Astrid was calmly perched on a tree limb. While hiding in the tree, she had a rock and dagger in her hands. She was focused on making a makeshift arrowhead to create more arrows.
She carefully chipped small pieces of the stone and forged it into her desirable item. Thankfully, Astrid had done this countless times back in her Tribe, so the process came naturally to her.
Greyvolk members were required to craft their ammo, especially archers since their main weapon was a bow. It was because this tradition was drilled into the Dark Elf ranger that she was doing this now.
She carefully ground her blade against the stone, carving out small chunks of it to shape her arrowhead. As the dark elf did this, her mind began to wander. It was a normal occurrence for Astrid.
After carving arrows for so long, she could do this with her eyes closed. Her hands moved instinctively through pure muscle memory.
And it was because of how trained and conditioned she was with this that she soon picked up the habit of having her mind drift off. When this happened, she would question things, think back on her life, or relive certain memories in her head.
Out of the three, her brain decided to take a trip down memory road…in the worst way possible. She started to remember what happened to her before she was dumped in this dungeon. Just before the System suddenly appeared and changed everything.
Astrid was rushing through a forest with other dark elves following behind her. They were her subordinates or followers.
Astrid was a Captain of the Greyvolk legion, and as a captain, she was in command of her group. It wasn’t a large team and only consisted of five members, including herself.
With her team behind her, Astrid carried out a mission given to her by the Leader of the Greyvolk tribe. The Tribal Chief, also known as her Father.
Astrid was given a task to carry out a reconnaissance mission regarding some kind of meeting happening near their territory. The Greyvolk legion normally doesn’t do things like this, but the reason why this was an exception was due to one reason.
The reason was that this meeting was taking place extremely close to Greyvolk territory. It had been known in Astrid’s world that under no uncertain terms, anyone who wasn’t a member of the Greyvolk tribe was to step foot on their land.
The Elven race, especially the Dark Elves, were very a territorial species. And they would normally respond to trespassing with lethal force, depending on the circumstances. It was because of how close this meeting was that the Tribal chief wanted to know what this meeting was about, and more importantly, who were the participants.
Little did the Tribal chief or Astrid know that this was nothing more than a trap. A trap for Astrid herself.
Getting to the supposed meeting spot near the border of Greyvolk territory, Astrid and her team stalked the scene, waiting for the participants to arrive. Only when they did, the dark elves were suddenly ambushed.
Everything happened so fast that Astrid could hardly process all of it. All she remembered was a huge explosion, likely from a spell and she fell from the tree. Coming to, the dark elf captain witnessed as hooded figures appeared out of nowhere and easily slaughtered her team.
Astrid could only watch as each of her team members was put down in an instant. Flashes of magic streaked through the air along with blood spraying from their bodies. It didn’t take long before her entire group was slaughtered on the spot.
All except for one…
Still lying on the ground, Astrid attempted to get back up and save her comrades, only to be pinned down by someone. Looking behind her, Astrid was wide-eyed when she saw one of her own team members keeping her pinned on the ground.
To make matters even worse, it was also one of her most trusted teammates as well. Someone she had known since their childhood. It was Dolk, her best friend and right-hand man of the team.
She could still recall her reaction to the whole thing. How shocked and devastated she was. And their conversation was just as heartbreaking.
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“D-Dolk…?” She muttered his name with a painful gasp. “W-why are you doing this?!”
Dolk smiled in response as if her question was amusing to him.
“Don’t take it personally, Astrid,” He told her, his sly and disgusting grin still visible on his face. “By the way, Kollr sends his regards.”
Hearing that name, Astrid froze entirely. As if her brain couldn’t process what she just heard spout from her former friend’s mouth. She could only watch as Dolk raised the weapon he used to pin Astrid to the ground and prepared himself to stab her with it.
But just before he could thrust his blade into his former friend, it happened.
Strange holographic messages materialized in front of them before their consciousness slowly faded. The last thing Astrid saw before she blacked out was Dolk collapsing on the spot with a loud thud along with his weapon making a metallic clang.
Then the Dark Elf Captain was introduced to the mysterious force she knew as The System. And the rest was history.
Astrid continued to scrap off more chips of the stone with her dagger. Each time became more forceful, as if she was taking her anger out of the rock.
“Kollr…” The dark elf muttered the name that Dolk mentioned. Her brows creased angrily as she ground her teeth. “Why did you do this…?”
Astrid was familiar with the name that Dolk mentioned. The reason why was very simple. It was because Kollr was Astrid’s brother. A member of the Tribal chief family like her.
Although, despite being family, Astrid and Kollr don’t see eye to eye. At all, actually. However, it wasn’t to the point where her brother would attempt something like this. It was true that their relationship was strained, but not to this extent.
Or maybe that was just what Astrid believed herself.
Staring at the slightly carved stone, the ranger’s eyes narrowed angrily.
“To think my own friend would betray me…and it was at the behest of a family member.” She scoffed.
Astrid wasn’t sure why Kollr and Dolk decided to devise such a plan to try and kill her, but she was going to find out once she was able to escape this dungeon. That and the dark elf felt spiteful over Dolk’s betrayal and even swore to make him pay for committing such an act when she returned.
“Kollr is definitely up to something…but wh-?!”
Before Astrid could finish her sentence, her eyes spotted something flying right toward her at blinding speed. In a split second, the dark elf jerked her head to the side, watching the mystery object strike the bark of the tree her head was in front of just a moment ago.
Glancing at whatever just hit the tree, Astrid’s brows arched as she realized that it was an ax that was thrown at her. Turning around, the Dark elf ranger followed the path of the axe to locate its owner before spotting a large hulking beast of a creature.
It stood over six feet tall and had dark green skin like a goblin. Unlike the frail appearance of a goblin, this monster had muscles that would make a bodybuilder jealous. Even from a distance, Astrid could see the veins bulging from its body.
The most notable feature of the monster was its two bottom tusks protruding from its jaw along with its long black hair braided tribal-style. Beads and other ornaments were adorned on the braided hair, expressing the tribal appearance even more.
Staring at the monster, Astrid narrowed her gaze. “An Orc…lovely.”
Astrid was familiar with this species since they were quite abundant in her world. These hulking, green, tribal creatures were called Orcs. And much like Goblins, they were quite a nuisance to Elves.
Gripping her bow, Astrid jumped down from the tree while firing several arrows at the Orc. The beast couldn’t react in time and its arms and torso were hit. Despite the projectiles piercing its body, none of them were a lethal blow.
“Tch…” Astrid clicked her tongue, notching another arrow in preparation. In response, a menacing red aura pulsed around the projectile, as if giving empowering it.
The Orc roared in retaliation and rushed at the dark elf. Astrid dove to the side while shooting the pulsing red arrow. She aimed at the Orc’s ankle and obliterated it. Losing a portion of its limb, the monster crumbled on the ground, struggling to get back up.
Before it could, Astrid loosed two more arrows, both striking the Orc in the skull, ending its life in an instant.
[Level 5 Orc has been defeated!]
Watching the monster burst into purple fragments, the dark elf let out a groan.
“First goblins, now Orcs. This dungeon was no different than my world.”
Despite being in a dungeon that used to be an alternative world, there were some striking similarities between this place and her world. In fact, this place barely felt as alien to her as she thought it would. Of course, there was the purple space around her. Her world didn’t have that.
While pondering over this, Astrid picked up the sound of rustling bushes behind her. She spun around to locate the culprit, only to find another Orc emerging from the woods. Its purple eyes glared at the dark elf as if it tried to kill her with just its gaze alone.
“What?” Astrid scoffed. “Are you angry that I killed your buddy?”
Just then, something zipped toward her, aimed directly at her skull. It was an arrow. Astrid leaned to the side and narrowly dodged the projectile as it struck the ground behind her. Looking back, the dark elf watched as another Orc appeared before her.
Then another…and another…and another.
More and more Orcs showed themselves until Astrid counted at least twelve of them being present. She eyed the hulking beasts with a new sense of dread.
“Lovely…” The dark elf grumbled, realizing her situation. “This is just lovely…”