Archmage Jacob's watched the soldiers getting ready for the final assault with cold eyes, these men go by the name of "The Crimson Company" a nickname he heard bragged about endlessly on the way here, consisting of 100 elite soldiers they received the moniker after the battle of Drognalton, where the Company was reduced to less than a squad after they were surrounded by the enemy, only 5 members made it out of the encirclement, completely red with blood and it was impossible to tell whose it was at that point, theirs or the enemy's.

Jacobs found the constant bragging to be crude and could not wait to as far away as possible from these peasants, he turned back around and pretended to pay attention to the meeting with the Company Leader and the Adventurer guilds Leader (whom the Author forgot his name).

The company leader discussed plans with the other man and tried to formulate a plan, his inexperience in dungeons rapidly became apparent to everyone here, most of his plans revolved around creating siege equipment and slowly grinding his way through, however, each of his plans was shut down by the guild leader, the first by the winding ant tunnels he was informed about from his master.

After an hour of debate, they finally agreed on a course of action, the main force would keep a simple formation around the mages and healers, with the addition of a small elite force following behind them, fondly referred as the cracker by the company leader, if they were ever surrounded this small force would push in from the outside to open the way while the main force focused on defense, but if the cracker was better used to attack a ranged contingent they would move autonomously and split off from the main force, So this group consisted of people with strong specialisations for killing mages or speed.

Jacobs thought the whole idea was ridiculous for dungeon warfare but kept his mouth shut, the more men that died the less he would have to kill he thought to himself silently. He was offered a substantial reward for his services, an Archmage from the rival kingdoms famous Arcane University fetched a high price in any country in addition to his 2 subordinates that follow him.

However, Jacobs ambition was greater than any position of servitude, he lusted after the dungeon core to improve his magics and with these new found powers he would recreate a kingdom run by the superior mages, a Magedom.

One of the Dutchys would be sacrificed for this endeavor but Jacobs could not care less for the well-being of the unenlightened. Now as these men schemed to take the core he schemed to take the core for himself, he studied at the guild leader in an attempt to find a weakness of the only man he considered a threat, Jacobs could feel the mans power radiated from him, although not as powerful as his own but, dark magic is hard to deal with because of how unpredictable such magic is. Jacob thought to himself "if he is still alive as a dark mage with those fanatics running about, then his combat abilities must be quite seasoned and the fact he doesn't hide what he is shows he won't hesitate to take an enemy's life".

Just as they were finishing their preparations a rogue with a peculiar gait walked up to the dark mage and whispered something into his ear causing him to frown, he then turned and asked Jacobs "you can teleport us out once the dungeon is dead right" with a questioning gaze, a devious smile hid itself under Jacobs facade as he found an opportunity, he leisurely spoke "of course, but only when the dungeon no longer holds power over this domain" as his mind rapidly spun the possible ways he could turn this to his advantage, while he was thinking he was asked "how many can you teleport".

Jacobs could barely contain his passive face as he responded "10 of us normally, however, if I use the core several hundred would be an easy feat", the man sharpened his gaze on Jacobs unbeknownst to him, then ordered the company leader to start the operation.

The company leader observed his men then asked his captains "where are all the red shirts?" The highest ranked captain saluted and spoke powerfully "The initiates have gone out to hunt in the dungeon for experience", after thinking for a moment the leader ordered "tell them they failed and to find a different company, I don't need men who have no sense of time when they return", the captains remained unfazed by this because they were used to their leaders harsh recruitment standards, some promising recruited were failed for arbitrary reasons all the time.

The ground shook with every step taken by the soldiers in unison, they pushed a small amount of mana through the ground every step they took, not enough to deplete their mana faster than they recovered it, but it was an effective tactic to affect morale before the battle begun.

Soon they arrived at the Obsidian door, then suddenly their stomping seemed ridiculous compared to the mental attack the door exuded from its mere existence, many men froze at the sight of it upon recognising this as the gates of hell, the carvings on the door left a deep impression on all the soldiers unused to fighting monsters and less experienced with fighting the nightmares that appeared on the door.

detecting his men's moral being cracked the company leader roared out commands and the soldiers reflexively stood at attention, which tore the attention of the soldiers off the horrific images but, just as they seemed to recover the images on the door started moving, startling everyone, the monsters began separating from the door gradually.

Fear spread across the company, the smell of urine and something even fouler pervaded the air. When the men were gripped by terror suddenly screams were heard from the outer edges of the group, the men in the middle could not see the ambushing Panthers that attacked suddenly only worsening their anxiety. Then an enormous armored boar charged through the sides of the formation and the only thing those in the middle could see were armored men being sent flying with crushed plates and crooked limbs only causing their terror to worsen.

However, the army did consist of competent soldiers so after taking serious casualties they managed to kill the beasts and regain a semblance of order.

Disgusted and annoyed Jacobs looked to a seemingly empty space of air then suddenly sent a bolt of lightning through it.

A soft scream was heard as a small figure fell out from the air and landed on the ground lifeless, its wings burnt to ashes from the heat, then the images on the door suddenly returned to their stone state, followed by a yell from the company leader telling his men it was just an illusion.

The guild leader did not miss the inaction of Jacobs, but he only snorted and continued to save his strength.