Valens grumbled as yet another goblin was savaged by the wolves, the goblin might be faring better than his other creatures but that didn’t necessarily mean they were doing well. Vicious fangs closed on the unfortunate defender’s arm and the goblin howled in agony punching the wolf’s head for all it was worth. At least the goblins had numbers on their side for now at least, another goblin charged forward hefting a rock as large as its head and brought it down on the invader’s head. Brains and blood flowed out of the downed wolf as it died almost instantly, the injured goblin was not so fortunate slowly succumbing to its injuries as it bled out.

Since arriving on the fifth floor the wolf pack had been cut almost in half but it was primarily through picking off isolated wolves rather than taking the pack head-on. The alpha was still running roughshod over the core’s defenders, though he had been able to give it some light injuries. The goblins had also proved completely incapable of matching the teamwork of the pack, unfortunately for the goblins, Valens had decided against direct interference this time around. He could have kept the goblins away from the alpha and the main bulk of the pack and sent them after smaller groups but he decided to let them do as they pleased to get a better understanding of his creatures. He wouldn’t be able to micromanage them all the time as his dungeon got bigger and bigger.

Although this decision had also resulted in a huge number of unnecessary losses on the goblin’s side. Speaking of unnecessary losses Valens watched as three goblins jumped out of a bush completely failing to catch the alpha by surprise, the unfortunate defenders proceeded to get torn apart by the pack as they continued their exploration of the fifth floor. Why do the goblins have to be like that?

Valens goblins are arguably one of the dumbest creatures in the world. Their competition are slimes, slimes don’t even have brains, that's how bad goblins are. Magnus was still watching the action and was being quite vocal on his distaste for the goblins.

How do goblins do anything then if they’re so stupid? That last trio at least tried an ambush even if they didn’t execute the idea very well. That had been bothering Valens for a while as some of the goblin behaviors just didn’t jibe with how dumb they were the rest of the time.

It's genetic memory, I half believe the things would starve to death if they didn’t have them. Their genetic or ancestral memories will get more detailed and extensive as they evolve but most of the goblin bloodline isn’t very smart.

Valens sighed to himself and went back to watching, the wolves were making their way onto the sixth floor. At least they had left a good chunk of the fourth-floor goblin population intact, most of the goblins hadn’t even found the invaders before they had left or had seen them then forgotten about it. The wolf template on the other hand was coming along nicely, Valens was hoping that he would be able to gather all the data he needed just from this one invasion. The wolves had already proven that they would be a great addition to his dungeon. It was getting a little tiresome to send out the lizard boss all the time speaking of which. Hey Magnus, what should we name the lizard boss? I’ve been trying to come up with a name but I can’t think of anything good.

How about Sora then that seems like a fine enough name for a future dragon. Magnus just offhandedly mentioned. It frustrated Valens that he could come up with such good names off the top of his head, the core had been wrestling with trying to find a good name without any success.

That's a good name, do you think my creatures can handle the rest of the wolves? Valens was getting a little worried he only had one more floor’s worth of goblins between the invaders and the newly named Sora.

It’ll be fine, besides I’m right here there’s no way a bunch of mangy dogs are going to so much as breathe on your core while I’m around. Magnus was being a little arrogant again but Valens did feel better knowing that the eccentric drake was in his corner.

The wolves poured down into the sixth floor, a pair of rather unfortunate goblins was standing at the bottom of the stairs who managed to get at the throats of a few wolves as they came down the stairs before being overrun. This floor was going to be a bit different than the previous one, mostly because of Sora. The boss had hunted down almost every goblin on her floor forcing the rest of them to flee back to the sixth floor. Normally goblins spread out and for the most part only clump together in small groups, but after the mass exodus from the seventh floor, there was a concentration of almost twenty goblins sitting at the stairs to the next floor.

Valens was hoping that the number of goblins would stop the wolves in their tracks they might not even get to Sora if that happened. However, the core reflected that this wasn’t quite that likely as the tier two alpha clawed a goblin practically in half. As the pack traversed the sixth floor they continued to cut through any goblins they encountered like a knife through butter but they were still taking damage. Wolves fell to accident, luck, or the sheer stupidity of some of the goblin’s tactics, one wolf died choking on a very stupid goblin who had literally leaped into the jaws of death.

The alpha was still going strong, the massive wolf had taken a few more scratches but still no major injuries. Valens didn’t especially want to have the wolf taking on Sora at full strength, she was still a level zero tier two while the wolf seemed like it had been tier two for long enough to at least level some.

When the wolves finally reached the main goblin encampment for the first time in the dungeon they were forced to stop. The small attacks throughout the floor had taken their toll and there were only a scant dozen wolves remaining. The goblins had also made innovative use of the surrounding bushes stripping them of their admittedly small branches to use as crude clubs, admittedly this might not have been entirely their idea. But it had worked giving the goblins enough of an advantage to push back the wolves, at least for now.

You’re cheating. Magnus accused the core while they watched the wolves regroup.

Maybe.

After giving him a long look the drake sighed. I guess that’s fine, this might be a game now, but it won’t always be. That sobered the core up, Magnus assured his safety for now but that protection wasn’t an absolute he needed to stop playing around with these wolves.

Well maybe not right this very moment, the wolves had decided to take another rest, the alpha was the only one still awake keeping watch on his remaining pack as they rested up. Alright then, taking advantage of the lull in battle Valens started gathering up as many of the scattered goblins as he could. By the time the wolves decided to wake up and attack again the number of goblins at the stairs had almost doubled. Valens hadn’t been able to gather every goblin on the floor but had still managed to get a lot of them.

The wolves charged the goblin horde again, they had no other choice if they wanted to get through to the next floor. However, the result was less than stellar for them as numbers threatened to overwhelm the remaining wolves. The alpha was undaunted and pushed forward into the goblins breaking through, the rest of the pack followed him doing their best to help their leader force his way through.

Goblins might not have been the cleverest combatants but point them at an enemy and they knew what to do, however, they might have been just a little too enthusiastic. Many goblins were brained by one of his enthusiastic fellows and then trampled to death by the rest of the horde.

It seemed like that huge hordes of goblins weren’t the most efficient way for them to fight, it was effective though. Despite the alpha and the momentum of their charge, the wolves were starting to get overwhelmed. Those at the edges of the formation were the first to fall, pulled under the mass of goblins, but the rest of the wolves were quickly succumbing as well. The alpha either didn’t care or didn’t notice the state of his pack or he continued to press on with what wolves remained, but upon reaching the stairs the alpha was alone.

The entire pack had been destroyed besides the alpha, it had devastated the goblins, only about seven were completely uninjured but it had been worth it. The final wolf pressed on heedless of the fate of the rest still bent on finding the core.

Magnus, did you ever tell me the reason why creatures are obsessed with getting to my core?

I haven’t told you before? Well, it's because of two things first creatures are attracted to it by all the ambient mana you throw out, and then when they get close enough to your core they can sense the experience in your core. Dungeon cores are basically just balls of solidified experience, animals can sense this even when they aren't exactly intelligent and will want to shatter your core for the experience. Magnus seemed almost bored by the explanation but Valens was feeling a little ill at how his literal heart was being talked about.

The alpha continued on its way through the seventh floor, it wasn’t quite a finished floor yet so Valnes guessed that the wolf would be making his way to Sora pretty quickly. Let's move one, do you think Sora can handle the alpha. She’s a rather new tier two.

Don’t worry about it, Valens. The drake practically scoffed. Dungeon bosses are more dangerous than almost anything of a similar power level. They’ve adapted to the concept of never truly dying and so the little hesitations of other creatures won’t bother them as they don’t fear death. Also, that wolf is injured and tired while Sora is raring to go, it’ll be fine.

Taking a deep breath Valens refocused on Sora and waited as the alpha finally found its way to the boss room. The alpha was wary stepping inside an odd room with rocky protrusions everywhere but stepped inside regardless, and started to pick his way carefully across the room. However, that proved to be a bit of a mistake as it brought him close enough for Sora to strike, powerful jaws and dagger-like teeth closed on the wolf’s left paw shaking it viciously.

Yelping the alpha shook his leg violently causing a lot more damage to himself in the process but succeeding in dislodging his attacker. Sora quickly recovered and hiss vindictively at the intruder, the lizard boss was smaller than the wolf but looked no less intimidating with her claws and scales. The alpha leaped forward favoring its injured leg but hoping to catch Sora off guard with a surprise attack, Valens was practically cheering in the core room as Sora skipped nimble to the side and swung her tail around as hard as she could.

The wolf’s injured leg gave with a sharp snap as the wolf skidded to a stop yelping in pain. Their speed might have been evenly matched but there was no contest now with the alpha badly injured. Sora waded back into battle again going after the back right leg, and two things quickly became apparent. The first was that the wolf was definitely stronger than Sora, and the second that Sora was a lot tougher than Valens had given her credit for.

Several failed attempts later Sora gave up on injuring a hind leg as she was sent flying for the umpteenth time. Valens was impressed she hadn’t broken anything yet but so far as he could tell she was only bruised. The lizard boss lunged trying to grab the tip of the alpha’s tail but the wolf was having none of that spinning around on his good legs to deliver a vicious bite to Sora’s shoulder. Valens winced but was impressed when the lizard’s scales held up to the vicious bite only cracking in a few places before Sora wriggled free.

Taking advantage of the alpha’s overextension Sora latched on to the wolf’s neck with her claws digging deeply into the fur. Sensing danger the alpha tried to buck the lizard off his neck but he was too slow as Sora got a firm grip on the back of the invader’s neck. Sora’s foreclaws came up around the wolf’s neck swiping furiously trying to hit something vital before she could be dislodged.

Thinking quickly the wolf folded in its good leg and slammed into the ground rolling hard trying to crush Sora. The fall didn’t do the lizard any favors and Valens thought he heard something snap when they hit the floor, regardless Sora held on grimly and with her flailing claws managed to nick the jugular. Sora finally came loose skidding across the floor before standing unsteadily, however, the wolf was a lot worse off. Blood flowed like a steady river from his neck seeping from the final slash Sora had given him.

Knowing the fight was over the lizard boss kept her distance patiently waiting as the invader weakened. When the alpha was a weakly twitching mess on the ground Sora finally approached limping painfully forward tail dragging limply behind her. Taking a final look into the dying eyes of the alpha sora raised a claw and with one quick and clean motion split open the wolf’s throat. As the light finally faded from the wolf’s eyes Sora hissed in triumph and Valens let out a small sigh of relief, it was over.