He limped his way towards the weird spot on the wall and snarled. The bricks here looked out of place and unnatural, and he knew just what to do with them. On the top right is a bit of rock that sticks out at a weird angle. He grabbed it and twisted it to the right and it moved smoothly like it always has. Another rock suddenly popped out of place and he pushed it up like a lever. His eyes darted to the side as the final piece of the puzzle let out a click. He pulled out the fake stone to reveal a button which he immediately pressed without hesitation.

Stone moved and odd sounds came from the not so hidden door as it slowly opened inwards, revealing a dark passageway that was devoid of any and all light. The Goblin snarled as he turned back towards the three adventurers, their eyes glued on the hidden passageway and how it gradually descended into the depths.

"Erith's light, protect me..."

Stefan murmured as he lifted himself from the ground. It's only been an hour or two since they entered this room, and they were about to walk into one of the most dangerous areas of the dungeon.

And they would have to go in blind. Yes, they would all have to go into the labyrinth without any sort of light. They would have to rely on the Goblin's senses from here on out, and that scared them. The Goblin spent the last 30 minutes explaining to them how they would need to rely on their hearing since the spiders that inhabited the labyrinth relied on their webs to "see" around their home. But the Goblin knew of a trick to get through the labyrinth safely, but it will be a slow process.

Slowly, the Goblin walked forwards. His form slowly disappearing into the shadows the further he went. They all followed after him, trying their best to stick together in the darkness. He had memorized the number of steps he had to take, and he had already beaten the labyrinth before with a simple yet effective method.

"Ur... Urr... Ukr... Uku..."

He counted the steps he took in Goblinspeak as he moved along the sides of the wall. It took 57 paces to get to the end of the hallway, and he would need to go right and not the left path.

His hands felt the rough wall beside him as walked. In front of him was nothing but darkness, and he hated that. Each sound made his ears twitch, each rock being kicked around accidentally made him jump, and each voice that whispered to him from the shadows made his skin crawl. He could feel the hairs on the back of his nape stand on end each time he felt one of the three breathing down on him.

"Stefan, are you there?"

"I'm right in front of you guys. What's up?"

"Riel is whispering that she touched something sticky."

"Must be the webs then."

"Shh! Be quiet."

The Goblin gave them a snarl. Although they couldn't see his face, just the sound of his snarl made the three of them quiet. Even after telling them that the spiders that infested this place have good hearing, they were still talking loudly!

But that was a lie. A lie he thought up to get himself some peace and quiet within the labyrinth. Well, it's not as if he found their talking annoying, he just needed some time to think. Trying to remember so much information made his head hurt, and he didn't want to lose his bearing right now.

Suddenly, the wall that he was following with his hand disappeared. He reached out for it and caught only air with his hand. He reached out once more, his heart beating faster with every empty wipe. For a moment, he wanted to turn around and run, but how would he know which way is back? He swiped frantically at his side, grasping for anything he could use as a marker in the darkness.

And then he found it. The sharp corner of the wall beside him. He moved backward and he sighed in relief as he felt the part where the wall turned as well as bumping into Stefan. For a moment there, he panicked at the thought of being lost in the darkness.

"You okay there, Mister Goblin?"

"Yes. Just got confused for bit. Okay now."

He said as he took a hold of Stefan's hand.

"We go right now. Follow close."

He said softly as he followed the wall with his hand once more.

"Go left."

The Goblin dove for the wall to his left, grasping at it frantically as he tried his best to see in the dark. His hands are now covered in spiderwebs and his feet are now sore from walking, but he pressed on. They were barely halfway towards the room they needed to go to, but it was good progress for today. 

Of course, he would've reached the halfway mark by now if it wasn't for the numerous encounters they had with things crawling in the dark. Riel's screaming still rang in his ears when she felt a baby spider climbing up her leg and it was annoying having to stop every few minutes due to something moving in front of them.

Well, once they reached the halfway point, things should go smoo-

Crack

"What was that?"

"Not... good."

The Goblin murmured as he wiped something off from the bottom of his shoe. He took a whiff of it, gagged, and immediately got jumped back from whatever he stepped on.

"We run. Now. We go right, then left, then another left but take second left. Run forward after that and I will light lantern."

"Wha-"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A black shape crawled out from somewhere and the Goblin snarled at it. He could feel it just ahead of them, its long arms pulled at the strings around them.

"Go! Now!"

Before anyone could react, the Goblin shoved them forwards as he frantically grabbed at the strings beside him. Then, he immediately cast a spell that banished the darkness for a moment.

"[Flash]!"

What appeared in front of them was something from Riel's worst nightmares. It reared up for a moment as it revealed two pairs of fangs under its head. The black, hairy mass surged forwards at the creature that blinded it while it sprayed webbing out of its abdomen. The Giant Spider made some terrifying clicks with its mandibles and a shrill shriek as the Goblin ran down the corridor to his right.

"Go! I follow later! Wait at door!"

His voice echoed down the hallway as they ran, avoiding the freshly made webs strewn around them as they did. 

----------------------------------------

"S-Stefan?! Semilia?! Where are you?!"

Riel's voice bounced off the tight walls f the corridor as she walked aimlessly through the labyrinth.

Her eyes were sore from crying, but she didn't need to use them here anyway. She took a wrong turn somewhere, and she tried to retrace her steps but she only succeeded in getting herself even more lost. The cramped walls and the humid air around her made it hard to breathe and her hands are now sticky and cut all over after feeling her way through the maze of corridors.

Tears ran down her face in the dark as she sobbed quietly to herself. There were monsters everywhere and she had to crouch down at one point to avoid one of them as it crawled by her. It could hear it talking as it passed by, its webs trailed behind it as it did. She couldn't do anything about it, but at least nothing happened to her. 

She cried again, this time it was much louder than the whimpers she made as she trailed behind Semilia. She was lost, she didn't know what to do, and she was gonna die. The last one was what scared her the most. This was the first time she had to face death like this, and it frightened her.

Every time she approached a corner or a turn, she trembled at the thought of something grabbing her in the darkness. Her imagination ran wild with every nightmarish situation she could think of, and she hated it. In the darkness, her mind is possibly her worst enemy. Projecting shadows and shapes that aren't there or making her hear sounds and voices where there are none.

Oh, the voices. They were the worst of them all. She did her best to ignore them, but leave a person with their own thoughts and after a while, they'll slowly go crazy. At first, Riel only heard vague sounds in the distance but they soon turned into distant voices. Voices she knew, voices she remembered...

Voices she feared.

"M-Mom? Dad?"

She shook her head and grabbed her mouth with both her hands. She remembered what the Goblin told her about how the spiders having a sharp hearing.

But she wanted to call out to them. Somewhere, near her, they were shouting for help in the dungeon. That didn't make sense at all, and she knew that. She wanted to ignore them, but she couldn't. Instead, she was forced to listen to the voices of the past.

"R-Run away, Riel!"

"Hide! Leave us!"

"N-No... Mom... Dad..."

She sobbed as she remembered their voices. Their last words as she hid in the outhouse near the woods.

Ash and the smell of burning flesh made her gag. It was just a memory, but it was a vivid one. She remembered how they all screamed and how they all died. Then she thought about how she was about to die, and she stopped walking. Riel rubbed her eyes and leaned back against the hard wall. The voices grew even louder, and she clutched her ears to no avail. They were in her head after all, and she couldn't run away from that fact.

They were dead. That was the truth. She was just hearing things, and she was letting it affect her. But she couldn't bring herself to ignore all of those things. She wanted to cry loudly, to yell for help like back then. She wanted someone to come and save her again while her home burned in the distance. She wanted someone to kill them. She wanted someone to save her from the Goblins.

Then, they disappeared. In a flash, everything was quiet once again. She wondered why the disappeared when she heard the sounds. Her head darted to the side as it approached her. In the darkness, she could see a shape moving around the corridor as it skittered around on the floor. 

She held out her staff, ready to blast whatever that thing was. She could tell that it was walking towards her, its small form limped and dragged itself slowly across the floor. She held her breath as it approached, its soft groans echoing off the walls.

"Yirch... Kir'lirrl ir chk huern. M'ver Atventurahs drn mierk. Hrr... Gbi kr ir brlad."

As the shape drew near, she leapt up and slammed her staff down on the creature. It let out a groan as it nimbly dodged her strike, but it wasn't able to dodge the punch that she threw at it. But her fist felt something off about the creature.

She clearly broke its nose, but the nose felt weird. It was pointy, much pointier than Semilia's cute nose. This nose was different, it was like a monster's nose. And the height! Where did she see something this small before?

"Urrr... F-Friend Riel? You?"

"Goblin?!"

The Goblin groaned on the ground as he cast a [Light] spell. An orb of light flew out from his finger and illuminated a small circle around them.

"G-Goblin!"

Instinctively, she leapt back at the sight of a Goblin with its arms and legs sprawled on the floor. But she immediately pulled out a healing potion after seeing his body.

He was badly hurt. His shoulder was torn open, exposing yellow bits of bone underneath. His sides and abdomen were also bleeding badly and there was a large cut that ran from his shoulder blade and ended just above his navel. His other leg was torn open as well, and his left hand looked mangled. Not to mention the broken nose he just got.

"Spider dead... Many more around, but they can't find."

"Shut up! Your lip is broken!"

She shoved a bottle into his mouth and made him drink her Healing Potion. The Goblin gaged from the taste, but he forced the liquid down his throat.

"You lost?"

"Y-Yeah... How did you find me?"

The Goblin smiled and pointed at his bloody nose.

"Can smell even in dark. I smell you."

"Shut up. I don't have any spare robes."

The Goblin chuckled softly, then he groaned in pain as his wounds forcefully closed themselves. Riel held him tightly as he writhed in pain as the sensation of being torn apart once again filled his body. After a minute, he finally stopped moaning in pain and laid down beside Riel.

"You missed the right turn. Went into first right instead of second."

"I-Is that so?"

The Goblin nodded at her and sighed. 

"Help. Can't stand. I will guide but can't protect. Use fire to kill monster that see you."

The Goblin waved his hand in an effort to make her help him up to his feet.

Of course, this wasn't the first time this happened to him. It was actually his fourth time experiencing a near-death experience, but it was his first time having someone to help him while he fumbled his way in the dark. Of course, the last time he nearly died was in this labyrinth as well. He still found the sensation of being wrapped up in webs very disgusting, but at least the Giant Centipede's poison did its thing.

But what was more impressive is him running into Riel. Well, it wasn't really hard to find Riel since she reeked of piss. But he still found it odd that the piss didn't go in the right direction, but was instead somewhere down the corridor. Thankfully, she didn't walk too far from the turn so that's a relief. If he didn't find her, who knows what would've happened to her? The dungeon is known for driving the lost mad, and the Goblin wondered how exactly will the dungeon break her mind?

But before he could think about it any further, Riel wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up. She let out a grunt as she forced herself up from the ground. 

"You lead, I'll walk. Okay?"

"Mhm."

Riel sighed loudly, then moved forward. This time, her path was illuminated by a ball of blue light and she wasn't alone anymore. Although...

"Stop sniffing!"

"Ow!"

She slapped the Goblin's head with her staff as they walked silently down the corridor. She still hated him, of course, but not as much anymore. 

But she did wonder if she could break his nose again if he continued sniffing at her.