Chapter 17

With a wry smile on my lips, I realised that I should have known better. Toofy’s Class and Class Abilities were literally designed for this.

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Class Ability: Storage 8): Allows items to be stored in an extra-dimensional space. Stored items weigh nothing and do not deteriorate while within the extra-dimensional space. {Intelligence} increases the total potential volume of the extra-dimensional space.]

[(Class Ability: Scavenge): Chance to generate additional dropped items from enemies by expending MP (Active). {Intelligence} increases drop chance.]

Still in possession of a Basic Class, Toofy had unlocked her second and third Class Abilities, Storage, at level five, and Scavenge, at level ten. If I had been keeping a closer eye on her, I would have realised Toofy was level thirteen and rank three. Recalling the protracted battle to found the Settlement, her level actually seemed rather appropriate.

Thinking about it some more, I realised that I had seen Toofy pulling objects from the extra-dimensional space before. It had mostly been little things or scraps of food. At the time, I had just figured she was using her pockets, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Toofy?” I asked warily, “Did you bring something to eat? I am feeling a little peckish.”

Toofy cocked her head slightly, giving me a curious look. “It’s kay, Toofy bring food!” She exclaimed happily and stuffed her left hand into one of her pockets. I was feeling a little disappointed, but that feeling quickly changed to shock as Toofy withdrew a fistful of meat skewers that had no possible means of fitting in her small pockets. “Take!” Toofy insistently offered me one of the skewers.

Somewhat dazed, I accepted the skewer and watched as Toofy and Ril demolished the other three between the two of them. Once they were finished, Toofy put the bare skewers back in her pocket.

“Toofy...Can you take out all of the skewers from your pocket?” I asked, “The ones without meat I mean.”

Toofy gave me another strange look, shrugged and began emptying her pockets. Within a few minutes, Toofy had emptied a pile of wooden skewers nearly as tall as herself. “Done,” Toofy declared distractedly as she circled the pile.

“You really didn’t know all of those were in there?” I asked while already guessing the answer.

Toofy noded, “Toofy forget, sometimes Toofy forget she forget,” she shrugged and began pulling more things out of her pockets.

It took a moment for me to figure out what Toofy meant but I think I figured it out. She would forget that she had stowed things away in her pockets, and when withdrawing them later, forget that they were there because she had forgotten about them earlier. Basically, it meant Toofy had far more supplies on hand than she intended, and was taking it for granted while unintentionally replenishing it at irregular intervals. I think...

With Ril holding close to thirty meat skewers, and the tunnel floor littered with clumps of dawnmoss, manastones, a disturbingly impressive array of shivs, and an entire set of Swamp Lurker teeth. I withdrew the two iron ingots and a bounty sack from my pack and offered Toofy the sack. “Here, you can use this instead of your pockets. You should be able to fit bigger things in it,” I suggested enthusiastically.

Toofy gave me a dubious look then looked around for something to put in the sack.

“Why not try one of those rocks?” I suggested, pointing at the broken remains of the Clay Doll, or Rumbler as Lash called it.

Toofy shrugged, set down the sack and rolled a chunk the size of her head inside of it. The moment the chunk of dry clay passed the mouth of the sack, it disappeared. “Huh?!” Toofy stuck her head inside the sack, “Where rock go?!” She demanded angrily, squinting her eyes suspiciously at Ril.

Ril balked, “Is Mama’s magic!” The Daemon insisted, “Like the pockets!” Ril pointed instantly at Toofy’s pockets.

Toofy frowned, apparently unconvinced.

“Toofy, Ril didn’t take it. Why not try reaching into the sack for the rock?” I suggested.

Toofy gave me the same nonplussed look.

“It’s magic just like your pockets,” I insisted, convinced a more detailed explanation would probably not work.

Still frowning and staring me down, Toofy reached into the sack and blinked in surprise, “It’s back!” She cried out excitedly, taking hold of the chunk of clay with both hands and heaving it out of the sack.

Asra and Lash had both watched events thus far in silence, but Lash seemed quite keen to be moving on. “There is much to explore,” she insisted, motioning to the tunnel ahead.

I nodded and turned my attention back to Toofy, “Alright, quickly put all your things away now Toofy,” I encouraged her.

Toofy nodded excitedly and began dropping things into the sack, squealing in delight as they disappeared before her eyes.

Interestingly, it seemed like Ril was able to deposit items into the space as well. As she helped Toofy retrieve her collection, any items Ril dropped into the sack disappeared, but only while Toofy was watching. So there was obviously some sort of trick to it or perhaps a subconscious activation of some kind. It raised another question though, which had interesting possibilities of its own. If Toofy lost that sack, did she just need to find another container of some kind to withdraw all the items? I had a hunch that it was probably how it worked, but would need to test it later to be sure.

Back on the move again, with Lash taking point and myself in the rear, it didn’t take long for us to find trouble.

The tunnel we had been following had gradually led us deeper and deeper underground. After travelling for a few minutes or so, we encountered a fork in the path and had to decide whether to continue travelling in roughly the same direction as before or detour to the right. Deciding to push ahead, we entered another cavern, although it was less than half the size of the one we had encountered before.

With no barrier to prevent the spawning of monsters, it came as little surprise that the cavern was dominated by somewhat familiar-looking spiked lizards, only these were the size of ponies. There were dozens of them, lazing or slowly ambling about the cavern, but unfortunately for us, they seemed to be incredibly territorial. The instant one of the closest lizards caught wind of our scent, it released a shrieking hiss that stirred the whole cavern of reptiles into motion.

“Asra watches our back, I’ll take the front with Lash!” I commanded, quickly moving to the front near Lash.

“Bite is venomous,” Lash warned as she readied herself to attack the first to enter her reach.

While I did not plan on putting Asra’s Venom Resistance synergy to the test, I was happy we had it. Growing up in Australia, I was taught to have a wary respect for dangerous wildlife, and no small number of them were venomous.

Our current position seemed reasonably defensible. There were a number of stalagmite clusters that formed a sort of screening wall that cut most of the spiked lizards off from our position. Unfortunately, the spiked lizards proved more than capable of forcing their way through or climbing around them.

With the prospect of facing so many monsters head-on, I was surprised to find that I wasn’t afraid, if anything I was eager for the fighting to begin. I could tell by Lash’s posture that she probably felt the same way. However, before I had time to fully consider the reason for my newfound battle lust, I was forced to devote my attention to the oncoming threat.

Even though the spiked lizards were not particularly fast or nimble, they were nothing if not adapted to this rough terrain. Their clawed feet seemed capable of anchoring into earth or stone with near-equal ease, growing closer by the second.

With the closest now less than ten feet away, I rushed forward and struck at the spiked lizard with an underhand blow from my morningstar.

*Crunch*

The spiked lizard had dodged my attack at the last second, causing me to miss its head and instead impact with its left shoulder, breaking bone and pulping the meat and scales as the spikes of my morningstar tore through the reptile's flank.

“RAAAGH” Lash roared and dashed forward to intercept another one of the spiked lizards, her axe crashing down in an overhead strike.

*Shunk*

The spiked lizard screeched in pain, its hindquarters falling limp from the devastating blow to its spine.

With my own opponent still alive and kicking, I slammed my shield into its face just in time to stop the spiked lizard from clamping its jaws on my exposed thigh. Swinging up and over my shield, I brought the morning star crashing down on the spiked lizard’s back.

*Thump*

The spiked lizard shrieked pitiably and attempted to retreat.

*Crunch*

[You have slain {Spineback: 2 } +600 Exp]

I crushed its skull with my morningstar and rushed over to help Lash.

Lash had already dealt with her previous opponent, its nearly severed head hanging limply from its neck. She was currently fending off three more spiked lizards, or Spinebacks as named by the status alert. Lash was landing solid hits but was limited to shorter strikes to avoid providing the Spinebacks with an opening they could exploit to effectively attack her back.

Rushing one of them from the side, I brought my morningstar crashing down in an overhead blow.

*Thump Crunch*

I felt the Spineback’s rib’s shatter beneath the impact as the head of my morningstar ripped into its back. Viciously yanking my morningstar free again, I could vaguely make out the exposed organs of the Spineback’s chest cavity.

Severely weakened, the Spineback attempted to retreat.

Lash and I both let it go, we had more than enough enemies to deal with already. More Spinebacks were about to join the fight and there were still two others to deal with already.

“I’ll hold them, strike from the side!” I called out to Lash as I hopped in front of her and bashed the Spinebacks backwards to make some room.

Lash gave a feral grunt in reply, her armour clanking and scraping as she hurriedly repositioned to my right.

The rightmost of the pair of spinebacks seemed to realise what was going on and began turning to face Lash instead.

*Thump*

I jabbed its side and drove the topmost spike of my morningstar into its exposed flank.

The Spineback screeched in anger, giving me its undivided attention once more.

*Shunk*

The Spineback spasmed wildly as Lash’s axe came arcing down and was buried in the rearmost section of its neck. Still snapping its jaws feebly, the Spineback seemed determined not to die just yet.

Bashing the remaining Spineback to drive it away from its fallen companion, I could hear Lash on the move again.

*Shunk*

Lash had rushed forward to engage another Spineback further ahead, striking its forelimb to deliver a crippling blow before rushing off to attack a different opponent.

Going back on the offensive, I bashed the Spineback again and felt the shield begin to buckle. Made of interwoven roots and branches, the shield had put up a good resistance to the powerful claws of the Spinebacks, but my repeated bashing combined with the accrued damage had pushed it to the brink.

*Thump Crunch*

Pivoting my hips and sweeping my morningstar in from the right, I caught the unfortunate monster in the side of the head as it leaned back in preparation to make an attack of its own.

[You have slain {Spineback: 1 } +300 Exp]

The spikes of my morningstar had anchored into the skull of the beast, so I had to yank it back hard to dislodge it again.

“Lord! There are enemies coming from behind!” Asra cried out in alarm.

Turning back I could see a veritable carpet of movement blotting out the light of the tunnel and could hear a rising echo of maddening chitters. “LASH! WE NEED TO MOVE!” I roared and rushed forward to take hold of Toofy and Ril.

Driven by their own survival instincts, the pair of them scaled my outstretched arms like drowning cats and anchored themselves on my shoulders.

Asra was shaking, his eyes wide with fear as he pulled a fistful of manastones from the pouch at his waist and threw them towards the oncoming swarm. “Hold them back!” He shrieked and began to run.

Letting the badly damaged shield slip off my arm, I turned and ran after Asra.

Lash had fought her way clear to one of the tunnels ahead and to our right, leaving several wounded Spinebacks that were slowly closing in behind her. Alarmingly, the healthy Spinebacks within the cavern had begun retreating down other tunnels, making the threat posed by the Blood Hunters all the more real.

Snatching up Asra by the waist, I charged straight for Lash, doing my best to keep Asra as far from the Spinebacks as possible. With the way the wounded Spinebacks had slowly closed ranks while stalking towards Lash, it was ultimately a largely futile gesture.

Or it would have been if the hulking form of Dar didn’t barrel past me and launch himself into the flanks of the Spinebacks with suicidal abandon. “FEEEED!” The Daemon roared, impaling himself on the namesake of the first Spineback, hooking his claws into its scaly hide and clamping his powerful jaws down upon its neck.

*Shriiip*

Dar tore the Spineback’s neck and a good portion of its spine free of its body with one vicious jackknifing snap of his heavily muscled neck.

“KILL!!!” The sinewy form of Qreet was only moments behind her hatchmate. Just as Dar had done, Qreet bodily launched herself at the Spineback. However, unlike Dar, she managed to avoid serious injury and after biting down on the Spineback’s exposed neck Qreet seemed content to leave the damage at that.

Rushing past the pair of Daemons and the opening they had provided, I followed Lash into the tunnel. She had provided warnings about something like this happening, so I was aware of the general plan of action. Lash would do her best to lead us away from the swarm and we would attempt to find a tunnel leading up to the surface or circle around to the cavern we first entered.

Leaving a Clay Doll in our wake, we ran past it before it was even halfway through taking form.

Entering another cavern, Lash motioned for us to stop and I reluctantly complied.

Smaller still than the previous cavern, there was only one other tunnel large enough for Lash and Myself to pass through. Unfortunately, it would be a tight fit and we would both have to hunch down to avoid scraping our heads on the ceiling.

“Dangerous,” Lash muttered, apparently none too happy about the shrinking dimensions of our escape route. She looked back down the tunnel we had come from and paused for a moment. Letting out a cross between a growl and a sigh, Lash motioned to the tunnel ahead and began leading the way again.

The cavern proved to be unoccupied as we managed to cross it without incident.

Setting down Asra and coaxing Toofy and Ril to continue on foot, I settled into my position as rearguard again. Unable to see much of anything past Lash ahead and unable to turn back without extreme difficulty, I could feel my anxiety amping up with every passing moment. Seeing Lash tentatively entering another cavern up ahead, I felt incredibly relieved.

This cavern was by far the largest yet. Naturally forced pillars of stone supported the ceiling, while a large pool of water dominated the centre of the cavern. However, the most striking feature of the cavern was the completely out of place worked stone facade of a towering gateway on the opposite side of the cavern.

“Is that a Deep Orc gate?” I asked Lash quietly. We had seen no monsters skulking about in the cavern thus far, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

Lash stiffly shook her head, “Not Deep Orc, it is a dungeon...”

“Dungeon?” I asked warily, “Like for keeping prisoners?”

Lash shook her head again, “No. Dungeons hold great treasure and powerful enemies. Many die, few return,” she stated dourly.

“Treasure?” Toofy’s ears twitched excitedly.

Ril tightened her grip on Toofy's hand and anchored her clawed toes into the dirt.

“D-dungeon?” Asra croaked, taking a half step back as he fearfully regarded the cavern.

“So dungeons are incredibly dangerous? Got it,” I sighed and glanced warily back down the tunnel.

[Summoned Daemon: Ruz has been killed by Blood Hunter!]

I stared at the grey status alert for a moment before recognising the name. Ruz was one of the single-horned Daemons and assumedly had been summoned by Asra to cover our retreat. More than a half-hour had passed since our flight down the tunnel. It was crazy to think that the Daemons had only now suffered their first casualty.

[Summoned Daemon: Raithe has been killed by Blood Hunter!]

[Summoned Daemon: Myra has been killed by Blood Hunter!]

[Summoned Daemon: Kyon has been killed by Blood Hunter!]

The trio of status alerts appeared in rapid succession and doused my hope that we could just turn around and head back. The fight was apparently not going nearly as well as I thought.

Asra gave me a troubled look, “Lord, the Daemonss are taking losssess.”

I nodded grimly, “How many did you summon?” I asked, trying to get a better handle on the context of the fight. We were apparently too far away to earn EXP from their kills, so the best possible indicator would be information provided by Asra himself.

The Serpent-Kin teen shifted uncomfortably, “Sseven...I think...” Asra replied with more than a little embarrassment.

Recalling the fistful of manastones he had thrown, seven seemed about right. “So it’s just Qreet, Dar and one other Daemon left standing?” I commented, looking to Asra for confirmation.

Asra nodded, “Gric refussed the ssummon, sso-”

[Summoned Daemon: Tyat has been killed by Blood Hunter!]

Asra paled.

Gric refusing the summon was not altogether unexpected. I could only assume that something was happening in Sanctuary that required his immediate attention. Gric would be told of events in the tunnels from one of the fallen Daemons, so I was not as worried as I would have been otherwise. If we waited, then Asra could summon Gric and we could get a more complete explanation of what happened.

Waiting for Qreet and Dar’s death notifications, I was both relieved and concerned by their absence. Relieved, because apparently, they had managed to break the swarm, concerned, because we had no real way of knowing what condition the pair was in. It was possible that they had both been badly injured and left for dead.

“Asra, I want you to summon one of the Daemons that covered our escape,” I ordered. I needed to know what was going on.

Asra nodded obediently and seemed relieved at the prospect of additional reinforcements. Withdrawing a manastone from his pouch, Asra briefly flared a grey aura, “Raithe!” He commanded with surprising confidence as he dropped the manastone to the ground and took a few steps back.

Within moments the Daemon’s body quickly took shape before our eyes. Many of the Daemons had undergone significant changes since the battle to rescue Lash and the other Deep Orc refugees. Almost all of them had taken on various reptilian and amphibian characteristics into their own physiology. So even though they had appeared predominantly human after hatching, albeit discoloured and possessing horns and a tail, The most ‘human’ amongst their number now, was Ril.

Raithe, one of the female Daemons, was no exception. With a single horn protruding from her right temple, Raithe had noticeably taken on characteristics of the Blood Hunters. Her tail was still covered in scales, but it was near twice her height in length and thin like a whip and had spiked barbs protruding from the final couple of feet. Raithe’s legs were now rear jointed and combined with the elongating distension of her clawed feet and toes, Raithe was almost as tall as lash and myself, although much thinner. In general, Raithe appeared to be very nimble and wiry, practically delicate compared to what I had seen of Dar.

Nimbly hopping to her feet, Raithe gave our surroundings a quick once over, her slightly enlarged and tapered ears twitching slightly as her attention lingered briefly on the tunnel. “The humans are making demands, Lord,” Raithe explained without being asked, very likely on Gric’s order. “Underlord Gric wishes you to know that he has the situation well in hand and that he has not revealed his true nature to the humans. Also, Underlord Gric wishes to know if you require assistance in returning to the surface.”

Even though I had suspected Gric was busy, receiving confirmation that there was some sort of trouble with the human army still made me anxious. “What about Qreet and Dar?” I asked, “What happened with the swarm of Blood Hunters?”

Raithe stiffened slightly and hung her head in shame, “Lord, we defeated the first swarm, but a second swarm was drawn by the blood and overran us. We were still wounded and only Qreet and Dar were strong enough to fight back,” she shifted uncomfortably and gave me a worried look, “The summoning has not been terminated, but neither Qreet nor Dar have attempted to return to the surface...”

“Do you think they are waiting for us?” Asra asked hopefully.

Raithe fidgeted uncomfortably, “It is possible,” she admitted.

I think I knew what was going on. “You think they are taking the opportunity to make alterations to grow stronger?” I guessed, knowing how much of a driving priority it was for the Daemons as a whole. There seemed to be some kind of loophole afforded by the summoning mechanic. Because the Daemons that were summoned were only copies, they seemed to be able to experiment as much as they liked without their choices being forced onto the original. Given the amount of trial and error involved, a situation like this one was an incredible opportunity, and apparently one that the pair of Daemons were not willing to pass up.

Raithe nodded with what seemed like guilty reluctance.

Technically, the pair of Daemons were only doing what they had been told. Asra had given the command to ‘hold them back’ and holding down that particular cavern and tunnel was actually to our benefit. Daemons strictly obeyed every command they were given, both the spirit and the letter. It was one of the weirdest things about the rules this world operated under. Intent always seemed to take precedence when determining the desired outcome. With that thought in mind, I found it unlikely that Qreet and Dar were maliciously interpreting their command. It was far more likely that they believed that continuing to hold their ground was best serving Asra’s intent, which I assumed was that we would make it back to safety while the Daemons held off any wild monsters.

“Should head back,” Lash insisted, her helmet angled in such a way that she was able to keep an eye on the dungeon entrance.

It was obvious that there was more I needed to know about dungeons before entering one, so returning to the surface to get a more detailed explanation was a good idea. “Alright let’s head back,” I agreed.

Asra released a ragged sigh of relief which was heavily contrasted by a disappointed, “Awwwww,” from Toofy.

With Raithe now screening ahead, we generally maintained the same formation we had used in the beginning, with Lash and myself forming a protective buffer from the front and rear for Asra, Toofy and Ril.

Despite not having accompanied us on our initial retreat, Raithe nonetheless seemed to know exactly where to go. I could only assume that the Daemon had enhanced her sense of smell or was perhaps capable of following our tracks, which were admittedly rather easy to find.

Encountering the Clay Golem we had fled past earlier, Lash and I dispatched it quickly and with Toofy’s help managed to find another Iron ingot. There had been just the one this time, so I wondered what the actual chances of the ingot dropping in the first place were and whether Toofy’s class ability was more or less likely to generate an item. Maybe the rank of the monster had something to do with it as well? The first Clay Doll had been a rank two, and this one had just been a rank one.

Needing to stay alert, I pushed the thoughts from my mind and tried to keep an eye out for potential ambushes.

[Dar has slain {Blood Hunter: 2 } +100 Exp]

[Dar has slain {Blood Hunter: 1 } +50 Exp]

[Dar has slain {Blood Hunter: 2 } +100 Exp]

The trio of notifications suddenly appeared in rapid succession, making it obvious that at least Dar was still alive and under attack.

Raithe chittering excitedly, revealing powerful rodent-like incisors, “Lord! There is much carnage ahead!” The Daemon declared excitedly, her clawed fingers twitching in anticipation.

[Qreet has slain {Blood Hunter: 3 } +150 Exp]

“Scout ahead and see what the situation is, then report back,” I commanded.

Raithe grinned and sped off down the tunnel at a breakneck pace, nimbly dodging past or leaping over any obstacles in her way.

After a couple of minutes, and a smattering of kill notifications from both Qreet and Dar, Raithe returned with the still squirming and shrieking form of a Blood Hunter coiled tightly in her tail.

*Crunch*

[Raithe has slain {Blood Hunter: 2 } +100 Exp]

The blood Hunter grew deathly still, blood dribbling from its mouth and into the dirt.

“Lord, both minions, Qreet and Dar are following orders and holding the passage back to the surface. Only scavengers remain,” Raithe listed and waggled the dead Blood Hunter for emphasis, “They are larger but fewer in number, Qreet believes the path to be safe.”

That made sense, in a way. The weakest monsters would run around in a swarm, and once the swarm was broken, you would just have small packs of slightly stronger ones running around sweeping in to eat their fallen kin.

Blood Hunters weren’t even a full tier monster to begin with. If it hadn’t been for the sheer number of them, they wouldn’t have even been much of a threat.

“Alright, let’s go collect Qreet and Dar then head to the surface to see what is going on,” I motioned for Lash to lead the way and received a curt nod in reply.

Individual Blood Hunters would be no threat to her or myself, but Asra, Toofy and Ril were a different matter. The size of small dogs or a house cat, the Blood Hunters had a nasty set of teeth on them and their relative size made a showdown between them comparable to a grown human facing off against a wolf.

After cautiously travelling through the tunnel, we finally reentered the cavern that had been home to the Spinebacks. A mess of scattered bones just outside of the tunnel confirmed my suspicions regarding the Blood Hunter Swarms. Just like a horde of true rodents, they would descend on a food source and strip it as best as they were able.

Scrape marks on the bones suggested that they were more than capable of gnawing through those too, but had either moved on to a better food source, or been interrupted.

“RAAAAGH!” The bloodcurdling roar echoed through the cavern, drawing my attention to the vibrant amber scaled and hulking form of Dar standing guard by the other tunnel entrance. He was facing away from us, putting his most recent changes on prominent display. Hunched over like a gorilla, Dar now had dozens of short sharp spikes protruding from his back, shoulders and outer surfaces of his forearms and thighs.

Qreet was not immediately visible, but she promptly appeared a few moments later, slowly and carefully crawling across the roof of the tunnel above Dar. The way Qreet was moving seemed quite strange, given that she was upside down, but looked like she was climbing vertically.

Quickly shepherding Asra, Toofy and Ril across the cavern, it became obvious why Qreet was climbing like that. She had grown powerful hooked talons and was climbing the ceiling in a similar manner to how the Spinebacks had traversed the stalagmites and rock walls littering the cavern floor.

Both Daemons seemed quite happy to see us, quite possibly due to the multitude of injuries covering their bodies. Or perhaps because there were no more enemies in the immediate vicinity.

“LORD,” Dar growled, lowering his head in deference.

“Lord,” Qreet hissed, dropping from the roof of the tunnel and bowing low. Removing what looked like a bulging length of looped intestine off her shoulder, Qreet offered it to me as if the contents were incalculably valuable.

Taking a closer look, I confirmed that it was indeed a length of intestine. Stretched to near transparency, I could see that the lower section was packed near to the point of bursting, with manastones. I stared at Qreet in shock. There were hundreds of manastones in there. “How did you manage to collect so many?” I demanded.

Qreet and Dar shared a respectful look with one another, “Team-work,” Qreet hissed, struggling to pronounce the words while Dar nodded emphatically, mimicking wrenching something with his brutish fists and throwing it to the ceiling.

Qreet pointed emphatically back to her previous hiding place.

Leading the group down the tunnel, my breath caught in my throat as I caught sight of the nightmare-inducing ‘nest’ Qreet had made amidst the stalactites. Using intestines for rope and flayed hides to form a basin or floor, I could totally imagine Dar lobbing the severed heads of Blood Hunters up there for Qreet to ‘process’ before she discarded the remains.

Daemons were nothing if not resourceful...

“We should head back...” I croaked, doing my best not to vomit, “Toofy, store this in the pack please,” I handed her the intestine pouch and energetically wiped off my hand on my pants.

Lash was giving both Daemons a stoic but presumably appraising look from beneath her helmet. After a few moments, she gave them a curt nod of approval and moved to take her place at the head of the formation.

Qreet and Dar shared a look of elation with one another, hissing and growling quietly as they playfully shoved one another.

That was when I finally noticed another oddity of the Daemon summoning. Unlike the battle to rescue the Deep Orc refugees, where the Daemons had been summoned completely naked, Raithe, Qreet and Dar were all wearing their primitive hide clothing. Well...Qreet and Raithe were, Dar had most likely lost his loincloth at some point in the fighting. Not that he seemed to mind, apparently having taken inspiration from the reptiles to protect his vulnerable assets from danger.

Our trip back to the safety of the barrier was almost disappointingly uneventful. I was in no hurry to experience any more danger, but it still bugged me that we had been forced to retreat earlier. I was trying to be more assertive, and running away seemed like progress in the wrong direction.

Now safely within the protection of Sanctuary’s barrier, Asra dismissed Raithe, Qreet and Dar, stumbling a little as he did so. The Pact Binder summoning seemed to have an MP cost for both summoning and dismissing the Daemons, which was very interesting. I hadn’t known about that. Or if I did, then Gric hadn’t explained it very well.

The other half of our scouting expedition had returned as well and apparently had been waiting for us for some time.

Listening to their account of events, they too had encountered a Blood Hunter swarm, but they had been able to fall back to the barrier and thin out their numbers before exploring again. The other team had even managed to hold onto most of the corpses and brought them back.

The pile was impressive but I didn’t envy the job of bringing them to the surface. We had no cargo netting, so they would probably need to be tied off into groups of a half dozen and dragged up.

The second group only managed to find one Clay Doll and unfortunately, it hadn’t dropped an iron ingot. Lash was a little disappointed about that. Apparently, she wanted at least ten ingots for casting the first anvil and hammer.

In all the excitement, I had very nearly forgotten about the incident with the humans. The fresh wave of anxiety was more than enough to propel me up the rope and to the surface at what I had thought was an absurd speed. Apparently, it wasn’t all that fast, since Lash and the other Deep Orcs were right behind me. They had even brought Toofy, Ril and Asra along by giving them piggyback rides.

“Lord!” What I had initially assumed was a Deep Orc, but was actually Gric wearing a set of what I hoped was only borrowed armour, cried out and rushed towards me. Stopping only a few feet away, Gric bowed his head quickly, “The Humans are invading!”

It took a few moments for what Gric said to sink in, “W-what?!” I demanded.

“Their negotiator, Lt. Felix, let slip that more Humans would be coming, much more! Hundreds!” Gric didn’t sound frightened so much as excited and irritated.

Lash shifted uncomfortably, “Humans will attack?” She asked bluntly.

“Unclear,” Gric replied bitterly, “Lt. Felix would not reveal more unless it was with the Lord.”

Both Gric and Lash gave me a purposeful look from beneath their helmets.

“Did Felix say when he would be back?” I asked, doing my best to rein in my imagination before it began catastrophizing things.

Gric bowed his head again, “Lord, Lt. Felix and his minions are awaiting an audience at the designated meeting place.”

I winced and bit back my criticism of leaving the most important information until last. There was little telling how Daemon biology and psychology would react to something like that, and I needed Gric in peak condition right now. “Let’s go then,” I grunted, waving back Toofy as she made to come along, ‘No Toofy, I need you to stay here and look after Asra and Ril, Okay? I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Toofy slumped dejectedly but nodded, “Kay...”

After receiving a reassuring nod from Ril, I rushed off towards the gate, with Lash and Gric hot on my heels.

Taking a moment to compose myself first, I strode out from the gate and did my best to project an aura of calm and control. If the human army was searching for weakness as a premise to push for concessions, then I was going to put up the best fight I could manage. I owed my people that much at least.

Just like our other negotiations, Lt. Felix and his pair of trusted officers were patiently waiting near the briar wall, where the ground was driest and air less humid. Seeing our approach, the trio left behind their soldiers to wait at the appointed place. Gric may be onto something, they were nervous, perhaps about being the bearers of bad news.

Lt. Felix politely cleared his throat and smiled in what was probably intended to be a friendly manner. However, it was heavily undermined by the nervous twitch in his right eye and the sweat running down his brow. “Ah, you know, you still haven't provided a name or title to call you by,” Lt. Felix joked while probing.

It was true, thus far I had dominated proceedings by directing the flow of conversations to what I wanted, cutting to the heart of the matter to get things over with. “Chieftain will suffice,” I replied warily, “What is it that you want?” I asked pointedly, knowing it would likely throw him off balance.

“R-right,” Lt. Felix stuttered a little, removing his helmet, couching it under one arm, running his free hand through his short and thoroughly soaked hair. “My superior, Captain Klive, requests a meeting with you to discuss the possibility of a more established and, erm, integrated military presence in this region.”

I furrowed my brow and scowled, “Why?” I demanded, making my stance on the issue transparently clear. If push came to shove, we were currently quite capable of driving the humans out without an excessive level of violence or risk of fatalities to either side. But if the military presence increased, then any hostile actions taken by either of us would have severe consequences and collateral damage.

Lt. Felix gulped hard and wiped away the sweat from his brow, “I am not at liberty to disclose that information at this time,” he apologised with a cringe, his eyes briefly flicking to the morningstar slung through my belt. “I-if you would agree to meet with the captain, I am sure he will be able to explain everything,” Lt. Felix added hurriedly.

Realising I would get nothing further from him, short of crossing a number of lines that I was not prepared to cross, I grunted in annoyance and nodded, “Fine, tell your captain I will meet with him, now.” Being pushy with military officers was probably not the smartest idea, but I wanted to make it clear that I was not going to let them push us around.

Besides, forcing a meeting like this gave them less time to prepare for any nasty surprises.

Lt. Felix seemed somewhat relieved, “Ah, well then, if you would follow me-”

“I will meet your captain, here,” I stated bluntly, interrupting Lt. Felix before he could go any further. No way in hell was I entering a military encampment of a couple of hundred soldiers. That was just asking for trouble. At best, it would give them negotiating power by abusing the obvious show of force, at worst, they would either threaten me directly or attack me if they didn’t get what they wanted.

So no, I was not going to just enter a den of wolves like a lamb to the slaughter. If their captain had honourable intentions, then he wouldn’t mind meeting on relatively neutral ground. In a way, this hardline stance of mine was intended as a test. If Lt. Felix and his captain backed off, then it was clear that they almost certainly had bad intentions.

Lt. Felix looked a little nervous, but mostly seemed to be relieved, “Ah...I will inform my captain of your willingness to meet and the change of venue,” he agreed amiably and replaced his helmet on his head.

Leaving with his soldiers in tow, I wondered if perhaps Lt. Felix had already expected an outcome like this from the start and had very literally just been following orders.

I didn’t have too long to dwell on it though. Less than a quarter-hour later, Lt. Felix, as well as the obligatory retinue of soldiers returned with a man in near-identical armour, with the addition of a steel breastplate and more ornate helm.

Leaving the other soldiers behind, Lt. Felix and the man I assumed to be Cpt. Klive approached Lash, Gric and Myself.

“So,” Cpt. Klive gave me a brusque once over, his neatly trimmed moustache quivering slightly in what I assumed was annoyance, “You are the ‘chieftain’ of this settlement I take it?” He demanded curtly.

“I am,” I answered in kind.

The Captain just stared at me for a long minute before slowly removing his helmet. Contrary to what I had expected, he was smiling. With salt and pepper hair and a host of wrinkles and scars besides, Cpt. Klive looked to be fifty or more years old, although he still seemed to be in impeccable shape despite his age. “You don’t take shit from anyone do you?” Cpt. Klive asked with amusement, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as chuckled quietly. “Well, I suppose that is to be expected,” he commented, “If I was as big as you are, I wouldn’t put up with anyone’s shit either.”

Lt. Felix blanched and gave his captain a worried look, “Sir-”

Cpt. Klive waved Lt. Felix down dismissively, “I suppose I have been plenty rude enough already, best get to introducing myself so we can move onto more productive matters, eh?” He grinned and straightened somewhat to stand a couple of inches taller, “Captain Klive of his majesty's armed forces, pleasure to meet you son!”

I just nodded and waited to see what he wanted.

Cpt. Klive coughed brusquely and nodded, “Right, onto business then. I’ll be blunt Mr Chieftain, your home is smack dab in the middle of what could be best described as the hells latrine,” he grinned at his own joke before continuing, “But damn it all if it doesn’t grow on you! Tough livin’ conditions make tougher soldiers! I’ve been bringing recruits here for decades for that very reason!” Cpt. Klive’s expression grew wistful for a moment before he shook his head and came back to his senses, “Mr Chieftain, I want a piece of the hell that you have carved out for yourselves down here, and I’m willin’ to pay for it!” He grinned expectantly at me, making it obvious that he wanted a reply.

The way the captain had expressed willingness to ‘pay for it’ I assumed was intended to be something akin to the phrase ‘pay top dollar for it’ rather than the passive-aggressive threat of benevolently offering to pay for it rather than just seizing it.

“What is it that you want exactly?” I asked warily.

Cpt. Klive grinned somewhat sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, “The higher-ups have been pushing for my promotion for some time now. They want to lock me up behind a desk...er, take me out of the fightin’,” he quickly amended, assuming I wouldn’t understand the reference. “So, I figure it is about time I give’em what they want and take’em up on their generous offer!” Cpt Klive grinned wickedly, “They said I could run any training base lower than the tenth floor, all I had to do was name it-”

Lt. Felix paled and his eyes grew wide.

“-and I want this’un!” Cpt. Klive declared animatedly, taking a deep breath of the swamp air. “Just think of the soldiers I could create in a place like this!”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I insisted despite getting the gist of what he wanted. I would rather be safe than sorry.

Realising his mistake Cpt. Klive nodded apologetically. “Building military bases in the Labyrinth is normally no small undertaking and is a risky endeavour at the best of times. But I can tell that you have some, ‘extra help’,” he tapped the side of his nose and nudged his head in the direction of the briar wall, “So I would be willing to pay for the same privilege in establishing a base in the nearby area. What do you say? I can offer coins, supplies, weapons, just about anything, name your price!”

“Sir are you sure!-” Lt. Felix spluttered.

Cpt. Klive waved him down, “Hush up son, I’m negotiatin’!”

How many soldiers would be stationed in the base?” I asked warily.

“How many will you let me have?” Cpt. Klive grinned back wolfishly.

I frowned and considered that counteroffer for a moment. Maintaining a favourable ratio of my people vs human soldiers was a real sticking point for me. So long as the soldiers were outnumbered, they would think twice about doing anything stupid. The last thing I wanted was for some unruly soldiers to lynch one of my people and go running back to the captain or some other officer under the assumption they would get away with it.

“I guess that depends on what you can offer,” I countered.

Cpt. Klive grinned wider, “Now we're talkin’! What do you want?”

“Guarantees,” I replied bluntly, “Assurances of your peoples’ behaviour and an agreement on what happens if it is broken.”

“Go on,” Cpt. Klive nodded, the look in his eyes suggesting he already knew what I was going to say next.

“If any soldier or human breaks my laws, then they will be punished according to my laws, not yours. That any humans attempting to escape justice will be handed over regardless of rank, title or reputation,” I demanded adamantly. Every other agreement we could come to wouldn’t mean anything if some git did something stupid and took cover behind their comrades.

Nodding in understanding, Cpt. Klive sighed, “I can’t agree to just hand’em over, military law forbids it. However-” He quickly raised his hand placatingly, “There is precedent for passing judgements in accordance with local customs. So assuming your laws are reasonable, I would have no issue in enforcin’em. I can apply for an auxiliary alliance status for your settlement too, which should make enforcing laws against adventurers a great deal easier,” Cpt. Klive added thoughtfully.

I hadn’t really considered what would happen regarding adventurers, I had rather naively assumed they wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything, or wander into the swamp to begin with. “If you will guarantee their behaviour and enforce my laws, then I suppose no more than five hundred would be acceptable for the time being.” I proposed. With The Destroyer and quite possibly a second Awakened running around out there, the small amount of danger represented by the additional human soldiers seemed like a worthwhile trade-off for a considerable buffer.

Cpt. Klive smiled, “Fair,” he agreed, “Don’t want to raise too many eyebrows by settin’ up too fast anyway,” Cpt. Klive chuckled, “What about payment for the base?” He asked eagerly.

“I suppose that depends on what you want,” I countered, “Walls and a decent foundation are probably a given. But fresh and clean running water costs extra.”

Cpt. Klive blinked in surprise, then grinned eagerly, “Freshwater you say?”

*****

Tobi gripped the handle of his borrowed bow tight and drew another arrow, “Hail Shot,” he mumbled, drawing back the bowstring and loosing the arrow. The moment the arrow left the bow, two slightly smaller arrows shimmered into being on either side of the first and sped towards their intended target. “Sure Shot!” Tobi muttered, nearly gasping as he felt the sudden surge of weakness wash through his body. Tobi was running incredibly low on mana and likely only had enough for one more augmented shot.

Following the path of the three arrows, Tobi grinned with grim satisfaction as they found their mark in the exposed flank of the giant reptilian monster attempting to clamber aboard the ship. A Hydra, that was what Clarice had called it, a fucking hydra!

Nearly large enough to occupy the deck all on its own, the twin-headed beast was coming dangerously close to capsizing the ship. Half the ship’s crew had already been killed or eaten, the poor Goblins having never stood a chance. Even Tobi was accomplishing little more than pissing it off. The Goblins weapons were simply not good enough.

The Hydra’s attention was currently upon Clarice herself, who was swinging and jumping through the rigging like a madwoman. She was bleeding pretty badly, but so was everyone else. Emelia had been knocked out cold by a swipe from the monster’s tail and Nadine had barely managed to drag her to safety before barring the doors below decks shut.

When the Hydra had first appeared, Tobi had been terrified and wanted to hide. But after it hurt Emelia...something had just snapped, and now he wanted it dead!

Shady was already harrying its legs, nipping at the Hydra’s underbelly when and where he could, before teleporting away and beginning the attack anew.

Tobi had wasted close to a dozen arrows trying to blind the Hydra by shooting it in its eyes, but the arrows had bounced off without doing noticeable harm. It was insane, because the iron arrowheads provided by the goblins were peppering the Hydra’s scales without any real problems.

*Crash*

Clarice barely managed to dodge the snapping jaws of the Hydra as its bulk splintered the mast closest to the front of the ship.

Cries of alarm and terror came from the ruptured deck, attracting the attention of all the fighters still left standing, and the Hydra itself.

Bellowing in hunger the beast’s heads snaked down towards the hole.

“Emelia!” Tobi croaked, fumbling for another arrow and lining up to take his shot, “Precise Shot!” he roared, drawing the arrow back as far as the bow would allow and then letting it loose.

The leftmost head of the Hydra turned its cold reptilian gaze on Tobi, hardly blinking as the arrow impacted with its eye and ricocheted away.

Tobi drew and fired another arrow, then another and another.

The Hydra opened its mouth wide and revealed several rows of sharp fangs.

*Thump*

There were more cries from below decks as the rightmost Hydra head attempted to force its way through the hole.

Movement from above caught Tobi’s eye and daring to glance away from the Hydra for half a second, he could barely come to grips with what he was seeing.

“DIE YOU FUCKER!” Clarice had launched herself off the crow’s nest on the remaining mast and was hurtling down towards the Hydra’s exposed back at impossible speed. With a splintered boom from the sails clutched tight in her arms, it was obvious what she intended to do with it.

Clarice’s sudden outcry got the attention of both the Hydra’s heads, but Clarice was moving too fast for either of them to really do anything about it.

*Shunk*

The impact shuddered through the deck and nearly knocked Tobi off his feet.

The Hydra roared in fury and pain, thrashing and splintering the few intact railings and slaying any goblins unfortunate enough not to get out of the way in time.

Clarice was unconscious, broken bones protruding from both her arms and her right thigh.

Shady suddenly appeared beside her in a cloud of shadowy smoke and launched himself at the leftmost hydra’s head. A half-second later, Beaky appeared and charged the rightmost head, shrieking at a pitch that made Tobi’s ears ache.

For the first time in the engagement, the Hydra balked, slowly backpedalling away from the relatively diminutive Shadowcat and off the deck.

“FUCK OFF!” Tobi ignored the pain in his arms and fired another arrow at the Hydra’s flank.

The remaining goblins began doing the same, hurling spears and firing arrows of their own. Those without weapons ran at the Hydra with teeth bared, howling and whooping like frenzied beasts.

Backing still farther away, the Hydra’s heads took in the situation for a few moments longer and then fled, rolling off the ship and into the river.

The ship rocked heavily to one side and Tobi lost his footing, sending him crashing to the deck and striking his head.

Dazed and feeling incredibly weak, Tobi tried to push himself to his feet, but couldn’t. The ship was spinning out of control and he couldn’t tell which way was up. Tobi barely managed to roll onto his side before a sudden wave of nausea caused him to empty the contents of his stomach down his front and onto the deck.

“Emelia...” Tobi groaned and tried to stand again. However, he lacked the strength and felt so very cold...

*****

The captain’s requests had been understandably few. Besides the briar walls, terraformed ground and running water to form a relatively defensible and self-sustaining base, he had only made one other request. Cpt. Klive wanted to store a beacon in the Grove, which I categorically refused. After he explained what the beacon was and what it did, it only made me more certain that my decision was the right one to make.

The beacon allowed soldiers bearing a matching mark to travel through an external portal and arrive in the beacon’s general vicinity, so long as the beacon was adequately charged. It was sort of like a reversed Ward, forcing the human soldiers to spawn in a specifically designated place. In fact, the more I thought about it that way, the more I was convinced that it was exactly how the Beacon worked.

Probing Cpt. Klive for more information. I was even more surprised to find that the humans had some sort of magical communication device that could transfer information back and forth between the outside world and inside of the Labyrinth, but also between the floors as well. He tried to bribe me with one, showing it off as the ultimate technology, but from what I could tell, it was a two way shared screen with leather-wrapped stylus.

Without someone on the opposite side and an army of scribes to transfer messages, it was almost worthless to me. Certainly not worth the colossal security risk of armed soldiers suddenly appearing inside Sanctuary. Not by a long shot.

In fact, now that I was aware of how the beacon worked, I was surprised to find that I could block its effects with the Barrier. Did that mean I could do the opposite as well? If myself or any of my people were to enter a portal from the outside, would that allow us to return straight to Sanctuary? If it did, that would be a fantastic escape route if anyone was captured and managed to slip away.

Explaining the situation to Hana, she more or less agreed with my judgement. Allowing the human army to have a presence nearby would come in useful if another Awakened tried causing trouble, even if they only served as an early warning of The Destroyer’s arrival.

To that end, Hana insisted on the prospective fortification being located between Sanctuary and the river, which would put the army on our eastern side rather than the south where they currently had their camp. The general idea was that she would simply make a second gate on the western side once the human territory was finished, allowing our hunters free rein on the western front and giving the humans control and responsibility for the east.

It wasn’t a terrible idea. It would mean that the captain would be responsible for all the adventurers that tried heading towards Sanctuary in the future. And would similarly be held responsible for any trouble the adventurers caused.

Even so, Hana still estimated that it would take the better part of a week without burning through a whole mess of manastones. Even with the manastones, she still insisted that it would take a few days and that she would need a dedicated escort to fend off monsters that would be drawn to her disturbing the area.

Normally, that would have been a completely reasonable request. However, since using the Daemons was out, that only left the Deep Orcs and Serpent-Kin, of which both groups were already pulling rather significant duties for Sanctuary. The best compromise I could figure, was that the hunting parties served as Hana’s guard detail. So long as enough monsters were agitated, I supposed it could work out well enough.

There was a silver lining of sorts, with a better handle on the ranking officer of the human’s army, I was reasonably confident that I could allow the Serpent-Kin and Deep Orcs to begin hatching eggs again. In fact, it would probably be better to start on that front again sooner rather than later. The strength and size of Sanctuary’s barrier was dependent on the number of bound citizens, not how old they are. So the more children Sanctuary had, the better its future prospects would be.

Lastly, I convened a meeting with Lash, Gric, Hana and Asra by the new partially completed mine entrance. I needed to know what exactly made dungeons so damn dangerous and whether it would be worth venturing inside of the one near Sanctuary, or collapsing the cavern to block it off forever.

‘Sorry Tim, I haven't heard of these ‘dungeons’ either,” Hana shrugged apologetically, her tall frame waving slightly in an imaginary breeze as she worked her magic.

Now having removed, and assumedly returned his borrowed Deep Orc armour, Gric seemed positively ecstatic at the news of the dungeon. “This is a fantastic opportunity Lord!” He exclaimed, “Dungeons hold artefacts and magical items of immense power! They are worth nearly any price to obtain! At your order, I will lead an incursion into the depths and retrieve all items of consequence for you my Lord!”

More than a little taken aback by Gric’s fervour, I looked to Lash and Asra for confirmation.

Lash had removed her helmet and was holding it in her free hand, so I could clearly see the conflicted expression on her face. “Dungeons are dangerous and valuable,” she agreed reluctantly, “Best if Daemons explore and die, but awakened dungeon will hunger and hunt if not defeated.”

Asra nodded emphatically, visibly terrified, “Taless of adventurerss entering dungeonss and letting loosse hordess of powerful and nearly unsstoppable ssoulesss are many...” He gulped hard and gave me a pleading look, “Pleasse Lord, bury thiss dungeon!”

Lash nodded in minor agreement, “Risk is too great,” she agreed.

Gric deflated somewhat, sighed deeply and nodded, “Forgive me Lord...I was excited...Their advice is sound. The dungeon should be buried until such a time as your army is strong enough to purge its denizens.”

To have a unanimous agreement like this, the dungeon must be incredibly dangerous indeed. “Alright, how do we collapse the cavern?” I asked, “That is, how do we do it without getting crushed to death in the process ourselves?”

“Easy,” Lash snorted with a grin and pointed at Gric, “Make Daemons do it.”

I smiled a little as I realised she had a point. Even if the Daemons were caught in a cave-in, provided we only used summoned copies, then it wouldn’t actually matter.

Lash then pointed down Hana’s new mineshaft for emphasis, specifically at Dar who could be heard deeper down clawing through the dirt and rocks. “Dar can bring cavern crashing down.” she stated simply.

Whatever changes Dar had made to his claws had turned him into a powerful digger. Assuming he could at least climb the walls as Qreet had, then it was possible Dar could destabilize the roof of the cavern and cause a wider collapse. Worst case scenario, he could just collapse the tunnel leading to the cavern.

“Well...We should probably handle it sooner rather than later, right?” I asked, doing my best to keep the disappointment from my tone.

"It is for the best...” Gric agreed with a grimace, as if the words pained him to speak aloud.

“For the best,” Lash agreed bluntly, nodding in such a way that it seemed like this was the only reasonable outcome.

Asra began letting out a deep relieved sigh, but suddenly stiffened in a panic as he realized his own necessary involvement in the plan. As our only Pact Binder, Asra was a mandatory member of the demolitions team.

In fact, our group would be close to identical to the one we entered with earlier. As loath as I was to bring Toofy and Ril into danger, I needed Toofy’s synergies for our team, just in case something went wrong or if we were ambushed again. Similarly, I needed Ril to look out for Toofy and keep her from trouble. Lash and I were obvious choices for nearly the same reason as Toofy. Our Class Abilities and synergies would be needed if anything tried escaping the dungeon before we could seal it off.

Stocking up on required supplies, mostly food and extra ropes, we descended Hana and Dar’s roughly formed tunnel and into the depths below. Anchoring and tying off a rope to help us return later, we climbed down the final twenty feet and entered the staging cavern.

Asra got to work almost immediately, nervously flinging out manastones and summoning copies of the Daemons from above. As summoned monsters, the first ten Daemons would generate and earn full Exp from any monsters they killed. The remaining fourteen bled over from the regular party limits and became part of my assigned retinue as the party leader. A phenomenally broken mechanic if ever I saw one, not that I was going to complain about it.

With the majority of Daemons eagerly roving ahead of us, and a selected pack of trusted elites covering the rear, namely Dar, Qreet and Gric, our journey through the tunnels and caverns was almost entirely uneventful. The daemons were ruthless, mobbing and feasting on any monster foolish enough to reveal itself. I honestly doubted that a BloodHunter swarm would accomplish much against the Daemons unless they were caught in a confining tunnel and buried beneath a literal tide of bodies.

For the most part, the few monsters remaining in the general vicinity seemed to get the message and had retreated from the area. Much to the Daemons disappointment. Being confined to Sanctuary since the arrival of the humans had obviously been stifling and they were eager for a fight.

As we were about to enter the tunnel leading to the cavern housing the dungeon entrance, Raithe and two other Daemons I didn’t know by name, came speeding down the tunnel, “Lord! A dungeon beast has escaped! We must kill it!” Raithe insisted excitedly.

“Escaped?!” Gric grinned wide, revealing his razor-sharp teeth.

Raithe nodded, “Indeed Underlord! And it is already wounded!”

The two other Daemons shared excited hungry looks with one another and licked their lips.

“Lord?” Gric looked to me for permission, “Such a beast will aid our growth immensely!”

I didn’t doubt it, “Alright,” I agreed, “But no suicide tactics!” We had a limited number of manastones with us and I would prefer not to have to make poor Asra burn through all of them just fighting one monster.

Gric and the other Daemons grinned wickedly at one another and raced down the tunnel, all except for Ril of course.

Slowly following along behind them, by the time we reached the cavern, the battle was in full swing.

What looked like a bloated and massively overgrown Spineback, with two serpents in place of a head, was locked in a deadly life or death struggle on the cavern floor a short distance from the lake at the centre of the cavern.

Dar and Qreet were clambering over its back, ripping and tearing with their powerful claws, biting down and swallowing chunks of the monsters still living flesh.

The ‘weaker’ Daemons were doing much the same, anchoring onto the monster's legs and tail, very nearly rendering it immobile as they gorged themselves on their prey.

For his part, Gric was actually rather reserved, lobbing boulders and rocks at the serpent heads, stunning them and preventing them from accomplishing any meaningful reprisal. “FEAST!” The light in the cavern dimmed briefly and I saw the pulse of Grics dark mana manifest and wash over the other Daemons, driving them into a greater feeding frenzy.

The monster trumpeted and roared in protest, looking longingly towards the lake. However, try as it might, the monster seemed incapable of dislodging the Daemons, or even moving in any meaningful way at all.

“Bad baby!” Toofy cried in anger.

I turned around just in time to see Ril sprinting towards the wounded monster, Toofy hot on her tail.

Damnit!

Sprinting after them, I was moderately consoled by the fact that the monster seemed to be weakening by the second. Unfortunately, Gric was relocating to source a fresh pile of ammunition. So the monster was now free to counterattack.

Snapping up one of the Daemons, the monster’s snakehead very nearly dropped it immediately, revealing the Daemon making a bloody mess of its tongue and mouth.

Unfortunately, the other head had found easier prey and darted at Ril. Before I even had the chance to try and do anything, the serpent's jaws had slammed shut around Ril and swallowed her whole.

“BABY!” Toofy screamed hysterically, leaping onto the serpent’s head, her shiv a blur of motion as blood poured from its eye.

The serpent flung Toofy away with a gurgling roar, sending her crashing into the cavern wall.

My blood ran cold and before I even realized it, my morning star was gripped tightly in my right hand and I was flying towards the serpent’s head.

*Thump* *Crunch*

Half blinded, the serpent misjudged its angle of attack, causing its nose to slam into my midsection, but not until after my morningstar pulped its eye socket.

Somehow keeping a grip on my morningstar, the momentum caused even more damage to the serpent’s face as I was thrown away.

Crashing to the ground, I sprang back to my feet and raced back towards the monster again, “KILL IT!” I bellowed, feeling the surge of mana leaving my body but only after strengthening and reinforcing it.

The Daemons collectively hissed, howled, roared and screeched their eagerness to obey.

The rightmost head of the monster bared its fanged maw to try and ward the Daemons away, but only managed to draw their ire instead, a half dozen daemons redirecting their efforts into wrangling its neck while inflicting as much damage as possible. The leftmost head was flailing and spitting up bloody bile.

“KILL! KILL!! KILL!!!” Toofy had streaked past me again and was scaling the monster's body, using a pair of shivs like climbing picks, determinedly headed for the leftmost serpent’s head.

Rushing after her, I laid into the monster’s body with my morningstar as best as I was able, losing myself in a haze of anger and bloodlust.

It wasn’t until the monster collapsed and a golden status alert appeared in front of my eyes.

[Toofy has slain {Dungeon Guardian: Hydra: 5 } +25000 Exp]

Blinking away my surprise, I lost track of the message, but vividly remembered what it had said. “Dungeon Guardian?” I muttered in shock, “Twenty-five thousand EXP?!”

“Where baby!” Toofy wailed nearby, pulling me from my shocked state.

I could see Lash animatedly hacking away at the rightmost neck of the dead Hydra and was about to join her when I saw a section of the Hydra’s neck move. “Over here!” I called out and pointed to the moving section of its neck.

Dar was first to arrive, anchoring his powerful claws into the scaly hide and snarling as he slowly ripped a hole through its hide.

To my immense relief and no small amount of horror, Ril wriggled free of the Hydra’s neck and into the light. She was soaked in blood, but despite a couple of tears in her sodden Tunic, Ril seemed perfectly fine. More than that, she was grinning from ear to ear and licking her lips with relish, glancing eagerly back at the exposed flesh of the Hydra.

“Baby!” Toofy knocked Ril down with a flying tackle, “Baby no leave Toofy!” she scolded, hugging Ril tight and sniffling.

“Sorry Mama...” Ril’s smile had faded and she seemed genuinely remorseful over her actions, although I noticed that her newly found remorse still didn’t stop her from eagerly licking herself clean.

Leaving the Daemons to their feast, I stepped back with Lash to ask her a few questions. “Do you know what a Dungeon Guardian is?” I asked, but made sure to keep my expectations appropriate to the fact that Deep Orc’s literacy was insufficient to read status alerts or quests.

Lash seemed lost in thought for a moment and surprised me with a tentative nod, “Stronger monster is said to patrol dungeon, keep weaker monsters in line,” she explained thoughtfully, “But is not the strongest monster. Strongest monster guards treasures.”

That sounded like both good and bad news, “So it's possible that with the Hydra dead-” I motioned to the dead Hydra, “-the other remaining monsters inside will begin leaving the dungeon?”

Lash nodded and shrugged, “I haven't seen a dungeon before,” she apologised, “Scouting dungeon less dangerous now,” Lash admitted in a conflicted tone.

I nodded as I considered what she meant. Without the dungeon Guardian wandering around, the dungeon would be relatively safer to explore before they sealed it away. Who knows, maybe it would be weak enough for them to kill the boss too? The Daemons didn’t seem to have any problems dealing with the Hydra, so it was possible...

Somehow, the Daemons had polished off everything but the largest of the Hydra’s bones and Toofy had stowed away some of those for later, including more than a few of the Hydra’s fangs...

Toofy’s most important find was a strange-looking jewel that had to be some sort of drop item like the iron ingots. Roughly the size of my thumb, the oval jewel had what seemed like a swirling vortex of water in its centre, the luminescent waters within shimmering with painfully obvious magical influences.

Of course, Toofy had handed the jewel off to Ril, who was now obsessed with it to such a degree that I wouldn’t be surprised if she began whispering to herself obsessively over how important it was to her, perhaps even naming it after that fact.

Most of the Daemons seemed unchanged, which was a little surprising, but perhaps that was because many of them already had reptilian traits. Taking a closer look at Ril, I quickly recognised a similar change in almost every other Daemon.

Ril had an almost completely translucent third eyelid, and judging by the way she was experimentally poking at it with her clawed fingers, I realized why the Daemons had judged it to be so valuable. Unlike the Deep Orcs, the Daemons didn’t have any armour or weapons. So they made full use of their claws and teeth. Unfortunately, biting other monsters brought their eyes incredibly close to their enemies' own natural weaponry. Armoured eyelids seemed like an incredibly valuable trait to copy.

Standing before the colossal entrance to the dungeon, I was curious as to how exactly the gates were meant to be opened. There was no sight of any handles or anything similar that would allow the doors to be pulled open, so I had to assume that the doors needed to be pushed instead.

Giving Gric and Dar, the two largest and heavily muscled Daemons the go-ahead, I watched with mounting trepidation as they bunched their muscles and heaved.

The doors opened with a near agonising slowness, the hidden hinges seemingly reluctant to allow the invaders entry.

Beyond the dungeon’s gate was the beginnings of a dark hallway. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any light sources inside, but the faint shadowy light from the luminescent fungi close to the entrance revealed rows of tall statues lining either side of the hall.

“Gric, do you see anything?” I asked, knowing that the Daemon’s eyes are far better adapted to the dark than mine.

Gric scanned the darkness for a few moments, panning his head back and forth, “Just statues Lord,” he called back with no small amount of confusion. “There is a much larger statue deeper within Lord, but I see no other exits or entrances besides this one, just more statues.”

That was incredibly suspicious. Moving closer to look at the statues closest to the doors, they looked oddly reminiscent of theocratic knights. Carved in such a way that they were depicted wearing robes and scapular over the top of what looked like plated armour of some kind, bearing staves, spears and all manner of polearms.

“Gric, I want you and a few of the Daemons to take some of the glowing fungi in there and spread it around so I can get a better look,” I ordered, “If the statues suddenly come alive, you have my permission to start trashing them,” I added, just to make it clear what I expected was going to happen.

Gric nodded, and motioned vaguely over one shoulder, causing Raithe and four other Daemons to begin hurriedly collecting luminescent fungi.

With a decent amount collected, Gric led the Daemons across the threshold. Rather anticlimactically, nothing happened and the Daemons continued into the chamber proper, distributing the glowing fungi here and there to somewhat light up the chamber.

The dungeon chamber was close to a couple of hundred feet in diameter, seeming to be roughly circular in dimensions and with a domed ceiling. Not that I could see that far into the darkness to be sure. It was far larger than I had expected it to be. Roughly dead centre was a larger statue that was more or less the same as the others, with the exception that it was nearly three times as tall and both its arms were empty, lowered and held out to either side while the serene face stared upwards towards the ceiling.

It was a shame really. If the arms had been held upwards rather than lowered close to its sides, it would have matched a popular meme from Earth...

“Lord?” Gric called out from within the chamber, “I detect no movement from the statues and sense no mana suggesting they will animate...”

I was about to tell Gric and the other Daemons not to let down their guard, but was distracted by Toofy suddenly crossing the threshold. She was making a beeline straight for the base of the largest statue in the centre of the room.

Damnit!

Glancing quickly back at Ril, I could see her beginning to panic as she hurriedly stuffed the magical jewel in her pocket and raced after Toofy.

Chasing after both of them, I kept a wary eye on the statues, “Looks like we are doing this!” I called back over my shoulder and nearly tripped as I saw the large double doors slam shut just as Lash nimbly dove through the gap.

Lash landed with a cacophonous clatter, the plates of her armour scraping and clanging against the rough flagstones.

“Adventurers!” A melodic and altogether androgynous voice called from seemingly everywhere at once, their voice echoing ominously throughout the chamber, despite the light and non-threatening tone. “You have submitted yourselves to the judgement of the Heavens! Should you prove pure of heart, riches beyond measure will be bestowed upon you. However...” The voice grew cold, “Should you prove unworthy, your lives will be forf-” the voice abruptly halted mid-sentence and there was the sound of a sharp intake of breath, “High heavens preserve us,” the voice gasped, “DAEMONS! PURGE THEM ALL!” The voice snarled.

I was wrong, the statues were apparently still just cold inanimate statues...However, a large shimmering portal appeared ten or so feet above the large statues head, a strange facsimile of a halo.

Within less than a second, a tall man in shimmering robes and plated armour descended through the portal, a spear outstretched in one hand and golden shimmering wings of pure light extending from his back. Directing his spear at the closest Daemon, the holy warrior released a howl of rage and charged.

Thankfully, the target of the holy warrior’s ire was Gric and he had kept enough of his wits about him to leap out of the way and even delivered a kick to the winged warrior’s back in the process, “ANGELS!” Gric roared with such contempt and loathing that it left my ears feeling fouled for having heard it.

The other Daemons howled in outrage, moving to engage the Angel.

Sensing his disadvantage, the Angel rose up towards the domed ceiling and out of reach, revealing that the ceiling was in fact about fifty feet tall at its highest point, making the chamber an almost perfect hemisphere.

Seeing that the Daemons were keeping the Angel at bay for the time being, I rushed over towards the statue to retrieve Toofy and Ril.

“Toofy stuck!” Toofy whined unhappily, her right arm very nearly buried to the shoulder in a hidden alcove in the base of the statue.

“Stuck how? What happened?” I asked, trying not to panic and keeping one eye on the portal above us. All I could see was a bright sky filled with silver and golden clouds.

Toofy pulled hard trying to dislodge her arm, “Toofy see shiny, Toofy try to get. Shiny won’t let Toofy go!” She cried, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

A sudden flash of light and blurred movement signalled the arrival of another angel, but Lash seemed to have been waiting for it, because a loud crash echoed from somewhere behind me a couple of seconds afterwards.

“Toofy you need to let it go,” I insisted, “We can find more shinies later, just let go, okay?” I could only imagine that inside the base of the statue, Toofy was determinedly holding onto an anchored thief trap of some kind. Like a monkey refusing to let go of the banana, her arm would remain stuck until she was caught or let it go.

“Can’t!” Toofy wailed in a panic, “Shiny won’t let Toofy go!”

Glancing upwards, I caught sight of three angels, two male and one, presumably female judging by the armour, joining the fray.

*Clang*

Lash managed to batter one of the male angels down to the ground and pin him beneath her boot while the remaining pair flew towards the ceiling alongside the other Angel, no doubt waiting for a numerical advantage before committing to an attack.

Noticing the lack of remains provided by Lash's previous victim, I realized just how much trouble we were in. The portal was Summoning Angels to fight us, so it was entirely possible that their numbers were limitless. Given I had no idea how much mana it took to summon Daemons or Angels, it would be far safer to move forward with the assumption that the portal could summon as many Angels as it wanted.

Recalling that the voice had said something about being pure of heart and proving worthiness, it seemed like a real dick move to ensnare Toofy like this. Her kleptomania was not maliciously motivated!

Noticing a small hole further along the base of the statue, I quickly pointed it out to Ril, “Try slotting that jewel into the hole!” I insisted urgently.

Ril nodded and hurriedly withdrew the jewel and pushed it into the hole. With her hand coming away empty, Ril looked at Toofy in a panic, “It fell in...” She croaked anxiously and gave Toofy’s arm an experimental tug.

Toofy flinched and hissed in pain.

Taking a quick look around, I could see that the three angels had now descended and were harassing the Daemons from a distance with their spears. Lash was standing close by and covering us the best she was able.

A sudden bright flash of light from the portal caught me unawares and blinded me for a handful of seconds before I managed to blink away the after images.

To my dismay, the portal had grown close to twice its original size and no fewer than seven Angels descended from the portal and rushed over to deal with Gric and the other Daemons.

The only conceivable silver lining I could see in this situation was that thus far, they had elected to leave Ril and Toofy alone.

Desperate, and unable to think of anything better to try, I got to my feet and tried shoving over the giant statue.

“Hey!” The voice called out angrily, “Stop that!”

Filled with confidence that not doing what the voice wanted was the key to resolving this situation as quickly as possible, I redoubled my efforts and felt the statue start to give.

“I SAID STOP THAT YOU BIG UGLY BRUTE!” The voice screeched in rage.

Lash dropped her axe and joined me, pulsing her Bastion ability and sending the four Angels that just crossed the portal tumbling through the air.

All at once, the statue gave out and crashed to the floor, snapping into more than five pieces.

“NOOOO!!!” The voice shrieked in outrage, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

Contrary to my expectations, the portal did not disappear. In fact, it seemed to be growing larger.

Furthermore, a nimbus of golden light had now formed above the portal and was slowly taking shape into a winged humanoid form. Armoured in the same ceremonial robes and shimmering plate and mail as the other Angels, the latest arrival did not have a helmet to conceal his delicate and admittedly feminine features. Waist-length shimmering golden hair flowed down his chest and back in effortless silken tresses as he trembled with rage, “YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS BLASPHEMY!” The Angel screeched materialising a silver spear from thin air and diving for Lash.

Knocking aside Lash at the last moment, I caught the tip of the Angels spear on my arm and felt a cold burning sensation as it tore through my flesh.

A quick Glance over Gric left me with little confidence that this fight was going in our favour. Two Daemons were badly wounded and just about on their last legs. Meanwhile, the host of Angels harassing them seemed unharmed.

As the Angel charged me again, he was buffeted aside as Lash activated her bastion ability again and hurriedly retrieved her axe. “Fight me! Coward!” Lash taunted with a feral snarl.

The Angel sneered contemptuously and flew slightly higher out of reach. Pointing his spear squarely at Lash, the Angel grinned malevolently, “Judgement!” The word reverberated through the chamber and Lash fell to the ground.

Rushing to her side, I pulled off Lash’s helmet to see what was wrong. Even though she was still breathing, Lash’s pupils were fully dilated and she seemed to be completely unresponsive. Gently slapping her cheek and roughly jostling her, I began to panic as I realised that whatever the Angel had done rendered Lash catatonic. “Lash!” Even though I didn’t expect it to work, her complete lack of reaction chilled me to the bone.

“Doesn’t feel good does it?!” The Angel taunted, “Ruining my trial will cost you all dearly!” He shrieked and lunged towards Toofy.

Letting Lash fall to the floor, I desperately scrambled to intercept the Angel, but I was too late.

*Shlink*

Unable to avoid the incoming attack, Toofy had been a sitting duck.

Ril stared balefully back at the Angel and tightly gripped the spear shaft lodged in her stomach, “Not my Mama!” She croaked painfully, crackling energy erupting from around the wound and causing Ril to gasp in pain.

“No...” The Angel gasped in horror, “Nononono! This is impossible!” His spear and armoured vestments suddenly vanished, sending the Angel toppling to the ground in an unceremonious heap.

Ril collapsed.

“BABY! NO!” Toofy howled in anguish dragging Ril close with her one free arm, “Toofy no mad at Baby. See?” She babbled, smiling awkwardly, “Baby just stop tricking Toofy! Kay?! Baby just wake up!” Toofy shook Ril’s limp body desperately trying to get a reaction, “Don't leave Toofy!”

“NOOO!!!” The soul-rending cry of anguish from the Angel shocked Toofy into silence. The ephemeral golden wings at his back had blackened to a mottled grey and so had his eyes. “There must be some mistake!” He demanded, shouting towards the ceiling, “I didn’t harm an innocent! She was just a Daemon! I couldn’t ha-OOF!” The Angel doubled over as if someone had struck him hard in the gut. “No...” he croaked, “I...I can fix this!” The Angel reached out towards Ril with his right hand, “Grace!” He cried, closing his eyes and smiling gently with a somewhat expectant expression on his face.

Nothing happened.

“What?...NO!” The Angel became enraged again, but I ignored it. Wadding up Ril’s tunic, I tried my best to stem the bleeding. Despite the wound looking like she had been badly burned, it was far from cauterised, her blood welling freely from the open wound.

“Status,” The Angel croaked.

“Ril, you just need to hold on alright. Everything will be fine, we just need to get you back to Sanctuary." I tried my best to remain calm despite how hopeless the situation seemed to be. Not bringing a Surgeon had been a colossal oversight on my part. To make things worse, Ril wouldn’t even be in this mess if I hadn't brought her and Toofy along in the first place.

“Nooo,” The angel moaned pitiably, “This isn’t fair!”

A sudden flash of anger refocused my attention on the enemy at hand, “YOU!” I snarled viciously at the Angel, “Even if you are just a summoned monster, I’ll make you regret this!” I gently laid Ril down next to Toofy, allowing her anguish to pass through me and feed my anger.

Gric and the Daemons had overpowered and disposed of the other Angels, so they took up flanking positions to stop the final Angel’s escape.

“W-wait!” The Angel stammered, “I can save her, just don’t kill me! I can make things right, I swear!”

“How?!” I growled malevolently.

The Angel gulped hard and winced, “F-fallen Grace,” he sobbed, pointing a trembling finger towards Toofy and Ril.

“What is that meant to-” The words died on my tongue as a ragged burned incision appeared in the Angel’s midsection and began weeping black blood.

“S-see?” The angel chuckled nervously towards the ceiling, “I c-can make it r-right!” He then promptly keeled over and collapsed unceremoniously to the ground.

It took a moment for what happened to fully register and begin making sense. The prospect of exchanging injuries was almost more than I can process.

Quickly returning to Ril’s side, I was relieved to see that the wound in her stomach was significantly smaller than it had been before, and appeared to have already stopped bleeding. Cradled tightly in Toofy’s arms, it came as another shock realising that Toofy had somehow managed to free her other arm.

“Lord?” Gric growled ominously, “What do we do with the Angel?” He asked with unconcealed animosity.

I was severely tempted to have the Daemons tear him apart, piece by piece, but looking over at Lash stayed my hand. Whatever the Angel had done, we may need him alive to snap Lash out of it.

“Stabilize his wound,” I hissed angrily, ripping off my tunic and throwing it in their general direction, “He has a lot to answer for...”

Gric grinned evilly and nodded, “As you will Lord.”

*****

Nadine staggered and nearly fell as the boat rocked from another strong wave. Having barely slept a handful of hours over the past few days, the battle against the Hydra had pushed her past the breaking point.

Completely out of mana potions and forced to improvise with the primitive materials on hand, Nadine had accomplished far more than she ever would have believed herself capable of. Even so, Clarice had nearly died.

With no MP left and no mana potions to restore it. The best Nadine had been able to manage was setting Clarice’s bones as best as she could and praying to the gods for a miracle. Unable to do anything to stop the internal bleeding, prayer had been Nadine's last resort, and she wasn’t too proud to admit that she had made more than a few promises to try and tempt the gods into intervening.

Nadine had held Vigil over Clarice and watched with ever-mounting dread and despair as her HP continued to slowly but steadily descend deeper into deficit. Nadine recalled how shallow Clarice’s breathing had become, how cold her hand felt within her own.

Then, just as all was well and truly lost, Nadine received her miracle. With a flash of golden light and the sudden appearance of a golden status alert, Clarice was given a second chance.

Somehow, Toofy, of all people, had tracked the Hydra down and killed it. The colossal EXP reward for assisting in the kill, pushed both Clarice and Nadine herself each into their next levels.

For Clarice, the level up gave her one additional point of Toughness, effectively staving off her demise with another three effective HP.

Even though Nadine didn’t gain MP for levelling up, she did gain another point of Willpower, and after another hour of damn near torturous waiting, Nadine regenerated the necessary MP to stabilize Clarice by using Field Dressing and accelerating her healing and restoring a chunk of HP.

The only problem now was that Nadine couldn’t bring herself to sleep.

Not that she didn’t trust the Forest Goblins, they had proven themselves to be genuinely helpful and trustworthy, but with everyone out of commission, and Ushu actively working to conceal their presence from the enemy army, Nadine felt that succumbing to sleep at this point would be tempting fate and everything would suddenly go horribly wrong.

Of course, with how heavy her eyelids were feeling at that particular moment, it may not be a question of if she would be going to sleep, so much as when.

“Land ahead! Land ahead!” Screeched one of the Goblins, immediately rousing Nadine to sudden, albeit grudging wakefulness. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but Nadine could tell that she was a special sort of tired you could only get if you were woken from a deep sleep. A cross between raw unmitigated fury and a touch of melancholy that would gladly let the world burn down for another minute of sleep.

Blearily acknowledging her replenished MP Nadine groaned and dragged herself to her feet. There was no shortage of patients in need of healing and she had both a job to do and a slew of promises to keep.

Staggering over to Clarice’s makeshift cot, an immense luxury under the current circumstances, Nadine double-checked that she had set the bones correctly, moved on towards the stairs and laboriously climbed up onto the top deck.

The fight with the Hydra had left the ship in dire straits, but Nadine tried not to think about it too much. The ship was someone else's problem. Shuffling stiffly across the deck to the mostly enclosed forecastle, Nadine found her next set of patients. Badly wounded while fighting the Hydra, the half dozen goblins sharing crude makeshift hammocks for warmth had been in rough shape as near as Nadine could remember.

With two MPs available to be spent, Nadine would once again have to decide who would live and who would be forced to survive on a hope and a prayer...