"Reinforce Armor"

Markus screamed as a horde of Goblins sprung at him with swords in hand.

They flew through the sky and were flying right at Markus.

The goblins, in total there were four, slashed their swords downwards, intending to penetrate Markus's armor and cut him down.

Their swords sliced through the air and were heading downward at an incredible speed.

It was truly unbelievable, just how much force they could unleash with their small hands and bodies.

Dump

A loud bang could be heard as the swords hit the armor of the Tank.

It was as if a bullet had hit a wall.

The goblins were smiling and looking at each other, happy because of their successful attack.

Their smiles allowed insight into their horrendous mouths, full of crooked teeth.

The sharpness of which were also like a blade.

"What are you smiling for?"

A man's voice entered the smiling goblins’ ears as they looked down in disbelief. 

"Graahah!!"

They all screeched as they realized their blades had not cut through the man's defenses.

And not only that, their blades were now deeply imbedded in the man's iron wear, unable to be drawn out with only their sheer force.

The smiles quickly disappeared from their faces, as they looked to be concerned for their life.

The ugly face of fear had appeared on them.

They knew it was over the moment they failed to cut him.

Yet they were not ready to pass on just yet.

"Greeeeehhhh!!!"

They all screamed as they let go off their swords and started running away.

But before they even got a meter away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Markus quickly caught up with the fleeing goblins.

And without missing a beat, he struck them down.

Baaaamm

He hit one of the goblins in the chest and launched him at the other fleeing ones.

He held back a bit, to not destroy the goblins whole body. But with just the right amount of force, he knocked him back into the other ones.

The goblin flew right into four other ones that were fleeing.

"Aghgah"

The goblins were mumbling something to themselves in their tongue.

But in a flash, he appeared.

"There's no need to be mad at him. He couldn't help but fly into you."

Suddenly Markus appeared as well, and without the slightest bit of hesitation visible on his face. He decided to unleash his full force.

"This is for all that you have killed."

He struck down with the iron mace, painting it with Crimson blood as he continuesly slammed in the heads of the goblins.

He struck them multiple times, even after they were already dead, to make sure they were not tricking him.

He looked up for a second to assess the situation.

With a relieved face Markus rushed back to a Healer and stood guard on her rear.

"Here to do my duty ma'am."

He jest as he prepared himself and readied his posture for the rushing goblins.

"If you are able to joke, you better be able to protect me as well."

The woman, wearing light brown hair replied as she healed one of the wounded of the party.

Markus bent slightly downwards and readied his mace with a smile on his face.

"You bet."

****

"Whew! We finally delt with them." Markus said as he bent downwards slightly out of exhaustion.

He put his hands on his knees and exhaled a couple of times to calm himself after the adrenaline rush called "battle".

'I wonder what we're going to do now.... We're supposedly close to the Boss entrance, but I wonder what the leader will decide to do.'

Markus taught to himself as he looked at the Leader, surrounded by the other group members wondering the same thing.

Markus decided to stand up and walked over to where the big group was situated.

"So what are we going to do now?" one person with a cloak over his head asked.

"Are we going into the Boss room?" another one followed up with practically the same question.

The Leader was continuously getting bombarded with questions from left and right.

He looked slightly annoyed by this.

"Look, I don't know yet. I'll make a decision once we reach the entrance." he said while putting his hands up into the air.

'That's the right decision' Markus taught to himself as he wandered off, trying to find Karl.

'Where is that useless Adventurer' he joked to himself as he looked around the area.

He continued looking for a couple more minutes until he was sure he had searched everywhere.

'Where could he have gone off to?'

He was getting slightly worried about Karl.

He started looking around a bit more frantically, trying to catch a glimpse of him. 

'He must've just gone to take a leak right?'

He reassured himself, staying positive even in the case of the unknown.

"We're going further. There isn't that much more left. Come on guys" the Leader offered encouraging words as they started to proceed.

Markus looked back and saw everyone going onwards.

Deciding not to drag everyone down, he reassured himself that he had just missed Karl, and continued on with the Group.

***

"What are we going to do now?"

A long, black haired Woman asked the man standing in the middle of the group.

They had indeed reached their goal of the boss rooms entrance. It's size enormous and the volume of its Magical Energy indescribable.

The Doorway was massive at about a 100 Meters tall and the half of that as its width.

Open, yet covered by a pitch black fog which makes the boss of the room unable to leave.

The fog was spilling out of the opened gate and was passing by Markus's feet.

'Creepy.'

Even though he had often seen the fog and even felt it on a couple of occasions as he went on a boss raid, he could not help but shiver whenever he saw it.

"I just hope they decide what to do quickly." he mumbled to himself as he sighed.

They had been exploring for quite some time now, and as expected most party members were tired and wanted to get out.

However there were also members of the party that wanted to fight the boss of the Place. And they were making leaving the Dungeon a harder Task than it should be.

They were arguing with the leader, trying to get him to issue the commands. And were doing their best to encourage the other members to continue as well.

However almost everyone agreed that they did not possesses the energy to deal with the boss.

And as such they weren't making any leeway.

"It's only a matter of time, before they give up."

And whilst all this was happening, Markus couldn't help but still worry about Karl.

Now that they had stopped, he had taken the opportunity to look for him. But he came up empty handed.

He looked everywhere yet couldn't find him.

Which could only mean one thing.

"I hope I'm wrong about this."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He murmured as he sat down.

After about an hour of rest the entire group started to move again.

"Well that was a waste of time."

One of the people complained.

"We could've left earlier if all they were going to do was look at the entrance."

"Because of that, the amount of money we will be making has also been cut in half. Honestly what a waste."

The members of the group just kept on complaining, even though they knew they didn't stand a chance against the boss.

They had to let off some steam somehow, and this was the only way they found for it.

"Honestly, what idiots. They're lucky the Leader didn't get talked into fighting the boss. It would've been a disaster otherwise."

Markus said as he looked at the people walking in front of him.

"So you felt it as well?"

One of the people, a Healer asked him this as he looked at him curiously.

"Hmmm... If you’re talking about the intensity of the magical energy, then yes. It was way above something a group like ours could handle."

The Healer just looked at Markus with a slight relief visible on his face.

"Another sensible person. I didn't think I would find another one here. Thank god."

The Person said as he exhaled deeply.

The Healer was about the size of a High School Student. The size between an adult and a kid. He also possessed short black hair and some glasses.

"By the way I'm Franz. A Rank E Healer. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Markus. The pleasure Is all mine"

Markus shook the Healers hand as they locked eyes with one another.

Markus then looked away and kept staring in front of him.

They walked side by side in silence, whilst sometimes striking up some small conversations.

"Have you heard about the meeting taking place this Friday?"

Franz asked Markus as they walked.

"The meeting? First time I hear of it." Markus said.

Franz looked at him with fully open eyes. 

"I'm surprised you haven't heard anything. It's been in the news the whole week. The Leaders of all the countries are coming together to discuss something. It's gotta be something big if they're all coming together."

"What are they discussing?"

Markus asked, having his interest piqued.

But Franz just kind of furrowed his brows and put his hand on his chin. Caressing it slightly.

"Nobody knows. They haven't revealed anything to the public. It seems the politicians are being tight lipped. Even though the media has their speculation, those stuff isn't really trustworthy you know." Franz said.

Markus looked up at the ceiling of the cave as he wondered to himself silently.

"I wonder what they are discussing."

He murmured.

But after a couple of silent seconds of deep thought, Markus popped back to reality.

Immediately he started looking around himself again. Paying a lot of attention to his surroundings.

'Is he afraid we'll get ambushed again?' Franz thought to himself as he looked at Markus frantically looking from one side to another walking next to him.

These Actions looked quite strange to Franz, but not wanting to come off as a rude and unsensitive person, he decided to push them to the back of his mind.

After continuing on the path of silence, eventually both fell into silence, having run out of things to talk about.

'How awkward' Franz thought to himself.

But with having nothing to say, he stayed by the older man's side in quiet and observed his movements.

This continued on for a while, until the silence the two had found themselves in had been broken by the loud words of a man, in the front of the Group.

He was in the position Markus should have been in, yet this remained unremarked by the both of them.

"Stop!!! Don't move" the man yelled.

With his words the whole wandering party came to a stop and stood in silence and confusion. Nobody wanted to make an unnecessary move unsure about how to proceed.

There was only pure, unfiltered silence looming in the air as the people in the back were trying to catch a glimpse of the happenings in the front.

This silence lasted for 10 seconds, until the man that spoke before, yelled again.

"It's a human. No reason to worry."

The sighs of relief descended on the cave as falling leaves on autumn.

The people were ready to engage in combat, so it having been a false alarm was very calming for them.

Even Markus had to sigh once out of relief. His mind hadn't fully been there the moments prior, so an engagement would only be detrimental for him.

Having regained his senses his face turned to stone as he walked to the front with a hurried step in him.

There were multiple people around the person lying on the floor.

After it was revealed he was a human, the leader and a couple more people had approached him in unison, staying on guard with weapons drawn.

"Is he unconscious?" one of the people asked as he looked at the lying boy.

The leader approached carefully and checked the boys neck whilst staying on high alert. He put his ear to the boy's face and listened to his breathing.

The leader asked everyone to stay quiet so that he could hear the breathing clearly.

In a silent atmosphere the leader listened in, trying to grasp the boys situation.

"He's... asleep...."

The leader said with a surprised as well as awkward tone.

"Asleep?! How did he even get in the Dungeon?!"

One of the men asked as they looked at him.

Markus was trying to get a look at the boy too, but the people were blocking his way so he was struggling.

Even though he was relatively big, he was too far away to see the boy’s face.

However as the leader and the men next to him started discussing something, a path opened up for Markus.

He quickly walked over and checked on the young man's condition.

As soon as he saw the face of the person a sigh escaped his mouth.

***

"Waaaah"

After suddenly catapulting up from his lying position, Karl couldn't help but let a stressful sound escape his mouth.

He looked around him. Checking out the room he found himself in.

The walls around him were cream colored, with windows embedded in them. In total there were two windows in the room. But both of them were looking onto the clear blue sky, so the information Karl could gather was limited.

'At least I know I'm on Earth' he said as he scratched his head.

He looked around some more and saw some wires leading to his hand.

'What's this?' he questioned as he slightly tugged on it.

There was a slight screeching sound emerging from next to him when he tugged on it. Which led to him in turn looking over.

There stood a machine displaying multiple lines and numbers in a green color.

With this came the sudden realization.

"I'm in a hospital!!" Karl said as he looked at the machine.

When had he gotten here? And how?

These were the questions swirling around his head.

He could remember being in a sort of library, and the flying head entering his stomach, but nothing after that. After that happened, it was all a blank darkness.

He was getting stressed trying to remember what happened to him, so he came to a decision and stood up from the bed.

He was about to leave the room, when a young lady with long black hair and a nurse uniform entered.

"Oh my, Mister Galer. You shouldn't be moving right after waking up."

With a stressed face and hurried hand signs, she urged him back into bed.

"No, no, I'm fine. Really."

Karl tried putting up a fight and tried explaining how he felt perfect.

But the nurse did not believe his words and pushed him back into bed.

"I'll call the doctor right away. Before he gets here don't stand up anymore." she said as she was leaving through the door.

"If you want to watch TV, the remote is next to your bed on the Table."

She pointed towards the remote and left the room.

Karl, lying in bed and blankly staring at the wall, did not know how he should react or in fact what he should do.

He was still confused and seeking answers, but they were guaranteed to come sooner rather than later.

So all he did was listlessly state at the cream colored wall in front of him.

After about 2 minutes or so, a man wearing a white doctors uniform with a stethoscope hanging from his neck, entered the room.

"How are you feeling Mr. Galer?"

The Doctor asked as he entered the room.

He had a nice aura around him, that made him seem friendly and approachable.

Karl looked at the Doctor and started talking.

"I'm feeling fine. Never better."

Karl said how he felt with an awkward smile on his face.

He kept it short, trying to avoid any unnecessary conversation.

The Doctor looked at him weirdly for a second, before approaching him.

"By the way, what date is it?"

Karl asked, looking slightly nervous.

He didn't know how long he had been out for, so he tried to get a firm grasp on his current situation.

After getting closer the Doctor locked eye contact and showed a smile.

"No wonder you were nervous. After all you don't know for how long you were blacked out for. But don't worry, it's still the first of December."

The Doctor smiled, stretching out his hand.

'Whew......it's still the same day. I thought I was out for a long time.'

Feeling a lot less nervous Karl looked at the Doctor and shook his hand.

Looking down at him directly for the first time, the Doctor decided to introduce himself before they went on to his diagnosis. He introduced himself as Dr. Booker.

Dr. Booker explained to Karl everything that had happened. He explained how he was found asleep in a Dungeon by a party and that they brought him here Right afterwards.

Then after explaining everything the atmosphere suddenly changed.

Karl could feel how his body was picking up signs of a more serious topic approaching. His hairs on his arms stood up and his ears started ringing in a low frequency.

'Augh... What the hell is happening.'

Karl could not help but feel a slight jolt hit his body as the ringing began. His arms, by pure instinct catapulted upwards and towards his ears.

Dr. Booker raised his eyebrows at the sudden actions of his patient. But quickly showed them aside to continue on with the main topic.

"But something has been bugging me this whole time."

The Doctor aimed a more serious gaze towards Karl. Trying to figure out the entire situation.

"And that is, just how you were able to fall asleep in a Dungeon? I mean it's not really a place one can easily fall asleep in, right? So, something must have happened in there."

Dr. Booker came closer to Karl's face, invading his personal space, trying to make him feel uncomfortable and spill the beans.

"What happened in there Mr. Galer?" he asked.

Karl was visibly distraught. He could not see his face, yet he knew he looked nervous. He could feel the small sweat droplets forming on his face and sliding down towards his neck.

He didn't know how he should respond. If he should tell the truth or keep it hidden.

'If I tell him about the floating Head or the massive library he'll think I'm crazy. Or even worse they'll start experimenting on me.'

Saying anything about what transpired inside that Library was a no go, Karl decided.

He put his hands behind his head and put on an embarrassed smile.

"Well, it's pretty embarrassing." he said while looking away from the Doctor.

He was by no means a good actor. But if all he needed to do was trick one measly doctor, he should be able to manage, he thought to himself.

Dr. Booker saw how Karl reacted and put more distance between them.

"Doesn't matter. Just tell me." he said.

"Well.... Whilst I was walking around in the back of the group, I saw a goblin. The sight of that goblin really scared me and it seems like I passed out. The next thing I knew I was here. "

The man looked at Karl with eyes filled with disappointment.

Karl could hear the man going, 'what has become of our adventurers'.

So naturally he had to defend himself a little bit, after all even he had a small bit of integrity left.

"No seriously, you should've seen this goblin. He had blood all over his mouth and claws draped in what looked like a pitch black substance."

The Doctor sighed once heavily and said.

"Huuuh... Aren't you supposed to protect us, normal folk from stuff like that. If even you are afraid of it, it doesn't give me much hope."

He walked back to the nurse and told her something.

Karl was looking at him, anxious to ask one more thing before he left for good.

"May I leave the hospital today? I'm afraid there are things I need to take care of. "

Dr. Booker looked over at him and with an expression of 'I give up' he said.

"It says here you are in good condition. As such there is no reason to keep you here."

Karl smiled at that positive revelation. His face instantly shot up in happiness and his earlier "Embarrassment" seemed to disappear.

He didn't need to say anything, his feelings were clearly displayed on his face.

"But before you leave, make sure you fill out the release papers." Dr. Booker said as he was leaving the room.

He looked over to the nurse and said.

"I'll leave it to you."

The nurse bowed once and followed him out, walking closely behind him.

The two of them were walking in silence in the blue colored hospital hallway. Every 5 to 7 meters there was a door leading to another patients room. Dr. Booker was currently heading to one of these other rooms.

"He seemed to not be telling the truth about what happened in the Dungeon."

The nurse suddenly broke the silence with an odd remark.

Yet the Doctor just kept on walking forward, without needing to take a glance back. 

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

"I don't know. His story felt kind of strange and unrealistic. I mean if somebody was afraid of monsters why would they become an adventurer."

She asked, answering why she thought it sounded fishy.

Dr. Booker looked back at her and with a serious tone he said.

"You shouldn't think about it more than necessary. There probably is a reason why he isn't telling us what really happened in there."

Looking at her with eyes that seemed to scream, 'leave it alone', he warned her about pursuing the topic further.

The nurse looked at him worriedly, understanding what he meant with the warning. Her eyes blackened and her heart sunk.

If he's warning me about it, something serious must have happened, something serious enough to even make the Doctor leave it alone, she thought to herself.

The Doctor looked forward again and entered another patients room.

"Forget this conversation ever happened. Just focus on your job."

***

Leaving the hospital Karl was on his way towards his apartment when he suddenly felt a buzz in his pocket.

Bzzzz

He put his hands in his pockets and took out his vibrating phone.

'Who could it be this late...'

He opened his phone and saw a white popup appear on his screen.

[You got mail]

He clicked on it and opened the message he had gotten.

[We're on our way to your apartment. Make sure you clean up a little bit before we arrive, You wouldn't want her finding something unnecessary or?]

"Ugh-"

A small yet painful sound escaped Karl's mouth as he remembered who was supposed to come today.

They had already talked about meeting up today, but with everything happening it escaped Karl's head.

"Shit, I need to hurry up, before they get there."

With that Karl put his phone in his pocket and ran on home.