Chapter 35: STAMPEDE?!
Scurrying my way through the catacombs of the Demon Lord’s castle, what resistance my squad encountered was… miniscule to say the least. Thanks to Slimey’s innate holy properties, anything and everything undead or heavily saturated in the darkness attribute.
Blight goblins fled in terror, undead simply dissolved, and the gnolls, completely infatuated in their hunger, threw themselves into Slimey’s gelatinous mass.
All in all, a good spring cleaning. While this went on, I decided to have what slimes remained under my command follow me, cleaning up the bodies, webs, and dust in the wake of our carnage, each slime spreading the good word of Ajax, my personal lord and savior.
Of course I also had my goblins stop and organize the tombs and coffins left in disarray, using a few of them as impromptu trash cans to be taken out later!
Ahhh. How nice. How pristine.
After an hour passed of exploring, it took me a moment to realize I’d only traveled a few yards into the upper strata. My surroundings looking mighty familiar but clean.
Ah… quacks.
I… may have… gotten a bit off mission.
Heck.
Look my lord! Look at how spotless I’ve polished this coffin! Slimey sent, the slime girl smearing her hand over a dusty coffin and sucking up the dirt.
Yes! Very good! I’m very proud of you!
Slimey changed colors, her form wiggling and collapsing into a bright pink puddle as Zorin carried me on its head to pick up a bone to gnaw on.
Hmmm.
Sparkles.
Suddenly vibrations! Skittering down the tunnel, my monsters all turning as a swarm of unknowns came charging in our direction.
*Squeak!* I let out, pinging the assailants that consisted not of undead, BUT UNICORNS?!
WHAT?!
The stampede of muscular horned monsters charged, galloping their way through the catacombs, my squeaks coming out rapidly to ping the attackers as Slimey rapidly took me into her arms.
Quack!!! SPEAR WALL! SPEAR WALL! I ordered, my untrained blighted goblins running around in a blind panic.
“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!” Seeing the looming threat, Zorin spun, leaping to the forefront. The gatorgirl raising her arms and catching the first unicorn with her body before the rest of the stampede overran her and my goblins unfortunate enough to be in their path.
Farewell goblins one through seven. Your deaths will not be in vain!
Anger began to take me, despite being goblins they were still my minions!
CHLOE! FORCE WALL NOW!
My orb skeleton went to work, creating a wall of force energy before hitting it with an emit force, the two spells combining to create a wall of moving force that slammed into the crowd of unicorns.
Still, that wasn’t enough to halt their trajectory. With their horns they pierced through, their magical appendage breaking apart the barrier with Chloe immediately firing another one.
This time it worked, stopping the lead unicorns, the monsters rearing on their hind legs as their momentum was killed.
COUNTER ATTACK! I sent, my cleaning crew engaging as Hector appeared from behind me.
Suddenly the corridor began to fill with magic, the unicorns firing bolts of mana with Chloe holding aloft a mana barrier to intercept the attacks.
Immediately Slimey and my slimes returned fire, the corridor now becoming filled with bolts of energy and slime.
A literal fantasy firefight.
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Outmanned and outgunned, my forces began to retreat, using the nearby pillars and coffins as cover as Chloe maintained her mana barrier. Still, despite the overwhelming show of force, we were not out skilled.
I reached out, taking control of Hector, the skeleton rogue shivering as my consciousness entered its body.
Chloe touched my shoulder, conferring buffs to my skeletal body as my bones clenched by daggers.
Mage Armor.
Lightning Infusion.
False Life.
Concealment.
With stacking buffs I took off, racing through the hail of magic bolts to engage the unicorns as Zorin let out a frustrated roar.
As I engaged the four-legged beasts from the front Zorin attacked from behind, the two of us working in concert to eliminate the threat.
I quickly entered melee range, my daggers slicing into the flesh of the unicorns but doing little to bypass their muscles.
Tsk. Too shallow!
The lead unicorn bucked, kicking off its hindlegs to unleash a blast of magical power at me.
Uncanny dodge activated, my skeletal form sidestepped, avoiding the blast before I used swift step and began weaving through the crowd of unicorns.
With a flick of a wrist, a twist of my daggers, I nicked each beast, my lightning infused weapons leaving behind a mark on their tough skin as Zorin picked up one of the creatures by the hindlegs and began using it as an impromptu weapon.
Now! I sent, Chloe dispelling the lightning infusion to activate its secondary effect.
Chain Lightning.
Unlike fire and ice infusions that displayed immediate effects when their target was struck, lightning infusion relied on a delayed function for its damage.
Upon the spell being activated, the small cuts and nicks began to glow, the marks left behind resonating with each other before a large bolt of lightning shot through the crowd.
Of course it wasn’t enough to put them down, but it paralyzed them, stunning the four-legged beasts long enough for me to insert my daggers into their bloodshot eyes.
Before long, I was standing above a group of dead unicorns, their rainbow-colored blood staining the floor with their long forked tongues sticking out of their maws.
Despite the surprise attack, my squad had survived, albiet with eight less members than I would have liked. One of my slimes took a direct hit to its core, shattering it, while all seven of my goblins had been crushed underfoot.
Zorin was wounded with green blood leaking out of cracked scales but otherwise fine thankfully.
Tsk.
Where the hell did these unicorns come from?! And who had sent them?! I didn’t know but it was time to find out.
With the last surviving unicorn kicking and screaming as Zorin pinned it down, I had Slimey bring me close and tend to Zorin as I made the unicorn mine.
You. Are. Mine. I sent, probing the brown furred unicorn.
Immediately I felt push back, resistance, a similar feeling to when I had dominated the spider matriarch’s minions. Except, this was different. Less warm, more cold. The same feeling I felt when I had picked up an active dungeon core as Hector.
The Dungeon Core’s iron grip didn’t last long. I unmade that lock, shattering the hold it had on its minion and supplanting its will with my own.
[You have laid claim to a minion!]
[What is this creature’s name?]
Buttstalion. Obviously.
Name: Buttstalion: Unicorn LvL 7
HP: 231/550
MP: 20/200
Skills: Mana Charge LvL 3, Gallop LvL 5, Mana Bolt LvL 3, Detoxify LvL 2, Cure LvL 2, Purify LvL 1, Mana Blast LvL 2, Stampeder, Magic Resist LvL 2, Muscle Reinforcement LvL 2.
Suddenly a flash, my mind flooding with the creature’s memories.
In them I saw a pasture, a large open field, one sequestered by high walls and tall trees. An underground woodland paradise filled with monsters, trees, and copious amounts of dangerous plant life that would be hazardous to any that intruded.
I also saw a familiar object, a mana heart, similar to my own except this one was green, encrusted by bark with a large plant-like thing in the shape of a woman humming as she fed a 2000 pound rune bear a berry.
Then I was back, the location of my competitor revealed to me.
I see… recounting the details of the information obtained I knew exactly what I was dealing with.
A dryad, a spirit type creature residing in old trees and given shape by large concentrations of anima magic in the air.
The champion of the dungeon core no doubt, and considering the fact it was surrounded by a flock of massive rune bears.
For those not in the know, a rune bear is like a black bear if you took that bear and sized it up three times. Gave it claws from a wolverine, anima magic resistance, and then gave it the bite force of a great white shark.
In summation, basically Zorin but on steroids.
Fortunately, I had a plan. I knew exactly how to make short work of the dryad and how to kill every single bear, poisonous monster, and barb in one fell swoop.
But, in the memetime, I turned my attention to the deceased equines below me, a sudden idea popping into my head as I eyed a broken spear that lay nearby and the dust that coated the floor.
I ordered my arachnids out, summoning my squad of spiders by way of Ayaka’s phase spider that dropped off new troops before disappearing.
My own personal dropship hehe.
Get to work. I sent, the arachnids immediately going to work on webbing up the dead unicorns and dragging them off for later use as my slimes cleaned up the blood.
With a heavy heart I turned my attention to my dead goblins, the monsters having died in my service.
Zorin, take these bodies to be buried, I ordered, stopping the ten-foot tall monster in the midst of attempting to eat one of the corpses. The Croc-girl looking at me with an inquisitive look but ultimately followed my instructions.
This unprovoked attack would not go unpunished. Fortunately, dealing with them would only take a moment of my time.