The archers steadied their aim on top of the barricades.
The necropolis was in a sorry state, the infernal creatures chose to surface at this very place, and the ground was littered with reanimated corpses, scattered bones, and the fresh bodies of the imps.
The latter became easy prey to the Saipole archers at least, but the undead cared little about arrows. Some resembled hedgehogs from all the hits but kept stumbling like it was nothing. The capital guard had to take them down since the wizards lacked the correct spells to fight their kind.
"A Kisserleng priest could make a short work of them..." I heard the Crantan Princess claim in a mocking tone. She washed the dye out from her hair and now it paraded in a bright purple color, curled up into springy rolls that screamed Western nobility to everyone. "A single miracle to create a barrier over the entire graveyard, then a field that returns the corpses into their original state."
She looked like a completely different person, wore shiny armor donated by one of our fledglings from Nordhaben, and equipped the short sword of the same benefactor. A confident aura emanated from her for whatever reason. Even I did not look forward to descending the depths that much. The annoying critters ruined everything they touched, knocked the gravestones over, and dug holes everywhere.
"Followers of the Church are not welcome in this country." I pulled my nose up, leading them towards the entrance, avoiding the ditches and open graves. The other gladiators and spellcasters gathered there, waiting for the guards to clear a path through the invading monsters. "No deities did any good for my people in the past."
"And yet you ask for our help, hmpf." The Princess crossed her arms and made a face that screamed punch me, but I couldn't forget how easily she defeated me last time. That said, she caught me by surprise, the same way when I struck her companion some days ago.
I paid the price for my arrogance and learned my lesson not to underestimate her. I doubted they would return from this quest alive.
"It's more like I offer you a chance to prove yourself and escape the prison." I corrected her but recoiled when a group of imps crossed our paths. The guards wasted no time to respond to their attacks.
It was hard to tell, what these fiends hoped to achieve, easily mowed down by the archers. Even the reanimated corpses by the consecutive magical storms offered a bigger challenge, and they were slow, wandering mindlessly within the necropolis.
"I wonder what made you shake in your boots so badly to offer us that chance though." The Princess barely even flinched. I couldn't decide if she was this fearless or just plain dumb.
Now that our defenses were set, these creatures didn't pose a threat, but the dungeon had more to offer. She was the only one this confident too, and I didn't recall her acting like this before she received the blessing. Gods were too scary, I refused to trust them.
The paladin looked pale, her blue hair peeking underneath her ancient helmet. She was adamant we gave her armor and sword back, though I found the latter too cumbersome for the dungeon.
"Princess, the thing is... I won't be able to call on my miracles down there." She whispered to the noble but I could still hear most of it. I didn't even consider that priests and paladins inside that infernal place would be mostly useless. But that only made things better for me.
"Gaddu says she will stay with me the whole time, so I guess it's my turn to protect you for once." The purple-haired girl answered. I was tempted to say she lost her mind, but it seemed clear how she borrowed considerable powers from a long-forgotten goddess. She lacked no confidence, eager to enter the dungeon with a wide grin.
"This is the team you will be joining." I introduced them to the assorted gladiators, criminals, and volunteer wizards from Saipole. "Your task is to protect the spell casters, and don't even think about turning against them. They can make short work of you, magic-resistant armor or not. They will not hesitate to leave you behind either."
"Oh, you're not coming? Too afraid, or too pretty to do the dirty work yourself?" The Princess outdid herself when it came to insults.
I did request my father to allow me entrance, but he deemed it too dangerous for a royal heir to take such a risk. Yet the Western girl seemed so eager, how could we claim to be better than them, if we depended on their aid, but refused to do the same? An idea suddenly occurred to me.
I wore my usual enchanted robes and needed no weapons anyway. From the logistics point of view, it did not matter if one or two extra people joined the team, and by the time my father learned about my deeds, he couldn't do anything to stop me. I made my mind up.
"Of course, I'm going too. Someone needs to lead this mission and keep an eye on you all. Did you think I would just let loose a bunch of criminals into a dungeon and hope for the best?" That was the plan, but now that I decided, they didn't need to know.
The wizard's leader overheard us and his mouth hung open.
"Aoi Sama, please reconsider, it is too dangerous..." He argued immediately, but I waved away his concerns. He wore the blue colors of the royal family too, like the rest of the men, while the gladiators and other combatants grabbed whatever they had before joining.
"I'm not afraid to do the job myself," I claimed, but my hand shook. As we approached the large hole in the ground, I doubted the whole ordeal. "Royalty exists to lead the nation in the time of need. I don't want this Western noble to think less of us."
"So gullible..." The Princess noted, and I felt the blood rushing to my face. I needed a few deep breaths to calm down, but this gave the archers time to clear the area of imps.
So many of them lay on the ground now, I wondered how many arrows they used daily. Their bodies didn't remain there for long, they practically evaporated under the autumn sun, taking no more than a few hours. Otherwise, the necropolis would have turned into a mountain of orange corpses by now, they just kept coming for weeks.
"All right, men! Let us depart, and subjugate this dungeon!" I shouted loud enough for the guards to note, even at the graveyard's gates. "We don't know how intricate this labyrinth is. Even if you think the path behind us was already cleared, there is always a chance for an ambush, so stick together until we find the core. I won't have to punish deserters, the abyss will do that for me. And if I don't return alive, these guards will also prevent the others from exiting the cave."
"So she just wants us to babysit her?" I heard the Princess whisper into the paladin's ears and tried hard to ignore her insolence. If I fought her now, winning seemed unlikely, and her powers were needed down there. I had to clench my teeth and pretend she didn't say a thing.
"The penal squad will lead the way, and the gladiators will form a defensive formation around the spellcasters." I outlined my plans but decided to clarify. "You two will be at the forefront of the gladiator's defensive line, and know that I'm always watching your backs."
"Was that meant to comfort us or just a feeble attempt to threaten your team?" Elizabeth asked resting hands on her hips, and seeing how the soldiers reacted with a grin, I realized that my commanding tone would only make things worse. "These little guys don't seem too bad, just make sure they can't swarm and overwhelm us, and we should be fine."
Now she gave orders to my men too? I needed to calm down. They will be near the first row, if anything goes wrong, they die first. I caught myself hoping for that to happen, and we barely started our descent.
"Create light." One of the lesser wizards provided us with the means to see in the dark, and it was the first time I looked at the inside of the dungeon. It seemed gruesome, these small critters must have dug it out with their bare nails while stomping over each other until they reached the surface. What was even driving them? Where did they come from?
"Good thing they come in waves, we should have a few minutes to advance unopposed, before they return." A veteran gladiator noted. He was a muscular old man, I recalled him coming from Lansum and claimed he served with the imperial army, clearing dungeons in the old times. His name eluded me, but the fact that he came from there was obvious because of his ebony skin and robust stature.
"W-we are gonna die..." I heard the lamenting of the men in the front. I felt no pity for them, criminals either redeemed themselves or did not deserve to live. Even if Saipole wanted all the men they could gather, we didn't need the scum. And the prison complexes had a limited capacity.
If we didn't need to hide our plans and existence, banishment would have been an option, but nobody was allowed to leave this place once they entered. Too many got away, and I clenched my fist remembering that sly bard from the Appenon kingdom.
The last man I trusted, and what a huge mistake that turned out to be. No, I felt no pity for that kind of scum. I didn't plan to let these two with the bright hair colors go either, but I had time to worry about their fate, once they survived the first encounters.
"Here they come!" The veteran yelled only a few minutes later. Indeed, while the imps were small, and seemingly harmless creatures, their vast stampede shook the ground below our feet. The first row braced their shields, and the wizards around me readied their spells.
"So it begins." The paladin murmured, looking way more calm than earlier. She grabbed her massive falchion, prepared to strike at anything that might penetrate our shaky first line of defense. It was odd to see how the Princess, who acted confident earlier, seemed to panic now, but I felt the same kind of doubt after I descended into this madness.
Before we entered, they acted their exact opposite, but now that the danger rushed right towards us, they have shown their true nature. Or that's what I thought, but once the swarming creatures appeared, the Princess reacted first, screaming like a coward and causing immense destruction.
"Blitzkrieg!" She yelled, and lightning wiped across the cave.