The usual reaction you would expect when you saved the life of someone was at least a word of thanks. After all if I hadn't been there for Kuzu she probably would've been badly hurt, or even killed, by the goblins. Instead she threateningly pointed her dagger at me, her tail puffed up behind her while her ears went flat against her head.

 

"You could've warned me about what you were doing!" she yelled at me.

 

I studied the lightning that continued to flow up and down my arm, mentally feeling the flow of power that drew from within and fed the magic. With a bit of concentration I shut the energy flow off. If I was to leave it open eventually my stamina would be drained, and worst case scenario I would collapse and be useless for quite a while.

 

"You could have not yelled like an idiot," I pointed out. I had erred in my belief that she would at least keep quiet until the merging was completed.

 

I started to walk down the hillside as I headed toward the stone ruins nearby. Each of the blocks were tall and rectangular, forming a circle which would often have the portal in the middle. Along the hillsides the sound of thunder rolled, an echo caused by the little bit of magic I'd already used.

 

When I realized that Kuzu had not moved yet I turned to look at her. "We need to move before any more goblins show up to investigate all that thunder. There are never any storms on this floor so they'll know something is off," I explained to her, before I pointed toward the ruins. "You have the night sight, do you see any more goblins?"

 

For a moment it looked like she was going to argue with me, but then she turned to look at the ruins. For a while her emerald eyes studied the rocks, before she gave a shrug of her shoulders. "There are none out in the open, but they could be hiding."

 

"Good, keep an eye out for patrols and wait here," I told her, turning toward the ruins. "If you see any patrols come running and screaming."

 

With each step forward I could feel the lush grass softly bowing down beneath my feet. Even my Elf ears couldn't pick up any noise as I walked, and so when I reached the outer ring of the ruins it was fairly obvious that no goblin could have hoped to notice my approach. When I reached the first stone I placed one hand against it, the feel of it a familiar sensation I'd felt many times in the past.

 

My long elf ears twitched automatically as I tried to listen for any sounds nearby. I could easily make out the breathing of Kuzu, not to mention her grumblings about how stupid I was. A couple more presences were noticeable, and with the aid of my hearing I approached them as quietly as possible. It wasn't much later when I finished killing off the three goblins who had been lazing about toward the center of the ruins. The best part about murdering the goblins was when I found a couple of throwing knives while looting their corpses.

 

Once more I listened for any goblins nearby, and only once I felt certain I was alone in the ruins did I return to the edge. With a whistle to get her attention, I waved toward Kuzu. She almost ran over toward me as soon as I had reemerged from the ruins, a look of worry on her face. As to what she had been worried about I could only guess, though it was probably that she'd be stuck all alone on this floor.

 

Back into the ruins I walked, this time flanked by a slightly distant kitsune. As we passed through the inner ring of rocks we came into full view of the portal, that surreal glowing ball which would serve as our way to the next floor. Kuzu ran up to the sphere with a cry of glee and wrapped her arms around it in a hug.

 

"Yes! Now we're heading back with a return crystal right?" Kuzu asked, as she stepped away from the portal.

 

"Do you think that I'd actually have one?" I asked her, before I shook my head. While the requirements to gain one was not known it seemed likely you had to buy them, and if that meant money then there was no way a slave would get ahold of one. "Besides I told you we're going to the tenth floor."

 

Kuzu's fingers twitched at that, then she almost cringed in fright. "We can't do that," she finally said she squirmed for a few moments. "They say that the goblins have an ambush set up on the eighth floor, I've only heard of one person ever returning!"

 

It was a comment that could only be responded to with a laugh. "Please, the goblins ambushing? That's like children throwing a temper tantrum. Alright, I promised we'd reach the tenth floor so do you really think I'd fail to deliver?"

 

Kuzu stared at me, while she stood outside of my arms reach. She glanced to the side, as though the gaze I returned to her own was too much for her to bear, and she murmured a few words. "How far have you dived?"

 

"Deep enough," I told her. I walked to the sphere and placed my hand on it. "Now you can either join me on the eighth floor or you can wait here, alone, and die when the goblins start hunting you for fun."

 

With that I promptly vanished.

---

Floor 8

The Goblin Capital

---

The smoke was thick and invasive, the smell overpowering anything else in the vicinity. Nearby the cacophony of noise of multiple goblins as they marched about in armor, talking back and forth in their strange language, made it impossible for me to hear anything. Even my sight was limited by the fact that it was night time on this floor, and the only sources of light were the portal and crude torches attached to the upper parts of a wooden wall.

 

The wall itself encircled the portal, ten feet tall and adorned with makeshift spikes at the top. Some sections of the wall had spikes that jutted inward, though a few of those had broken and not been repaired yet. It was beyond the wall that I could hear the goblins, though a single goblin who looked to be almost asleep sat on a platform above the wall itself.

 

It was my arrival that caused a change in the guard, as he noticed me and then rubbed at his sleepy eyes. A moment later he stood up straight and started to jabber, calling to his friends that were below. An immediate reaction could be heard as all of the chattering that the group of goblins had been doing came to an end, and then angry yells and shouts that anyone should be able to hear sounded out.

 

There was no noise when Kuzu formed from thin air next to me, her eyes widened in horror as she took in the current situation. "I told you! I told you we shouldn't have come!" she declared, as she pointed at the wall. "Now what do we do about this!"

 

I pulled the goblin dagger out and threw it as hard as possible at the goblin guard. The weapon struck into his chest, as he stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. His body toppled over out of view, hopefully onto another goblin. "It's easy, although I'm going to have to ask you to not yell," I told her. My left hand lifted up, as lightning began to trace along it once more.

 

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes locked onto my left hand as though mesmerized. The panic she had shown was temporarily forgotten, and even her tail flicked excitedly as curiosity overcame the fear.

 

There was no warning, as I didn't want to waste any more time, and instead I wrapped my arm around Kuzu's waist and pulled her up against me. She fought against that, eyes filled with a terror that seemed unusually strong for what I'd done, but thankfully her knife was pinned under my arm so she couldn't reach for it. With my left hand I threw forth a bolt of lightning which ripped through the cheap wood wall, the thunder roaring loud enough to make the goblins outside fall down in shock.

 

"Time to bolt!" I yelled out, my hearing hindered temporarily due to the thunder.

 

Refusing to let go of Kuzu I started to run toward the hole in the wall. With each step a burst of electricity crackled near my feet, and my speed grew faster and faster. Before long I had become nothing short of a blur to the goblins, a trail of lightning left behind in my wake. We crossed over that barren landscape for minutes, the entire time Kuzu's fingers gripping tightly into my flesh so hard her nails drew blood. When at last we came to a stop it was near a copse of dead trees, rocks and little else.

 

Before I did anything else I put Kuzu down gently, and then staggered over to a tree and leaned against it for support. My breathing was ragged, and my chest heaved as I tried to suck in air like a half-drowned man. Every part of my body shuddered from the strain of what I'd done, and eventually my knees gave out and I sagged to the ground.

 

"Are you alright?" Kuzu asked from a fair distance away, her eyes still wide from the shock of what I'd just done.

 

With a trembling left hand I flashed her a thumbs up. "Give me a few moments, using that much magic right now was a bad idea," was the response, though my voice had started to grow quieter near the end.

 

All I wanted to do was blame it on being a bit excited over getting magic, but in the end it was my fault and only mine that I had overexerted myself. Though I had excessive knowledge in how to use magic it mattered little if I didn't work on my stamina, and it would probably be a good idea on my part to improve my body some more before I reached the twentieth floor.

 

All of that mattered very little though, as the fatigue from my overuse of magic pushed me into a forced slumber.

 

☗ ☗ ☗ ☗ ☗

 

In my arms was what I could only consider perfection, a flawless feminine face looking at my own. With a smile that could have melted a glacier instantly she reached up and cupped my face with her hands. For a short while she slid her left hand up and stroked at my hair, while her eyes refused to stray from their stare deep into my own.

 

Though she smiled there was a hint of sadness that haunted her eyes. Somewhere in her was a memory that refused to let go, and it was one that would weigh heavily on her for the rest of her life. My arms tightened about her as I kissed her gently, wishing I could help her forget that nightmare for even one second.

 

"Theodore," she whispered my name into my ear, as she returned my kiss. "Theodore."

 

"THEODORE!" came the loud voice of Kuzu, loud enough that it woke me from my slumber. I groaned in protest at that, why the hell did she have to ruin the dream at the best time?

 

"What?" I growled out from the ground, my face had ended up against the filthy soil of the goblins homeground. There was no happiness that could be seen in my face when, with a push of the arms, I staggered up to a standing position.

 

Kuzu merely gestured at the area near us with a look of fear on her face. It was a look that, combined with her flattened ears and tail tucked close to her waist made it obvious that something was amiss.

 

Due to the aid of Kuzu I was able to focus in on the problem quickly enough, a problem that was as laughable as the goblins. The eighth floor was a cesspool of a place, the goblins who lived there had used up most of the resources with such disgusting need that barely anything survive. It was perhaps the main reason the goblins spread from the eighth floor to the nearby ones, and also why they tried to wage a war against the kitsune on the tenth floor long ago.

 

What had frightened Kuzu were creatures akin to regular dogs. They were easily the size of a goblin, though down on all fours, with snarling mouths and slimmed eyes. The eyes were white, pus covered and ugly looking things that made one think they could only be blind. Their ears were tattered, with one of the dogs even missing an ear.

 

It was a horrid position to be in, there were at least thirty of the monstrous looking dogs pacing around us. The fact that none had attacked yet seemed to be something close to a miracle, one that bordered on the insane. It shouldn't have been possible, both Kuzu and I deserved to have been eaten by that point.

 

My response to the situation was to yawn, loudly, and then stretch out my arms and legs very very slowly. "Didn't take them long to find us," I commented, my distinct lack of fear obvious.

 

"Theo-"

 

"Fenix!" I told her, sharply, one finger lifted up toward her. "Try to use that in conversation."

 

With a quick flick of the left hand I sent a burst of lightning toward the hounds, an act that caused all the dogs to whimper and back up. They were the whipped dogs of the goblins, used for tracking their prey. There was an instinctive need to not harm prey that they had built into them. If it followed their normal behavior I'd seen in the past one or two of the dogs would've gone off to find their handler and bring them here.

 

Once the goblins arrived they would either give the order to attack, or the goblins themselves would be the fighters. In either case the dogs knew that touching us without permission was not allowed, it had and always would be met with severe abuse. It was that knowledge which allowed me to not be worried by the pack that crowded us.

 

"Alright, don't worry, they're too whipped to attack," I informed Kuzu. My left arm lifted up and pointed toward the nearest of the beasts, a slip of electricity coursing the length of it.

 

From the first show of magic the dogs had already learned that the electricity was dangerous, and so they backed up even further and continued to whimper. Obviously this was due to the hardships rained down on the dogs by the shamans.

 

Goblin shamans are some of the worst creatures in the labyrinth. Every single goblin shaman that has ever lived loved to kick their dogs. Their need to abuse and feel superior over the weak is such I wouldn't put it past a goblin shaman to beat up a baby. To that end one of the things that the dogs feared most was magic, since it was the number one way that they were abused.

 

When the hounds refused to run away, but instead put a little distance between us, I let out a sigh. "Fine," I said to them, before the electricity that had built was unleashed in a burst that electrocuted a small part of their pack. Their fear of my magic overcame any fear of a potential abusive goblin, and the pack scattered to the four corners of the floor as quickly as possible. Next to me Kuzu had already put her hands on her sensitive fox ears, a grimace on her face from the new burst of thunder.

 

"Sorry about that," I told her, as I checked the surroundings for any stragglers or goblins. The area was as desolate as the rest of the floor, the burnt and dead trees the only things to stand out against blackened rocks and grey soil.

 

"It's okay," Kuzu mumbled toward me, though she still held her ears down.

 

"This is like the imp nest in that the portal is always found at the exact same spot," I told Kuzu while kicking at one of the burnt trees. It cracked loudly before it fell over with a dull thud onto the dead soil. "The plan is simple, we'll go to it and then move on to the ninth floor. We're going to need to kill some goblins first, though."

 

"Why's that?" she asked, her eyes studying my movements as I began to destroy the trunk of an already dead tree.

 

With loud crunches my boots came down and smashed the fallen tree over and over again, chunks of the dead plant scattering with each stomp. To some it would seem as though I was using the tree as a stress reliever, though I had a goal in mind.

 

I bent down and started to sift through the pieces of wood with a grin on my face. "Because I lost a dagger and want a new one."

 

☗ ☗ ☗ ☗ ☗

 

A half hour later a few goblins approached where Kuzu and I had been at. The hounds that returned to retrieve their masters led the goblin hunting party directly to where we had last been, and upon arriving started to sniff around to find our trail.

 

The goblins could only frown and mill around near the broken trees. They scratched at their heads and talked in their alien language to each other. The hounds weren't idiots, they might beat them and treat them poorly but it was to make sure they did their job right. Even the worst goblin tracker in the bunch could clearly see the vast amount of footprints left by the dogs, as well as footprints of two decidedly non-canine individuals that had vanished into thin air.

 

One of the goblins leaned against a tree to relax, while his friends discussed back and forth. Most likely it was a blame game, and they'd eventually agree it was the dogs fault and hit them a few time. Before any of that could happen, however, I stretched out my arm and snapped the goblins neck.

 

I could only guess at how much terror the goblins felt when they saw part of the tree separate from the rest and kill their friend. When another tree did the same thing, as Kuzu ran at the goblin nearest her and stabbed it in the eyeball, the group of goblins did the only wise thing they could. They ran as quick as they could away from the tree monsters.

 

The disguise was simple enough, a combination of dirt and long pieces of wood could mask us and help hide our scent. If the goblins were as trained as some opponents deeper in the labyrinth the trick would've failed. Thankfully goblins had never been all that clever, and so my simple plan had easily worked.

 

The hounds bayed loudly, then attempted to rush to the help of their masters. Kuzu with her dagger began to lacerate them wide open, before kicking their sliced bodies away roughly. With simple kicks I joined in on pushing away some of the dogs, and soon they followed their goblin masters.

 

The fight was brutal, short and for the most part one that lacked any real tension for me. Kuzu kicked at the dead corpse of one of the dogs that had nipped her tail a bit, before she turned and stared at me. "What next?"

 

"We'll head for the portal next," I told her while I started to scour the couple of corpses for any goods.

 

For the most part all I could find were food and bandages, though a single waterskin was one of the better finds. I threw it toward Kuzu since she had lost most of her stuff, and then also one of the goblin pouches followed it soon after. For myself I picked out a few of the better iron daggers, and tying the goblin belts around my legs instead of my waist I was able to sheath them.

 

"That worked a lot better than I thought it would," Kuzu admitted. She had called my plan insanity when I first brought it up, but all I had to do was show a bit of electricity to remind her of my superior knowledge and she caved soon to my requests.

 

"Don't worry, it'll only get harder," I told her while I started to walk toward the horizon. I hummed loudly to myself, a tune that was one of my favorites from a floor so deep that nobody else had probably heard it before. It was an uplifting little tune, one that Lute had sang to me whenever I was depressed.

 

Kuzu's response was to twitch her ears as she walked a little distant, but to my side instead of behind. Her tail twitched back and forth in tune with the humming, while a smile had begun to appear on her face.