers did their job splendidly, knocking them down back into the mass from afar before they could reach us.

But, we couldn’t keep our ground forever - the enemy was simply too numerous. I could tell that I was being pushed back by at least a meter further compared to my starting position, and the tanks on my sides also were getting red on their faces, as their shields were being bent under the sheer weight of pushing bodies.

“ROBERT!?” the sergeant yelled, urging the mage to finish the spell already.

Only then did the mage raise his head with a fiery gaze… Literally - his eyes were shining with a red afterglow as he aimed his staff at our backs.

“Shield bearers! Pushing maneuver in three! Two! One!”

At ‘Two’ the orb of fire flew over our heads, landing in the middle of the crowd.

For a second nothing really happened, but then a powerful explosion shook over the tunnel, tearing the bodies of the reptiles to shreds, painting the walls with blood and guts.

That caused a distraction and confusion among the monsters, guided by instinct they turned their heads around to see what caused the explosion (as the concept of magic was unknown to most animals). And that second was more than we needed.

As soon as the pressure of bodies over our shields lessened, we pushed with them to the left, making an “opening” that the beast didn’t manage to use - we did instead. Being able to once again see our enemies, we thrust with our weapons onward - other shieldbearers with spears, I with a sword, piercing through the bodies of monsters. Then, we took a quick step back bringing our shields back close to our bodies, shielding ourselves from the hateful counter-attack of the dungeon’s warriors.

And, the situation repeated. Arrows were flying over our heads, duelists were pushing monsters that tried to jump over us back into the crowd as Robert began chanting another spell.

How many had we killed? Thirty? Forty? I didn’t know, still, there always seemed to be more of them. The situation was actually favoring us, if we could keep up this tempo and formation, then we could easily win.

Yet, the problem was just that - we couldn’t keep up the tempo and formation - not for much longer that is. Archers were slowly running out of arrows - duelists were breathing more heavily, as they kept on swinging their weapons all the time trying to keep the always-pressing wave back, shield bearers were groaning, their bodies were shaking… and Robert also couldn’t keep on casting his spell without a break, and sooner or later he would suffer from mana exhaustion resulting in either mana fever or mana collapse.

Another spell. Another maneuver. Another meter or two of ground we were forced to give back to the attacks as they kept on pushing us deeper into the maw of the dungeon.

Shields were earning more and more biting and scratching marks. It was beyond my understanding how duelists managed to maintain a strong grip over their weapons as they were completely wet and slippery because of all the blood they had split.

Another fireball shook over the tunnel and once again we pushed, we thrust, and we moved back…

… But no more arrows were being sent above our heads. Twisting my head and looking at our backline, I noticed that they had run out of ammunition. Mage Robert as well had dropped to his knees, panting loudly as he had exhausted all of his mana.

I once again faced my enemy and took a peek from behind my shield.

About twenty more monsters remained…

… they looked stronger than goblins… but… I still should be able to do it.

“Bones of my bone,

Blood of my blood…

Your shackles I rip,

Your body I raise...”

I raised up, giving up on formation as I moved onward, my lipless mouth singing the heretic chant.

“Your life might be done,

But your task is not!...”

The beasts, seeing me “giving up” on protection granted to me by my comrades on the sides quickly pounced at me. One from the left - I hit him with my shield, then the best on the right which I impaled on my blade. At the same time, another creature managed to quickly jump to my now defenseless left side and pounced at my back. I sensed its claws leaving long marks on my new armor. I rammed my back onto the stone wall of the tunnel to get it off me, letting me finish my chant.

“So hear out my words,

And obey my commands!” You have used [Dark Arts - Necromancy] on target [Ratptox] You successfully raised a [Low Tier] puppet.

This [puppet] will obey you. Mp Consumed: 42 You have used [Dark Arts - Necromancy] on target [Ratptox] You successfully raised a [Low Tier] puppet.

This [puppet] will obey you.

Mp Consumed: 42

You have used [Dark Arts - Necromancy] on target [Ratptox] You successfully raised a [Low Tier] puppet.

This [puppet] will obey you. Mp Consumed: 42 You have used [Dark Arts - Necromancy] on target [Ratptox] You successfully raised a [Low Tier] puppet.

This [puppet] will obey you. Mp Consumed: 42 Mana remaining: [52/220]

With my song finished three bodies lazily started to rise, letting out a vicious, awkward hiss.

With my new puppets, I charged through the room. Cut and pierce. Smash and slash.

Oh, this brawl wasn’t one-sided - no! Whenever I managed to kill one, two more would attack me. One on the left would grab my leg, the one on my right would force its fangs into my arm, trying to immobilize me. Knights behind me tried to help me a few more times, but they were simply too exhausted to do anything. And so, I managed not to die (again) only thanks to the undead dolls, which kept on ripping their not-so-long-ago family members off me.

Lost in a battle trance, I didn’t notice when and how I got rid of the remaining masses of beasts. I remembered only my last three: I was moving close to the left wall of the corridor. As the beast tried to pounce at me, I quickly pinned it to the wall with my shield, kicked the one approaching from the right, gaining myself two more seconds, which I used to pierce through the previously pinned beast.

The downed beast tried getting back up, but I kicked it once more, forcing it to the ground, took two more steps towards it, and smashed its head with my heavy boot. The last monster was a bit further away, readying itself to charge at me.

I took the shield off my arm, and flung it like a disc, it collided with the beast and caused it to collapse with the shield falling just a meter or two away. I approached quickly, grabbing the shield off the floor on my way there, raised it above my head and started smacking the beast with a dull edge of the shield.

One strike was not enough to kill it, but I didn’t stop on one either. Up and down. Up and down, I was turning the body of the beast into gruesome pulp.

I didn’t need to do that. It was pointless and brought me no pleasure… and yet… that seemed so… right?… to do at that moment.

When my deed was done, I dropped on my knees. Next to the creature, turning my head to my team. Undead lizards died - probably ripped into shreds by their kind during the battle.

“Sergeant commander…” I called for the leader of our party “... I suggest not staying in these corridors much longer. The smell of blood might lure something in. So moving out seems like the right thing to do…” I once again looked at collapsing party members “... in five minutes.”

Members of my squad looked at me with somewhat nervous gazes, exchanging glances. I knew that I would most likely not be able to escape from their questions… Well, at least for now they had better things to do - for example - staying alive.

You have gathered [Ratptox] essence [21] [971/1250] → [992/1250] You have gathered [Ratptox] essence [23] [992/1250] → [1015/1250] You have gathered [Ratptox] essence [19] [1015/1250] → [1034/1250]

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.

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Gathered essence in total: 2737 Name: Asteruse Race: Skeleton Soldier [Lower Undead] [Self-aware Variant] Level: 4 ➝ 6 [958/1750] Attributes: STR: 40 (+5)

VIT: 43 (+5)

END: ∞

RFX: 34 (+5)

DEX: 39 (+5)

INT: 24 (+2)

WIS: 18 (+2)

SPI: 4 Skill proficiency increased Skills:

[Sword Usage - Journeyman level 5 ➝ 7]

[Shield Usage - Journeyman level 3 ➝ 5]

[Bow Usage - Apprentice level 1]

[Nature Magic - Novice level 1]

[Mana Sense - Low - Passive]

[Life Sense - Low - Passive]

[Combat Maneuver/Team tactic - Novice level 7 ➝ 9]

[Heavy Armor Usage - Novice level 10] ➝ [Heavy Armor Usage - Apprentice level 2]

[Hand-to-hand Combat - Novice level 4]

[Stealth - Apprentice level 1]

[Mind Magic Resistance - Lowest level 9] ➝ [Mind Magic Resistance - Low level 1]

[Dark Arts - Curse Words - Novice Level 4]

[Dark Arts - Necromancy - Novice Level 3 ➝ 4]

[Tracking - Novice Level 2]