“Did you see the new request at the guild? Apparently, some villagers got killed by a fire slinging goblin. The goblin said its home was a dungeon.” Pern said, sharpening his sword.
“Seems unlikely.”
“It could be, but the guild is emptying out real quick. Everyone wants to be the first to get there in case a dungeon actually exists. We could be making major money if there’s anything interesting in there.”
“You talk too much Pern.”
“I’ve got a contact here, he’s a tour guide. Everyone else will be going by road, he can take us straight through the forest. We’ll get there first and scout it out.”
“Gonna be dangerous. I’ll find Mary and Berthold. Get your tour guide, let’s get going.”
Flinn recalled the conversation they had days ago. The trek through the forest was miserable, but they had to take every opportunity to rank up. Jobs around here this big were rare.
“We’re probably the strongest that were present in the guild anyways. C ranks and up will take days to respond if this gets confirmed,” Berthold said as they were nearing the cave. Frankly, all of them were nervous. Goblins were no trouble, but dungeons often had nasty surprises.
“Here’s the plan. Pern, you go in first and scout for the fire goblin. If it shoots its flame, try to block it with your shield. I’ll sneak around from the back and ambush it. Berthold, you blast any nearby goblins with ice. Mary, keep your blessings for now.” Flinn tried to keep a calm facade. He was the leader after all.
Minutes later, they arrived at a small cave. From the outside, it looked like nothing special. Flinn had a bad feeling about it. Still, they spent multiple days just to come here - they couldn’t leave empty-handed.
“Everyone, in position. Let’s go,” with that, all chatter and fidgeting ended. Wearily taking the first steps, Pern took a deep breath and raised his shield, heading inside the cave.
As soon as he stepped foot into the cave, two little hands holding daggers stabbed at his legs. The daggers got stuck in the chain links of his chainmail, but it was enough to make the warrior unsteady. Two more goblins wrapped their arms around him and pulled. Pern buckled, falling to the ground with a loud bang that resonated through the cave.
“Pern! Fuck, get those goblins off of him,” time slowed for Flinn as he saw two goblins jump on top of Pern. He ran and ran, but there was no way to reach him in time.
Both of them raised their daggers above their heads and plunged down. Facing inevitable doom, miraculously, Pern managed to turn his head to the side, making the goblins strike down on his armour. He yelled in pain as the sheer impact of it concussed him, but the goblins weren’t strong enough to go through it.
He was panicking like never before as he stared death in its eyes. Short, rapid breaths were all that he could manage, and it felt like any second the goblins would strike again. But, the moment never came. One of them collapsed on the ground next to him, a shard of ice through its head.
The other one panicked, desperately trying to stab Pern again. Before it could manage to do so, its face was eviscerated by Flinn’s daggers. Both of the goblins lay on top of Pern, their warmth slowly leaving their bodies.
But the fight was not over yet. The other two weaponless goblins decided that Pern was too tough of a target and went for Flinn instead. Both of them were quick - one of them threw dust in his eyes, the other used his claws to go for the throat.
They could have succeeded if it wasn’t for a sudden flash of light that blinded them both. The goblins were left dizzy and uneven on their feet, and as they were trying desperately to recover, they finally collapsed on the ground, needles of ice passing through their heads.
It was pure adrenaline running through their veins as they scanned the room for any more threats. Slowly, they lowered their weapons, convinced of no more threats. Mary was already tending to Pern, who, surprisingly, wasn’t that injured. A simple healing blessing and he was standing back on his feet.
“That was... Terrifying.” Pern let out a heavy sigh, still shaking with nerves.
“I know they said that the first room was dangerous, but I never expected them to attack as soon as you stepped through. It was as if they were waiting for you,” Berthold said after a moment of contemplation
“That’s dumb. If they were regular goblins, they could’ve ambushed us outside of the cave. Just because it’s a dungeon doesn’t mean that it’s going to wait for you to stand there and scratch your own balls.” Flinn replied.
“It’s fine guys. I’m still alive. We’ll be more careful next time,” Pern said, swinging around his shield.
“I’ve seen too many people die because they were careless. Please, be careful,” Mary chimed in as they were getting ready to continue.
“Still, it’s a dungeon alright. The mana here is overabundant, though it feels prickly to use. Not sure what that’s about.”
It took them several minutes to regain their composure and create a formation again, but by the time they did, they were warier than ever. The only way forward was to go through a small hallway, which bent to the right immediately after entering it.
“Let me go in front. Don’t forget, this is a dungeon, it's going to be trapped,” with that, they entered the first hallway.
Flinn carefully checked for any traps along the way. He had grabbed a long stick to check the ceiling, floor and walls for hidden wires and mechanisms. The hallway was awkward to navigate, it twisted and changed direction every few metres.
After a tense walk through the hallway, they arrived in another, similar room to the first one. It was suspiciously devoid of life, but no matter how much they searched through it, they couldn’t find any secret hallways or hidden enemies.
The second hallway was much the same. If they hadn’t almost died in the first room, perhaps Flinn would relax a bit, but his instincts kept telling him there was a trick or a trap somewhere. It proved to be right as halfway through the hallway, his stick went through the floor.
“Fake floor, be careful everyone. There’s probably a steep fall or something sharp underneath it,” the others tried to take a look, but there was no space to manoeuvre around here.
“I’ve seen other adventurers do this once. Take your waterskin and spray some water, see where it lands,” Mary chimed in. She was the most experienced of the bunch despite still being D rank.
It felt like a waste of water, but Flinn didn’t have any better solutions on how to deal with this. He had tried to reach his stick across, but it would still go through the floor at the end of his reach.
The water sprayed across the room as Flinn paid close attention to it. It passed through the floor until it didn’t anymore - approximately two metres from Flinn's original position. The cave twisted just beyond that point, leaving a small space to stand before they hit the wall. Flinn wished he had a long plank to walk across, or at least some rope to prevent a deadly fall just in case, but he was underprepared for a dungeon.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“It’s not that far, let’s jump across it,” Pern said what everyone was thinking out loud.
So, unwilling to go back for more supplies, Flinn jumped. It was a lot scarier than he thought it would be, but he landed on solid ground after a tense second. Turning back, he gave his friends a thumbs up as they were preparing to jump.
“What’s that sound?” he turned his head right to stare at where the cave turned. All he saw was death rushing towards him at blinding speeds.
The blast impacted him like a hammer. He had managed to get half of his body behind the wall, barely avoiding falling into the pit, but it left the other half exposed to violet-dark flame. He howled in pain as his entire body was set ablaze. He couldn’t feel his left arm anymore.
It was far from over. A smaller bolt of flame shot towards him, just as fear-inspiring as the blast. He could barely make out a figure of a goblin cackling, his mind going blank from the pain. The bolt smashed into a hastily made wall of ice, but it easily passed through it, smashing into his chest.
The others were shouting something as he turned his head to face them. He was going to die soon - the flame was going to consume him whole. At least, he hoped, his friends would make it out of here safe and sound.
“I’m going to save him. You can still heal him if you jump across. Don’t stop me, I’m going to kill that fucking goblin and bring its head to mount as a trophy,” despite Mary’s attempts to stop him, Pern was seeing red. His childhood friend was going to die at any second.
He lifted his shield in front of him, feeling a surge of strength like never before. His budding aura manifested in the moment of rage, his entire body felt light. Like a mad bull, he leapt over the illusion and turned to face the goblin. A bolt of fire impacted his shield, nearly knocking it out of his hands, but he held strong.
With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he had a feeling nothing could stop him. Rushing forwards, he blocked another bolt and drew his longsword. A few more steps and he could cut off the goblin’s head - mages were known to be weak in melee.
He felt his view expand as he neared closer to the room. Along with the fire goblin, there were fifteen others just looking at him. One of them stuck out its tongue, another one scratched its butt, flipping him off with the same hand. All of them were laughing at him. It didn’t matter how many there were, they all had to pay.
A few more steps and he could begin his massacre, but as he dashed into the room, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. The previously solid ground was no longer there - for a second, he was walking on air. Then, he dropped.
It was over in an instant. The previously fierce warrior was a corpse at the bottom of a pit, another victim added to its maw. Meanwhile, the fire goblin continued its assault. Mary and Berthold were desperately trying to get Flinn to safety. It was fire against ice, and Berthold wasn’t used to defending.
Ice wall after ice wall shattered. He started to feel mana sickness, but the dungeon had plenty to draw from. “I got him, let’s go,” shouted Mary as Bethold began to make a run for it.
“Hang in there. Oh, merciful goddess, let this brave warrior live to see another day,” she began to pray, light shining over both of them. The fire had long gone out, but she wasn’t sure if he was still alive. Still, she continued to pray, it was all that she could do.
The way back was straightforward, but when they reached the first room, the same fiendish goblin greeted them. Upon closer scrutiny, it looked much scrawnier, but the two had no time to contemplate what that meant.
“Kekekeke,” it laughed.
The flame from its hand spread to its body, a dark glow accompanying the flame. Berthold aimed at the goblin, but it didn’t plan on standing still. It dashed straight at them, aiming for Mary and Flinn. He drew more mana - it was starting to hurt now. A shower of shards erupted from his hands, but the goblin dodged left with incredible agility.
Its shoulder got pierced by a shard, but it ignored the pain, laughing even harder. Berthold did his job, it started going after him now. He fled to the right to give Mary more space, but also to get as far away from the hellish creature as possible.
The dark glow intensified as the assault continued. It dodged from one side to another, always narrowly avoiding his spells. The realisation that it was having fun only drove him deeper into a corner. He had nowhere else to run at this point, so he needed to wager it all.
He wasn’t trained enough for this, and even if he lived, he would never be a mage again, but it beat the tragic fate that awaited him if he didn’t do anything. He channelled all the mana he could - his mind palace was a frozen wreck - a constant blizzard that would never stop. If the whole world froze over, he would be the last survivor.
“Ice nova.”
A shockwave of frost blasted the goblin off its feet and into the nearby wall. The room’s temperature dropped into the negatives as the ice began to spread across the room, emanating from Berthold.
He collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily and trying to salvage the wreck that was his mind. Around him, the entire cave was covered in ice. Somewhere on the wall, the goblin’s eyes were wide open in shock. His dead body would remain there, frozen, until the dungeon reclaimed him, or, if that didn’t happen, until someone shattered the ice.
“I did it. My master, she will never forgive me, but I’m not a heartless monster who would sacrifice my friends.”
In his delirium, he thought he heard steps. Looking around, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Mary outside the cave, tending to Flinn. Slowly, he started to stand up, he needed to see if Flinn was safe.
Hope turned to terror in an instant. He started choking as a hand lifted him up in the air, squeezing away his life. Struggling, he turned his head around, only to see another infernal goblin. This one wasn’t laughing.
It was a painful death. The goblin didn’t crush his throat, instead, flame spread from its hand to his throat, and from his throat to his whole body. He died screaming in pain and misery as his flesh melted.
Finally, the dungeon was silent. One by one, goblins trickled into the first room, looking around curiously at the ice. The burned corpse started to disintegrate, turning into mana to feed the dungeon.
“It’s a shame that a few escaped. The next ones should know about the trap - but even if they know, what can they do? Most lower rank adventurers don’t have enough tools to deal with it,” Viv mused to himself.
First, he re-summoned Artorius and Blade. The two had failed in their initial ambush and got killed almost immediately. It was a good thing Viv wasn’t expecting them to succeed in the first place. Re-summoning them was cheap, their bodies returned mana to the dungeon on death, and summoning them again was cheaper than summoning a new goblin.
He had summoned a hellfire goblin behind the party, which was something he had never heard a dungeon do. Most likely because if a dungeon summoned a stronger monster behind someone, they wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. And if they survived, the dungeon would be destroyed for being “too hostile.”
The goblin died surprisingly quickly, but it accomplished its goal. The mage had given him a hundred mana, and the warrior - seventy-five. He was still a few creatures away from finishing the quest, but this time, he planned on bolstering the first floor’s defences.
The first room housed three regular goblins, the second one - a warrior and two regular goblins. A thing to note was that the warrior goblin actually came with weapons and armour. It had a rusty dagger and some stitched up pelts, but it was leagues above what his other goblins had.
Lyn would be temporarily assigned to the third room, but Viv summoned another hellfire goblin in case Lyn was unavailable for any reason. Three warrior goblins were summoned to protect the “frail mage.”
The jump in difficulty would kill most D ranking parties, but if it didn’t, he still had the guardian room. The rest of the goblins were gathered there - mostly as distractions. Most likely, after a few parties, it would only be the named goblins accompanying the guardian.
As he finished summoning, he got another influx of mana. The fairy showed its face once more, accompanied by the interface.
Main Quest 05 Complete.
Reward - +10 m/day, +100 Mana, Withering Touch (tier 1), Goblin Warchief (D).
“Finally, you’ve got a properly functioning dungeon. Before that - the final step. The guardian of the floor is usually the strongest creature. It draws mana from the space around it and from the creatures on the floor, and it holds a special connection to the dungeon core. To begin the ceremony, you must share a part of yourself through the link you have to the creature.”
Quest Received
Main Quest 06
A guardian of the floor is a reflection of yourself, or at least, a certain aspect of you. As you grow as a dungeon core, you will begin to gain intelligence, emotions, and feelings. A dungeon core filled with anger will only produce guardians that rage, while those with kindness will make creatures understand the world.
Create a floor guardian.
Progress - 0/1
Reward - Awakening, Advanced Dungeon Fairy, Dungeon Gate.