"Do you think this is the place?"

"Yes. It fits what he described."

My guests were a party of three, consist of one mage and two melees. All males. I doublw checked my army's positions as I watched the three entered my dungeon. Hopefully, I didn't overlook any fatal weakness in my rush-made plan.

"Hey, this is a dungeon! We're obviously in a wrong place."

"It shouldn't be. We have followed every direction the geezer said."

"Then how do you explain this dungeon? It's unthinkable that a great mage such Mahza would mistaken a dungeon for a cave. You obviously lead us to a wrong place!"

"The hell, man! How should I know if he made a mistake or not? At least I know I didn't in this case."

(Wait, you guys know my father? And you're here following his direction? What's going on?)

"Let's check the corner he said he had left his son first. Oh, there is nothing there."

"Of course, what do you expect? This is a dungeon, stupid."

"What did you say!?"

"What? Stupid?"

"You!"

"Shut it, you two."

With the commanding tone from the adventurer with a big sword on his back, the brown-robed mage and the dagger user stopped their qualm at once.

(I see, he must be their leader. But, why are they looking for me? Could it be, father hired their service to move me to the family's tomb? No, I doubt it, considering it's father. Anyway, since he sent you, should I say welcome to my dungeon?)

"Listen. This place is a dungeon, and it seems a new one. I say, let's conquer this dungeon first before we continue to look for Mahza's son. Who agrees with me?" the leader asked.

(Hey! Don't just decide to conquer me on a whim! And right after I said welcome too!)

"I do," the dagger user raised his hand. "The corpse won't go anywhere, assuming it's not gone yet. And a dungeon heart, no matter what size, is always sell for a good price," he said. A grin was on his face.

The leader nodded. "What about you, Loen?"

"Well," the mage called Loen hesitated. "Alright, I'm with you, Rowd," he finally said. "But, let's resume the search once we get the heart, okay?"

"Sure, no problem," Rowd replied.

"Why are you so obsessed with a corpse, man?" the dagger user asked. Yet, Loen's glare was all he got in return and thus he could only shrugged his shoulder.

"Okay listen now. Vaiz, you'll be in front as our scout. I’ll be right behind you and Loen will be supporting with magic from behind. All clear? Anyone has anything to add? ...No? Alright, don’t let your guard down just because it’s a new dungeon. There’s a possibility it has absorbed Mahza’s son and-”

“Rowd! Not you too!” Loen said in disbelief, cutting Rowd before he could finish his sentence.

“I’m just stating the possibility, Loen,” Rowd shrugged. "Personally, I don’t see this Mahza guy as great as you claim him to be, on the contrary I know how good is Vaiz's tracking skill. And you know how much a boost a dungeon can get when it absorbs you mages. So we better be prepared than sor-”

“Enough, I understand. Let’s move already.” Loen once again cut Rowd’s sentence.

“-ry. Sure,” Rowd answered with a smile. They then left in the decided formation with his signal.

Meanwhile, I was in dilemma on what to do with them.

On a side, they were threatening my life. But on the other, I, who was a human until not so long ago, felt it was wrong to kill someone just because they were raiding dungeons. Dungeon were pest, after all. Furthermore, they were people who father had sent.

It might be a different case if they were some criminals who deserved a death punishment, but that wasn't the case.

I thought of letting them go after knocking them unconscious, but soon dismissed the idea. To begin with, I wasn’t in that luxurious position. It was still a BIG question whether I could defeat them even when I fought seriously.

As I was busy conflicting, the trio progressed smoothly. The had reached a third of the way to the second room in such a short time. Even though the long corridor was something I had prepared for an ambush, I still couldn’t decide on what to do with them.

*Click*

(Uh, that was the fifth trap they have disarmed, in addition to the pitfalls they've avoided so far. And to think each of them costed me 50 mana points, uwaah, what a waste! Hey, hey, aren’t you going to slow down a bit?)

I saw the raiders underwent the corridor before they finally reached the second room.

“That was disappointing. Way too easy, man. We didn’t met a single enemy and even this room is empty,” the scout Vaiz complained.

“True. Other than the traps in the long corridor we didn’t see a single animal. Is this normal, Rowd?” the mage Loen asked.

Rowd shook his head and replied, “No, it’s my first time to see a trap-only dungeon. And a corridor between rooms shouldn’t be that long normally. Anyway, it’s a good thing if the dungeon is easy. Keep your guard and let’s continue.”

Seeing them leaving the second room, I knew I had to decide fast. Kill or be killed. I didn't want to kill, nor I wanted to be killed. Anyway, I already had my army of small animals ready in the ambush point in the second corridor, in the gap behind the wall. They would swarm through all the cracks on wall at the moment of notice from me.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I had chosen the corridor to be the main battlefield. Compared to inside a room, the narrow passage of a corridor would give my little army advantage, as well as limiting the enemy's movement. Moreover, the first or third corridor would serve as guarantee, in case of a failure in the first attempt at this second corridor. At least that was the plan.

"So, what are you guys going to do with the money from the dungeon heart? For me, I want to buy a small house in the capital. It will the place where I spend the rest of my life with my beautiful wife from a noble family, after I marry one," Vaiz said while disarming another trap. A grin surfaced on his face as he imagined his own success life.

"You can't buy a house in capital from a single dungeon heart, not even a lot. And I doubt any noble girl would want to marry you. Keep dreaming, stupid," Loen sneered.

"DO YOU HAVE TO CALL ME STUPID EACH TIME!?" Vaiz enraged, drawing his dagger. His eyes were full of bloodshot.

"Stop It! We're in a dungeon!" Rowd quickly cut in between them. "Loen, one more insult from your mouth and I'll make sure you see hell!" he warned. "And Vaiz, he was right. You need several bigger hearts if you want to buy a house in the capital. Not something from a new dungeon," he remarked.

"Fine. Then I'll buy one in a countryside. Are you satisfied now?" Vaiz said while still glaring at Loen.

"You can buy ten houses in the capital if we acquire a ," Loen remarked.

"What?" Vaiz dumbfounded.

"I said, help me find the , and you can get yourself your dream house," Loen said.

"By , isn't that the one in Mahza's story? I see. This is your aim from the start, when you asked us to look for the corpse," Rowd said with a widened eyes.

"Hey, as expected from Rowd, you're fast to catch. Yes," Loen delighted.

"What? I still don-" Vaiz tried to say, but his sentence was interrupted by Rowd's raised hand.

Rowd's mouth curved, forming a smirk. "Continue. You have my full interest now," he said.

"Alright, listen. is a very powerful multi-purpose artefact which said can grant even immortality. There's only a small number exist in the whole world. And one value is at least a hundred times of the biggest dungeon heart's worth," Loen explained.

"A hundred times?!" Vaiz repeated and whistled. "Now you have my full interest too," he said.

"Yes. The question is, how to retrieve the gem from the corpse. But anyway, we need to find the corpse first. We can try figuring a way later," Loen replied.

"I see. However, since Mahza is able to create a , won't it be easier to ask him to make one for us instead?" Rowd asked.

"You think I didn't try that? He turned me down with a sneer, that damn geezer," Loen said furiously.

"Then, we should force him," Vaiz suggested.

Loen glared to his colleague and said, "That's why I said you're stupid, stupid. He can kill us all with a single flick, go ahead and try if you want to, stupid."

"Hey! You said too many stupid, I'm not! I know you have poisoned the geezer!" Vaiz reprimanded.

"Oh. Did you realize that?" Loen couldn’t hide his surprise.

"Don't underestimate these eyes," Vaiz replied, pointing his own two eyes.

"What kind of poison?" Rowd asked.

Loen showed a devilish smile when he answered, "."

This time it was Rowd who got surprised. "That's a nasty one!"

"It's my pay back for turning me down in such way and will be our trump card if we can't figure a way to get the gem. However, I prefer not to meet him again if possible," Loen replied.

(These guys! I have heard enough! I'll personally make sure you all die a painful death, you trash!)

I felt rage was surging and, through our link, the animals responded to it. I then took an imaginary breath to calm myself and my unresting army. It felt like forever, waiting for an ambush was sure took a lot of patience.

However, when the trio raiders were just couple meters away from the ambush point, they held their steps.

(What is it? Why stop? Come on, it's only few more steps to your grav- ! Shit! SCATTER!!)

I ordered my animals but it was too late. A fireball blasted the wall where my army was hiding behind it and their bodies were splattered to all direction. Another fireball exploded the opposite wall, causing the same devastating scene.

(They know! How!?)

I had the fastest unit under my command, the rats, to swarm the enemy, only to have their path be blocked by a firewall. Hundreds of them turned into roasted rats before the others could stop their rush.

(This mage is good.)

To make it worse, aerial attack from the bats also met a failure and repelled by Rowd's sword.

(Uh, it can't be helped. Fall back!)

With that, every animal immediately retreated to the countless cracks on wall, disappearing from the sight.

Unfortunately, some bats were not so lucky. They were being snipped by the fireballs and fell to floor when trying to escape.