The light was dim, not nearly adequate to see the details in anything, but enough to not run into walls. The stone walls were rough and uneven, with many sharp angles, the floor not any better. Stalactites descended from the ceiling with stalagmites rising up to meet them, occasionally meeting to make stone pillars. The dim light was provided by moss that clung to the ceiling and ran down the pillars.
Alaster opened his eyes and took this all in. There was only one way forward, which worried him. Even a fool could set traps in one direction, or prepare an ambush. The tunnel itself was only three meters wide, but appeared to be just under four meters tall. With how narrow the tunnel was, Alaster’s worries were somewhat alleviated. The two Minotaurs could cover the vast majority of the width, and a Black Guard spear on either side would completely prevent anything larger than a Goblin from getting past.
The young man looked behind himself. The tunnel only continued for four meters, before coming to a rounded end, but Alaster didn’t care. His Undead stood in neat formation. The two Minotaurs having shoved them into their place before Alaster entered the Dungeon. At Alaster’s order, they quickly marched forward, taking the formation Alaster imagined.
The two Minotaurs in the front with a Black Guard at either side. Six Black Guards protecting the rear. And the final two Black Guards and the Night Children in between with Alaster. Unfortunately, this formation made it quite difficult for Alaster to see where they were going, so he had the two forward flanking Black Guards back up, allowing the Minotaurs to each take a step aside, allowing Alaster to see between them. They would return to the previous formation at the first sign of a threat.
As for the Skeletal Mage, Alaster stored it in the Ring. It was simply too fragile to test it in uncharted waters. Alaster would run through the Dungeon once or twice before he brought out the mage and saw how effective it was. He did not have high hopes. This was an Adept Dungeon. Perhaps if Alaster was still in the Everfrost Dungeon, the Mage would have been useful, but Adept Monsters were on a different tier for a reason.
Together, Alaster and his Undead moved deeper into the Dungeon. The terrain didn’t change much. The walls were still rough stone, the floors were uneven, the ceiling was covered in faintly glowing moss. Alaster could not tell how long they had been walking, as there was no way for him to measure time, but he felt like it had been at least an hour, perhaps closer to two. Nothing attacked them. Nothing changed. There were no forks in the tunnel.
Alaster was about to stop and eat some dried Snow Ape meat when both Night Children perked up. They had noticed something. Immediately, the Minotaurs raised their shields and closed the gap, their shields raised. Not a moment later, a series of projectiles slammed into the shields. From the sound of it, there was plenty of force behind them, but the Minotaurs didn’t budge an inch. However, Alaster did not hear them clatter to the stone ground. Whatever the Minotaurs had blocked, had enough power behind it to embed into the reinforced bone.
The Black Guards on both ends raised their shields and lowered their spears, but stayed in formation. The Night Children were dancing the edge of the space in between the two lines, desperately wanting to attack the enemy. They did not like being told to hold in one spot, Alaster had not designed them to. He had made them to be ambushers, and yet, it always seemed like he was the one being ambushed.
Only a few moments passed before battle cries bounced off the walls. Alaster peeked around one of the Minotaurs and saw something he had hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with again. Goblins. Except these Goblins were mottled gray instead of green and even had patches of scales at their elbows and knees. They also stood taller, matching Alaster’s height at just below the average human. In fact, the only reason Alaster still called them Goblins was because their hideous faces were still the same. Even their weapons were different.
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Instead of the usual primitive wooden spears and clubs, these Goblins were using crude iron spears and what appeared to be a wooden club with a sharpened iron band around it. But what surprised Alaster the most, was that while a good two dozen of them charged Alaster and his group, there were six in the back with small crossbows. They appeared to be struggling to pull them back to reload, and Alaster was not surprised. The bolts, while small, had dug deep into the bone shields, and from the grouping, they were surprisingly accurate.
Alaster ducked back behind the Minotaurs just before the Goblins clashed into the front line of Undead. The two Black Guards on either side were slid back nearly a foot, but the Goblins that crashed into the Minotaurs bounced off, not managing to make them even shuffle a little. The Night Children ran underneath the Minotaurs with glee, slashing the shins and ankles of the Goblins. Their screams of pain turned wet as the Minotaurs thrust forward with their long glaives, impaling them while they were unable to defend themselves. The Black Guards were right behind the Minotaurs, thrusting forward themselves.
The Goblins were able to fit seven abreast in the tunnel, and the Minotaurs took advantage of that. After all, their glaives were for slashing, not thrusting. With their blades still impaled through Goblin chests, both Minotaurs twisted their weapons and swung outward, taking a small side step to make a gap. A gap just large enough for Alaster to fire off a piercing duo of [Necrotic Bolt].
The two liquid green bolts slammed into two Goblins, and while it only caused them to stumble, the bolt’s power wasn’t in its utility in stopping power, but in eating the flesh of its target. And they performed admirably. One went down screaming, while the second was dead before its momentum halted, having been hit in the throat.
The strength of the Minotaurs ripped their glaives through the corpses and put the blades deep into the sides of another two Goblins, severing the arm of one. As the two Black Guards’ Goblins crumpled to the ground, they ducked, allowing two of the rear Black Guards to thrust their spears over them. Alaster had decided to leave only two Black Guards guarding the rear, he had not seen any way for the Goblins to get behind them, but he wasn’t certain or foolish enough to leave his back undefended.
The rest of the battle was a slaughter. Other than one more volley of bolts, which the Minotaurs blocked once more, the Goblins stood no chance. The Night Children took pleasure in dashing in between the feet of the Goblins, severing muscles and joints, before retreating under the massive Minotaurs.
Eventually, even the simple Goblins realized that they were no match and retreated. In doing so, they simply turned around and attempted to run away. None of the Undead, nor Alaster had an issue attacking their backs. In the end, only two melee Goblins and five of the crossbow Goblins got away, disappearing deeper into the dark tunnel. Alaster had managed to snipe one of the crossbow users with a [Necrotic Bolt].
Ordering his Undead forward, Alaster learned that the Minotaurs had no moral, nor practical, issue crushing the corpses underfoot. The rest of the group did their best to step over them, though Alaster was the only one concerned about getting his boots even more filthy. As he went, Alaster’s second mind began collecting the bones of the Goblins, condensing them, and storing them in his Ring of Holding.
Only a few moments later, Alaster bent down at the ranged Goblin corpse. The only visual difference was a filthy and primitive satchel carrying the bolts in addition to the loincloth. The bag held four more bolts, meaning it had likely started with six. The bolts themselves were simple cast iron tipped. Too heavy for much distance, but powerful up close. Alaster simply tossed them into his Ring and examined the crossbow.
It was just as primitive as he expected. Just two sticks strapped together at a T with a notch cut into the stem where the string would sit and a wooden lever that would push the string out of the notch when pushed down. Despite how primitive and limited it was, Alaster did consider giving it to one of his Undead, giving them a ranged option. And while that would be useful, he threw the idea out. From what Alaster could see with his untrained eyes, the crossbow would only be good for a few shots before it fell apart. If he was going to use a weapon, even indirectly, he wanted it to be reliable. Regardless, he tossed the crossbow into his ring.
But before he moved on, Alaster needed to make a few changes. The battle had given him an idea about how the rest of the Dungeon would go, and while he knew it was likely to change, he was not expecting it to change drastically. The next time they faced the Goblins, they would be in for a world of hurt.