“What a lousy lil’ shit. Imagine if it was full HP when we got here,” Moon said, rubbing his left shoulder. He kicked the Bearl’s head, spitting into its burst eye sockets.

“Worth it though,” Cijo said. “Down to 60% HP, but I got four levels. Lan is right--getting two years’ worth of hunting by fighting a half-dead Stalker for a couple of minutes sounds reasonable.”

“It would have been easier if we waited. I thought we were going to leave the calls for me, Moon?” Lan said, folding his arms. A triangle with an open chest icon hovered over the Stalker corpse. He bent to it and channeled the loot skill.

“Saw a chance, and I took it. We get more experience for the damage we deal.”

“We lost a lot of Life Force for it! Cijo’s leg is injured, and we’re barely a quarter way through the Dungeon.”

Moon shrugged, picking up his sword. It was obvious he didn’t care. He took nearly no HP damage, and that would likely be the case for most fights. Nilbog hated to admit it, but the guy bad talent.

“It’s alright,” Cijo said. “I was going to pour my points into Constitution anyway. That’ll take care of it.”

“Do it now, then,” Nilbog said, still looking around for any signs. He wasn’t going to let his guard down just yet. Cijo responded with a nod as he fiddled with his screen.

“Whatever,” Lan said as a purple orb floated from the Bearl’s body. “Score! Check this out.”

Epic Orb Of Ambition

Each resource will regenerate 25% of its MAX cap.

Upon keeping possession of the orb for 5 minutes, the resources gained will double in addition to granting a 10% total increase to Strength, Agility, and Soul for the rest of the Dungeon.

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

.

Moon chuckled. He bent down to Lan, a look of exaggerated surprise on his face. “Now I’m not a numbers guy, but I say following my reckless fucking leadership netted us a decent profit.”

Lan shook his head. “Right, because Cijo definitely didn’t come this close to dying, and you totally knew we would get something like this, didn’t you.”

“I did, actually,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Big boss plus mobs multiplied by big damage equal big rewards. To prove this…check this out." After a smug smile, a notification appeared for all of them.

Moon: Cub>Wolf

Nilbog could have sworn the air thickened. It was that, or his Seventh sense was activating. There was no relaying on Lan with it on. The guy probably had Sixth Sense, but unless he was paying attention the skill’s power would be reduced. It would be too late by then.

The idiot was too busy bathing in his victory. “Status report, everyone,” he said, ignoring Moon.

“HP 63%, STM 46%, Life Force 35%,” Cijo said responded. “Using my stat points is fixing the leg injury. I’ll be good in a minute.”

“Damn, not a single congratulations. Fuck you all. HP 94%, STM 73%, Life Force 54%,” Moon said, dropping to the ground in a childish pout. He fetched a sharpening stone from his pockets for his chipped sword. The low durability of their weapons required maintenance after every fight.

“HP 83%, STM 74%, Life Force 42%,” Lan said, then looked towards Nilbog.

“Damn, how stupid can you be,” Nilbog said, chuckling. He kept his eyes out, searching for the Ash Goblins. They must be near. “You think you got such a nice reward for killing one half-dead Stalker and a couple of goblins?”

Lan went stiff. “Look kid, you need to chill the fuck out. There isn’t anyone out there. Yo--”

“Wait, what did you just say?” Nilbog said, his eyes growing wide.

“Chill—”

“Not that. After it.”

“There’s nothing out there!” he yelled, picking Nilbog up by the cuff of his shirt.

There isn’t anyone out there.

Sentient Killer Activated.

The difference in Danger Ranks has increased Sentient Killer’s effects by 25%.

Mental Cloud has been resisted.

“Where is Gale?” Nilbog said, finally remembering. He’d completely forgotten about him.

Lan looked around, and after a while, he stood up, rubbing his head. “Strange, I thought he was the--- Shit.”

Now That was the reaction he was waiting for. “I told you so,” Nilbog said, as the trunk of the tree he was looking at suddenly came off and began sprinting towards them. “I fucking told you so.”

It was the Ash Goblins. They had a Camouflage skill. It made their skin match the foliage, making cover where there wasn’t, and there were a lot of them. Nilbog spotted 5 behind them before he began running.

Moon did not. “They’re just goblins! We’ve fought higher leveled Ghouls!”

“An unknown number of goblins and we’re low!” Lan said, not pausing for the slightest.

“There's probably six of them! We fight!” Moon yelled, but everyone else already began sprinting for their lives. Seeing that Moon caught on, but not after being separated from everyone else.

“They’re going to catch us. Use the orb!” Cijo yelled.

“They’re just goblins, we can outrun them!” Lan yelled back. “I’ll have enough Life Force to cast Quick Maneuvers in a couple seco—” Before he could finish the trees ahead moved. “Five goblins! Two more on left, three on right!”

Two Ash Goblins hid behind one of the trees they past. They followed but did not attack.

Left, right, back, and front, the formation was complete. Simultaneously the pale mist burst from the goblins on all sides, arched into the air, and then struck the goblin in the center.

It’s speed instantly doubled. In a few seconds the distance was closed.

Cijo moved forward to receive the goblin. When it raised its sword for a slash, Cijo raised his shield.

The goblin lowered its sword and stepped to the side, it’s insane Agility allowing it to perform absurd maneuvers even as it ran. It should have caught Cijo unaware in his blindside, but even before it stepped to the side, Cijo had lowered his shield and caught the goblin in the center of his shield.

The Ash Goblin rolled past Nilbog until it struck a tree, sending flames everywhere. It should have been a good hit but it was barely fazed. Without a pause it stood up and began sprinting at them.

Either he’s extremely talented, or he’s a good liar. Cijo had moved his shield before the goblin moved their sword. If that was a skill, then it must have been at least a rare.

Lan’s face sunk the more he looked around them.“Breakthrough! We have a few seconds befo-”

With double the Ash Goblins, the transfer was much quicker. The flames flew from the goblin behind them into the next one. All the other goblins run along but did not enter the center, maintaining their channel.

“Split up!” Lan yelled, and went left. Cijo followed him.

Nilbog went right with Moon following behind him.

The enchanted goblin followed Lan and Cijo, while a different group began making another empowered goblin.

This was not going to be a pleasant experience. The goblins neared from all sides, and while they were only around level 35, they practically had the same if not more stats than Nilbog, and there were at least five of them. It should be doable with Moon, however. He was much quicker and faster. If he protected his back somehow and—

Sentient Killer activated.

The difference in Danger Ranks has increased Sentient Killer’s effects by 25%

Seventh Sense activated, making his body jump as something swiped under him. In a fit of panic, Nilbog snapped around just in time to meet the back of Moon’s fist with his face. He fell on his shoulder, rolled with the momentum, and by the time he got up five Ash Goblins stood at each end.

Fuck.

“Thanks for the points kid, you were useful after all!” Moon yelled as he ran away, unhindered now that all the Ash Goblins had easier prey.

Namely, Nilbog. He stood up, glancing at his HP and STM bar. His HP was only down 12 HP, STM rested at 80, and overall STM at 487. Strangely, he wasn’t panicking, nor was he livid. It was his fault for his carelessness as much as it was Moon’s for being a human.

He only realized with Moon’s words. The Dungeon stated that it would give points on participant kills, with no mention that party members were off-limit. With Moon’s words, Nilbog finally understood why the difficulty of the Dungeon was so high when the monsters were weak. The wordings at the end of the orbs made sense as well--It was divided amongest the party members, meaning the less there were, the more points each one would get.

It wasn’t the monsters he had to worry about—it was his own teammates. Both Gale and Moon would receive points based on how much they contributed to their death.

Nilbog knew it, he knew this would happen, but it hardly made a difference. Once again, knowing things will go wrong is the easy part. Not being able to figure out what exactly caused this.

One of the Ash Goblins stepped forward. He was one of their senior members, Nilbog noticed, as he seemed slightly more fit than the rest of his kin. When he focused on him, a notification informing him he was level 39 popped up.

It had no mouth, but somehow the goblin was able to speak with stutters, sniffs, and crudely made throat noses. Nilbog could not understand any of it, but he could roughly guess the situation.

Basically, they wanted to kill him.

The Ash Goblin played with the dagger in its hand as the rest of the Ash Goblins gave them a wide breadth for what apparently seemed like a duel, which was surprisingly polite. They wanted to rip him to shreds and somehow devour him, but still. It was very nice of them to do that.

Monsters could sense power just like anyone else, and even for them, ganging up on him seemed too much. Or maybe he was to be used as practice, Nilbog didn’t know.

He felt calmer than he should be. There was no strangling fear that made his body weigh more than it was. Maybe he because he was braver than he thought, or more likely, really, was that he was finally being set free of his impossible quest.

Nilbog and the Ash Goblin circled each other. He ignored the snarls and the taunts. It stepped forward, dashing with its dagger in and out without getting in range. Nilbog kept his guard up, watching for its movement. He could tell the feints from the moves that had a purpose. It might have been smarter than a Stalker, but it was still a goblin.

It entered into Nilbog’s range, paused for a moment on its second step, and lunged forward.

Nilbog stepped to the side, striking its dagger from the side with his own in attempts to disarm it. Unfortunately, its Strength was far above his. It held on to its weapon as it stumbled by. Nilbog did take the opportunity to slash across its face with his other dagger, however, dealing a good 26 points of Shield damage. Nilbog jumped backwards immediately after as the Ash Goblin swiped back.

I should have ducked and stabbed. I need to be a step ahead of it. Preferably two. Three if I can.

Once again, it charged at him, swinging wildly. Nilbog dodged a couple of slashes and and returned shallow cuts in return, but overall he could not find any good strikes. Unless he put some weight behind his attacks, the knife would just bounce off and possibly slip out of his fingers.

Nilbog couldn’t trade damage, either. He didn’t know what he was going to do after this fight, but he needed to maintain his HP and STM. There might be 4 more duels after this, though it was more likely they’ll gang up on him the moment they sensed danger. He had to save something for when that happened.

The music didn’t help, either. He could feel it buzzing in the air in a metaphysical way. It was there but still out of reach and sight, but it was different from the first time he’d experienced it. It felt alive and conscious rather than just a cluster of murderous thoughts.

He felt like it was mocking him—as if she was mocking him. Sentient Killer would trigger if she attacked him. It was the only thing that could get him out of this mess—maybe she knew even this. He couldn’t tell anymore. He was more horrified of her than of the goblins surrounding him.

Their hooting and jeering rose in intensity, encouraging his opponent’s aggressiveness.

Nilbog bent his back slightly, dodging the thrust, and then began to attack struck again, dealing 16 damage and minor bleed. He stepped in right after with a kick its chest, playing it safe rather than going deep.

It stuttered a few steps back. Nilbog went in, dealing a couple of shallow cuts. They were all minor penetrations, dealing 6 to 7 damage, and probably only bringing the Goblin down by 20% of his HP. Its Life Shield was steadily decreasing, however. His dagger kept cutting deeper. A minute later the Ash Goblin’s pale skin was tainted in red and dirt, its panting and wheezing a sight to see. It’s Life Shield shattered with the last attack.

He was an A ranked monstrosity, damn it all. He can take on a goblin or two. One good hit to a vital and it would die of bleed damage.

The noises of the Ash Goblins around him had ceased once they realized their champion was getting thrashed. It made fighting much easier.

Then, suddenly, they began cheering in their odd language again. They hopped from one foot to the other as they went in a circle with their snarls and growls.

These treacherous bastards! How dare goblins not keep their word. Nilbog dashed in immediately, attempting to out-speed the mist that fired from the other Ash Goblins. It flew a step behind him. The Ash Goblin also went in, slashing in unison as they went past each other.

Its body was lit with flames but it was not over. It’s HP and STM were low. Nilbog raised his dagger, ready to push his advantage, except the only thing that was raised was two of his fingers. The other three laid on the ground, alongside his dagger.

It's okay, Nil, it’s okay. He only took ten damage and received a Permanent injury along sides Minor Bleed damage. It wasn’t over. The bleeding could be easily covered, and using his Shape-Shifting skill he could replace his wrists and fingers. He just needed time.

Nilbog reached down with his other hand as he kept his eyes on the Ash Goblin. It was powerful but still stupid. Nilbog had come out of worse odds. He could bolt out there after landing a hit to the eye or neck. Even with damage reduction a hit should slow it down, but that would only happen if he could find the damn dagger. He rummaged the floor without find it. Nilbog swallowed vomit and spared a quick glance for the dagger.

A bleeding stump bumped against the dagger. His hand was holding the dagger on the group, separate from the rest of his arm. The chanting of the Ash Goblins was mixed with laughter as Nilbog stared at the ground, uncomprehending.

Critical Damage Taken!

You have taken 19 damage!

Permanent Injury Incurred.

You MAX HP is reduced by 10%.

Moderate Bleed damage received.

You will lose 2.1% of your current HP per second for the next twenty seconds.

Oh. Injuries did not register until the person becomes aware of it. Good to know.

The pain broke throughout Nilog’s body like a dam. The Ash Goblin began to move forward, his dagger ready. By this point, it had learned his lesson and trod carefully, even though Nilbog was unarmed.

His body shook, the giggles quickly turning into boisterous laughter. “I am unarmed! I am unarmed!” he yelled, waving his stump around, his blood dying the dirt in front of him in waves.

The Ash Goblin, shaking off the oddness of Nilbog, sprang towards him.

Sentient Killer Activated.

The difference in Danger Rank has increased Sentient Killer’s effects by 50%

A Life Siren offers you power.

Do you accept?

Y/N

So that’s what she was waiting for, Nilbog thought, letting one final chuckle escape as he accepted his fate.