Goldensand Dungeon, 12th floor.

"This is my first time seeing a cockatrice in real life," Zea exclaimed. "They are bigger than I thought."

"They attack like how a giant rat attacks, but they are much more agile. Also instead of crashing their bodies, they charge and then bite their enemies. And lastly, their bites are painful, try to not get bitten."

They are now observing the lone cockatrice that walks around peacefully. The cockatrice is a monster that is a mix of a chicken, bat, and snake. It has a chicken head, bat wings, snake body, and a pair of chicken feet. The body and wings look like it come from a dragon. That is why some people called it a Chicken and Dragon half.

Luis tried to scout the surroundings to make sure there are no other monsters nearby.

"Major, the area is clear. The chance for the attack to be successful is… 100% Prepare to attack?" Luis said imitating how military personnel on some tv drama talk.

"Prepare to attack!" Zea runs from their standby point to where the cockatrice is. Luis followed behind to make sure everything is okay.

The cockatrice noticed Zea but it didn't move. It just glances at Zea and wonders what should it do. Only when Zea's machete swing hit the cockatrice wing did it react. It tried to run away first before it come back charging to Zea.

Zea knows that the cockatrice will charge back at her, so she readied her machete. She put her machete as high as she can, ready to swing her machete down.

When the cockatrice reaches where Zea is standing, Zea dodges it to the left. She then swings her machete as hard as she can. Helped by gravity, the momentum of the machete is fast, but…

"A miss huh… As expected of cockatrice." Luis that observes the battle from the side muttered in a low voice. He then shouted a piece of advice to Zea, "Try to swing the machete from the front or the side! Wait, the front! Not the side! And don't try to swing from above again!"

"Okay! I will fight it head-on!" Zea shouted back to Luis.

The cockatrice stops for a bit, thinking about how to attack again. It decided to charge again.

Zea has anticipated this, this time she will follow Luis's instructions. She readied her machete to swing sideways, the aim is cockatrice neck. 10 meters… 5 meters… 2… 'Now!' Zea screamed in her mind while swinging her machete. She feels a weight on the machete, indicating that the attack connected.

The cockatrice neck is a snake body, it is softer if compared to a goblin neck. That softness makes the machete injure the neck easily.

Having a big injury at its neck, the cockatrice keeps losing its blood. It keeps running around with the blood spurting from its neck. After around 20 seconds, the cockatrice loses all of its energy and falls to the ground.

"Commander, I have finished the task. The enemy is successfully annihilated." Zea faces Luis that now moves toward her.

"Good job— Wait a minute, is there a commander rank in the military?"

"I don't know?"

Both of them laughed at their own joke. Along the way to this place, they sometimes do this kind of joke. It helps them relax and along with that, they also become closer to each other.

"Let's look at the drops." Luis walks toward where the cockatrice fell. There are 4 mana stones, a beak, and a treasure chest in front of him. "Looks like we are lucky today. Want to open the chest now?"

"Sure, let me open it." Zea picks up the chest and uses her mana to open the chest. Inside is a bluish purple-colored potion. "What potion is this?"

"I am not sure… I don't think I have seen that kind of potion." Luis picks a bake that is dropped by the cockatrice. "There is a beak here."

"Ah, that's right… Is there a use for cockatrice beak? I can't imagine it…"

"Who knows, maybe an alchemist can use the beak to make something? It doesn't matter, we will bring it back and try to sell it anyway." Luis put the beak inside the still opened treasure chest. He places it beside the unknown potion.

"Okay, let's continue our journey."

✦✦✦✦✦✦

10 minutes since defeating the cockatrice.

Luis and Zea are following the shortest route to get to the next floor. This route is published by Dungeon Management Agency as guidance for all explorers. The route is also printed on the map that Dungeon Management Agency released. Because many explorers know this route, it is not rare to meet another explorer on this route.

A pair of explorers scurried from the direction of the next floor. Both groups glance at each other for a split second before doing their own things. Luis's group keep walking to the 13th floor. The other one still walking briskly toward the 11th floor.

"What are they hurrying about?" Zea muttered in a voice small enough only she and Luis can hear it.

"Who knows…"

Not long after meeting the hurrying group, Luis and Zea meet another group. This time the group is a party composed of 4 men. There is a man that uses a big shield, a man with a sword, and the other two uses a spear. Not like the first group, they are not in a hurry.

They glanced at each other when the other party started a conversation.

"Are you planning to go to the 13th floor?" the swordsmen of that group asked Luis.

"Yes, we are going there," Luis answered truthfully. "Is there any problem on the way?"

"There is a big group of goblins near the next floor stairs. Someone said there is a goblin chieftain there. Be careful if you want to go there. Well then, we will go back to the surface first." The swordsmen bid farewell to Luis and Zea.

"Thank you for the caution," said Luis. The other group just waves their hand, signaling 'Sure, no problem' and keeps walking.

"Should we go back?" asked Zea.

"I think I want to look how big the group is before deciding to go back or keep going," Luis said what he thought. "We still need to walk for an hour to reach the stair. We will then observe the group from a little farther place."

"Okay, let's go with that," said Zea.

They keep walking along the route to the 13th floor. Along the way, they met with 3 groups that go back to the 11th floor. they all said about the big group of goblins. One group said there are around 40 goblins. The other said there are more than 70. The last group said there is a goblin chieftain in the group.

Different people said different things. No one knows what the truth is. Only one thing is certain, the group is huge. It is not even a group of monsters, but a horde. On top of that, there is a chance they have a leader.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

From a hill near the next floor stair, Luis and Zea observed the group.

"30, 31… 58, 59… 73 goblins." Zea finished counting the goblins. "There seems to be no goblin chieftain. There is no one with abnormal size. The biggest goblins in the group can still get grouped inside the average size."

"Thank you for the counting. I am still impressed that you can count them from this distance." Luis sighed for a bit before continuing, "What should we do now? Go back? There is no way we can win against this horde— army of goblins."

"Looks like that is the only way." Zea stands up and tried to move back to where they came from. Luis followed the same, but he notices that something is coming from the side. A group of goblins is moving toward them. That group is comprised of 6 goblins and another one that has a bigger size, the Goblin Chieftain.

"Run!" Luis shouted as a reflex. Zea only noticed the group after Luis shouted, but she has a good response so she can run immediately.

"Roar!!"

A huge roaring sound is heard from behind.

...

Luis and Zea keep running, ignoring the chasing goblin chieftain. They checked behind from time to time. When Luis first found the goblin chieftain, it is accompanied by 6 goblins. But now, after an unknown amount of time, there is only a lone goblin chieftain remained.

"Should we fight now? Or keep running? Its companion has fallen behind," Zea shouted while running.

"Let's keep running for a little more," shouted Luis answering.

*roar*

A huge roaring once again can be heard.

In front of Zea and Luis suddenly appear another group of four goblins. They run from the side, trying to cut both Luis and Zea's way. Luis and Zea don't have any choice but to stop running.

"Looks like there is no choice but to fight it," Luis said while trying to regulate his breathing again. "Let's kill the goblin group in front of us first. I will take two from the right, you take the remaining two. We have no time until the goblin chieftain reaches us, so kill the goblin groups as fast as possible."