"Humans broke through the first two floors." Reported one of the elven mages.
"Already?!" replied Vanril, turning towards the mage, his earls slumped in exhaustion.
"Yes, it seems the explosives they carried with them made light work of the dungeon." Said the mage.
"Do not worry, even iron class adventurers breeze past the first few floors. It will only get harder for them the further they go."
"Sure hope so. It took 100 mages, the Queen's finest, to construct this dungeon. I would victory to be impossible if these murder apes treated this place like an evening stroll." The elven soldier adjusted his helm, straightened his posture, not letting the news shake his resolve.
"We've hired the aid of many adventurers too. Along with all the various beasts this dungeon has to offer, the invaders will never see the exit." Assured the mage.
"Don't you think the beasts will also target the adventurers we hired?" Vanril asked.
"That's a possibility. But not our problem to be honest. They were paid upfront. Whatever happens to them now, that's their issue." The mage replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
The elven soldier said nothing, simply sighed and turned to watch the massive door they were guarding.
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A party of adventurers situated near the fourth floor of the dungeon sat around their campfire, mortified by the loud banging coming from above. It's been well over an hour since they sent their Kobold rogue to check in on the progress of the invading Murder Apes. It should have been easy, as the dungeon was similar to tower of sorts, just beneath the ground. Each layer closer to the surface was less deadly. The deeper down anyone went, the harder and more dangerous the dungeon got.
A human woman, the leader of the party, felt the most anxious out of all her comrades. The enemy was human too, like her, but different in every way. She couldn't shake the feeling of eyes, belonging to her fellow party members, burning into her. Being a mercenary, loyalty was measured in coin, and even then wasn't guaranteed. The non human comrades felt she would betray them, that she would seek refuge and alliance with the invading humans.
"Fuck! They made light work out of the first two floors. They're absolutely blown to bits." Came a shrill voice from the shadows just beyond the campfire lights reach.
"Grimzy! I TOLD you NOT to sneak up on us like that." Growled Nattarri. With a sigh, the large panther woman lowered her spear as the Kobold emerged from the dark and sat by the fire.
"How are they progressing through the third layer?" Asked the party leader.
"Without an issue. They have some sort of heavily armored tank with them. On two legs. Like a Golem, if Golems were made out of metal. The goblins are already on the retreat, realizing their spears and arrows do fuck all against that thing." Grimzy sighed and took a swig from a flash he pulled out of his vest pocket.
"I don't know what kind of magic they are using, but they're dropping those green bastards like flies. They have sticks that flash and make noise." The Kobold continued.
"I think we should retreat down to the fifth layer and see to make a larger defense group with the adventurer groups situated there. The 5 of us wouldn't be able to do anything on our own. That's how I see it." He added.
"I've heard they are immune to magic." Spoke the healer softly, drawing random symbols with her staff in the dirt, hoping to calm her nerves.
"That is not possible. No one is immune to magic!" Hissed the panther in response.
"If they have sticks that flash light, those must be magic. Maybe they are heavily armored mages. And mages are usually bad at close combat. I just need to get close." She grinned.
"Yeah... that might work. The caverns are barely lit. If we get the jump on them, we may at least give them enough casualties to halt their advance." Replied the human, her trembling hand gripping the hilt of her sword.
The roaring of gunfire on the floor above got closer, the advance of the human invaders relentless and undeterred despite the goblin hordes.
"Put the fire out and let's get into position. We need to take out the Golem as soon as they breach the gate to floor 3." She said, putting on her helm, taking a swig from the Kobold's flask to take the edge off her nerves and standing up.
The rest of the party nodded in unison, getting into position, ready to jump the advancing force as soon as they walked through the gate.
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"You alright Clyde? See anything?" Chuckled on of the human soldiers, patting the hulking behemoth in Combat Armour on the ass.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Barely. I got so much goblin goo on me, I can't see two feet in front of me. Then again, If it's in front of me, It's not friendly anyways, so I just shoot." Replied the behemoth, following his words with a laugh.
To the rest of his unit, they weren't sure if his voice was naturally that deep, or if the Combat Armour came with voice modifiers for effect. No one knew, as no one had ever seen him outside of the suit. One thing was certain, Clyde was a freak of nature. He towered above any other man in his squad, as well as any enemy encountered so far. He was as tall as most elves that they had encountered on this world, easily pushing above 7 feet in height. Despite the heavy Combat Suit being servo assisted to allow for easier mobility, he still moved much faster that anyone else would have if put inside that piece of armor.
"I think the Goblins are mostly gone. If anything, they've retreated to the burrows on the lower levels, so this probably isn't the last we see of them." Another of human soldiers said, checking something on a handheld monitor.
"Good. Still, keep your head on the swivel, if they decide to come from behind us." Clyde replied, pushing forward towards the gate that separated the floors, oblivious of the ambush on the other side.
"We've got movement." The soldier with the monitor said. The device he held was a motion detector, tracking micro changes in air density, allowing the squad to have full a full 360 degree range covered.
"On the other side of the door. Probably an ambush."
"More goblins?" Asked another man, training his rifle on the door, while the others turned to cover the sides of the hallway and the ceiling for possible goblin holes.
"Not sure, it's a very small group, like 5 of them. And they move in coordination it seems, so they're probably something else." The one with the tracker replied.
"So, a breach charge on the gate, and then we rush in?" Clyde asked, walking over do the heavy wooden door and sticking a brick that said "Happy Birthday" on it to the door. Then he took a few steps back, raised his gun and shouted.
"CLEAR!"
Menzos got into position, chanting and mumbling to himself, buffing his teammates with all the supportive spells they would need for this encounter.
Grimzy hid in the shadows nearby, his poison throwing daggers at the ready. Nattarri lurked on the ceiling above the entrance gate, ready to pounce on the first soldier that walked through. Amalia, the human party leader waited by the gate, ready to charge from the sides. The only one that was away from the direct battle was Olya, the party's healer.
Menzos finally finished his chants, before raising a defensive magic barrier between Olya and himself, and the gate.
The air felt tense, as the sound of heavy footsteps on the other side got closer. The party held their breath, waiting for the heavy door to slowly open.
"CLEAR!" Came the booming voice from the other side, as a short beep followed.
The door did not open. With a ear piercing sound and blinding light, the wooden gate was turned to shrapnel, aimed at the party.
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Olya jumped to cover behind a pillar, as Menzos took the full blast head on, and got sent flying across the room. Nattarri screamed and fell of the ceiling, clutching her ears. She rolled on the floor, growling and screaming as her ear drums were ruptured by the loud explosion. The ringing mixed with pain felt like her whole skull was buzzing.
Before the smoke even cleared, the lumbering metal golem walked in. His magic stick held at hip height with both arms, a strange belt attached from it to a large backpack on his back.
Grimzy leapt from the shadows, throwing daggers at the giant.
"Contact!" Shouted the golem in a deep voice, the daggers bouncing off him with zero effect.
He aimed his stick at the kobold's general direction and without uttering a single spell, unleashed a short burst of light and noise.
Amalia dropped to her knees, clutching her ears to dampen the noise, looking away from the firing golem.
No amount of stealth or agility could help the rogue as he was gunned down.
With the help of Olya's healing magic, Menzos got off back at the other side of the room. Grabbing his staff, he started chanting before he got into a seated position. A ball of fire formed in front of him, growing more and more bright and combat.
"TAKE THIS FREAK! MAGIC MIS-"
His spell casting was cut short by a single bang coming from behind the behemoth standing in the doorway.
Menzos's lifeless body fell back on the floor, as blood began to pool around his head. The magic missile he almost formed had dissipated into the surrounding.
The party leader had just about given up on living, when an animalistic roar snapped her out of it.
Nattarii had used the golem's lack of attention from Menzo's failed magic missile attempt to get her bearings and attack the armored foe.
She thrust the spear with all her might into the behemoths chest. Her attempt on his life was rewarded with a "clink", the horrendous sound of metal hitting metal and nothing more.
With his left arm, the golem swatted her spear away and with that same arm grabbed her by the throat, easily hoisting her up in the air. She hissed, spit flying from her mouth as she cursed in her native tongue, eyes bulging with murderous rage, fangs bared. She swung her claws, her last resort at the armored soldier, but the result was the same as with her spear.
Amalia watched as the golem dropped his long magic stick and picked up a smaller one from his hip with his right hand, and then pressed the tip of it between the panther woman's breasts. A click followed by another loud bang put a golf sized hole through the beast-woman's chest. With ease and zero respect, he threw Nattarri's lifeless body to the side.
"This one's human." Said Clyde, turning towards Amalia, who sat against the wall, passed out from shock.
"She seems to have given up on the idea of fighting."
As her sword clanked against the floor, Clyde turned his attention to the healer.
The dryad woman was kneeling next to body of her fellow mage, looking up at the ceiling with a vacant stare, arms hanging limply at her side.
The sound of heavy footsteps seemed to snap her out of it, as she looked at the approaching behemoth in the Combat Armour. Coming face to face with the barrel of his machinegun, had her bladder betray her.
The dryad went from looking shell shocked to crying and screaming, begging in a language neither Clyde nor the rest of the squad could understand.
She threw her coin purse at his feet, tearing at her robes while crawling closer, offering everything she had, including herself, in return for her life.
"What's she saying?" Clyde asked, turning halfway to his comrades.
"Fuck if I know man." Jeremy, the soldier in charge of the motion detector, replied.
"Maybe she's chanting some sort of suicide explosion spell."
The rest of the squad chuckled a bit, as the Clyde looked around for a something.
He finally picked up the dryad's staff, placing it in her arms, before raising the gun barrel to her face.
The woman screamed in fear, throwing the staff away as if it was lit on fire.
"I think she's surrendering." Jeremy said.
"Yeah, I think so too. Put her in cuffs with the other chick and take them up to camp. The rest of us will make camp here for now, until the probes finish mapping out the rest of this floor."
The other man replied, lowering his gun and turning away from the healer, before sitting down on the ground, while the rest of the squad started moving the bodies away so they could make camp.