I observed the new invaders. More accurately, they were hunters, based on the memories I obtained from those three from last time.
Although I still couldn't understand the language, I could grasp fragments. Among them, I could more or less understand what the shield warrior said.
And what I heard annoyed me. I may not be human now, and I may be some kind of Dungeon Master, but this is my new home and the home of my creations. Mocking them made me angry.
That shield guy won't leave this place alive. I'll teach him a lesson he'll never forget.
Sliding a mental smile, I decided to send the next horde of goblins. By the way, I call hordes groups of five to nine goblins.
For now, I'll only send common ones in small hordes, but once they venture deeper, I'll start using the special ones. According to my calculations and the amount of mana I can see in their cores, the strongest among them is the silver-haired woman. She should be around Ravenous's level to be a good challenge—I was already eager to see that fight.
Coming out of my thoughts, I watched as the group kept advancing, eliminating the goblins while beginning to traverse the tunnels. Every now and then, some stakes fell from the ceiling, making the group tense up from the sudden noise.
The group continued advancing in silence, analyzing every corner. Soon the silver-haired woman said something I didn't fully understand, looking at two tall stalagmites protruding from the ground where two stealth goblins were waiting.
As soon as she finished speaking, the rogue drew her crossbow and fired twice.
The arrows flew at surprising speed, impacting directly on the two assassin goblins.
Well, that was interesting. Apparently, that silver-haired woman has some kind of special vision that allows her to detect my monsters.
Is it some kind of mana vision? Or a detection spell?
Hmm. Well, whatever it is, it seems I'll have to make some adjustments when these hunters leave.
The group approached the two goblins and extracted the ten-centimeter cores from the corpses. They were larger than those of their normal counterparts.
...
The group advanced in silence after eliminating another horde of goblins that attacked them less than five minutes after finishing the previous one.
The silver-haired woman took the core, observed it carefully, and said something to her companions. From her tone, she seemed surprised. Or impressed.
The shield warrior responded with another mockery, but this time I noticed the others didn't laugh as much. Something about those cores had made them nervous.
They stored the cores in a bag and continued advancing.
The group moved in silence. They eliminated another horde of goblins that attacked them less than five minutes after finishing the previous one. This time there were eight, all common, and they fell quickly before the group's coordination.
The rogue and the archer, a thin man with a cold gaze, took turns covering the distances while the shield warrior and another man with a long sword held the front line. The silver-haired woman remained in the center, observing, directing.
She was the leader. Not the shield guy, despite his arrogant attitude. She gave the orders, even if she did it with subtle gestures, with brief words that the others followed without question.
The dynamic was really interesting to watch.
They reached a fork in the tunnel. Three paths opened before them. One led to a room with a pit trap. Another was a dead end full of stalagmites where I had hidden a dozen goblins. The third was the correct path to the boss room.
The silver-haired woman stopped, observing each tunnel carefully. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, her pupils glowed faintly with a silver radiance.
She pointed to the correct tunnel.
Damn. She definitely has some advanced detection ability or some vision that allows her to see mana.
This complicates things.
But not enough.
I smiled while ordering the goblins in the dead end to move silently to a position near the correct tunnel. To wait. To attack when the group was distracted.
The group advanced through the correct tunnel, confident that their leader was guiding them well. Soon they would reach the antechamber, where a rock trap awaited them.
After a few minutes and overcoming the traps, they finally arrived at the guardian room of my first floor.
Honestly, I was surprised by how strong this group of hunters was compared to the previous one.
Even so, it had taken them about an hour to reach Ravenous's room.
The group stood looking at the stone door, carved with the same details from the previous hunters' report.
Before they had time to look further, the enormous doors opened with a loud creak, revealing a large rock room covered in faint illumination, leaving the rest drowned in deep shadows.
The floor was hard stone carved into enormous squares that extended throughout the entire floor. Hidden in the shadows were large rock pillars reaching to the ceiling like columns.
The group looked forward, seeing the figure of a giant.
It was an orc, but completely different from what they were used to seeing. The orc was imposing, standing nearly three meters tall with a muscular body. His skin was such a dark green that it could easily be mistaken for black. His attire consisted of leather armor plates and pelts. In one of his hands, he held a large double-edged axe with a long handle.
Around him, dozens of goblins emerged from the shadows, their unsettling laughs instantly filling the entire room.
The group of hunters felt intimidated seeing the great number of monsters gathered around the room.
Without any signal, the goblins launched themselves at the group while the orc stood still with a proud and voracious look on his face.