A white orb floated in the center of the Ghoul's corpses. A faint thread jutted from each corpse into the orb. When Nilbog got close to it, a notification appeared.

Common Orb Of Strength

Increase Strength by 10% for five minutes.

10 points will be divided among the party if unused by the end of the Dungeon.

They decided to hold on to it for the time being. They had their next encounter after a few minutes. As detestable as Gale was, when he popped his head out of the bushes he was received with welcoming smiles. After sitting in prison for a couple of days, everyone was eager to catch up on the lost time.

Well, everyone but Nilbog. Most of this was a waste of time for him. He needed to get information, not waste his time killing monsters for little rewards. It wouldn’t be if I would just…

“More Ghouls. Three Adult and three Bruisers. Level 35-43 now.”

“Perfect,” Lan nodded. “Let’s find a good chokehold.”

“We should expect this pattern, I guess?” Cijo said.

“The deeper we go, the higher the difficulty curve will be. We’ll farm Ghouls for safe points and experience, and after we work better together, we’ll be able to take on the more difficult foes. Let’s keep moving alongside the edges of the storm.”

“Let’s take it slowly, then. How far away is it?”

“Seven or so minutes. We got time.” Lan said, preparing to cast another Maneuvers buff.

Things went smoothly. Cijo and Moon tanked the frontline, while Lan provided backup and a spear to the air whenever a Ghoul attempted to jump over. The flank was held by Nilbog and Gale.

Out of everyone, Gale was the most suspicious. Nilbog couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was up with him. He was so unnaturally…forgettable? Unnoticeable? He would be in line of sight and Nilbog would still have trouble finding him. Sentient Killer did not activate. That made even less sense.

Fortunately, no one reported on their experience gain. Everyone got slightly distracted at some point, probably messing with their character sheets. Nilbog did the same, though the real issue would arise later. Someone who lowered their strength could just slightly reveal more and more of their powers, but that was not the case for Nilbog—he was giving it his all and he was still struggling. While there were no skills that identified someone’s level, it would be obvious he was not getting stronger.

The next few encounters were not as...exciting as the first. After a while, the process became repetitive and predictable. For all Moon’s pointless talk, he was proving to be the central pivot to the party. It wasn’t just his parameters—his talent for hacking and slashing was real. Rather than using his shield defensively, he used it to push forward and force openings for his sword. Whenever he blocked or parried with his shield arm his sword followed it with a strike.

His other skills, Life Force Slash, Pierce, and Burst enchanted his sword with powerful effects after a few seconds delay. With the help of his AoE skills they were rarely overwhelmed by the enemy numbers.

Cijo, on the other hand, was a dedicated Internal Life Force user. He didn’t use any fancy skills besides stuff that boosted his parameters or helped him defend better. He was dependable, but there was an obvious difference in levels between him and Moon.

Combined with Lan’s versatile buffs, the hunting was smooth. They were at a severe disadvantage against other people, considering none of them were ranged, but they made do. None of the monsters had ranged attacks themselves. For a 4-star difficulty out of 10, this Dungeon was surprisingly easy.

Either Nilbog was missing something, or everything he knew about existence was wrong.

Yeah, didn't think so. Figuring out there is a nasty surprise for them in-store was the easy part--figuring out what it is was the real challenge.

They spotted a couple of parties on the way, but both stayed on their routes. Just because The Game encouraged murder it did not mean everyone was on board with it. As long as everyone kept their distance, no fighting would occur.

Which means, at some point, The Game will force us into it.

“Bear,” Gale said, appearing out of the bushes. His disinterested deadpan voice did not match the gravity of the situation.

“What?” Lan said.

“Bear.”

“Just a bear?” Lan said, giving him a suspicious look.

“Just a bear,” Gale said, shrugging.

“Let me see,” Lan said. He kept his body low as he gently pushed away the bushes. The rest did likewise, albeit not as delicately.

It wasn’t a bear—it was a rank D level 52 Woodland Stalker. It had the head and the height of a bear, but that was where the similarities ended. It had vines in place of fur, and rather than wide it was lanky with short legs and long arms that dragged against the ground as it walked on two feet. A layer thick layer of green Life Armor covered. It arched forward, smacking and slicing gray kid-sized creatures with each claw and tooth.

They were rank E monsters called Ash Goblins. The tallest of them barely topped four feet, and most of them hovered around level 30. Instead of the shriveled skin and hooked nose those white variants had smooth skin and no mouth or nose. They were wider than a human and bulky with muscle. A weak tint of Life Armor covered them.

They danced around the Stalker, stabbing at its back with their spears and daggers. When they were struck by the back its paw, the Ash Goblins bounced back to lower the damage. Those who didn’t broke, and those who were struck by the front of its paw were cut in thirds.

“Who’s winning?” Moon said, spitting to the side. “Can’t see from all the bloody chaos.”

“The Ash Goblins. They’re wearing it down,” Lan said.

The Ash Goblins were in a five-one formation with only one of them staying within the range of the Stalker’s claws. A line of pale-colored mist flew from each Ash Goblin on the outside circle into the one in the center. That Ash Goblin turned into a semi-fire like state. It wielded a sword and was in the rough shape of the other goblins, but the surface of its body was turned into yellow flames. Surprisingly, the ground under it did not burn. While it ducked or jumped over the Stalker’s attacks, and took chunks of vines and Life Armor with each slash, the flames on its body depleted in equal measure.

“We’ll clean up after,” Lan decided. “Looks like a Channel skill. The ones on the side are concentrating all their Life Force into one goblin. Don’t get in the central and they’re easy points.”

“No,” Nilbog said. “There is no such thing as easy points.”

Cijo nodded. “Don’t know about this variant, but most goblins travel in packs. This could be only one squad, with another on the way. If we go in, we might get ambushed. This is a 4-star dungeon.”

That sounded about right. Nilbog didn’t know much about goblins, but he was made by The Game—he knew what it was like. The illusion of a lucky find was just another murder tool in its arsenal.

“Every opportunity can be a trap, but this one’s worth the risk. Woodland Stalker’s are ranked D mini-bosses. We can’t beat one unless something else beats it down, like those Ash Goblins. It’s perfect. If we do it right it the 1000% increased experience will give us at least a few levels. That’s a few years of grinding in less than a quarter-hour.”

Damn idiot. There won’t be a future if they’re going to be this reckless.

“I should scout the area,” Gale, out of everyone, said.

“Storm is too close.” Cijo said, shaking his head. “Not enough time. Each section being hidden by bushes makes it impossible.”

“I say we should,” Moon said. “Other groups will out-level us if we don’t.”

“That’s three to two. We’ll move now,” Lan said sharply.

Rational was out-voted—Gale wanted in, though he insisted on scouting. That only made Nilbog more suspicious. Willingly missing out on experience screamed ulterior motives, but no one else seemed to be bothered by it. Everyone just followed Lan as he began towards the Stalker. Cijo paused behind, looking towards the rest of the group and to Nilbog. “Coming?” he said.

After a pause, Nilbog nodded his head. He was stuck with them. Going off on his own would be even more suicidal. He'd learned his lesson about going solo.

He glanced at his body with apprehension, realizing he was already shaking. He thought it was the cold, but the tight choke around his heart told him otherwise. It beat heavily and with a harsh burn, sending vomit up his throat. He placed his hand over the rough cotton of his shirt, attempting to calm himself.

He snapped around, looking up and down. A few birds chirped high above, the wind ruffled the branches, and a few small lizards scuttled from one bush to another, but nothing else. Nothing was watching him.

Paranoid. Paranoid about everything. Lan’s word might have had some truth in them. Considering Nilbog’s awful luck, though, it was only natural to be this vigilant. He moved with the rest of his group, getting close as Lan began to outlay his suicidal plan.