Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Hizon used the first minutes after the defense to count what remained.

The system had removed every defeated creature from the battle, even though they would return after it ended. The survivors were exhausted, injured, or carrying equipment damaged during the retreat. None would recover merely because the direction of the battle had changed.

Hizon left the Forgeguard in the final chamber. The core route still required protection, and the Forgeguard’s limited pursuit range made him poorly suited to an invasion. The Stag Beetle remained inside the Ant Hill with cracks running across its armor and one front leg unable to bear its full weight.

The Artificer stayed in the Foundry.

He redirected workers toward the vents, gates, and passages touched by the fungal network. Isolated growth could not claim Hizon’s core without an army, but leaving it inside working machinery would create problems before the battle ended.

Hizon selected the healthiest remaining forces. Brannik joined him with the trackers who had survived the valley. The goblin king brought enough goblins and hobgoblins to extend his strengthening aura across the center of the formation. Bombardier Beetles carried sealed chemical tanks, while mounted bullet ants transported Trappers and replacement equipment.

The force assembled before the archway.

Hizon addressed the officers responsible for carrying his orders through the formation. "Our scouts found only part of Fungal Hollow. We will use the routes they confirmed, but we will not assume those routes remain unchanged. Destroy fungal bodies before the network can reclaim them. Do not pursue anything that retreats beyond the formation."

The officers repeated the orders to their units.

Hizon entered first.

Warm mist covered the cavern beyond the archway. Blue fungus grew across trees near the dungeon entrance, but the hunting ground Brannik had described no longer resembled a forest. Thick caps connected the trunks, and white cords formed raised lines across the soil. Bone barriers surrounded the route leading deeper.

Nethren had rebuilt the entrance after the scouts escaped.

Fungal guards waited behind the barriers. Unlike the creatures that had followed Nethren into the Goblin Depths, these defenders remained connected to junctions embedded throughout their own dungeon. They reacted as soon as Hizon crossed the boundary.

Stone-headed clubs struck the ground. Spores rose from concealed patches and drifted toward the archway.

Hizon moved the Bombardier Beetles forward. Their heated discharge cleared narrow paths through the cords without trying to burn the entire cavern. Goblin shields filled those paths, protecting the Trappers who followed with hooked blades.

The Trappers pulled buried cords out of the soil and cut them away from the surrounding network.

The nearest defenders lost their shared timing. Some attacked before the others were ready. Several remained behind the bone barriers while their companions crossed them. The goblin king led the center through the opening, and his aura allowed the smaller goblins to meet the fungal guards without being driven back.

Hizon did not remain near the archway to clear every creature.

Brannik guided the main force into the descending passage used by the scouts. Rear units burned the defeated fungal bodies and withdrew before new growth could reach them. Defenders that remained connected to distant junctions followed, but the narrow passage limited how many could approach at once.

The first cavern junction had changed.

Four upright columns still divided the chamber, but swollen knots now covered the walls and floor. Each resembled the network junction Brannik had damaged during his expedition. Dozens of smaller cords connected them to every passage.

The fungal defenders formed a line beneath the columns.

Brannik stopped before the threshold. "Most of those knots were not present when we came through here. Nethren placed false targets around the original junction."

Hizon examined how the cords moved.

Several knots contracted whenever defenders shifted position. Others remained still even when heated chemicals struck the outer growth. Destroying every possible junction would waste time and ammunition.

Hizon directed the Bombardier Beetles away from the obvious targets. "Attack the cords between them. The real junctions will try to preserve their connections."

Bombardier Beetles spread acid across the floor instead of targeting the knots. Most of the growth remained motionless. Three swollen clusters pulled cords away from the attack.

Goblin archers marked those targets with heavy shafts.

The fungal guards advanced before the second volley. Wet shields absorbed arrows while moths descended from the ceiling. The goblin king ordered the front ranks closer together. His strengthened units held the threshold while the Trappers reached the first marked junction.

They tore its supporting cords out of the floor.

Acid followed. The swollen cluster burst, and defenders on the left side of the chamber lost coordination. Goblins entered through the opening and separated them from the rest of the line.

The other junctions tried to redirect the network. Hizon’s archers destroyed the second before the transfer finished. The third pulled itself into a side passage and abandoned the creatures it had controlled.

Hizon allowed it to escape.

His force crossed the chamber without spending the ammunition required to pursue one junction through an unknown tunnel.

The abandoned junction did not remain harmless. It reconnected with the network somewhere beyond the wall and redirected fungal defenders through two side passages. One group struck the rear of Hizon’s formation while the other attacked the goblins carrying the burned remains of earlier enemies.

Mounted bullet ants intercepted the first group inside a passage too narrow for the fungal guards to form a complete line. Their riders used hooked spears to pull shields aside while the ants drove the isolated defenders against the wall.

The second group reached one of the carts before the rear units stopped it. White cords entered the burned bodies and searched through the remains for anything the fire had not destroyed. The network recovered only a small amount of usable tissue, but the attempt confirmed that Nethren’s dungeon would reclaim material whenever it found the opportunity.

Hizon changed the marching arrangement. Carts carrying fungal remains moved into the center beside sealed fuel containers. The rear guard received additional fire pots and orders to destroy anything they could not recover without leaving formation.

The surviving junction used the diversion to close the path behind them. Hardened growth filled the last chamber and separated Hizon’s force from the dungeon connection. The counterattack could no longer withdraw along the route it had entered without breaking through territory the network had reclaimed.

Hizon continued forward. Reopening the rear path immediately would spend time and supplies while the remaining defenders gathered ahead. The metal braces carried by the Trappers would preserve their route from that point onward.

The fungal dungeon resisted them at every intersection. Growth closed passages behind the vanguard and opened holes beneath the rear units. Guards emerged from walls that had appeared solid. Moths carried spores through routes too narrow for goblins to enter.

Without Nethren, those defenses repeated their established responses.

When Bombardier Beetles attacked a junction, nearby growth always tried to pull it toward the deepest available passage. When goblins burned fungal bodies, defenders rushed to recover the remains even when doing so exposed them to arrows. Damage to one route caused the network to reinforce the next two junctions leading inward.

Hizon used the patterns against it.

He sent an empty cart covered with sealed fungal remains toward a side passage. The network opened the wall to reclaim them. Goblin Trappers jammed the moving growth before it could close, exposing a route behind the defenders.

Brannik’s trackers used the opening to reach the rear of the next junction. They destroyed its cords while the goblin king held the front.

The network abandoned two chambers at once.

Hizon’s force reached the underground stream.

The black plates Nethren had used to cross water during the invasion did not exist here. Natural stones formed an uneven path across the current. Fungal defenders waited on the opposite bank while cords covered every dry surface behind them.

As the goblins approached, the defenders struck the nearest stones. Two disappeared beneath the water. Others shifted out of line as growth pulled at their bases.

The obvious crossing no longer existed.

Brannik walked along the bank and examined the current. "The stream is shallow near the right wall, but the floor drops before reaching the other side. Anything entering there will have to climb while the defenders attack from above."

Hizon looked toward the bullet ants. Their riders had crossed worse terrain inside the defense valley, but water would wash smaller creatures from their legs.

Hizon assigned the crossing order. "Send the mounted units across the remaining stones without stopping. The Bombardier Beetles will attack the bank while the Trappers secure lines behind the riders."

The first bullet ant jumped onto a wet stone. Its hooked feet caught the surface long enough to launch toward the next. Goblins on its protected saddle carried ropes fastened to metal spikes.

Fungal guards entered the water to intercept them.

Bombardier Beetles sprayed the opposite bank. Heated chemicals burned the cords beneath the defenders and forced them away from the edge. The mounted units crossed before the network could move another stone.

Trappers drove spikes into the far bank and secured ropes across the current. Goblins crossed in groups while archers fired from both sides. Several fell into the stream, but the safety lines prevented the current from carrying them into the deeper tunnels.

The fungal defenders tried to withdraw after losing the bank.

Hizon closed the route behind them with mounted units. The goblins severed their cords, destroyed the isolated guards, and burned the remains before the larger network could reach them.

The stream now divided Fungal Hollow instead of protecting it.

Hizon placed a small unit at the crossing and continued deeper.

The scouts’ map ended beyond the next cavern. Five passages left it, and every one contained dense fungal growth. The center route was wide enough for several guards to march together. Thick cords disappeared beneath overlapping plates along its floor.

Brannik studied all five entrances.

The network covering the central passage was fresh. Pale edges surrounded newly hardened plates, and wet growth filled gaps where the cords had not finished joining. Nethren had prepared it after learning that scouts reached this depth.

The passage second from the left appeared less important. Its entrance was narrow, and only a few thin cords crossed its walls. Older growth beneath them had been worn smooth near the floor.

Repeated movement had polished it.

Brannik entered several paces and returned. "The air is warmer, and the tracks continue beyond the visible growth. Something has used that route for a long time."

Hizon chose it.

The fungal dungeon reacted before the entire force entered. Growth expanded across the other passages and pressed into the cavern. The walls narrowed, trying to push the goblins toward the central route.

The Trappers drove metal braces into the chosen entrance. Bullet ants pulled against the shifting growth while goblins passed between them. The last units entered before the cavern sealed behind the formation.

The narrow passage descended farther than Brannik’s light could reach.

Old cords formed a continuous line beneath the smoother growth. Every branch led in the same direction.

The passage ended at what appeared to be a solid wall.

Brannik placed one hand near its surface without touching it. Warm air passed through a line too narrow to see.

Goblin workers drove hooks into the wall and pulled. The outer layer stretched instead of breaking. Bombardier Beetles applied acid along the tension points until the hardened growth split apart.

The opening exposed a steep descent into darkness.

Fungal defenders began climbing toward them from below.