Zoe watched the mana for a moment as it flooded into the tunnel they’d carved out and filled it back in with earth — and even bits of metal that expanded out of the torn walls. It was far slower than the mole dungeon she’d ran with Brick’s party, but it was still being repaired through some automatic means.
Was it just because the hole they’d carved was far larger than the damage they did to the walls in the mole dungeon? Or was it because the mole dungeon was already earth themed, and thus more efficient at manipulating the earth?
She shrugged and pushed mana to her Earth skill to help fill in the tunnel behind them. At some point, the wall Eliza created in the hallway they crossed through would be torn down and who knows what would be chasing them down after that.
“We should go.” Eliza said. “Dig out or try and fight our way out?"
“How far down are we?” Lila asked.
“A hundred feet, maybe?” Zoe said. “Two at the most.”
“We can dig that. I can lift us and you can carve out a tunnel above us.” Eliza said.
“Sure.” Zoe agreed, grabbing Jeffrey and teleporting him back down the tunnel to the hallway they crossed through. Suffocating the poor goblin under a mountain of rock wasn’t something she was interested in doing, at least not just yet. His incessant whining about how evil and blasphemous they were hadn’t quite nudged her that far.
The three women stood together and were lifted off the ground by a small platform of earth. When they got closer to the ceiling, Eliza cut out a large square, revealing the dark brown compacted dirt and clay behind it. Zoe’s mana flooded into the ceiling, ripping it away and letting it tumble into the room below as Eliza pushed the platform further up.
After a little under a minute of digging, Zoe saw the bottom of one of the springs at the very edge of her perception. As they continued ascending, she saw they were below one of the private springs in the inn.
Two women were sitting at the edge of the spring, dipping their feet in the warm water as they cuddled up to each other.
“That way.” Zoe pointed away from the spring, trying to ignore the intimate moment she’d stumbled onto.
Eliza nodded and pushed the platform off to the side as Zoe continued ripping the earth away and tossing it down the hole. When they were far enough away from the inn, Zoe grabbed onto Eliza and Lila then teleported them up above, just outside of the Springs of Gir.
“Well that was fun.” Lila smiled, with a hint of shame creeping through her emotions that Zoe thought best to ignore.
“Yes, it was quite insightful. Unfortunate that it ended the way it did, but that’s how it goes sometimes.” Eliza agreed.
Zoe nodded.
“You’re going to go try and meet the boss still?" Eliza asked.
“I’m going to try, but we’ll see how it goes, I guess. I’ll come visit you in Korna if I learn anything interesting.” Zoe said. “Oh, by the way. Do you need help getting back? I could drop you off real quick if you want?"
“No, that’s quite alright. I’ll get us back there on our own.” Eliza smiled. “Thank you, though.”
Zoe nodded and the two women lifted off the ground on a small platform of earth, then shot off back towards the south east over the trees. She looked back towards the springs and wondered what her plan would be.
The normal goblins didn’t seem to be capable of answering any questions she was interested in, so meeting the boss on friendly terms was something she felt an insatiable pull towards. If it had answers, real answers, that it could actually tell her, then that would be life changing. World changing, perhaps.
She doubted it would. If it could answer the questions she had, then somebody else would have already asked them and Eliza would already have known. But still, the opportunity to speak with a dungeon boss was right there! After decades, she finally had the chance to sit down and have a discussion with something that wasn’t human.
That was fascinating, even if it wouldn’t have the answers she wanted. Would it be a goblin? Just a somewhat larger, more angry looking goblin? Or would it be another bear hybrid of some kind? Or something else?
Going back into the tunnel was an option. She could make her way back to where she left Jeffrey and see if he was still there and try to get him to take her to the boss per the original plan. But she doubted he would be willing to do anything other than insult her and try to attack her if she even thought of letting him out of his cage.
She could ignore Jeffrey and just try to find her way back to the massive pit, then towards the back where Jeffrey said the boss was. But would the boss be friendly at this point, or would she need some way of communicating with it before she was in its grasp? Nothing at the springs threatened her, but was that because it was a low level dungeon or because everything she’d interacted with had been the fantasy equivalent of minimum wage cashiers?
Would the dungeon’s boss be capable of hurting her? So far below the surface, her teleportation wouldn’t be reliable enough to let her escape if something went wrong. Maybe she’d catch a glimpse of something she could teleport to, but there was no guarantee of that. Worst case scenario, she’d have to dig her way out again, while in pursuit of high level creatures she couldn’t kill.
As interested as she was, that was just too much of a risk to take on. Before she met the boss, she needed some assurance that the meeting would be on friendly terms. Which meant speaking with another goblin first. Jeffrey was almost certainly off the table, which put her back at square one.
Zoe walked up to the front desk where the same two goblins were still there, smiling ear to adorable green ear.
“Hi, I need you to send a message to your boss for me.” Zoe said.
One of the goblins summoned a visitor card and handed it to her. “Hello! Welcome to the Springs of Gir!”
“No, no. I want to meet your boss.” Zoe said.
“No, miss. Customer can’t see boss.” The goblin said.
Zoe sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just go ask your boss, alright? Actually hold on, I’ll give you a letter to deliver.”
She summoned a pencil and her notebook, then scribbled a message into it.
Hello, I’m Zoe. I paid a bunch of mana for a tour of your facility and things went a bit wrong. Sorry about that, but we didn’t hurt any of your goblins. I think. I hope not. We tried not to. And I’m willing to help repair any of the damage we did do. I’d still like to come meet you on friendly terms if you’re still open to the idea. If not, I’ll be on my way I suppose. But I’d really like to come and have tea or whatever it is you do?
Zoe folded up the paper and handed it to the goblin. “Here, go deliver this to your boss and bring me back your boss’ response, alright?"
The goblin looked at the paper then back up at Zoe, feeling a little confused, but took the letter and left through the small tunnel in the back of the room. The other goblin just watched with a curious expression.
Ten minutes later, the goblin returned with another paper that it handed to Zoe.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Greetings, human. You have committed a grave crime against my people, and it would not be right for me to leave you unpunished. The damage will be repaired, at an extensive cost that you will cover, with an additional cost of ten billion mana. One of my people will come escort you.
Any further crimes will be punished with death.
“So I just wait here for one of your supervisors to show up then?” Zoe asked.
The two goblins shrugged, and Zoe chuckled.
Not long after, a larger goblin clad in armour and weapons crawled through the hole. It stood a full head over the others, and Identify showed it as a level one hundred sixty seven dark blue warrior.
“I am Hargon, you are Zoe?" The goblin asked.
“Yes.” Zoe said.
“Good.” Hargon said as it hopped over the counter. “Come.”
Hargon led Zoe down towards the same entrance Jeffrey had taken her through, and down the system of tunnels to the metal hallways until she got to the room with the large glass sphere again. Hargon shut the door as they entered and leaned against it with arms crossed.
“Pay.” Hargon said.
“How much, exactly?" Zoe asked.
“Pay.” Hargon repeated.
“Oookay.” Zoe said, pressing her hands into the glass sphere and sending mana into it. A part of her wanted to get distracted and watch the mana rip through space again but every time she felt her mind wandering a jolt of terror rushed through her at the thought of the goblin behind her taking advantage of it.
The time dragged on as Zoe flooded the sphere with her mana, every second feeling like an eternity with the tension and underlying fear of being trapped underground with a high level creature she’d offended. Eventually, Hargon stood from the wall and opened the door for a smaller goblin that walked in and handed Hargon a piece of paper.
Hargon read through the paper then looked up at Zoe. “You’re done.”
“Done, as in done charging it? Or done as in you’re going to kill me now? Because those are very different things.” Zoe said.
“Paid.” Hargon said.
“Okay. Okay. Cool. So I get to meet your boss now?" Zoe asked.
Hargon nodded and walked out of the room. “Follow.”
“Right. Okay.” Zoe followed Hargon through the hallways and down the mess of catwalks to the floor of the pit, and then to the very back of the room which had two very large and imposing black doors embedded into the wall. Not a speck of light seemed to be able to escape the doors, and not even the faintest hint of a breeze could be felt from the edges.
“Enter.” Hargon said, gesturing at the doors.
“Okay. So I just open the doors and walk in?" Zoe asked.
Hargon nodded.
“Alright. Only a little terrifying. Cool. Fun.” Zoe took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.
Behind was darkness. The slightest bit of light seeped in from the distant flickering torches that hung from the walls, but not enough to fill the room and see what was in it. Zoe’s perception didn’t reach far enough to see anything other than empty space with a somewhat damp looking metal floor.
Zoe stepped in, and Hargon slammed the doors shut behind her.
“Greetings, human.” A voice echoed through the room, accompanied with a persistent tapping noise that grated on Zoe’s ears.
“Uh hi. Where are you?" Zoe asked.
“I am where I belong. What did you wish to meet with me for?" The voice asked.
“I didn’t really think about that to be honest. I just thought it would be fun to sit down and talk with the boss of a dungeon, really.” Zoe said.
The voice growled, a deep guttural rumble that sent shivers down Zoe’s spine.
“Where did you come from?" Zoe asked.
“I come from Gir.” The voice said.
“Gir, here? Like the Springs of Gir?" Zoe asked, taking a step forward.
“These are the Springs of Gir. I am from Gir.” The voice said.
“Which isn’t on Abyllan?” Zoe asked, taking another step forward.
“What else do you wish to ask?” The voice asked.
“What do you do for fun? Do you have any hobbies?” Zoe asked.
“Fun?” The tapping turned to a sharp scraping sound like nails on a chalkboard. “I run the Springs of Gir. I have no time for frivolities.”
“Right. That’s a shame. Everybody should have a little fun. Do you enjoy running the springs?” Zoe asked, taking another step forward. The edge of a drenched metal stair appeared in the edge of her vision.
“I take great pride in the work we do.” The voice said.
“Right. It’s really cool. I enjoyed my stay here. What do you use the mana for?” Zoe asked.
“Much is used to repair damages caused by fools such as yourself.” The voice said.
Zoe took another step forward, finding another drenched metal stair.
“The rest, I do not know.” The voice said.
“So you’re not told what’s happening either? Do you know what the system is?" Zoe asked.
“Do you know what the system is?" The voice asked.
“No. I think it was made by somebody though. Do you know if somebody made it?" Zoe asked, taking another step forward and finding the edge of what seemed like a throne at the far reaches of her vision. Dozens of bones from different creatures, all dripping with whatever fluid seemed to fill the room.
“I know no such thing.” The voice said.
“Right. Right. Nobody knows, it seems. Why did you agree to meet me? I’ve tried meeting other dungeon bosses before but none seem interested in actually talking.” Zoe asked.
“Few other humans have seemed interested in talking, so I ask you the same. Why have you asked to meet with me?” The voice asked.
“Cause it’s interesting. You could know things I don’t, you could know some secrets that I want to know or something. I thought it would be fun?" Zoe answered.
“And I the same. You interest me, human. We may not be as different as you believe.” The voice said.
Zoe stepped forward again and at last, saw the being that was sat on the throne. A goblin, covered in thick scales that ended in razor sharp points from head to toe, with the feathered head of a drake. Every scale and feather dripped with some fluid that fell to the seemingly endless pool of liquid accumulating on the chair and steps.