"Why couldn't we do something other than goblins?" asked Claire as she tugged at her new clothes. Sera suppressed a chuckle at her cousin's discomfort in her new garb. It was incredible at how switching from a blue priestly robe to a soft yellow short sleeve shirt, grey shorts, and several pieces of leather armor could change her impression. No longer did her cute cousin look like an [Acolyte] but a fledgling [Monk].

"Why yellow and grey?" asked Sera instead of answering. "Aren't Current's colors blue and lavender?"

"Because it's safe experience and money." Jera was walking ahead of the group keeping an eye out as they neared the edge of the Rosestone Swamp. For the last week they had been traversing out to the edges to fend off roaming goblins. It was a cheap, ongoing mission given by the Commission Guild as the number of goblins continued to swell despite many low level parties doing their best.

"Thank you, Jera," said Claire politely before glaring at Sera. "And yes, blue and lavender are the colors of Current. I, however, worship Luminous. It's just that Ardor only has three temples and the Great Fire Goddess' temple requires you to worship her to enter."

"Oh, that makes sense. Wait." Sera sped over to Claire and placed a hand on her head and shook it back and forth. "Cousin dear, Luminous is a Beastkin God."

Claire tried to remove Sera's hand but even though she was a [Mage] she possessed high strength due to her skills. She wasn't carrying around a sword and aiming for a class like [Magic Swordsman] for nothing! "Ack, let go, jeez! There's nothing wrong with worshiping any god, no matter your race. I don't understand why everyone makes a big deal about it!"

"Because they're Beastkin Gods! Ugh, to even suggest worshiping them, let alone a Creature God, where did my cute cousin's common sense go?" Honestly, Sera wondered where it went. Beastkin were so savage and vicious, letting their instincts and old traditions control them. She had never met a nice Beastkin before, although she hadn't truly met that many, and Creatures were the eternal enemy of Beastkin and Beings alike!

"Agh, Sera!" Claire tapped on her hand and she realized that she was squeezing a bit too hard. Sera released her cousin's head and ruffled that blonde hair to try and cover for her lapse. "That hurt, jerk."

Jera ahead of them sighed. "Look alive, girls, because we have some company. Besides, Gods and racial hostilities make no sense to me. As long as they don't mess with me and my friends they’re okay."

"Says the guy that has us out here constantly to kill goblins and take their ears back for money?" snarked Sera as she drew her sword and looked around. They had come upon the edge of the swamp, the tree line where most goblins would be hiding out for scouting or spying, to once again do their duty. Constantly doing these kinds of missions didn't help them out besides earning some living expenses. Smacking around weak goblins was barely worth the effort for leveling their class or skills.

Claire tugged at her clothes some more, obviously not used to wearing them even after a few days, but she had learned that fighting with her hands while wearing a robe was awfully unwieldy. "Do I need to prepare anything? I heard some stories from visitors and my seniors about adventuring, but it was nothing like this. It sounded... so cool."

Jera had that look, the one when he was tuning his senses or using his skills to find enemies. "It's stuff you learn or research when actually adventuring. We're just walking out of town and then coming back at nightfall, no need to do anything fancy. Three goblins a dozen or so feet behind that big tree right there."

"Three? Wonder why there's so many just on the edge like that. What's the danger like?" asked Sera.

"Doesn't feel that dangerous, probably level one or two each. Claire, you want to go in before Sera charges?"

"Hey!"

Claire shuffled her feet and peered into the swamp. "I barely managed to handle two last time. Um, maybe let Sera go?"

"Knew you were cute for a reason. Besides, taking two on without being hurt is really good. Even a three or four level difference isn't enough to defeat multiple enemies without getting cut or stabbed a couple times." Sera twirled her sword and rolled her shoulders hard, holding the tension in her muscles for a moment just to feel that slight burn.

She ran toward the big tree Jera pointed out with a smile. While she didn't have a footwork skill like Jera or a movement skill like Claire she had something neither of them did. Sera rounded the tree to see three small goblins peeking out from behind the roots, each dressed in dirty rags and wielding crude wood weapons.

The magic that ran throughout her body, all the energy that originated from a roaring fire in her lungs, raged as she drew upon it and pointed with her offhand. Even against weak goblins she kept her sword ready to block any thrown rocks or spears. "[Minor Ignite]"

Unlike a novice's flame her spell sent a short spear of raging fire at her target. Although she had neglected it a bit ever since getting a better skill it was still her highest level skill! The flame spear struck one goblin and set him ablaze, scorching his skin and slaying him within seconds while he screamed.

The other two abandoned all thought of fighting someone who could set them on fire at will and scattered, each taking off in the opposite direction while leaving their ally to his awful fate.

“[Minor Ignite].” Another arrow of fire flew toward one of the goblins, but it ducked under a large root and escaped certain death. Sera clicked her tongue and ran after the one she didn’t shoot at. Her wisdom wasn’t high enough that she could afford to waste spells at the beginning of the day.

Although she wasn’t as fast as any agility based class, she had enough to easily catch up to a goblin when sprinting. Sera leapt over a bush and around a tree before catching the fleeing goblin in the shoulder with her sword. Flesh parted and blood splattered and the goblin stumbled to the ground. Another strike, one the goblin tried to block with its arm, put it down.

Jera and Claire caught up after a minute. “I know, I know, one got away.”

“It went further along the edges, not deeper, so we should chase it down safely,” said Jera. He waved at the dead goblin as he started heading in that direction. “Come on.”

Claire looked between the two confused. “Does it matter if one got away?”

“I’ll be back for you, buddy,” said Sera to the dead goblin. The group picked up the pace with Jera in the lead. “Yeah, it sorta does. So far it hasn’t mattered because we don’t miss one, but goblins are smart. Well, smarter than animals anyway. They’ll run back to their tribe and get reinforcements, or they won’t and decide we’re too much trouble. Depends, really. I wouldn’t be worried, but Jera hates leaving it to chance.”

“Because your luck is horrible,” he said as he rounded a tree, paused for a moment, and began backpedalling and waving at them to turn back. “Just like that.”

Claire glanced around nervously. “Like what?”

“We’re heading—or not, damn.”

That worried Sera. “What?”

“[Sense Presence] is telling me the goblin met up with a hob and is coming back.” Sera was going to wave it off since their group could easily handle one hobgoblin. “Except I think we missed another because two goblins and two hobs are heading toward us from the edge.”

Claire squeaked. “Hobgoblins!?”

Sera cursed. “Okay, uh, three huh? Maybe they’re weak?”

Jera pushed the two toward the deeper parts of the swamp. “Maybe, maybe not, my skill isn’t that high level yet. Goblins mutate into hobs when they get twenty strength and vitality, so even weak ones are difficult to put down.”

“So we could do it, right? I mean, one for each of us?” asked Claire hopefully as they increased their pace to a fast walk.

“Sure, we would win, but even that it wouldn’t be easy or without pain. You have a heal skill but I’d rather not risk it at all.” Jera shot Claire a look. “Rule number one, Claire, is that survival is priority in our job.”

Sera laughed and sheathed her sword since carrying it in hand was slowing her down. “It’s true. Sure, we could take them and maybe only break a limb or three, but what if more show up. What if they weren’t the weakest? The Guild’s recommendation is that you only fight things five levels lower than you at all times. Risky business otherwise.”

“Okay, I understand. What is our plan, though?” asked Claire. What was with her cousin and the difficult questions. Sera was glad Jera was in charge of the boring stuff and she was in charge of the fighting.

Jera jumped over a pond of swamp muck and led them into the denser trees. “To hide and wait them out. They won’t chase forever, but with them so close to the edge and cutting off our way out it’ll be either a fight or them running us down in the plains.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have been hunting goblins for so long. We made them mad and they waited for us,” complained Claire.

“Psh, nah, it was only luck. Goblin’s aren’t that smart, cousin of mine,” said Sera.

“Unless they have a [Shaman] or something leader-like,” muttered Jera.

True, unless that. A [Shaman] was a mid-tier class and extremely rare, but heard of often enough among large goblin tribes. Although they’re a pretty big deal and often get large bounties placed on them, and Sera hadn’t heard of any appearing.

They traveled pretty far into the swamp, over an hour as a quick pace as they chatted among themselves, before Jera held them up.

“...That’s weird. Over here.” Jera helped Claire up a steep slope and walked through deep brush, went past several trees that were twice as thick as the ones on the edge, before they stopped at a clearing.

It was still hidden from the sun, a massive canopy covered the clearing, but there were no densely packed trees or bushes. Only sparse islands of mud amongst the deep swamp and absolutely giant roots poking out of the ground, ones that led up to perhaps the largest tree Sera had ever seen.

“First time seeing a Rosepine,” muttered Sera.

“Woah,” breathed Claire. “How old does it have to be to get that big?”

Jera climbed up the hill the tree rested on and came to stop at a weird archway. It was as if someone had cut out a huge chunk of the tree and them made a round room inside it. “Not old, they actually grow to that size in a decade or so. Weird.”

He motioned for the two girls to come up, and when they looked through the archway they agreed that it was weird. Inside the tree was a round room, abnormally round with polished walls and grass ground instead of wood like it should’ve been. But that wasn’t what they focused on.

“Bunnies!” said Claire as she ran inside picked up a brown rabbit. “Why are they all here?”

Dozens of rabbits of various browns and greys hopped around without a care. Small mounds that were burrow entrances were here and there. Claire was smiling as she held the bunny in her arms, it’s survival instinct completely gone and it being perfectly docile. “Sera, Jera, look!”

Jera ran a hand down his face as Sera sighed. “It was our fault. I mean, I didn’t expect her to just go inside, but that’s not on her. She’s adorable, look at her! How could she ever resist?”

“I know, I do, but it’ll be mostly mine since I brought you two over here,” complained Jera.

“What are you two talking about?” asked Claire.

Sera wanted to smack her cousin, but instead just pointed at the edge of the room. Claire turned, no longer blind to everything but the rabbits, and saw the waist-high chest of pale bone sitting near the wall as well as the door off to the side. “...Oh. Oh no.”

Claire tried to go to her team, but banged into the invisible barrier of the archway. “It’s a dungeon!”

“Yes, we know,” shot Sera. “And now we’re going to have to stay in it for a day.”

“Sera. Exactly how much do you like your cousin?” asked Jera thoughtfully in a tone as if he was asking about the weather or a food.

“Jera.”

He cupped his chin, examined the room, then turned to Sera. “How much, maybe down to a number. One through twenty?”

“Twenty-thousand.” Sera crossed her arms. “We’re not leaving her here.”

Claire started. “You’re going to leave me?”

“Hmm.” Although only a foot or two separated the [Acolyte] and [Swordsman], it might as well been a world. “It’s suicide, probably?”

“Come on, it’s only the first level of a dungeon. I bet it’s not even old enough to be dangerous. It’s not like those stories of a hundred year old dungeon with immortal creatures on the first floor as strong as something ten times their level. I know for a fact it’s not registered!”

Sera swatted as Jera who ducked away . “Even so, we’re not exactly a hero’s band here.”

“But but, how can it be scary? It has bunnies!” argued Claire.

Sera stepped through the archway and put an arm around Claire. “It’s a day. Surely it won’t be that bad? This is how much I like Claire. Now, about how much exactly do you like me, sir [Swordsman]?”

Jera rubbed his temples and stepped through. “I knew you would be the death of me.”

“Relax, it’s only a day. We camp out in this… bunny room, pray the goblins don’t find us, and then leave tomorrow. Although even if they did find us we’d totally win since only two could enter,” said Sera.

“Or they could shoot us through the barrier and drive us deeper inside for cover.”

“Or that. Hey, that’s a chest, right?” Sera walked over to the bone chest and rapped a knuckle on it. “Yep. Wonder why it’s here?”

Claire now had two bunnies, one in each arm, as she joined Sera. “Because it’s a dungeon?”

Jera sat down and concentrated. “Dungeon’s always mess with skills. I can’t pick up anything with [Sense Presence] and I’m low on mana.”

“Jera, chest, questions, answer.”

He glared at Sera. “Sera, chest, dungeon choice, open it or shut it.”

“Wow, rude. Claire, want to open it?”

Claire wanted to, clearly she did, but the rabbits in her arms were clearly the young girl’s focus. Truthfully rabbits were a hard find except as a rare meat since they were preyed on by basically everything. Even Sera wasn’t immune to the bunny charm. “Can’t.”

Sera grabbed the lid and heaved with far too much strength. The chest opened with barely any force needed, the hinges smooth and silent despite its material, and a single item was inside.

“Since there was a chest in the front we really should’ve opened it and entered one at a time. They reset each time someone resets the delve,” explained Jera. “Although the chest will have junk if it’s not in a good room. Bone is pretty good for a first floor chest.”

“Shh, shush and look at this!” Sera pulled out a bracelet with five different rabbit feet hanging on it along with several small claws and teeth. “Ta-da, a magic bracelet!”

Jera sat up and stared at it. “Huh, really is, although it’s super weak.”

“Woah,” said Claire with wide eyes. “Actual magical equipment?”

“Lucky find,” said Sera with pride. How dare Jera call her unlucky? “The magic is really weak, I can barely get anything with [Sense Magic], so thematically I guess it would be a point of agility or dexterity? If we could get a few of these, then it would be really worth it. Want it?”

Claire backed up and squeezed the bunnies. “It’s made from dead bunnies! You… you can keep it, Sera.”

Sera slipped it on her left hand so she didn’t mess up her dominant arm. Even the slight weight of the bracelet might mess up her swordsmanship. “Awesome dungeon so far, a chest and rabbits. You sure we can’t go deeper?”

“...Maybe. I admit that it feels young, nothing like the horror stories. The League is adamant about warning people off dungeons since they can grow quickly. Even two or three months is enough to get a first floor up to its limit, although you’re right. I haven’t heard of one being in the swamp this close to Ardor, although it’s really not that far from Brakkahorn either, maybe double the distance?”

“Those filthy dogs can’t have our new dungeon!” spat Sera. “Unless it’s a death trap. Then it’s all theirs.”

Claire sighed at Sera before tilting to one side. “Do you hear something?”

Jera quieted down and quickly stood up. “Something’s in the hallway.”

Before either of the sword-wielders could pull a weapon the door opened with a grumble. “Stupid Snep, do this, do that. Just cause—”

It was waist-high, had mottled brown scales with dark green eyes that were really closer to black, with a red fur tunic although no pants. It froze, eyes flicking between each of the humans, and it screamed. Sera brought up a hand, pulled at the fire within her lungs, and began morphing the flame. Jera stepped forward and went to pull his sword.

Neither were faster than the kobold that already had a bow in its claw. An arrow made of bone was nocked and fired before the two finished their motions. Normally they would defend or dodge or even take it and cut the monster down. Except the arrow flew directly toward Claire.

Jera spun and slashed at the arrow, trying to cut it in mid flight, but missed by a hair. Sera knew she couldn’t do the same thing with magic so instead cancelled her spell and shoved Claire out of the way.

Claire, for her effort, was like a deer caught unaware. Frozen in body and thought as she was shoved out of the way, although not quickly enough. Blood splattered with a squelch as the arrow sunk deep into flesh, destroying the brain and killing in a single motion.

Two screams pierced the air, one being the kobold as it ran away down the hallway. The other was Claire as she cradled the dead rabbit, an arrow piercing its skull. “Mr. Fluffytail!”

Sera sighed in relief and Jera cursed under his breath at missing the arrow. If they weren’t so caught off-guard he could’ve done it with his high [Sword Techniques]. “Claire, are you okay?”

Claire was crying on her knees and putting the poor rabbit on the floor. “I—I’m fine, I guess. But my bunny…”

There was literally dozens of bunnies, although Sera could now guess why there were so many, and patted her cousin on the back. “Better him than you. Well, Jera, they know we’re here now. Once again we have a fleeing creature going for reinforcements, but this time we can’t run.”

Jera peered down the hallway with difficulty as it turned extremely dark without any source of light. He pulled out a torch from his backpack, soaked the end in oil from a flask, and lit it with his flint and iron. “It spoke in common tongue, and it’s draw and shot was good, but not legendary. You were right, it’s young enough that we aren’t going to be murdered by a single dread creature. Kobolds though… They’re worse than goblins for sure.”

Claire sniffed, kept her other bunny tight in her arms, and asked, “Why? I know they’re like, lizard things, but the Guild says they’re around the same threat level, right?”

“In the swamp, sure.” Sera sighed and pulled on her magic, keeping it tethered briefly in her hand for a spell. It took concentration and a decent level of [Mana Manipulation] to do so, but it would let her loose her spell in an instant. “In a dungeon? Goblin’s at least have to use light to see. Kobolds can see perfectly in the dark, have claws, and are stronger than goblins by a bit since goblins mutate quickly.”

“Although in a dungeon you can never know what to expect,” muttered Jera. “Pioneering a dungeon of your own level, and five is the limit for the first floor, is often considered a death sentence. But hey, not like we have a choice, right?”

Claire gulped. “We can always stay here?”

“Sure, but that gives them time to prepare,” laughed Sera. “Catch them by surprise and then assess what we’re going to do. Right behind you, Leader.”

Jera scoffed. “Today was going so well too.”