Heilong and Freya explored a few of the buildings while Infamous Biscuit and K13 kept watch.

“The high orcs are definitely scheming something,” Heilong said. “Probably some sort of trap. But they don’t seem to want to fight us here. So we may as well take our time to explore and make them wait for us.”

The first structure they explored contained absolutely nothing. Not even dividing walls. The square building only had a dusty tile floor. The large empty space had no indents, scuffs, or burn marks to indicate anything had ever been inside. The next building they picked was similar, but the floors appeared recently swept.

Freya gazed up at the high ceilings, “Do you think high orcs are getting ready to live in these buildings?”

“Maybe,” Heilong said, “Or maybe they’re trying to preserve them. It doesn’t seem like they’re living in any of them. Otherwise, there’d be evidence of cooking and places to sleep. Although… do monsters that spawned in a dungeon need to eat and sleep?”

She tapped her forehead, pondering.

After entering a few more stone structures and finding nothing, they decided to move on. They continued down alongside the cobblestone road. More collapsed and untouched ruins became common again as they moved away from the center of the cavern. Freya wondered why they decided to restore the buildings in the middle first.

Finally, a large entryway came into view as they reached the far side of the space.

Intricate geometric patterns made an arching border around the entrance. Through the archway loomed another dark corridor. It had white marble flooring like the first. However, unlike the previous corridor, this one was much wider and taller. It looked more like a tunnel than a hallway as it was circular shaped.

“Oh yay, another dark, creepy corridor,” Heilong said deadpan. She crouched down to look at the ground. “Some orcs walked through here not too long ago.”

Freya brought out her enchanted light. Without another word, the four of them entered the tunnel.

The tunnel was wide enough that walking in the center, Freya’s light didn’t quite reach the walls. Fanning out, all four of them walked side by side, with Infamous Biscuit and Heilong also providing light on the sides.

Less than a minute into the tunnel, Freya noticed something, “Hey, there’s a door here.”

A sturdy wooden door with an iron handle was indented into the curved wall. Heilong inspected the handle for a moment.

“I wonder if it’s locked,” Heilong said and tried the handle.

Click

“Um,”

Light streamed through the crack. Deciding it was too late to pretend otherwise, Heilong opened the door. Freya peeked around her shoulder to see what lay on the other side.

Five orcs in full armor sat relaxed on the ground.

Creeek!

All the orcs turned towards the door squeak.

Everyone froze.

Then pandemonium ensued.

Slightly more prepared than the orcs, K13 immediately rushed in and aggroed them with his Red Aura skill. Freya jumped in, and Heilong marked one of the orcs. Tangling Vines sprouted up on one side of the space.

“I’m closing the door! We don’t need to get attacked from behind,” said Infamous Biscuit, slamming the door shut. “K13 move them a little further in.”

Following his instructions, K13 guided the mob of high orcs away from the door, giving Heilong and Infamous Biscuit more breathing room.

With a Shockwave and a few more follow up hits, Freya killed the high orc with Heilong’s Mark.

Behind her, another orc staggered from a qi arrow from Heilong. Using her Sweeping Kick, Freya got a knockdown on the orc.

[Sweeping Kick]

[Lvl 9 → Lvl 10 ]

[Sweeping Kick now has a 100% chance of knockdown on level 5 and lower targets]

Freya quickly focused her eyes off the windows, so they disappeared. She snuck up behind a different orc engaged with K13, slipped her hands between its armor, and used her Implosion skill. Her qi based skill dropped the high orc’s HP significantly and made it fall over. Now with one orc gone and two on the ground, the small room felt much bigger.

“Heal!” Infamous Biscuit shouted and a green shroud surrounded K13.

[K13]

[Lvl 15 Berserker]

[449/580 HP] [50/60 MP]

“The situation’s pretty under control, but feel free to use your berserker skill now,” Infamous Biscuit said to K13.

After a few more ax swings, K13 nodded. He paused for a moment. An orc’s spear glanced off his armor. Then K13 launched himself at the orc that hit him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

K13’s wild ax swings struck against the high orc’s armor over and over.

Freya noticed over his head:

[Brawler’s Madness in Effect]

“Heilong try to hit the orcs K13 targets, so his hits have an eff- Oh wow!”

[High Orc Spearman]

[Lvl 14] [153/500]

Clang! Clang! CRASH!

The orc’s HP continued to drop rapidly. K13 broke through the orc’s chest armor, sending a chunk of metal flying. Blood splattered him. Not stopping, K13 continued to swing wildly until the orc turned to dust.

Freya used her Hit Redirect and a kick to direct the orc she was fighting to K13. It stumbled towards the berserker, who immediately turned his fury down on it.

Heilong and Infamous Biscuit had already taken care of the two orc’s Freya disabled earlier, so this was the last one. They all watched as K13 ran down the high orc’s health. The orc couldn’t even get a hit in.

[K13]

[Lvl 16 Berserker]

[670/670 HP] [50/60 MP]

“He must have figured out a Meridian Manipulation based skill and also leveled up,” Heilong said, grinning.

Freya also smiled. She knew he had been trying up until the moment they entered the dungeon to create a qi-based skill. Infamous Biscuit had suggested trying to buy a skill book, but K13 had refused, wanting to follow a more organic method at obtaining a skill.

“We should have a good chance of completing the dungeon now!” Freya said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Heilong looked at her sharply, “Please don’t jinx it.”