“Many consider the eleventh floor to be an outlier among the initial five floors in the area, but I consider it more of a testing ground for you guys. If you cannot adequately clear the eleventh floor then these later floors will be just as difficult. Regardless of that this next floor should be fairly easy. The goblins will be your first experience in this dungeon against truly intelligent enemies. So far the monsters of the dungeon have been animalistic and easy to understand. Goblins will group up, change tactics on occasion and try to use dirty tricks. Be careful.
“The main issue will be watching for the goblin-made traps that are not decided upon by the dungeon directly. While most of the traps are ineffective, for the inattentive adventurer they could become more deadly. While going through the forest underbrush I want you all to examine how you traverse dungeon floors. Naomi cannot have her eyes in all directions at once despite skills that help with that. You need to avoid possible trap locations in the first place. Otherwise, we might get ambushed or waste materials healing,” James explained before stepping away.
This forest was better than most for him to do so. The trees were tall and wide allowing him to climb them easily and follow the novices without disrupting them or the incoming enemies.
Of the four novices, only Wes listened to his speech after a minute. Due to his nature and as a tank James didn’t blame him. Wes was pushed to the front again. Sometimes by Derek when goblins started attacking them from different sides. Wes put up with it quietly and was doing his job a bit better on this floor than the last. His timings for activating certain skills weren’t great and his battle awareness was not fully formed. Regardless of his failings, the novices were making it through the forest without major problems.
Throughout floor twelve Ian was having much more fun due to the floor’s environment. Nearly everything around, them that could be burned was burned whether he directly or indirectly put it on fire. His face lit up as he heard goblins that were planning on ambushing them up ahead. They were jumping down from the trees up ahead coughing up smoke. His fires also had the secondary effects of uncovering a few traps and setting some off early.
As Derek made his way through the forest he used his sword the same amount or more as a forest clearing device. He regularly cut through denser areas and make their own path. This had caused hm to revert back to dragging the sword at points because of his exhaustion. Despite this he still participated in the fighting when necessary and cut down the goblins as easily as the imps. In most cases it was even faster than dealing with the imps. This was because the goblins had no ranged weapons which also made it easy for Naomi.
Naomi held in her exhaustion better than the others, but she had been pushed to deal with many of the imps due to their distance on the last floor. It had helped that they took a break at the end of floor ten in the safe zone but that was only a twenty-minute break after five hours. Naomi continued on killing a few goblins at a time that were more problematic. Mixed in with the regular goblins that only wielded rusting swords and spears were ‘heroic’ goblins. They were outfitted with proper armor and held steel swords and spears. Derek and Ian often spotted these special goblins as well. Though they were often too busy with the enemies directly in front of them to worry about the big picture.
Naomi watched as a fresh ‘heroic’ goblin poked its head out of the bushes as started charging toward their group. Her first shot bounced off the goblin’s helmet and her second missed. It was yelling a strange battle cry in an unknown language with its sword held high in the air. The third shot hit but did not slow the goblin. Instead, it lowered its weapon and volume as it’s shoulder bled. Derek was busy cutting down goblins when he noticed the ‘heroic’ variant.
“Watch out.”
Wes looked up and turned to Derek before looking at the incoming heroic goblin. Wes closed his eyes and stepped back. A thud rang out as Wes was thrown back even further due to not activating any of his tank abilities. He hit a tree and stopped with the goblin’s blade embedded into the top of the shield. It had only missed Wes’s head because he had ducked under the shield.
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Derek followed up shortly after seizing the opportunity and cut the head off the unarmed goblin.
“You alright?”
“Yeah I think so,” Wes answered shakily.
Ian cleared the remaining goblin’s from the area as James’s dropped down from the trees.
“There aren’t any more goblin’s in the immediate area so we can chat briefly, and you can all grab some water. You all need it. Wes pass me your shield.”
James took the shield from Wes and inspected the damage. The goblin’s weapon had already dissipated into mana leaving the shield bare.
“The front is a bit chipped, and I wouldn’t recommend getting hit their again without proper reinforcement skills. It will survive,” he said after handing it back, “Now would anyone like to explain what went wrong there?”
The only response he got back was silence. James sighed and just moved on.
“The ‘heroic’ variants and more will come regularly in the future and it is good that you encountered them early in this dungeon run. They can be faster and stronger than regular monsters which means it is difficult to kill one solo. Naomi, once you noticed it and started firing you should have alerted the others to assist or at least be more prepared to fight it. If Wes was any slower today then he would have taken a bad hit just now. And Wes, you need to have your skills activated or ready to go as quickly as possible. You will have to pay for a new shield sooner than expected due to your mistake on this floor. As for you two. Derek, you are doing fine but watch for weak points and work on your power output. Ian, you’ve also done fine but you don’t need to burn the forest down and put a bunch of smoke into the air. I’m lucky to be able to filter it out of my senses but Naomi isn’t so lucky. Now take another minute to rest and then follow the trail you’ve been making.”
Without any follow-up, James turned into a blur and the novices saw his form dart into the trees above.
“He’s right you know. All the smoke and fire have been annoying to deal with. I’ve missed twice as many shots as usual because of you.”
“What are you going to do about it? Burning our path through the forest is making it easier much more than it is harder. I’ve caught two ambushes because I’ve let loose. Just deal with it for a few-”
“You aren’t listening,” interrupted Derek, “even though we don’t have enhanced senses it is disrupting to us as well on occasion.”
“Really? Please. It is just in your head. I’ve watched you trip over two tree roots on this floor alone. You’ve got bigger things to work on than your sense of smell. Just stick with Broken Shield over there and make sure you get your kills in. Now let’s get going I’ve got a Drake to kill, and I don’t have all day.”
Naomi cast glances at the other two before turning heel and following Ian albeit a bit further back due to his fiery tendencies.
Their journey through the twelfth floor went by quickly without any big issues. No more ‘heroic’ goblins showed up to the benefit of Wes who was still shaken from the last experience with them. He followed the forest path behind Derek a few paces behind as he watched for any more signs of danger.
The rest of the group was equally separated as they fought a few goblins here and there. There was barely an acknowledgment from Naomi when Ian burned the goblins she was trying to kill. Shrugging it off she instead turned to other enemies and watched for traps. Their experiences on the twelve-floor ended soon after their break when they found the goblin boss. They heard the boss before seeing it.
The sound of crashing trees could be heard for a mile around. Once in the boss area, the novice’s found a large clearing made for them to fight in. The fight itself went by quick. An enlarged ‘heroic’ goblin approached to face them, and Ian dealt with it by himself. Naomi gave a half-hearted effort while the others watched. She only fired when looked on by James but otherwise glared at Ian instead. Due to the fire and copious amounts of easy fuel made by the goblin it died quickly in the superheated metal cage it chose to surround itself in.
“Good job dealing with the goblins. Hearing up its armor was a smart move but that means you will have less mana to use on the next floor. While not too dangerous it will be tiresome at times to deal with the slimes on the next floor. Just be cautious and take your time. While I do make note of the time needed to clear each floor it should not be your main worry at the moment. You all have more important things to work on for now before you try and rush through the dungeon floors.”