Arriving parallel with Tyler and Shameez, Jonathan called his frontline to his side. Gibby, Franklin, Andy, and Brain moved up next to him; their units filling the gaps in the 'wall.'
Because of the length of the room, covering the width with their combined forces was easy, and necessary to avoid anything slipping around the perimeter to their more vulnerable members.
The current of Corrupted charging uphill slammed into them almost as soon as they were in place. Huminods and Ordinators made up the majority of the creature type, but for the first time, their numbers skewed heavily toward the Ordinators. Most of them had to be born from the Corruption and ichor that filled the underground. Their intelligence and increased strength made for highly dangerous opponents, and in these numbers, a shockingly responsive force. Usually, the Ordinators were sparse, directing battle in their simplistic manner, but now they became a potent threat when working in concert like this. Even worse, Mark spied those tortured clusters of Ordinators growing out of the walls and ceilings like weeds.
While other types of Corrupted resisted their influence, the Ordinators didn't hesitate to heed the cries of their immobile brethren.
Mark had pondered what could stall a human force of this magnitude, but it swiftly became apparent they were facing an enemy capable of responding to, or even matching, their advances.
Moreover, this enemy lacked the ability to care for their soldiers. Throwing wave after wave of seemingly inexhaustible numbers their way.
The one advantage their factions had over the mob was their casters, who had their hands full.
First, though minor, casters near the front had to create a surface their people could advance over. They achieved this with flames or heat, baking the ground and hardening the ichor into a solid surface. Next was thinning the herd, by releasing waves of projectiles to rain down on the approaching hoard. At the same time, spotters had to keep their eyes peeled for any potential threats resting in those pustules, as well as any clusters they could reach.
Inch by inch the lines began to advance down the tunnel as they fell into a rhythm, they were even picking up speed until the Ghouls and Naga began to arrive.
If the Ordinators came at them from the land, the Naga and Ghouls chose the sky. Mark was busy reattaching a man's mauled ankle when he heard Jade's warning to watch the roof.
He had enough time to glance up and see a Ghoul dropping directly towards them. It crashed into a screen of force that had already been in place. But the close-up gave Mark an unobstructed view of the creature's changes. It was eerily similar to the creatures he knew and despised, with one distinct adaptation. The undersides of its legs had an additional bend to them, with three sharp talons it could use to grip onto surfaces. When Mark looked further down the tunnel he saw waves traveling sluggishly along the ceiling. Naga interspersed amongst them, slithering across the low-hanging surface like maggots in search of carrion.
Mark’s attention was pulled back to the Ghoul on his construct when it began to belch stomach acid across the pane. A twitch of his will had the construct wrapping around the creature, and when it was unable to move, two well-placed [Force bolts] ended the thing's struggle.
Sam’s shout went up for their backline to switch targets. Magic began slamming against the underside of the tunnel, knocking creatures loose, and down into the hoards below, only for those that were not dead on impact to join the ground march.
As powerful as the backline was they could not stop the sheer numbers crawling towards them on their own.
Mark had heard of skills capable of sustained flight, but Aura users who could sustain those were rare. Mark could create a surface they could fight on up there, but he couldn't cover the whole width of the tunnel on his own, not the whole way at least.
Jonathan began shouting at the top of his lungs for a change of formation. Tyler and Shameez hesitated on either side of them but then had their people fall back on either side. Shortly after they brought their elites to fill the ranks and Jade joined them in the middle. The straight line they had been maintaining quickly morphed into an arrowhead cutting into the hoards.
Mark saw the absolute front of the spear quickly becoming a focal point for the Corrupted on the ground and ceilings.
The lower surface area allowed casters to overlap their protective spells in this area, and it was a good thing too because the moment they passed under the main wave of the Ghouls, bolts of acid began to rain down.
Mark had moved his construct to cover more ground above them and at the same time, he saw the other two factions moving their casters into the middle. They began concentrating their ranged attacks directly above the spearhead of the formation. In doing so, they were able to reap more devastation than an indiscriminate bombardment could. The casualties falling from the ceiling more than doubled in those areas. Bodies crashed into the defensive bulwark, only to slide down the mesh of spellwork.
Though as tight as they wove their defenses, creatures still wormed their way through the gaps, managing to drop onto unsuspecting people. They were taken care of quickly but the disruptions still caused all sorts of chaos in their formation.
Of course, the biggest downside of this strategy was the pressure it put on the people in the front. Everyone that could handle the pressure, headed to spear point. Henry had advanced with his team as well, while Terry and Bonnie stood just behind the frontline. Boosting morale with the cords of his magic, never pushing too hard but demanding they never lose focus. Dimly Mark realized Terry had further refined his modifier to more than just enhance their emotions.
In fact, this was the opposite; instead of exciting them, the air hummed with a tranquil melody. Mark found the spells he called came a little faster, hit a little harder, and seemed to cost him less. Even the frontline bore the brunt of the press of bodies with more surety in their step.
As Sam was right next to Mark, she gave up all pretense of defense and released wave after wave of darkness and air at the cavern’s ceilings.
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Mark noticed she expressly avoided using explosions or physical manifestations, so as not to damage the structure. He didn’t think they would be able to, but it never hurt to be careful, especially when literal tonnes of rock were just a few meters from crushing them all.
The arrival of the Ghouls had stalled their advance while the formation reorganized, but with their forces, as they were, even this could not stop them for long. The team of healers Mark had brought was dealing with their injuries at a sustainable rate, and Tommis was able to get them back into the rotation with little trouble.
Mark focused on the frontline and dealt with anything life-threatening, while his [Animated Minds] hovered around him, attacking anything that got too close. He didn’t have them heal yet as it was too resource-intensive and if the length of this spiral chamber was any clue, they could be down here a while.
They were making reasonable headway when Mark heard reinforcements arriving. Another allied team of around four hundred fighters. Mark didn't recognise their leads but they fell into the formation, allowing their exhausted members to fall back towards the second room.
The small stutter caused by their shifting forces lost them some ground but they soon made up for it with fresh members.
Jonathan remained upfront with Daphne and Gibby, fighting with his usual fanaticism. None of them appeared tired, but the damage to their clothes and the coatings of blood spoke volumes of the countless kills they had amassed since this all began.
Mark didn’t catch the name of the new lead, but he and Shameez voted they pick up the pace. It was apparently an order form above, but Mark, Jonathan, and Tyler immediately shot down the idea. They were going as fast as they were capable, any rushing now would only cause unnecessary injury or death. Outvoting them they continued at a steady pace. Half an hour later when the next group of reinforcements arrived, the exit to the hellish corridor had just come into sight, though there was still a long way to go. Mark had lost track of how deep they were, the constant battle on this descent had made it impossible to track how far they’d come.
This time as the reinforcements approached, Mark recognized Nathan and Wesly joined by Patrica.
NAS had arrived in force. Bringing nine hundred fighters to the frontline. Patrica on the other hand had less than fifty of her brothers and sisters behind her, yet the power they emitted was potent.
The room's Corruption was already beginning to fizzle away under the light. Dropping to the equivalent of a green zone.
Once they rotated in, and Nathan got to the front, he spoke over the sound of battle.
“Our job is to open the path by the next rotation! Our presence here has been noticed and if we do not achieve our goal soon, the path with be overrun.”
Mark had feared something like this would happen. Because of the interconnected nature of the tunnels and dungeons down here, it meant that Corrupted were free to migrate from nearby dungeons. Drawn in by the influx of life. With the number of people down here, the expedition was probably equivalent to casting bloodied meat into piranha-infested waters.
The defensive lines could probably hold for a while but there was no telling where the creatures would show up. If they took too long, the people would have to retreat, and with their safe path out of here.
Nathan began directing the factions, bringing his casters to focus on thinning the numbers from the back. The added artillery weakened the ranks of Corrupted greatly, speeding their advance.
Twenty minutes later they were within spitting distance of the opening leading into the next room. It was massive, tearing like a fissure in the wall, easily allowing over fifty combatants to enter the gap at once.
From the darkness beyond, the sound of thick slushing liquid could be heard moving through the walls, only briefly eclipsed by the thunderous thumping of flesh beating at a constant rhythm.
Breaking through the final line was not easy, because through this gap streamed a constant flood of enemies, determined to take down even one of their numbers before being killed.
They got nearer to the gap, only to be forced back by sheer numbers. Numerous attempts only led to them being pushed back again and again. It was similar to holding a thumb over a garden hose, the tight quarters caused the pressure to build up until they were unable to hold the horde back.
Time was running short and before the reinforcements arrived Nathan stepped to the front once more. Only this time he summoned a massive amount of Mana from his core. Nathan had avoided casting this whole time, instead choosing to let his people do the killing. Mark had wondered why he never fought but now realized it was for a moment like this. Mana surged around him, whatever spell he was building, he was putting everything he had into it.
Vibrant green energy dripped from his palms as the overwhelming scent of blood and tar was joined by a new smell.
Fetid decay and turned earth.
As though pulled from a centuries-old swamp, green-brown sludge began to gather in the air above the gap. It grew fast and gathered into an olympic-sized ball of churning gunk. Moments later it began to rain down as a light shower. Where it fell flesh began to dissolve as though eaten by acid, but on closer inspection, Mark knew there was more to it. Things weren’t just melting away, they were decaying so rapidly it was as though their bodies were eaten by rot. Portions of stone not protected by the thin veneer of Corruption quickly wore away as though eroded by the passage of time.
The undulating mass fell like a screen across the gap and all at once the pressure ceased. The Corrupted kept advancing but could not make it through the downpour of life-ending rain.
Sounds of approaching reinforcements came from behind them at the turn of the bend.
With a final push, Nathan extended the ‘cloud’ through the gap. Giving them room the advance. Not willing to give up the advantage, Jonathan pushed the remaining teams forward and through the dark opening.
As soon as they took their first step inside the system came up with a prompt, Mark was almost distracted from taking the room in. The first sign that they were in trouble was the sheer size of the cavern. The domed room stretched upward for over one hundred meters, had to be at least three or four football fields in length, and every inch of it was covered in sacs as large as fully grown adults.
On the ground, thousands of Corrupted looked up at the intrusion into their home. In the very center of the space was the only light source but it filled the entire chamber with a purple glow. There, stretched from floor to ceiling was a pillar of mold and gray flesh. It was only then that Mark found the source of the sickening thump that now threatened to rupture their eardrums. In the center of the room, the gargantuan mass of thumping, beating flesh—unrecognizable at first—slowly took the shape of a tortured heart.
Dungeon # 13
Name - Sleepers Core.
Tier - 3
Class - Blight + Miasma
Reward class - Prana + Mana
Warning: You have entered the domain of the Sleeper of Corruption(Guardian).