”A Lv.2 Dungeon? I wonder what that means for the monsters inside, and if the others can handle it.” Hearing a weird noise behind me, I looked back to see that a basically invisible barrier appeared out of nowhere—reaching high in the sky and spreading throughout the whole area. “Interesting, I couldn’t even see it when I was right outside the Dungeon.” I thought to myself, “Closed Dungeons could almost be like a hidden trap you can step in that won’t let you go.That does make them more dangerous than Open Dungeons.”

Arriving at the base of the mountain range, the sun was now beginning to rise, and I could clearly see the hundreds of small camps spread throughout the area. Each being filled with thousands of goblins and a couple hundred wolves, all eating at campfires and leaving their tents for the morning. Ignoring the looks they gave me as I was escorted by, I saw their names only show: Warrior, Spearman, Rider, Archer, and Mage; and all ranging from Lv.6-12. Taking a few minutes to even walk through all the camps, I did a really rough count and guessed only about 6,000 were in the area—90% of which were regular goblins, with the other 10% being hobgoblins—until we finally reached a huge clearing at the foot of the mountain range—between two mountains.

Speaking without thought, I said “Wow...” Awestruck by the sight of the enormous lake in the center of the mountain range ahead of me. Surrounded on all sides by extremely steep mountain sides, I could already imagine the mountains forming a crescent shape around the lake, hence being appropriately named the Crescent Mountains. Though not simply being a lake, a huge rundown looking castle was placed right in the middle, with a long and narrow stone bridge leading directly to it.

Still pulling me by the ropes, I was dragged to the start of the bridge where four Lv.14 Hobgoblin Warriors stood bored, but when they saw us approach they grinned to each other. “You know weak not allowed.” One on the right said,

“What is this?” Another on the left asked.

The goblin leading stuttered, “C-Creature wants to join.” I nodded in agreement, “W-We show King.” The hobgoblins bursted out laughing before loudly snarling at the goblins causing them to run away.

“I show across.” The same one on the right said, but the others didn’t seem to care, and he grabbed the ropes off the ground. “Follow creature.” Pulling me across the bridge.

While we walked, I opened the Party chat and sent a message to the others, and luckily the hobgoblin didn’t seem to recognize I was doing something. “Even monsters can't recognize the System. Good to know." I thought, continuing along the bridge. “If they were regular Players I wouldn’t trust them to survive with such a simple and straight forward plan, but there's a reason they placed Top 10 in the Tutorial.”

Arriving at the end of the bridge in front of the castle’s raised gate entrance, I was shown to the two Lv.16 Elite Hobgoblin Warriors guarding the ground. “Looks like these are the main forces.” I thought, seeing them both stand a foot taller than the hobgoblin leading me—around 7ft tall. Wearing full sets of half plate armour, one wielded a sword and shield, and the other a greataxe. I even saw four Lv.13-14 Elite Goblin Archers and two Lv.15 Goblin Shamans patrolling along the walls.

The hobgoblin with the greataxe then stepped forward, and sternly said “This creature not allowed, why bring?”

Before the hobgoblin who brought me could answer, I said to him “I want to join under the rule of the King Goblex.”

Surprised I could speak Goblin, it pointed at me asking “You creature, what use to our King?”

“I’m the best archer, so I can serve the King as his best archer.” I answered confidently. “I can show you if you remove the ropes.”

“Don’t care, King will decide. Follow.” Leading the way inside.

Passing through the gate, we entered a huge crowded castle courtyard where the remaining thousands of goblins were staying. Ranging from Lv.13-17, they were all Elite versions of the other goblins, except for Mages that were named Shamans instead, and was now about 50/50 goblins and hobgoblins. Forcing our way through the crowd and still ignoring the stares, I looked ahead at the main castle building and saw it was an old destroyed mess.

The castle buildings were made of fine white stone and the roofs a type of dark brown shingles, but more than half of it was being covered by overgrown vines and plants. Total sections were completely damaged and destroyed, leaving huge open holes all along the outside walls and the roofs. Most of the windows were partially broken or shattered, and even had the balcony overlooking the courtyard half broken. But worst of all, one of the 2 front corner towers had completely collapsed and broken down, leaving a whole corner open to the outside. The only thing that seemed relatively unbroken was the 10ft tall double doors of the main entrance—which seemed to be kept open allowing the goblins to freely enter and leave through them.

Making it through the doors, we now stood in a large round foyer, and I took the whole space in. On the left and the right sides of the foyer, there were 2 long hallways the goblins were walking down—leading to the other parts of the castle. In the middle was a tall now broken marble statue of what seemed to be an armoured man, and passed the statue—on the other end of the foyer—was another set of tall double doors. These doors being closed, I could see there were red banners hanging from the ceiling beside them, and on the ground leading to the doors was a dirtied red carpet. Being the only place the other goblins seemed to be avoiding, both a Lv.17 Elite Hobgoblin Warrior and a Lv.17 Elite Hobgoblin Spearman guarded the doors; and being pulled to them, the hobgoblins talked to each other.

“This must lead into the throne room.” I thought, noticing they already finished talking and I was left with these hobgoblins now. The spearman stayed at the entrance, while the warrior brought me through the double doors. “I was right.” Having entered the surprisingly intact throne room.

Above the center of the room was a beautiful light crystal chandelier—lighting most of the room—and all along the sides of the room were tall stone columns with smaller light crystals affixed to each—as well as some more banners. The red carpet on the ground extended all the way to the other end of the throne room, leading to an elevated platform. In the middle of the platform was a large empty red and gold throne. As we got closer, I could also see behind the throne—along the back wall—there were two doors at each corner of the room.

Stopping before the throne, the hobgoblin said to me “We wait. King and Chieftains return soon.”

“Return? Return from what?” I asked curiously.

“Planning night attack.” The hobgoblin cautiously answered, “Our turn to join.”

“Another attack!? Already!? With these elite goblins around, even the Players will have a hard time defending all of the town.” But calming down, I thought to myself “I guess it won’t really matter if we do what we were sent here for.” Waiting for a bit, I sent another message to the Party informing them. Then suddenly the left door at the back of the room swung open.

Hunching out of the door, four unique looking goblins came out: a Lv.20 Goblin Ranger Chieftain, a Lv.20 Goblin Warrior Chieftain, a Lv.20 Goblin Shaman Chieftain, and a Lv.20 Goblin Rider Chieftain. They all wore variations of spiked metal armour with fur hide cloaks, except for the shaman who wore fur hides and a robe instead. For their weapons: the warrior had a large double sided axe, the rider with a spear and shield, the ranger having both a crossbow and two daggers, and for the shaman a single staff with an antlered deer skull on top. From their shine, I could tell the weapons were decently valuable.

Giving me all a curious look, they stood next to the empty throne and waited. Then coming out of the same door, a short, slightly fat, shirtless goblin—wearing only brown pants and a red cape—walked over and sat down on the throne. Though I couldn’t help but keep staring at the top of his head, as even with the currently suppressed shine of the goblin eyes, the black and gold spiked crown on his head was still almost blindingly bright and emitted such a strong black magical aura.

Reading the goblin’s name, I was shocked to see it as Lv.15 Goblin King. “Only Lv.15? This can’t really be the Boss, right?” Seeing the Goblin King and the Chieftains all staring me down.

***

Waking to the morning first, Dream stood up and saw that everyone was still sleeping, all for Eyes who was nowhere to be seen. Seeing Neon rubbing his head on her leg, Dream asked “Neon, did you see where Eyes went? The tall one, with the black hair and the pointy ears.”

“I do not know Mistress, but he is a strange one we should watch out for. He was able to talk to me unlike the others.” Neon replied, licking his paw clean of blood.

“You talked to him? When was that?” Dream asked.

“We went our separate ways 3 hours ago, Mistress. I have not seen him since.” Neon answered.

“3 hours!?” Concerned, Dream quickly shook everyone awake—being extra rough to wake up Bear Faust.

Upon waking up, Faust reverted back into his human form and grumpily asked “What’s your problem, Dream?”

“My problem is that Eyes has been missing for 3 hours!” Dream exclaimed, and hearing that Eyes was missing helped everyone get over their morning grogginess.

“Hey look at the Party chat, he left us messages.” Lavie pointed out.

Eyes- This is my plan, follow at your own will.

When you all wake up, make your way to the mountains, it’s only about 3 hours at walking pace. On the way there should be a couple groups of goblins scouting the area for you to take out.

When you reach and enter the Dungeon area, I suggest splitting into 2 groups. One left, one right, and highest Level with the lowest to make it balanced. So Lavie and Tobias, and Faust and Dream. Then at the base of the mountain you'll find goblin camps spread throughout, and there's at least 6,000 goblins there, all ranging from Lv.6-12. Start your attacks on the camps however you see fit. And something to note, in a Dungeon all your regeneration is halved, so pay attention to your mana and stamina use.

As for me, I should already be in the castle with the Goblin King. Don’t worry, I’m not in danger...probably. I'll kill the Boss first so we can leave the Dungeon whenever and not have to worry about being stuck inside and surrounded. At worst we can just leave and recover outside the Dungeon, and then come back when we're full and rested.

That’s about it, and also don’t any of you die or I won't complete my Hidden Quest.

“What? How did he get inside without being attacked? And how is he casually saying he’s gonna solo the Boss?” Faust questioned.

Checking all his weapons, Tobias smugly said “I could get in.”

“Doesn’t matter how he got in, we just gotta hurry and help him.” Dream said, looking which way to go.

“Don’t you guys think his plan is too simple and kinda dangerous to just be charging in there?” Faust questioned.

“Says the guy who wanted to leave after learning it was just more goblins.” Dream pointed out.

“Well I didn’t think we were just running in there, I mean we’re basically gonna be fighting all of last night's attack, but now they’re stronger.” Continuing, “How can we just blindly trust and follow what he says? Especially since he placed below us.”

Taking out all 5 of her weapons from her Inventory, Lavie said “I’ve known Eyes since the end of Tutorial, so I’d like to think I know him a little better than you guys, and from the couple of hours I spent with him so far, I liked who he was and how he treated people around him.” Pausing before continuing, “We can all agree the plan is simple, but I think it is simple because Eyes already trust us to be able to handle whatever comes our way. And I think if someone puts their trust in you, it’s only right you put your trust in them, don’t you think?” Faust couldn’t argue it.

Twirling his key and chain, Tobias said “I don’t usually work with others, but a job’s a job, and I’ll do what’s best to get it done.”

Letting out a little laugh, Dream said “For someone who pays attention to our Rankings a lot, I can’t believe you haven’t realized who’s way ahead of everyone else.”

“What are—” Faust tried to talk but Dream interrupted him.

“Just check the Rankings.” Dream said.

Taking a moment, Faust looked at the Ranking Menu. “What the hell?! Eyes is almost first in all of the Rankings, and he’s basically 12 levels higher than everyone else except for Lavie!” Faust exclaimed, “When did that happen?” Lavie and Tobias also checked the Rankings and were also impressed.

“Now stop questioning Eyes, he’s clearly doing something right.” Dream said, taking out her hexagon shaped shield.

“I guess I was being too down on him since he got last in the Tutorial out of us." Faust acknowledged, taking out a dull grey crystal that started to float around him. "But hey Dream, did you see how far ahead of you I am in the Rankings?” Faust teased.

Dream was about to respond when Lavie stopped her, saying “Ok kids, we don’t have time for you to start fighting again. Eyes is waiting for us in the Dungeon.”

“I’m not a kid Lavie, I’m 16.” Dream corrected.

Surprised, Faust said “15 turning 16, which I guess would technically be today.”

“Jeez, you two really are children.” Tobias chuckled at the fact he was working with children.

“Happy birthday, now let’s go.” Lavie said, running in the direction of the mountains.

Coming across their first group of scouts and having agreed not to slow down, Dream shouted “Neon, deal with them!” As Neon jumped out of her robe in the middle of the scouts, he transformed—growing in size and deadliness—and immediately began tearing the goblins apart. Seeing another group of scouts just ahead, Faust shifted into a white wolf, and ran ahead to take care of them while the others continued to run by.

After a few minutes of running, Tobias rushed ahead to the upcoming group of scouts, and threw his chain at the closest goblin—the chain magically attaching to its chest. He then quickly ran a wide arc around the goblins in a circle, and every goblin that touched the chain was binded to it—trapping the whole group together. While the girls continued onwards, the 9 goblins struggled to break free of the chains, giving Tobias the easy chance to kill all of them with a single deep stab to each of their heads. Then finally seeing Wolf Faust catching up, he grabbed his fur and pulled himself up onto him—noticing Neon was also using Faust as a free ride.

Quickly catching up to the girls, they found Lavie killing the last goblin in a group using a chain whip, and Dream sniping an archer trying to run away with a blast of a black coloured spell. Together they kept going towards the mountains, ripping through any and all groups of goblins easily, until finally they stopped and all received a message.

You are now entering a Closed Dungeon, and are unable to leave until the Boss is killed. The Closed Dungeon is now full. Your regeneration is now halved.

Returning back into human, Faust said “I know we should listen to Eyes, but can’t we switch partners?”

“Hey I’m not happy about it either.” Dream sneered.

“You can do whatever you like, but I’m going this way.” Lavie said, heading to the left.

“Tobias?” Faust asked.

“Don’t really feel like babysitting.” Tobias replied, heading left too.

Alone together, Dream said “Bet?”

Faust smirked, “Always. 10 Gold?”

“Deal.” Dream agreed.

“Hey, no cheating this time.”

“I told you, that was my real number.” Arguing back and forth, they walked to the right.

The 2 groups going their separate ways suddenly got another message in chat.

Eyes- Update, I'm in the castle waiting to meet the King and the Chieftains. The castle and the courtyard is filled with the remaining thousands of goblins, all being Lv.13-17 Elite Goblins and Hobgoblins. I suggest dealing with the army outside first, and I’ll keep the Elites distracted from you until you can come and help me.

I also found out that they’re already planning another attack on Asheton for tonight, this time bringing everything they got, so we gotta deal with this before then.

Fight hard, try not to die, and good luck.

Reading the messages, the whole Party got a little more motivated.

***

Lavie- We just arrived.

Tobias- Tell me how you got in there later.

Faust- Hey never pair us up like this again

Dream- He’s just mad cause I’m already winning the bet again

Still having the chat open, I closed it as the King began to speak to me. “So this creature wants to join my Goblin Kingdom?”

“Yes King Goblex.” The hobgoblin answered, kneeling.

“You creature, can you understand me?” King Goblex asked.

“Of course I can, King Goblex.” As I also knelt down, going along with the bit.

“I’ve never heard of or seen a creature like you before, what can you do?” King Goblex asked, looking at me curiously.

“My King, I am the best and strongest archer in all the land. I can demonstrate if you’d like?” I smiled, enjoying my own theatrics.

“A bold claim. Untie him.” Listening, the hobgoblin untied my ropes. “Prove to me your strength creature, and I’ll allow you to join my Goblin Kingdom. However, if you fail to do so, I’ll have my Chieftains execute you on the spot.” And out of nowhere a Quest appeared.

Quest

Joining The Goblin Kingdom:

Prove your strength to the Goblin King.

Reward: Recognized as part of the Goblin Kingdom. Failure: Execution by the Goblin Chieftains.

Will you accept:

*Choosing ‘No’ will lead to an automatic Failure.*

[Yes] or [No]

“I was just gonna kill the King when I pulled out my bow, but now I wanna see what happens.” Choosing Yes, I asked “Is killing one of the Chieftains enough to show you my strength?”

“A Chieftain!?” King Goblex let out a laugh, but the Chieftains didn’t seem to like what I said and growled aggressively at me. “You are bold, but the answer is no. My Kingdom needs their strength.” His words made the Chieftains calm down.

“What about this one?” Pointing to the hobgoblin that brought me.

“He’s one of my strongest warriors, I doubt a measly archer could best him, but if you can kill him, you’ll have proved your strength to me.” King Goblex stated.

Taking out Infinity and Silenced Shame from my Inventory, I said to the hobgoblin “I’m sorry that you have to die.” The hobgoblin angrily drew his weapon at me. “I should try to see if he has any weak points, and I could also try out one of my new Skills on him.” Focusing my Eyes of a Seer, I started to see a small red glowing dot begin to appear at the top of the hobgoblin’s forehead, on his left elbow, and on his right kneecap. “Those must be the weak points.” Then without warning, the hobgoblin charged towards me swinging his axe.

Reacting to his slow swing, I ducked right under it, and as the axe passed over my head, I used Leaping Shot to jump high up into the air—about 10ft above the ground. Almost like I was floating, I felt like I had all the time to draw an arrow from my quiver, aim at the red dot on the hobgoblin's forehead, and fire the arrow straight at it—all before even starting to fall. The arrow satisfyingly landed directly in the red glowing dot, piercing and digging itself into the hobgoblin’s skull, and the body just fell limp to the ground.

Falling surprisingly softly on the dead hobgoblin, I asked King Goblex “Was that enough proof, my King?” The Chieftains were stunned, and the King's eyes widened.

Quest Updated.

Hidden Quest Unlocked:

Prove to be invaluable to the Goblin King

Standing up on the throne clapping, King Goblex said “Incredible, even the Chieftains can’t kill the strongest goblins in one attack.” King Goblex looked to have gotten an idea, “And I’ve decided, not only are you now a part of my Goblin Kingdom, but I will also make you my first Royal Guard! Welcome!”

Quest Completed Joining The Goblin Kingdom and the bonus Hidden Quest has been completed. Reward: Recognized as part of the Goblin Kingdom. Hidden Reward: Appointed to be a part of the Goblin King’s Royal Guards. You have gained the Title: [The Goblin King’s Royal Guard]. The Goblin King’s Royal Guard: To serve and protect your Goblin King, you become stronger in their presence. +20 to All Stats when fighting in the presence of the Goblin King. As a follower of Goblex, you now gain the bonus effect of ‘The Cursed Crown Of Royalty’. +25% of base Stats, and +10% to base regenerations.

“What’s with this bonus effect stuff about a cursed crown?” I questioned myself, “I guess I’ll find out when I take it from him.”

“Chieftains go inform the kingdom that this is my Royal Guard, and that it is one of us now.” All Chieftains walked by with an angry and envious look to them. Turning back to me, King Goblex asked “Do you have a name, creature?”

“They call me Eyes.” I answered, tightening my grip on my bow, and waiting for the Chieftains to close the door behind them.

“Well Royal Guard Eyes, come follow me. I want to use the slaves.” My grip loosened when I heard there were slaves, not wanting to kill him until I found out where they were. Following King Goblex back out into the courtyard, the goblins quieted down a little and all whispered about me.

“That the Royal Guard?”

“Chieftains looked angry, none were chosen.”

“Quiet, dead if heard.”

“It okay, Chieftains went outside castle.”

“The Chieftains aren’t here? That makes things a lot easier for me, but a lot harder for the others.” I thought to myself, still following.

Being led to the left side of the courtyard, we arrived at a heavy barred gate along the wall. Entering and going down the long and narrow spiral staircase, we reached a large chamber with multiple old barred prison cells. From a quick glance around, I could see about 5-10 women packed in each cell—dirtied and sobbing, all huddled together.

King Goblex then announced to me, “Welcome to my Slave Dungeon!” I clenched my teeth, “The regular goblins need my permission first to use them, but for you and the Chieftains, you may use them whenever you like.”

I pretended to be looking for a woman to pick out, but I was instead checking for any other goblins down here, which there were none. Though while I did that, the King had already approached and entered a cell, and I could hear the women pleading him not to pick them.

Rushing over and drawing my bow, I thought to myself “I just hope the other goblins won’t know what happened down here.” The Goblin King turned at the sudden sound of a bow shot, and the last thing he saw was my arrow flying straight towards him.