Onyx POV

I awoke feeling refreshed, my mana was full once again, a nice catnap felt exactly like what I needed, I stretched, yawning and feeling back to full health, blinking a bit I looked at the others, who were still asleep, and gently shook them awake, the ghost was still where I last saw him, looking at us with the faintest sad smile, seemingly remembering something about the life of the pony he once was.

"You all remind me of how it was... Being alive, being real, it feels oddly calming, despite knowing I should be sad, I hope your mission here goes well, and if you come back and I'm still here, I ask you to return and find a way to destroy me, I beg of you you all."

"I promise I will, I think I have a way so i will, once we are done, I will come back to check on you myself, but you must understand, my companions and I are risking our lives here, and we will focus on surviving first and then we will help you, okay?"

"I know, you are alive, please, stay that way and try to remain sane and healthy, you remind me of what we used to be like, back then..." The sadness was contagious, I couldn't keep talking to him or I may break down crying, I'm not strong emotionally, and seeing this... Adorable ghost so sad was making me misty eyed.

"D-dont say that mister, you'll make me cry... Please focus on the present, soon you'll stop feeling pain, I will make it all stop, have a little patience..."

"Yes, you are right little one, I must stay strong, thank you for your compassion, I can feel you care about this echo, well... Goodbye you three, If you never to recover you can come stay at my home again." With that we stood up and left, heading to the main street and looking around for more soldiers.

We spotted a group un ahead, they were walking up and down the street in a patrol. Thankfully we were far away and had not gotten in the street yet, so we were obscured by the buildings, the soldiers were different from the others, this ones had plate armor, and there was a larger one with a plume on its head in the middle of the group, surrounded by soldiers in full armor, that middle one was taller and stronger looking, also in full plate armor.

I decided to inspect them, they were clearly not the rabble of before.
'Inspect'

'LvL 20 Undead Griffon - Imperial Army soldier'
200 HP
Trained soldier from the Empire's army, dangerous and disciplined, will use more advanced tactics than conscripts and target vital points.

Perks:
Coordinated attack: they attack as a team, covering each other and not letting any of their group to be separated.
Attack formations: they will make coordinated charges and will use their advantage against you.
Self preservation: this enemies will not mindlessly attack if they are in danger, they will retreat and regroup of they are outmatched and outnumbered, possibly coming back with reinforcements.
Heavy multilayer armor: the extremely heavy armor this soldiers wear is extremely protective but it keeps the wings inside the armor and the user is unable to fly.
Weaknesses and resistances: resistance to slashing (armor), resistance to piercing(armor), immune to necrotic damage, resistance to cold damage, resistance to poison damage (cannot be poisoned), weakness to lightning, weakness to heat damage, weakness to radiant damage.

This was not good, this guy's weren't peasants with swords and chainmail like the last we fought, I relied the information to both of our companions, Sylf was wide eyed and her eyes betrayed her fear, we had to try to ambush them if we wanted to win, I communicated that to them too, this would be a hard fought battle.

'Inspect'

LvL 25 Undead Griffon - Imperial Army officer
300HP

Trained officer of the ancient Imperial Army of Griffonstone, the Military Academy there was amongst the most prestigious in the world during the time this soldier studied there, they were trained in every aspect of warfare, even in how to counter unicorn magic, even if this counters often proved ineffective as history proved.

Perks:
Deadly Counter: if he parries an attack he can swiftly delivery a stab or slash to a vital area and cause massive damage.
Mage slayer: has learned how to dodge combat magic at short range and attack swiftly before the caster can dodge or retreat.
Attack order: is able to give commands to the soldiers below his rank and coordinate them to fight better.
Self preservation: this enemy will not mindlessly attack if they are in danger, they will retreat and regroup of they are outmatched and outnumbered, possibly coming back with reinforcements.
Heavy multilayer armor: the extremely heavy armor this soldiers wear is extremely protective but it keeps the wings inside the armor and the user is unable to fly.

Resistances and weakness: resistance to slashing (armor), resistance to piercing(armor), immune to necrotic damage, resistance to cold damage, resistance to poison damage (cannot be poisoned), weakness to lightning, weakness to heat damage, weakness to radiant damage.

I wanted to hide inside one of the houses and cry, how was I gonna be able to do anything to this monster?! I relied this information to my companions and we all had doubts, an ambush was necessary for this to work, or we would be butchered.

We hid and watched very carefully, the route of this patrol seemed to simply walk back and forth, they were far away and thankfully didn't listen to the attack on the palisade, or maybe they simply didn't care about the conscripts.

I theorized if we were to get on top of the houses, sneakily... We could maybe get the high ground advantage, or maybe I could stay up there and have the other two on the ground to attack in melee, while I casted spells from the roof, it could work... My first spell would have to be a high level spell that would deal enough damage to cripple the enemy, to weaken them somewhat so Sylf and Kari could rush in and finish them off while they were weakened...

What worried me more was the high ranking soldier, I think he was priority one to kill if we wanted to win, and I knew I could kill an enemy doing certain things like decapitation, at least with this enemies it seemed to work.

After giving it some thought I had a few ideas, first I thought about putting up a firewall around them, but then I wouldn't be able to cast any other concentration spells, an ice storm would fix that problem but they were resistant to ice, and probably wouldn't be bothered by ice much, but this last plan I came up with would be pretty awesome if it worked.

I would have Kari show herself in the middle of the road, and have her roar so they hear her, when they come running to attack I would pull off their helmets at the same time with my telekinesis from out of view, then I would cast greater invisibility on Sylf, and have her jump down on top of one of them, while she was invisible, she could attack at the disoriented and confused enemies, cutting off their heads, while I sniped them from a distance to distract them, this will work! It was perfect, but there was further planning to do.

This helmets were bascinets, I think, they must have at least two straps to hold the helmet in place, I would have to rip them off or undo them all at the same time, so I would focus my magic on the neck of the helmet, feeling around for the straps, once I found them, I would undo them quickly, I have to be very precise otherwise they would realize and I didn't want to find out how hard would be to simply pull on the helmets, probably would run out of mana before I managed to break the metal that connects the helmet to the chestplate, the neck armor and helmet needed to come off in a single piece, so undoing the straps was my only option.

Full plate steel armor was not easy to get through, it was a nightmare to deal with, plus enemies usually had under armor, possibly up to 3 layers of armor, first plate, then chainmail and then gambeson or leather, and maybe regular clothing under that.

I needed to get their helmets off, or we would be screwed, we couldn't beat them in a fair fight, I just knew it, there were too many and they were on equal ground with us, each!

Our biggest advantage was magic, but we were outnumbered, I explained the plan to both of them, how we were first going to go our separate ways, Kari stayed behind the house, me and mom crossed the street when the patrol was walking away from us, we ran silently around the house and approached the building that was right on the path the enemy was going to go into.

I quickly cast 'Dimension Door' bringing mom and I up to the roof, thankfully it was wide enough to hide us, and sturdy enough not to collapse under our combined weight. -40MP 160/200 MP

Once on the roof I gave the signal, while mom remained laying down to not be seen.

'Kari, now, come out and roar, open your wings and get their attention.' And she did just that, the roar was not too loud but it was enough to be heard from all the way out to the patrol, who turned around quickly and looked in the direction of the noise, taking advantage of that opportunity, I started casting a very subtle pinpoint telekinesis on the inside of the armor's neck joint of this soldiers, I risked a slight peek and thankfully the shimmering was not visible from outside, and the soldier didn't react to the touch, seems like they did have several layers of armor, which would make a regular fight pretty much a nightmare.

They started to walk in formation in the direction of Kari, but I had found what I was looking for, I knew now where the helmet straps were, all 3 of them per soldier, I slowly unbuckled their helmet straps, and since this was inside the chestplate it was not visible, not that their bascinet helmets had good visibility in the first place, from what I remember, this helmets didn't allow you to move your head much if at all, but they had the best protection, or probably second to armet helmets.

After a few seconds of fiddling and getting used to the straps, I figured out exactly how to undo them quickly, and then intensified my magic and grabbed the full helmets instead, now they were right next to us, I grabbed all the helmets and now they realized something was wrong, they stopped dumbfounded and in that instant I pulled up with a sudden force, taking off their helmets and sending them into the air before they could think of grabbing them. I smirked, placing them all in my inventory. -20MP 140/200 That took a good bit of effort.

Before they could know what was going on I casted 'Greater invisibility' -40MP 100/200 on Sylf, and she immediately jumped down with the sword in her maw, she landed on the back of the griffon commanding officer, who before he could recover, had his exposed upper neck stabbed, the longsword going through the spinal cord, severing the nerves.

Then the sword ripped off the remaining flesh connecting the head to the body, the head fell with a thud, the other soldiers shocked tried to form, but another 2 head were cut off before they could figure out what was happening, they didn't speak, could they communicate telepathically between them? Or were they all mute? I honestly had no idea.

Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army officer has been slain! Your party earns 2000 EXP
Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! Your party earns 800 EXP
Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! Your party earns 800 EXP
Onyx has leveled up to 22! 2164/5517 Sylf 6024/6621 Kari has leveled up to 23! 1283/6621

Then Kari joined the fight, she swiped her claws at the heads of the soldiers, but they dodged or parried, they tried to counter attack her but I intervened from above, pushing them off balance with a wave of telekinesis and sending electric bolts aimed at their heads, shocking them and making them unable to get a good hit in.
Their heads looked... Less dead and more healthy, they were still clearly undead, but they looked more fresh, there was also now liquid blood, which was not quite fully liquid, it was still thick, but it flowed out of the neck when the head was cut, which was pretty gross to see.

Sylf' POV

The soldiers now seemed to have realized what's going on, there were 4 of them, but now we had the advantage, now with them formed into a circle with swords pointed out and their backs all together, they were harder to decapitate or ambush, but still my invisible form stabbed one on the head, making the blade go out from the back of it's skull.

Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has taken 80 damage! 120/200

While the sword was stabbed inside the skull, I didn't expect the soldier with a sword stuck in its skull to stab at me on my front left leg, that was trying to hold the sword arm to the side, the stab was hard, this monster had a lot more force than the conscripts that we had fought before.

Sylf takes 25 damage! 176/201 Sylf is bleeding! -5hp per minute until bleeding stops.

"Ghaaaaaa! Fuuuck!" I screamed as the sword pierced the muscle and poked at my leg bone, the pain was enough to make me recoil back, it seems to kill this creatures we must destroy the spine, I pulled the sword back and brought it down on the middle of the neck this time, cutting off the spinal cord.

Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! You earn 800 EXP
Onyx 2964/5517 Sylf has leveled up to level 24! 203/7945 Kari 2083/6621

My relief at being fully healed was short lived, as the other soldiers seemed to realize where I was when I stabbed this undead, and they stabbed in my general direction while I had my sword stuck into the neck of the now dead enemy, one of their swords sunk deep into my side, thankfully being stopped by the ribcage, before the others could stab me too, I jumped back, causing deep lacerations on my side as the sword was forcefully pulled out, cutting into the muscle and skin.

Sylf took 28 damage! 178/206hp Sylf is bleeding! -5hp per minute until bleeding is stopped.
Sylf took 5 damage from blood loss! 173/206hp

I bit my tongue to keep myself from crying out again, they would find me easier if they heard me again, maybe next time I wont be so lucky, I felt hot tears of pain running down my face, this was terrifying and too painful, but now there were only 3 of them now, we had a pretty decent chance, I needed to endure!

I moved around them, steeling myself mentally, blood dripping from my wound, I now knew I had to aim right at the middle of the neck or risk getting turned into a wolf shaped pincushion.

'I'm going to stop the invisibility, and then concentrate in holding them to the ground, get ready to rush in and kill them quick, I won't be able to hold them for more than a few seconds!' we both heard Onyx's mental command, and both send an acknowledgment.

As soon as we did, I could feel my invisibility fade, the griffins glared at me while trying to keep watch over Kari too, they were surrounded, and had nowhere to escape to. Not soon after, they were suddenly pushed headfirst into the floor, unable to even put their talon down as the talons were spread to the sides and also pressed to the ground uselessly, like as if they were bowing and surrendering, but I could see they were shaking slightly, trying to free themselves with all their strength, I knew Onyx wouldn't be able to hold them for long.

'Now! kill them quick!' Onyx's strained mental voice yelled, we both moved in and complied in seconds.

I brought my sword down and pointed at the base of the skull, severing the brain from the spine with a clean stab.

Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! Your party earns 800 EXP Onyx 3764/5517 Sylf 1003/7945 Kari 2883/6621

Kari however didn't have a sword so she grabbed the head in her maw, stepped over the body, pressing down and pulled the head up harshly while twisting it with her jaws, she grunted with effort and after a nasty tearing sound the head came off in a shower of blood still connected to a bit of the spine, she then spit the head away in disgust.

Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! Your party earns 800 EXP Onyx 4564/5517 Sylf 1803/7945 Kari 3683/6621

And I moved quickly to slay the last enemy using the same method as the first, the undead was seemingly trying to move it's sword arm, but a quick and precise stab cut the spine in half, stopping the struggle, immediately Onyx stopped his telekinetic force, I could hear him panting from down here.

Deadly Critical attack! Undead Griffon Imperial Army soldier has been slain! You earn 800 EXP

Congratulations, Imperial Army patrol destroyed! For your perfectly executed coordinated ambush you earn an extra point in all stats! Onyx 5364/5517 Sylf 2603/7945 Kari 4483/6621

Onyx's has achieved a feat of magic by using his telekinesis in a very clever way to help his party slay powerful opponents, he has reached the rank of Expert in magic, granting him increased power and more precise control on multiple objects at the same time, gaining the perk: Magic Support.
Magic Support: you have learned the benefits of using magic to support your allies during combat from an elevated and concealed position, making their odds of victory increase exponentially, having high ground against unaware enemies may make them unable to focus enough to take advantage of their perks and abilities, your magic has increased accuracy in this situation.

I sat down, letting out a sigh of relief, the fight was over for now, I felt my blood still flowing out of me, making me wince, I needed to get this patched up quick.

'Onyx... my baby please come here, I need your help, my side is bleeding.' I heard the little dragon walking on the roof and approaching the edge, then he climbed down, using his retractable claws, he was pretty good at climbing it seems, which I was happy for, this meant he could position himself at an advantageous position any time.

POV shift, Onyx

The ambush was a success! But before we could celebrate I stored all the helmets in my inventory quickly, then headed down the side of the wall, climbing down like a cat, slowing the descent with my claws and once I got to her I examined her wound, it was indeed quite deep, all the way to the bone, I felt a shiver run down my spine, that looked extremely painful, mom's face had tears of pain visible, she had a pained expression and looked at me with hope in her yellow eyes, I approached her and patted her head gently, caressing her and trying to calm her down.

'You'll be okay mom, ill make it all better, but its gonna hurt... sorry.' I said gently while petting the top of her head and the sides, she returned the affection with a nuzzle to my head.

'I know, but you have to do it, we don't have any other ways of mending wounds on the field, please hurry up before I bleed out...' I nodded and quickly got the items out of my inventory, the small first aid kit, it was, more or less the same type of wound Kari had gotten earlier but there was also the laceration that I had to patch up, I shaved the fur in those areas, using the small shaving tool, she cringed from the pain of having the area wound a wound touched, small whimpers of pain escaped her but she held firm, not moving while sitting and allowing me to work.

I first disinfected my paws, then cleaned the area with a piece of alcohol soaked bandage, I had to rub it against the wound to get it really cleaned, mom let out small yelps of pain, I gently petted her belly to try and calm her down, then I plugged the hole that was bleeding with a clean piece of gauze and closed the wound with another piece and medical tape, I also bandaged the long cut and secured it with more tape.

'All done mom, try to not get stabbed again on that side of you can, wouldn't want all my hard work to go to waste, if you level up, it will probably heal fully instantly and push out the gauze, like it did for Kari over there.'

'That indeed is what happened Onyx, my wound stopped hurting completely and the gauze got ejected off.' Kari mentioned while she kept watch, always attentive to our surroundings.

'That's good to hear, I do feel a bit better with your bandages stopping the bleeding, thank you, now lets see what this griffins had on them, I bet this armor would be amazing to have...' I agreed wholeheartedly, and we got to looting the bodies, their faces were contorted into hateful expressions, even after having died, it was easier to see the nuances of facial expressions on this ones than the last weaker versions we fought.

First of all, they were all males, seems like griffins armies were mostly comprised of males instead of females like the modern Equestrian armed forces, from what mom told me. Second, this ones seemed a bit older, but were in much better shape physically than the last ones, they looked sickly and skinny, this ones were much more muscular and well fed, other than the fact they were sort of... undead, they seemed to be in good shape, my gut told me there was a reason for this, third, they were much better equipped, all of this made me come to the conclusion that this army was probably made up of mostly forced conscription and a smaller number of trained and probably experienced soldiers commanding them.

We got to looting, and let's just say we hit the jackpot, this guys were loaded! We got several good items: 4000 gold pieces in total, 2 bags of valuable gemstones, books on swordplay and how to maintain and repair plate armor, which were honestly amazing and ideal for us since we also got all of their valuable, clearly high quality armor, which would be awesome to improve and enchant for practice! Their weapons were in perfect condition, well taken care of, 5 level 20 steel short swords and one level 25 steel warhammer, and a level 25 steel poleaxe. This all were beautiful finds of high quality craftsmanship, I was impressed.

The best thing we got out of this confrontation is the fact that we had an effective way now to deal with armored soldiers in full plate, even my regular spells would probably be too weak to go through the layers of armor, if they had only the metal plate sure maybe heat metal would be enough to cook them on the inside, but the under armor would keep them insulated, specially since it covered all the body, including the talons, they were armored with leather gloves and metal on top.

The only reliable way was to partially disassemble their armor from afar at the neck, then pull it out of their reach or even store the helmet on the inventory right away, thinking about that, I could store items that were not touching another being in my inventory, so if I reached out, pulled off their helmets and just stored them right away they wouldn't be able to fly and out them back on, even if they had armors that had flight capacity.

This armors were good, but they were too heavy to fly in without enchantments, while ponies had mages to enchant their armors, this griffons probably were enemies of Equestria and therefore had no unicorns to enchant their gear, so having wing holes would be useless.

In theory pegasus could pull chariots on the air, and fly them easily, but that was not because they were super strong, but because the chariots were heavily enchanted to be compatible with pegasus magic, making them sort of become an extension of the pegasus magical flight ability, all ponies used magic, passively or actively, other creatures also had it like griffins, but they shared the abilities pegasi had, mostly passive abilities, with a few exceptions, but griffins were not adept at weather manipulation, they couldn't make clouds produce lightning and while they could move clouds, and may in them, they didn't have the magic needed to change a cloud into another type of cloud.

After collecting the loot, this bodies also turned to ash, blowing away in the small breeze that permeated this nightmare of a place.

'Mom? What do you think of trying the armor on? The shape of the helmet should suit your snout just fine... But I don't know about the sword, you may not be able to use it now that I think about it... Or, the gauntlets also don't fit, they're made for talons and you have paws... Ohh but the under armor! The gambeson and mail are open and only cover the upper legs, neck and top of the head, but they let your snout free to use your sword!' I said excitedly as I really wanted mom to be safer.

'Yes, let's see... Gambeson... Here! Ohh it's a good fit, if a bit tight... But it works and feels durable and good quality, now... Chainmail, oh here.' She equipped the armor from the inventory, it was a good fit for her, she looked... Very medieval, but much better protected at least in vital areas.

'You look awesome in that! I wish I had a camera to show you, but it fits you quite well, it's tight fitting and most importantly, protective.' I walk in front of her and start patting her snout.

'You're too kind son! I probably look ridiculous in this, but I much rather would have extra armor than no armor, what about you Kari? You want to get some armor? This... May be too small for you tho, it may not for your size, we may have to get one of this sets refitted.'

'I am fine without the armor, I think it would slow me down anyways, and it looks too small for me, so I'll stay like this, hoping I'm strong enough to endure the hits and fast enough to not be hit.' The manticore replied and stretched her back.

'Should we go ahead and keep exploring or do we rest here for now? I don't feel sleepy yet and I'm full of energy, so I think continuing is the right idea.'

'I agree, we have leveled up and other than Sylf who is patched up, neither of us are wounded, do you need a break mom?' I look her over, she doesn't seem tired or anything, plus we just had a nap.

'I'm ready to keep going you two, my wound doesn't hurt much anymore and it's gonna fade away when we kill a few more enemies for sure, so let's go finish this dungeon and be free, I know you want to be with your cub and relaxed Kari, well I want to be with mine, cuddling and relaxing, enjoying the peaceful days and the nice equestrian weather, so the sooner we finish here, the better!' I definitively could get behind that, I wanted to finish this dungeon and go back to the real world and actually get to see the sights in Ponyville.

'Let's go! We gotta slay every one of the enemies around the palisade, then once the outer village is clear, we would have obtained enough power and experience to completely destroy the imperial army soldiers, maybe even the boss won't be an issue once we get strong enough.' I jumped around in excitement, this was definitively better than the first dungeon, the enemies here were undead and while gross, they didn't really scare me like the spiders did.

We headed back to the edge of the city, the palisade that was on fire before was not burning anymore but there were embers and the logs had turned to charcoal, a few still had some fire in them but it looked like the fire would not be propagating much, maybe the wood was humid and that slowed down the fire outside the initial blast.

'Everyone, sit down and allocate your new points so we are stronger, we will need every advantage we need, okay? we must do this after every battle so we can end up taking meaningful benefits from them, other than the loot of course.' The three of us sat down together and started to allocate, I only had 2 points that I added to INT of course, I needed all the mana I could get, it helped my mana get to 209, I saw Sylf increased her dexterity by one and her constitution by one, and Kari used both points into Dex, probably for being better at dodging and attacking precisely, and getting around sneakily perhaps?

'Lets go, if we follow this wall we will go around the village and hunt any zombies we see, this time we are doing it the easy way, my magic has grown stronger and I'm more confident in my ability to use our strategy without needing an ambush, as long as there are not too many at once, so... we maybe shouldn't rush in anyways.' They both smile at me and nod, we make a good team, and we WILL leave this dungeon alive!

Author's Note

Second part of the second dungeon, now... there may be more than one part left! this dungeon is not exactly short like the first, there are a lot more enemies.