If he could believe the dragon's report, Count Rolalt's champion was in a sticky situation.
Kade might have been strong, leading the best of his men, but he only had six of them to work with. Their job was to harass the enemy, not to face off against the entire goblin horde at once.
For that, Konrad kept the bulk of his army close.
This gave him a strong safety net against similar attacks, but also slowed them down too much.
"The first row, drop your shields and unto the breach. Single file," he yelled, rushing ahead.
A small party without the armour slowing them down could still squeeze through.
"The rest of you, go the long way around and hurry," Konrad kept barking on his way.
He had to cut down a goblin in the chaos that ensued.
Some of them revealed themselves near that hidden entrance, but they posed no real threat.
Not for them, at least.
"Recall the scouting parties and have them try to break Kade out," Welf shouted, joining him in the passage. "And keep your eyes open, don't run headlong into another ambush like them."
The intent and the determination were there, but time worked against them.
"This is too tight," Konrad groaned, trying to squeeze past a narrow corner.
The cavern was goblin-sized, and even his light armour was too bulky to fit.
'And you're going the wrong way,' Maple complained, too, her voice growing impatient. 'I'm to your right, not left. Leave your men to deal with their own problems.'
As if that was an option.
Though she highlighted something important—he was a commander, not a foot soldier.
'Your job is to give them orders,' she noted. 'Tell them to pull back, and the rest to help them out. This could be the perfect distraction for our fake fight, too—'
It was easy for her to say, and sure, he could've given orders to the men nearby, but to the rest?
He would have needed some runners to carry his word, and the time it took them to reach his squads. Telepathy sure seemed useful right now, but he still couldn't master it.
If anything, he was only trying to block it so far.
Besides, the king's tournament treated it as any other magic, and he couldn't use it there.
The question was—how important was this damned game, and to train for it?
Where was that fine line between needless risk and too early surrender?
'Will they hold out until we get there?' Konrad asked, which in a sense was already cheating.
'Not if you don't hurry up,' Maple claimed, her voice becoming serious in his head.
Not the answer he had hoped for.
'But I could help,' she offered. 'Want me to open you a path? Or burn the beasts around them?'
"No," he protested out loud, straining as much as he could, until a small piece of rock he got stuck on finally broke. "Only intervene if it's an actual question of life or death."
'You're boring,' the dragoness accused, but this time, she withdrew from his mind on her own.
The passage wasn't that long.
Once he squeezed past the tightest corners, he could already see the fighting on the other side.
Kade was bleeding—and raging—his heavy blade dancing like a whirlwind.
He was like a tower, standing guard over his men, more or less beaten down by the swarm already. But he didn't falter, nor did he allow the goblins to go anywhere near them.
'You were trying to rescue him,' Maple had to remind him.
Otherwise, he would've kept watching with his jaw dropped.
'Not that he needs it,' she chuckled. 'All that fuss for nothing.'
Well, that was an exaggeration.
By the time they arrived, the desperate melee must have been ongoing for minutes.
Count Rolalt's champion was on his last legs, no matter how imposing and strong he looked.
Konrad almost cast a fireball to shield the survivors and make some space.
But after holding back for so long, it would have been a shame to ruin his training with magic.
He lunged ahead, taking out one monster after the next, clearing the area around the wounded. Welf followed him like a shadow, and the rest of his men spread out soon, too.
"Sorry, bossman," Kade gritted out, finally collapsing. "I bit more than I could chew."
"That you did," he replied without slowing down, as Lily found her way to the wounded at last.
They arrived at the last moment, but their hurry and the near-fatal sacrifice weren't in vain.
"We're here, too," Bor's scouts reported, and the rest of his main group blocked all the exits as they arrived. After a quick count, they seemed to have trapped more than a hundred goblins.
It was about half of what remained, and within ten minutes, they were all dead.
"Three broken ribs. And some nasty internal bleeding," the demoness reported when things quieted down. "And this is Kade Enpe alone. I'd say we send him back to the surface."
Those beaten men the champion protected weren't in as bad shape as he was.
Konrad had no idea how he could even stay standing that long.
'Some people have crazy willpower,' Maple offered. 'While I'm about to lose all my will to live.'
He let out a tired sigh.
Still no fatalities, but things weren't going as planned.
Their scouts all gathered into the same spot.
His men seemed tired, and all their careful advance was for nothing.
The surviving goblins might have already been behind them again. The only blocking force that still held its position was far back at the mine's entrance.
"We'd better resurface and regroup, too," Konrad decided, feeling defeated.
'Oh, come on,' the dragoness whined inside his head—but even the ground was shaking into it.
Which wasn't part of his plans, but it actually helped.
"Something big might still be lurking down here, bossman," a scout muttered. He held his torch high, without the slightest idea how close he was to the truth. "Should we investigate?"
It was a chance if anything.
"Let Bor and Welf do it," Konrad decided. "And whatever it is, do not engage. Retreat and report first, and then we'll figure it out. Let's not repeat the same blunder."
"Aye, my lord," the tribesmen played along, disappearing in the dark.
If they had to take a break anyway, it might have been time for the main event.
'Thank the spirits,' Maple cheered, causing him a headache. 'I'm two chambers over to the right.'
'I know,' Konrad thought, no less annoyed. 'I'm coming for you, so start to behave.'
'No sexy time without involving meow,' Lily warned. She'd hijack their telepathy with ease even as she headed for the surface. 'Or Konny baby won't have to pretend to kill you.'
No response came, only a deeper silence than ever before.
If he had to guess, the dragon got the message.
'Good,' the demoness smirked, winking back at Konrad. 'Have fun skinning her alive.'
Ah. Right.
They still had to figure something out to present some dead dragon parts.
The chill that ran down his spine wasn't his fear this time.
Maple must have finally understood the situation she was in.