The alarm did its job, waking both Amelia and himself. Mark could only stare at his tactical map for a good 15 seconds. At first it had been only a couple of red dots, soon they were pouring across the half mile territory boundary. Mark felt the blood drain from his head and his vision became fuzzy, but he fought back to keep from blacking out. What he was seeing was debilitating. Scrolling in with the spy feature he could see over a hundred figures and all of them were obviously stronger than his goblins. This was a dungeon ending force, obviously sent by another dungeon. The primal fear was debilitating.
Mark slapped himself. He had felt this way before. He had a couple tests in college that his mind had threatened to shut down over as his eyes scanned through the questions. Take it one step at a time. The slap shocked his body out of it and he started thinking rationally. He flew out of the hut not bothering to put on his shoes or more clothes. If he died tonight it would be in just his boxers and a T-shirt. He immediately started shouting, and the former core guard, now guarding the dungeon entrance, grogrily responded.
Mark watched as the goblins shot to their feet, scurrying around and prepared for battle. Mark did not know what they were preparing since all they had to do was pick up their weapons. Nasal made his way over from the main encampment and Mark detailed what he saw to the lieutenant. Nasal listened for a minute before barking orders. He was technically only over a patrol game wise, but he was the only Lieutenant and was the strongest. The goblins quickly settled. The archers formed up on a raised patch of earth in the center. While the walls were lined with the goblin spears. At their belts the goblins either had a tomahawk or a stone dagger. Not that it mattered they would likely be dead before they could use it, if an enemy got past their spear.
Mark saw that the gnomes had already buggered off. He could not blame them with the way the goblins had been panicking; it must have seemed like the sky was falling, and Mark quickly decided to send the shade henchman away. He did not know if they could survive, but if they wanted any hope of recovering after this, he could not lose them. Even if they survived this army another would come. An enemy knew where their dungeon was after all.
Mark checked his interface. They had 4 or 5 minutes before the orc army arrived. They were still only walking, conserving their energy for the assault. Their dungeon had 2,145 MP but he could not use it to build more units, or… He could!!! He could not add to the defenders outside, but he could still summon 23 more defenders for the first floor since the enemy was not inside the dungeon yet. Mark gave no thought to converting 1 of the DP to MP to give him enough MP to build 23 hobgoblins with a level 1 warrior class. It was the best he could do. The second DP was converted as well to give 18 of them shields from the store.
Luckily the goblin morale was high from their previous battles, and were defending their very existence since the dungeon was threatened. Goblins were not necessarily cowardly creatures. They just seemed that way since they had a good sense of self preservation unlike the gnolls they had fought a few days ago. However their backs were against the wall, since if the dungeon core was destroyed they would cease to be. They would probably not be successful if they were attacking with these odds, since the goblins would try to skulk away from duty. However, now they were like cornered rats, and would hopefully fight as such.
Despite the circumstances the old adage about a dragon dealing with a snake in its own burrow came to mind. It definitely applied in this situation, since his goblins on the open field would likely be trampled, but hopefully, the somewhat entrenched goblins could manage. Well… Hopefully, Winnie was up to the task, Mark corrected. He had found the orc leader. A orc brute with a power rating of 4.1. It was higher than Winnies but Winnie was undead and resistant to physical attacks, so he should be able to match him. Still the goblins would have to grind down the orc army to even get to that point.
Mark had a little more time, so he checked the adversaries screen. The name Crassius Nacht of the Deltroit empire was brought up. It showed 152 orcs under his command now that they had all entered the territory, and it detailed what types they were. There was 1 orc brute, 26 Orcs, and 125 orc imps. Mark rearranged his screens on the dungeon core. He would be able to see his troop numbers, the enemy numbers, and then a view of the battle. It would be 152 against their 228 outside the dungeon, and an additional 25 inside. Since he was in his own territory the view could be panned to anything he wanted.
Amelia walked up next to him and hugged his arm and rested her head against his shoulder. Mark reached over and patted her head with his other hand telling her that, “it will be okay.” However, Mark did not feel that it would be.
The battle began. There was no pause. One second the orcs were moving through the foliage and then next they were streaking across the field toward the goblin forces. The front orcs did start a war cry that was soon echoed by those behind them until it was all as one.
First came the arrows. Goblins were not the best of archers, but there were a lot of them, and 6 of the 24 former core guards even had the class. However it seemed that they were better than the gnolls. About 7 or 8 of the 10 imps out in the front were struck, most of them multiple times since they had been the targets for dozens of arrows. However only about 3 went down. The orcs were resilient beasts. Mark checked the enemy counter but it had not decreased from 152. However it was not like downed enemies died right away, so Mark tried not to worry about it. The next volley swept through the forefront or the orc ranks when they were about 30 paces away.
The arrows fell with devastating results, and 7 or 8 more orcs went down. The front ranks had all fallen but there were dozens of more just a few strides behind. It was the only pound of flesh their forces would get without exchanging with their own loss of life. The imps slammed into the wall, and instantly started coming over the sides. Some were instantly vaulting over despite it coming up to their chests. For the first dozen that came over, over half were skewered by more than one spear. However, the goblins were often knocked away and several made it in.
Seconds later another dozen were over including a few of the regular orcs. The wall had effectively helped his troops trim down another 7 or 8, but after that initial clash it might as well be nonexistent. Now it was an even footed fight on the inside as the imps quickly expanded their ring, and goblins started to fall quickly. Their ferocity was next level. A good 4 or 5 goblins were dropping for every imp lost in the melee, and the orcs were basically unimpeded.
The only thing that kept it from turning into an overwhelming slaughter were the archers. They would rarely miss now that the enemies were this close, and they had no qualms about firing near their comrades. Of course it often would take more than a couple arrows to stop even an imps' ferocity, and the goblins were not concentrating fire any longer. Each was shooting at whatever caught their eye. Which as luck would have it were the regular orcs. Their bigger frames put them right into the goblin crosshairs. The regular orcs inside the earthen walls were quickly put down along with a good 20 imps. The enemy force counter started to steadily tick down.
However the respite created by the archers only lasted a good 45 seconds as the goblins quickly got pushed back and into the archers. The inside quickly completely turned in the orc’s favor with a good 7 or 8 goblins falling for every imp. The couple regular orcs that soon joined into the fray basically were still unimpeded. Mark located Nasal amidst the chaos just in time to see him deal a mortal blow to an imp, but not more than a couple seconds later he was targeted by one of the regular orcs. He was blindsided. The orc’s stone mace shattered his ribs on one side and Nasal was sent into a clump of goblins. Mark did not bother to look for him. His side was crushed in, he would not be able to get back up.
Their doorstep was not completely lost. The goblins were able to recreate the earthen fortification in front of the dungeon entrance yesterday afternoon, and it was guarded by the 24 former core guards. Six of their number were raining their arrows with impunity. They would be overrun well before they ran out of ammunition. Mark had ordered that all the spare arrows be kept in front of the dungeon entrance. The goblins had been making them ever since the crafting tech had been completed. The quality was likely a drop from their standard loadout arrows, but they likely would not have to fly very far or be very precise in this attack.
A good 50 goblins were still fighting from the main goblin group, at the point when the orcs wave had reached the opposite side, having flown around the outside of the bulwarks, and the orcs started storming the dungeon entrance. The enemy numbers had been reduced by about half, but Mark needed for the former core guard to whittle them down far further. The goblins in the other group might kill a few more before their impending death, but it likely would not be more than another 5 or 6.
The first wave that hit the dungeon entrance was made of imps, and it slammed into the earthen wall. Regardless, Mark was a little surprised to see it completely repelled, 4 or 5 imps dropped lifeless outside the wall. More surprising was that it happened again. Soon a good dozen imps lay dying down against the earthen walls. All the while the archers poured arrows out in an unsteady stream.
The third wave included 2 regular orcs who leapt clear over walls. They were ultimately killed and rather quickly at that, but they had taken down 5 of the hobgoblins. The rest of the hobgoblins were strained, but the line was held and the imps working with the regular orcs were put down. They were battered with only about 10 melee fighters left, and Mark knew they would not last another wave. This was certainly true for the clump that was approaching. Half of the dozen were regular orcs.
Mark watched as his dungeon entrance was cleared of the remaining bit of his defenders. Surprisingly they fell, bringing down 3 more regular orcs among an equal number of imps. Mark felt bad for all the times he had been frustrated at the lazy core guard hobgoblins. They certainly had done an admirable job to whittle down the orc force.
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The fight with the main goblin force finished at nearly the same time. Mark looked at what was left of the orc army. There were only 53 left on the counter, but a good portion of them were wounded, more than a few, heavily. Mark did not count, but there were more than 10 with an arrow shaft or two sticking out of them. Despite this the orcs hardly paused as they quickly gathered and got ready to enter the dungeon. The gray skinned brute leading them, slowly made his way to the entrance before ordering them in.
Mark noted that there were still a good handful of goblins still alive. The orcs had not bothered going around to finish the job. Which was surprising, due to their low vitality they would likely die if severely wounded. Then he saw the number tick down. It would likely tick down to zero soon enough, or… maybe not. Nasal had that survivor ability. Mark shook his head.
It would not matter if the 25 defenders could not put a stop to an orc force that was double their size. Despite the orc force having a lot of wounded. It would definitely be a daunting task. All Mark could do was to pick the location his defenders would make their stand. Inside the dungeon Mark could basically control the units on an individual level, so getting them in place was easy.
The location he had picked was definitely not the open rooms since he had to limit the orcs ability to maneuver at all costs. The regular orcs would already have to be slightly stoop as they walked through the halls. They proceeded unchallenged through hallways and large rooms to reach the point of the conclusive battle. Eventually they would reach the fork in one of the last tunnels where two forking hallways met the main tunnel at near the same location The three forks inclined upwards where they eventually ended shooting out into a condensed location in a large open room, marked the amphitheater. This was Mark’s killing field, but for this battle they would fight at the fork where one hallway led into 3 inclined tunnels. Mark had positioned his hobgoblins in all 3 tunnels. Winnie and the reanimated goblin corpse would be held in reserve. The bear was the only thing capable of taking on that brute after all.
The orcs finally reached the fork. Mark was pleased to see that their number had fallen to 48, both from orcs outside the dungeon finally transpiring, and due to a couple collapsing in the halls on the way. He had to give it to their tenacity, to continue to the point where they physically couldn’t. The orc brute and the rest just stepped right over their wounded. The 48 still able to fight were more than capable of winning on their own. They would see how things played out.
The lead imp charged forward into the center tunnel of the fork, and so did the couple after him. They immediately ran into a hobgoblin wall with shields and spears. Mark had to spend the second DP, but it had been enough to buy strong wooden shields at 50 MP a pop. Now 18 hobgoblins stood to stop them with shields and spears. There were 6 per tunnel, but they were not the only threat. Right at the fork the ceiling opened up. It would allow the orcs to stand more normally, but more importantly it allowed the 5 goblin archers to pour arrows over their own comrades. Mark had pictured having a lot more defenders when he had thought this up, but he would have to make do.
Just as Mark had pictured the orcs starting to bottleneck due to clog in the center tunnel started to flow into the other 2 tunnels, but due to the confines of the tunnel prior to the fork the orcs were only trickling at a more managemental amount into all three forks. When one of the hobgoblins was knocked back the rest reinforced the wall with their shields. At 3 abreast, they all had exactly one spare in the front wall. The orcs were fighting uphill with arrows raining into the orcs following them, and were not able to make any headway. Even the regular orcs were having difficulty when they made it to the wall.
Just like the other end of these tunnels it was a killing field, and orcs littered the floors without being able to do much. The numbers had ticked down to half when the orc commander made his move. He charged right through his men and into the left tunnel. A moment later he slammed into the hobgoblin wall and past. Mark commanded Winnie to charge down the same tunnel and had the reanimated goblin corpse follow behind. The orcs started to follow their commander up the left tunnel, with only a couple left engaging the other 2 forks.
The brute charged ahead after breaking through the hobgoblins, not bothering to finish all of them. Some were already dead and the ones who were not would die at the hands of the orcs following, but the brute did not make it much further before facing a snarling several ton furry bear galloping down the steps at full speed. Mark had to hand it to the orc leader, he did not hesitate but lowered his shoulder and met the bear. The orc leader was good size, likely weighing a good 300 pounds or more, but he was bowled over by something 10 times his weight that was headed downhill.
Mark had not been able to even roll something down an incline. He had tried, it counted as a trap so the interface restricted him until the appropriate tech was researched. It did not however, restrict a giant bear running downhill into the enemies who had all gathered in front of it. Soon the bear was bowling right over dozens of orcs. Mark had it slow intentionally, it started to use its claws and teeth to rip apart the orcs that were being pressed down under it. The Orcs in the very back were still trying to go up resulting in them becoming packed in. Winnie could not miss.
Soon a few of the orcs in the back got the picture and escaped back through the tunnel, but it was too late for most. The orcs that had been tread underneath were not all dead, but even if they were not shredded by the claws or teeth or from having broken bones from being forced into each other and into the stairs, then they were tangled up with the others.
The next part of Mark’s plan did not work. The reanimated goblin corpse had been tasked with following after the bear and giving the knocked down leader a nice big bear hug and to sap out his vitality. The leader however had recovered very quickly and bisected the reanimated goblin corpse in half with his iron ax. It did not kill the reanimated goblin corpse, however and since his top half fell and rolled down into a bunch of severely wounded orcs he could go to work after all.
The hobgoblins on the opposite or right side of the fork cleared out leaving a bewildered couple of orcs to chase after them. They nearly made it to the room, before the bear caught them from behind. The bear had done a complete loop down the left fork stairs and up the right fork.
The hobgoblins that exited the top of the tunnel instantly faced the orc leader who had made it to the top and was looking around confused on where to go next. One hobgoblin put an arrow into his chest, but was then cut down along with the others. The orc leader then jumped aside to keep from getting trampled by the bear once again. The two then were left alone facing one another at the bottom of the amphitheater like room. Just down the stairs in the center tunnel 5 hobgoblins still made their stand. Just as the reanimated goblin corpse drained all the wounded orcs in the left tunnel 1 by 1.
The two champions of the opposing force collided. Technically the orc leader had a higher power level, but power level was not everything. The orc leader had mobility, but the bear was undead so would be difficult to kill. Mark liked their chances. It was likely whichever one won the other side would lose.
The tide turned slightly for the other side when the last of the hobgoblins in the center fell. There were two regular orcs left and they rushed to join their leader. It would soon be a 3 on 1 situation. The reanimated goblin corpse was crawling over bodies and getting at whomever it could, the orcs tried to fight it off with their arms, but just grabbing their arm was enough. It was somewhat eerie as the wounded were silenced, but Mark was not overly paying attention to it.
One of the regular orcs had been quickly brained with one swipe of the bear’s claw, but the leader had gotten a deep wound on one front leg. It would be a critical blow on a normal bear, but for Winnie it was just something that hurt his mobility, but that was bad enough since the bear had already been losing in that aspect.
Several minutes passed as the two remaining orcs worked in coordination to whittle down the bear. After the bear had been wounded, Mark could only see one course of action. The battle would not be lost until the bear was finished. At this rate it soon would be. The bear started backing down the left tunnel. Technically giving up the high ground, but it also restricted the orcs mobility, so it was an overall win. Another minute passed and the bear backed further down the tunnel and over the bodies of the dead. It truly was on its last leg with bits of it strewn along the tunnel as the two orcs fought side by side and forced it further down. Its final attack was able to disembowel the regular orc with its claws, but the bear was overextended and the orc leader lopped off the appendage. The other front leg was wounded so the bear only had his teeth to snap at the leader, who easily avoided before burying his axe deep into the bear’s neck.
The bear collapsed, but luckily it had gone far enough. The reanimated goblin corpse had a second shot at the orc leader. The top half of its body wrapped its arms in a bear hug around the leg. It was his last ditch effort, hopefully the thing could hold on. The orc leader did nothing for the first few seconds. He was clearly shocked that the top half of a body had clung to its leg, but the vitality drain had been immediate, so the shock did not last for long. The orc leader tried to pry the corpse off his leg. The leader likely had twice the strength of the reanimated corpse, but it was locked on and the leader's strength was sapping.
The leader being off balance on top of the bodies of his own comrades resulted in him being unable to use his full strength, and he fell over completely due to the effort of his attempt. He was down among the mess of bodies and their appendages. Giving up on disentangling its limbs the leader focused on the head. Two large hands fastened on top and yanked. The neck held for only a second before the head finally popped off, but the life drain did not stop the arms holding its leg in a death grip. Mark watched as the leader thrashed around weekly, no longer strong enough to do anything. It took only about half a minute from the moment the corpse had latched on before the orc breathed its last.
Amelia was ecstatic and was jumping around. Mark was just staring at the screen. He could not believe that had worked, although technically they had not completely won. There were several still wounded amidst the pile and another couple lying unconscious near the dungeon entrance. Anyone of them could continue on, or another force could enter. Mark could potentially fight himself, but there was no defender standing in their way.
That would change eventually. The hobgoblins would respond in an hour and would finish the job, and that was assuming the reanimated goblin corpse did not pull itself together and finish the job before then. It was the former. Hobgoblins started to respawn from the dungeon core and pour through the dungeon. It seemed the reanimated goblin corpse would take quite a bit longer to piece itself back together. The bear would not respawn for a full 3 days.
Mark could finally breathe a sigh of relief when they got a notification as the last orc died.
[Congratulations: You have one your first dungeon battle. You have gained 2,730 MP in experience.]