It's been about six hours and my mana has reached max capacity, so currently I’m thinking what to do with floor 3, and I’m thinking to get into floor 3 there’s a 5x5 meter hallway filled with blood and dead bodies, both human and undead.
Actually instead of littering the hallway, I should instead have two dead soldiers at the entrance, with the door boarded up, the words ‘Don’t enter, Dead Inside.’ Inscribed in blood on the door.
Alright let's do it!
I created a 5x5 hallway, and another floor that connects each other.
I Navigated to the Floors tab.
> Please select a theme for floor 3:
>
> Plains
>
> Ocean
>
> Desert
>
> Tundra
>
> Star Fort
>
> Small Urban city
>
> Countryside villages
>
> Taiga
>
> Mountain
Small Urban city please!
The scenery transformed with numerous English Georgian-style buildings, and cobblestone roads adorned the landscape. From a bird's eye view, it resembled the size of a town, yet it barely reached the threshold to be called a city.
Of course I gotta add the obligatory day-night cycle! Now I’m greeted with a new prompt.
Would you like to activate Undead Outbreak? Cannot be undone. Maximum 1 allowed.
Yes please!
The scenery underwent another transformation, with some buildings collapsed, others engulfed in flames, and hastily built barricades strewn across the streets and buildings. Some windows were boarded up as well.
Zombies in the form of slow moving shamblers spawn automatically without need for any mana expenditures and won’t count towards floor capacity, however any extra undead must be summoned. Undead variants of the unlocked regiments are exclusive to this floor.
I demand a twenty-minute slog through this floor!
Time to check the creatures.
> Creatures:
>
> Shambler: 5 Mana
>
> Runner: 10 Mana
>
> Undead Sapper: 35 Mana
>
> Bloater: 20 Mana
>
> Undead Cuirassier: 30 Mana
>
> Undead Soldiers: 15 Mana
>
> Nockgunner: 10 Mana
>
> Militia
>
> Prussian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> Austrian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> British Fencibles: 15 Mana
>
> Russian Opolcheniye: 15 Mana
>
> French National Guard: 15 Mana
>
> Line Infantry
>
> British 42nd Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) 35 Mana
>
> Austrian Infantry Regiment NR.1 25 Mana
>
> Bavarian 5th Line Infantry Regiment 25 Mana
>
> Yokakko 1st Dungeon Infantry Regiment 45 Mana
>
> Elite Infantry
>
> French Old Guard 650 Mana
>
> French/Polish Vistula Legion Grenadier 50 Mana
>
> Skirmisher
>
> Prussian Silesian Schuetzen 25 Mana
>
> (Non Hostile, passive, or domesticated creatures such as pigs, sheep, and chickens are free of charge and won’t count for the creature capacity, however they won’t attack outsiders)
For the undead, I have a rough guess as to what they are, but I’ll take a look at their descriptions one by one, starting with the shambler;
Shamblers are slow moving undead. Easy to kill and are especially dangerous in a group.
Runners are agile undead. Easy to kill, but if one is not careful they will knock you down and claw out your guts.
Undead Sappers were once human, and have since fallen to the undead. They’re very slow moving undead. They carry an axe that will easily kill and tear down barricades with ease. This undead tougher overall, however their slow pace makes them vulnerable to ranged attacks, one can kill them in melee, but must take caution doing so.
Bloaters are undead that have grown in exponential size, easy to spot and match the same pace with shamblers. Upon death they’ll explode, taking everyone in their vicinity.
Undead Cuirassiers were cavalry soldiers that had fallen to the undead. They match pace with shamblers, and their chest and backplate protects them from ranged and slash attacks above their waist; their helmet provides some head protection, but is still vulnerable.
And lastly the Undead Soldiers, they’re regular shamblers, but I can choose which unlocked regiment to summon them as, which is neat.
Before I summon anything in, I need to first decorate the Floor 3 entrance. Upon returning, I created and arranged two "dead" Black Watch soldiers—one sitting and leaning against the wall, the other on the floor. I added barricades on the entrance with two easily removable boards, creating a passage that led directly into a basement. Finally, I added the text 'Don't Enter Dead Inside' at the top and bottom, respectively. The entire addition cost me 35 Mana, leaving me with 15 Mana to spare.
Alright, I’ll decorate the city with ‘corpses’ which aren’t really corpses, they just to add to the atmosphere. I’ll start in the basement. I created and placed a zombie that has a musket & bayonet stuck on its left shoulder. I’ll place another dead Black Watch soldier on the floor. With this I had used up all my Mana. Inspecting the basement itself doesn’t have anything in particular, just boxes haphazardly strewn about and two ‘corpses’, to finish it off I placed a note in the middle of the room. All In all I’m very satisfied, even if it had used up all of my remaining Mana, I’ll just come back later once my Mana has sufficiently refilled. In the meantime, I’ll check around the floor, note down spots where I can hide a cheeky bloater.
It’s been about 4 hours give or take, I found a barracks that's been barricaded completely, located in the eastern part of town, which is also in direct path to the Core room. That’s where I’ll summon soldiers.
Now the barracks itself is a two-story high brick building, and it’s surrounded by 3 meter high walls with brick guard towers at each corner, the front gate is blocked by stacks of crates, barrels, and a Conestoga wagon situated behind the barrels and crates.
I’ve also divided the town into three sections, and in between each section is a small event that adventurers must complete, whether it be tearing down a barricade, or looting the town, and I’ve stuck through and added corpses in areas where I want adventurers to go. So in total I spent around 20 Mana
I should still have enough Mana to summon a creature, let's check.
Status.
> Name: Amelia Yokakko
>
> Dungeon Name: Yokakko Dungeon (Temporary)
>
> Exp Req: 10/450
>
> Level 3
>
> Mana: 20/50
>
> Mana Regen: 10 per hour
>
> Floors: 3/8
>
> Traps: 2
>
> Puzzles: 2
>
> Titles: None
Wish I had more Mana, but what can I do about it? Anyways, let's see what I can summon.
Creatures!
> Creatures:
>
> Shambler: 5 Mana
>
> Runner: 10 Mana
>
> Undead Sapper: 35 Mana
>
> Bloater: 20 Mana
>
> Undead Cuirassier: 30 Mana
>
> Undead Soldiers: 15 Mana
>
> Nockgunner: 10 Mana
>
> Militia
>
> Prussian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> Austrian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> British Fencibles: 15 Mana
>
> Russian Opolcheniye: 15 Mana
>
> French National Guard: 15 Mana
>
> Line Infantry
>
> British 42nd Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) 35 Mana
>
> Austrian Infantry Regiment NR.1 25 Mana
>
> Bavarian 5th Line Infantry Regiment 25 Mana
>
> Yokakko 1st Dungeon Infantry Regiment 45 Mana
>
> Elite Infantry
>
> French Old Guard 650 Mana
>
> French/Polish Vistula Legion Grenadier 50 Mana
>
> Skirmisher
>
> Prussian Silesian Schuetzen 25 Mana
>
> (Non Hostile, passive, or domesticated creatures such as pigs, sheep, and chickens are free of charge and won’t count for the creature capacity, however they won’t attack outsiders)
I’m thinking Opolcheniye, let's see their description.
The Narodnoe Opolcheniye, or Opolcheniye, sometimes translated as ‘People’s Militia’ or ‘Home Guard’. These militias were featured prominently in early Russian history. Before the unification of Russia each city or town had its own Opolcheniye not named Narodnoe but after the city or town, Novgorodskoye Opolcheniye, Moskva Opolcheniye etc. These aren’t militia, but armed crowds, that would arm themselves with whatever weapons handed to them, be they muskets, pikes, pitchforks, or hatchets and some used shovels. Once armed they would then gather into a polk or which if translated with modern meaning is regiment.
During the War of the Fourth Coalition, 612,000 Narodnoe Opolcheniye were mobilized, but not used in combat. In 1812 during the French Invasion of Russia 420,000 Narodnoe Opolcheniye were raised, and were used extensively during the war.
As per usual it glossed over some details, but I won’t complain anymore. I summon the Opolcheniye, or rather the Yokakko Opolcheniye.
As usual, a unit of twelve soldiers materialized in the Barracks courtyard. They were dressed in brown redingote coats with red collars, paired with matching trousers. Their heads were adorned with a mix of peaked hats and fur caps. It was evident that I had received one of the more uniformed Opolcheniye regiments.
Their weapons were also a mixed bag. I counted five muskets, three pitchforks and three pikes, with the exception of the officer, everybody has hatchets sheathed on their right hip. The officer herself is wearing a dark green version of the uniform and peaked hat, with the hat itself having a red band around it and a maltese cross at the front.
She approached me. “Tsarina.” Whoa, I’m Tsarina now? That's quite a promotion! The officer continued, "Are you sure it's okay for us to be here?" She asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice, attempting to peek over the barricaded front entrance. “We may be born of this dungeon, but the cannibals out there will still attack us, dungeon or not.”
Huh!? Whoa hold is this even possible? System! Please answer! And also why did she refer to zombies as cannibals? Ah! That's right the term zombie wasn’t coined until 1819, ok well I won’t correct her. But why isn’t she referring to them as undead? Ah whatever, I won’t dwell on this much longer, it's her choice on whatever she wants to refer to the zombies as.
Normally dungeon creatures cannot fight one another, however due to the special nature of this floor undead creatures will attack both outsiders and non-undead dungeon creatures, the only exception to this is when Permadeath mode is active for whatever reason. Undead will begin spawning the moment non-undead creatures get summoned or outsiders reach this floor. Any undead creatures summoned on this floor will not count towards floor capacity.
Whoa! This is serious. If the zombies that spawn, along with those I summon, attack the Opolcheniye at the barracks, I fear they'll get overrun. As it stands, twelve of them cannot hold out.
“Alright Sasha, I’ll summon more backup when I get more Mana.” I said, “In the meantime, just try to keep a low profile, and fortify the barracks.”
Sasha nodded, and began directing her unit to take positions in various places around the barracks.
And true to the System’s message, I could hear zombies growling outside the barracks.
Sasha approached me again, “What can we do about supplies? Like food and water? As you know, the supplies we have right now won’t last.” Sasha asked, raising the question about the supply problem.
Informing her of some options to rectify this problem, I said “Good question, search through the barracks. It might have supplies you can use. If you run out, you may need to scavenge the city, but please be careful, you may be able to respawn, but I still don’t want you to die. I’ll try to figure something out on my end.”
“Alright, thank you.” Sasha said, giving a bow before going back to coordinate with her unit.
Before summoning anymore regiments, I need to find a permanent solution to this supply problem…
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Sasha POV:
Once Tsarina Amelia Yokakko left, I gathered my unit together.
“There is a horde of cannibals, out there. Now they may be of this dungeon, but they won’t hesitate to attack you.” I explained, unsheathing my saber.
The girls all nodded, I continued, “I’ll take three with me to check the inside of the barracks, make sure it’s clear.” I ordered two musketeers, and one pikewomen, to follow me.
We cautiously opened the double front door, my pistol drawn, “Katerina you go first, We’ll be right behind, be ready with the pike.” Katerina nodded, raising her pike forward and walked inside, the rest of us followed suit.
When we entered, the inside wasn’t looking any better. Beds overturned and tables were overturned with one table split in half, trash littered the floor, lastly there's a trail of blood leading upstairs. “You two,” I addressed Lidia and Katerina, “Check the restroom on the far east side. Be careful.” Both girls nodded as they clutched their weapons tighter.
Then I turned to Lilya, “Lilya with me to the second floor.” We slowly walked up the stairs, my pistol raised, and my saber unsheathed in my right hand.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Upon reaching the top we struggled in getting over bed frames used as makeshift barricades to block the stairs, but we successfully overcame the obstacles.
We were met with the same scene as on the first floor, only this time there's two corpses, one clearly undead, and the other is where the trail of blood ended. This corpse, though hard to tell is or was from Britain, her uniform is completely unidentifiable, I was able to tell purely because her tattered shako is unmistakable.
Lilya almost threw up, but managed to keep it in, “So not only are we up against this, but also outsiders?.” I heard Lilya ask.
“Yes, that's exactly it.” I replied, walking towards the corpse, careful not to step on any debris.
Once I reached the deceased British soldier, I poked at its head with my saber. I waited ten seconds and relaxed, nothing happened.
“Looks like this floor is clear, let's meet up with Li-“ I was interrupted by a loud bang downstairs. Lilya and I immediately rushed downstairs to find Lidia reloading her musket, and an undead impaled upon Katerina’s pike.
Approaching the two, both turned their attention to me. "Ma'am, we found one hiding in the restroom, but otherwise, this floor is clear," Katerina reported as she slid the corpse off her pike.
"Lilaya and I discovered two corpses upstairs; otherwise, it's clear," I responded. "Let's inform the others and get this building cleaned."
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Amelia Pov:
I came back two hours later, now with 25 mana, which isn’t a lot, but I’m hoping that I can at the very least create a well for the soldiers at the barracks, speaking of.
“Sasha! I see that you’re clearing out the barracks what for?” I asked.
“Ah, well, we checked the barracks. Found one cannibal, now we’re just cleaning out the building.” Sasha explained.
I nodded, err tried to. “I have a solution to the water, and food problem.” I stated, for now I’m going to create a basic water well, and a 4x4 garden plot.
Water Well and 4x4 garden plot created. Mana cost 25.
A well materialized at the north side of the barracks compound.
The Mana cost is completely worth it.
“That should cover your food and water for now, though you’ll have to wait for the food to grow.” I said.
Sasha nodded. “I thank you kindly,”
“If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to call me,” I said before leaving the barracks. Getting a birds-eye view of the city, I could see the streets littered with zombies, of the shambler type. Man thank goodness that they don’t count with the capacity, otherwise I’d have already hit it by. I’ll just confirm first.
> Floors->Floor 3
>
> Theme: Small Urban City
>
> Special Feature Active: Undead Outbreak
>
> Capacity: 12/64
I’m guessing the reason the capacity didn’t increase was because of the amount of zombies, that's too many to count.
I’ll see what reinforcements I’ll summon as backup for the Opolcheniye.
Creatures!
> Creatures:
>
> Shambler: 5 Mana
>
> Runner: 10 Mana
>
> Undead Sapper: 35 Mana
>
> Bloater: 20 Mana
>
> Undead Cuirassier: 30 Mana
>
> Undead Soldiers: 15 Mana
>
> Nockgunner: 10 Mana
>
> Militia
>
> Prussian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> Austrian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> British Fencibles: 15 Mana
>
> Russian Opolcheniye: 15 Mana
>
> French National Guard: 15 Mana
>
> Line Infantry
>
> British 42nd Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) 35 Mana
>
> Austrian Infantry Regiment NR.1 25 Mana
>
> Bavarian 5th Line Infantry Regiment 25 Mana
>
> Yokakko 1st Dungeon Infantry Regiment 45 Mana
>
> Elite Infantry
>
> French Old Guard 650 Mana
>
> French/Polish Vistula Legion Grenadier 50 Mana
>
> Skirmisher
>
> Prussian Silesian Schuetzen 25 Mana
>
> (Non Hostile, passive, or domesticated creatures such as pigs, sheep, and chickens are free of charge and won’t count for the creature capacity, however they won’t attack outsiders)
I wish I could summon the Old Guard! It's sitting there… beckoning me, calling me, yet it's always out of reach. It's so unfair!
Well Vistula Legion Grenadiers is tempting, what with them being equipped with grenades, however I’ll summon my custom regiment, purely because I want to see them. That and also summon a second Nockgunner, because why not!
Well time to wait, I guess I can pass the time by adding non-hostile fauna since they’re free.
About five hours of randomly placing all kinds of fauna, yes including flies, which then began gravitating towards the corpses that's everywhere in the city. The flies overall add to the immersion of a zombie apocalypse.
Returning to the barracks, I saw three girls huddled around a campfire, attempting to relax amid the constant growls of zombies. I even saw one enter one of the brick towers.
Phasing through the wall I spot Sasha in the middle of the room, overseeing a map. Approaching her I said. “Hey Sasha, I’m gonna summon more backup, telling you now so that you don’t get surprised.”
“More help would be appreciated, thank you Tsarina.” Sasha replied, still staring at the map.
Going upstairs where I see one girl sleeping on a bed. I hope I don’t wake her up! Anyways.
Creatures.
> Creatures:
>
> Shambler: 5 Mana
>
> Runner: 10 Mana
>
> Undead Sapper: 35 Mana
>
> Bloater: 20 Mana
>
> Undead Cuirassier: 30 Mana
>
> Undead Soldiers: 15 Mana
>
> Nockgunner: 10 Mana
>
> Militia
>
> Prussian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> Austrian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> British Fencibles: 15 Mana
>
> Russian Opolcheniye: 15 Mana
>
> French National Guard: 15 Mana
>
> Line Infantry
>
> British 42nd Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) 35 Mana
>
> Austrian Infantry Regiment NR.1 25 Mana
>
> Bavarian 5th Line Infantry Regiment 25 Mana
>
> Yokakko 1st Dungeon Infantry Regiment 45 Mana
>
> Elite Infantry
>
> French Old Guard 650 Mana
>
> French/Polish Vistula Legion Grenadier 50 Mana
>
> Skirmisher
>
> Prussian Silesian Schuetzen 25 Mana
>
> (Non Hostile, passive, or domesticated creatures such as pigs, sheep, and chickens are free of charge and won’t count for the creature capacity, however they won’t attack outsiders)
I summon the 1st Dungeon Infantry Regiment! No description needed cause I created them!
Thirteen girls appeared, and similar to the Black Watch, the extra girl was a fifer! The girls resembled elves, but with silver skin and pale blue eyes. They wore orange coats with dark-gray trousers. I realized that I forgot to change the color of their lapels and cuffs, so they defaulted to purple. And adorned on their heads are the Austrian helmets, except for the officer, again I forgot to make a separate uniform for her! The only thing different is she’s wearing a purple bicorne from front-to-back, that has an orange plume protruding from the left side.
The officer, a slender moon elf, approached me. “By the light of the moon, the first regiment is ready to serve the dungeon.” The officer proclaimed.
Honestly speaking, seeing a fantasy elf, any of them wearing early 19th Century inspired military uniform is a bit surreal, If i’m being completely honest.
“First I shall call you Vaeris. Second you are to assist Officer Sasha and her Opolcheniye regiment.” I stated, “Remember, there's zombies out there, and won’t hesitate to attack you. So be careful.”
Vaeri saluted, and began ordering her unit to move downstairs, where they’ll be briefed by Sasha.
Welp, I can’t ask the fifer to play music, as I’m not sure if it would attract zombies. Best play it safe for now.
It was then that I received a notification.
Warning! Outsiders with the intent on harming the Dungeon Core detected. Entering Permadeath mode…
Permadeath mode is active until the threat has been eliminated or has fled the dungeon.
Now I’m panicking! I don’t want to die! It hasn’t even been a year, let alone a month! I hope my soldiers, fauna, and undead can defeat them!
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Minutes earlier, Unknown Adventurer POV:
Oh man! We’re finally here! After a day and night of nonstop travel, as well picking up a couple more guys to help which doubled our numbers to twenty-four. Killing this dungeon is going to be a breeze!
Now once we’re done with this dungeon, only the Karland Dungeon will be left. Its 100 floors is a complete pain in the ass, but fortunately for us this dungeon is brand new. Well according to the Manarias Party that is.
Our leader, a gruff old man who calls himself Alkanoid, barked orders for everyone to dismount from the carriages.
Our leader began addressing everyone. “Now! The moment we walk in there all hell will break loose. Now the contract only states to kill a dungeon, but it doesn’t state anything about loot. So feel free to take as much loot as you can!”
We all cheered in excitement at the prospect of the massive payouts we’ll receive as well as the possibility of earning ourselves any loot.
All twenty of us stormed through the dungeon, with the last four staying behind. everyone of us receiving a warning from our systems. It's routine at this point, so we all ignored it.
When we entered the first thing that greeted us was a bulletin board, amidst the bright sunny background.
Alkanoid halts us, reading what the bulletin says out loud.
“Dungeon Rules:
No Posting memes in #general, No Takesy Backsies, No Slap fighting in the dungeon. Thank you, and a smiley face.”
We were pretty confused at the so-called rules. Now it's not uncommon for dungeons to post a set of rules at their entrance, hell even the Karland Dungeon has two, but these are bizarre! I mean, what even is a meme? and a ‘#general’? The slap fighting one is so specific.
Anyways Alkanoid snapped us out of our stupor, and ordered us to march onto a dirt road with the surroundings resembling that of a countryside farm.
“Keep your eyes peeled, men!” Alaknoid stated.
“Hey sir there's two figures on the watchtower.” I said, pointing at the watchtower in the distance.
“Bah! Just burn it!” He declared, and so our mages began launching firebolts which quickly engulfed the tower in a fiery inferno, taking the two figures down.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
The Yokakko POV:
Drats! I was hoping one of them would’ve sniped at least one person! Maybe Bertin’s and Ellen’s regiments can get at least ONE invader out of twenty, whose numbers make me nervous. I’m praying and hoping that they forget to collect the keys, otherwise they won’t be able to enter the Core room and destroy/shatter/disintegrate and whatever else can be put on there, to my Core!
They quickly dispatched the guard donkeys that charged at them. The invaders met Ellen’s Landwehr, all ten of them, I say ten because they placed two at the watchtower, reinforced by farmers, Helen the only farmer with a musket, the rest armed with pitchforks.
“I SHALL STALL YOU HERE, INVADERS!” Ellen declared, yelling at the top of her lungs.
This confused the invaders, which Ellen took advantage of and did not hesitate as she ordered a volley be fired before ordering a charge.
During that volley I received two notifications, but I quickly dismissed them for later. A person wearing the most ornate and sophisticated leather with reinforced chainmail armor that I’ve seen was the first to recover and ordered a countercharge. In fact eighteen of them are wearing the same thing as their leader, and one is wearing just regular leather armor with iron greaves and braces.
The two sides quickly collided in a melee, where swords clashed against bayonets and pitchforks. It became evident that Ellen's side was at a disadvantage, given the opposing party’s greater experience in close combat. The Landwehr, essentially composed of part-time soldiers and farmers with no combat experience, struggled against the more seasoned fighters. Despite the challenging situation, the defense force succeeded in eliminating three opponents, with Jane even impaling one with her pitchfork. Meanwhile, Ellen found herself locked in a sword duel with the enemy leader.
“Retreat please! Group up with Bertin!” I urged Ellen, but alas it fell on deaf ears as she continued, she soon fell in battle.
After the brief clash there were sixteen of them left. I heard a flurry of questions and comments coming from the invaders..
“Hold on, since when can dungeons summon humans?”
“It's a shame these girls are dungeon creatures…”
“Where did this dungeon get guns that don’t require magic crystals?”
“These uniforms look somewhat like the Ergonese Zephix Battalions.”
These are some of the things I was able to pick out, and also whoever said the second line, YOU better not do anything to my girls without their consent! Or else I’ll grab a Nockgun and fire it point-blank at your face!
Anywho, they continued onwards to the second floor entrance, after they looted the corpses, while being constantly harassed by the multitudes of farm animals. Jeez man I died laughing at a guy that got his leg broken by a cow!
They soon arrived at halfway point to Bertin's defense line at the second floor entrance. As they approached, they came under fire as they entered musket range. Both sides exchanged fire, with archers and mages launching arrows and firebolts.
As the invaders neared, the leader ordered a charge, and they swiftly closed the gap to the defense line, albeit not before losing three more members.
The eager National Guard, determined to prove themselves, entered into close combat with the invading force, benefiting from the advantage of fighting with cover. Similar to the Landwehr, they found themselves in a losing battle. Despite Bertin managing to graze the leader's face, the vast difference in experience between the National Guard and the invaders became evident, echoing the challenges faced by the Landwehr.
Anyways, It didn’t take long before the National Guard was defeated. Now let's see how they fare against Isabella’s Guerrillas and Marley’s Black Watch. Oh? And it looks like they’ve ignored the encampment, which works out for me cause now they can't enter the Core Room.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Unknown Adventurer POV:
Alkanoid stopped us from looting the camp situated next to the second floor entrance, and he ordered us to move into the floor. His argument being that we’ll have more time to loot once the Core is shattered.
Anyways the landscape for the second floor is a forest, which unlike the last floor is more common for dungeons to have as a first floor.
"Cease, men! Though this dungeon may harbor peculiar creatures, a forest remains a forest. It's the perfect terrain for hidden creatures, poised to ambush us," cautioned Alkanoid. "Corvo, stand prepared with the Mana detection spell."
“Aye, aye, sir.” Corvo said, as his hands began glowing blue.
We all stood waiting, in tense silence. Corvo’s hands began dimming until they were no longer glowing, and he gave a report, “Nothing but animals detected, we should still proceed with caution.”
Alkanoid nodded and proceeded to divide us into three groups. Two groups of five each assigned to shadow the remaining six, including him, from the forest. The final group is to march along the dirt road from the forest.
I was placed in the group moving along the dirt road.
We marched on the road for approximately thirty minutes, maintaining a deliberate and cautious pace while keeping a vigilant eye on the surrounding forest. Thus far, encounters had been limited to the occasional deer, and our progress remained relatively uneventful. Reports from the two groups shadowing us indicated sporadic skirmishes with humans, possibly more dungeon summoned humans, but they had fallen silent for the last ten minutes. As we continued, we bypassed around a small clearing that appeared to be some kind of puzzle or trap.
Eventually we neared a bridge there seemed to be guard posts on both ends. Alkanoid stopped, and gestured for us to get low on the ground. We all immediately complied and got down.
“You lot see that?” Alkanoid said, pointing to the bridge.
“What, the bridge? Or the guard posts?” Our hunter said.
Alkanoid shot him a glare, “No! You idiot! It's more of those humans.” he said, pointing to figures of four human women wearing strange bright red outfits that have some white stripes, I think that's a skirt? Also I've never seen those types of bonnets before.
“I’m referring to those women wearing such impractical outfits. I mean who wears a skirt in a forest, without wearing any leg armor! That's not even mentioning the fact that they’re wearing bright red outfits that's easy to spot” One of our surviving mages commented in a condescending tone.
Alkanoid gave a deadpan expression, “And those same women with impractical clothing are equipped with guns.” He chastised the mage, “Guns whose bullets ignore the fact that you're a level 41 mage. Now zip it and let me concentrate.” He continued.
That shut him up real quick, of course while our group did manage to very quickly kill the last two groups of dungeon creatures, the fact their guns killed some of us with ease. Despite being fired without the need for magic crystals.
Alkanoid had everyone gather into a huddle, “Ok here’s the plan…”
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Amelia POV:
Isabella and her guerrillas were able to take out the group on left and three on the right, leaving only two survivors. This did come at a cost, Isabella herself is dead, my jaguar is dead. Only two guerrillas survived. Per my request, they retreated to the bridge with the Black Watch.
I see movement from where the group is hiding. Two moved up, the other pulled out a bow and the other hands began glowing a very bright orange.
Oh no! He’s going to cast fireball and decimate the guard station! Except he didn’t and he instead hurled two firebolts while his partner also shot two arrows.
The first firebolt missed its mark, but the second struck the first soldier squarely in the chest, reducing her to a pile of ash. The remaining three soldiers heightened their alertness. Two arrows were unleashed, finding their marks on the second soldier's left knee and chest, rendering her incapacitated. The last two soldiers retreated into the guard station, a box-like structure devoid of windows with only a roof for cover. While not offering much protection, it served well for firing from. After dragging their fallen comrade inside, the pair assumed crouched positions and unleashed a barrage of shots toward the direction of the projectiles. Unfortunately, without a medic, the third soldier succumbed to her injuries shortly thereafter.
By now the rest of the regiment plus two remaining guerrillas had heard the shots and began rushing to aid their comrades.
If the Black Watch fails to stop these Invaders, then maybe the zombies will.
Now the remaining eight invaders began rushing to the bridge.
Can I help my creatures?
Negative. The Dungeon Core is unable to aid summoned creatures whenever there are outsiders until the avatar has manifested.
Well when can I manifest then?
Dungeon Core is able to manifest an avatar after reaching level 10.
Well darn! I’ll be cheering on Marley from here, and from the looks of it the only mage fired three more firebolts, both hit two more turning them into heaping ash piles. Now the remaining eleven formed a line, one rank deep and fired a volley.
Of course two were killed leaving only six remaining. Their surviving mage and archer returned fire killing a Black Watch soldier, and the two remaining guerrillas. Before the invaders reached the seven Black Watch, they were able to fire another volley. They all missed because of course.
Anyways a melee ensued, and unlike the militia regiments of the first floor the Black Watch actually performed better in the melee, this was proven when a soldier bayoneted an invader upon immediate contact, and Marley herself killed one more with her saber. But of course even though the Black Watch was better experienced than both the Landwehr and National Guard, they were still outmatched by the five invaders. Regardless the Black Watch continued to fight with great ferocity, which balanced out the fact they were outmatched.
Marley even yelled and I quote “YOKAKKO FOREVER!” I don’t know how I should feel about that. On one hand I feel flattered and on the other I feel like I disrespected Scotland. Well nothing I can do about it now.
In total the melee lasted for about ten minutes, with the Black Watch, with the fight ending after the aforementioned ornate armor wearing member of the five, just out of nowhere pulled out this absolutely giant glowing sword and just disintegrated everyone, before said sword shattered and disappeared.
“Tch,” Ornate Guy started, “I was gonna use that to shatter the Core, but these dungeon creatures were proving to be more troublesome than I initially expected.”
HE WAS GONNA USE THAT TO KILLLLL MEEEEEE! Ok, ok, calm down Amelia, breathe in, breathe out, it’s gone, that sword is no more, take solace in the fact that they didn’t grab the two keys on the first floor, even if they grabbed the third key from the tree puzzle. It all would’ve been for naught, as without the two keys from floor 1 they wouldn’t be able to enter the Core Room.
Anyways they crossed the bridge and it wasn’t long before they reached the hallway leading to my still unfinished third floor. Stopping just in front of the door that has ‘Don’t enter, Dead Inside’ inscribed alongside two corpses. I could see that everyone except Orante Guy had chills on their spines.
Now you HAVE to slog through it, having to fight not just my two summoned regiments, but also an endless wave of zombies! Or cannibals as Sasha refers to them as.