“Wait, right in there?”
Yuki nodded. “Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely?”
Ezra glanced at her. “The question mark at the end doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”
Pete looked between the two, and the giant cave entrance in front of them
The three had only been wandering for two hours before Yuki had pointed out the cave to them. Apparently, this was where the sub-boss was, much to the confusion and shock of Ezra.
“I’m still a bit lost,” Ezra said. “You’re telling me that it was just two hours away from where we were? Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
“It didn’t seem relevant.”
Ezra facepalmed.
Even Pete was giving her a raised eyebrow. “Yuki, that seems a little bit… irresponsible?”
Yuki turned red and averted her eyes.
“That’s a fair point,” she said.
Ezra turned back toward the cave entrance. A solid black door stood, guarding the cave from being entered casually. It was smooth stone, almost glassy in appearance. Two handles for pulling it open sat in the center and facing toward them was a sign. Pete reached out and read it aloud.
“This area has been cordoned off by order of the lord Vraima.”
Ezra snatched the parchment from Pete’s hand. He blinked.
“It’s in English.”
Pete tilted his head in Ezra’s direction. “Of course it is,” he said. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because we’re in a fantasy world.”
Pete furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the ground. Then his eyes shot open and his jaw gaped. “How can we read it…?”
Yuki sucked in a breath. “Not only that, but we’ve been speaking English to everyone we’ve met. Think about that for a moment.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ezra said.
Pete read over the parchment again. “So weird…”
Yuki crossed her arms and shook her head. “It is, but it doesn’t matter. We’re here to kill the sub-boss, right?”
Ezra nodded.
“Yeah, let’s stay on target.”
He stepped closer and tugged on the door handle experimentally.
The door pulled open a half-inch. Pete dashed over to the other door handle and started pulling as hard as he could. Ezra matched him, tugging on the door. It didn’t take much strength. The door moved as if there were no friction on the hinges. They flew open and slammed into the rock of the surrounding wall. Ezra took a step forward. As soon as he did so, he noticed the problem.
“Do we have any torches?” he said.
Pete glanced behind himself as if he were expecting toches to magically appear. Yuki instead reached forward, her hand disappearing. She pulled her hand back out, revealing that she’d packed two torches in her weird inventory thing.
Ezra glanced at her, then the torch, then back to her. He reached out and took the torch from her hands.
“I don’t suppose you have a lighter in there too?” he said.
Yuki threw him a piece of flint and a knife.
Ezra’s lips curled up. He looked down and struck the flint against the knife. Molten sparks splashed against the fabric of the torch and set it on fire. To the side, Pete was doing the same thing, though he was struggling with the flint and dagger. Yuki was watching him, her hands twitching.
“So, how many times can you use that little ability of yours?” Ezra said.
Yuki scratched the back of her head.
“Well, it’s not based on time. Not totally, anyway. I have a capacity for how much I can manipulate before the skill needs to cool down.”
Ezra nodded.
“What’s your capacity?”
Yuki coughed into her hand, then glanced at Ezra.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Ezra.”
“Fine. At least let me know when your skill is about to cool down—“
Yuki shook her head. “It already is.”
Ezra’s left eye twitched, he shook his head and faced around toward the darkness of the cave.
Well, in reality, it was more of a cellar. There were rough stone bricks arranged into a staircase formation going down. Ezra began marching his way down. Behind him, he could hear Yuki and Pete following. It was only a few more steps before Ezra’s foot stepped down and sank into the stone. A soft click echoed out.
Ezra froze.
“Oh, damn it,” Ezra said.
A rumbling noise came from behind them.
Ezra narrowed his eyes and looked back where they’d come from.
“Wait,” Pete said. “Was that a—“
In the distance, illuminated by the flickering light of Pete’s torch, was a rolling boulder.
“Run!” Ezra said.
Pete looked back and let out a shriek. Yuki’s jaw dropped at the boulder before she broke off into a dash.
Ezra’s feet pounded the stone. His heart raced inside his chest. He looked at his needle, then stopped and turned around. He pointed his weapon at the boulder.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“[Restrain]!”
Yellow threads shot from wall to wall, forming a seemingly impenetrable barrier.
Pete and Yuki continued running, brushing past Ezra in the process.
The boulder rolled along, then ripped through the yellow threads without so much as a ‘by-your-leave’. Ezra’s feet kicked into action and he continued dashing down the stairs.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he shouted. “How did it just rip through [Restrain]!?”
Yuki’s feet pounded the ground. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to get ahead of it!”
Behind him, Ezra could hear the boulder rolling along, picking up speed and getting closer with each second.
“Damn it, how long do these stairs go on for!?” Pete said.
As they kept running, they found that the stairs led to a long passageway illuminated by blue torches on the walls. The path ahead split into three directions, with no noticeable distinctions between them. All three paths were made of the same nondescript stone.
Ezra felt a pull in his gut. With nothing else to go off of, he shouted out which way to go.
“Left!” he said.
Neither Yuki nor Pete said anything, too busy running.
They got closer, closer…
And turned left.
The boulder barreled past and continued down into the center hallway. The group slowly came to a stop.
Ezra put his hands to his knees while Pete dropped over onto the ground. Yuki, meanwhile, was using her thick robes to try to wipe off the massive amount of sweat on her forehead.
“What the hell was that mess?” Ezra said.
“I don’t know, but I never want to go through that again!” Pete said.
Yuki lifted her head and looked at Ezra.
“That was terrifying, it was on our tail the whole time,” she said.
Ezra pushed himself up to a standing position, still heaving. “Could you imagine if we’d ended up dying to a boulder?” He sucked in a big gulp of air. “God, I’d never live it down.”
“You wouldn’t live, period,” Pete said.
Ezra raised an eyebrow in Pete’s direction. Pete quickly shut his mouth. They were deep underground, now. Ezra could tell that much. Up ahead was a door. Ezra walked up to the door.
“Wait, is that a good idea?” Yuki pursed her lips. “If there’s another boulder or something, I think I’ll just give up and get squished.”
Ezra shook his head.
“No way, the door is too small. It should be fine.”
“I don’t know, Ezra,” Pete said. “Maybe this was a bad idea. We could just head back up and call it a day.”
Ezra marched toward the door. “It’s fine. Trust me.”
Pete paused before he shrugged and followed behind Ezra.
“If you say so, Ezra,” he said.
Yuki dabbed at her forehead with her cloak. “This is a terrible idea.”
Ezra pulled open the door, revealing nine nametags.
Goblin - Lv. 11
Goblin - Lv. 11
Goblin - Lv. 13
Goblin - Lv. 9
Goblin - Lv. 7
Goblin - Lv. 4
Goblin - Lv. 13
Goblin - Lv. 12
Goblin - Lv. 12
Ezra only had one thing to say under such circumstances.
“Shit.”
----------------------------------------
Ezra immediately slammed the door shut with a bang, his eyes wide open. He took a step back. A moment later, a crashing noise appeared from the other end of the door. Dust exploded from the stone frame. Ezra backed up further for a moment, before stopping.
“[Polymorphism],” he said.
His needle expanded to its more dagger-sized form. He twirled it around, even as his heart continued to pound louder and louder.
“E-Ezra!” Pete said. “Come on, let’s run!”
Ezra snarled without moving. “No!” he said. “I ran from a boulder. I’m not running from a bunch of goblins!”
Yuki’s breath came in quickly.
“What!? Ezra, there are way too many! We can’t—“
“Come on!” he said. “If I can’t fight a bunch of goblins, then what hope do I have against a boss monster? Screw that, I’m fighting!”
Yuki’s eyes darted from Ezra to the entrance. After a moment, she gritted her teeth together, sighed, and pointed her staff in the direction of the door. Pete wheeled backward.
“Are you kidding me!?” he said. “You two are nuts!”
Ezra slid his left foot back. “Run. Stay. I don’t care. Just shut up, please.”
Pete flapped his mouth uselessly before pulling up his bow and pointing it in the direction of the door.
The door curved and bent from the force of the blows. With each attack from the other side, there was a loud and louder splintering noise. The floor vibrated from the attacks, sending a tingling sensation up Ezra’s legs.
Finally, the door cracked open and four goblins spilled out.
“[Restrain]!”
Threads weaved out and around three goblins. One escaped and jumped toward Ezra, a small meat cleaver in its hand, and aimed toward Ezra’s shoulder. Ezra’s needle flashed out and stabbed straight through the small creature’s stomach. He immediately redirected the force, throwing it onto the ground and regaining possession of his weapon in one smooth motion.
20/158
That little damage? Ezra raised his needle for another stab.
A crackling snarl alerted him to an attacker.
He shot his eyes out to the left, then right. Two goblins were darting out. One was attacking his leg with a rusty knife while another was stabbing toward his eye using a spear.
Ezra’s heart slammed in his chest as adrenaline pumped through his veins. He stepped back, dodging the rusty knife. The spear continued to come.
In slow motion, he saw the tip approach his eye.
The tip stopped, a shimmering barrier of air blocking the blow.
Ezra glanced back at Yuki. Her staff was glowing a bright green. The same shade of green as the barrier. A droplet of sweat had appeared on her forehead. Ezra was starting to get seriously irritated with all these abilities that she’d somehow gotten her hands on. He turned back around toward the goblin.
It had a face of shock and confusion on its face. It stabbed out at him again.
This time, Ezra dodged, then stabbed it directly through the eye.
Bits of it fell onto the ground and it went limp.
Well, turnabout was fair play, right?
Ezra pulled his needle back, allowing the creature to drop to the floor with a thump. He looked around himself. The other eight goblins were staring at him, their eyes wide with bloodlust. A familiar chill snaked its way down into Ezra’s spine. He clenched his fists and mentally activated [Calm]. Instantly, a wave of peace washed over him, wiping away his fears.
He quickly checked the cooldown timer.
[Calm] - Lv. 14
Stores emotions for later. After a timer expires, user receives all the stored emotions, experiencing them all at once and with their intensity amplified. The amplification can be decreased as the skill is leveled up.
Amplification: 5.5x
Timer: 10m
Mana Consumption: 8 mp/s
Cooldown: 3.5h
Ezra grunted. He’d been wearing down his timer. He needed to go to sleep at some point and absorb the emotions in order to reset his timer.
But that was for later. Now, he had to focus—
There was a wooden twang and a whoosh of air. One of the goblins cried out in pain, grabbing its leg. Embedded there was a glowing, translucent arrow.
Ezra looked over toward his allies.
Yuki was staring at Pete in shock. Pete himself had his bow at the ready stance, clearly marking him as the culprit. All of the goblins turned toward him. He gulped.
Ezra had selected his cannon fodder well.
Pete yelped as the goblins rushed toward him. He hurried back, running away.
Ezra pointed out his finger like a gun.
“[Web Trap].”
Instantly, a complex layer of thin yellow strands weaved together underneath four of the goblins, halting them in place. They glanced at each other, confused. The ones Ezra hadn’t caught were too busy chasing Pete around to notice their captured brethren.
Ezra stepped forward and stabbed one till it was dead. Then he moved to the next. Then he moved to the next. He was like a machine, uncaring of the blood splattering across him, nor of the way he looked as he systematically exterminated the goblins.
By the time [Web Trap] had expired, there were only the mangled remains and corpses of the monsters.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Yuki didn’t glance at the bodies. Instead, she glared at Ezra, before darting her eyes to Pete.
“Ezra. Pete needs help,” she said.
Ezra nodded as he watched Pete run away. “He serves his role perfectly, doesn’t he?”
“Ezra! We need to help him!”
Ezra grunted and ran after Pete. Yuki followed a moment later.
Pete was sweating buckets. He dodged an attack from a goblin, but only by the slimmest of margins. A bit closer and it would’ve stabbed into his vulnerable face.
Ezra held out his hand, needle gripped tightly.
“[Restrain].”
Three goblins were tied together into a bundle. One managed to avoid it. Pete, still terrified, didn’t even notice that most of them were gone.
“Pete, you idiot,” Ezra said. “Kill it!”
Pete continued screaming at the top of his lungs.
Ezra drew his needle inward like a playing card, before launching it out at the goblin.
The needle pierced through its leg, forcing it to fall over with a pained cry.
“Recall.”
The needle appeared in Ezra’s hand. He marched forward, then stabbed it into the goblin’s brain. It fell over limp.
Now then, it was time to level up.
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Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 29