*Core*

The goblins were surging into the dungeon in an unending flood, and being cut down just as quickly. While individually weak, the sheer numbers would overwhelm most opponents- or at the very least exhaust them as they fought for hours and hours or even days. Except, the narrow entrance of the dungeon and the winding mountain path prevented the goblins from using their numbers well, and the undead never tire. Even if the goblins did manage to succeed, the undead would just respawn anyway.

Although one of my mobs being spawned in the middle of a room full of goblins would probably fall quite quickly, depending on what mob it was. Regardless, they had yet to get past the first incarnation of Ajax and it did not seem they were going to get close to beating him for a long while yet. So I decided that I could let this invasion be for now and go back to the second floor- where my real headache was.

I materialized near Susan, who was talking to and comforting the various villagers who now inhabited my necropolis. Honestly, given how many goblins there were, I was confused how they failed to notice the things. Goblins were not precisely subtle creatures after all…

Though based on what I was hearing, they may have had good reason to be distracted. Even if it had almost gotten them killed.

“The Legera Alliance is in the middle of a civil war?” Susan was saying with disbelief, clearly shocked by the information.

“The human majority city states in the northern part of the Alliance declared themselves independent and attacked the other states.” The guard, Graegus, explained wearily. “Worse still, they have all joined up with the Mortal Kingdom’s ‘religion’ and are enslaving all non-humans and non-human sympathisers.”

Considering that a good chunk of the villagers were beast-people of various kinds, the humans here must be from the latter group. They must have traveled quite a bit to have come this close to the eastern side of the central wilderness, so it is also likely that much has changed from what they knew when they left. Still, although it is conjecture, I would imagine what is going on should be obvious- the Mortal Kingdom to the north was almost undoubtedly the cause and likely the backer for the rebelling city-states.

Still… “As informative as they might be, I really do not like having these people here Susan.”

“I was not about to let them die Core,” Susan replied to me, leaving her audience confused as she seemed to talk to the air. “I will make certain they behave, and I will keep them out of the palace.”

“But you will not change your mind- is what you are saying?” I sighed, “I realize I literally have no choice, but this does not make you much different from the people they are running from, you know?”

Susan had a bitter expression come over face and I could hear guilt and shame in her voice, “I know that! But there was no good solution Core- either I let these people die, or I impose on you. Can you say that your comfort is worth more than their lives?”

I could not say that, no. But that was presupposing that the goblins did not make their way to this floor and kill everyone here. While the defences are holding up quite well against the poorly armed and overall rather weak goblins, according to all I had seen and heard the horde was large enough that neither I nor Susan could actually be sure that the goblins would not win.

In short, Susan was gambling here and betting my life in the process.

“Your logic is not faultless Susan,” I did not explain my thoughts to her, people rarely appreciate being told that they are, and how they are, wrong during the moment. It would be easier to bring up later as a warning not to do something like this again. “However, I will leave that aside and ask a more pertinent question- now what?”

No one, not even things as dumb as goblins, raise an army and do not use it. Given the location of the goblins, it was crystal clear to me and anyone with half of a working brain that they would like swarm into the Amero Republic. I admit that if I was in charge of the horde, rather invade our eastern neighbor, Amero, I would march to Legera and attack the distracted and weakened country. However, I highly doubt the goblins would be smart enough to do that. So unless the goblins did leave for the west, the place these refugees were fleeing towards was now just as dangerous as where they had left.

“That is a good question,” Susan agreed, and she turned to the confused villagers and repeated it to them. As they deliberated, she was quiet for a second and then seemed to have a sudden revelation and asked the three to wait while she talked to me in private.

What she was going to ask was fairly obvious, and I was already preparing myself to fiercely argue against it.

“Core…” Susan sighed and then seemed to resolve herself and push forward, “why not let them live here?”

“Aside from the obvious, you mean?” I let a little sarcasm drip into my words, “leaving aside my approval- which does not ultimately matter- how would we feed them? Can they turn the parks within the necropolis into farms? And let us say that they can, considering that the dungeon is permeated with magic it might work, would they be comfortable in a city that will be filled with undead guardians? And further, are you not just letting your emotions run away with you? I am want to be a ‘good’ person, but I am not going out of my way to be a saint! How does this advance either of our causes?”

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Rather than withering under my words, Susan hardened and stood up straight and argued back.

“I will admit that I let my feelings take charge for a while,” Susan agreed. “But that is not the case now. You are being short sighted, this is the best way to meet both of our desires! We need power and strength, but those things are more than just levels and classes. These people can help us, provide us with things we cannot provide ourselves- give us numbers, organization, reputation. For me, those things can help me find the people I want to take revenge on- for you, they provide a shield against claims of your ‘evil’ and will help you survive. This can only benefit us!”

Yeah, when she puts it like that, I can understand what she means. It does seem like a logical choice, and one that I feel I would have considered if not for the influence of being a Dungeon Core on my personality. Having said that, while I have not known Susan for very long, I am not certain that the girl in front of me is the same girl I met at first, and I do not think the change has been entirely healthy for her.

“I see the merits of what you are saying,” I am forced to admit this fact, however… “But it still makes me uncomfortable to have them so close to myself, if they enter the palace I will have them killed. And one other thing… You said you wanted me to be a partner, not a slave. Your actions and words are not really matching- you consult me for advice, not approval. Even if your actions have so far been correct, your method of simply pushing past my thoughts is not.”

I spoke sternly, almost angrily, I have to admit I was feeling slightly betrayed after all. Only slightly mind, the reality is that I did not have the greatest expectations to begin with- just a vague idea of this girl’s personality. Considering the death of her family, her sudden acquirement of a rare class, and the chaotic situation the world appeared to be heading to- should I really be surprised that her personality was changing? It would be more strange if it did not. At the very least, the fact that she is functioning despite her grief and without really showing that grief is likely not evidence that she is handling it well. More likely, those feelings are shaping her every action currently… What a mess, I am not a psychologist!

Susan replied with a sigh, “I know Core, I know. I will make it up to you, and I will keep my word- you are my partner, not my possession. Things are just a bit rough right now.”

Yeah, I figured. I would not mind so much if I was not bound to you though, is what I thought. What I said was, “and I will do my best to help- just run things by me before you just do things, ok?”

Again, I am unsure why I feel slightly guilty about the gap between my thoughts and words. Just like before when I twisted my words to hide my eventual goal, I am uncomfortable acting deceptive towards Susan. Considering that it is not a compulsion, I doubt it is an effect of the Dungeon Master class. I probably feel bad because she is such an honest person, Susan simply does not hide things from me. While on the other hand, I was not entirely truthful to her. Well, I did not feel bad enough to change anything I was doing though.

After Susan agreed and went to deliver the offer of settling in my dungeon to the peasants, I returned to the first floor to oversee the battle. From what I am seeing, choosing undead over goblins in the beginning was one of the best choices I had ever made. The goblins were nearly incapable of hurting my forces, whereas they were more than capable of hurting the goblins. The first Ajax incarnation was flinging the goblins aside with his shield and laying about himself with his spear. It had reached a point where the only thing that kept the cowardly creatures coming towards him was the pressure from their comrades behind them.

“This cannot be all they have,” I spoke aloud. “Right? Admittedly, the hallways and chokepoints, combined with my undead’s natural resistance to normal weapons, helps. But surely in the grand scheme of things I am on the weaker side of this world…”

“My Lord forgets that we do not suffer from fatigue,” Ajax laughed in response as he skewered two goblins in one thrust. “Throw enough numbers at a living creature and they will fall eventually!”

“I am not so certain of that.” After all, this world has quite a few game mechanics so ‘fatigue’ is probably reduced to a number at its essence. The only thing that needs to happen for a human to be able to match the undead is for their recovery of stamina to be equal or greater than the cost of their actions.

As I was thinking about this, a larger goblin came forward to face Ajax. For the first time in this battle, Ajax was unable to kill his foe in a single strike. Instead, he was matched by his opponent, and I frowned. It seems my hypothesis that the goblins had stronger types was proven correct, but the creature still could not really hurt Ajax.

This goblin was far better outfitted than the others. Rather than running hunched with naught but a loincloth and club, it was outfitted in metal armor and brandished a steel longsword. It stood up straight and its technique was enough to land blows on Ajax, though Ajax’s resistances rendered them ineffective.

The larger issue was another rare goblin class that was waiting behind this armored goblin. Dressed in a robe and clutching a gnarled staff topped with an animal skull, this magic using goblin struck out at Ajax.

It was immediately clear that Ajax would not win this fight- or at least this Ajax would not. The further these goblins went in, the stronger the ‘Ajax’ they would face. If it was just this much, I did not really need to worry much.

Unfortunately, it was not just that much. The regular goblins stopped entering my dungeon, but more armored goblins marched in. They were escorting goblins with colorful robes adorned by trinkets, and they had numbers enough to fully replace the flood of regular goblins that had been fighting, and dying, here before.

Anyone could see that they would eventually clear this floor, the question became what I could do about it. To be honest, I do not think there is much I can do on this floor, however, the slaughter of the goblins had flooded me with xp and mana. So while the goblins worked their way through the first floor, I would have to create forces on the second floor and use the time bought by my forces here to prepare them and crush the goblins.

It was either that or die.