They heard the clang of metal against metal, and Cindra growled. She swung her heavy sword, and something screeched before another pillar shattered.
“Stand still and fight, you puny lizards!” Cindra grumbled, which caused Gabriel and Sthuza to slow their run.
He turned the goblin he controlled toward Sthuza. She stared down at him, then they turned back as one and looked at the two goblins behind him.
“Large to a goblin,” Gabriel said slowly, then looked up to Sthuza, who towered over his current host.
Before he could speak again, the roar of fire erupted behind them.
Pained cries rang out as the flames quieted, and then playful laughter smothered the pitiful moans.
“Cindra? What are you fighting back there?” he called out, almost hesitantly. Again it came out in a wimpy, goblin voice.
“Tiny lizards with big toothpicks.”
“Do they have fiery eyes?” Sthuza asked. “Are they around my height?”
“Nope. They’re no bigger than the green chew toys. Is… is it all right to keep a few?”
Gabriel turned toward the gorgon, who met his gaze. Sighing, he canceled the spells that were active on the hellhound. Despite his increased mana pool, he still breathed a sigh of relief as their strain vanished.
“Cindra, stop fighting and bring them out here,” he said, then pulled his mind from the goblin.
Scurrying sounds preceded the darting shadows that finally stepped out from hiding, and Gabriel stared at the “giant lizard peoples” the goblins had warned them of.
Ten terrified kobolds reluctantly approached his group. They paused every few steps to glance back at Cindra, who would flash her fangs at them.
While he wouldn’t call them toothpicks, their spears were short. No more than four feet from tip to butt.
They had scales, and one of them was a good four inches taller than the goblins.
Hardly giant lizardmen, though.
Once they got close and stood still, Gabriel realized they had red eyes.
Not fiery red. Not glowing. Just red.
Were they that terrified of a few kobolds? he asked in disbelief as he looked them over.
‘Goblins can be quite the little cowards, Master.’
Several of the slender lizardmen sported multiple patches of charred scales, and two of them limped. Gabriel figured they must have been injured in a previous fight or accident. If Cindra had struck either of them even a glancing blow, they would be nothing but gory paste on the wall.
He sighed when the tiny monsters peeked up at him and hurriedly lowered their red eyes to their feet.
Can they sense me?
‘I believe so, Master. While it is not visible, you have a sort of presence that floats nearby.’
He didn’t know exactly what to do with the kobolds. They seemed harmless enough, even if they were armed. A few days ago, he would have thought nothing of killing them. They were monsters, and adventurers killed monsters. However, he wasn’t an adventurer anymore.
Now, he actually felt a little sympathy for them. Especially considering how they trembled and kept stealing glances at Cindra in between peeking at him.
Maybe they were displaced by whatever is down below? Forced from their homes and hunted by sadistic monsters like those arachne.
“Master, if you would allow me to deal with them,” Sthuza said. “I believe they were fleeing from others and would be willing to serve Lady Merideva.”
He nodded, then realized no one could see him and spoke up without thinking. To his surprise, his voice rang out in the cave. “Sounds good, Sthuza.”
The slender gorgon stepped closer to the kobolds. Her posture shifted, and she glared down at the small, reptilian monsters. “Dungeon Master Gabriel Grimm has graciously spared your lives. Now that you are here, intruding in our Domain, you will submit to Lady Merideva, or my fellow bonded will devour every one of you.”
I’m not sure Meri has attuned this area yet.
‘Quiet, Master. I am taking care of everything. Weaker monsters like this need a firm hand, or they will not obey. And kobolds can be quite the little tricksters, so this is especially true.’
He shrugged, not knowing how to respond.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Thanks for saving us, Dungeon Master,” the tallest kobold hissed.
Gabriel focused his perspective down at the small reptilian monster. It was dressed in garishly painted leather and bone armor.
Is it a male or female?
‘Female, Master.’ Sthuza replied.
He’d never seen a kobold before. The brief mention of them in his studies hadn’t provided much beyond a warning that they favored spears, ranged weapons, and masterful ambushes. And traps.
The scaly hide of the one who thanked him was white and black. Several others were mottled green, and two had red scales. In the back of the group was a black-scaled kobold heavily wrapped in what looked like leafy bandages.
Every one of them seems dead on their feet. Their gear is in even worse shape. Just how long have they been fleeing?
He looked over the ragged group.
And what are they fleeing from?
“Uh, yeah, happy to help.”
Glad they’re not upset about Cindra attacking them.
“Hopefully, you’re all willing to help us protect the Dungeon Core. We’ve been attacked a lot lately, but we’ve started expanding the Domain.”
The little lizardmen glanced at each other and then stared up at him, confused.
Sthuza sighed, her head-snakes hissing softly.
‘Master, kobolds need strict leadership. Do not treat them as equals. You must order them, not ask for their help.’
Frowning, he looked at his Prime, saw her serious expression, then focused back to the scaly monsters.
He tested out glaring at them. The effect was immediate despite his incorporeal presence.
All ten of them, even those who could barely stand up, moved into two rows and stood rigidly, staring directly ahead.
That’s a welcome change from Cuix and her goblins.
“Which one of you is in charge?” he demanded.
The white-and-black one stepped forward and bowed. “Kestria is a shaman. Is the highest caste left in tribe.”
“Okay, Kestria, gather your wounded and get your people ready to move. Time to head back to the Core Room so we can get you settled in.”
He peeked at his Prime, who beamed with pride.
“If you have any questions, Sthuza, my Prime-bonded, will deal with them. Any orders she gives are the same as if I issued them directly, understood?”
Every armed lizardman nodded and slammed the butt of their spear against the cave floor.
“Good.”
Gabriel shifted his focus to his bonded. He paused to sigh when he spotted Cindra. The hellhound wiggled her butt and drooled as she stared at one of the kobolds she’d killed earlier.
A glance at Sthuza revealed an amused look. When she sensed his attention, she shrugged.
How can Cindra be so hungry?
‘While I expect that she will always try to eat as much food as you provide her, she was badly starved when we found her. She is likely still trying to make up for that.’
Well, she needs to find something else to eat.
‘Why? Does it bother you if she eats the dead monsters?’
He paused and thought about it. The memory of Cindra munching on one of the dead guards flashed through his mind. To his surprise, it didn’t disturb him as much as he expected.
Not really, but wouldn’t it offend Kestria and her tribe if I let Cindra eat their friends’ corpses?
Sthuza giggled.
‘No, Master. It would not bother them. You need to remember we are all dungeon spawned monsters,’ she sent to him with an amused tone.
Cindra rushed over but stopped just before she would have slammed into him if he’d been there in person. “Packmaster!” she yipped.
“Hello, Cindra. You did very
good earlier. I’m proud of you.”
Think she needs some positive reinforcement until she feels more secure in her position.
With the way she beamed at him, he felt confident he’d been correct.
“I saw how you were looking at those dead kobolds,” he said.
She shrank down instantly, and her bright face shifted to a frown.
He projected a sense of pride and love through her bond. “Relax, I’m not mad. Just thought I’d rather you wait until after we get the others out of here. Then you can… dig in.”
Cindra blinked at him a couple of times before her expression brightened. “Really? Packmaster doesn’t mind? Snakey said you didn’t like Cindra eating people.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Well, that was more about humans, since it’s considered bad form. But I’m getting over it. And maybe you can strip the gear off before you eat them? That would make it less messy.”
She bobbed her head, then turned back to stare at the two dead monsters.
He was pretty sure there was at least one more somewhere, but given how messy the two she’d split open were, he didn’t really want to see the other one.
At least they don’t bleed as much as those damn goblins.
While he checked on his bonded, Sthuza had moved over to Kestria and seemed to be issuing orders. The small shaman’s red eyes were wide open, and she nodded eagerly at the gorgon’s every word.
Looks like Sthuza has them under control. Still, I need to get to know Kestria and the others. Probably just add that to the growing list of things to do when we finally get a chance to relax.
That list kept growing, but he knew their priority remained to recover the crystal.
Actually, it might be wise to make some time and get to know Cindra better. She’s obviously loyal and crazy strong, but maybe she’d calm down if I spent some time with her alone?
“Massster, I think you should hear thisss.”
At the concern in his Prime’s voice, Gabriel rushed his Dungeon Sense avatar back to where she stood with the kobolds.
“What’s up?” he asked as he tried to bury the worry that welled up.
“Tell him,” Sthuza said. Her head-snakes were all focused on the white-and-black lizardman.
“I was just thanking her for you guys defeating them giant monsters that were hunting us,” Kestria said.
“Were they ‘huge and scaly’?”
Kestria nodded.
“With fiery eyes?”
Again she nodded.
Gabriel turned to Sthuza, then toward the pathetic group of goblins huddled together near the wall.
“Cuix, these aren’t the intruders your scout was talking about, are they?” he asked, his voice flat.
“No, big boss,” she replied instantly. “They is just kobolds.”
He sighed.
“Yes, I know what they are. Why didn’t you mention that these weren’t the ones from earlier?”
Cuix stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. “We’s assuming you knew that.”
Resisting the urge to scream, Gabriel turned back to the gorgon.
“I don’t think I like working with goblins,” he muttered.
His Prime giggled, and her eyes flashed with mirth.
“You will get no arguments from me, Master. Still, this means we need to decide what to do now.”
“Yeah. I thought we’d solved at least one problem. We’ve got a lot to do, but I’m not comfortable leaving whatever creatures are stalking the area here alone so they can go after Meri while we’re gone.”
Sthuza nodded, and her face narrowed in concentration. “I will try to learn more of the monsters that attacked Kestria’s group.”
“Let me know what you find out. Till then, I’m going to think about how to track down the crystal.”
He watched as the beautiful gorgon took charge of the kobolds and got them to detail their experiences over the past few days.
Apparently they’d lived on the eighth floor, in a warren of small caves that had been abandoned for decades. None of them knew how their tribe arrived there, but they were confident that they’d never met a DM before.
Their lives sounded incredibly simple and surprisingly peaceful for a tribe of what he’d always heard were man-eating monsters.
Until two days ago. That was when lumbering giants invaded their home. They were far larger than the kobolds, apparently even larger than Cindra. Some of the kobolds disagreed on the monsters’ height, but they all agreed the invaders were powerfully built.
The good news was that they only saw four of the hulking reptilian monsters during their retreat. Given that each wore a different color, it was hard to imagine they could be mistaken.
When Sthuza interrogated them about minor details and various aspects of their former home, he tuned them out to plan the group’s next move.
Either we deal with this new threat now or set up defenses to stop them.
He couldn’t imagine the goblins proving any more capable against the intruders than the kobolds.
The pit trap is a good start, but I’m not willing to risk Meri’s safety on that against these guys. If they’re close by, maybe Cindra could track them down. Then we can ambush them.
“Master, Kestria has finished her story,” Sthuza said softly, drawing him out of his thoughts.
“What? Sorry, I was just thinking,” he replied.
She turned toward his voice and said, “I believe they were attacked by adventurers.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“Adventurers?”
Sthuza nodded. “Saurian adventurers, if I am not mistaken.”
“I’ve never heard of a saurian before. How would they have gotten so deep into the dungeon? I know there are other routes down, but no one delves that far anymore.”
“Saurians are a humanoid reptilian race that is rare in this world. I believe they prefer tropical environments.”
“Rare in this world?”
“Yes, Master. It has been some time since I was privy to the dungeon’s innermost workings, but there have been portals that connected to other worlds. There is also the possibility that another dungeon has a branch that leads to this one.
“As I said before we bonded, I was exiled to the area where we met over three hundred years ago. That is enough time for the old Core to have allied with another dungeon. Perhaps it was one of the DMs he has had since Mistress Iylara.”
“Another dungeon… not in this world?”
“Correct. Because of their connection to the Eternal Dungeon, dungeons are capable of existing in multiple Realms. They can also extend branches to other planets within the same Realm.”
Gabriel took several deep breaths as he struggled to wrap his mind around the idea that they could be facing adventurers from another world. After a while, he’d focused his thoughts enough to speak.
“Okay, let’s forget about that for now and focus on the threat we’re facing. So four saurian adventurers who chased a tribe of kobolds out. Do you think they’ll keep coming?”
Sthuza nibbled at her lip for a moment as she thought. Several head-snakes hissed softly, seeming to be engaged in their own private conversations.
“Yes, I am afraid they will. When I thought they were just monsters from deeper in the dungeon, it made sense that they might have forced the kobolds out to claim their territory. After all, we know that there are serious threats among the lowest levels. If they had been driven out from another floor, like those arachne, they might have been content to settle in their new space. But if these are saurian adventurers, they are almost certainly lost.”
“Why do you say that?” he asked. Not that he doubted his Prime, but he couldn’t figure out why she thought that.
“I believe the ‘fiery eyes’ refers to a spell to enhance vision in the darker tunnels, which is more common for adventurers than dungeon monsters. And saurians are not native to dungeons. Their presence within would be like humans living in the dungeon.”
&n
bsp; “Okay, that I get, but why do you think they’re lost?”
“Because they are not local. Which means they came from a different dungeon, delved until they wound up beneath us, and are headed toward the easier levels, rather than diving deeper,” Sthuza explained.
“If the saurians are lost, they’d likely want to head back to the surface and escape,” he replied, thinking out loud. “Would they know that this isn’t the same dungeon they started in?”
Sthuza opened her mouth, then paused before answering. “I cannot be certain, Master. Some transitions are subtle. Others make it obvious that you have left one world or dungeon and entered another.”
“Are we going to kill them, Packmaster?” Cindra asked, startling him as she approached.
“A part of me would rather allow them to slip by and let the Guild deal with them. Still, I’m not particularly comfortable leaving four experienced adventurers wandering around near Meri. I doubt a pit trap would be enough to stop them if they’re skilled enough to survive the lower floors,” Gabriel said.
He paused for a bit to think before continuing, “Yeah, I don’t want to risk it. We need to deal with them ourselves.”
The hellhound thumped a hand against her chest, which caused her tightly bound bust to jiggle, then grinned. “Cindra will kill them for Packmaster. Maybe Snakey has a sneaky plan to ambush them?”
Gabriel chuckled as he tore his gaze from Cindra and turned to his Prime. “Do you have such a plan?”
Sthuza shook her head. “Not at the moment, Master, but I think the furball is correct. We should set up an ambush with all of our forces before they can approach Lady Merideva. If we do it outside of her Domain, there is no reason for you to stay out of the fight.”
“That’s what I was thinking. Better go tell Cuix to send out her scouts,” he said, then paused to glance at the kobolds. “And let’s have Kestria send a few out before she takes the rest of her people up to Meri. The sooner we locate these adventurers, the sooner we can deal with them. We’ve let this delay us too much already.”
“I will send them out at once, Master,” Sthuza replied. She turned and headed for the pair of tiny female monsters currently engaged in a staring contest.
“What should Cindra do?”
Dungeon Bound 2 Page 8
