"We've won," Kai announced as he sliced off the head of the last goblin. "The plan was a success."
"Yeah," Anun replied as he sat down on the ground and took out a glass bottle containing a light purple liquid. "I need to regain my mana first, so please stand guard over me for a second."
"Zero," Kai suddenly said. "How were you able to use that Hobgoblin's skill? You didn't have it earlier."
Zero pretended to not hear Kai and prepared himself for future battles.
"Okay," Kai sighed. "I guess we all have our secrets we don't like to share."
"So when are we leaving this Room?" Harry interjected. "If I'm gone for too long, my mum will start to worry."
"Your mother should be the least of your worries right now," Kai responded. "Based on my guesses, we still haven't seen the Mini-Boss yet. The Mini-Boss could be either a Goblin Shaman or a Goblin King."
"The Rooms I was in earlier weren't as strong as this one," Zero remarked. "If the Mini-Boss Room is this difficult, I wonder how strong the Boss Room is?"
"This isn't normal," came Kai's reply. "The Mini-Boss should usually be a Hobgoblin or in some extreme cases, a Goblin Shaman. However, even if the Mini-Boss is a Goblin Shaman, there shouldn't be two Hobgoblins roaming around. So, I fear we may have to fight a Goblin King before we can clear this Room."
Harry covered his face with his hands as he said, "Oh dear..."
"Harry, this is where I suspect your party has perished," Kai continued. "Luckily you didn't follow them into this Room earlier or you would've died."
"No," Zero said as he listened. "They didn't die here. They all died in the 6th Room."
"What?" Kai said as he turned around to face Harry. "Your party cleared this Room? I thought they were beginners?"
"We are," Harry said, puzzled. "I don't know how they managed to clear this Room either. They would've had trouble against one Hobgoblin, let alone two."
"Then," Kai said as he thought. "Maybe they found the Dungeon Exit?"
Anun's voice came from behind them, "Even if they found the Exit, we shouldn't rely on that. We all know how random the Exits are. It could be 500 meters underground for all we know."
"But," Anun continued. "How did you know that they died in the 6th Room, Zero? Did you clear this Room before?"
"Yeah," Kai also said. "I almost forgot. You're entering this Room from the exit rift, not the entrance. You should've either cleared this Room before or have found the Dungeon Exit. Mind sharing how you cleared it?"
"I-" Zero began. "I don't know either. I just woke up in the 6th Room's corridor."
"You woke up here?" Anun asked incredulously. "And you expect us to believe that?"
"I don't," Zero shrugged. "But it's the truth."
"Yo-" Anun tried to say before getting cut off by Kai.
"Alright, alright," Kai said. "Arguing won't get us anywhere. If he says he woke up here, he woke up here. We have bigger problems to worry about right now."
"Fine," Anun muttered.
"We're going to be leaving this dungeon as well after this Room," Kai told Anun. "The Mini-Boss Room is already so abnormal, the other Rooms could be risky as well. We'll just take the demerit points and forfeit the reward."
Anun nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"So, now what?" asked Zero.
"Now we come up with a plan," Kai replied. "And attack first."
As a lone goblin patrolled through the woods, a hand suddenly covered its mouth and pulled it into the bushes behind it. As it struggled to fight back, a dagger slit its throat, and its desperate attempts at defending itself eventually came to a stop.
[You have slain a Goblin Archer. +15 Experience Points]
"This dagger's pretty sharp," Zero remarked to Kai who was beside him. "Thanks."
Kai nodded before saying, "Let's keep searching for their camp."
As Kai walked away, the system suddenly rang out in Zero's mind.
[Host, you have leveled up.]
"Great," Zero whispered. "Status."
0/600 EXP
Name: Zero
Title:
Race: Human
Class:
Level: 6
HP: 300/300
MP: 36/36
STR: 5+
END: 5+
INT: 7+
AGI: 5+
[3 Available Attribute Points Remaining]
"Three?" Zero asked as he raised a brow. "What's this about, system?"
[You will receive three attribute points per level up after level five, host.]
"Perfect," Zero said as he placed one attribute each in the STR, END, and AGI categories. "I need the extra attributes anyway."
"Hey guys," Harry called out. "I think I found them."
As Kai, Anun, and Zero walked over to Harry, they could also see a camp full of huts, surrounded by a wooden fence. They watched as goblins roamed around inside holding weapons and appearing to be prepared for a battle.
"Looks like they're getting ready for us," Anun remarked. "Alright, Kai, go do your thing."
"What's that?" Zero asked as he watched Kai pull out a container of a blood-red liquid.
"The blood of a Fire Creekaw," Kai responded. "Extremely flammable."
"Fire Creekaw?" Zero questioned again.
"Think of a lizard, but large, extremely aggressive, and breathes fire at you," Anun said from the side.
Kai then snuck toward the camp and started pouring a little of the liquid all around the surrounding fence while crouching down out of view. Anun also got started engraving rocks he found on the ground with strange symbols, looking extremely focused.
As Kai returned with the now empty container, Zero asked him, "What's he doing?"
"He's engraving magic runes on those in advance so he can activate them later," answered Kai.
"Why doesn't he just prepare a whole bunch of them before entering the dungeon?"
"Runes not engraved on special material won't be able to contain the mana inside the vessel for long, eventually causing the mana to leak back out. However, special materials like rune paper are extremely expensive," Kai replied. "I'm surprised you don't know even this."
"It looks like a lot of my memories have disappeared after I woke up here," Zero said.
Kai just rolled his eyes.
"Alright, I'm finished," Anun stated as he stood up. "Place these near the entrance of their camp, Kai."
Kai took the rune-engraved rocks and placed them at and near the two entrances to the goblin camp before returning to the group once more.
"Alright, let's get started. Harry, be on standby if anyone gets injured," Kai said.
"Okay."
After that, Anun raised his staff and started chanting, before giant fireballs appeared above his head.
"Wait, he can use fire magic?" Zero asked Kai. "I've only ever seen him use ice spells."
"He's extremely talented in fire magic," Kai sighed. "However, he deems it too barbaric and ugly, so he usually uses ice unless it's a serious situation."
Should I just walk over and stick my hand in one of those fireballs? Zero thought to himself, tempted. Forget it. And to think I would willingly burn myself to learn a spell...
As Zero thought to himself, Anun pointed his staff at the goblin camp, before the fireballs went soaring toward it. The fireballs crashed into the fence, huts, and several unlucky goblins with a BOOM! before scorching the ground alongside it, causing a fire to start roaring.
The chain of fiery explosions caused the blood Kai poured earlier to ignite and start another fire, surrounding the entire camp. Unfortunately for the goblins, the huts they resided in were also made of extremely flammable material, causing the entire camp to go up in flames.
The goblins, panicking and confused at the sudden emergency, all started to scramble toward the exit of the burning camp. The goblins pushed and shoved at each other to be the first ones to escape, causing a crowd of them to storm out of the entrances.
Before they could enjoy their freedom of escaping the burning hell, explosions occurred from the inconspicuous rocks at their feet. The explosions directly killed many goblins, injuring more, with many of them crawling around on the ground trying to regain their senses.
Pieces of goblin dropped down from the sky after the explosions, adding to the chaos. Lucky goblins that survived the fire and the explosions were then shot through the head with arrows, further reducing the number of survivors.
Suddenly, a roar came from one of the larger huts as a goblin around three meters tall slammed its way out of one of the burning huts.
"What? A female goblin?" Kai said in confusion. "The male/female ratio for goblins is extremely skewed at a percentage of one female for every hundred males. Much less a female goblin warrior."
"Incoming!" Anun shouted as the group noticed three balls of incredibly dense fire come crashing down at them.
As they dove out of the way, a dark purple fireball smashed into the ground where they were moments earlier. The fire from the spell burned all that it touched to a crisp.
"Dark magic," Anun hissed. "Looks like there's a Goblin Shaman here."
As another purple fireball hurtled toward Zero, he quickly dove out of the way but felt a burning sensation on his back.
[Magic acquired: {Dark Fireball}]
Zero quickly ripped his shirt off his body before it could burn him any longer, and watched as it was roasted to a crisp. But before he could relax, he suddenly heard a roar and saw that the female goblin that they were watching earlier had noticed the group and was rushing toward them.
"Fuck!" Kai shouted. "Anun, you go find and keep that shaman off of us! Harry, you go with him! Zero and I will take care of this one!"
"Roger!" Anun responded as he quickly sprinted off.
"Alright, let's do this," Zero said as he shot a glowing arrow at the female goblin.
The goblin queen evaded the arrow directly and arrived in front of Kai, as well as swinging her weapon in one fluid motion. It was obvious that her skill was far beyond the goblins Zero had faced before.
Kai, not daring to block the blow, dodged to the side with the goblin queen following closely behind. Zero took this opportunity to hurl a {Dark Fireball} at the goblin queen's back. As if she had eyes on the back of her head, she spun around and twisted her body to the side, causing the fireball to miss.
Kai, wasting no time, attempted to slice off the goblin queen's arm. He only somewhat succeeded, as her left hand dropped to the ground with a thump. The goblin queen quickly jumped back as a white light covered her bloodied arm. Her hand began to quickly reform, with the bones forming first followed by the muscles, tendons, and skin.
"Zero!" Kai called out. "Let's attack her together! Her regenerative skill is too strong!"
Zero dashed forward with his newly obtained dagger in hand, casting {Piercing Thrust} and {Enhance Sharpness} on it. As he struck with his dagger, the goblin queen raised her scimitar and easily deflected the blow, before returning with one of her own.
Zero hurriedly cast {Ice Aegis} as the goblin queen's attack crashed down onto the protective shield. He then suddenly removed the spell, dove back, and threw another fireball at the queen. Being in such close proximity to the attack, the goblin queen couldn't avoid it and instead chose to take the damage with her arm.
The fire scorched her flesh and continued to spread before she ultimately decided to cut her entire left arm off. Not allowing her to regenerate yet again, Kai stepped forward and slashed at the goblin queen's other arm, and Zero stabbed at her from the back.
The queen growled and suddenly was covered by a dark red aura that surrounded her entire body which vastly improved her speed and allowed her to block Kai's attack while simultaneously pushing him back. Zero's attack found its mark and he dug into her back with the dagger and ripped it down, causing blood to flow from the wound.
He then darted backward, not allowing the goblin queen to reach him with her weapon. As Zero prepared to cast yet another fireball, Kai charged forward to push the advantage against the monster. The queen saw this coming and feinted a slash with her weapon which caused Kai to prepare a block before she suddenly punched Kai in the chest, almost caving his chest in.
Kai slid backward, barely managing to stand as he began coughing up blood. He chanted something under his breath which caused his eyes to turn bloodshot and a blood-like energy to begin flowing from his body. Kai rushed toward the queen as if he did not feel the pain from the impact earlier. While the queen was busy avoiding Zero's attacks, Kai furiously swung his katana toward the goblin queen's neck.
The queen's senses screamed in alarm and she quickly raised her scimitar to block the attack causing Kai's katana to crash into her weapon, shattering both. Kai dropped his broken sword and instead opted to launch a deadly punch at the back of the queen's head.
The queen, also dropping her weapon, grabbed his arm and flung him forward into Zero who was coming to help Kai.
Shit, my MP is running low from all those {Dark Fireballs}.
Zero thought as he caught Kai in his arms. Kai was breathing heavily while still coughing up blood from the earlier assault, looking as if he was seconds away from unconsciousness.
"{Major Heal}," Zero whispered as a faint yellow glow expanded from his hand into Kai's body.
The goblin queen, not letting them take a rest, bolted forward toward them as Zero cast {Ice Aegis}. Before she could attack though, icicles came soaring through the air and into the goblin queen's back. Anun and Harry had arrived.
Anun raised his staff again, and numerous fireballs soared toward the goblin queen which caused her to have to back off. Harry took this opportunity to run to Kai's side and begin healing him.
Zero also joined Anun in the battle against the queen as now the queen looked quite exhausted and injured. As another one of Anun's icicles struck the queen's leg, she collapsed weakly to the ground.
"Where... is Toruk?" She gasped as blood flowed from her mouth.
"Dead," Anun chuckled as he pointed to some blood decorating his armor. "He did put up somewhat of a fight though."
"Curse you outsiders," The queen gasped again. "We will never surrender to you."
"You lot usually aren't this talkative," Anun remarked as he glanced around the surroundings. "I'm going to go check on Kai, alright? You do the honors."
As Zero stepped forward to end the queen's life, he could still hear her muttering feebly, "We will have our revenge."
[You have slain a Goblin King. +500 Experience Points.]
"Room cleared. All monsters were defeated. Rewards are available. Granting exit to all survivors."
The vision of all four of them shifted and Zero was again alone in the dark corridor. Zero sat down on the floor, waiting for the other three to recover and meet him at the entrance of the Room.
