by John Nest
"And... where is it?" asked Courant.
"Right over there," said Sierra, pointing to the east. "It's about two kilometers away."
"Then, why did you build the base so far away?" asked Virer.
"It's a precautionary measure," answered Mamelon in Sierra's place. She then turned to Sierra. "Is the dungeon really that dangerous?"
"I have no idea," replied Sierra, and shook her head. "But even with my new Job and our collectively increased levels, Darius said that we might only have a 30% chance of completing it."
* * * * * *
Knowing how hard the battle ahead was, Sierra decided to leave five-hundred Mercenaries in their basecamp. These were the ones who were still lacking on improving their offensive capabilities. As such, she decided for them to shift their specialty.
She told them to focus on First Aid and Healing Potion creation. She also left ten Acolytes with them to supervise their progress into becoming Medical Mercenaries.
After they considered the terrain inside the cave, Sierra suggested that they all leave their mounts behind.
Finalizing the final adjustments, Sierra, Mamelon, and their respective armies were stationed outside the cave's entrance.
"So, our Mercs will come in after your druids, right?" Mamelon asked Sierra.
"Right, they'll join in after we've confirm—" began Sierra, but was interrupted by one of her Druid scouts.
"Gargantuan Goblins! Gargantuan Goblins!" cried out the Scout.
Six monsters with heights of three-meters chased after him. These rough black skinned goblins were the final transformation of the gobble goblins.
"Avendre, form the scattered boulders formation!" briskly ordered Sierra.
At once, Sierra's Mercenaries formed groups of ten. Loud clanky sounds were heard, as they lagged their long metallic-spears and black tower-shields into a tight formation. Then, their shields interlocked with one another, forming a rectangular metallic-box with their long spears protruding. Their bulky equipment made them slow. Yet, after two months of repetitive exercises, it took them less than three seconds to get in formation. Each group were approximately ten-meters from the next one.
With purpose, the Druids began casting their Thorns ability on all of the Mercenaries. A flash of white thorns momentarily appeared which covered their boulder-like formation. Next, they pointed their wooden-ferules towards the Gargantuan Goblins and cursed them with the Contrition status. These gigantic monsters would receive increased damage for the next five minutes.
Whereas, Sierra began to cast Archon's Blessing on herself. She was quick to respond, but she was still curious to see Gargantuan Goblins here in the Veneficatl. Especially inside the cave that Darius recommended.
CLASH
Her thoughts were refocused on the battle at hand, as the two fastest Gargantuan Goblins smashed their fists into the huddled Avendre. Despite this, the goblins' monstrous strength, the Avendres' shields held firm. Only the life bars of the goblins were shown as they took the return damage.
Then, the Avendre facing the two monsters extended their long spears even farther. They attacked the goblins close to them, and pierced their rough skin.
"That's quite impressive," said Mamelon, complementing the clear growth of Sierra's men. "But I trained my men to take the initiative," proudly added the Aqua Knight. "Engage them with Wedged River!"
Together with the Elemental Knights, Mamelon's Avendre Mercenaries charged the Gargantuan Goblins. They were equipped with two-handed great swords and swung them as if they were made of paper.
The four Gargantuan Goblins were each swarmed by a thousand of Mamelon's Mercenaries. Using a wedged line formation, each one of the Avendre struck their great swords at the monster's limbs. Yet, after delivering the blow, they continued to run past the goblin, which allowed the person behind them to execute their own attack.
After taking four simultaneous attacks, the targeted Gargantuan Goblin could not recover in time to launch its counterattack. All the monster could do was take on a defensive pose, as another set of blades sliced through its rough skin.
The Avendre who finished their attacks quickly scrambled to the back of the wedge formation. There, they were healed by the Shamans, in case they were injured during their strike while waiting for their turn to repeat the same process again. Like a rushing river, which smashed anything that blocked its path.
In less than fifteen-minutes, Sierra and Mamelon's men killed all six Gargantuan Goblins.
"Do you remember how much we struggled to fight against them before?" Mamelon said to Sierra.
"I do, but what bothers me is why these monsters are here," she replied.
Sierra then turned to her Werewolf Lieutenants. "Phen, Rear, Transmogrify and enter the cave. I need you to scout it, but don't go farther than five-hundred-meters into it."
Phen nodded. Straightaway, he transformed himself into a gray Werewolf.
"Understood," replied Rear and followed suit, transforming herself into a black Werewolf.
These two Werewolves had grown larger than their former selves. Now, they could almost stand toe to toe with Ardu and Vrai's Werebear forms.
While Phen and Rear left for the caves, the injury reports came in. No one was seriously hurt, but their healers did their rounds anyway.
Five minutes passed before Phen and Rear returned. Sierra called for Mamelon, so they could hear the scouting reports together.
Then, the two Werewolves returned to their Druid forms.
"The main entrance branches out into nine different passageways," began Rear. "We tried entering one of them, but encountered no monsters after five-hundred-meters."
"How big are the passageways?" asked Sierra.
"About three-meters wide and four-meters tall," replied Rear. "They were fairly large tunnels."
"Are there any sources of light?" asked Mamelon.
"Now that you mention it, there was none," said Rear. "But it didn't really bother us since we could see in the dark when we're transformed," she explained.
"We'll need torches," said Mamelon. "We can have the Flame Knights light up their lances, but that consumes a lot of mana."
"No, wait. I can have my Druids use their staves," said Sierra, and took her ferule. She raised it above her head, as its tip illuminated with a bright light.
"So, we'll divide our men, then?" asked Mamelon.
"Correct, but how many do you trust to take the lead?" asked Sierra.
"They're a bunch of numbskulls, but I trust Virer and Courant with my life," replied Mamelon.
"With Myself, You, Courant, Virer, Phen, Rear, Ardu, and Vrai that leaves us with one more person to explore the tunnels," said Sierra. "Mamelon, don't you have anyone else from your side?"
The voluptuous Aqua Knight massaged her temples with her fingers. "Well, there is Earat and Louche, but I wouldn't trust them to lead an expedition by themselves. The last time they went on one, they got cornered by aardwolves."
"Guess I better call Hazard," said Sierra. "You said he was ready, right?" she turned to Phen.
The male Druid silently nodded in response.
"Please call him here," ordered Sierra.
"Who's Hazard?" asked Mamelon, confused.
"He's an Avendre Mercenary, who has some history with Smoke," replied Sierra. "He was stubborn and wanted to prove how wrong Smoke was, but he turned around after Smoke saved him from being killed by a tree ent."
Sierra smirked. "Now, he's proven to be quite dependable. Also, this should be a perfect opportunity for him to step up."
A strapping young Zectian with black hair walked up together with Phen. Hazard had significantly grown in the last few months both physically and mentally. Like his cousin Jeter Peon, who died during their defense of Centzo City, Hazard was now an Avendre Commander.
"General Sierra, you called for me?" asked Hazard.
"Yes, I'd like you to lead an entire division by yourself."
"An entire division of Avendre Mercenari
es?" confirmed Hazard.
Sierra shook her head. "No, there will be Druids and Acolytes under you as well."
Seconds later, Sierra gathered Mamelon, Virer, Courant, Phen, Rear, Ardu, Vrai, and Hazard to discuss how they will storm the cave.
After a full hour of discussion and brainstorming, Sierra and her comrades had came to a consensus.
"Alright, does anyone have anything else to bring up before we enter the dungeon?" asked Sierra.
Both Courant and Virer's hands went straight up the air.
"Um. If you don't mind, can we delay the siege for tomorrow?" asked Courant. "Or about twelve hours at least."
Virer strongly nodded his head in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah, same here," said Virer. "Twelve hours from now would be perfect."
"What is it now?" asked Mamelon, annoyed.
Courant and Virer pulled both Sierra and Mamelon away from the Zectians.
"You see, we have to do exams today," explained Courant. "And the two of us really need to take it if we want to maintain this college gig."
'So, they're still in college,' surmised Sierra.
Mamelon let out a deep sigh before she turned to Virer and Courant. "Fine, let's make it five in the morning. But the two of you better make it back on time."
Biting her lower lip, Sierra was not pleased with the idea of changing the schedule. Tomorrow was Smoke's tournament. She had planned on visiting him at his house before fighting Sawtorn's top Mages.
"Sierra, are you okay with that?" Mamelon asked her, snapping Sierra back to her senses. "Sorry if I overstepped, but it should also give our Zectians a good night's rest before venturing in."
"That's fine," replied Sierra. She realized that Smoke would have easily done the same.
'Besides, I could just watch a rerun of it from his POV,' realized Sierra, as Smoke had invited her to join him on his next video edit.
"Thanks for understanding guys," said Courant.
"Don't worry, we'll be here on time," assured Virer.
The two Elemental Knights bowed down and logged out for the day.
"So, are you a college student too?" Sierra asked Mamelon.
"Oh, no. I'm already working," replied Mamelon.
"Then, it's just Courant and Virer who are still students?" asked Sierra.
"No, those two just recently became college instructors," replied Mamelon.
Sierra's mouth opened wide in disbelief.
"I know, right? I wouldn't believe it myself if I didn't know them in real life," said Mamelon. "Although, they rarely go to their lectures. They were given a final warning from their superiors for not attending their own classes."
* * * * * *
With her right hand on her illuminated ferule, Sierra ran her free hand across the slimy cracked surface of the walls. She could feel dents in the moss-lining which covered the entire tunnel. Even though they were only walking for half a kilometer, they still had not encountered any enemies. Yet, despite the lack of struggle, she still found herself short of breath.
A slight breeze would move in and out of the tunnels, but it was seldom. All of Sierra's members encountered the same problem as her, limited by the thin air inside the damp tunnels.
As their long spears, restricted their movement in the tight passageway. The Avendre Mercenaries were equipped with tower-shields and their specialized broad swords. Although much shorter, the added feature of these swords proved to be promising.
When they moved farther in, a notification window popped up.
- Entered Inner Verleitung
- Monsters who appear in this dungeon are aggressive.
- Suggested level for entering this dungeon is 180.
"Leaders, status report," ordered Sierra over the open voice conversation between them, as she waited to assess the road ahead.
"Mamelon here. We're about three-hundred meters into our tunnel, but we haven't encountered any hostiles."
"Same here," reported Virer. "But my men and I are all having trouble breathing. I had the Druids and Shamans check for potential poisonous gas, but they didn't detect any."
"I've scattered the Druids for a maximum coverage of the light," replied Vrai. "But other than that I'm in the same boat as Virer and Mamelon."
Sierra waited for the rest of the leaders to give out their report, but no one else replied. She understood if Phen wouldn't call in, but Rear would definitely give an update.
"Courant, Ardu, Rear, Hazard?" called out Sierra over the conference call. "Are you guys okay?"
"Kind of busy at the moment," replied Hazard over the line. "My side is experiencing a mob of green slimes, and they're being produced by black slimes."
The Avendre Commander paused, as they heard him scream out commands. " Sorry about that. Our poison resistance could handle the green pests, but a third of my men have been inflicted by the black slime's Poison. They're even stronger than the slime monsters from Mandragora Forest."
"We're facing skeleton summoners on our end," replied a gasping Courant. "They're summoning lesser skeleton warriors. But it's not a problem as we've already occupied most of the tunnel."
"My men are under glacier attacks from six great water elementals," said Rear. "The defensive boulder formation of the Avendre are holding, but these monsters are also summoning lesser water elementals as we speak. We're having a hard time reaching them, as we're being blocked by these lesser water elementals."
'Phen must be encountering some trouble as well,' thought Sierra.
As she was about to ask more information from them, mud golems seeped out from the cracks of the tunnel. At a height of less than two-meters, these monsters were the smallest golems she had ever encountered.
"We're under attack!" exclaimed Sierra. "Shamans, stay at the center. Druids, prioritize on support. Use overgrowth to disable the golems. Avendre, we're all counting on you for the offense!"
Honing her senses to use her Animal Instinct ability, she detected that all of her members were surrounded. She counted at least a thousand mud golems.
Sierra smashed her ferule into the nearest mud golem's skull. She expected to see it break, but her staff was absorbed into the monster's head instead of damaging it.
While struggling to free herself, she casted overgrowth on the mud golems near her. Roots sprang out from the ground, breaking the tunnel's floor. The overgrowth forced their way into the golems' legs, preventing them to move in on Sierra's members.
"Let go of my staff!" cried out Sierra, placing both hands on her ferule. She thought about Transmogrifying into a Werebear, but decided not to. The Mercenaries needed to step up and fight in their stead.
As more of her fellow Druids' ferules were stuck inside the mud golems' bodies, the damp tunnel began to darken.
Wanting to brighten up the place, Sierra concentrated more mana into her ferule.
CRACK CRACK CRACK
Then, the mud golem's face began to harden, and showed wide gaps on his head. Light began to show from between the openings.
With one final pull, Sierra freed her ferule from the mud golem. The Avendre Mercenaries behind her simultaneously plunged their broad swords into the earth-monster, draining its life bar to zero.
"Druids, maximize the lights of your ferules!" ordered Sierra.
For five seconds, their tunnel became as bright as day. Then, all of the mud golems' bodies began to dry up, and their movement became stinted.
The Avendre lashed out their broad swords with precise attacks on their assailants, and shattered the dried up monsters to pieces.
"Hoo haa!" cried out the Avendre in a triumphant cheer.
However, their victory was short lived. Another batch of mud golems immediately seeped out from the cracks in the tunnel.
Knowing the monsters' weakness, the Druids immediately let out another beam of light. The Avendre launched another round of slashes on the dried up golems, while the Shamans traveled about and cured the slightly injured members.
Once again, they
let out another shout of preemptive conquest, but once more their hurrah quickly faded. As soon as they dispatched the mud golems, another wave of them would appear.
Suddenly, a voice cracked over Sierra's open conference window.
"Sierra, we've killed at least four waves of these lesser water elementals in our tunnel. But it looks like there's no end to them. Unless we can reach those big monsters summoning," reported Rear. "What are your orders? Should we Transmogrify and deal with them?"