Gamers of the Underworld (Web Novel)
chapter-38

Chapter 38: Cannon Fodder for Baiting Cramer

The Houndhead Men’s leader was a homegrown Houndhead Warrior in the Spiders’ Lair.

Since he climbed out from the egg, his head was larger than other Houndhead Men. As he grew older, his head grew bigger, and he became the new leader of the Houndhead Men.

He inherited the best hammer and armor from the old leader and led the tribe to live peacefully in the Spiders’ Lair. The Spiders were in charge of hunting, while the Houndhead Men ate the remnants of the Spiders’ food or the sickly old Spiders like the normal Houndhead Men.

Until one day, a group of insane Goblins came to the Spiders’ Lair.

The insane Goblins got themselves slaughtered, and their bodies became food for the Spiders. Even the Houndhead Men, who had strict control of their population, obtained sumptuous meals. The leader of the Houndhead Men produced two nests of eggs.

When they were preparing to receive new members into their tribe, problems cropped up.

It wasn’t known when these Goblins started hunting Spiders, but they hunted Spiders in the day, at night, and even while everyone was sleeping. When the Spiders dwindled, the Goblins ventured deeper into the lair. The leader of the Houndhead Men felt that the Spiders would be wiped out at this rate, and his tribe wouldn’t have a stable supply of food.

He led his elite warriors and charged out.

The Goblins had formed their legion and waited at the entrance of the Spiders’ Lair for battle.

This was a warrior’s honor, the tribe’s honor!

Cramer charged at the Goblins without hesitation. He led his warriors and crushed the Goblins. Then the Houndhead Men retrieved the Goblins’ weapons and armor as loot. Victory belonged to the Houndhead Men!

If Cramer hadn’t detected a powerful creature nearby, he would have led his warriors to flatten the Goblins’ home!

After obtaining victory, the tribe’s most knowledgeable Houndhead Elder, who was the only one proficient in the Underworld language, carried out a victory ritual for them. As they were appeasing the Gods, the Goblins came again, this time naked. They charged like mad dogs that were to be slaughtered.

Cramer treated the Goblins as offerings for the Gods. The Goblins were fearful, and they offered their lives to plead for mercy so that their tribe could continue to survive!

Oh, those pathetic Goblins.

After a few major battles, the Houndhead Elder grandly announced,

“The Goblins yielded. They feared you and called you—Cramer!”

According to the Houndhead Elder, Cramer meant the most terrifying existence.

Cramer believed it.

Since then, the entire tribe started calling his new name, Cramer! He would have his name etched in the tribe’s history. The brave leader, Cramer!

Then the Goblins came again, and one of them shouted, “Grandsons!”

Cramer didn’t understand the common Underworld language, so he looked at the Houndhead Elder at the side. He wasn’t sure what the Goblins were doing. Were they offering their lives to appease the Gods?

The Houndhead Elder pondered and said, “That’s a compliment. He is singing praises of our leader. They are fully armed, so they are looking for a grand battle.”

Cramer was starting to be fond of these Goblins, and he wouldn’t turn away from battles. He lifted his Hammer and charged.

He crushed the Goblin who praised him and hammered an adjacent Goblin, who flew to the side. The Goblin’s chest armor was severely dented, and he vomited blood as he shouted, “D*mn, my armor’s broken. I have to spend money to fix my armor!”

Cramer didn’t understand the Goblin and thought the Goblin was praising him again.

Cramer defeated Goblin after Goblin before they started to retreat. They dragged their comrades’ corpses and fled quickly. Cramer wanted to pursue them, but he felt a powerful presence and stopped.

Cramer turned his head and was about to bring his tribe back when he noticed his warriors having serious casualties. Some were shot to the ground by arrows, while others were slashed to death. Though the Houndhead Men achieved victory, they paid a heavy price.

Cramer understood that they were honorable sacrifices. Their souls would be warmly received by the ancestors, while their bodies were to be baptized by fire and made into meals.

On the second day, the Goblins returned with a vengeance.

Cramer was as valiant as before, but his warriors suffered casualties. The Goblins retreated once again after sustaining 50% casualties.

Cramer felt that something wasn’t right. Why were there endless Goblins to be killed? Who were their mothers? Why were they so reproductive?

The situation was looking bleak for the Houndhead Men. Cramer looked at the dismal number of warriors and the Houndhead Elder for an answer. The Elder muttered, “We have achieved grand victory and should shift our tribe deeper into the Spiders’ Lair.”

Cramer thought it was reasonable and wanted to lead the remaining warriors deep into the Spiders’ Lair. However, he discovered that the Spiders’ Lair entrance was covered by a magical barrier, and they were unable to go through.

As Cramer looked for ways to break through the barrier, those Goblins, who seemed to multiply endlessly, came back again!

Cramer grasped his Hammer tightly as he looked fearlessly at his prey!

…

Sherlock was excited by the relentless combat willpower of the Goblins, whom he was going to make use of to earn money, attack other Dungeons, and complete his assigned missions. He found no reason to let the Houndhead Men move deeper into the Spiders’ Lair.

Sherlock set up a magical barrier at the Spiders’ Lair entrance so that the Houndhead Men couldn’t escape into the Spiders’ Lair. They could only loiter at the entrance.

The gamers achieved certain success, and the forum named this method of baiting monster—Cannon Fodder’s Monster Baiting method.

Within three days, they had carried out four suicidal battles that caused a severe weakening of the Houndhead Men. Cramer was the only one left at the Spiders’ Lair entrance.

They even organized a battle just to retrieve their dropped weapons and equipment.

NotWearingPants calculated in detail the price the gamers paid over the three days in the forum. It included the casualties in each battle, repair fees of the equipment, damage of equipment during battle, and the replacement costs for irreparable equipment. The rough estimate was about 50,000 bronze coins. The battles wiped out all the savings of the hundred Beta Gamers.

It caused the price of coins to hyper-inflate, and even rich gamers were unwilling to pay for bronze coins.

Sherlock also discovered that gamers who had never carried bricks, such as Arthur, BurningChestHair, and Sylvanas, started to carry bricks diligently. The Dungeon’s development accelerated once again.

Sherlock was pleased to see the gamers working hard day and night.

While the gamers were carrying bricks diligently, the construction of the Carpenter Workshop commenced. Winterfell’s Only Have More Expensive Stuff Carpenter Shop had great efficiency. Within a day, the Carpenter Workshop was completed, and a cartload of Short Bow arrows was delivered to the Dungeon Core entrance.

The Carpenter Workshop was nicely constructed with complete facilities like a cooking stove, big pot, crucible, spoon, seasoning stick, spatula, and even a complete set of condiments.

The Carpenter hadn’t arrived, as it would take some time to find the Carpenter with the best culinary skill. The Stone Golem from the Only Have More Expensive Stuff Carpenter Shop said that the Carpenter would arrive in a week.

Sherlock wasn’t in a hurry, as it would only be another two days. Though it was tough on Simba, it would only be two more days before someone shared his burden.

The Beta Gamers launched their final attack on Cramer.

As the Beta Gamer representative, NotWearimgPants published on the discussion forum. It was a post called [Leader of Houndhead Men, Cramer, Attack Plan].

Within an hour, the post garnered numerous clicks and replies. Sherlock took a look at the post that showed pictures of Cramer swinging his Hammer, as well as a far shot of the leader.

Cramer looked valiant in the pictures.

Sherlock started reading the detailed contents.