The soldiers rode through the storm, rain pounding the ground and lightning deflected off their makeshift mana shields. The first group of horses blew open another section of the maze and rotated around for another group to take the lead, travelling through a cloud of dust and debris. They saw strange flashing glitches as though part of the walls were illusionary and being interfered with by both the rain and the partial destruction of their surroundings. 

As they passed a downhill slope, the troops began to slow down and gather; they had arrived at the location the beacon was last seen. A lone man appeared to be waiting in the open cavern; he was wearing rags drenched in the rain.

"Who goes there!" one of the men shouted through the rain.

"WHAT?!" Adil shouted back. The men gathered their horses in the cavern, one of them getting off and walking towards him.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I am the guardian of this land. Leave now or feel my wrath." Adil thundered, aiming to inspire intimidation he only appeared as an out of place whining young man. 

The soldier looked up and down the wet, rugged adventurer, not seemingly impressed by his appearance. He claimed to be a caveman that wanted to stop a regiment of the church's crusaders. 

Seemingly fed up, the person seemed exasperated, especially after the arduous travel he had just taken.

"Right, if you don't get out the way you will be obstructing the church which is treason. You will be given the death penalty and repercussions for three generations of your family." The man said.

Adil was still finding him challenging to hear, the sound of the storm raging appeared to be interfering too much. He reached his hand, into the ground and tried to send a message to the spawn crystal. As he focused his mana, a slight silvery glow resonated around him, and soon, the clouds began to clear. Rain immediately stopping and the clouds dissipating into nothingness. Soon the sky was only blue, a glowing heat resonating from the sun, together with the areas warmth ability it felt like a pleasantly dry summer day.

"That's better," Adil said. The other man seemed in shock and scuttered back shouting "shit." before getting on his horse and galloping away, Other soldiers in the area appeared to move to surround Adil. Eventually, a more official man came towards Adil, his armour made him stand out like the knight major from town, Adil remembered seeing him in the scrying image from before.

"So I hear you're the one that made the storm?" the man said.

"Yes I am Major, and you're part of the crusaders?"

"Aye I am, and it seems your aware of what stopping us means, correct?"

"We only wish for peace."

The army man shuffled to the side a bit at that comment:

"We've been killing monsters and purging evil for a few hundred years, now why would you want to stop that?" he said. As much as the man seemed to be coming from a firm stance, Adil could feel that he was more curious than aggressive. He tried to push further in and see if he could calm the crusade.

"Do I look like a monster?" He said with a half-hearted smile.

"Aye, you do have me there, ye ain't looking like a monster, but I have my orders, and there should be a goblin base around here. Also, we have no idea how you controlled the weather like that. Now I -"

A bolt of energy was fired and connected with Adil's face; his head ruptured off his body. The older man looked towards one of the religious priests; he had taken one of the crystals from the mages, channelling his mana through it and shooting a bolt towards Adil's head.

"Ye didn't have to do that; I was talking to the man." The knight major said.

Adil woke up under the spawn crystal; the crystal appeared to be resonating. Its manna replenishing from the action it had just taken. "fuck," he said to himself, quickly gathering himself he focused on the task at hand, he went over to the war table opening up a map of the land. Drones had been placed at tactical locations and opened lines of communication between the groups. Initiating interaction with the first group Adil found it was a battalion of goblins crouched together in a small hidden extension above the cave with Swift when he connected with the drone the silvery creature now emitted an almost robotic version of Adil's voice.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ok, they killed me mid-conversation and are currently moving into the cave," Adil said through the drone. The group appeared to be expecting this outcome.

The knight major moved towards the cave entrance, and suddenly a roar echoed from within, and a storm reemerged in the sky. The chilling echo of Adil's voice was robotically emitted from deep within.

"You Dare threaten the creatures of this land. This is your last warning, begone or feel my Wrath!"

Swift face palmed himself at the generic nature of Adil's speech.

"You heard him boys, let's all go." The knight major said, a laugh erupting from the people behind him as he started to walk into the cave.

 A rogue type seemed to scratch the back of his head when they started walking towards the cave, a coat of mana forming around them as they passed in, pushing away a bolt of lightning which seemed to strike the group.

"You know, as much as I think this is all fun and games. There's clearly something dangerous in here. Are you sure you want to go in?" He said

The major looked at him with disdain motioning his hand for the rogue to follow.

"That shield's going to be a real pain," Adil said through the drone. The other group waited in ambush for what was likely their impending doom.

"Got any ideas?" Adil asked. Swift looking pensive tried to think about what he had just seen.

"Maybe. If it doesn't um, protect from close things, or it could like, turn off when they shoot stuff." Swift said. Adil considered Swift's thoughts, it did seem the shields were being activated, but he couldn't tell how. 

"Let's see if your right." The drone said. Swifts glared at it, unsure if the drone was smiling or not.

The crusaders traversed the fire and walked inside, hidden in an upper area Swift, and a small group of nimble goblins began watching them. The drones had built tiny passageways, almost like ventilation shafts. It allowed the drones to carry on construction and traverse the map without being easily seen. Further, the new tunnels were perfect for the new task, Swift, and his new group were given.

A chilling echo resonated from down the corridor as Adil's voice stated.

"You have been warned."

The group consisted of two crossbow wielding goblins and a fighter and three goblin rogues. The fighter was wielding a twohanded katana whilst the other goblins appeared like ninjas. The crossbowers were the most basic, their weapons enormous in size but still looking like makeshift goblin weapons adorned with bones against its wood. 

The group shuffled ahead of the crusaders and away to their designated spot. They were now in a larger cavern awaiting the crusaders' arrival just before a fork in the path. The goblin champion was in the centre waiting for the crusade to come closer. The army of men were not impressed, a single goblin waiting to fight back roughly 40 armed soldiers directly working for the monster killing faction of the church.

A group of 20 had already moved into the cavern and were staring down this goblin before it had made a move, a bead of sweat seemed to be appearing over its face as it held the washing pole sized katana in one hand. 

The major was flicking something out of his teeth as he walked in. A small wooden pick was sticking out of his mouth; he saw what was awaiting him, bit down on the pick and spat it away. "Shoot him," he said. Two people from either side appeared to channel jagged-shaped crystals and focus power through it. A bolt of energy shot out and blew apart the face of the goblin samurai, seeing it turn into a silvery pasty mush melting into the floor. In true admiral Ackbar fashion, the man shouted "It's a trap!" and fire erupted from behind the group separating them. 

Swift had dropped down from some illusionary hiding spot into the mass of them, a couple of goblin ninjas to either side managed to get close enough to impale the soldiers with short daggers injuring them and taking them out of the fight. 

A mana shield focused on Swift, holding back the force of fire trying to envelop half of the battalion. A sword quickly impaled Swift's back, but he did not let up with the fire, exerting his last breaths. The katana-wielding fighter dropped down from the sky now diving straight for the major. He managed to clash swords with the beast forcing back the sword with a new smile on his face.

A mage turned to the goblin a charged bolt ready to fire before two bolts impaled the soldier. Firstly his arm, putting his aim off and stopping his ability to channel energy into the crystal, secondly his neck, the soldier choked on the arrow before he collapsed to the ground, his essence taken in by the cave.  The man who had impaled Swift forced his sword in further, lifting it and adding a dagger to the mix. Swift now slammed to the ground had his flames diminish, collapsing around them, the ninjas too had barely managed to fight off the others before they were repelled. That was when the floor began to collapse.

Half of the soldiers screamed as they fell; one of the injured soldiers didn't make the landing. Swift's lifeless body appeared charred by the flames, bloody and empty. Three soldiers of the forty were killed for the four enemies they had beaten. The crossbowmen still alive and above.