The poison spiders and trap spiders come behind us within seconds of the goblins dying. We stayed quiet and moved forward. I had the surveillance spider scout ahead keeping one eye closed seeing what he saw.

There were a few goblins that were scattered to the left and right of our paths. I ordered the poison spiders to take care of them as fast and quietly as possible as we moved forward. It took maybe 5 minutes before the surveillance spider was able to see the main camp and the king sitting on his wooden throne. The layout was similar to the first goblin dungeon we raided, with one major difference. Last time there were hobgoblins and a redcap, this time it was just a singular hobgoblin sitting on his throne. There were 7 other goblins in the clearing around the hob.

I quietly relayed the information to Ella as he reached the area. I ordered the poison siders to approach from the sides as I charged in with the trap spider. Ella was in charge of covering my back as I made my way to the dungeon master.

All the goblins were startled by our attack, they scrambled around reaching for weapons. I saw two arrows fly over my head and the two goblins closest to me fell dead. The poison spiders were fast moving in taking two more goblins from behind as all eyes were looking at me. The trap spider played its part and shot to my left taking out a goblin's legs tearing it off. The goblin hit the ground screaming as blood gushed out. I reached the firepit directly across from the hobgoblin who was on his feet now holding a wooden shield and hammer.

I jumped over the firepit bringing the hammer down in an ax swing with all of my might. I made contact with the shield, shattering it to pieces. The terrible sound of bone breaking was overshadowed by the bellow that the hob let out as the force of my hammer snapping his forearm along with the hammer. The pain didn't slow him down much and he swung a hammer at me. I twisted and let the strike of the hammer glace off my shoulder. It hurt, but not so much that I couldn't retaliate.

The hobgoblin used his injured arm to block my next attack screaming in pain but refusing to back down. I managed to completely dodge his next swing and caught him in the ribs with a left hook throwing him off balance. That was all I needed to win. I advanced as he stumped to the side and swung my hammer in an arch catching the hob on the back of the neck breaking his spine. He dropped like a bag of rocks rolling head-first into the fire. I turned around to see the last of the goblins fall.

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One of the poison spiders had a small gash on his abdomen that I stopped with my saliva. The trap spider had one of its back legs bent in the wrong direction which I reset receiving a hiss of pain from the disgruntled spider. By the time I finished the dungeon was already shaking and cracking.

“We need to go. Hurry.” I snapped the order out and we sprinted to the vortex. I was just hoping that the situation on the other side of the vortex wasn't too bad. We reached the vortex as the dungeon started to fade away. The sky was getting dimmer and the ground walls were wavering. All of us managed to jump through the vortex with no issues exiting with just enough time to see the vortex flutter and vanish.

“That was close,” Ella said, panting. She spoke what we all were thinking. I looked around the desert dungeon. There was more than one crack in the sky now and the temperature was even hotter than before.

“We don't have much time. We need to get moving.” I sent the injured spiders back to the dungeon as Ella and I headed to the oasis. The king was not doing well, his breath came out in short bursts and he could barely open his eyes.

“Is there anything we can do?” Ella had tears in her eyes.

“No. We don't have an antidote to the poison they used on him, and some of the wounds are rather deep. I don't think we can do anything for him now.” I felt a tinge of sadness looking down at the big guy. All the parmadillos were gentle and harmless creatures. I get the benefits from absorbing a dungeon but the thought of killing off all of them just seemed a little too much. I bent down and put my hand on the king's side. After a moment of silence, I stood up placing my hand on Ella, and pulled her back. “We need to get going.”

She slowly stood up and turned away. He didn't have much time left, and once he died the dungeon was going to collapse. If that happens while we are in the oasis we would have to make a run for my dungeon. With the sand, we could be slowed down and end up staying here. Ella knew that even if she wanted to stay she knew it was going to be better to let him die alone in due time.

We headed back to the dungeon moving at a steady fast pace. 30 minutes later we reached the vortex and looked back. The dungeon was getting darker and the cracks in the sky larger. After a brief goodbye into the desert, we headed back through the vortex leaving the dying king behind.