The army marching toward my dungeon belongs to the "Infernal Legion," a neutral guild from the western zone. The warning came from Shade, a friend and colleague within the Unholy Alliance. Shade, a shadow demon from the Fixer's guild, is an expert in stealth, infiltration, and creating illusions. You might find it odd that a defensively oriented cyborg like me would befriend an infiltration specialist, but our opposing natures lead to fascinating discussions on tactics and strategy, cementing our bond.

According to Shade's intelligence, the Infernal Legion isn't just sending a probing strike force—they're deploying a small army. This force is a mix of mages, tanks, healers, and various support units. The main group consists of fire mages, tanks, and combat healers, but they’re accompanied by auxiliary teams: scouts and engineers. This is no mere raid; they’re prepared for a full-scale assault.

Their choice to target my dungeon is puzzling—almost laughable. My stronghold is a Cyber dungeon, designed to withstand most of the fire-based attacks they're bringing, with relative efficiency. Fire damage is notably ineffective against my more armored defenses, such as heavy turrets. Had they brought water or lightning magic, it would have posed a real threat. Their strategy is akin to attacking skeletons with swords when a hammer would be much more effective.

Clearly, they’ve been fed some bad information. They’re likely under the impression that my dungeon is something else entirely—a Frozen dungeon, perhaps, or one filled with undead or nature-oriented defenses. But they're walking into a labyrinth of moving platforms, remote-controlled and automated defenses, and traps designed to disorient and funnel. While their mages might manage to take out some of my drones, the longer they linger, the more they'll suffer from attrition. With my ability to remotely control my defenses and ambush them using intel from my surveillance systems, their backline will be very vulnerable, and their healers will be overwhelmed.

But the real question is who leaked the correct location and then faked the nature of my dungeon. It could be a rival guild, some internal betrayal, or even a scheme from within the Unholy Alliance itself.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

It might seem absurd at first—why would anyone within the Alliance risk a shared treasury? But the Unholy Alliance isn’t a monolith. It’s a coalition of large guilds with their own agendas, formed to ensure the prosperity of the dark lands. The Alliance includes guilds like the Fixers, who handle rogue activities such as espionage, theft, and assassination; the Thorned Rose, a military guild focused on warfare and territorial defense; Long Tooth, the beast-tamers; and The Umbral Society, a guild of dark mages.

I belong to the Velvet Syndicate, the crafting and trading guild. We manage black market trade, oversee resource extraction, craft armaments, and train artisans. We also formally manage treasuries, but in truth, each Dungeon Master has ultimate control over their domain’s wealth, with all involved parties relying solely on the trust and capability of the Dungeon Master.

Given the structure of the Alliance, it's possible that the Thorned Rose guild is behind this. They have little to lose—most of their wealth is tied up in high-end equipment rather than liquid assets in my treasury. By luring the Infernal Legion to their doom, they could weaken a potential rival and, if the opportunity arises, seize all the spoils for themselves. Such a move would strengthen their position within the Alliance, forcing the rest of us to rely on them in the future.

For now, these are just suspicions. What’s certain is that I need to finalize my defenses. Shade has informed me that it’s impossible to stop the entire army outside the dungeon, so I must prepare to face their full might within my stronghold.

This won’t be just a simple dungeon run for them. My dungeon is expansive, designed to accommodate and challenge a much larger force than a mere strike team. The Infernal Legion will have to fight their way through with a large force, scouting out safe areas and moving bit by bit lest they risk ambushes on their auxiliary forces. Even then, they’ll still face waves of drones interrupting any rest, automated turrets, and traps designed to split their forces and wear them down over time. The further they advance, the more relentless my defenses will become.

In this coming battle, their main fire team will be just one part of the equation. They'll need healers to keep their frontline tanks alive, engineers to destroy my gates and fortified points, and scouts to navigate the corridors and disarm traps. Each of these groups will be under constant threat as I target their weakest links, forcing them to stretch their resources thin.

This won’t be a mere skirmish—it will be a siege. And I intend to make every step they take a costly one.