The army gathered and prepared to move out. Packs were lightened and any unnecessary equipment was dropped. Tension spread throughout the troops, they were aware that a rush into the tunnels was much more dangerous than the steady advance they had made before. The dwarven legion would take lead, although they were slower than other races they had incredible stamina and could keep up a slow jog for an entire day without too much issue. The second rank of troops consisted of Jace and the rest of the knights, elves remained in their third rank and the empire’s veterans remained as rearguard.

They had been jogging at a steady pace for over an hour now, although the rumor had not spread the soldiers noticed the tight expressions of their officers. They could sense something was wrong but simply connected it to the fact that they were rushing towards the matriarch and the risk that was involved with such a push. Jace felt his armour press against him every time a foot hit the ground, his expression was grim. He kept his place with the knights and Hirki was with one of the adventurer groups. Instead of having the adventurers in one big group as they did before they split them between the ranks of other elites.

Other than the first three ranks, you had a group of adventurers, then you had the sandwalkers, another group of adventurers, the republic, another group of adventurers, the AOS, and then the final group of adventurers with the empire as the rearguard. It had been Jace’s idea to split the adventurers up into relatively smaller groups in case the army was targeted from the walls once again. The adventurers, although skilled, were unaccustomed to large scale battle. Even Jace’s former team would have trouble operating in a proper shieldwall. With the new way the army was setup it should reduce the risk of the adventurers being targeted. The elite units could help out before too much damage was done and the army could progress, hopefully, safer.

Jace let himself fall into rhythm with the dwarven legion and their synchronised footsteps. There was something comforting about having an experienced army that moved as a single unit in front of you. The dwarves were serious badasses in a fight, because of their heavy armour and the excellent craftsmanship that was used in creating the armours dwarven troops were extremely hard to kill. Add to that the fact that each dwarven soldier carried a shield and how heavily disciplined and well trained they were and the dwarven legions were one of the most fearsome armies to walk the earth.

The elves were the exact opposite, their armour was light but their magic was strong. Instead of flowing as a single unit as the dwarves did their strength was individual skill. Although they could work as a single well trained unit it wasn’t to the same extent as the dwarven troops. The knights of his kingdom were somewhere in between, they were well versed in troop tactics but also focused heavily on individual skill. The other human groups excluding the sandwalkers were similar. The sandwalkers were even more individually focused than the elves were.

Jace had taken the time to study the strengths and weaknesses of all troops that had joined the expedition. In his opinion the dwarven legion was, unsurprisingly, the best suited for this expedition. The underground was their home and they were well versed in tunnel warfare. The elves and sandwalkers who mostly relied on ambush skills and hit and run tactics were the troops that had the largest disadvantage.

As Jace let his mind wander over the various troops his eyes frantically searched the walls for any signs of an ambush. Carmine who had taken a spot to the left, hugging the wall was constantly tasting the air in search of the enemy. Her senses were better than his, but he could not stop his frantic search for opponents, he was on high alert and was tense because of it.

Normally the veterans beside him might joke to him about it, but they unlike the adventurers were informed of the situation. Their faces were grim and their eyes, like his, were peeled. The first few hours of travel had been suspiciously uneventful. The scryers and earth mages got increasingly nervous, and checked and rechecked the largest cluster of dravu. Most of them were aware that it would be the end of all of them if they lost track or could not find the matriarch. Nerves were taut and it reflected in the soldiers, small fights and arguments between groups or even in the groups themselves broke out. Officers did their best to stamp out the fires but people were nervous.

The veteran knights remained disciplined, a select few complained here and there but that was all the grumbling that they showed. They acted like they were marching towards their deaths because they truly believed it to be so. There would be a next generations, they would follow their queen, and their children would protect the princess who would inherit the throne. That was what they believed, hence while they resolved to live as long as possible, the possibility of death held little sway over them.

The dwarves were dwarves, they got into semi-regular fist-fights but in truth where the troops most at ease with the situation. The elves were unscrupulous and acted as if nothing was wrong. No one knew what the sandwalkers were thinking behind their veils, the AOS troops complained and whined about missing their wine and women. But surprisingly caused very few problems, the republic prayed a little harder to their god but remained calm. The empire’s veterans kept to themselves and joked among each other. The biggest problem was as expected the adventurers, Jace had to retreat from his spot among the knights to keep the adventurers in check.

He spent most of the day breaking up fights and calming down adventurers, he was exhausting himself. His physical state remained fresh, but his mental state was being ground down by the continuous need to keep an eye on the adventurers. In the end he made a small internal guard faction that was there to keep the order. Some of the higher ranked and more experienced adventurers, and those that Jace felt were suited for the job were conscripted into said guard faction. They made an attempt to keep the peace, but the rumors were starting to spread. That the army was trapped in the tunnels with no way out. It reached the point where even the lower level soldiers secretly hoped for an ambush, anything other than this slowly growing sense of unease and distrust.

Night fell and the camp was set up, the rulers were once again found in the command tent. Jace as the unofficial leader of the adventurers was also invited along with Hirki. The faces of the various leaders were grim, they realised the situation was bad but did not have any immediate solutions.

The dwarven king spoke up, “Do you think the beasties are planning for the discord that is being sown amongst the adventurers?”

The holy maiden sighed, he golden hair in the same meticulous braid. “If that is true then we are in even greater peril than we first thought.”

Collin growled, “We know we have problems, what we need are solutions. Jace did good creating the guard faction, but it won’t last. Rumors are starting to spread and it would be best if we got ahead of it and told the people of our speculations.”

“Agreed.” The dwarven king muttered.

“I am of the same opinion.” The elven queen said with a sigh.

Jace frowned, “Let me guess, I’m the messenger?”

The marshal smirked, “Don’t get killed.”

Jace rolled his eyes, “Great, thanks for the confidence.”

The other rulers wished him luck with pensive gazes. Then the holy maiden suddenly paused, and motioned for one of her crusaders to follow him. She looked over at Jace, “I will send with you one of my men, to help you establish authority, it may help.” She closed her eyes and folded her hands. “It may not.”

Jace smiled and bowed, “The gesture is appreciated my lady.”

The dwarven king snorted and thrust his chin towards Jace, one of his men followed and stood behind Jace, the other rulers followed their lead and sent a warrior of their own. Collin shrugged and Miya decided to come with him. Jace’s queen smiled, “You already are one of my own.”

Jace bowed and smiled, “Let’s hope I manage to prevent a riot.”

The marshal cursed softly, “Let’s hope indeed, we are in too much trouble as it is.”

Jace took a deep breath and left the tent, he headed towards the first group of adventurers, he rolled his shoulders and looked over at Hirki. “You were surprisingly quiet during that meeting, I expected at least a comment.”

Hirki shrugged. “Adventurers are no fools, they will realise that rushing is their only choice.”

Jace looked over at Hirki and frowned, “I hope you’re right. In my experience in times of desperation few people maintain their logic.”

Hirki shrugged, “As long as most continue onwards and we kill the matriarch, it is of no import to me.”

Jace sighed and rolled his shoulders. A few minutes later he reached the adventurers group and climbed up a makeshift stage. He looked over the adventurers and took a deep breath as they focused their attention on him. “Some of you may have heard rumors, stating that our circumstances are more dire than they appear. People have been stressed and discipline has been the victim.”

He took another deep breath. “I am here to tell you that there is truth in these rumors, we are trapped.”

As expected commotion broke out, some adventurers started shouting and others started arguing. The guard troop tried to silence the adventurers but they themselves were shocked by the news. Jace raised his voice in an attempt to be heard, “The dravu have evolved and they have gained intelligence beyond what we expected. They have trapped us in these tunnels and will make an attempt to finish us off! We have to push forward, we have no other choice!”

A scarred adventurer stepped up and shouted angrily, “Who are you to make that choice for us eh!? We volunteered for this, even if it’s the guild law! We were supposed to fight the dravu, a simple if dangerous job! This is no longer monster extermination, this is a war!”

Jace nodded, “I agree, this is war.”

The adventurer frowned and folded his arms glaring up at the stage. “Adventurers do not participate in war, me and mine are leaving!” The man made as to turn around.

Jace sat down tiredly, and looked over the mass of warriors, he stared over at the leaving adventurer and asked. “And go where?”

“Out through the bloody tunnels!” The man shouted.

Jace smiled sadly, “The several mile long collapsed tunnels?”

The man turned back and glared. “We’ll just have to bloody dig through it then, we have an earth mage. We’ll manage!”

Jace nodded, “But will you manage before your supplies run out? Will you be able to dig while being assaulted by the dravu? Could the adventurers that want to run work together as a single army to retreat back to the surface?”

The man froze, glared at him and growled. Then let loose a string of curses, after a few seconds he collapsed and sat down.

“So we fight or die, is that it.”

Silence fell over the adventurers, they looked over at Jace, eyes hopeful. Looking for another option, anything. Jace folded his hands in his lap. “It is.”

“We are not soldiers, we aren’t supposed to… We just wanted to help…” A younger girl said with a sniff.

Jace nodded but kept his silence, he felt his throat clench.

“So we go kill the dravu before they kill us.” An adventurer with bright red hair said. The man took a deep breath, “We can do that, killing monsters is what we are good at isn’t it?!”

“I don't know about you.” An older ranger said with a grim look. “But I usually don’t hunt my prey with a time limit while being vastly outnumbered and low on supplies.”

The red haired adventurer waved his hand dismissively, “So we learn! A new experience for all of us, we don’t have much of a choice and sitting here moping and giving the others shit will only worsen our odds. I for one plan to make it out of this, so I will tackle this thing with all the energy and skill I have. And I expect the same from ALL OF YOU! I’m not gonna die because you guys were moping around so much you couldn’t bloody focus!”

Jace looked over at Hirki and whispered, “They should have made that guy the leader of adventurers, he’s doing better than me.”

Hirki nodded and looked at the man with interest.

The red haired adventurer was indeed rallying spirits with ease, Jace looked at it with interest. “Is he a well known adventurer?”

Hirki shrugged, “Never seen the man before.”

Jace took a deep breath, “Well let's watch him work for a while longer. If he keeps doing such a good job we’re taking him with us to the next group.”

To his surprise the red haired man was riling the adventurers up, he was putting confidence in their heart and an urge for battle in their minds. The adventurers became subdued and Jace walked over to the red haired adventurer.

“Hi i’m Jace, How would you like to become the speaker at the other adventurer groups.” Jace slung an arm around the red-haired adventurer. “I’ll buy you a beer in exchange, once we make it out of here.”