My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1478-1480

Chapter 1478

It was only a few moments after Celeste’s declaration that I began to hear the roars of lions in the distance. There were hundreds of roars, that followed, many of them sounding like they came from an assortment of different animals. It sounded like an entire angry zoo was stampeding toward us. They were also a bit earlier than expected.

I had hoped we’d have another full day. I underestimated the speed an animalkin army could move. They managed to reach here from the border in only a day and a night, and by the sounds, they weren’t going to take a break, but immediately attack us right in the morning. My people had the entire night to rest and entrench ourselves in. We were at the advantage. It was King Roth’s pride that would eventually be his downfall. That was what I was thinking.

“The calls are merely an intimidation tactic.” Xin declared in a cold voice. “Ignore them.”

“Alright, stick to the plan,” I said through Slave Communication. “We’re just going to stop their progress and then toss them back across the wilderness.”

All of my other girls were already out on the field, leading their respective teams. Shao was in charge of reconnaissance, while Celeste overlooked the fairies and mages. Xin ran the main army, while General Nova lead the Osterians. Bernice and the fighters were sprinkled out into Xin’s army to bolster them. Miki remained back with the healers, and Terra remained in front, maintaining a wall of protection to slow, delay, and block their forces. She was joined by the dwarves.

One advantage I had was that I could communicate with slaves from any distance over the battlefield. I also had my map. I had made sure to scout the area, so along with the reports of my girls, I had a complete view of the battlefield. I could see the red coming in now, approaching at a fanatical rate. They’d soon be coming out of the forest and then entering the plains. That’s when the true battle would begin.

There was only one force that was absent to this battle, and that was Elaya. She was in the dungeon, and her purpose was obvious. She was to make sure there wasn’t a sneak attack on the city or someone who attempt to take the dungeon. It was true that she was my most powerful ally at the moment. She wasn’t weakened like Astria, and her spells could truly induce terror. It was exactly for that reason I had to leave her behind as my final resort. If they captured the spring while I had myself focused on something else, there was no point to any of this.

The roaring in the distance slowly teetered out, and then there was a period of seeming quiet. It was too quiet. Not even the insects and birds made any more noise. The calmness slowly gave way to a distant rustling rumble. It grew louder and louder as every soldier on our side began to tense up. The sounds grew increasingly louder until it truly did feel like a stampede was coming.

Then, just as the knees were starting to turn to jelly, the forest erupted with animalkin who came racing out at full tilt.

“Defend!” Terra called out in a booming voice.

It had now begun.

Chapter 1479

“What are we looking at?” I asked.

The plains we were fighting in were far greater than the scope of my eyesight, especially with structures and soldiers blocking the way. That’s why I was depending on Terra and Shao to give me a visual. The map showed me the red, but that only told me there were enemies and roughly how many. More red was appearing every second, but I wasn’t going to focus on how much red there was.

“They sent the wolfkin in first.” Shao declared.

I couldn’t help but grind my teeth. Of course, that would be his decision. The wolfkin leader and I were on good terms. We might have even been called allies in another situation. Lord Duran had made himself a traitor and condemned his tribe to send me a warning. That warning had turned out to not be needed, but the act still showed where he stood. Since the wolfkin couldn’t be trusted, they were being used as fodder to test out our defenses.

Even though I knew what was happening, I couldn’t hold back though. The wolfkin was capable and loyal. Since they had chosen to march on us, I had no fancies that they would suddenly turn sides or step aside. They would fight viscously to regain their honor. Whether it was Lord Duran who was leading them or someone else, I didn’t know.

“Activate Defense Alpha.” I declared.

I went up a tower Terra had built for me and pulled out a telescope to get a proper view of the field. They still looked tiny in the distance, but I could make out what was happening.

The ground rumbled, and suddenly arrows began to fly out, striking the wolfkin where they ran. They were seemingly being struck from any direction. The arrows were coming from the front, nor were they coming from overhead as one might expect. This quickly broke their charge and threw the wolfkin into confusion. As more and more of them struck the ground, they didn’t seem to be able to see where the attacks were coming from.

Several attack towers were overlooking the field, but they had shields and were specifically looking out for those. More and more wolfkin fell, but they didn’t dare turn back. They continued to push forward more until a lucky wolf that fell to the ground saw it.

“They’re underground! There are bunkers in the grass!” A man who had been struck in the knee managed to shout.

The wolfkin had good eyes, and once they knew what they were looking for, they managed to spot several of them. This had been one of my first ideas.  Terra dug out underground bunkers that allowed a few people with bows and arrows to remain on the earth. Due to their small size and their predisposition to the earth, this suited the Deep Dwarves perfectly. Deep Dwarves that weren’t good fighters, like miners, depended on bows to pick off enemies from a distance. That meant quite a few of them were suitable for this task.

One of the wolfkins managed to reach one of the bunkers. He tried to shove his way in, but the art of the trick of these bunkers was that the window size was extremely narrow. The slim child-like bodies of the younger dwarves were able to slide in, but the wolf couldn’t.

He started digging at the ground aggressively until he had been pinned with arrows. The wolfkin pack would be completely neutralized in ten minutes, but I knew that wasn’t all they had, nor would they wait for us to finish them off one at a time.

“The next wave is coming!” Shao alerted me.

Chapter 1480

“What are they?” I demanded, straining to make since of the little specs racing out onto the field, moving nearly as fast as the wolfkin.

“It’s squirrelkin!” Shao confirmed.

Some of the arrow shots were sent at the squirrelkin, but no matter what happened, they seemed to be able to dodge them. The squirrelkin appeared to be much smaller than the wolfkin. Wolfkin could be rather large, with powerful legs and a sleek body. They were like bulldozers able to put a great deal of momentum into their attacks, while still having some flexibility and agility. The squirrelkin dropped the strength and were pure agility. They seemed to leap around the field, almost appearing like gymnasts. As a result, few met an arrow.

As soon as a squirrelkin reached a bunker, it leaped into a slide, and then slid right into the bunker. They were much smaller and thinner and seemed to have no problem quickly working their way through the tight crack and into the underground bunker. Several other squirrelkin joined the first, and a few moments later the arrows stopped coming from that bunker.

“Master, we’re getting casualties!” Miki announced.

The first of ours started dying, but they’d be resurrected soon. As for how quickly we could get them back on the battlefield, it was hard to saw. How long it took a resurrected to recover depends on a lot of factors. How quickly they were resurrected, how much damage was done to their soul, the condition of the body, and how skilled the resurrector was all played a factor. In this case, recovering the bodies was impossible, so these guys would not be brought back immediately. However, if it was Miki doing the resurrections, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were back on their feet in an hour or two. Still, a lot could happen in an hour. We weren’t even at ten minutes yet.

“Terra, cease defense alpha. Celeste, initiate epsilon attack.”

“Roger!”

“Yes!”

Terra lifted her arms, and the ground rumbled again. Two of the bunkers had already fallen and a third was being attacked as the bunkers suddenly sank back into the ground. A squirrelkin that was trying to slide through the crack got caught and was torn in half. This kind of power move might have once been impossible for Terra, but since communing with Gaia and living as part of the stone for several months, her Earth manipulation had seemingly grown significantly.

As the squirrels found themselves unable to enter the bunkers, and the wolfkin was no longer under attack, the two clans united and renewed their attack, the wolfkin protecting the squirrelkin as they continued. That was when an explosion of magic fell on them, tearing apart their new charging line. A line of fairies was flying overhead, lead my Celeste. Like bombers, they sent down dozens of spells, rending the earth and tearing apart the charge.

The wolfkin and squirrelkin who had only just managed to gather were once again placed into a chaotic state as the spellcasters, swept over them wave after wave. None of them had brought bows and arrows, and even if some were shot from the forest line, it’d be difficult to strike the fairies. I had specifically looked into what a safe height would be. Any fairies that had struggles flying that high were helped by Celeste. She was able to create a wind tunnel that didn’t just allow them to fly higher, but also would deflect various attacks.

“The next wave!” Shao cried out.

“Where, I don’t see them…” I could see red on the map, but I looked at the forest line and there were no new animalkin coming out.

“The sky! The birdkin are attacking!”