Chapter 30 - All good fights should have a nice buildup

I felt them instead of seeing them come. The instant that they neared my entrance, I was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of discomfort.

"What the fuck!"

When I was first invaded by the goblins, all I felt was a minor feeling of discomfort, like an itch you just couldn't scratch. Now it is like someone grabbed a pen and ruthlessly stabbed me with it.

As they progressed, I felt the area they were traversing seemingly reel away from the aura the adventurers were emitting, I wasn't losing my control over that area, but I could feel my own mana getting repelled by the auras of the adventurers.

"So it's begun huh?" An expressionless Penny said.

Goblin is pacing around the room, he had a pouch filled with several potions, though how effective they are is up to debate.

I can't gather mana in the rooms where the adventurers are, in fact, I can't gather mana anywhere in the first maze. Meaning I can't use edit and my vision of the area gets somewhat blurry, even some of my creatures have begun deviating from the paths I set them to patrol.

I used 1 DP and summoned a few weak spiders. Fortunately, it seems like I can still use DP

Going back to the adventurers, they have encountered one of my Mushroom People.

They lightly tapped it and it died...

...

...

"How's it going so far?" Goblin asked, suddenly breaking out of his trance.

"It's going... GREAT! IT'S FUCKING GREAT RIGHT NOW!"

Ignoring Goblin's and Penny's confused faces, I really want to go bury myself in a hole right now.

I really want to go kick my past self. Why didn't I just pick Ents!?

(3rd Person POV)

"Is that thing supposed to be threatening?" Asked a curious Rayes.

The group had encountered one of the mushroom people, and it is currently ineffectively hitting the team's pseudo tank, Clint. It's marshmallow like hands bouncing off the man's armor, though it continued to persist.

"It's kinda cute in a weak sort of way." Victoria assessed.

"Do we kill it?" Gordan asked, poking at the mushroom.

"It might be a useful ingredient," Sophia commented, also poking at the mushroom.

Suddenly, the thing deflated, leaving behind a puff of dust filled smoke.

Cough Cough Cough Cough

"Cough Cough Is it dead?" Gordan asked through fits of coughs

"Cough Ahem Looks like it,'' Rayes replied after clearing his throat.

"Well, that was disappointing," Sophia said after clearing her own throat.

She squatted down to examine the body, a hand over her mouth in case it spurts more gas.

"Let's grab it on our way back, doesn't look too valuable but let's get it checked by an appraiser just in case," Sophia said.

They continued their dungeon dive, the first section only had lesser slimes, mushroom people, and the occasional wandering ant. Needless to say, it wasn't too difficult.

After less than an hour of exploring the maze, they reached the first boss door.

Sophia went ahead and place her hand on the door, her eyes shut in concentration.

"I can't sense the mana in the next room, it's probably a separate space. So it might be a boss room," Sophia said after a while.

"Gordan, buff us up, Sophia get a spell ready just in case, Rayes and Victoria be on the lookout and Clint and I will be in front." Jane relayed her instructions and the group quickly got in order.

Clint placed his hand on the door, slowly pushing it open, getting a full view off the area inside first, before stepping in.

The rest followed and soon they were all in the Boss room.

The room was divided into two halves, the half that they entered through had no plants, whereas the opposite half was absolutely teeming with various types of herbs, bushes, and grass.

Before long a centipede skittered its way out of the cover of various plants.

Coming into the middle of the room, it's front half rose and suddenly they entered a stalemate.

"Rayes, Sophia?" Jane asked her teammates suddenly.

"Probably a guard type, the herbs behind it should be what its guarding. Doesn't look magical." Rayes replied after analyzing it briefly.

"No significant mana disturbances around it, probably doesn't rely on spells, shouldn't be past Bronze Rank," Sophia replied.

Suddenly, the centipede struck, it had stopped before because it sensed that the enemies were strong, but it could not hold back it's aggressive nature, or it's programming to defend the dungeon.

It flew towards the nearest target, a heavily armored titan, but before its jaws could make contact with the giant. It was repelled by a golden glow.

Before it had time to recover, a knife flew and accurately hit it between two joints, followed by an arrow which embedded itself in its armor and an icicle locking its movements.

Half a second had passed since the arrow was launched, yet the archer already had another arrow nocked, the witch already had another spell ready and the thief even had the spare time to juggle a second throwing knife.

The boss was writhing on the ground, a good piece of it frozen and the area around the knife was bleeding a green slime.

It was an easy target, any follow-up attack could end it, yet they all stopped short of throwing the killing blow.

"Be careful guys, the more information we bring back the better we're paid," Gordan warned.

"We know," Rayes replied catching his knife.

Sophia was holding onto her spell and could not talk. Victoria was fully concentrated on her arrow.

"Sophia slow it down more just in case, Clint throw a rock at that herb patch to see if you can trigger a guard ability."

Sophia released her spell, now half of the centipede had completely frozen, the remaining half was ineffectively trying to drag its frozen body around, however, its heavy armor now worked against it and the lack of usable legs to share the weight had it completely immobilized.

Clint picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the herb patch. The centipedes struggling suddenly became more violent before it lifted its frozen half and smashed it into the ground.

Completely shattering the ice, the centipede rushed towards Clint, its speed seemed to have doubled from before and it began violently bashing into the golden forcefield. Within a few hits, the divine shield was completely shattered.

However, Clint was prepared, the second the shield fell, he hit it with his Warhammer, throwing it several meters back.

The centipede stubbornly pulled itself back up. Part of its exoskeleton had completely caved in due to the hit.

Despite that, it charged at the nearest enemy, completely ignoring its wounds. Yet before it could even move another meter, a barrage of spells and arrows hit it. Before it was cut cleanly in half by a blade.

The separate halves quickly dissipated, leaving behind a shell and a bottle filled with a light blue liquid.

The group relaxed, despite the boss being somewhat weak. Their experience as adventurers made them tense throughout the entire fight.

"A piece of its shell and a potion?" Rayes said surveying their loot.

"Shell, tough," Clint said.

Sophia took the potion from Rayes, before pouring a drop onto her fingertip and tasting it.

"It seems like an ice element resistance potion. Pretty low tier, about 70-80% impure." Sophia said giving her verdict.

"Pity it didn't have the potion while it was fighting," Rayes commented.

"No, it had some resistance against my attacks, the fact it was still able to move and shake off the ice is proof of that," Sophia said.

"The shell managed to stop my arrow from piecing it too, it's actually pretty tough if you think about it," Victoria said as she picked up a few of the reusable arrows.

"Sophia go check that garden too, Clint go with her in case there's still something left," Jane said.

"Lets see here, bramble root, night flower, blue shade, derry berries...." Sophia was calling out the names of the herbs as she found them.

Gordan had long pulled out a notebook and was listing the characteristics his comrades had described, the boss drops they acquired and the herbs Sophia found.

"Nothing left!" Sophia said, returning to the group with Clint.

"Exits over there," Sophia pointed to a corner obscured by plant life.

The group decided to rest for a moment, before continuing on.

Opening the door, the continued their dungeon dive.

"Stop," Suddenly, Rayes who was leading signaled them to a stop.

From a pouch on his belt, he pulled out what seemed to be a lockpicking set, he then slowly inched closer to a small hole in the wall.

Using the hilt of his dagger, he hit the ground and the wall, checking for a mechanism that could trigger a trap. Seeing that the coast was clear, he proceeded to right next to the hole, before using an L shaped tool and poking inside of the hole, finding no reaction, he pulled out a longer tool and inserted it until he eventually hit something, searching for a solid that could indicate an arrow or dart. He couldn't find any, the tip of the tool hit the end of the hole and after a few more pokes, he determined that it was just a normal hole.

"Alright, let's continue." Rayes finally said.

They continued on, turning a corner before finding that it was completely littered with holes.

"Dammit..." Rayes said before pulling his tools out again.

He carefully checked about half of the holes seen, before getting bored at continuously finding nothing. For the rest, he just checked for activating mechanisms before moving on.

They continued in relative peace, not finding a single monster or plant, just some fungi on the ceiling softly glowing, illuminating the dark.

They went undisturbed for several minutes.

Tap Tap Tap Tap

Suddenly, the corridor was filled with the sounds of tapping.

It had sensed food.

Of greater quality than it had ever encounterd.

It 'hungered' for the food it sensed.

It called all of its minions.

Those that were in the green jungles,

Those that dove deep in the caves.

They all stopped and came running back.

Gathering with it.

It merely pointed in the general direction.

And they all went.

Tap Tap Tap Tap

A drop of yellow liquid fell on Rayes' shoulder and soon more and more fell.

"GORDAN DIVINE SHIELD NOW!" Rayes shouted with urgency. He felt a slight numbness where the drop landed and as more and more drops began to fall, he didn't want to take his chances.

Gordan was already chanting the spell and before long, a hazy golden glow surrounded the group, it slightly shimmered everytime a drop fell on it, but the drops just flowed towards the floor.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

The tapping seemed to intensify before suddenly, a black shadow fell onto the barrier.

It was an ant, and it seemed to have triggered a chain reaction. As suddenly a blanket of ants were falling from holes in the ceiling.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

An ungodly amount of ants crawled from every hole, every crack, every small opening there was. The brown dirt walls now seemed completely black, as millions of ants now filled every part of this corridor. The warm glow from the glowing fungi now completely covered with rustling legs.

The ants recklessly launched themselves at the barrier before getting repelled, yet the force wasn't enough to kill them as they began gathering on the floor, nibbling at the barrier.

The adventurers were dumbstruck at the scene before them. Cold sweat began flowing as they fully realized their current predicament.