Should I kill these adventurers or not? This was the current dilemma in Dylan’s mind as he watched the confrontation. On one hand, he was curious as to whether or not humans provided a lot of mana on death, but he was also reluctant to attack such powerful foes. The loss of many goblins here would be almost guaranteed if he pushed for a reckless assault, and he had promised Grotho the protection of the goblins when he had first subordinated them…

Let’s just go with the original plan then… Dylan thought to himself as he gave orders to Kuraura and Grotho. He already had a plan to at least chase the adventurers out and prevent them from suspecting his Dungeon, so he was ready to go through with it. As their ears pricked up in acknowledgement, Dylan sent more orders along the way to the monsters stationed near the entrance of his dungeon…

“Are you with the wolf man?!” As the cry from the purple-skinned goblin reached them, Allen turned to his group in confusion. Four pairs of confused gazes met him and he shrugged before turning back. The news had come as a shock to them that this was a Dungeon, but something told him that if this was actually a Monster World, its inhabitants wouldn’t have even known what a Dungeon was.

So, he was willing to believe that this was a Dungeon. But this posed another problem to them, since Dungeon’s were often quite defensive the closer one got to its core. The monsters which travelled about when they had entered must’ve been vanguard monsters meant to whittle away and tire out foes before they reached the core. The appearance of this large group of goblins meant the core was near. Snapping out of his thoughts, Allen replied to the goblin, which was getting visibly agitated.

“No, we are not with the wolf man, we are looking for him. We were sent to execute the wolf man.” He glanced back at his teammates, and Ali leaned in towards him, whispering in his ear.

“Luna said this is likely a Dungeon, that’s why there aren’t traces or scents of the wolves. They were devoured by the Dungeon. Also, some of the goblins are injured with bites and scratches. It’s highly plausible that the monsters and Dungeon are recovering from an attack from those wolves we are looking for. Luna also says that this Dungeon is different with its behavior.”

Allen of course had noticed the difference with this Dungeon. Within the Aspean Kingdom, there were only three dungeons of varying difficulty; the Spider Dungeon, the Beast’s Cave, and the Sewer Dungeon in Ristea, the Aspean Kingdom’s capital. The Blackfeather Group had travelled to each of these Dungeons, and each of them had provided much in the way of training and resources, namely monster cores. This Dungeon was currently likely known only by them, which meant that it was possible to make a profit off of it, as even reporting a new Dungeon would pay more than finding a Monster World, if they could make it out alive. Allen winced at the numbers; although a few of them were injured, there were several goblin berserkers and shamans among the group, along with the two larger goblins which were likely to be as strong as a war chief.

No. Allen shook his head. Stronger than a war chief. Probably Goblin Nobles.

“Leave!” The purple goblin shouted again towards them. “Or be absorbed by our Lord like the wolves!”

It sounded like the Dungeon had fought off the wolves with strength to spare. The wolves which had wiped out several villages and left a trail of destruction. It couldn’t be underestimated. Afterall, Dungeons had complete control over their creatures, and got incredibly aggressive as their cores were approached. Although this Dungeon was fundamentally different from the others the group had encountered before, it seemed as if the general layout of defenses were the same, and it couldn’t be underestimated.

Turning back to glance at his teammates again, and saw the desire to live in their eyes. They could go out fighting trying to find the Dungeon’s core, or they were very clearly given an offer to leave. But first Allen had a question to ask of the goblin. He didn’t need an answer, yet he wanted to confirm something.

“Why did you speak to us in the first place?” With that he turned and left, leading his group as Ali took the lead with him and Weld came behind to cover the group. Glancing back, the saw the purple goblin’s ears twitching as his head tilted curiously, their eyes met once and Allen snorted as he turned away again. If the goblin was being truthful, this had to be the most reasonable Dungeon he had ever encountered.

Dylan was greatly confused as to why the human who appeared to be the leader of the group had asked Kuraura why he even spoke to them in the first place. Kuraura, who hadn’t received a prompt from Dylan, had also been puzzled, but in the end, the adventurers left without another word.

Time for phase two… Dylan sent an order to a group of monsters he had assembled by the entrance of the Dungeon. Although he couldn’t shake the blame of the wolf attacks being from his Dungeon due to the fact that the perpetrators were gone, he could still claim innocence with this plan. He was excited to see the results of this event he had set up. Maybe he could inadvertently kill one of the adventurers too, and see if they provided more mana than they produced upon death. He ‘smiled’ to himself as the monsters within his Dungeon began to stir.

The goblin felt the order from his maker while he lay resting near the entrance of the Dungeon. He had been summoned in order to serve his maker, and sought to put everything on the line for his maker. That was why he immediately volunteered to play the leading role in his maker’s attempt at ‘peace’ with the humans, even at the cost of his own life. He was no longer a goblin, but something even better, created to serve his lord to his utmost ability. No, he wasn’t even just a creation anymore. He was a named, created within the few hours the humans had entered, yes, but he was still named. Scratching his chitinous face, his lower jaw split like an insect’s mandibles as a chittering, howling shriek echoed around him. The wolves which had been assigned to him gathered around. They were a mixture of Black, Dire, and Ember wolves. A small group of 20. The goblin’s-no, Charlatan’s fur-covered arms hoisted a rusty spear, and from there they waited.

It took what felt like hours before he received another order from his creator. They were to leave the Dungeon, and enter once again after the count of 10. They were to create havoc and kill lower-class creatures and destroy forests within the Dungeon with all of their strength. He did not understand why this was necessary. But he also could not disobey his maker. The wolves left the Dungeon as Charlatan stressed over whether he could count to 10, ready to call them back at a moment’s notice due to him being unable to leave the Dungeon.

And they were back, perfectly timed with Charlatan’s call, the dire and black wolves crazily snapping in the air and at the insect-type monsters which lurked around the entrance. Howls erupted from the ember wolves in the back as they coated themselves in flames. A fireball wolf materialized itself into existence, lurching forward weakly as the ember wolves began to light the grass around them ablaze. The fireball wolf quickly soaked in the fire and grew to the size of a black bear, yet its head hung low as it madly gazed about. Snapping to attention abruptly, several fireballs erupted from its maw as they crashed into trees, creating noticeably loud explosions as insect-type monsters scurried under Dylan’s order towards them.

Ali was the first to notice the scent of charred wood and the faint screams of dying monsters. He immediately made this known to the group as they rushed through the undergrowth. The only reason why they found their way back without the help of the Dungeon itself was because of the visual markings they had left on the trees, and Ali’s scent skill.

“It sounds like chaos out there,” Ramey puffed as she ran along with them. “Wait, are those wolves I hear?!”

“Maybe those are the ones who destroyed the villages too! Maybe they came back to attack the Dungeon again!” Weld excitedly shouted as his plate armor clanked with each heavy step. “We can report this Dungeon and get a good word in with the Viscount when we turn in the heads of those wolves!”

“Halt! We need to survey the situation first and have Ramey cast the appropriate supporting spells on us.” Allen quickly organized the group of eager fighters as they slowed to watch from a distance. As they made out the shapes of the enemies, their eyes glinted with malice. These were the creatures which had taken the lives of many innocent people (this doesn’t mean they only killed innocent people). They would pay for standing up to the civilized races.

The suspected culprits were clearly visible from their spot hidden in the underbrush. The uncommon Black Wolves were present, along with their evolved form the Dire Wolf which could also be seen fighting at the front lines. Under the brute force of the Dire Wolves, the Dungeon’s insect defenders were crushed in a head on confrontation. Their numbers were further kept at bay by a few wolves with dark-charcoal colored pelts, covered in flames. They lit the surrounding grasses on fire with each step, and burned the foliage the nudged by, spreading flame. In the back, a figure which looked like a masked human stood next to a wolf the size of a bear, glowing with fire which seemed to course through its veins.

As they continued to stare, the human turned to face them, seeing four glowing yellow lights out of the slits in its mask which seemed to pierce through them. That’s when Allen realized that those four yellow lights were in fact, eyes. The four-eyed humanoid lifted a black-clawed finger, and the wolf next to it opened its maw, firing a fireball straight towards them…