Chapter 23: Jock in Charge – Chapter 23

Doyle dims, ‘Well that’s a heavy subject.’ Ally sighs, ‘not much you can do about it. Even the creator of the system can’t make it work for everyone. Since you likely woke up late at your original tutorial, you should already know that not everyone can survive even in races that fit the system. Having started as a human you are incredibly lucky.’

‘Your fiction probably has humans as a very generic race with nothing special besides maybe your adaptability. That isn’t just the usual trap species get into where they only know themselves so of course they are generic. In this universe, humans are the third most common sentient lifeform. Even then you're not first just because two insectoid races walk the line of how they count their populations.’

‘The universal constants, even after the change, heavily favors intelligent creatures about human size and shape. Other universes are different but here humanoids rule the roost. Though you do have to be a little loose on what you call a human. The genetics generally line up but most else can vary wildly and magic hasn’t helped much. All that aside, you just need to make sure everything is spawned and hand out the gear. It has been long enough that we will be right back in the queue. Oh and tell your goats to attack this time.’

Doyle spins and laughs, ‘Already ahead of you. I did it all piecemeal whenever you paused to gather your thoughts. I even remembered to tell my goats to attack and the leader to help the other kobolds if things are too uneven.’

‘Fair enough’, Ally shrugs and taps a screen he can’t see, ‘and we are back out there for raiding. My bet is we will see more people from the tutorial instance that team came from. They already have information on us so it will be easier to make that choice. Groups from other places will show up of course but you can expect most to know our basic layout. And here we are, another team right away. With them joining so fast they must have been waiting to enter.’

Through the entrance portal another group of six people step into the dungeon. First through a rogue who right away follows the wall to the tunnel. Next two fighter, both in light leather armor with small shields and short swords. Then the last three members come through all at once. A trio of magic users of some sort. Doyle assumes the one wearing white is some kind of healer but otherwise it is up in the air. The only other things to note about the group is that unlike the last this one is entirely men. In fact, if Doyle had to guess from how they jostled each other and got along this group had been a part of some sports team together. Even the roguish type was large and well built like you only see with people who work out regularly.

The biggest difference between this team and the last is the lack of chatter. Only the leader seemed to talk much with the others responding with a nod or shake of the head. Not much happening in the entrance room Doyle shifts the view to follow the rogue. The sneaky fellow had made it to the next room already and was peeking around the corner at the goat. This time though the goats aren’t just passively weary of him. Instead, two of the three back away while the last turns and faces the intruder. Ally seeing this response nods, ‘good. Did you specifically tell them how to attack or just rule that they should attack intruders?’

Doyle opens up another view on the wall that shows the rest of the group before he responds. ‘Yes and no. I did put in a generic rule that monsters should attack intruders in the way they felt best suited them. For these goats it is all the instructions they get, same with any normal room with only one or two goats in it. Of course the vine room goats have orders to hide and bash invaders into the assassin vines and the leader’s goats follow her orders. As for the other two rooms with three or more goats. Well, you get to watch and see!’ Ally rolls her eyes at this but the rogue has made it back to his party so refrains from saying anything else. Doyle rolls slightly to the side and makes a view to show an overlay of the dungeon. The invaders marked by red dots, goats in brown, assassin vines green, kobolds blue with females a darker shade, and of course the leader gets purple.

The rogue confers his findings to the group's leader. This results in said leader going on a bit of a tirade about misinformation and faulty scouting. Just about confirming this group came from the same place as the last. The other fighter tries to calm him down but all this leads to is more cursing.

Doyle tilts forward, ‘You know what? I really don’t like that guy. What is he even yelling at his teammates over? If he wants to complain then wait till they are done and do it to the other team.’ Ally giggles, ‘he can’t. They might all be levelless newbs but the last group is still stronger than this one. Just look at how they stand. The mages look like lumps on a log without any preparation in-case they have to move and don’t get me started on the rogue. You won’t be able to see it yet but he is suffering from overreliance on his skills. I’ve seen oak golems less wooden in their sneaking, non-sentient ones at that.’

She goes on to point out a few more things but is interrupted by the leader finally calming down and getting his group moving. Confident in their information still despite already having discrepancies he marches forward without fear of the goats attacking. All this gets him is a belly full of goat horns as the lead goat charges him as soon as he enters the room.

He falls over with more cursing as the rest of his team surrounds him to guard against the goats. Once back on his feet he finally pulls out his weapon. The others have relatively normal gear. Wands for the magic users, daggers for the rogue, and the other fighter with sword and board. He however seems to have decided to compensate for something as he wields in both hands a giant slab of metal with only a passing resemblance to a sword. Ally had been commenting on some small things but the sight of the sword stuns her silent.

Despite the ridiculousness of his weapon what follows is a slaughter. The rogue doesn’t even try to get involved as the mages get to work. The one in white started to heal the leader as expected. What wasn’t expected was that both the remaining magic users were earth-based. Raising two walls to force the goats into fighting the leader head on.

The other fighter then gets into position slightly ahead of the leader and starts to tank, letting only a single goat through. This predictably leads to said goat getting crushed into the ground by a poundersly slow overhand swing. For a moment there Doyle even doubted if the guy could lift it over his head. One goat down they repeat the process until the room is empty.

What is left of the goats soon evaporates leaving behind only a single pelt. The leader promptly picks said pelt up and wears it like a cape, crowing about his mighty conquests. Back in the core room Ally is just slack jawed at this display, ‘are they serious? Why would anyone even pick a weapon like that if they aren’t even able to wield it properly.’ Doyle mutters something about a popular video game but overall is clueless how anyone would think it was a good idea as well.

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Then the invaders heads into the vine room and both of them are stunned into silence again. The idiot leader just starts swinging his slab of metal at the vines in his way. This of course doesn’t work very well. The edge isn’t very sharp to begin with and he can’t swing it fast enough to get around it. All he manages is to tire himself out.

Now worn out he just gestures to the other fighter to lead them. For the first time this causes everyone else to speak up in opposition. The rogue in particular is vocal about it, “but captain! You heard what to expect in this room. Big ol vine monsters! We need me leading so I can spot em.”

The captain gives the rogue the stink eye, “I barely accepted when coach put Olly in as my backup. No way am I letting a skinny nothing like you even vaguely come close to leading me. Now stand in the middle until we need your fancy finger work for something like a locked door or a trap. Good luck finding one in this cave though.” And he lets out a raucous laugh while the mages soon join in if half heartedly.

Order or as much as this group ever has of it is restored and the backup fighter goes to the front of the group. Their brave captain leading from the rear as they proceed forward. By luck they meet the first goat and after quick slaughter continue on past the assassin vine without noticing it. The next assassin vine however did not do as good a job at hiding having just moved from the room's exit.

With the enemy spotted the group attempts to walk around it. The captain muttering something about how bloodless foes just didn’t do it for him. Once the group is halfway past it though things go wrong. The goat Doyle had paired with this assassin did a better job at hiding and so got a good headbutt in on the person in the middle. This hit sends the thief flying into the vine assassin’s arms.

A quick jerk and he disappears up into the assassin’s main body while his team panics. The captain is completely worthless, half stunned and half laughing at what happened. It takes the other fighter a few moments to rally the mages but by that time the rogue was tied up with a vine around his neck.

The mages under the other fighters orders rapid fire rocks at the monster while said fighter charges up to hack at it. The fight goes on for a bit more before the captain finally joins in. His massive sword not doing much as its way is blocked by normal vines. With an angry shout he orders the mages to stop attacking and focus on holding it down so he can get a kill shot in.

This doesn’t go over well with everyone else but after a few threats they do so. It takes a few swings and a lot of work on the other fighters part to defend the captain from the goat but the assassin is soon defeated. However, it is too late. The rogue is dead and they can only watch as his body dissipates along with the monster.

Doyle back in the core is uneasy, ‘I knew I would be killing humans but this doesn’t feel right.’ Ally grimaces, ‘you’re right about that. This wasn’t a good fight at all. You don’t have to feel too bad though. Invaders don’t actually dissipate like your monsters normally. Instead, that was the tutorial saving him and returning him to his guide. Also from the looks of it that so-called captain is about to get his comeuppance.’

Back at the group an argument has started between the captain and the mages. The mages aren’t happy that the captains incompetence killed their friend. All he does is laugh at their anger. Then with a smirk he stares down at them and asks, “what you gonna do about it pipsqueaks? He’s back with the guide though I don’t know about him anymore. Probably going to kick him off the team like I should have before this mess. We don’t need such a worthless waterboy who manages to get himself killed in his first big fight.”

At this point the other fighter has just finished off the goat and so walks up behind the captain. Thinking the fighter is there to back him up he puffs out his chest and his smirk becomes even nastier. It doesn’t stay there for long though as the other fighter runs his sword through the captain's back. Strength leaves his body and his ridiculous sword pulls him over.

The other fighter leans over him, his face flat. “You might wonder why I did that. Don’t worry I’m not betraying the team. Rather ever since I joined, coach had been working on getting me the captain’s seat. Just because your dad kept the sports program afloat with his donations doesn’t mean we could put up with your nonsense forever. The next game was going to be your last but with how things panned out let me send you off with a message from the coach. You’re Dismissed!” The other fighter, no, Olly the captain pulls his sword out as the last bit of life drains out of the idiot.

Olly turns to the mages and sighs, “I didn’t want to do that but we better hurry back. There is only ten minutes before that idiot respawns and we can’t leave Ed alone with him. We probably can’t finish the dungeon in that amount of time with just us so let’s go back the way we came. Anyway, I need time to gather the rest of the team and inform them of the change in leadership. That and kick his toadies out. That toxic spoiled brat better not darken our sights once we are out of here. He gets to live this time because of the tutorial but next time he won’t have that to fall back on.” The four invaders then head back the way they came, once again avoiding the last assassin vine. At the entrance portal the three magic users leave right away while Olly turns back to the dungeon. “Next time”, he clenches his fist, turns around, and leaves.