The young witch in my arms was breathing only faintly. From where I stood, I saw those mages that had attacked her. Filthy creatures, they had used crossbows to attack someone fleeing.

‘Goblins, prepare for retreat.’

My duty was clear, it wasn’t to attack these things. I could feel the itch of evil coming off of them as they gathered and marched towards me.

I heard a ragged whisper. My eyes widened as I realized it was the young witch, ‘Don’t get too close to them… touching shadow… worse… death…’

The lady had passed out… what was that about? She was trying to warn me.

By this point I had already moved a significant distance away. These were mages, thus couldn’t compare in the slightest to my movement speed. However…

‘Kreeuk!’

I looked back to see… one of my goblins attacking the rest of the group? This wasn’t right! What had happened?

‘Fall back! Full retreat! Run!’ I bellowed as loud as I could at them. We didn’t know the situation and they had some strange power… so we ran.

The mages were slow, they didn’t run after us but they hurried along into the dungeon. Finally, when I had them out of sight I ducked to the side and ran under the cover of one of the secret rooms. They were hidden with a combination of tricky scenery and magic making them difficult to discover.

What about my goblins?

‘Master, something is wrong, I saw one of the goblins attacking the others.’

I couldn’t understand it. My goblins, being attacked by one of your own is tough. The goblins I took with me this time hadn’t yet evolved into hobgoblins. The other hobgoblins were preparing the defenses.

‘Tolk, bring the girl down to the crystal room quickly, she needs treatment.’

I was hurrying quite fast already but I grit my teeth and tried to move a little faster. The girl in my arms wasn’t bleeding heavily but she wasn’t waking up yet either.

‘Tolk, that group of goblins that went with you. I’m afraid they’re all dead. Those mages, they call themselves shadowmancers, well not a single goblin escape. As soon as they got close, they… got possessed? We need to know more about them, so that adventurer in your arms is the key.’

Five goblins, lost instantly? Were they dead? Damn it! I told them to run!

I knew my duty, I had to bring the girl to Alex, what we needed was information.

‘They’re called… the Shadow Brotherhood. They are a medium sized group in the city…’

When we got to Alex, the little water witch was stirring. Some of the squirrels had come by and helped take out the crossbow bolts and applied herbs as a poultice. One of the hares was watching over her using [Healing Light].

As she woke up, Alex started asking questions. She handled it all surprisingly well, she looked around scared at first as anyone would be surrounded by a group of strangers. Not to mention Max and Levine a bit further in the distance who were fully decked out in equipment and looking at her grimly.

‘The shadowmancers… what they practice is a type of eldritch mind magic…’

She stuttered nervously while she spoke.

Shadowmancers were a class of mages from the Path of Corruption. They… were related to necromancers but didn’t have the public revulsion apparently. I couldn’t understand why, their powers were similar, and equally vile.

From what I could understand, they would use their magics to capture the shadow of a person. And basically if they caught your shadow, you were a goner. They paralyzed you once they had your shadow, then extracted your soul, trapping it inside the shadow. The remaining body becomes a puppet while the shadow becomes a shadow wraith… and both were under the complete control of the shadowmancer.

This was an absolutely terrifying way of combat.

‘They… they told us that those they used their mind magic on were only temporarily under their mind magic. Everyone was fooled but we at the adventurer’s guild know better!’

The shadow and the puppet can recombine, becoming something called the ‘Shadowspawn’ or ‘Shadowless’ even though they have a shadow… they were so named because their shadows moved in a different way compared to the body. When they are like this, they regain some of the memories and personality… but they were just more advanced puppets, dancing on a string moved by the shadows.

‘They do have one weak point though. They aren’t good at physical combat. To attack me they had to use crossbow bolts and even then most of them missed.’

Unfortunately we couldn’t allow her to rest even when she was injured but we tried to question her as quickly as possible.

‘Little water witch, you have signed a contract with the dungeon. Do you know what this means?’

‘Yes sir, I offered all of my being to the dungeon… and the dungeon saved my life. I will be loyal.’

‘What is your name? Your rank?’

‘My name is Starla, I am a Rank E Water Witch… um I am from the Water Sparrow Birdman tribe.’

‘Welcome to the dungeon Starla. My name is Alexander, the dungeon master.’

I watched as Tolk helped the healing team carry Starla away so she could rest. The questioning had been quick, but even then the mages had made it to the 6th room. After the first group of goblins were attacked, I ordered everyone into the secret rooms.

Shit, I never imagined something like this. These bastards were practically invincible in close quarters because if your shadow got too close to them, they could capture it! Who needs close quarters fighting ability with such an insane power like that?

I needed to focus! To think! There is no absolute power, even the gods that played around with us had their weaknesses.

I was watching the progress of the shadowmancers. They had turned the group of goblins into puppets and brought their group along with them as they moved deeper.

Formidable. These were a tough group to fight.

And they were smart, they had possessed the adventurers in the first cave and made it so look like nothing had happened. They might be able to fool the adventurers…

Expect the best but prepare for the worst. A motto I live by and force the dungeon folk to live by.

I went to closer to observe them using my dungeon’s sight. The dungeon map was an incredible ability that gave me an absolute oversight in my dungeon, acting as an unparalleled scouting ability, but somethings are better in person.

So I went to observe them so that I could figure out their weaknesses.

This dark mage group was hurrying along. Apart from the leader, the others were all gasping for breath. Obviously they weren’t in good physical condition.

First weakness, poor physical ability. Must be skill-dominant.

As they moved through the rooms, the leader would pull out a dark reddish purple orb. He would inject mana into it and the orb would disintegrate… after which there was a dark red light that shot out into the room. The purpose of that light seemed to be to reveal traps, as the leader would then walk swiftly in a certain pattern to cross the room with the others stumbling behind him.

That isn’t to say they got away clean, one of them set off a pit fall trap and would have fallen if two of his compatriots didn’t grab hold of him to pull him back. Another set off an arrow trap getting an arrow in his arm. A third collapsed a ceiling fall trap which crushed his legs. The leader was strict and cruel… he straight up abandoned the third one who couldn’t keep up.

Weakness number 2, poor defensive ability, no healing ability.

I observed the one that had been abandoned by the others. He looked around fearfully as he pulled out potions from his robes. I gave a quick message to Eva’s squirrel team. These guys had gone through some… special training.

As the mage was about to drink, there was a blur as something moved behind him. Then quick as a flash, a glint shone briefly, appearing by the mage’s throat… then red started to spurt out… his heart beating itself to its own death. I had a grim smile. There is no mercy for those I deem my absolute enemies.

Third weakness, no preparation for surprise attacks.

A ‘Shadowmancer’ has been killed by an inhabitant of dungeon

You have gained 5 dungeon points

Oh, a different message? Shit, I can earn dungeon points this way? I’ll have to look at it later. I got an achievement message as well but I put it away so that I could focus.

I went back to observing the whole group. They had reached the area where the slimes were thickest. Slimes are the weakest of the monsters that I could summon, so it was surprising to me that they actually got a held up a bit by the slimes. I could see some of them doing strange motions with their hands in front of the slimes… was their power not working?

They eventually got their puppet goblins to attack the slimes. Meanwhile I felt like laughing. These fuckers! This was hilarious. Their ability to instantly kill anyone they got close to by extracting their soul was incredible, they could beat pretty much anyone the same rank as them or maybe even a rank higher if their opponent didn’t have any soul protective equipment or skills. But… do you know something about dungeon monsters? They are born without souls, tied to the life and death of a dungeon! Unless I give them souls, they remain soulless, like the slimes that populated the first floor. The dungeon creatures are their natural enemies!

Weakness number 4, their abilities don’t work on those without souls

They were still more than a dozen rooms away from the boss room… but I think I had observed them enough. These fuckers want to capture me? Take over my dungeon? The other adventurers were nice compared to you mate, you guys are just right bastards! You even abandoned your friend in the middle of a dungeon.

I went to prepare. There were two big preparations that I needed to do.

I also thought of another weakness they would probably have… it was obvious really.

What were my chances of victory? Victory is inevitable, but a flawless victory without any casualties? Tricky… but when had that ever stopped me?

What is the fifth weakness? Easy.

Weakness number 5, Shadowmancers need shadows in order for their ability to work.

After Alex called away Max to help prepare, I got stuck on watch duty with Levine… gods above this boy could talk.

‘… and then the queen bee said, no honey for you, only for the lovely beautiful miss lady Rox will I offer this honey…’

I thought he lost his [Silver Tongue] ability when he classed up?

Anyway, we were watching the possessed adventurers. Evidently, they were to prevent the adventurer’s guild from entering while keeping off suspicions.

It also worked. It seems when the shadows and bodies recombined into one of the ‘Shadowspawn’ or ‘Shadowless’, they could pull off a very passable imitation of themselves when they were alive… this ability… it seemed worse than necromancy.

After the dungeon calmed down from shaking, some of the adventurers had come to inquire what had happened. The shadows answered saying they didn’t know but that it happened deeper within the dungeon.

The performance was uncanny, they talked and joked, the expressions on their faces looked absolutely genuine. I felt a shiver, they were the ultimate spies and assassins because they could be your best friend, your family member even your lover and you wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t know that this laughing joking smiling person was a symbiotic fusion of a monstrous soul-attached shadow creature with a body puppet.

My body froze. There were sounds of clacking footsteps as a very familiar armoured woman stepped into the cave. The Ogre Lady! The strongest person me or Alex had ever seen! Fuuucck, what is she doing here?

The ogre chic stood in front of the shadowed adventurers group and said something. I couldn’t hear what it was so I crept closer straining to hear.

‘… I asked something very simple. Where. Is. Starla.’

The water witch? Were they friends?

One of the group laughed and said, ‘Ma’am Starla wanted to go exploring a bit and we didn’t have the heart to stop her. It’s pretty safe for th…’

‘I can smell her mana.’

Now all the adventurers fell silent listening.

‘A sharp smell of ice mana, not the soothing smell of water mana. Ice for attack, water for healing. Explain why Starla was fighting within this very room and is now nowhere to be found.’

Silence…

Then the light of a skill being used started shining around the shadowed archer, shit, the shadowspawn can use skills?!

As if there was an explosion, there was an eruption of movement. The other adventurers in the cavern dove for cover or ran as quickly as they could outside. The shadowed warriors rushed the swordswoman, swords raised covered in mana. The priest on the other hand seemed useless, trying to hit one of the adventurers with his staff. It seemed abilities from the Path of Divinity weren’t able to be used… well what God would allow some corrupted corpse to use their follower’s abilities?

Most of the true adventurers were diving under cover but some stood their ground to defend, one warrior received the arrow fired by the archer on his shield. The shadowed warriors surrounded him and attacked together.

Suddenly there was a growl… a fierce guttural sound that seemed to make the entire hall tremble… and then the head of the archer was flying into the air.

A harsh sounding gravelly voice, ‘Shadowspawn! This is the work of the Shadow Brotherhood!’

The voice came from… there was dark red mana floating around the body… was… was that the swordswoman? I couldn’t get a good look at her, because then she flashed again… this time the shadowed guardian was lifted up into the air with her sword struck through his chest, through his heart and out the other side. The swordswoman held his corpse in the air with just one hand, his body impaled on the sword. Then with a swing of her sword she flung the body crashing into a wall the far end of the cavern. Holy shit!

‘Assemble a team! We will go after them! They want to capture the dungeon crystal! No forgiveness to them for killing a team of our adventurers!’

Half the adventurers ran outside to follow her commands while the other half hesitated.

One of them started speaking, ‘Ma’am what about these…’

As he spoke, the rest of the shadowed adventurers fell to the ground, their bodies falling in two pieces cut apart at the waist. The remaining adventurers gulped.

The swordswoman looked at them, ‘Two teams will enter, I will lead one. Nominate someone to lead the other.’

And then she started moving towards the entrance to the next room without giving them the chance to respond as they scrambled to follow her orders.

Alex had one said he would stand no chance against this swordswoman. He said there was an inherent difference between a Skill-Ranker and a Stat-Ranker. Now I finally understood why. Because when she cut up all adventurers… she wasn’t using any skills.

Rox had sent me away from watch duty, saying something about [Silver Tongue] skill, but I lost that when I classed up, why does everyone keep asking me if I still have it?

What’s worse is that I was put into prep duty with Max. Now I love Max but prep duty with Max right now also meant working with Tolk and Eva.

Thus me and Tolk were relegated to the third and fourth wheels respectively. Me as third, because seniority rules.

The water witch was asleep in one of the squirrel tree houses under the care of the herby squirrels, I had sent along one of my hares, the one who had the highest holy mana. Alex had granted him the skill [Healing Light]. It turns out that mana cost for stuff only goes up if enemies are on that specific floor.

Alex said it’s because enemies, different from allies and neutrals stir up the mana on the floor. So mana has to be consumed to stabilize the mana first before being able to use it to summon anything…

Well whatever, not like it bothers me…

Right now, we were preparing for the attack on the second floor and I was trying to make Tolk feel a bit better.

‘Tolk man, it wasn’t your fault. We didn’t know what they were capable of.’

‘Those goblins were under my command Lev, we goblins are a tribe! They trust me as their leader. Now? Their corpses are running around under the command of those lunatics!’

‘Tolk, listen to me. Don’t beat yourself up about it ok? They died helping you escape, ask anyone of your tribe, they would be honoured if this was how they went.’

Goblins. They are a very tribal race… the strangest thing was they are known for being cruel and primitive… but…

Tolk the Wise, the Noble Hobgoblin. When Tolk mutated, the entire goblin tribe… changed. They are a tribal race in the very essence of their being, thus Tolk was, as the leader, also the role model. We were in for some interesting times.

‘By the way Lev… what in the dungeon’s name are we doing?’

I paused… it was a good question… and one I didn’t really understand. Can’t tell that to Tolk now can I? Gotta keep the rankings straight, Max is first, um I am tied with Eva *cough* and Tolk is third. Especially if the water witch girl is joining us…

‘We’re uh, preparing a… surprise for the shadow bastards,’ I wiggled my eyebrows at him. I figured doing so he may be tempted to pretend he knew what I was talking about. My hopes were dashed.

‘I don’t truly understand, but I am sure I will soon enough.’

Sigh, I thought Max was bad but this noble attitude has to go. I’ll slowly erode it away over time. Anyway it wasn’t like I didn’t have any clue what we were doing.

‘Traps Tolk, we’re preparing a lot of traps,’ even if I didn’t know how they were traps, I knew a few of them definitely were.

They were in for quite a surprise.

Before me stood 3 familiar faces… well familiar enough even though I hadn’t seen them in over a decade.

‘Your task is to kill as many of them as possible, delay them if you can’t.’

They were the Orc Fighter Masher, the Orc Shaman Sightless and the Panther Shade.

I smiled.

This is section is needed to enjoy the story, it's only for those interested in technicalities and might impact your enjoyment of the story

Spoiler: Spoiler

There are three primary mechanisms by which creatures can increase their power substantially, there are a few derivatives of these as well

The first is choosing a Class

What does choosing a class do? Choosing a class is like choosing a preset skill package… it sets up skill formations throughout the body that powers the body up in specific ways as well as making it possible for certain skills that need a specific environment to develop, to be created.

Classes tend to create a balance between improving stats and gaining skills

For example, one of the Ox-head beastman chooses the ‘Warrior’ Class. Choosing the class forms specific concentrations of mana to pool in his muscles and makes those areas suitable for the formation of physical combat skills while also increasing his Strength and Agility stats, also Stamina

The second is Mutations

Mutations cause specific body parts to change so that they can accommodate different skills. Different from classes, there doesn’t need to be a unifying framework for the skills, the body parts can form their own skills framework thus the versatility in skills can be endless. Mutations are best for utilizing skills

One of the readers asked me if having larger bodies/more body parts allows more skills etc. Well as long as you have enough Magic Power and mana to utilize the skills, there is no limit. Of course, powering say 100 active skills at the same time would rapidly drain most creatures of mana within seconds thus unless they have a gargantuan amount of mana or have some transcendent mana regeneration, there is definitely a limit.

The third is Evolution

Evolution is kind of a mix between Classes and Mutations… the entire body changes into a different one, thus changing the background skill framework and opening up the possibility for other skills. The difference between evolution and the other two though, is that there is no endless possibility to accommodate new skills like with mutation. Instead evolution relies more on improving stats rather than skills.

I'll expand on this else I might miss posting today hahaha