I had the miners craft me another shield and hammer as I rechecked all the wounds and selected who I was going to take with me into the hellhound dungeon. After everything was settled I headed to the vortex with shield and hammer in hand. The 5 tanks, 2 poison spiders, Alec, Ella, and both surveillance spiders trailed behind me. I sent both surveillance spiders shot through the vortex first, I had one eye closed on each side of my face with their screens pulled up.
“Anything?” Ella asked nervously. She had gotten used to me seeing and hearing things that she couldn't. The screens popped up and I saw hell. The surrounding environment was dark and dreary with large-looking vents that sprouted in a column from the ground. Fire spewed from the vents at regular intervals. There were very few plants living around, and the ones that were there looked just as spooky as the environment.
“Well, it looks like a terrible place to live, but there aren't any enemies near the gate.” So far so good. Daisy might be right, if there were little to no enemy forces then we could destroy this gate in record time. “Alright, everyone. There is no one near the gate entrance, but that does not mean you can relax. I want all poison spiders, Alec, and Ella to ride on the tanks as we go through.” Everyone mounted their tanks at my words and prepared to go through the gate. I checked the screens again and stepped through.
It was another hot environment as I emerged on the other side of the gate. I kept the shield ready and advanced forward moving out of the way of my army. I kept an eye out for enemies as the rest of the tanks filed out into the environment. With everyone in and ready to move I sent both surveillance spiders ahead of us. They sprinted through this hellish environment dodging carnivorous plants and flame vents. Besides the fact that the environment was trying to kill them, they came across no enemies. I nodded back to the other and advanced.
We walked for a few minutes with nothing happening around us. There was no movement from the enemies, no hellhounds, and besides the fire vents, nothing that posed a threat to us. The anger and adrenaline that had been pushing me forward were starting to fade. My arm and leg that got bitten were starting to ache and I was incredibly tired. Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea. I started to doubt my decision as we moved forward deeper into the dungeon.
I was brought out of my daze a the surveillance spiders came up to the first structure I had seen in this dungeon. If I had to call it anything, I would say that it looked like a mini volcano. It was about 50 feet high hill that flowed up to a chimney that was puffing smoke out of it.
“I think they found out where the boss is,” I whispered to Ella. The others could feel the mental note that I sent to them all. I sent the surveillance spiders in warming them to advance slowly and use the ceiling to hide. They complied and scuttled along the roof of the entranceway and slowly made their way inside. I could feel their discomfort as the temperature inside the cave increased, I could feel from them that it was annoying but not unbearable. At first, the tunnel went on with no sign of life until it finally opened into a large main chamber. The boss's room was around the same size as mine, except that this room was open up to the sky through the massive volcanic opening at the top of the mountain hill. There was a large pit in the center with a red glow where smoke flowed out the chimney. The spiders entered the room on opposite sides of the tunnel and spread out to either side giving me the best view of the entire room. I surveyed the throne room as we came up to the entranceway.
“There are 9 hellhounds in the throne room right now. I don't see the boss though.” I whispered back and slowly entered the tunnel. I wanted to get eyes on the dungeon master before I went in and attack. I ordered one of the surveillance spiders to move toward the only other opening in the throne room. It quietly scuttled along the wall making its way to an opening in the stone wall that lead to another room. As soon as it entered the path to the other room I immediately knew that it was. I swore under my breath and charged forward faster with the others following closely. The surveillance spider entered the enemy spawning room where the dungeon master stood before an altar.
“What is it?” Ella asked confused.
“The dungeon master is in the spawning room to the right of the entrance.” She understood immediately and got her bow ready. I gave silent orders to the spiders which would have them spread out as soon as we entered the throne room.
As the surveillance spider moved closer to the dungeon boss I got a good look at it for the first time. I was taken aback at the sight of an actual demon. It was humanoid and stood over 9 feet tall with thick long horns that curled out of its forehead. With red-tinted skin and thick goat-like hooved legs, this beast looked like the traditional demon that I had grown up reading about. I saw him holding a massive mana crystal that was by far the largest I had ever seen, and at least 3 times the size of the largest one I had. The demon reached up preparing to place the crystal into the altar as we entered the throne room.
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“Time to make some noise.” I needed to get the demon's attention before he summoned either more hellhounds or something bigger. I took a deep breath as all the spiders filled out into the throne room and bellowed with all my might. The screeching sound I made a worse than nails being dragged along a chalkboard. It echoed through the throne room causing all the hellhounds to jump out of shock and fear. The noise reached the demon and he froze with his hand inches away from the altar. His head snapped toward the entrance of the throne room. He had a dog-like face with snake eyes and sharp fangs that was raised in a snarl. The surveillance spider was standing over the demon's head and dropped down flipping around in mid-air. I was in shock as the spider dropped onto the demon's head with a solid thud causing a rush of confusion from it. Without breaking stride the surveillance spider launched from the demon's head and landed on its forearm sinking its fangs into the demon's wrist. The sharp bite caused it to drop the crystal. Again the spider moved and shot off the demon shooting a small thin web out snagging the crystal and scurrying toward the throne room. I let out a loud laugh as overwhelming pride filled me for the little spider, who was now sprinting out of the little room dragging the oversized crystal behind him.
The hellhounds had recovered from the scream and charged us running around the massive opening in the ground. Ella jumped off her tank and let loose a few arrows dropping 2 of the hounds. The tanks met the rest of them clubbing them down while the poison spiders coated their bodies. I left them be and made my way to the hallway to the summoning room. I stood to the side as the surveillance spider shot past me followed by a loud thumping. I set my hammer to the side and lifted my shield with both hands. The thumping grew louder and I swung the shield with all my might. The demon exited the hallways at full speed and met my shield with his head down. His horn rammed into the stone shield sending a jolt of pain through my arms as the stone shattered. The force of the blow stopped the charging beast dead in his tracks.
The demon stumbled back and stood up straight shaking his head. My arms were numb and I shook them out picking up the hammer. We both recovered at the same time and charged each other. He had the size on me, but I won when it came to speed. I swung my hammer into his shoulder breaking something. I moved to the side narrowly dodging a slash of his claws receiving only mild scratches. We exchanged a few more blows doing minimal damage. The pain in my arms and legs was beginning to ware me down. I began to lose ground taking a step back, dodging another strike. He easily deflected my hammer out of my hand sending it flying and slashing his claws across my chest leaving some deep slashes. I let out a vicious hiss and jumped backward away from another slash. He charged head bent down running to ram into me. Instinctively I reached down and grabbed his charging horns digging my legs into the ground sliding backward. We slowed and he came to a stop attempting to shake his head loose from my grip. I used his momentum and shucked him to the side forcing him to stumble.
An arrow came from the side embedding itself in his right shoulder and then calf dropping him to his knees. I charged in jumping on his back, locking my arms and legs around the demon. He thrashed underneath me as he struggled to breathe. Claws dug into my arm as I attempted to choke the lift from him. The pain forced me to let go and he took a deep breath of air collapsing forward. With one arm practically useless I was running low on options as I felt him gaining his strength again. I reached up grabbed his horn twisting his head to the side and dug my teeth into his neck.
If his body was humanoid there had to be some similarities in anatomy. I chopped down ripping at flesh and muscle as hot blood gushed at my face. I closed my eyes protecting them from the blood and tore in again. He screamed in agony thrashing his body around. I pinched my legs around him tighter tearing flesh away again. Finally, I hit what I was digging for. The flow of blood from his artery spewed out rocketing blood into my mouth. I pulled away spitting out blood as more of it spurted out of his neck. He struggled under me slowly getting weaker as the pool of blood around us grew larger. I slowly unwrapped my legs and looked over at the warriors. They had dispatched the few hellhounds with ease and were now waiting for my return. Fear was plastered across her face as I walked up to them. Understandably so I guess since I was covered in blood.
“We don't have time for his. Let's go. He will die slowly which will give us more time to get back.” I headed for the exit covering my wounds in saliva stopping the bleeding. The dungeon began to shake as we reached the vortex and made it through.
“Did it go well?” Daisy asked as I exited the portal.
“Yeah. It's over now.” I walked through the tunnel and made my way to the throne. I could see some cracks along the walls as I walked through. I definitely pushed myself a little much this time. “Have everyone devour the bodies to rank up and start fixing this place. Don't open up any more tunnels until I wake up.”
“Understood.” The dungeon started to shake as I crawled onto my throne and crashed into my dreamless sleep.