Chapter 20: Tunnel Battles

Idmon and his small group came down from the ceiling and discussed what would happen next.

I hatched a plan for getting out of here. I wore light armor and a cloak. I also have my trusty spear and shield, so movement would is not slow in these tight tunnels.

Since I believe that we won’t be able to carry these stout dwarves up to the ceiling, we need to go out the hard way. We are facing a goblin army.

Idmon: “(t) How many do you estimate is their number, Dolf?”

Dolf: “Around 300, and 100 coming from inside the walls waiting to ambush us.”

Idmon: “(t) How about a map? Do we have one for this place?”

Dolf: “Yeah, we dwarves are good at mapping so, here.”

He showed me a map with an accurate layout of the area. I think we have a way out now.

Idmon: “(t) We will go out of the south entrance.”

Dolf: “What? That is where their main force is!”

Idmon: “(t) Then we break them, and we force ourselves through.”

He looked at me in disbelief but decided not to complain anymore.

Lina went up to me. She was carrying a staff right now. I had her bring the equipment we had on our journey. This staff that one that could send out Icy Orbs.

Lina: “(t) What are our chances?”

Idmon: “(t)70 out of a hundred, I would say.”

She then went back to the corner, pouring energy into storage crystals that we also brought.

I gathered the group after we finished the preparations.

Idmon: “(t) Me and Dolf will handle the frontline of this group while the magic casters and archers will protect the miners and support us from afar. Are we good?”

They nodded, and the miners also nodded, albeit reluctantly.

We destroy the rocks blocking the door and start our plan.

Groups of goblins were waiting outside. They were surprised that we opened the door from the inside.

!

Lina went ahead and started the battle. The orb went to the center of the enemy group and froze them instantly.

Dolf and I went ahead and crushed the frozen goblins.

Dolf: “Amazing…”

Dolf was amazed at Lina. Frozen enemies were crushed under the weight of his heavy axes.

We moved forward.

The attacks that poured on us were intense. Goblins, in groups of 20, always attack us from all directions.

Luckily, the miners can also protect themselves so our casters and archers can provide ample support.

There was also a battle that the enemies came out from two tunnels; the action took place in an intersection.

Dolf held one of the tunnels with Lina as support, and I kept the other pathway secured with a skeleton mage as support.

My mage sent out fireballs and quick succession thinning out the horde.

The goblins were weak and usually lined up, so when I use , it kills multiple goblins.

Also, multiple arrows coming from my archers behind us helped out a lot.

Now we would go left as the map said this path would lead us south.

Dolf and Lina did an excellent job holding out, and Lina made an behind us to keep the goblins behind from catching up quickly.

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Onwards. A few battles here and there. After an hour of fighting, we arrive at the south entrance.

The dwarves have a surprisingly large amount of stamina in their bodies. However, the escape has one more obstacle.

There was a shield wall of 10 hobgoblins and around a hundred goblins.

The weird thing is, there is this fat goblin that rode on a wolf. It looked like a commander.

Goblin Wolf Rider: “Harhar! You decided to the south then! I dunno if you guys knew, but you were supposed to go north and die by traps. Still, either way, you die!”

I knew it. Not putting any guards to the north exit of this tunnel complex is stupid unless there are traps.

Hmm. The problem is, I didn’t expect them to be this many. They even have 10 Hobgoblins!

Idmon: “(t) Any ideas? Dolf?”

Dolf: “I say we go straight for the commander and cut his ‘ead off.”

Morale huh. Killing the leader would make the stupid goblins lose heart.

“(t) Go ask for a duel against the leader.”

“What?”

“(t)It’s much easier that way than fighting all these troops.”

“Okay, anyways. Never lost to a goblin in a single fight, so this would be a piece of cake.”

He took out his dual axes and adjusted his dwarven helmet for single combat. He is changing the helmet to narrow the line of sight and avoid distractions.

This action might be weird to others since he would have lots of blind spots, however to Dolf, its a talent of his.

Dolf: “Oi, fat goblin! Fight me in a duel!”

Goblin Wolf Rider: “You’ll get yours, little dwarf! Hobgoblin! Fight this guy!”

Instead of the leader, a hobgoblin went to fight Dolf.

Dolf: “Get on with it!”

Hobgoblin: “Warghh!”

The hobgoblin charged Dolf, and from my position, Dolf looked like he was pummeled on the first hit.

Goblin Wolf Rider: “HAHA!”

The leader laughed out loud. But it was too early for that.

The hobgoblin raised his club. Dolf blocked it with his axes and stood firm.

He then went for the knees, hitting both of them with each of his axes.

The hobgoblin kneeled.

Then Dolf cut its head off.

“W-what!?”

Dolf is good. He took that guy down by himself. He also has good weapons, cutting the hobgoblin skin quickly.

Dolf: “Next! You fatty!”

Goblin Wolf Rider: “ORGH!!!”

The goblin leader charged Dolf while on a wolf.

Dolf took the charging head-on and targeted the wolf while avoiding the crude battle-ax of the goblin leader.

It was a swift move you wouldn't expect from a dwarf.

“Ooofff!”

The goblin leader crashed onto the ground after his wolf died.

Dolf: “HURRAH!”

Dolf charged at him, aiming to end the battle early.

TINKKK!

The goblin leader blocked his axes with his armored hand.

Goblin Wolf Rider: “Don’t think it’s that easy, dwarf!”

Then he punched Dolf, sending him flying a few meters away.

Does that goblin have better equipment? How did they get a hold of that? Goblins can’t smith better than an amateur.

Miner: “It’s the armor of a fallen dwarf hero.”

A dwarf told me this while I was wondering where the armor came from.

Miner: “The hero’s name was Dorf, who is also Dolf’s brother.”

You could determine which hero originally wore an armor by looking at the letters inscribed unto the chest armor. It seems that Dolf only realized this after taking a look properly.

Dolf then went towards the goblin leader, rushing. He seems to be filled with anger as he unleashed a flurry of swings.

Tink! Clank!

Even when hitting the enemy multiple times, Dolf was not able to pierce its armor.

Goblin Wolf Rider: “Hahaha!”

The goblin then kicked him in the stomach, making him kneel in pain.

“Aren’t you angry, dwarf? Don’t you want revenge? HAHAHA!”

The goblin kept kicking Dolf, who was facing down, taking the hits without covering himself.

I wanted to go in, but a dwarf miner held me back.

Miner: “Don’t. It’s Dolf's fight.”

Then Dolf raised his face. His eyes were red. He dropped his axes and lept towards the goblin leader.

“ARHHHHGGG!!!!!!! YAHHHHH!!!”

He punched the goblin leader!

The leader went down from the force of the punch, and Dolf positioned himself on top and kept punching the helmeted face of the goblin.

Punch, punch, punch.

After a few seconds, blood was coming out of the helmet.

It was so dented that the goblin died because the helmet pierced into his head.

A lot of the goblins in the surrounding suddenly charged Dolf.

Goblin Wolf Rider: “RAGHH!!!”

He was fighting them off with his bare fists! He swung here and there, sending the goblins flying.

Then two hobgoblins went to join. As the club of the hobgoblins descended on Dolf, he did not dodge. He received the attack with his arms and the other attack with his back.

When I thought it was his end, he went even faster and stronger.

He picked up the axe from the ground that he dropped earlier and planted it on the face of the hobgoblin.

It fell. And Dolf turned around, took the next hit of the remaining hobgoblin, and took the club away.

He swung the club in a spinning manner, and when it hit the hobgoblin, its head went flying.

Dolf: “AHHHH!!!”

After that shout, Dolf dropped down motionless. He must have spent every last drop of his strength.

Miner: “Hurry! Let’s back him up!”

The dwarves hurriedly went to his side.

We bombarded the other goblins that were trying to approach with our spells, and Lina did an excellent job putting at strategic points slowing the enemy attack.

!

As a small group jumped on me, I electrocuted them to death.

Idmon: “(t) How is Dolf doing? And what was that? Is that some ancient spell?”

Miner: “Dolf is a berserker. Just like all from his bloodline. A hero’s bloodline.”

They explained to me that being a berserker meant that the more wounded you are, the faster and stronger you get, but it’s like running towards death when you continue to fight like this.

Idmon: “(t) Can he recover?”

Miner 2: “Don’t worry, we’ll take him home, and he’ll be fine. Berserkers also heal quickly to compensate for their fighting style.”

Miner 3: Yep, that is why he is our only bodyguard.

Hmm. Amazing.

A few exchanges here and there. After that, the remaining goblins left, and the hobgoblins ran away in random directions. They were already scared after the loss of their leader.

I asked the skeleton mage of my group to go back to Bon and continue his operation here in this cave tunnel.

He put on a cloak and went out quickly.

Also, during this encounter, I felt an enormous surge of energy flow into me. I wonder what it is. I was glowing purple now.

I decided to sit and read the monster registry that I brought with me everywhere I go.

During this time, the dwarves are tending to Dolf’s wounds, and I had the skeleton archers and Lina get the valuables from the enemy corpses.

Hmm.

Skeleton Officer.

Possible Evolutions:

Skeleton Captain, Skeleton Knight, and other variations may exist.

Signs of Evolution: An undead glow purple when it reaches its evolution point.

Woah! The feeling that I have was a pre-evolution power surge.

So how do I go about this? Do I like shout Skeleton Captain? Or like pray to the lord of the underworld?

While thinking of ways how to do it, I knew that I want to be a Skeleton Captain. I need it to lead our men better.

So, I focused and meditated on the words. “Skeleton Captain”

A magical circle appeared from under me, and I went through a drastic change.

I grew a few feet (2 or 3) taller, and my bones look a bit dark now.

The color was somewhat gray. And I had this thin purple aura surrounding me.

Ohhhhh.

Nice.

I looked under the Skeleton Captain article then.

Skeleton Captain.

Description:

“The next stage of the Skeleton Officer. Tougher and hits harder than the officer. It also has a low-level strengthening aura for undead nearby, which also heals them for a small amount over time. Are found to be more intelligent than stronger varieties of Skeletons at this level.”

I did not read the other descriptions as I was excited to see the skills.

Skills:

(various), (various), (weak), , , and .

Command? What’s that?

I looked it up in the book. It said.

“A skill which allows users to command all undead which has a lower level than the user. It does not apply to undead, which is already under the command of another user.”

Ohhh. I can command feral undead now.

How about passives?

Passive Skills:

, , , , and .

Not bad, not bad.

I walked towards the Skeleton Archers, which also glowed purple, just now.

I meditated the words “Skeleton Marksman” in my head while I have my hands over them.

They evolved in the same matter as me. The archers looked a bit more menacing now with their new appearance and new skills.

The dwarves watched us, amazed at our sudden changes.

Dolf: “What are you guys? Are you really undead?”

Idmon: “(t) We are, my friend.”

He gulped. The other dwarves just stared in disbelief.

After resting for the sake of the dwarves and Dolf, We moved on towards the Dwarven City.