[Warning - SIGNAL LOST: Wyvern 3]

I cursed as we flew off the last step and onto the landing below. Dead goblins were laid out around make-shift barricades. Bullet casings shun off the brass, appearing as if large pieces of glitter had been sprinkled about

With the warning, I ordered the front line to push in after the drones. They funneled around the poorly made barricades as Hembree and I picked our way after them.

The tunnel flicked ahead with gunshots, giving birth to the layout visually in small instances that reminded me of several underground raves my sisters had dragged me to when I was younger. Only, I wasn’t scared or being dragged through a crowd of strangers. I was stepping over the bodies of green monsters.

Hembree sprinkled some powder here and there behind me as passed the largest of the obstacles, a poor attempt at a wall-to-wall barricade, the space cleared up. It gave birth to the structure - a large tunnel had a soft decline with a 30-degree curve to the left. Following it, we found the fight in 3 minutes. The drones had taken up a holding pattern at the first off-shoot.

Wyvern-3 impaled into the wall opposite the offshoot. The shooting had died down to the drones taking potshots at any goblin dumb enough to stick out from another makeshift wall-to-wall barricade. I had three of the drones watch the offshoot while I sent the rest to clear that barricade.

I knelt down and observed a large muscled orc that appeared to have been the one that impaled Wyvern-3. As shots rang out, I noticed that the orc was red rather than green.

“Mutant!” Hembree hissed.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Huh?!” He asked.

“What is a mutant?!” I asked louder.

He looked at me blankly before I pulled him in close and yelled in his ear. “WHAT IS A MUTANT?!”

“Variant of the monster!” He yelled. “Always stronger!”

I nodded and figured I needed to get this man some earmuffs or something. It would wait. I pointed to Hembree and then pointed to the floor. I then pointed to my eyes and gestured I wanted him to watch the hall. Without waiting for acknowledgment, I pushed into the offshoot with the two robots.

They took led as I turned off my light and turned on my thermals. The brief transition period plunged me into pure darkness. The hall then turned deep gray. The robots were a light gray, mostly centered around their chest and head where the processors and battery were.

A corner came up on the right. The one furthest from it slowed, forming a single-file line behind the closest. The latter stopped on the edge before it stepped out, pushing its rifle up and –

It flung backward, slamming into the wall. Two orcs with shields had charged it as two more charged past it. They tried to attack the second drone, but it had been at the ready. I watched as a pitch-black blast of air pushed out, forming a sideways mushroom as bullets cut into the first orc. It went down while the second managed to tackle it. I didn’t bother to help as the first one was pinned to the wall.

I brought up the SMG and pulled the trigger.

Rounds danced through the air as the SMG locked onto the closest orc’s head. Tens of rounds slammed into its head before it slumped over. I switched to the next, keeping my finger on the trigger as the last few rounds danced towards it. It let out a large yelp and pushed off - backpedaling toward where it’d come from. Three of the last seven rounds smashed into its face while the last 4 slammed into the stone wall.

The drone that’d been pinned jumped forward and shouldered its weapon before firing. The burst was over in a second before the drone turned to the orc pressing its comrade down. I was mid-reload when the last orc twisted the drone’s head and pulled it. Hydraulic fluid squirted out over the floor and my shoes and pants. The robot executed the orc and it dropped liflessly on top of the destroyed robot.

I clicked my tongue and we pushed forward. Yang stayed at my rear just encase someone got the bright idea to flank me.

Past the bend, there was a small room where a fire had been lit against the back wall. Given that it was dark, I assumed it’d been lit to throw off eyesight. But with thermals, it didn’t matter. The only thing it did was cause that side to become white while the rest of the room was normal.

Aside from the orcs and goblins that waited on the room’s edges.

None of them attacked first, most likely assuming that we’d be bungled by the light. I simply decided to swap Yang in and moved the drone back. Yang went in blades at the ready, and turned into a metal tornado of death. Orcs flung themselves at them and he cut them in half or dismembered them.

I fired into the room at what looked to be an orc casting magic. It didn’t get to finish. Bullets were faster than its chanting.

The room was cleared in less than 1 minute. We found a wooden chest. Inside it was several small rough gems and a pouch of silver coins. I threw them into my inventory before exiting the off-shoot.

Our section of the tunnel had been cleared, so when we walked out of the offshoot, I found Hembree and my robots waiting for me. The Duke’s men were filing past us, torches in hand. Using Yang, I could tell that the torches offered a lot of light, but made the darkness that much… Well… Darker.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Hembree nodded to me as I stood next to him.

“They pushing past us?”

“Huh?” He asked.

I leaned up to his ear. “Are they clearing ahead?”

His face turned a little red and he nodded. I nodded back. There wasn’t much to add to the situation other than take this respite. With two drones down, I’d have to reconsider my approach towards the dungeon. Robots were powerful but limited in their numbers. I couldn’t buy more since the lowest tier robot was 10k, and that was for the butler models. Unarmored, their frame chromed and polished, along with no offensive programming, it’d be like sending Valentinos against a Xi Long hit-squad.

After 10 minutes, and reforming a plan of attack, we followed after the natives. They hadn’t gone in with all their numbers. I counted less than 100 people from when I came out. We could safely say the total attack force was around 150-200. It's quite the amount, though given how smart the orcs were, I’d say we’d lose half of them by the bottom.

We pulled up to the rear, where healers and support people were.

That narrowed their actual fighting numbers down. It was strange I hadn’t noticed them, but a closer look showed that they all were the same uniforms. Nothing different aside from the healers’ hands glowed a soft green that illuminated the back of the group. They reattached limbs or sealed the stumps. Some put organs back in while others pulled the dead away.

I sent the last two wyverns overhead to join the battle.

They had it rough… The orcs had formed a shield wall. Unlike before, they actively held back the human assault. Spears and swords sliced back and forth until the two wyverns opened up into the thin orc ranks behind.

Both sides recoiled as the volley reverberated in the confined tunnel. It only took a few moments before the human side took advantage. Each smart munition was also a tracer. They glowed through the dimly lit tunnel into the orcs like falling stars one after another.

The orc line caved. With dwindling numbers, and attempting to shield themselves from above, they had no choice but to fall back. More fell as they funneled themselves through their own chokepoint.

One of the wyverns’ wings exploded into pieces as a spear grazed it, falling into the pack of humans below.

“Fuck, they got another one!” I spat as I muscled my way to the crowd while I pulled back the last remaining wyvern.

It didn’t go down in vain. The humans had pushed through the barrier. Like a river of flesh, they poured through, keeping their momentum through the next horde of monsters.

I found the wyvern a few moments later as two men hauled it back and waved to me.

“Apostle!” One of them said in a panic. “Your angel was hit!”

My… Angel…?”

That was a strange…

“I caught it with my head!” The other man, more like, boy, said with a cheery tone. “Did I do good?”

“You both did well,” I said and nodded after a moment. It certainly was an interesting interpretation of a wyvern. “I’ll take it from here.”

I took charge of the wyvern from the two, sending them away to rejoin their comrades. I looked down at the wyvern with my thermals still on. At this point, it was easier to see than anything. I then looked to Hembree who crouched beside me - no light source to see.

“How can you see?” I asked.

“Cat-Potion,” He grinned. It was… Slightly unnerving to see in thermals, not going to lie. “So long as there’s some light, I can see. Your golems’ eyes give off enough light for me to see somewhat. Though, whatever torch you had on your weapon, I’d enjoy having it.”

“Ah, the flashlight?” I asked.

“Is that what it’s called?” He asked back. “Well, whatever it’s name, that’s a useful tool you got there. Dungeon crawling would be easy if we all had those.”

“Mmm…” I smiled. “I smell a business opportunity.”

He shook his head. “It sounds like it’d be only useful for the rich. Dungeon crawlers are adventurers. They’re mostly poor to middle-class. Very few are rich.”

“Well, whatever class they are, we can discuss it later.” I said and turned my attention back the wyvern.

It was then that a promp appeared.

[REPAIR: Anti-Gravity Wing replacement — 500p

YES / NO?]

I clicked yes. It dug into my shallow reserves, but it would be worth it. The missing wing formed together in a sea of particles and then the drone floated up. It beeped at me before returning to the formation with the last wyvern.

“We’re going to either have to play fast and hard, or take it easy from here.” I sighed. “That was an expensive repair. I don’t have enough for another repair like that unless we start to loot the monsters.”

“We have porters coming behind to loot the monsters,” Hembree said.

“Hopefully they don’t try to loot my drones,” I said.

“They already know not to touch what's yours,” Hembree said. “Unless they’re stupid.”

“I feel like that would be most people here.” I retorted.

“... Okay, be a little concerned then…”

We continued on, keeping to the rear. I’d expected to have to reinforce them, but it seemed that the forced had dwindled down to just goblins. None of the barricades remained as we reached the end. But it seemed there had been an interesting development.

With the group stopped, Hembree and I forced our way to the front. Duke Reverie and Viscount Henry were both discussing something when we approached. I fell behind Hembree to avoid starting anything this time.

“What happened?” Hembree asked then noticed something.

“The dungeon’s make up has changed,” Viscount Henry stated. “Before, it was just crumbled rocks that marked the end. Now…”

He waved his hand to a bright opening where the monsters had constructed a wooden plank bridge down to the next tunnel. I approached the edge and found that the dungeon… Liked like an open-air pit. The tunnel appeared to have been a breach in the tunnel structure that led down nearly 200 feet to where more structures had been erected. Fires could be seen and there was a lot of activity.

“This can’t be!” Hembree exclaimed. “I thought it was just a tunnel system, how did it turn into an open-air pit?!”

“Evolution?” I offered with shrug.

The men looked at me. I gave an innocent grin. “I was just being helpful.”