Corvis lead us to the corpses of our attackers. They were on the other side of the ravine. Luckily, there was a bridge that connected the ravine's sides together.
The bridge looked absolutely ancient but I decided to trust it and cross the ravine since Corvis seemed to be confident with it.
Me and Desmond made our way to the other side and we had to climb a few stairs to reach the place where the first attacker was stationed at.
"What... is this?", I asked to no one in particular.
The corpse looked like it was humanoid, but its skin, face and hands did not look human at all. The creature looked very creepy. It had a crossbow in its right hand with a quiver of arrows hanging from its back.
Its blood was blue in colour and had little to no smell. Strange.
[Corpse]
[Race: Shadow Goblin]
[Status: Dead]
[HP: 0/100]
'Shadow goblin...? Interesting...'
"Corvis, Demond, can I make this thing into an undead?", I asked.
"Craw!"
"I...Think... Yes... My lord...", Desmond replied.
"Okay, let's do that then."
"Raise Undead."
The Shadow goblin's corpse lost its flesh, revealed its magic stone and the skeleton got up from the ground and bowed to me.
"Pick up that magic stone and give it to me.", I commanded the skeleton.
It obediently obeyed and gave me its own magic stone.
'I surely need more magic stones to repair the dungeon core... I wonder how much time I have left for the quest...', I thought.
"Corvis! Let's gather as many magic stones as possible!", I told Corvis.
"Craw!", Corvis agreed and flew off my shoulder and told us to follow him.
Me, Desmond and the new skeleton who was equipped with the crossbow and quiver of arrows followed Corvis.
We walked for another 10 mins and came across the other attacker. This one had a bow on him.
"Raise Undead.", I chanted and gained a new summon. My maximum summons right now was 5 so I could still raise two more undead.
"Craw! Craw!", Corvis yelled.
"Good!", I complimented Corvis for his resourcefulness. We were on our way to gather more magic stones.
--- walking ---
"By the way Desmond. Mind telling me what kind of magic you can cast?", I asked Desmond.
"Certainly... My lord... I can cast... Basic Earth Magic... Basic Ice magic... and Basic Null Magic..."
"What's Null magic?"
"It is... a type... of non-elemental... magic... The 'Medical String'... I used... to save my lord... was a type... of null magic...", Desmond replied.
"Is it good in combat?"
"No... My lord... It's a type... of supporting magic...", Desmond replied.
'Damn! Desmond is strong! I wish I had some kind of self-healing skill!', I got jealous of Desmond's skillset.
"It is... nothing special... compared to... My lord's... Dark Magic... and Necromancy...", Desmond humbled himself yet again.
"Hmm.", I didn't reply to that.
'It is certainly true that my dark magic deals a lot of damage... and my necromancy is the one that allowed Desmond to exist in the first place... But that kind of makes me into a glass cannon with no defence... I'll have to think about that hard the next time... For the time being, let's focus on gathering as many magic stones as possible...', I told myself.
--- walking ---
"CRAW!", Corvis yelled.
"What's wrong, Corvis?"
"Craw! Craw!"
"We'll have to fight? okay."
"Desmond, with me! Corvis, on my shoulder! Skeleton Archers, take the back!", I commanded.
Immediately, everyone obeyed and we were ready for combat.
*PHWE!*
"Tsk!", I clicked my tongue and dodged the arrow.
*PHEW* *PHIEW*
Before I could even gain back my footing, my two skeleton archers had already fired their shots and the attacker was done for.
'I think we're walking into these Shadow goblin's settlement...', I thought.
And I had thought right. Quickly, we were surrounded by shadow goblins, both archers and assassins.
The archers weren't too bad, but the assassins were quick.
But they didn't last very long.
"Icy Aura...", A deep and cold voice chanted.
Immediately, the temperature in the cave dropped by a few degrees.
"Frost Grip...", the voice chanted again.
*KHAAA!!!* *KHK!*
"Thanks, Desmond. Dark Knives.", I thanked Desmond for helping me slow down the assassin's speed and killed the assassin with dark knives.
"Raise Undead.", I chanted, raising two dead assassin shadow goblins as undead minions.
My maximum summoning cap was now reached. One Desmond, two skeleton archers, two skeleton assassins.
I smirked, looking at my summons and Corvis landed on my shoulder.
"Let's collect all of the magic stones here... This has to be enough to repair the dungeon core, right?", I asked Corvis.
"Craw!", affirmative nod.
"Let's go back to the core room then."
But as soon as I said that, I felt the cave tremble.
"CRAW CRAW CRAW CRAAAAAAWWWW!!!", Corvis yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Huh?! Run?!", I couldn't understand him completely.
And then-
*BOOM!* *DHRG*
A tunnel dug by the shadow goblins suddenly shattered, no, almost exploded.
My face was distorted in fear.
A giant 9ft tall humanoid creature. Covered in fur. Its body was muscular and hulking. And its head... was that of a bull's...
[Enemy]
[Race: Minotaur]
[Status: Bloodthirsty]
[HP: 100/100]
'FUCK-'
*BOOM!*
The minotaur launched its deadly right hand towards me.
Thankfully, because of Corvis's ability, I managed to dodge it.
"DESMOND! YOU OKAY?!"
"Yes... My lord...", Desmond had managed to dodge as well.
*PHEW PHEW* *ROOOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!*
The skeleton archers shot at the minotaur and actually managed to hit it. Although it didn't do much damage, it certainly did draw attention.
The minotaur charged at the two skeleton archers with its colossal body and smashed them with both of its fists.
"Frost grip...", Desmond chanted.
*RAOR?!*
Its legs got stuck in the newly created ice by Desmond's spell.
"Shadow Bind!", I chanted, which bound the minotaur with 5 black chains that emerged from the magic sigil on the ground.
"Desmond, stay back."
"Yes, my lord..."
*ROOOAAAARRR!!* *CRACK!* *BREAK* *PULL* *CRACK* *BREAK*
The minotaur's monstrous strength quickly started to break the ice and the chains.
I could have casted a spell to damage it in this state, but that would be foolish. I waited.
*BREAK!* *RAOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRRR*
The minotaur broke free of the chains and came heralding towards me. I could feel its palpable bloodlust in my very bones.
I still stood there, motionless, not moving a muscle.
The minotaur closed in on me and as it was about to launch its hands, I chanted-
"MIASMA SPIKE!!!"
*IMAPAIL!* *SPLAAT* *RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!*
Right before colliding with my body, I cast the miasma spike, which rose up from the ground at bullet speed and impaled the hands of the minotaur, damaging them beyond recognition.
The minotaur howled in pain and staggered.
"Skeleton assassins! Attack its head!", I commanded to which the assassin skeletons emerged from the shadows and jumped to the minotaur's head, slicing and dicing at it with their knives.
"Dark Knives!", I also cast a spell to contribute to the damage.
*grr... grahhhhh...*
After a minute or so of chipping away at its health, the minotaur was finally defeated.
"Huff... Huff...", I finally caught my breath...
'That could have gone very badly... thankfully though... everything went according to plan...'
"Craw! Craw!"
"I'm okay, Corvis... Don't worry... And thank you..."
"You too, Desmond... Thank you for taking the initiative of casting that ice spell... I wouldn't have been able to cast the shadow bind properly otherwise... the minotaur would have probably dodged the spell and it would have been a waste of mana...", I explained.
"Thank you... My lord...", Desmond bowed his head.
'I'm feeling so tired... It must be because I used too much Mana...', I thought.
"But... This is good...", I said out loud while staring at the minotaur's corpse.
"Raise Undead...", I chanted and the minotaur's flesh and skin disintegrated to reveal its thick and tough bones.
Its hand's bones that were damaged also repaired itself and it stood up from the ground, bowing its head to me.
The magic stone that revealed itself had a brighter colour than the other stones I had seen up till now... Must be a higher grade...
"Now... Let's go back to the core room...", I breathed a sigh and started returning to the core room.