Even panting, exhausted, from the fight, he simply skimmed the handful of bonus levels the system granted him, which brought him to level 64. He didn't have the slightest nerve to distribute any of the points at the moment. Damn it, he was just tired and wanted to sleep for a few hours. Only the cockpit as a capsule seems to be present. It was on his back, which closed the exit. He just closed his eyes tiredly.
When he woke up, he could still hear the sounds of a few of the little monsters apparently eating their king's flesh. They seemed to ignore him inside the machine. Eating noises hadn't been a soothing rain that could bring him a few unpleasant dreams instead of more pleasant ones. It was dark in the cockpit itself. There wasn't a single crystal or even a millimeter of Mana Schlick in its attic. It had cost him everything, but that was the dwarven vengeance. After all, it was her work of art that seemed to wreak this havoc among her supposed enemies, even if he was the pilot of it.
With a little force, as well as skill, he made the cockpit roll, which let the smaller goblins fly apart. One look from him was enough to make them pause for a moment. They didn't live to see the next moment, because they were broken up into small heaps of ash by his magic.
In retrospect, he had to wonder whether these little things, like the spiders, might have dropped a few beasts crystals or whether most of them were destroyed with their bodies. Because right in front of his eyes in the meat mass he could make out a shine, which disappeared into his memory with a routine hand movement.
This place had become a sole butcher's shop. No matter where he let his gaze wander or the lumens, he could only see the death that he had spread a few hours earlier. Almost a whole pool of their strange blood spread out on the bottom. All that was left of the machine or its huge hammer were remnants that looked like molten metal. Reduced to nothing but a modern work of art. Regardless, he decided to salvage the metal at some point, just as he would salvage everything else in the dungeon.
On the way to the bridge he unsealed the various corridors and finished off the remaining scattered goblins that ran across his path. Shortly after the bridge on the other side, he came to the side on which they previously appeared to be inhabited. Fetishes, graffiti and other things adorned the walls so that the place was hardly recognizable as a city. In contrast to the other, this area had lost all of its former glory. The areas got a little better the deeper he went into the former area, but he couldn't make out anything of value. Not even an expected library was revealed to him.
Finally he decided to give up the exploration, should he not find anything in a few hours, that was the moment when he entered something like the former center of a city. Dimensions of an environment that seemed downright ridiculous spread before his eyes and there were more dwarf bodies to be found everywhere. Pile of bones. On the other side there was only a small exit, probably a couple of mine shafts, work machines and something like a last-ditch resistance, but the main battle must have raged in the center. Nothing in this place was found completely intact. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dwarfs must once have lived in this city. It became more and more clear to him that so far he only seemed to have scratched the surface.
The goblins must also have been near the bridge to the spiders. Although some of the monsters were still on his way deeper into the city, nothing that posed an acute danger for him anymore.
Damn it, he could probably spend weeks searching this place, but at least the center and the surrounding area had to be scoured in his opinion.
Before his eyes something like a throne room spread out, which was driven out into a natural hollow. So far, he had not discovered any technologies that went beyond his expectations or even as he knew them from other references. The longer it was the last resistance, the more he assured himself in his mind that this must not have been a war machine or the first machine of its generation. It was still a shame that he drove this magical device to the point of total material fatigue.
After igniting a few lumens, the huge room began to shimmer golden. Gold, silver, and other metals reflected the bright light from the lumens. Right next to the stone paths was a small pit filled with various treasures that had been extracted from the mines. This was possibly a real reward for his efforts and his staying there indicated that the goblins probably didn't know what to do with it.
Of course he had to salvage everything in the future, but for the time being it was enough for him to put some of it in his storage, taking care to identify many different precious metals. Mithril coins also accumulated irregularly in the pile, as did a few other metals whose names did not sound familiar to him.
The various treasures also included a few armaments, but no weapons. Presumably a use could be found for the weapons from the little monsters.
Somewhere in this small manor complex he also found a library that had previously been sealed. Even this was not touched by the little monsters. They probably couldn't read it any more than he could. Everything was written in a language he didn't know. So a library filled with knowledge that he couldn't possibly acquire!
On the way back, he decided, like a few others, to restore the bridge further. The staircase of the dungeon was still there and after the long climb the golems seemed to have restored the chambers, caverns and the gigantic crossing as instructed. He was finally out of the dungeon. But only after he left the underground part could he breathe a sigh of relief.
He informed his foreman Golem about a new order so that he and his fellows could start building new camps in the upper area. In fact, he needed a lot of storage areas to retrieve the various resources from the dungeon. Despite his desire to get back into the fresh air, he wanted to see the administrative points settled beforehand. He would spend the next few weeks doing magical research as well as extracting resources from his detour into the depths.
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As expected, Leica had just been hunting when he was caught in the dungeon and the entrances into the hill had also been locked. She was waiting for him right in front of the entrance. The stone wall in front of her had apparently been battered by her attacks after she became aware of the disconnection. She also seemed very exhausted. After shutting down the walls at the exit, she jumped in with insane speed. On the direct way to him. With the re-awakening of the connection with him, she was put back into an excited state.
It must have been incredibly stressful for her. All the greater was the surprise that Leica apparently really did not rise with him and did not go through any development. At that moment he was clearly more powerful than her! Nevertheless, he was looking forward to their wet kisses, their soft fur and knowing the worry that a long time would not leave his side.
He also decided to spend more time with her, as well as to join her more often on their hunting trips together. Should she still develop before they went into the cities together? Basically, it had completed its initial development.
She hardly left the side for the next few days, even when he was busy doing his research into magic, alchemy, or retrieving the various things from the dungeon below. Somehow it was also a comforting feeling for him not to have to go to the dungeon alone anymore. There only single goblins fall in love who had lived far away from their tribe or who had escaped it during their battle.
From here the time resumed a routine in which he spent the weekends hunting with her, because in order for him to gain further experience they had to penetrate much deeper into the forest from this place. So it was not possible without an overnight stay and a whole day's journey. So far he still hadn't had to experience the regenerative powers of his new body. Just because he'd gained the skill to regenerate didn't mean he had to throw himself into battle like a fool.
After their third hunting expedition, Leica finally rose to the top. She pupated in a cocoon that looked similar to himself. During this time he had no direct thought link to her or her developments, but he could perceive the changes in the environment. They were still deep in the forest when it began to evolve. He didn't even have time to intervene, but evolution attracted some stronger creatures from the environment to help them evolve.
She did not seem to enjoy his clear advantage in the dungeon, because the mana required for the transformation was drawn from a great distance, and she was not in a protected area like himself. Apparently, evolution in the open gave off a peculiar smell or call for a meal bell for all creatures in a wide radius. He didn't even want to imagine what he would have done if he wasn't in a sheltered position.
But he could still protect their position; above all, he could prepare the battlefield on which to fight. With the formation of the earth, he simply let the cube sink into the earth. Not a single moment did he doubt that whatever had to come through was able to dig them up. Immediately thick walls of stone formed around the clearing, which had the diameter of the Roman Colosseum. He lifted himself up on a pillar in the middle of this arena to get a better view. Any sufficiently strong entity should simply break through this wall, but this also notified him of the direction of the attack.
As a precaution, he dug a trench with stone spears directly behind the walls. He added the same downward-pointing spears to his tower. It didn't hide threats. In this case he was not on the hunt but in open defensive combat. Should they know whose fortress they stormed?
While he was doing his spells he scanned the modeled battlefield in the vague hope of finding additional points for additions. These included spikes on the walls, napalm balls in the trenches, and a few other additions.
He could only do so much before the surrounding area gathered for their festival, so he mentally went through the various magics by which he accumulated. Far too quickly one tended to forget the overview of the various deployment methods that were available to a person.
In doing so, he continued to pull stones out of the underground, with which he consolidated the arena floor, under which there was now a chamber with his companion. If they were digging for her, then maybe that would slow them down for a little while.
He placed the war hammer next to himself on his pedestal so that he could grab it as soon as he needed it.
The first creatures from the area all an evolution higher than Leica, just as far as himself, broke into the surrounding area from the thicket. At least they'd made it onto that damn serving tray together. It wasn't all bad, because from this position he could at least see the beasts when they attacked. Ambushes were not possible. Another factor in his favor played in the fact that the entities were attracted, but got into fights among themselves if their point of view got too close. Still, one of them managed to break through the wall like a steamroller, simply jumping over the ditch with one leap.
Right in front of his eyes was something that looked suspiciously like a jungle tiger, but the color wasn't right, let alone the proportions and that it seemed to be able to be quite agile. In your eyes he thought he saw something like mockery of his defense.
Even before the unknown enemy took action, he began to throw his enlarged fireballs at it. The damn thing hadn't been stupid because it recognized the trap behind the wall, or had just so much power in its breakthrough that it ended up in the clearing instead of in its prepared trap.
As well as the thing managed to dodge its attacks, it was just as difficult to avoid each of its attacks. Somehow that oversized pussycat could see his fireballs. A magic that was invisible even to the naked eye, but could it perhaps perceive its mana instead of its magic? The thing didn't start digging, instead it turned directly towards him. Probably he must have represented the greatest threat of the moment in his eyes.
For a moment he paused his attacks, if everyone avoided it one way or another, then it was a pure waste of energies that he still had to manage. The beast only gave him appraising looks. Presumably it was waiting for a blind spot, a weak moment ... His thoughts got no further, because the creature jumped up to him, which is why he grabbed his warhammer. But before he could swing it, he saw a wide open mouth right in front of his face.
At the last moment he managed to ram the hammer into his mouth, which prevented it from biting. Strongly corrosive saliva dripped from the predator's mouth onto his free hands, which made him cry out in horror.
But he held the hammer stubbornly against his mouth while a grin escaped him between his pain. The system hadn't forgotten him yet, which is why he collected a few levels in his resistance to pain. He then made one of the fireballs form right in the creature's mouth. This made the beast roar in shock, but somehow it got stuck with its teeth in his hammer, which somehow earned him a bigger grin. Reluctantly, the thing's skull began to catch fire. Nothing organic could withstand such a temperature. Fights were rarely epic and it was almost sad how quickly this battle with a melting skull came to an end. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to breathe, because another creature had fallen through the wall into the pit at another point, which caused the napalm balls to bloom there. Soon the smell of burning fur mingled with that of the freshly melted tiger skull, whose corpse now lay at the foot of its little tower.
In his field of vision he could see the void display, which quickly decreased at the beginning of the regeneration. With these values he had to realize that he did not have very much healing at his disposal. It was also by far the most disgusting thing he had seen in his entire life. A small writhing black mass broke from the burns, leaving nothing but fresh, fresh skin. Just the sight of it made him sick. Was he still human?