Gigantification

Deep beneath the surface, in an underground space resembling a natural cavern, seven or eight flat-bottomed cargo boats lay moored beneath tarps in an Underground River as wide as the Mill River.

The river wound into the distance. Judging by the sound of the water, quite a few tributaries seemed to flow into it.

Meanwhile, numerous short figures busily hauled crates of ore from mining carts and carried them to the boats.

On a boulder beside the river, a little above the water, a blond man in blue-and-white mage robes stirred. He seemed to have received a message. Turning toward Azure Mine Cave, he murmured:

"Adventurers have come again, just as expected."

"But the detection array hasn't reacted. There shouldn't be any Professionals among them."

"It seems the Adventurers who died last time didn't draw the association's attention. That makes this easy to handle."

Still, as though worried about something, he turned to the short figure beside him and asked:

"Withered Beard, are the clansmen I told you to arrange already in the upper hall?"

"Rest assured, Lord Aiyer. I've arranged everything. I also had the hidden passage leading farther down sealed yesterday," came an aged voice, its words slightly slurred.

"Mm. Very good." The blond man named Aiyer smiled in satisfaction and nodded.

But he still seemed uneasy about the Kobold Priest. Suddenly changing tack, he asked, "By the way, Withered Beard, how many Winged Kobolds did you assign?"

"Um... three." In the candlelight held by his right claw, the elderly Kobold Priest's reddened face showed a flash of fear. He stammered out the answer.

"What? Three?!" The blond man's eyes widened in disbelief.

The next instant, he came to his senses, pointed at Withered Beard's nose, and cursed:

"Idiot! Three is nowhere near enough! Why didn't you listen and send eight?!"

The upper hall.

The three Gray Dwarves advanced almost shoulder to shoulder and brought their Warhammers crashing down at Chris, Grand, and Rain!

Clang!!!

Sparks flew!

Three nearly simultaneous crashes of metal against metal rang out.

Chris and Grand had recently practiced Shield Block with Rain, but the Gray Dwarves striking at them were at least thirty percent stronger.

Both men stumbled. Pain shot through their shield-bearing left arms, and their muscles trembled.

Only Rain held firm, catching the middle Gray Dwarf's Warhammer on his newly bought Steel Shield. Even so, the sudden bulge of muscle in his forearm and shoulder showed that it was no easy feat.

At the same time, Rain noticed something else.

Chris and Grand had been knocked back two steps, leaving him jutting out ahead of them.

Not good. Rain immediately stepped back twice.

Chris and Grand saw the danger too, but before either could call out, Rain had already fallen back into line. The three stood shoulder to shoulder again, their shields level.

Whoosh!

An arrow shot from behind them toward the Gray Dwarf about to strike Chris again, forcing him to abandon his attack and raise his hammer to block it.

Unlike Leia, who could quickly loose another arrow, Fabian was frustrated.

He had already fired both bolts from his crossbow and was hurriedly reloading. For the moment, he had no way to harry the Gray Dwarf warrior facing Grand.

Damn it! I should've brought a shortbow! Fabian thought bitterly.

As a Rogue apprentice, Fabian knew his way around both crossbows and shortbows, but he normally brought only one ranged weapon on a mission.

Since their captain, Leia, was a powerful archer, he usually carried a hand crossbow.

In truth, Fabian could hardly be blamed this time.

Who could have imagined Gray Dwarves from the Underdark appearing near Mill Town, deep in the heart of the human kingdom of Soladin?

Nor could Fabian circle behind them. Even setting aside the Gray Dwarves' savage melee attacks, his three companions and the enemy were locked together in a single line. He had no way through.

"Fight while you fall back! Get into the passage!" Leia's clear, urgent voice came from behind Rain.

Rain understood why she had changed tactics at once.

They had planned to hold the passage exit and restrict the Gray Dwarves' movements. But Chris and Grand had been driven back in the very first exchange.

The Gray Dwarf warriors were stronger than expected.

Their only chance of avoiding a swift defeat was to leave the hall and retreat into the narrow passage they had taken down from the surface.

Rain wholeheartedly agreed.

Beyond those reasons, he was even more concerned about the underground space his Sonic Location had detected below.

He didn't know whether there were more Gray Dwarf warriors down there alongside the considerable number of Kobolds.

If there were, the consequences would be dire.

"Hold steady! Follow my lead!" Rain growled.

Thanks to their earlier team practice, Chris and Grand steadied at the sound of his calm voice. Their panicked steps settled into a rhythm.

From the side, the three human shield fighters looked shaky only at the start of the clash. Now they fought steadily, giving ground inch by inch!

The Gray Dwarves were taken aback.

They had expected to rout the enemy the moment they attacked, just as they had last time.

Yet these human Adventurers, none of them Professionals, showed a stubborn resilience.

They had withstood the first assault.

Sos remembered the human team from a few days earlier. There had been six of them.

The Gray Dwarves had killed two as soon as they appeared, and the rest had scattered. The whole fight had been little more than a slaughter of civilians.

Oh, except for the one human warrior who had stayed to hold them off. He had taken a few extra hammer blows.

This human team had one fewer member, yet they were putting up a real fight.

Granted, their three shield-bearing warriors were an unusual arrangement. But their fighting spirit and teamwork were also in a different league from the team two days ago.

For a time, the battle became a stalemate.

Rain and the others had retreated more than twenty meters, nearly reaching the passage exit at the far end of the underground hall.

If they could keep this up, they stood a good chance of withdrawing safely.

Then Fabian called urgently from behind, "Damn it! I'm out of bolts!"

As if they had realized it, the three Gray Dwarves roared. Their muscles swelled, and their roughly one-and-a-half-meter frames shot upward.

Now the three Gray Dwarves stood almost as tall as Rain and the others.

And because Rain and his companions had their knees bent as they braced behind their shields, the Gray Dwarves suddenly looked even taller from Leia's position.

"Damn it! It's Gigantification!" Leia cried from behind, her voice sharp with alarm.

"You three, watch out!"

But sometimes, when the difference in strength was too great, knowing the angle and direction of an attack still wasn't enough to block it.