Time passed slowly with me and Logier going out our way to harass the goblins as much as we could. It was still weird to see these goblins sitting and allowing this to happen. It might be nothing to do with me initially, but now, since Logier has decided to bring his family here and formed a partnership with me, his problems are now my problem. Speaking of his family, they are ready to move out now as his forces were unable to handle the pressure of Bloodyvores anymore in the frontlines of the Orc war.

Logier told me he will go after some time to bring them all down. No matter how one looks at it, this small hallway passage isn’t nearly enough to house more than seven hundred orcs. A bigger place is necessary, so, the moment he brings his family downstairs, we will wage an all-out war against these goblins and acquire their place. That’s what we have decided after a long ‘discussion’. If you can call him listing and nodding to everything I say as discussion that is.

Initially, I had planned something different like guerilla warfare instead of an all-out war. It would have been suppressed the casualty on Logier’s side. However, recently after encountering these green things’ weird behavior, I started to have second opinions. After all, Logier’s tribe’s future depends on this. I can’t just take it lightly. Even if they are monsters, ain’t me one too, right now? Therefore I decided to exercise extreme caution. With my extensive knowledge with conspiracy movies and books, I am willing to bet that these goblins too had a ‘Unique Class’ among them who seems to be pulling the strings behind their back. Things aren’t as simple.

Therefore, I decided to mount a full-frontal attack to surprise the enemy and score a victory. No matter if it’s a human or monster, anyone with intelligence would always need morale in battle. If orcs win the first clash and occupy a huge portion immediately, not only it would do wonders to their morale; the enemy’s would diminish as a result. I am not going to fall for the obvious pitfall every main character or main villains do by underestimating these goblins just because they lack adequate strength and intelligence. Those plot-twists might be good in a movie but in real life, I am sure nobody wants that.

The problem was this girl; she might get caught in the crossfire and lose her life when the war finally starts. I have to think of something, at least let her know what we are going to do. I can't just let her die after going through trouble twice to save her.

“I can talk with that human” and like that Logier gave me a surprise I wasn’t expecting. It's during time like this, I regret choosing the path of Dream Weaver. Although all the abilities are strong, it lacked the versatility the Kitsune path could have given me. My life was always like this, in the face of quick gains, I always lose the sight of the greater good. Thinking far ahead was never my forte. The only saving grace was that I wouldn’t be limited to a single pathway now that I have taken the Dream Waver path, which was a hidden race of Imps.

“Wait, you mean you can speak with her this whole time? Why didn’t you say so before?” I was really angry at this point. Here was I was beating myself for a solution, and this stupid pig was concealing something of such importance this whole time. But as angry I was, I cant juts beat him for it. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked into his eyes. Searching for the answer I seek.

“There was no need for me to do so… to us, humans are nothing but a source of food and strength. There was never a need to explore this ability we naturally gain after becoming an adult. Moreover, with how knowledgeable you are, I thought you knew it already.” Logier’s logic was impeccable, so much so that I couldn’t find the right words to refute them.

“I might be knowledgeable, but that doesn’t mean I know everything. You should have told me earlier that you can talk to her. So many things would have become easy already…” I couldn’t help but shake my head at his statement. In any case, since he can talk to her, then I must inform her to get out of this place as soon as possible, least she would get embroiled in this war which has nothing to do with her.

“Go and tell her that a war will erupt among monsters. If she wanted to stay alive, she must leave this place soon.” I commanded, giving extra emphasis on my tone, showing him how angry I was. Unfortunately, it was lost on the dumb pig who just nodded and walked in huge strides towards her to relay my message.

“HuMan iF u wAnt To stAY aLiVe… qUicKlu… LeAVe tHIs pLaCE. We WaR wITh GoBlINs SoOn” with a broken speech, the orc relayed whatever I wanted him to. At least he didn’t screw that up.

The woman, after hearing to the orc, showed a very surprised expression. It must have been pretty surprising to hear a monster she would rather kill on a normal day was talking to her and even going as far as warning her about the events going on inside the dungeon. This was a novel experience for her. She gave me, who was standing a little further away from her, a look that meant a thousand different things. My heart skipped a beat.

Not the romantic kind of beat, but the kind when you are exposed in front of your parents after a mischief. It’s as if she already knew it was actually I who asked Logier to warn her. After looking at me for tens of seconds, she gave a smile spoke, “it seems you can understand me but can’t speak, right?”

What a sharp woman, she can already tell my predicament just from small clues. In any case, I nodded my head positively. She smiled again, this time it contained a hint of playfulness and also gratitude in it. Looking at me she said, “I will never forget this favor. So, please stay safe. I hope to see you alive and kicking when we meet next time.”

Hmm, she was surprisingly accepting of this situation. A few hours later, after reminding me to take care of myself, she left the dungeon. Looking at her rapidly shrinking figure in the distance, I sighed. Although I had only conversed like a few sentences with her, she was a fellow human. Her presence alone gave me a kind of soothing and familiar feeling that I wasn’t willing to let go of. I also thought if it was possible to leave for me to leave the dungeon, but sadly, I couldn’t.

I don’t know why, for some reason, every time I try to cross the huge metallic gate that marked as the mouth of the dungeon, a jolt of electricity would strike me from somewhere as a net of golden energy form before me, forbidding me from going out. I guess it was one of the mechanisms the creator of this dungeon left behind to stop intelligent monsters from going out. Sadly, my current self also comes under that category.

Even if I could, I wouldn’t have gone out anyway. Inside this dungeon, I am in a relatively safe environment compared to the unknown outside. Here, I can take my time to slowly grow in power. While I don’t have any lofty ambition to one day stand at the peak of this world, I still want enough strength to protect myself in the future.

As for my revenge against the empire, I am still nursing that grudge in my heart with each day I spend in this cold and dark place. With each day, I spend in this dungeon as a lowly creature, my anger, and resentment increases by leaps and bound. I am sure, at this rate fuelled by this anger, I will overcome my inhibition towards killing humans.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t an outcome I was looking forward to.

“Alright, Logier you should go up and bring everyone here. After a long rest, we will mount our first-ever attack on these goblins.” I said while looking at the big metal gate blankly.

“What about you? Don’t you want to come up and see our place?” Logier had invited me quite a few times to go upstairs but I refused every time with excuses like “Not now” Or “I am not ready” or “after this war I will”

However, deep-down only I knew the real reason why I don’t want to go upstairs. That place is a living hell according to what Logier explained to me. There live orcs as powerful as Logier, and yet they couldn’t even protect themselves, how can a weak little creature with pathetic HP and MP survive? For now, I will stay on this floor and accumulate strength little by little. I can’t just bite more than I can chew. With my strength and intelligence, for now, these goblins are my limit.

Even among the goblins, the ones I could actually defeat and kill were only those Juvenile ones and that too non-buffed ones. While my illusion skills give me an edge against these creatures, I just lack enough power to deal a finishing blow. As much as Logier was looking forward to this war to find a place for his tribe, I am looking forward to accumulating enough EPs.

“No,” I shook my head and went inside, “Logier you shouldn’t waste your time. Quickly go up and bring your family. The sooner we attack, the more edge we will have in this upcoming war.”

“Alright, I will be back in a few periods of sleep time…”

Looking at the Logier’s retreating form that was going through a different path, we came from just now, my thoughts become complex. It was my first time waging a war, if I said I am not nervous then that’s a lie. I am pretty nervous and afraid of making mistakes. Life and death of a huge tribe depend on my strategies… the pressure is heavy and somewhat unbearable.

However, I have to do it. To survive and to become stronger, I have to stain my hands in blood.

Thankfully, those are the monster blood I am going to stain my hands with… for now…