“A moose, you say?” Arad stared at Mira, smiling. “I might know that one.”
“You saw it before?” Mira looked at Arad, tilting her head.
“Yeah, it might be the one I found stuck in the forest, had its head jammed in a split tree,” Arad told her about when he found a moose.
“You freed it? Most people will take it as an easy kill,” Mira smiled, “The antlers and meat are worth money, you know?”
Arad scratched his head, “I wasn’t out to hunt that day,” He looked away, “So, about the building, can I expect it done by the end of the week?”
Mira stared at him, “Unless some complications happen, that would be the case. Say it’s two weeks max, and one at best, so you won’t get disappointed.”
“What kind of complication could happen?” Arad asked.
“Not enough planks or nails. I did tell you about the bandit attack. That’s a complication. The construction might have halted if not for that moose.”
Arad stood, and Aella did the same, “We should go then,”
“Wait, I have something for you,” Mira said and rushed to the back, scrambling in the closet until she pulled a hand crossbow. “This is for you, just aim and shoot.” She handed Arad the crossbow with a pouch full of bolts.
“Is this for me?” Arad looked at her.
“To whom do you think it is? It’s in case you run out of MP. Don’t push yourself too hard,” She patted Arad’s shoulder and looked at Aella, “Stay safe, both of you,”
***
Arad and Aella exited Lyla’s shop and headed toward the dungeon. They found Jack waiting for them there with a bored face, “What took you so long? Almost got in without you,”
“Nothing important. Did you get any information about this place?” Arad asked.
“I don’t see anyone around,” Aella looked at Jack.
“I checked the first layer. It’s full of goblins,” Jack replied, looking at the dungeon entrance. “They are still scared of the light, but I bet they will swarm out at night,”
“You mean we should clear it before night,” Arad approached the entrance.
“If we want to sleep, yes,” Jack replied, “You have a plan?”
“We go in there and clear the first layer. That’s the plan,” Arad replied.
Aella sighed, “So you have nothing,” She looked at the entrance, “I say we smoke them out,” She suggested.
Jack smiled, “That might be fun,”
“What are you two talking about?” Arad looked at them.
Aella quickly explained her plan, “We set the nest ablaze to force the goblins out. Jack will set traps at the entrance where we will kill the goblins,”
“That means I will set the nest ablaze,” Arad said, looking at Aella, “You find a safe spot to take the goblins down with your bow. Jack will strike when needed,”
The three sprung into action. Aella found a tree with a good view of the dungeon entrance and hid there, awaiting Arad to smoke the goblins out so she could snipe them.
Jack opened his pouch and laid a simple trap in front of the dungeon entrance, “The simple ones are always the best,” He said, tieing a rope between two stones. “The little buggers will rush out, trip, and be an easy target for Aella. Don’t you dare trip on it,” He looked at Arad.
“I know,” Arad replied, standing before the entrance, “Let’s do this. We better finish before nightfall.” He cracked his neck and crouched, [Silent Step] using his vampire skill to walk silently. He slowly prowls in the dark, quickly reaching where the goblins are.
^Look at them, just gawking around,^
[Goblins aren’t that intelligent. Most of them spend their time staying like that, their minds wandering.]
^Now that I’m looking closely at them, those things look like children with green skin full of warts, long ears, and bloodshot eyes.^
[They are monsters. Those things eat people alive.]
^I know. Let’s get this over with,^
Arad opened his mouth, unleashing a blast of flames at the goblins, setting the whole place ablaze. “Damn it. This place stinks,” The moment the layer started burning, the smoke carried a horrid stench with it.
Arad rushed out, jumping from the entrance and avoiding Jack’s trap, “They are coming! hard!” As Arad shouted, about ten goblins leaped behind him with crazed faces.
PEW! PEW! PEW! Aella fired three arrows, dropping three goblins as soon as she saw Arad.
Jack ran in with a smile, pulling a short sword, “You fell for it,” The goblins who focused on him and Arad tripped on the trap, and Jack dropped the shortsword and pulled a small bottle from his pocket. “Take this!” He threw it at them, and the bottle exploded, setting the goblins ablaze.
“What’s that?” Arad asked.
“Oil that I got from a merchant, the bottle I found in the trash. Apparently, it was used as a potion of some sort,” Jack replied. He used an empty potion bottle, filled it with burning oil, and created a weapon.
“Don’t waste it. We might need that later!” Arad said, looking at the dungeon entrance as more goblins rushed out.
“I was just testing it, don’t worry. I have more.” Jack smiled, lifting his sword.
Arad looked at the goblins, “I have something to test.” He smiled, “You’re small, aren’t you?” Arad opened his palm, [Gravity magic]. He set the gravity to pull toward his hand, snatching one of the goblins from away.
The goblin growled, but Arad quickly silenced him with a claw strike using [Bestial aspect]
[Gravity magic] He then set the gravity point on another goblin, sending the corpse flying at high speed and knocking the remaining goblins.
PEW! PEW! PEW! Aella killed three of them, and Arad opened his palm, [Flame thrower] Unleashing a stream of flames to burn them all.
“Are those all of them?” Arad smiled.
“No,” Jack shouted, “Something big is coming out!”
THUD! THUD! THUD! A massive goblin emerged from the entrance. It stood almost as tall as Arad, with a larger build and glowing green eyes. “GRWAAA!” The monster growled, fixing his gaze on Arad.
“What is this thing? Aren’t goblins small?” Arad asked.
“It’s a hobgoblin, the big ones,” Jack replied, “Don’t let his size fool you. That thing is fast,”
Arad opened his palm and extended his claws, “Let’s see who’s faster than,” He got ready to fight.
PEW! PEW! PEW! Three arrows came rushing in, hitting the hob’s neck and chest. THUD! The monster fell motionless. Arad stared at it disappointed, “Is it dead?” He looked back at Aella, “You killed it?”
“Did you want it alive?” Aella replied.
Arad shook his head, “No, I just expected more of this hob.” He sighed. CRACK! But at that moment, the hob stood again, swinging his arm at Arad’s head.
Arad’s [Wild instincts] activated, informing him of the attack and forcing him to react, bending down to avoid the hit.
The way Arad’s neck flailed as he dodged was strange enough to scare Aella. She thought he might break something. “Damn, you’re ugly!” He turned to the side and ducked beneath the hob’s arm, swinging his palm at its side. [Firefist] KA-DON!
The hob’s body burst into flames, but Arad wasn’t about to stop. He jumped back to regain his distance. “What was the formula again?” He smiled, [Levitate]. He tried casting the magic as he learned from Merlin, not relying on his simple understanding of flipping gravity.
The hob’s body levitated for a moment. [Firebolt] [Firebolt] [Firebolt] [Firebolt] [Firebolt]. He burned the hob with magic mid-air and then swung his palm down, [Fall] smacking the monster on the ground, cracking its bones.
“Is it dead?” Arad said, looking at the hob from afar, “I will make sure,” Aella shouted. PEW! PEW! PEW! She fired three arrows at the hobs head, killing him if he survived.
Jack approached Arad, “I guess this is the first layer. We should get inside and inspect the place.”
Arad nodded, “Yeah, how many layers do you think this dungeon has?”
Jack shook his head, “I can’t say. It might have two or twenty. Nobody knows. But I say the average is ten layers with C-rank dungeons.”
Aella jumped from the tree and approached them, “We cleared the first layer. But from now on, we have to fight inside the dungeon.” She said.
“That might prevent you from finding a decent spot to shoot from,” Jack said, looking at Aella with a smile.
“Don’t worry. I can shoot while running or fighting at close range.” Aella pulled her bowstring, aiming an arrow at Jack, “See, it doesn’t matter where I stand.”
Jack lifted his hands and moved back, “Careful with that. I don’t want an arrow in my skull,”
Arad looked a them, smiling. “Let’s build a camp first. We need a place to rest and get things done.”
“Shouldn’t we build it in the first layer?” Aella asked. 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Arad looked at the entrance and shook his head, “Nah, that place stinks,”