Chapter 8: Karafil

The next place to visit was the villages. I touched the sign and away I went. I was hoping that here, I would get some loot bags. Although I obtained an extremely great amount of trade points, I would still like to get loot, and none of the Arena goblins dropped any.

The villages I came to were four in count. I was teleported between the four of them, and they were North, South, East, and West of me. I decided to start with the North. I started heading to the village. These villages seemed to be gated off, with Goblins defending the gate. The entrance to this village had four Goblins. As they saw me approach, they started talking amongst each other. Then, one of the Goblins stepped up.

“Stop, Human. Why have you come?”

I looked at the Goblin, shocked. “You—you can speak Human?” It was speaking Human.

[Goblin Magister, Lv5]

“Why have you come?” It signaled the other Goblins beside it. Two were Goblin Knights and the last was a Goblin Bowman. They started getting closer to me. The Magister had no weapons, but its hands started to glow with a purple hue.

I’ve fought mage type classes before, but I’ve never seen a Goblin Magister before. Plus, it knew how to speak Human. When I was playing on Easy and Normal, I never saw this type of AI before. Mobs that speak to players, mobs appearing on a floor they shouldn’t, just what is going on?

“... I’ve come for information.” I wanted information, however, the information that I was supposed to get from this floor wasn’t what I wanted. “Information on who and where the masters of you Goblins are.”

The Goblin Magister seemed to keep a straight face, but the Goblins around it had contorted faces. They understood what I said, since when talking to Goblins, my language was auto-translated.

“Human. There is none of that information here. If that is all you want, then leave.” It started pulling one hand back, and moved the other forward, still with a purple hue upon them.

I didn’t know what it was planning, but I needed some kind of answers to my questions. “I’m not leaving.”

The Goblin Magister suddenly thrust its rear hand towards my direction, and the purple hue that had gathered in its hands seemingly turned into a spear like object. I quickly brought my kite shield up to block the attack.

[You took 75 damage from Goblin Magister, Lv5. Current Health: 225/150]

“What?!” The attack went through my shield and pierced straight into my left shoulder. The Goblin Magister started preparing another spell, and the two Goblin Knights guarded the Magister and Bowman.

My health instantly started regenerating. I needed to end this quickly. I decided I would need to get through the Goblin Knights first, one way or another, and get the Magister first. The Magister’s attacks seemed to go through equipment. Perhaps... a type of spectral spell?

I charged toward the Knight in front of the Magister, and activated {Shrouded Blink}. It was time to utilize it. An arrow started coming from the right side of the gate and the Bowman’s Knight stood steadily, guarding the Goblin Bowman. I dodged the arrow, and swung my ‘Buckler Blade’ at the Knight guarding the Magister.

I really need to get a longer weapon—this weapon’s reach is too short, and the defense isn’t nearly worth as much as I thought.

The Knight met my blade with its shield, completely absorbing the damage. It then swung its sword at me. My body felt ethereal as its blade went through me, and then I saw a counter. My body had turned to smoke, and the counter was ticking down, waiting for me to blink to a new location. I blinked over to the Magister, right above it and came striking down with my blade.

[Sneak Attack! Goblin Magister, Lv5, takes 60 damage.]

Ah, my sneak attacks don’t hit for 2x the damage? It must be because I need to be a certain class? The Magister fell instantly, and I quickly followed up killing the other three. I then raided the village in search of any information I could find, but ended up finding naught. So, I went to the other three villages. No information whatsoever. Only 2500 total experience and 36 loot bags. The loot contained the normal ‘tubes of satiety’, ‘hydration bottles’, health potions and some tradeable loot. After having done a twice-over on the four villages, I went back to the square.

The spiral staircase was still here. I walked past it and to the sign that said ‘Safehouse’, tapping it and being teleported. I appeared about 100 feet away from a long building. It had windows and some large walk-in areas.

Looks more like a warehouse to me. There are even Goblins walking back and forth. No guards? That is quite strange. I approached the building. A Goblin spotted me, got alerted, and ran inside the Safehouse. I got closer, and then the Goblin came back out—it brought friends.

About ten Goblins here—various weapons. Should be fine with my meal buff. The Goblins didn’t ask questions, and just charged at me. I absorbed some of the attacks with my ‘Kite of Biding Eruption’ and started gathering them together. After they were in a nice pile, I used {Shrouding Blink}, got behind them, and fired off {Biding Hellfire Rupture}. Then, it was over.

I entered the Safehouse. It really seemed like a warehouse, and there were empty crates stacked up in random places. But, it seemed… pretty empty.

“Remaining Mobs!”

[System Notice: There are 90 mobs remaining. Mobs cleared: 210/300]

Are they not here? I walked around and didn’t see anyone. I used {Area Scan}.

[Report Received, 90 presences]

Goblin Alchemist, Lv5

Goblin Alchemist, Lv5

Goblin Alchemist, Lv5

And it continued as such. 90 Goblin Alchemists?! What the hell? But there is nothing here! I continued searching around, throwing the empty crates around. One of the crates I moved seemed to have activated a pressure switch, as the floor in the center of the Safehouse opened up, with stairs leading down. I went down the stairs. There were many, many alchemy tables being worked on by the Alchemists. The shelves were also lined with potions and flasks.

Ah. With that amount of potions and flasks there are… it could make me a happy man, but how do I go about killing these guys without destroying all these flasks?

A Goblin Alchemist noticed me peeking in from the stairs, and shouted, “Intruder! Human intruder!!” The other Goblins reacted, started grabbing the potions and flasks off the shelves, then started running in my direction. I began running up the stairs. I used to be an Alchemist, and as such, I knew that, although I never reached the abilities to do so, that Alchemists could create dangerous potions and flasks. Once I got up the stairs, I turned around preparing for the attack. A flask came flying up and I dodged backward trying to avoid it. It exploded, and a foul vapor spread in the air.

[You have been poisoned by Goblin Alchemist, Lv5.]

My health started ticking down, ten every five seconds. The meal buff covered that, though, and I then went up to the stairs when I saw the Goblin Alchemist’s head pop up. This should be a decent choke point. I held off the horde of Goblin Alchemists, absorbing their potions and flasks with my shield, even ricocheting some of them, and then when enough damage was absorbed, I shot off some hellfire. I couldn’t be bothered spending too much time here.

As I began finishing up the horde, I received a couple of notices.

[System Notice: You learned a new Ability through {Assimilation}. You learned {Goblin Alchemy: Elemental Flask}!]

{Goblin Alchemy: Elemental Flask} - An active ability. Use mana to create ‘Elemental Flask (Empty)’. You can then infuse elements you generate into the flasks to complete the product. Flask Cost: 10 Mana.

[System Notice: You leveled up to Lv6! Congratulations! Health increased by 10. Mana increased by 2. You received 2 AP. ]

[System Notice: You continued learning an Ability through {Assimilation}: ???. Status: 8/50]

“Ah, a useless ability. I’m no mage. I can create empty flasks, but that is about it.” I tossed my two attribute points into Vitality, bringing it up to ten. Okay, now I just need to get Strength to ten. I searched through the basement of the Safehouse, or perhaps this was the actual Safehouse and the top part was just a fake.

I could see a Goblin Alchemist running through the area. Ah, it’s—it’s pushing over the shelves. The shelves were lain across the floor, flasks and potions broken everywhere. Darn, I was looking forward to keeping some of those for myself. I went up to the Goblin Alchemist, and it started quivering, “For—for killing so many of us, our masters will take your head, Evil Human!” It then threw a flask it had at me. It hit me, but with {Shrouded Blink} active, I turned into smoke and appeared behind it, beheading it.

[System Notice: You cleared all the mobs on Floor 3: 300/300. You will get a reward on Floor 4.]

I guess I can move on now. Just take a quick look-see. I looked around the Safehouse basement. Other than the shattered glass everywhere and the knocked down shelves, there wasn’t a whole lot. I walked around the perimeter and didn’t notice anything. I continued looking around and decided to walk through the center—and luckily—as I neared the middle, some box started appearing, as if an illusion had been broken.

I got closer to the box, and then a floor trap went off. An explosion went off beneath my feet.

[You took 150 damage from an Explosion Trap (floor). Current Health: 160/160.]

Ouch. Good thing I have a meal buff and fire resistance or else I would have died. I waited for my health to regenerate to full, and continued towards the box. There were no more traps in the path I took. I touched the box.

[System Notice: You unlocked a new location for Floor 3: The Hideout.]

“Oh?” Is this where Zilmazil would have been at? I walked back out of the building, picking up the loot bags from the fallen Alchemists, and made it back to where I was teleported from. I teleported to the square, and there was a new sign next to the other three, which said ‘The Hideout’. I went over to the sign and away I went.

I appeared in a dark, cave-like area. It was a pretty straightforward place that led to an open area. It smelled like there was dew in the area, and you could see water dripping from the top. I explored the empty cave. There was a place for campfires, a food storage area, and a bed. On top of the bed laid a message written in Goblin.

‘Zilmazil, orders have been passed down. They want the head of the Human who will soon arrive. Go down a floor and take care of it.

The Human knows how to speak our language, and has been killing our kind.

They said “We are watching, do not fail us.”

-Karafil’

Karafil. I will remember that name. I picked up the message, and added it to my inventory. This is the only link I have about the masters—Find Karafil, find the masters, get answers. I started walking away from the bed, and then heard a sound. I turned around and noticed the bed was disintegrating. There was a small treasure chest. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a familiar looking orb with nothing else. I touched it.

[System Notice: Congratulations! You found the hidden treasure of Floor 3. You gained 2 AP.]

Nice. I added the 2 attribute points to Strength, bringing it to nine. I went back through the cave and teleported out. Then, I climbed up the spiral staircase.

[System Notice: Floor 3 complete. Heading to starting point for Floor 4.]