Mapping And A New Skill

――A few hours swaying in the carriage later.

By the time the honey-laden baked good’s aftertaste faded from my tongue, we arrived at our destination, the B-Rank Dungeon【Black Neck Mound】.

“Finally here, huh. Then let’s get started――Shadow Manifestation.”

I appointed Minotaur, orc, Gargoyle, and Goblin Lord as squad leaders, divided the countless goblins into four groups, and assigned them to those leaders as soldiers.

As Emily had reported, there were no other adventurers visible entering the dungeon besides me.

With this, I could summon as many Shadows as I wanted without causing a scene.

“Teams, split into the four directions, clear the dungeon, and find the stairs leading down to the lower levels.”

“Bruga!” “Guooh!” “Gigya!” “Guooh!”

The four leader Shadows answered in unison and delved into the depths of the dungeon.

The goblin soldiers trailing behind were each given a knapsack, paper, and a pencil—one set per squad.

The goblins with knapsacks collected the Magic Stones from monsters they killed along the way, and the goblins with paper and pencils did the mapping.

Since I can share the Shadows’ vision, standing at the entrance alone would steadily fill out the map.

What we’re doing is almost the same as the goblin sweep the other day.

“Sid, you really are sharp, huh. You’re handling the Shadows skillfully.”

“The really clever ones are the goblins. I was a bit worried, but they’re mapping just fine. Excellent.”

I summoned the vision-sharing board and checked the map the goblins had drawn.

“Goblins are creatures that carve stone and wood into weapons, have the dexterity to make fire, and live socially in packs. Above all, if we’re talking pure cunning, they’re top-tier among monsters—in short, dexterous and clever. If they understand my commands, they can handle most things humans can do; they’re useful fellows.”

“They’re smarter than those hero parties who only know how to shout and act on emotion, eh.”

“Ha ha, that’s true.”

Experience from monsters killed by the Shadows is returned to me, their master, so my level rose on its own.

“A new skill, huh. The latter part is pretty convenient.”

During yesterday’s goblin sweep, I had to bend down over and over to cast Shadow Necromance on the corpses the goblins brought, which was quite a hassle.

I cast it over two hundred times, so it was like doing two hundred squats.

When you become Undead your body is fixed at its prime, so training your muscles is pointless…

“――And while I say that, the Minotaur squad found the stairs to the second underground level. Let’s go, Ekarraat.”

I issued remote orders to the other squads and guided them toward the direction of the Minotaur squad.

Corpses felled by the leader Shadows lay strewn along the way, so I immediately deployed the Shadow Field and, without stopping, mass-cast 【Shadow Necromance】 on the corpses within the field to extract Shadows.

“This area is mainly beast-type monsters. Mostly Red Wolves and kobolds, I guess.”

Kobolds, two-legged dog-like monsters, are about as clever as goblins, so they’ll likely carry out detailed instructions faithfully.

The red-furred wolf-type monsters—Red Wolves—are speed-types and seem useful for messengers and the like.

Thus I assembled all the Shadows at the stairs leading to the second layer of the Black Neck Mound dungeon.

I consolidated the Magic Stones the goblins from each squad had collected into one large knapsack and had a summoned Goblin Warrior carry it.

I also assigned twenty Red Wolves that I had just turned into Shadows to the squads.

I instructed the goblins to ride on the Red Wolves’ backs, boosting mobility.

Since goblins have been observed coexisting with and hunting alongside wolf-type monsters, their movement shouldn’t be a problem.

“Hey, don’t fight. Red Wolves will be distributed in order as their Shadows are extracted. For now, priority goes to the Magic-Stone collectors and the mappers—get on first.”

Unfortunately, kobolds probably won’t get a turn.

The goblins we have now can handle the work without issue.

Judging from the sight of them fighting over Red Wolves, increasing Shadows of different species might risk lowering cohesion.

And so I ordered the Shadows, now powered up as goblin riders, to clear the second layer.