Chapter 32: 30- Race Against Tentacle

Oscar had yet to see how an army fights. But after seeing two sides of the equally savage monsters clawing and tearing each other apart with little to no regard for their own life, like expandable pawns, he could definitely say it would be worth watching from afar. Just like two certain monster puppeteers. 

Standing at the far end on either side of the cavern, a wooden octopus with cosplay deer horns and a spotless-white blind snake, both watched each other intently. Wary of starting a fight unnecessarily, knowing both monsters are of almost equal caliber and have the same weapon of attack in their arsenal; sound control.

Moreover, they didn't have to fight just because they crossed their path. They're not some mindless monsters or newborns driven by an unquenchable hunger. Hence, they would avoid the fight if they could. 

But, from the looks of it, they would have to. The prey, wanted by both, is running on a thin line among the minions of each. And neither of them wanted to share since only weak monsters would give their catch to others, as a sign of weakness. But again, neither of them wanted to be the first to draw their fangs, not when they have yet to catch or kill their prey. Which resulted in this weird situation, where both masters waited at the back while commanding their armies to catch one goblin on wheels… but still failed to do so. 

"Khe! Khe! Khe!"

One single monster car rolled across the bare line, right before the point where two different hordes of mindless monsters clashed. And like a zipper, they kept closing in wherever the laughing goblin passed, but they failed to match the speed at which the car sped across ahead, burning the never-ending fuel.

At the command of their amateur masters, many monsters equipped with projectile magic fired their shots at it, fire breath, sticky pricks, water splash, and whatnot. But all the attacks were useless against the car's in-build defense mechanism,which sprang forth by the now mana-drunk goblin.

A transparent orb hovered atop the dashboard, and the identical transparent barrier in the shape of an orb covered the whole car and the buggy behind, seemingly stretched thin to cover as much as it could. Whenever a mana-powered attack landed, the orb blinks before the attack throws back in the same direction. Effectively repelling each and every attack and keeping the inside monsters safe and sound, but for how long? 

With each blink, the durability chipped in points, and considering the way it blinks rapidly like a malfunctioning bulb, it won't be long when it gets overwhelmed and breaks in half within minutes. But the monster mechanic and his bloodthirsty assistants didn't even take a whole minute to modify their vehicle in order to prepare for the upcoming direct confrontation.

Hammering the pointed barrel on top of the monster skull, right in between the horns base, Jazz and the bulldog moved to punch and fix the remains of the previously destroyed bone sniper, following the instructions of the expert in the background. Meanwhile, Roly and the little critters binded produced two pairs of mana-cable rope by binding freshly ripped out muscles within a record time and passed it to the smiley tortoise, who then using his long neck and sticky mud, glued it onto the giant obsidian orb jutting out from the side. 

"Ready?"

Asked the driver as he saw the durability of the barrier drop to [ 2.1/10 ] and felt four additional pathways he could direct the Mana through the orb. Incidentally, the obsidian orb was shrinking as the binding increased, while his body felt heavy and his mind dull; the early signs of coming hibernation if Jazz had told the truth. That's why Oscar would like to leave this strata as early as possible and reach the supposed well-defended tribe while he's still conscious and aware of his surroundings. 

Although Oscar still didn't trust Jazz enough to leave himself undefended, he trusted his own judgment and their proclaimed prophecy of an otherworldly Hero, because if not, then he couldn't explain his sudden travel to another world without a reason and Oscar always believes, everything has a meaning doesn't matter how insignificant that is. 

Shaking the stray thoughts with his drowsiness, The Mana-drunk goblin set his eyes ahead and smiled amusingly. Both sides of the monster army stand in an eye formation, without killing each other for once focusing their attention solely on the upcoming target, the monster skull with an ugly black pimple on the side. At the back, the monsters chased the goblin and led them right into the well-prepared trap to finally catch the slippery mouse as instructed by both the amateur musicians. 

"How cute" 

Oscar, the trap master, had already seen the ploy right at the start. But being the senior, he let the Juniors try their tactic on him before teaching them a lesson. 

"Done… prince" 

The driver didn't wait for him to finish the mind-sentence before flooding the mana cables to the brim. Letting all four of the spell orbs activate consequently. 

The brown orb [Clay Might], dangling at the end of the buggy, unleashed a bright light like a torch onto the path behind, covering it with the spell. And as Oscar took an abrupt U-turn, avoiding the hungry monsters ahead and drifting along the borders of the eye formation, Jazz sprayed a bout of fireballs up above, blasting the already losen edged stalactites with the newly spawned monsters on top of the spell-ridden path.

*Boom!*

One 5 meter pointed cone dropped, and like water the mana-infused dirt path splashed around and covered the dropped item instantly like clay, taking a hold of it, before solidifying the next instant. This scene repeated in a sequence, and within a blink, a somewhat tilted J-shaped wall sprang forth between the closing monsters and the goblin. Even though the wall looked solid, Oscar knew it would crumble with a good smash of any 20+Lv monster's strength. But it wasn't even built to uphold them, instead… 

"Hold tight everyone!" 

With a pair of droopy eyes, Oscar couldn't stop himself from laughing. And as he took another U-turn the tyres rolled, spraying a cloud of dust in their wake before finding back their grip on the rumbling ground. Accelerating the black pimple-ridden skull onwards at a breakneck speed, throwing all the passengers aback.

Every monster started to close on the Goblins, leaving no gaps between them. And layers upon layers of heavy bodies lay between the goblin and the supposed exit. It was a checkmate, and only death awaits them all. 

But to prove both the masterminds wrong, Oscar propelled the car forward by shoving the engine with the amount of Mana that he feared would blast inside the bonnet because of Mana overflow. But luckily his skill [PilotLv3] lets him know when to stop and how to effectively push the installed monster core to the peak of its performance. And as such, the monster car whizzed onto the J-shaped ramp from the lower end before the monsters could catch onto them. 

The freshly erected combined wall of stalactites cracked by the sheer force it rammed, and barreled across the turn like a lightning bolt. Shrieks and screams of each passenger were quickly overwhelmed by the howling winds as the car, pulling the buggy, speeds onto slightly tilted vertical walls, sustaining the grip through the sheer friction and the momentum generated before. And it accelerated with each pavement crossed, while the monsters devoured and smashed the walls wherever it passed through. Quickly trying to lock the still-running car in between their fists. 

But defying their belief, and the gravity alike, the self-made car took its first flight, zooming over the tides of monsters. The car and the passengers looked down onto the passing mindless monsters for a brief second, as if the time had been slowed down to a crawl before the tilted car jumped over them all like a leopard. The weighted Orb to the side pulls down the overly tilted car in a flat horizontal position right before it lands on all eight. And into the clearing, devoid of any monsters. 

*Thud!*

Although, the puffer tyres absorbed the impact and prevented the buggy from breaking and the monster skull from crushing, the force which the bone made-vehicle slammed down was great enough to throw each and every monster up in the air for a good second, and the driver to slam his head onto the roof like they all have entered a zero gravity space for a brief moment simultaneously. 

"Thuck!" 

Oscar, out of habit, cursed aloud only to get his tongue cut off from his own sharp teeth and the blood to flow down his chin, the moment he opened his mouth… 

"Hmmmmm!"

Now, he seriously wanted to curse… yet again. But considering the pain awakened his heavily drowsy mind, the still-evolving goblin could only take it as a blessing and grit his already bitten tongue to fight off the sleepiness and proceeds with the plan; to pick on the easy target, without any bodyguard to protect itself from an evil goblin.

"The! The! The!"

Giving his creepy bloody smile, Oscar took out his most precious spell orb [Silent Steps], the orb that had pushed his [Sneak] skill to the peak of lv10 in just two days. He had been refraining from using it since then, knowing it would crack the moment he activated it again. But now wasn't the time to conserve resources, as for all he knew it may be the last time he would be needing these. Moreover, this orb was the right weapon to use against the target that relied solely on sound to perceive their surroundings. 

Socketing the orb by replacing the already cracked transparent orb, Oscar raced the car onwards to his target before it could realize its trap had failed, without minding the passengers had yet to fully awaken from their own stupor, making them roll and slam against the buggy's side walls. 

The blind snake, jerking its rattling tail, occasionally listened to its surroundings, while peacefully waiting for its already brainwashed minions to catch its nemesis, preferably dead, before that eight-eye Octopus's could. Hissing, it tasted something burning. Hissing again, it tasted a foul stench in the air. Curious, it shakes its tail rather strongly to listen to the source of disturbance only to shriek aloud as it did so. 

A rather distantly nightmarish pain erupted from the tip of its tail like it was on fire, and a hot burning sensation covered all of its body, making its skin itch in agony as if it were melting. Thrashing about, the hissing snake convulsed and forced its head to the direction it heard an unusual sound coming from, which wasn't difficult as the sound was loud enough to be heard even by the mud-splashing octopus at the far end.

"Heeee!-Hooo! Heee!-Hooo!"

A fire truck circling around the blazing snake sprays the liquid from its front-mounted gun. But instead of stopping the fire from spreading and relieving the victim, it fuels the snake's agony by ten folds, since the fired liquid was no water but the poison; Mana enhanced poison. And rather than cutting off the fire from its source, it spreads around some more, courtesy of Harry's uncontrollably firing fireballs like a Gatling gun from the repaired side rifle. 

Meanwhile, the leader of this imposter of a firefighter team was busy annoying the snake further by blaring the siren throughout the whole endeavor, as if he was asking for a beating by himself. And to obligate its duty, the snake howled before snapping its widened jaws in the direction it heard at first. 

*Boom!*

But it only catches dirt. 

[Dummy Voice], the monster it's derived from uses it to distract the opponent by throwing sounds around them all, while remaining invisible till it landed the first and the last killing blow. Hence, its main function is to mislead the enemy rather than mimic the voices of weird noises like a certain goblin has been using… till now. But being the basic mutation, Oscar could only generate the sound within 5m, the same range as his sonic attack, which was still more than enough. 

Moving near the tail, Oscar again blared his annoying siren at the top of his lungs, aiming through the side window. Out of reflex, the snake smashed its bonfire of a tail rather than attacking the pesky goblin with its mind-controlling tune with it. 

"Jazz!" 

Calling his loyal and the only trained soldier, Oscar turns the steering closer to the upcoming tail. 

"On it… My Prince!"

As if he's on cue, Jazz slingshots the already charged brown spell orb right at the spot where the tail smashed a second later. The spell orb shattered upon impact, smearing the ground with the same defensive spell for the last time. And like for the past 2 weeks, its user refused to use the spell as it was intended.

Mindlessly thwacking at the source of the sound, The snake got bewildered when it failed to move its tail. Even when it tried to shake out of instinct, it refused to even budge let alone rattle and let it listen to the ongoing onslaught of those goblins near it. Panicked, for being blinded at this crucial moment, the snake ignored all the throbbing pain caused by the poison and bellowed out loud to call all its minions back to defend itself rather than smashing that coming wooden Octopus…?

Not even a second the snake turned around, and a pair of sleek tentacles burst out of the bubbling muddy ground and coiled around the snake. Clutching, they locked it into its place before more and more wooden tentacles sprouted around it, and they all entrapped the convulsing snake firmly. 

Even though the snake doesn't have any eyes, it could see the open maws of death dropping on its pinned-down head. The krogeten had been watching all the show from afar and when it felt the opportunity was right, it jumped straight into it, hoping to chew down a worthy opponent with those slippery goblins both at once. 

But the true mastermind, and the one who had orchestrated the snake's downfall, Oscar was already on its merry way to reach the end of the cavern. All the while praising his monster employees and throwing promises for a raise in salary left and right. 

*WHHHMMMM!*

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The krog yelled in its own mind-buzzing voice, but the target was already out of reach and it wouldn't be long when the rolling car would also be out of its sight. Its eight eyes frowned in rage just by thinking that the same goblin who had humiliated and snatched that blinking orb of its own would go forever unpunished. And like an eruption of a volcano, the Krogeten compressed its free tentacles in a spiraling spring before bursting them forward like spears; aiming to skewer that red skull or at least kill as many of its friends, hanging behind. 

Alarms flared, Oscar's senses were ringing like never before. The skill [PilotLv3] was giving him live feed of the upcoming flying wooden missiles behind. He knew if he didn't dodge it in time, those menacing spears would straight up open his skull from above. And all he needed to do was just slow down a little bit and then steer away from it, which he did with a smile. 

'Huh! Easy' 

He smirks seeing the Octopus's thin tentacles smash against the ground at the side, harmlessly. But his smirk died down the instant he saw those thick wooden ropes picking themselves up, and swiping in his direction at a breakneck speed. 

"Whaaa!"

Taken by surprise, Oscar desperately steered away in the opposite direction, but he still failed to outrun it within time. Swift like a knife, the edged strands of tentacles cut the buggy's rear wheels before another tentacle smashed the upper walls with many of the screaming passengers, and threw them off the ground.

The monkey brothers were the first to roll face-first onto the rapidly passing floor. Then a pair of unknown goblins rolled across the pebbles, scoring their grave somewhere at the corner. And right when the earthly tortoise returns into the earth, 6 ft deep, its neck stretches like rubber and catches the broken piece of the wooden floor through its now non-smiling teeth, dragging its heavy shell along the dirt path while carrying a pair of fluff balls along. 

"Ghaaa!"

A flail-looking goblin cried out, and tried to catch the twin-tailed squirrel from the tortoise's back, but got stopped by the Hob-Goblin. The tortoise first lets the little fluffy squirrel walk on top of its own stretched-up neck, and then hop through its head before landing back onto the broken remains of the buggy and into the embrace of the flail-looking goblin. Without further ado, the tortoise rescued the next ball of fluff, the little fire-breather. And even after that, it waited for the next ball of danger -the pinball- to hop into the safety before trying to pull its heavy shell forward. But right when it did so, an unexpected rumble from the ground shakes its mouth grip off from the already chewed-up wooden plank. The gravity grips, and slammed its weak neck onto the ground, killing it by turning its neck into a jumbled mess like a wire. But even in death, the tortoise never forgets to give its creepy smile.

"This…"

Jazz and the remaining monsters watched as the tortoise sacrificed itself while trying to save the weaker ones, going against the norm of selfish monsters. 

Although, its death wasn't of some significance to some goblins who are thankful for not being the one to die, and not being foolish enough to save others before saving themselves. It was definitely a game changer for the rest of the surviving monster team, namely the squirrel and its crying master, the pair of balls, the tearing bulldog, and Harry; Roly was already knocked unconscious in a corner. They all had got an unexpected gain in their INT, by experiencing something this emotional for the first time in their life.

Given, it wasn't much compared to Oscar's already high human intellect, but it did alleviate their overall psyche and let them observe the world around them with a brand new pair of eyes. And would definitely help them in the greater run, only if they survived this ordeal that is.

                                                             

Oscar didn't even mind whoever died or left behind in that accident, even though he did feel bad for the smiley as it was the only pet that gave him a smile rather than fangs in return. His mind had already started shutting down, and his body felt heavy, while his skill [PilotLv3] blinked in and out of existence as his senses disconnected and connected back to the vehicle without any early signs.

Meanwhile, the Orb had shrunk more than enough to not hinder the tyres to tilt and the horns to creak. And at some point, the shrinking orb got covered in thin strands of living veins sprouting out of his hands before pulsating with it, as if it had become a part of its body.

Right now, it was crystal clear to him, that he was going to become unconscious when the binding reaches 100, and from the way, it was rapidly climbing upward, it won't be long. 

"Jazz… how further?"

They have crossed more than five caverns and taken only two turns around to avoid the monster tides, which, for some reason, were too thin and far shorter compared to the early ones like a train to a bus. And to further imply the change, the Mana veins had long stopped breathing out monsters while a strange rainfall of foul stench water had started pouring down at every corner of the cavern through the same veins, which he got to know was the same dungeon's blood by Jazz. 

As for why it suddenly started raining, the barely educated Hob-Goblin told him that it was the sign that the dungeon is resetting itself after the overflow. And when Oscar asks what this reset was, he gets the as-expected answer- he doesn't know.

"Two turns further… I think" 

'Sigh… at least, he didn't say he doesn't know' taking it as a good sign, the snoozing Oscar pulls the last bits of his strength and drags the now unstable, and overexerted monster core-powered car along the now almost empty road. Splashing the sparkling blue water puddles side by side as it ran over them.

The dungeon now looks clean, like it had flushed out its junk. No more monster remains laying around, no more imbalance of levels in monsters, and no more infightings, it now looks peaceful the further they trudged inside. 

                                                            

"Waazir… how long do we have to stand like this?" 

Wearing an extremely bored expression, A giant red hulk named Bucky called out to his companion. Who, unlike him, was standing with an umbrella, since he hated when the rain without clouds blew off his expensive drug sticks. 

"Ahhh… not until those idiots confirmed they have caught all those fanatics, I guess"

Came the reply with the same boring face, but unlike the red hulk, the man appreciated this serenity for once after playing hide and seek with those illegal troublemakers. 

"But, Waazir… why are we even guarding this place? Instead of smashing the monsters at the entrance like others?" 

It was a known fact that the dungeons had only one way inside with no way out. Since technically every dungeon is a trap in essence, and no one in their right mind would want to leave the backdoor open for their prey to leave as they please unless the owner gives permission. This is true more so for great dungeons, that are built in mind to trap the monsters and humans alike, as proven in the goblin tribes case.

Hence, even a smart half-orc knows that the monsters wouldn't be coming from inside the 1st Echelon's gate, definitely not the new spawns as they lack the key to travel up; the sufficient amount of link to the dungeon, in the other words the blood. And the old monsters wouldn't be using this public gate if they have the key, but again they rarely travel up since the 1st Echelon has more resources for their growth than this barren Strata.

Moreover, it wouldn't be called an overflow if it pushes the monsters down the dungeon instead of out the dungeon. So, it was more or less pointless to guard the gate that no one would be using.

"Guess we're unlucky?" 

Shrugging, the man continued to stare ahead at the empty dribbling path with his dark circles-ridden eyes, refusing to repeat the same thing for the tenth time to this braindead red hulk. 

"So, why not change the place?" Like he just got stuck with a brilliant idea, Bucky stands aback. Ready to stomp straight to the entrance. 

"Wait!... Ahem! I mean, did you forget it's our house's responsibility to catch every bad criminal running in this dungeon?"

"But, didn't we already catch everyone before?"

"Yes, we did, but what if someone slips and creates a disaster later? Will you take the responsibility for it, Bucky?"

Listening to the word "responsibility" did indeed curb the overly excited Bucky, just like any preteen kid. As for Waazir, it was he who chose to stay out of the mess. Since, contrary to his partner, he hates bathing in blood and gore, or more like he hated the idea of fighting even. 

"Moreover, if you listen to me and wait enough, there might be one or two stray monsters that stumble across here, then maybe you could stretch your muscles… so just wait and-huh?!"

Like his words were a prophecy, a monster indeed stumbled across this path. But as Waazir and Bucky saw, it felt more like this strange monster had come with a goal rather than accidentally coming across the gate.

A giant red draconic skull roared across the dungeon floor with a tiny throbbing black pimple to the side, while carrying a strange collection of monsters at its back. Its four wheels-like legs rapidly propelled itself forward like a boar preparing to ram anything that came in between its path. Its sharp mechanical jaws seemingly looked like it was smiling forcefully. And its transparent eyes give the reflection of a goblin whose smile matches well with the giant skull. 

"Bucky… am I finally going insane?'

"Waazir, you're great!" 

Ignoring his slack-jawed partner, Bucky smiles, eager to finally smash some monsters at last. Doesn't matter which vehicle the said monster drives, to him every monster gives the same excitement when he smashed them apart. His half-orc blood craves for it, and he always obliged. Today wouldn't be any different. 

                                                             

'Now… what's this… a human adventurer and a red monster?' 

Driving the vehicle with half its capacity, Oscar squinted ahead. And even after a shake of his drooping head, he finds the image intact.

"Strange…" 

He frowned since he never finds a human and a monster teaming themselves. And this scene would have surely made him pause and reconsider his approach on any other day, but not today. 

"Anyways… nobody can stop me from getting my sleep!" 

Knocking the top Gear, Oscar laughed with a lopsided smile, completely drunk by the Mana as it overflowed his veins and brains alike. Making him throw the caution out of the window and brazenly pushed ahead; planning to smash that strange duo, the last hurdle that stands between him and his sweet sleep inside the safety. 

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