It took almost two weeks for the army to get to the fields near the Mountain Dungeon. It was nearly one week longer than expected, but the delay was inevitable considering the lack of roads in the region. The days were already colder, and fall was on the horizon. It would be a whole month before the days got shorter, so the Dwarves couldn't afford to postpone their mission or delay it further. However, spirits were high, and there was hardly anyone complaining. Mortal scouts were sent to scrounge the area while the main assault force started preparing. The brunt of the initial battle would be handled mainly by the Ents and Goblins. The Dwarven soldiers would follow close by and fill any gap in the attack lines. Everyone knew securing a foothold would be brutal, but unlike Avalon, the Mountain Dungeon had only a single entrance. The only way in was also the most heavily guarded. Or it should be. The initial reports indicated that there were no noticeable movements for the last two weeks. No forces were spotted leaving or returning to the Dungeon, which was fairly concerning.
The cave that was the Dungeon entrance was different from what they expected. According to old reports and the brief knowledge of some of the more experienced Adventurers, they should look for the big cave. It was supposed to be full of sharp rock formations like stalagmites and stalactites disappearing in the eerie darkness that covered the deeper parts of the cave like smoke would. If some stories were to be believed, it looked like a gaping dragon maw. But the reality was nowhere near the tales. They stared at the neatly compositioned gatehouse, which could stop any pre-Arcadian army without much trouble. The easily twenty metres tall gates were closed shut and made of ironwood reinforced with steel. Most likely, it was made of enchanted materials. However, the defenders were nowhere to be seen, and further examination discovered some evidence of a very recent fight. Sebastian suddenly stiffened as the Dwarven Lords and the Scions tried to decide what to do.
"For a brief moment, I sensed the presence of a Chaos Spawns." He looked at closed gates.
"A Chaos Spawn?" Rukla, the Kobold scion of Glimmervale, tilted her reptilian head. "I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with such a foe."
"The Mortals call them the Winter Beasts or Monsters." Crawline chittered with anger. "They are the true enemies of our Lord."
"With all due respect, Lord Sebastian, Lady Crawline, but Winter Monsters never appeared in these lands during summer..." Sigismund felt awkward bringing up that point. "After all, their name, Winter Monsters, specifically implies that aspect."
"Tell me, Lord Sigismund, where do those monsters go in the spring?" Sebastian asked without taking his gaze from the gatehouse.
"I..." The old Dwarf felt his cheeks burn with an embarrassed blush. However, he swallowed his pride and admitted, "I don't know."
"During our first campaign, Legio Ferrata found the tainted Dungeon completely taken over by the forces of Chaos and Void. We can't rule out that the Enemy needs the Dungeons for their plans to succeed." Sebastian waved his arm, and ten Slimes immediately vanished from behind him. Only a slight air movement and barely noticeable blurred figures made them realise they were sent to scout the area directly. "If Chaos Spawns have attacked the Mountain Dungeon, we have no moment to spare. If I'm wrong somehow, a rushed attack won't change our plans much anyway."
"All right, Sir." Sigismund nodded and looked at Ragnar who smiled encouragingly.
"Lord Sebastian is right. We won't be any more ready than we are now. Postponing the attack would only deteriorate our morale," Bjorn said, putting his hand on his battle axe. "Sound the artillery to fire, Sir."
"Wait." Sebastian was focused on something the others couldn't see. Most likely, he was looking through the eyes of his subordinates. "My subordinates slid inside, and the gates were shut from the inside but only with a simple iron beam. There is no living soul behind the doors now, as my Slimes killed the four Spawns who did a lousy job guarding the gates. They are trying to open the gates so we can enter the Dungeon without alerting the Enemies."
"Would the Mountain Dungeon allow us to simply open the gates?" Verni wondered, but just a few moments later, the vast gates swung open; however, despite their size, they moved in absolute silence. "Uhum. So it would."
After the signal was given, the Goblins and Kobolds spearheaded the attack, closely followed by the Dwarves and the remaining JDF army. They entered the Dungeon without problems other than the awkward entrance bottleneck, but their arrival was not met with any trace of resistance. After just a few moments needed to secure the gates and leave a sizable force on guard, the army moved forward. As they passed the chambers and corridors, they found significant evidence of a fierce and recent battle.
"This mark is not older than just a few days. It could have been made five days ago, but it could have also been made yesterday." Bjorn runs his hand across deep lacerations on the wooden doors. "It's fresh."
"I sense a great fear somewhere below us." Leo sniffed the air. "I can smell the odd stench of Mana Drinkers."
"We must hurry up." Sigismund looked around, but his attention was drawn to the commotion in the chamber's far corner. "It looks like our scouts found the way down."
The army moved slowly towards the small staircase, and the Dwarves looked at it with distinctive gazes of very disappointed people. It was just wide enough to allow two people to go down or up shoulder to shoulder. With one glance down, it was obvious that it was designed as another choke point intended to force attackers to lose any numerical advantage. Downstairs was most likely a place where any army would be met by an overwhelming number of defenders waiting below.
"Pushing our forces down using that would take us ages." Ragnar pulled his beard angrily.
"I agree. Vaani?" Sebastian turned towards the Ent, who hummed thoughtfully.
The large, living tree raised his arm and smacked the floor beneath his feet. The echo of the powerful hit reverberated across the room, but the Ent smiled dangerously. He brought down another punch that left a cracked pattern on the stone, making everyone around him run away. The floor withstood another four hits before it gave away with a loud crack. Vaani, with mad laughter, fell through the giant hole, and soon it became clear that he survived the fall.
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"No one's here!" The Ent's voice was loud and clear.
The other Ents simply jumped down without even checking the height, which resulted in another loud crack and the next floor giving up. However, this time, the air was filled with the muffled sounds of a fierce battle underneath. The angry humming of Ents rose like a warhorn, urging everyone to hurry up.
"By the Lord..." Sebastian weakly covered his eyes. "I should be more specific when I ask the Ents about anything..."
"Well... There goes our element of surprise, I guess." Ragnar patted the Slime Scion on the shoulder.
"You know... By that sound, anyone hit by the falling Ents was pretty much surprised." Verni laughed and took out his battle axe. "Shall we go there as well?"
"Yes... But not the way Ents did it. Prepare the ropes!" Sigismund ordered but then he noticed that the Goblins were mounting the Garmrs.
Before he could stop them, the hell's Wolves jumped into the hole, leaping from any kind of support available towards the battle below. The Goblins laughed and yelled their battle cries all the way down, but thanks to that, the old Dwarf could easily estimate the depth towards the rest of the army. After observing their descent, the Kobold Scion nervously gave orders to the remaining troops and smiled awkwardly.
"I swear those maniacs love that!" Rukla shook her head and lowered it while grabbing her staff tighter. "I'm so sorry for their behaviour, Lord Sebastian."
The Noble Slime said nothing in response and just observed the Dwarves, who started descending the ropes. After a minute or two, he finally looked at Rukla.
"While the way those three and their forces entered the battle wasn't particularly elegant, it was far more effective than you can imagine. King Theon always favours effectiveness over anything else when it comes to war. Once circumstances change, you should adapt to them, Rukla." Sebastian took a few steps towards the silent Praetorians and moved his gaze from Rukla to Sigismund. "The Mountain Dungeon's emotions are conflicted. She is relieved to see that our forces are attacking the Chaos Spawns, but she is afraid that we will come to kill her. She will be desperate and I must get closer to her sanctum because she can't hear me, which is strange. I will take the Praetorians and get as close to the inner sanctum as possible. In the meantime, you should kill as many Chaos Spawns as possible, and I won't be angry if you kill them all before I return."
"What about the Mountain Dungeon forces?" Ragnar asked without looking at Sebastian as he attached himself to the rope.
"Currently, we have a common enemy, so they should ignore us, but if I can't reason with the Core, they might attack you."
"So we don't attack unless we are attacked?"
"Pretty much," Scion Sebastian replied with a shrug. "Don't take prisoners this time, Sigismund. We tried that before, and interrogating those monsters yielded no results. If possible, allow our allied denizens to fight them while your forces secure the rear, preventing the Mountain Dungeon army from taking our army by surprise, be it smaller or bigger."
"That might be tricky, but we will fulfil our duty."
"Excuse me, Lord Sebastian, but where is Lady Crawline?" Leo asked while looking around. His subordinates descended the stairs and spread across the Dungeon to ensure that every Chaos Spawn that tried to hide or retreat was killed.
"She's already down there, spreading carnage, I believe," the King's butler replied with a smile upon seeing Rukla's and Leo's awkward gazes. "She got there with Vaani. I saw her hidden between his branches."
Scion Sebastian was surrounded by a thick, dark shadow for a brief moment, after which he emerged wearing the dark cloak and strange armour instead of his usual tuxedo. Without another word, he jumped into the hole, followed by the Praetorians, and they vanished into the darkness of the second floor. Without any further discussion, the remaining army slowly descended. The vast and spacious halls differed from the previously narrow corridors of Bob's and Talla's Dungeons, the only known underground Dungeons. Some Dwarves, waiting for their turn to descend, commented that the architecture was oddly familiar. Once that thought was spoken loudly, many more agreed with that opinion, discussing familiar motifs and historical Dwarven Architecture. Even Sigismund agreed with it, seeing the distinct Dwarven runic letters engraved on the walls. However, the inscriptions made with them had no sense, even the words alone were hardly pronounceable. It was like someone copied the letters without understanding them and tried to make a sentence. That strange discovery had to wait for further investigation until the battle ended. After a good two minutes of sliding down the rope, Sigismund almost crashed onto the solid stone floor. He quickly detached from the rope and looked around, trying to understand why no one had lit any light.
To his growing surprise, he noticed very distant and dim light points and heard muffled voices calling everyone to light the torches. Without further ado, he took out his reinforced torch and ignited it with a firm stroke over the stone. The special mixture of sap, resin, and oils made by the Dryads caught the sparks and blazed with bright, but not blinding, light. Only then, when the light covered him, the warding runes of his armour awakened, and the violent impulse of the protective barrier pushed away the artificial darkness. The cold sweat covered his back when he realised the amount of dark magic that attacked his people in this God-forsaken place. The old Dwarven Lord tried to encompass their situation while the elite group of warriors gathered around him. However, it was still hard to think, and gradually, breathing became harder. Sigismund couldn't focus, and his vision started clouding. The strange calmness and acceptance that he was dying overwhelmed him, and he reached out to take off the light of his torch. However, the darkness and the calmness it promised were mercilessly shredded by pillars of bright light and the absolutely pissed voices of various priests.
"In the name of Eriar, GO FUCK YOURSELF!" The young Warpriest slammed his massive hammer over his shield, and the pillar of light hit something hidden in the darkness near Sigismund.
The creature had managed only to briefly and painfully cry before the light dissolved it. Suddenly, Sigismund reclaimed the purity of thought and realised the severity of their perilous situation. Thankfully, their armours resisted the evil influence long enough for the priests to get down and realise the nature of the enemy and the magic they used. The Dwarven forces managed to regroup by the time he regained his senses. Ragnar's Warsmiths were making rounds between the units and making hot adjustments to the protection runes in the armours. While the Ents and Garmrs held most enemies, some had managed to slip by and engage with the Dwarves. Fortunately, the heavy armour and excellent training made the vanguard units impervious to the claws and fangs of the smaller type of the Chaos Spawns. Thankful for the moment he needed to catch a breath, Sigismund looked around the truly enormous chamber they were in. It was akin to the underground training grounds of Avalon. However, the floor was polished stone, and the mighty pillars supporting the roof looked Dwarven-made. The roofing disappeared somewhere in the darkness above, and even the walls were barely visible in the distance.
"Lord Sigismund! Thanks to the Gods!" Verni sprinted towards him. "That was a close call. The JDF army is holding the monsters, and the Mountain Dungeon Denizens are keeping their distance from us to lick their wounds. However, dark magic spells are flying all around, and some agile monsters lurk in the corridors. What are your orders?"
"We must secure the way towards the staircase and hold until Leo joins us," Sigismund ordered while taking deep and ragged breaths. "Once we are sure that our backs are more or less clear, we can focus on extermination. Remember why we are here."