(Author: Hello all. This week, I have a bunch of college stuff to deal with in the middle of the week. Like I said before, I will try to release a chapter everyday or within every three days. It's not easy to write you know. Anyway, Elgar has secured a watch on the campus and ventures into the tunnel. Just what is hidden there? Why would a tunnel exist in the Chasm of Chaos? Enjoy.)
--------Chapter 25: Entering the Dungeon-----------
The ghost fire wolves were scattered around the party as they ventured inside. At the front, skeletal warriors of the fourth rank carried steel swords and shields with a few of the ghost fire wolves to lead the way. Walking with Argolin were the skeletal archers, each of them walking in a monotone manner with an arrow already resting in their hand.
Elgar also summoned regular bone mice minions of the second rank to scout ahead. If they encountered danger, Elgar would be ready. Water dripped from the stalagmites on the tunnel ceiling. The tunnel was leading to somewhere damp. Their feet would sometimes step on puddles as they walked deeper inside. Elgar motioned the others to stop as one of his mice minions died.
"What is it?" Ulgor asked as Elgar sat on Magmar and closed his eyes. He began seeing through the mice's eyes, constantly changing from one view point to the next. All of a sudden, one of the mice died again. Before it died, he saw a horde of hobgoblins with one of them shooting an arrow at the mouse with extreme precision.
"Hobgoblins. Half goblin and half troll. About five feet seven inches to six feet four inches. Low intelligence, but travel in hordes. No ability to use magic but seem to be at the strength of rank 4 warriors. Why live here? Why live so deep in the chasm?" Elgar answered. "Warriors, assume shield wall formation. Archers, fire magic fire arrows to illuminate up ahead."
The skeletal minions moved as commanded and Argolin cast a barrier enchantment magic on himself, the bears, and the skeletal archers. Ulgor didn't say anything as he was more of a close to medium range combatant. Elgar saw pitch black of darkness as another mouse died. He had them swarm at the horde to lessen their numbers. The hobgoblins had a pungent smell and had dark blue skin with a tint of green.
Some of the hobgoblins screamed as some of the archers were overrun by the swarm as the little mice bit their teeth and tore flesh. As they were just bones with blue fires for eyes, the flesh just fell on the floor through where a throat would be. Blood also fell on the floor as the mice attacked. Knowing the mice minions would soon die upon reaching the stronger ones, Elgar ordered the mice to hop and latch themselves to any hobgoblin they saw.
Elgar's eyes opened and a small blue flame appeared from his eyes before dying out. He snapped his fingers, and the mice minions exploded in shrapnel of bones and small explosions of fire. Ulgor and Argolin saw a blue light down the tunnel, accompanied by screams. Elgar got off Magmar and brandished Lava Tyrant, small white flames pulsing from the blades.
"They're coming. I couldn't kill half of them but most will be injured from the shrapnel caused by the explosion. Argolin, you and my archers will shoot arrows at the hobgoblins at the rear. Personally shoot any that seem stronger than the others. Ulgor, you and Magmar will assault the hobgoblins that reach the shield wall with my ghost fire wolves. Use the skeletons to cover yourself if you see danger heading your way," Elgar warned. "If you see any more intelligent hobgoblins, leave them alive. It's okay if they're not in one peace. I need to know how many more are there. Where their hordes live and how many more patrol the tunnel. More importantly, I need to know how deep they traveled and if it leads anywhere. I'll be here with Void protecting me while I cast spells and summon more minions."
Elgar was busy summoning endless waves of mice minions to swarm the hobgoblins from below. He couldn't use ore powerful spells as they might damage the tunnel and cause it to collapse. Destroying the mice minions only had a small explosion due the fire being as small as a mouse's eye and bone shrapnel isn't very destructive but it does enough damage on skin. Bones were crushed by hobgoblin clubs while flesh spewed blood from arrows from the skeletal archers and Argolin.
From time to time, Elgar threw javelins of water and made a wall of bone spears in case Magmar and Ulgor were surrounded. Magmar had no trouble though as it was a rank 6 minion and only had to restrain itself to small movements as it could easily damages the walls. Elgar and the party advanced through the horde easily due to their superior ranks but progress was slow due to the vast number of the horde.
Eventually, they reached a fork in the tunnel. The hobgoblins didn't dare go to the left one and stayed primarily in the tunnel behind the right fork. Elgar grinned and created his bone spear field at the entrance of the tunnel where the hobgoblins were and sent them screaming for their lives as he finally released the mice minion swarm. Wherever they went, puddles of flesh, bone, blood, and wood remained scattered on the floor. Elgar had them travel deep enough without fearing a collapse and destroyed the entrance of the right tunnel as he made them blow up as he had done once before. To collapse the tunnel, Elgar used a lightning magic spell he learned called Thunder Clap. It was a spell that sends a shockwave of energy that sends vibrations and lightning outward from his hands like a cone. The tunnel trembled as the vibrations shook the tunnels and eventually caused the tunnel roof to collapse.
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"You're freaking overpowered," Ulgor complained. "Even though you didn't kill most of them directly, you controlled a freaking private army and got most of the kills!"
"I spared a few here and there," Elgar said as he pointed to dying and unconscious hobgoblins. "If they don't know anything, feel free to bash their heads in with your staff or run them through with your spear head. I only need those who have useful information. I don't want to waste anymore soul energy. This tunnel was in a rank 7 magical beast zone and was only cleared through my minion army and my Ice Brood while it was berserk. We haven't even encountered a foe near that rank yet. You'll have your glory. Just bide your time and be patient for now."
Ulgor grumbled as he carried his staff and followed the skeletal warriors down the left fork to the other tunnel. Argolin spent some time looting the bodies while Void and the two violet storm bears feasted on the corpses. Elgar put away Lava Tyrant and followed Ulgor with his ghost fire wolves taking the lead.
As they went deeper, the tunnel walls began enlarging and small piles of bones lay scattered against the wall. Finally, they saw a light and Ulgor was the first to race through. Elgar also sped up as he flew and paused outside the tunnel next to Ulgor. Before their eyes was something they didn't expect: a valley. Before them was a huge mountain range with tall trees which seemed a thousand years old. Past the trees and into the distance, they could see an ancient temple with cracked rocks and vines growing over it.
Elgar closed his eyes and started to search for any life forms with spirit and soul energy. His eyes widened as he saw a few rank 7 magical beasts near the entrance of the temple with several rank 6 magical beasts in the forest. Killing them would increase his soul energy but he wouldn't be able to break the bottleneck as he was different than the others who could forcibly break through.
"Rank 6 and 7 magical beasts," Elgar said to Ulgor. "You have your fight now, but you're too weak. We need to find a path with only a few of them on the way. If we encounter a group, we'll have to go all out just to survive. The rank 7 magical beasts are near the temple so we don't need to worry about them for now."
"Just what is that temple?" Ulgor asked and they heard Argolin gasp as he exited the tunnel.
"By the gods! The Pantheon of the Divine!" Argolin said as he spun around three times and knelt on his feet, bowing his head to the ground with his palms stretched, facing the sky. "This is the beginning of this world. The first settlement of the Creators who made this planet billions or trillions of years ago. I thought it was a myth. Who knew it would be here?"
"What's so special about it?" Ulgor asked as he waited for Argolin to stand. "It's just some broken temple in the middle of nowhere. So what if the first immortal rank beings lived here and descended into the Immortal Realms. Whatever's in there must be broken by time by now."
"Not magical artifacts," Elgar answered with a grin on his face. "We really hit the jackpot this time. However, the guardians within are sure to be rank 7 or even rank 8 magical beasts. We must tread lightly."
"Just show me the way and let me kill one of those things on my own," Ulgor scoffed. "I might not be a rank 6 warrior yet, but I'm confident enough with my skills."
"Magmar, lead the way," Elgar said and the party followed the giant scorpion down into the forest with Argolin writing down their discovery in his journal. Once they cleared the dangers here, they could use this as the base of their future operations. There were also very powerful magical beasts he could tame. As for Elgar, he was getting anxious. There was an abundance of soul energy here, meaning a lot of lives were lost. The more he absorbed, the stronger the Legion became.
"You are making us stronger.
We will devour your mind before you can devour our souls with your own.
Who cares if you're a former Dragon King!
We will consume you!
Join us! Join us, Elgar Maltos!
You will not devour us!
You can't fight us yet!
Just give in. Give in. Give In. GIVE IN!
"These pests," Elgar cursed. "The sooner I reach the sixth rank, the sooner my soul can grow as it devours them. I will not spend the rest of my life as a raving lunatic. I don't need special formation barriers or spells to fight them like Tristan did as I learned under him. I just need to eat them all and make my soul realm invincible."