Our army (consisting of sixteen people total) left the country and proceeded down the passage.
When we came to the greatbat cave, Troach, our scout, used a hand signal to stop us from following. An ogreling was dead, jammed between stalactites.
“He must have been their scout,” Troach concluded, searching the creature’s possessions. “Footprints nearby. I’d guess there were two more. They probably came to check on us but panicked and went back after one of them died.”
The enemy had been trying to spy on us, it seemed. However…
…when I looked more closely and observed the ogreling, I couldn’t find any external wounds on the body caught in the pair of natural stone spikes sprouting from the cave ceiling.
“What got him?”
“I’d guess getting caught between stalactites.”
“They can die from that…?”
“They die real easily. But they multiply like nothing else. Out of nowhere, too.”
We’d been able to confirm it was safe, so she sent the signal to the rear group, and we resumed our advance. After passing through the cave, we entered the passage to the west. I was a little worried that the horse-lizard Astoria rode wouldn’t be able to get through the narrow hallways, but it could bend its six legs to crawl and keep its height surprisingly low as it moved.
Like a tank that could shift to car height using hydraulic suspension, I thought with keen interest.
The reason horses were nonexistent was becoming more apparent. Their sprinting capabilities were better suited for the vast plains they lived on. Such talents were useless in Million Dungeon.
I’d been watching our whole party closely, but I was especially worried about the twelve subordinates we’d taken along as soldiers.
Even trained fighters sometimes panicked in combat and broke down crying. We’d tried to pick out the most levelheaded people and what few who had prior battle experience, but the farther we got from our home, the more their unease showed on their faces. These folk weren’t to blame, of course. We were dragging regular citizens along with us to war. This would be a considerably difficult mission when I thought about leading them as a combat force and bringing them all back alive.
It was indescribably painful for a fellow soldier you’d gone through long, harsh training with to die. I’d experienced it several times myself. How hard would it be if I let these ordinary people perish?
Mizuho and Troach were no exceptions. They both had pluck, and I trusted them to the extent that they wouldn’t become hysterical during battle, but neither of them was anything close to a professional warrior.
Would I be able to remain calm if they died?
In the thick of it, I trusted myself to shut out emotions. Yet the same could not be said for after the battle ended and I returned to our nation. Just imagining it made my heart pound harder.
While I was keeping a careful eye on our party’s edgy looks as we marched, Astoria brought Snorts over to me.
“Sir Taiga. Are you in good health?”
“…Yeah. No problems here.”
“Then try smiling. An anxious general makes for frightened troops,” she stated, a mischievous smirk on her lips.
“…I’m a general now?”
“What else would you be, Sir Taiga? All these people of our nation have acknowledged you as such. That is why they follow you. A gloomy expression is not an acceptable answer to their confidence. All you can do is grin even if you don’t wish to, stick out your chest, and walk.”
Her instructions felt too careless for my tastes, and they irritated me. “I’m bad at faking smiles. Especially when so many lives are on the line.”
“Seems like it!” Astoria replied with a laugh. “Look, Sir Taiga. There’s a well-known aphorism in the community: A streamer showing their pain won’t get views.”
“…Yeah?”
“It means that those who try to entertain others must first try to entertain themselves. Are Landmakers not of the same breed?”
“Uh… Maybe?” I said, confused.
Astoria puffed out her chest. “I know exactly how deeply you feel for the people, Sir Taiga. You may leave this to me. I will not allow our troops to die. I’ll show the enemy what for!” she declared confidently before leaving my side.
I breathed a sigh. Perhaps I really was the most anxious of all. A commander who worried about the dead before even reaching the combat zone was not a very good one.
Though I was still somewhat unconvinced, Astoria’s consideration had gotten across. As she’d advised, I lifted my head up and kept on walking, though I gave up on trying to force a smile.
We came to the pitfall; it was open wide. The corpses of the ogrelings that had fallen in were already no more than skeletons. Million Dungeon’s scavenger creatures were fearsome things.
After crossing the planks, I opened my mouth and said, “All troops, prepare for battle!”
Everyone with spears readied them. Troach put a hand on her dagger’s hilt to make sure she could draw it smoothly. Mizuho checked on her emergency bandages and medicines. Astoria shut her faceplate and gripped her longsword.
I took over the lead of our force from Troach, and we resumed our advance. We entered the farmland room, careful of any ambushes. Many a footstep had trampled the fields, but no enemies were in the chamber.
We headed for the hill in the center and looked down the shaft. Shining a lantern in, we found that the ladder had been brought down and now lay on the floor of the room below us. Our enemy had taken preventative measures against us.
“I’ll go first,” Astoria said, giving Snorts a slap on the neck. I watched as it, with her still on its back, plodded right over the opening’s edge. The horse-lizard’s large body stuck to the shaft wall, and it disappeared quickly down the hole. There was the clack of hooked nails meeting stone flooring, and after a few moments, the bottom of the hole lit up. Astoria had lifted the cover off her lantern, a signal that it was safe.
She dismounted, picked the ladder off the floor, and sent it back up the hole. I reached out to grab its upper end, then pulled it up and hung it on the wall.
I shuddered at the usefulness of horse-lizard troops within the dungeon. These creatures could move across walls and ceilings with a rider! Knights capable of three-dimensional movement indoors—a nightmarish idea. I’d need to consider the possibility of encountering enemies that could move in the same way. Horse-lizards couldn’t have been the only creatures adapted to suit Million Dungeon’s environment.
I went down the ladder after Astoria. Once my feet were on the ground, I headed for the still-open doorway, careful to conceal my steps. I peered into the hall. For the moment, the long corridor seemed empty. Two torches burned on either side of a sizable arch-shaped opening at the far end. They were probably about fifty or sixty meters from here. Roughly ten meters closer was the scaffold the ogreling shaman had been on when I’d first spotted it. That rose two meters off the ground.
Wouldn’t an ogreling die if they fell from a scaffold at that height?
I began to hear the echoes of bestial howls and growls, accompanied by the distinct sound of metal on stone. I couldn’t pinpoint the location, but they couldn’t have been very far from the hall.
After returning to the ladder and sending up the signal, our subordinates nervously descended. I watched with bated breath, but fortunately, nobody missed a rung on their climb.
Troach and Mizuho brought up the rear, putting all sixteen people safely down in the room.
I pointed to myself and Troach, and everyone else nodded. As we’d decided in advance, nobody opened their mouth. The two subordinates with ash-painted faces stood next to Troach and me, waiting for instructions with anxious expressions.
After the booze from last night’s feast had run out, we’d moved on to a strategy meeting. That was when I’d explained my plan to everyone.