I guess I was overthinking it, huh? The goblins seemed much slower than the ones I've fought before. I relied on my hearing for my left side, I could hear the little pitter patter when they tried to swarm me.
Guess I shouldn't be as scared now… I was able to back away from three goblins that tried to slash at me. Mana's good—
Before the goblins could fix themselves, I shot out three Earth Darts. They shot through their skulls with a sickening crunch— more replaced their bodies, one bolted to me with a rusted shortsword.
Once it got into my reach, I forced the earth to catch its foot— I drove my dagger into its back. It couldn't make a noise as I heard its heart seize and fail.
Next one- I did the same for the second, the third… I stopped by the fifth one when my mana started to strain.
From there I forced one to chase after me. Thankfully I'm pretty tall… For a girl.
I was able to out reach each and every one of them. Before I knew it I was surrounded by countless bodies of goblins. Some I cut their necks, a couple I stabbed through the heart.
Overall… quick fight, due to James's buff I felt more full of energy. In fact…I felt quite excited. The reason?
I can finally fight goblins! Albeit with James's help… I can still do it without getting hurt. How… When I turned my head, James and Shaun were standing there with both arms crossed.
That answers my question, damn… The bodies were nowhere to be seen; Moments later the horrendous smell that usually lingers disappeared.
James congratulated me moments later, we only stayed here for a second and went to the exit. All three of us were full of energy, that was the real reason we didn't take a break.
Seems like with experience it does help… I thought as we got to a gigantic rocky staircase. It looked to be endless, as I couldn't see the bottom. But there was over a hundred steps aiming downwards.
As we made our journey downwards, I created a light for us; it wasn't long before the steps disappeared and we stepped foot into another tunnel system.
"Is it just tunnels?" I mumbled whilst looking at the same exact sight. "I thought dungeons would look different."
It was really anti-climactic, y'know? In those stories it could really be anything… but in this world it wasn't at least for this one. Where are the flying castles? Where are the destroyed cities? C'mon world! At least give me a giant labyrinth with giant rocks blocking the left side!
Even the boring plains outside were more interesting than these damn rocky tunnels of monsters.
"Just be patient, this is a beginner dungeon."
"I know… What monsters are on these floors?"
"Mainly goblins."
Both James and Shaun pointed towards holes in the walls, when they did I focused my hearing on them; very quickly heavy breathing rang inside.
Welp… I let my head drop and sighed. Hopefully this goes smoother.
***
Let's just get this done.
I ignored James's attempts at stopping me.
The obvious homes of the goblins entered my eyes, their mangy breath assaulted my nose.
I don't know why I want to save her, why am I doing this? I had this question wave in my head as I pulled out my sword.
I don't care for her, so why do I want to do this? I just want to stay home, and sleep all day.
"Shaun! We-"
James tried to stop me, but I immediately activated provoke. Countless goblins ran out of the holes in the walls.
When they got into range of my sword, I swung it in a circle— I felt barely any resistance when green blood splattered in the air.
"You idiot!"
I turned a blind eye to that comment when the swarm kept on coming. Time and time again, I slashed through these hordes— goblins and monsters never change.
They waltz over the corpses of their species and try to attack what is in front of them.
I felt the onset of tiredness go through my body as I swung my sword again. Before I knew it there were at least a hundred goblins dead and around me.
Like daughter like father. When I glanced over at those two, they were drenched. Yukina was leaning over and heaving.
James was holding his head and I could tell he was feeling exhausted.
"Shaun, what has gotten into you?" Was what he could only say. "I'm positive Miss Lora is fine. It's possible she's alive and okay."
"Let's go."
"Shaun! Come on! Yukina needs some rest!"
I kept walking, James yelled…
His yelling stopped when I walked into the center of another group of goblins. Keep going.
As the group of goblins fell to the ground in many pieces, James grabbed my shoulder.
"Shaun, you need to slow down."
"..."
I tried to pull my shoulder away, but James kept his grip on it.
"You need to slow down, look at Yukina." He pointed towards her with a frown.
"..."
I sighed and nodded my head. When he let my shoulder go, I leaned on a clear wall and turned my head to the route ahead.
How many more hordes do we have? I can't remember… And how far did Lora get? I couldn't remember much about this dungeon, it's been years.
Only James did his research on it, and I couldn't care less to ask him… Plus, his goal was to get Yukina some experience. On the side was saving her.
Moments as I kept thinking, I heard soft footsteps coming from my left; when I turned, it was Yukina and she still looked exhausted.
"I'm sorry…"
"It's fine."
What is going on with me? My heart hurts seeing Yukina look down.
She had her head hanging and she looked unhappy. I brought my hand up to the top of her head and rubbed.
"Shaun, you need to start thinking of others… especially those who are close to you." James reminded me.
I nodded my head and sighed as I removed my hand.
"I'll do that."
We took a long break so Yukina could recover. Despite her adopted father's spell her stamina was completely drained.
Eventually she did recover fully and we went on our way. We cleared past a bunch of goblin hordes and found a fork in the road… And Yukina pointed down one with her ears going up alert.
"There's someone down there." She said with a firm voice. "We need to go down that one, I can smell human blood."