Me, Desmond and 2 undead minotaurs made up the team that would go and collect magic crystals. The monsters that I had summoned beforehand were instructed to guard the core room and start mining stone and granite from the cave walls. They weren't given any proper mining equipment, but they don't really need them anyway, since their claws and weapons are strong enough to mine away at stone.
The goal of today's expedition was to increase my and Desmond's strengths and have a bigger mana pool to effectively mass-produce bricks.
Well, it's gonna be Desmond that actually produces the bricks, I'll just sit back and relax... But I can't slack off for the time being and grow my strength well. After all, I have no guarantee that I won't get attacked by some monster stronger than a minotaur...
--- After a killing spree of about 5 hours ---
"Huff... Huff... Huff...", I was hyperventilating from the extreme amount of work I just did.
"My lord... are you... alright...?", Demond asked. Since he is undead, he feels no exhaustion.
"Haha... I'm fine... Just a bit tired, that's all...", I reassured Desmond about my condition and signalled him to rest.
"How is your mana looking, Desmond?"
"Nearly... Depleted..."
"*Sigh... same... Let's rest here and refill our mana...", I told Desmond.
He was slightly damaged. The two minotaurs were quite heavily damaged since I didn't repair them with Necroflame.
"Come here, Minotaurs...", I commanded.
The two hulking skeletons walked towards me with a bowed head.
"Necroflame.", I chanted, exhausting the little mana I had left and applying the effects of the spell onto the minotaurs.
As I was resting, I heard the flapping of wings through the cave's tunnels.
"Craw! Craw!", It was Corvis. He seemed to have brought good news.
"What's the matter Corvis? You look excited..."
"Craw! Craw! Craw!"
"What? Is that True?!"
I was shocked. If Corvis was correct, farming magic crystals were about becoming a lot simpler and faster...
According to Corvis, he discovered another dungeon that's quite close by. He deemed it clearable for us right now. And going as per common sense, a dungeon should have tons of monsters to kill and magic stones to find. Who knows? I might even get good loot!
All in all, it looked like a great opportunity to get lots of magic crystals quickly.
"Desmond, we are leaving in 30 minutes. We'll clear the dungeon Corvis is talking about and get magic crystals.", I commanded.
"As... you... wish... my lord...", Demond bowed his head, or skull I guess.
--- After 30 minutes ---
I recovered my mana and headed for the dungeon that Corvis had found.
"How much farther?", I asked Corvis to which he replied "Craw!", meaning just a little more.
After about 5 minutes of walking, we arrived at an entrance of sorts. There was an old, rusty and almost unrecognisable gate separating the dungeon from the rest of the cave.
Seeing Corvis's signals, I understood that this was the gate I needed to cross to enter this dungeon.
"Minotaurs, Push that gate open.", I commanded.
The two giant undead summons walked over to the gate and started pushing them with all their might.
After about 10 seconds of pushing, the gates suddenly opened with an unpleasant sound.
The minotaurs entered first, and then Desmond and then me.
"Wow... This is... Something...", I uttered.
The dungeon was nothing like the dungeon I had taken ownership of. The corridors were much more cramped and the walls looked less damaged than my dungeon's.
The dungeon gave off the eery feeling of a maze infested with grotesque monsters and death traps. The thick mist that surrounded us did not help in the slightest.
"Craw! Craw!", Corvis reassured me. He wasn't bothered by the mist, he could see past it with no problem.
But I couldn't stay still for too long. Suddenly, I heard a low growl.
"Ice Blast...", Desmond suddenly chanted and a ball of cold mana heralded towards one direction and upon contact with whatever creature made the sound, froze everything in a 1-meter radius.
"What was that?!", I asked Desmond.
"My lord... I felt... Bloodlust... So I... Acted..."
"Bloodlust? Corvis! Point me in the direction of that thing!"
"Craw!"
I followed Corvis and the corpse I saw churned my stomach. I almost threw up.
The creature's face had one large eyeball. Nose, ears, mouth, and even eyelids were non-existent. Its height is around 4ft. Its stomach was unnaturally bloated. Its limbs were way too disproportionate.
All in all, a very disturbing creature.
[Frozen Corpse]
[Race: Assimilated Shadow Goblin.]
[Status: Dead, Infected]
[HP:0/100]
'Infected...? This thing was a shadow goblin before?', I wondered.
"Ugh... Desmond, get this thing's magic crystal out for me. I can't be bothered touching this disgusting thing.", I commanded.
"Right... Away... My lord...", Demond obediently started melting the ice near the corpse's chest area and dug into its flesh with his sharp, bony fingers.
"Here... it is... My lord...", Desmond took out the crystal and handed it to me after cleaning it with magic.
"Hmm... Strange... This doesn't look like the one the shadow goblins had... It... feels kinda ominous for some reason...", I concluded after examining the stone.
"Let's proceed with the dungeon...", I commanded my undead troops.
The mist was a bit of a problem but thanks to Corvis, I wasn't in danger of being ambushed.
"Craw! Craw!", Corvis yelled.
"Monsters ahead? Okay... Minotaurs, get in front. Desmond, stay with me.", I commanded.
The minotaurs took their positions and we all slowly started moving front in formation.
Suddenly-
*SPLATT* *FSHHHHHH*
Some kind of dark green liquid shot towards us and hit one of the minotaurs. Its bones started fizzing and dissolving because of the liquid.
"Shit... Desmond, freeze those liquids now!", I commanded.
"Icy Aura... Conjure Ice...", Desmond chanted. The green liquids that were damaging the bones of the minotaur freezed in place.
"Dark Knives...", I chanted, pointing my hands towards the direction of the red glow I was seeing thanks to Corvis's ability.
*SHAK!* *SHUK!* *SPLATT* *SHRAK!*
The knives hit the target, but no sound was made. The target didn't make any sound of pain...
At this point, the mist was really starting to piss me off... If the target wasn't feeling any pain... There was a very high possibility of the target being undead...
*SHOOT!* *SPLATT*
More green liquid.
"Conjure Ice...", Demond repeated what he did for the minotaur again.
"Dark Knives!", I chanted.
Again, the knives made contact with the target... but the target didn't make any noise...
'Damnit! Am I even damaging it?! What if it's using some corpse as a shield from my spells?!', another unpleasant thought came to mind. If the enemy was indeed doing that, then it meant the enemy was somewhat intelligent, which was bad news for me.
"Craw! Craw!", Corvis suddenly came flying down to me and landed on my shoulder.
"Corvis?", I asked in confusion.
"Craw! Craw!"
"Look? Look whe-", I couldn't complete my sentence.
Corvis was projecting that same window from back in the core room in front of his eyes. The window seemed to load some kind of video footage.
The video finally loaded. I could see that the camera was flying through the air.
"No way... Is this your POV, Corvis?", I asked in disbelief.
"Craw!", Corvis puffed out his chest.
"Haha! Good! Goo-", once again I got interrupted. But this time, it wasn't a good interruption.
The camera, or Corvis landed on top of an extinguished torch holder and focused on one point in front.
The corner of the dungeon.
What I saw actually made me nauseous.
A giant blob of meat with a big, about 2ft diameter, eye in it. There were tentacles too. The tentacles had holes in their tips.
Suddenly, one of the tentacles shot out that same dark green liquid. This was followed by 4 black knives flying towards the thing at unimaginable speeds. But the knives were blocked by one of the tentacles and prevented damage to the eye.
"Disgusting... I shouldn't have come here... But... If I want to get lots of magic crystals quickly... I have no choice, do I?", I muttered.