The first thing Karse saw when he opened his eyes was a human. A large male human with beefy arms and a double-sided axe larger than his head. And that human was running straight at him. Two thoughts appeared in Karse’s mind. The first one was rather irrational. (Kill! Kill all humans!) The second thought was much more logical. RUN! RUN AWAY!
After a split second of thinking, Karse chose one of the two. He chose to kill. Kill all humans!
Without a second thought, Karse let out a fearsome scream and charged at the large human. He noticed as an afterthought a short sword in his right hand. Another thing he noticed was the smile on the human’s face as if he was laughing at him.
[Clang]
The sound of metal hitting metal resounded in the air. Karse had swung his sword at the human and hit him in the leg. At least he thought he did. With another look, he saw the gleaming black armor that the human wore on his leg. He hadn’t even left a scratch. Then he looked up at the large bald head, still smiling down at him.
The next thing he knew he was flying through the air. Karse was dumbfounded. How did this happen? After slamming into the wall, Karse fell to the ground, unmoving. Every part of his body was in pain. As his consciousness was fading, he heard the human run past him along with a ding.
Shawn, the human in question, continued running through the floor. Huh. I’m surprised the goblin didn’t die. It was a waste of time and energy for Shawn to kill each of the mobs on the floor as they gave an abysmal amount of loot. The teleporter was on the 5th floor, so he had to rush through the first 4 floors.
If Karse knew what Shawn was thinking maybe he would have just died there and then, but he didn’t as he laid on the ground, covered in dust, barely breathing.
But like all things, the dungeon provides. And so, after a few hours, Karse soon twitched awake, groaning. His whole body was still in pain, but at least he wasn’t in a dire condition.
Slowly, every movement causing a shooting pain through his body, Karse sat up and examined himself. His dirty cloth rag of a shirt had a large boot stamped on it right in the center. And of course, that was the part that hurt the most still. Karse had also lost his weapon sometime when he had been kicked and he didn’t feel like looking for it now.
A blinking light in the corner of his vision caught his attention and he moved his head to look at it, but it moved with him.
He looked again, but this time only with his eyes and the blinking light stopped. Instead a long message popped up in his view.
You have used the Ability {U}Cockroach. CD remaining 29:21:48
Normal Achievement unlocked: Enduring!
Survive combat against an enemy 5+ levels higher than you!
Reward: +1 to all Stats!
Good Achievement unlocked: Survivor!
Survive combat against an enemy 10+ levels higher than you!
Reward: +3 to all Stats!
Great Achievement unlocked: Unbreakable!
Survive combat against an enemy 25+ levels higher than you!
Reward: +7 to all Stats!
Heroic Achievement unlocked: Undying!
Survive combat against an enemy 50+ levels higher than you!
Reward: Random Rare-Epic Ability.
You have received {R}Stealth(Passive).
Karse blinked and the messages went away. What was Stats and Abilities?
And with that thought, another message popped up in his view.
Name: Karse
Race: Goblin
Level: 2
EXP: 0/200
HP: 43/160
MP: 74/74
STR: 13
DEX: 13
INT: 13
Abilities:
{R}Stealth(Passive) - Allows one to blend in with the shadows. Any damage dealt upon leaving stealth is increased by 2xDEX(26). Increased chance to deal a critical strike.
{U}Cockroach - Allows one to survive after taking a fatal hit. CD:29:21:20
Blinking, Karse got rid of his Stats and Abilities. At this point, he was quite confused. What was going on!?
And so, with this, Karse journey to figure out what the hell happened began.
-GAHH!-
-Quit your yelling, it’s only a goblin. It won’t kill you- A voice replied. -I hope it does-
-What did you say?-
-N-Nothing. Hahaha. Just focus on the goblin-
Karse heard 2 voices. Of course, as a goblin, he couldn’t understand what they were saying.
He crawled up over a mound of rocks and peeped over the hill. There were 2 male humans standing in front of a goblin. One of the males was older looking, with black hair all over his mouth and head. He was wearing nice shiny armor that reflected the light from the small torch he was holding up. Remembering that the big bald human also had armor on, Karse shrunk a little further back behind the large pile of rocks. A voice in his head nagged at him. (Kill! Kill all humans). Karse shook his head, pushing the dangerous thought to the back of his mind. Following that voice’s command had almost gotten him killed last time
The other male human, a young one by his looks, was also wearing armor, but it wasn’t as shiny. He was also wielding a sword in his hands, and it looked like he was shaking considerably.
-Go on- the older human said, pointing at the goblin. -Stab it. Slash it. Do something-
-Sigh. Why do I have to do this job? Couldn’t they send an ordinary guard down here with this brat of a prince?-
The goblin let out a scream before attacking again. Wildly swinging his sword at the two humans, he charged at them.
The older human seeing the younger human not moving, moved in front of the younger human and kicked the goblin to the ground lightly.
Ouch. Karse thought holding his chest. He remembered the pain from getting kicked vividly as if it was yesterday. Probably because it was, but Karse couldn’t tell the time. He had a bad memory, at least he thought he did, as he couldn’t remember anything prior to meeting the bald human. On occasion, he would repeatedly open the Stats page as well as the Abilities page, reading them over again. His understanding barely increased with each try. Karse still did not understand the numbers and words, but he felt that it somehow affected him in a good way.
The other goblin growled and got back up quickly, scrambling for his weapon, before charging at the two again.
-We haven’t got all day Third Prince-
-Shut up-
-I remember the day First Prince came into the dungeon. He was able to kill his first goblin in a few minutes, without any help even, but you, tsk-
-I said shut up!-
-Haa- The older human let out a sigh. -If you aren’t going to kill it any time soon, I’ll finish it off and then we will go back and train some more-
-No. I can do this!-
After a few more minutes of watching Third Prince struggle, the older man finally got bored and unsheathed his sword.
[Shiiiingg]
The sound sent shivers down Karse back and he backed away a little bit more.
With a quick jab the older man stabbed the goblin in the chest, before resheathing his weapon. There wasn’t even any blood on the blade. The goblin slumped onto the ground, dead as a rock. Karse, frightened, lowered himself even further, until he could barely see over the pile of rocks. A loose rock fell from the pile and clattered its way to the bottom.
With a turn of his head, the older man looked over at the pile of rocks Karse was currently hiding behind. -Hmm. Did I hear something from over there?-
Karse’s small heart was pounding in his ears and he even felt that every breath he took could be heard.
-Alright let’s go back- We will come back another time-
Karse heard footsteps receding and the light dimmed until darkness blanketed the area again.
-But the loot-
-You didn’t earn it-
After a while, Karse peeked over the top of the pile of rocks again. Seeing that no one was there, he climbed down and ran towards the body laying on the ground. The goblin was still bleeding everywhere, the blood spilling from his chest soaking into the dirt. His weapon also laid next to it, a beaten up scrap of iron that could barely be called a sword. Remembering his missing short sword, Karse quickly picked up the one on the ground, claiming it as his.
A message popped up.
Item: Short Sword
Rarity: Common
Damage: 5-9
Durability: 5/10
Karse blinked the message away before looking over at the dead body. He wondered if there were any more items. Karse blinked a few more times, this time in confusion. The goblin’s body was gone. There was nothing left, not even the blood that had stained the dirt.
-Haha. Did you see the look on that brat Prince’s face. He was so angry. Wonder what happened. Hahaha-
A male’s voice sounded a little ways away, quickly followed by a sharp female voice reprimanding him.
-Shut up. Don’t let anyone catch you saying that or our heads will roll-
-No one likes him anyway, Jean. Besides we are Bronze Explorers. We fall under the guild’s jurisdiction-
-Let’s just hurry onto the 8th floor-
-Hahaha-
Karse quickly scurried behind a group of rocks, sheltering himself in the shadows. As the Explorers approached, he tried to find a deeper spot as light slowly filled the corner, but there was nowhere to go.
[Clack][Clack][Clack]
The area brightened as they neared, their footsteps giving away their position. The light from the torch illuminated the area. Karse pushed himself deeper in the wall, hoping he wouldn’t be found.
A male and a female explorer walked past. As they passed the spot where Karse hid, the female glanced over. Karse froze in fear, wishing he had chosen a different spot.
The female frowned.
-Hey Jimmy. Do you see anything in that corner?-
-Hmm?- Jimmy said -Aw, you worry too much. If it was a goblin it would be running at us screaming. Calm down-
Jimmy didn’t bother to look and continued on the path, followed closely by Jean.
Karse let out a small breath of relief and thanked his stealth skill for saving his life before quickly leaving the spot when darkness descended again.
He had to leave this path, there were too many humans walking around here.
Unbeknownst to Karse, he was being watched from above. A small eye floated in the air, watching him run off.
Somewhere deep in the dungeon:
-Oh? How interesting. Sending an eye to the surface for a lackluster Prince was a waste of effort, but this little one is interesting. Being able to resist the Dungeon’s Voice is not an easy feat-
-My Queen- A handsome male human kneeled on the ground. -How is the Third Prince-
-Tsk. He is very useless, similar to you when you first arrived. Would you be able to fight your brother, First Prince, should he reach me, Second Prince-
-Anything for you, my Queen-
-Alright you may leave now-
-Yes my Queen- The Second Prince left the room, the door shutting behind him.
Turning her attention back to the departing back of Karse, she mused. -Hmm. Maybe this young one will become one of my four generals. Or maybe not-
The Queen let out a charming laugh before vanishing.
