As if on cue, several of the walls in the cavern collapsed, revealing new fresh tunnels. Everywhere there were some of the creatures, it seemed as if they were gathering their strength. For his part, he would not face such a great force openly. This whole cave system soon seemed like a wasp's nest into which he and Leica stabbed. Rather than face this fight openly, it began to gather and form the ground during their action. Wherever he could not cover the area, he formed the ground into massive rock spears, which were aimed at the enemy. He created as many bottlenecks as he thought possible.
While he was still adjusting to the area, he began to swear openly again. He couldn't curse as often as he would have liked, because he missed his deep man's voice deeply. His voice now was far too delicate and sweet for the curses that escaped his throat.
Magna: “Oh man. Everyone always wants to spit in my soup! "Stopping for a moment, safely reminding that he no longer really had one, fueled his inner anger about the situation."
With a cheeky grin he said: "Well, if not me, then I'll spit in your soups for you."
Leica could still watch him strangely when he seemed to be talking to himself again. She had observed it several times, but often could not understand the content or even the purpose of these outbursts.
In fact, he'd imagined diving in a dungeon to be a little different. He thought he had to go to the creatures, but instead they came willingly to him. A few of the crystals broke as the creatures created fresh entrances into the cavern itself. He also began to hollow out the ground, whereupon he only allowed extremely thin layers with loads of spears underneath. Here he had to realize for the first time that his willpower contained another component, because it effectively limited the range of his magic. Some rules of physics still applied, but anything outside of this range would no longer be under his own control.
It was a fascinating statement that he would have loved to write down immediately, but the time and place did not coincide with such an act. You just had to notice this when he tried to reach the other side of the cave. First he would thin them out with his traps and then withdraw into his own tunnel bit by bit during the fight.
There was no shame in him in retiring, just as he could not find very much in honor and morality. He would be fine with almost any means of winning a fight. Also, it made no sense and didn't do much to hide what his intentions were. If honor were useful to him, he would wield it like a sword, but if he needed a hammer, then he would not hesitate to put the honor aside.
The beings didn't seem to mind his preparations; on the contrary, they just stood rigid, as if they were still waiting for something.
He instructed Leica to return to the corridor from which they came. After a few moments a terrible idea for a new spell formed in his head, whereupon he created several components in a mana vessel. These components would only mix with each other on impact. Basically, this was Greek fire, or as its modern variant was called napalm. With a simple fire spell he would have done some damage, but this way he could at least make some areas impassable before the attack started and instead of waiting for it to begin, he formed a few more of these vessels, which floated around him in the air. They looked like a defense, so the potential attackers could not yet see the danger in them, but to their surprise the balls began to move in all directions of the tunnel entrances very soon. The moment the first bullet broke on one of the enemies, the mixture poured over the first line. The same game was playing everywhere. They were attacked even before their attack began. The apparently living fire stuck to the creatures, the ground and everything else. It showered them with flames that didn't just burn out. Terrible roars filled the underground cavern, whereupon all attackers started moving at the same time. Assured of their superiority as well as their advantage, the attack came as a surprise to them. The inflamed creatures screamed, staggered and fell, whereupon they formed burning piles on the floor, which, although bypassing a few of their own kind, finally stormed them into the cavern anyway.
He didn't have a moment to admire his work, because as soon as the first bullets broke, he too began to retreat. Occasionally he hurled some of his wind scythe at them, which beheaded one or the other creature, but only so that ten more took their place for it. Those who dodged the spears very soon stepped on the thin layers of the ground only to find their end on the spears in the pitfalls, because no matter how much vitality a creature possessed, if you speared it, it would still bleed and its health would be lost. The first to fall in were soon followed by others. As quickly as they noticed the pits, it was just as impossible for them to avoid them because the others were pushing them into them from behind. They just filled the pits with corpses. The experiences streamed on him like the masses of water. He couldn't keep up with how quickly he leveled and how quickly his display filled with the percentages. It must have seemed to him as if the whole dungeon had gathered in his honor.
He usually enjoyed being the center of attention, but in this particular case he could do without it. On his retreat he created more of the napalm balls, but hid them in new pits and traps. He could hear them getting closer and closer to their position.
Leica was already waiting at the end of the tunnel. Outside he could hear explosions as the first ones fell into his booby traps. He hoped the fire would devour them to make way for a few others. If he could see the cavern, then he could see the creatures pouring like a flood towards his tunnel, how they climbed over their fallen, how pits burned like pits and some of their comrades in the rush pushed their comrades into them. They even pushed their way into the tunnel just to get to him. Leica swung her tail a few times, and silver tips were thrown in the direction of the enemies. He had to look at her in surprise, because up to that moment he did not know that they had been capable of such long-range attacks, and finally he had to make the note of having a long conversation with his wolfish companion in the future. He formed a few more balls, which could basically take up the whole area of the corridor. Upon impact, the burning liquid spread over all creatures that tried to force their way in, adding a terrible sounding note of pain to the battle roar. He knew that if the corridor had been even a little wider it would have been impossible to hold. Inwardly, he thanked himself and his paranoia. The time gained was not wasted. Immediately the bottom of the passage was deepened and turned into another deep pit, which quickly hit a tunnel with torrential floods below. Instead of stopping there, he widened the passage, which was still burning, only so that those behind pushed the burning ones into the waters below.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Magna: “Welcome to my waterpark. Please keep your distance and wait for the green light or instructions from our employees, thank you for your attention. "
Finally he could perceive more and more bodies that joined the others on their journey. As before, the rear ones simply pushed further forward, ignorant of having pushed their conspecifics into the waters, only to soon follow them themselves. But the madness did not end there. Contrary to expectations, the water level in the pit seemed to rise very quickly. The whole body had to block the tunnel below in a bottleneck. The situation seemed to change catastrophically for him again very quickly. Those who had now fallen in could support themselves against the edges of the pit without being torn away by the floods; more and more fell into it, but it drew a picture which soon seemed to form a bridge of bodies. His quest progress bar had already passed the 50% mark. But instead of the first milestone appearing in front of him, the system asked him if he would accept the reward, whereupon he declined, because at the moment he could stow it again or use it.
He had no choice but to close the tunnel from his side, which he could make up for more time. On his way back up the steps of his spiral staircase, however, he did not hang his head. Instead, he filled the space he left behind with new rock. After about 10 meters he dug a new direct tunnel into the cavern, which he provided with a balcony and railing at the exit. He walked slowly down the corridor while sculpting, but as soon as his eyes saw the interior of the cavern he seemed to go mad. The battlefield was a mess. Among the small ones were some of these troll creatures, while much larger ones seemed to be pushing their way through the tunnels. Still no trace of the mind mage seemed to be found.
As soon as the creatures spotted him on the elevation, he could hear them yelling and screaming, which alone gave him goosebumps. He had considered another option, but had discarded it beforehand, as its effects would be completely unknown to him, but at the sight of it he just seemed to run out of options. As soon as they saw him, the smaller ones began to climb up the walls. Like lizards, they moved between the crystals as if it were second nature. There wasn't much time left to implement his plan, and his eyes seemed to be glued to the neck of the bottle. The moment he began to cast the spell, he was suddenly suppressed by an alien presence. On the other side of the cavern he could catch two bright yellow glowing eyes that seemed to fixate him. There the mind mage stood surrounded by some of the larger creatures. They almost looked like a bodyguard or an escort. Even without the message from System, he quickly became aware that his magic was blocked one more time, or rather the thoughts that were dedicated to the magic. It was like any thought of magic was blocked. He could almost swear he saw a grin on this creature's face. From the entrance behind the magician a humanoid figure seemed to peel itself, which clearly had human features. It was actually the first person he was to meet in this world and the only being in this place who did not carry corruption with him in his description.
He could do without this dungeon experience. So far, his new experiences in this world had been anything but pleasant. The reward only seemed to him like a seduction that blinded him to the dangers to penetrate directly into the heart of the dungeon. The climbing creatures came closer and closer to his position, to the point where they could almost jump onto his ledge. Just as the first creature was about to jump, it was hit by one of the Leicas, which stepped onto the balcony behind him.
His new points won, as well as the remaining points, he began to divide up, with his willpower taking the lion's share. With level 57 he had earned quite a few points.
Finally, with it, his own grin returned. The major boost in his willpower, along with the Void's resistance to such attacks, gained the upper hand as Leica tried to protect his position. When one of the creatures managed to get through, he drew not the short sword but his dagger and rammed this of the surprised creature directly into her throat, causing dark blood to gurgle from his throat.
Finally empowered to do his magic again, he grinned again and directed his gaze to the neck of the bottle, which began to crumble shortly afterwards, which forced more and more water through, which very soon turned the bottom of the cavern into a lake, which rose slightly by a few meters. The new tunnels ensured a steady drainage of the water masses, but the basin seemed to fill faster than it could drain away. The creatures that couldn't swim simply drowned in the new tides, and the crocodiles in the water had the feast of their lives. The person on the other side of the chamber seemed to stop smiling, whereupon she opened her mouth to speak a magically amplified voice to his ears.
Unknown: "Let me guess, the gods made you a tempting offer?"
He couldn't help but nod unnoticed at this comment, which made the stranger smile back. Everything about this person had the vibes of a classic villain.
Unknown: "Sorry for my behavior, but after all, would you react the same way if someone invaded your home or not?"
For a moment he wanted to nod again, while he remembered that he didn't start this conflict, but the mind mage got him to create the bottleneck to give this dungeon an exit. The conversation also gave him a moment of calm to let his mind settle on the problem. The creatures on the walls of the cavern also seemed to make no move to get to him.
Unknown: "You are probably thinking about how you could defeat me, but what if I doubled your rewards, if you could support me and also offer you opportunities that the system could not offer you?"
The whole thing seemed to remind him of some sales calls over the phone trying to make him a better offer, undercutting the public utility company, but in hindsight, it was always wiser to stick with the public utility company because they had a fixed price while everything else always had hidden costs. However, the offer also sounded very tempting, although he had no interest in making the system an enemy himself. He wasn't a fan of it, because he owed the system to being stuck in a female body, but whatever quarrel the stranger had with it, it wasn't his problem.
Unknown: "Little Miss, I bet we could surely
find agreement?"
[System:….