Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1172: The Worm Mountain

The temperature in the tunnel dropped. The magician put more mana into his light spell, however, the darkness seemed to have developed an almost physical property as the small circle of light surrounding them grew smaller and dimmer, against his best efforts.

As the darkness swallowed the magic light completely, two of the undead that had followed them rushed to the front. Two were now guarding the front of the scout group, while two guarded the back. Yet, he didn't feel reassured at all, but this time the sense of dread did not come from the eerie bodyguards.

The moisture in the dark tunnel sank on his skin and his damp clothes stuck to him as if it was glue. His breath grew heavy and more labored. His heart raced, his thoughts tangled- Something touched his shoulder and he jumped.

But it was just his teammate, who grasped his shoulder. The warm hand was followed by a friendly voice he recognized even in this darkness.

“Dude, calm down! I think you are having a panic atta-AAAAH!”

The hand slipped from his shoulder, in a last desperate motion clinging to his gambeson before slipping off in the darkness. His heart dropped like a stone, his eyes widened in shock and terror. His mind went black, a total shut-off. He didn't even have enough capacity to panic.

He witnessed the dim blue glow of the undead eyes move in the darkness. With incredible speed, it rose up in the air. Was the enemy above? How could they not notice...? A clang from above, a quiet groan, and the sound of two distinctive thuds on the ground could be heard.

He barely started to regain his awareness of the situation, when a searing pain in his waist was followed by a mighty pull upwards.

...

Natina's head shot up, so fast that it made the guards surrounding her jump. She had been leisurely drinking tea at the foot of the mountain. The place was quite picturesque and nice for a little tea break.

Her leisure was interrupted by the twang of losing connection with one of her summons. One of her undead was slain. The feeling of a second connection being severed followed. Two of them died in quick succession. The enemy had to be powerful.

Just what creature inside a dungeon worm nest was able to two of her revived players in the late 90s? She clicked her tongue when she remembered that those undead were supposed to guard a scout team of ten people. With half the undead gone, how would the scouts fare?

Focusing on her connection with her summons, she tried to locate the group that had lost two members, but before she could do so, she lost another two signals. A moment later she found that there were no incomplete groups, the first group had completely vanished!

With the undead gone, the scout teams were probably also annihilated. She didn't curse, instead, she focused her attention on her minions inside. She shared what just happened with the undead inside, so they would be cautious of their surroundings.

As she did, she lost another connection. Identifying the team it belonged to, she immediately used a spell called “Shared Vision”, which allowed a necromancer to share the vision of their undead. The distance depended on the skill level of .

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What she saw the moment the connection was established was pitch-black darkness. In the darkness, she was able to see the ten members of the scout teams as hollow apparitions of souls. It was how the undead saw the world when all lights vanished.

Despite being used to the vision of the undead, she was momentarily confused about the perspective, until the undead was stabbing his spear downward, or rather… upward? He was actually hanging upside down from the ceiling!

It was hard to judge what was even going on based on the shared vision. When the undead looked up to attack, she only saw darkness there and the spear glowing in a dim magic light, stabbing into a black mass.

The next moment, she was thrown back, as the connection with the undead was completely severed.

This wasn't good. Losing a few scouts was one thing, but her undead were precious. The worst part was that the enemy stayed unidentified.

Ignoring the backlash of the severed connection that gave her a slight headache, she immediately tried to cast her spell again to see the situation through one of the other undead in the second group, but before she could finish her chant, any sign of the group completely vanished from her consciousness. Now, she had already lost two groups.

She had to know what was going on inside. With a wave of her hand, she brought forth a pack of zombified Dire Wolves, the size of horses. They were not much stronger than the undead players inside, but they were faster and had better senses. They would be able to reinforce the groups and hopefully get more information.

While the wolves entered the various passages of the worm nest, her subordinate approached her with a worried expression.

“Your Highness, what is going on?” her adjutant asked shocked at the sudden sight of undead wolves rushing into the tunnels.

“Don't worry about it. Something wiped out two of our scout teams, but the wolves should be able to deal with it,” she said confidently. She doubted that whatever roamed these tunnels, could put up with her wolves, once they lost their stealth.

“W-Wouldn’t it be better to inform the scout teams or call them back out until the creature is subjugated?” the advisor suggested carefully. Although the scout teams were not weak and could face a dungeon worm or two, they were not fit to face whatever that creature was. Still…

Natina clicked her tongue.

“Haven’t we already lost enough time? This is already an unsanctioned detour. What will his majesty say, if we wasted another day exploring this place? I won't call them back, just because there are some hindrances, “ she denied the suggestion.

Even if they found the dungeon worm materials, how would it reflect on her to waste days just because of some weird little critter? She couldn't afford to show any more flaws, not after what happened in Gamma.

No, she would quickly get rid of it, and everything could continue as is. The loss of a few scouts in favor of exploring a dungeon worm nest was no big deal. Even if what they found was nothing great, nobody would blame her for trying, as long as she managed to finish things properly.

What were two or three scout teams? ...Or four? ...Five? What was going on? The wolves just entered the nest, but before they had time to pick up the trail, or reach the teams, the signs of the undead accompanying the scout teams vanished in quick succession. Too quick for just a few creatures. So fast that she couldn’t even attempt to share their vision.

“Shit, call back the scouts! Hurry!” she barked at the adjutant, just moments after she rejected him. At this pace, she would lose all the scout teams before the wolves even reached the location where the third team was wiped out. The problem was obviously bigger than expected.

In the same breath, she brought out more high-ranking undead. Death Knights, Hell Knights, and headless horsemen in parties with undead mages and Liches. They were all mounted on undead steeds with fiery manes.

At her command rushed into the darkness of the mountain, which grew to become a curse on her expedition. Dungeon Worm Nest or not, she could not sacrifice all her scouts here when she wasn't even sure of the outcome.

The undead would cover the scouts on their retreat and get out as many as possible. With breakneck speed, the undead riders spread in the tunnels, to reach the scout teams, much faster than the wolves she sent in earlier.

“The scouts are now returning back to the entrances,” the adjutant holding onto the communication orb informed her.

While the scouts had turned back and the undead were rushing in to meet them, she could only grind her teeth, observing the connections to the scout teams being snuffed out like candles in the wind One at a time, they kept vanishing..

She was completely focused on the situation inside when a pair of foreign hands suddenly started shaking her.

“Your Highness, quick, we have to get away!” her adjutant screamed, pointing at the mountain which started roaring, spitting clouds of dust in the air. The whole flank of the mountains suddenly started moving and the atmosphere was filled with dust and the sounds of breaking rock.

The whole mountainside was collapsing!