"Due to their speed, they almost fell upon entering the cave. The stones on the ground offered no support; each step seemed to slip and skid.

Fortunately for both, Isabela was already waiting at their entrance. The girl caught the two before they slipped to the ground.

"All good?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Oliver replied gratefully.

"And now?" Alan asked. "We can't get out before the captains deal with that beast."

"Let's keep exploring. At least we can earn points inside the cave," Oliver explained.

Katherine nodded. Unlike the others, she hadn't been so impacted by the Snow Tiger; she had already faced other [Knight]-level monsters, yet she was happy not to have to take risks.

The four began to advance inside the icy cave. Contrary to their expectations, it wasn't as cold inside the cave as outside.

Alan massaged his face, commenting, "It's so good not to have that cold wind in my face. I feel like a thawing popsicle."

The others had to agree; even with winter clothing, it was hard not to feel the region's cold, especially with the strong winds. However, inside the cave, although still cold, it wasn't as biting.

As they walked through what seemed like a long corridor, Isabela noticed an issue. "Oliver, we're not receiving points."

"Then someone has already passed through here," he said.

"Does it make sense to continue?" she asked.

"Since we have nothing to do up there, let's explore," Oliver replied.

"If there's any bifurcation, we'll avoid the side that's not offering points," Katherine commented, worried about not achieving a good score.

Katherine's suggestion was soon tested. The group had to walk just a little further until they found the first split.

"Alan, go left, and Isabela, go right. The first to find a scoring notification, we'll follow that path," Oliver explained.

"Got it." They replied.

+1 Point - Terrain discovered ⭐️

"Here!" Alan shouted.

"On our way," Oliver said.

The group returned to the fork and followed the left path.

"We're getting a LOT of points. This side certainly hadn't been explored yet," Alan said happily.

Isabela was right beside him, searching for anomalies to mark.

The cave seemed to descend deeper and deeper into the planet's soil, becoming slightly warmer.

The group continued walking; however, further along their path, the cave expanded, forming a small burrow.

"What could it be?" Alan wondered. However, as soon as his voice came out, Isabela was already raising her arm, signaling everyone to stop.

She slowly walked back to the others and whispered, "I think I saw a group of Goblins up ahead."

"I'll get closer to see how many there are. If combat isn't viable, we'll leave the cave. Okay?" Oliver explained.

"Okay," everyone agreed.

Alan, Isabela, and Katherine retreated a few meters back into the corridor while Oliver sneaked forward, taking careful steps until he approached the creatures. The boy stretched to try to see them without giving away his position.

Just ahead, no more than ten meters away, a group of Goblins was lying on the ground. The photos and descriptions they had seen in class were very different from seeing one up close. They had twisted, muscular forms, with snow-white skin mottled by icy blue and gray patches.

Oliver didn't need to be reminded of the danger these monsters represented; their eyes made it clear. Unlike anything else he had ever faced, those eyes had a supernatural glow—a malicious gaze born from their savage intelligence and hunger for food.

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Although humanoid, they had sharp, clawed fingers extending from arms wrapped in crudely stitched leather and metal bands.

'Where did they get metal? Could it be from attacks on the city?' the boy thought.

Oliver began to count how many enemies there were but didn't need to finish. The boy stopped counting when there were at least forty goblins.

He walked slowly back to the team. "I don't think we should proceed. There are at least forty Goblins, not to mention there may be many more deeper in the cave."

"Are you sure? I think the two of us can handle them," Katherine suggested.

"We may, especially with the element of surprise. But they're intelligent; the survivors might flee, and if there are more of them, they'll call others to attack us," Oliver explained.

She understood the boy's concern, and since fighting Goblins wouldn't give them points, it was best to turn back.

"But we should at least mark them," Alan commented.

The rest of the team agreed; at least they would earn some points.

Alan sneaked closer to the monsters, pointing his gauntlet at the group and marking the score.

+10 Points - Goblins discovered ⭐️

Do not engage ⚠️

The boy didn't need the warning; it wasn't his intention. But that's not what happened.

As Alan stretched to leave his position, one of his feet slipped on the mixture of stones and ice, causing him to fall to the ground.

Thump

The sound was muffled, but soon, they heard the monsters starting to move.

Raaakk!

They could hear much more than a dozen Goblins screaming and starting to run toward them. Alan struggled to get back on his feet quickly.

"Run!" he shouted as he returned to the group.

The others didn't need to be told twice; the three began to run toward the exit.

"You run ahead!" Oliver commanded.

As they started running, their armors were activated. The viscous liquid was expelled from the gauntlet, quickly attaching to their bodies and forming each piece without them needing to stop.

Katherine was in the lead; with her high agility, she had no difficulty accelerating. Followed by Isabela and Alan, who were careful not to fall again—they would hardly have time to correct a mistake if one was made.

Finally, Oliver was at the back of the group. He could see the Goblins approaching—some running awkwardly on two legs while others used their long limbs to run on all fours.

"What the hell is that?!" he exclaimed upon seeing the monsters approaching.

However, he had stayed in the last position precisely for this. He quickly formed his Energy Pistol in his hands and began to shoot at the closest Goblins.

The boy could see that, in some cases, he could even gravely injure them with a single shot; however, the number of monsters didn't seem to decrease anyway.

‘Good thing we decided not to fight,’ he was grateful for the decision made.

"Speed up; they're getting closer," Oliver warned.

With each shot, he tried to aim at the target that would cause the most disarray among the creatures.

Although she was further ahead, Katherine could quickly see the Goblins by looking back. She tried to think of something that could help, but her sword was too short, and if she used her blood to shoot something, she might become a burden to her teammates.

Alan and Isabela were in a similar position; their powers were great in one-on-one combat, but they wouldn't be of much use in a situation where they had to flee.

As the four ran, one of the Goblins finally managed to get close, jumping and trying to grab one of Oliver's legs.

He managed to blow off the Goblin's claws with a quick shot, but this was already a sign that they were in a dangerous situation.

'I can't use [Observation] with this number of monsters. Can't tell which one will get close,' the boy thought.

"We're reaching the crossroads!" Katherine shouted.

Oliver could see the small space where the split was. 'Can I do something with this?' he theorized as he saw the icy walls.

"Keep running toward the exit; don't stop!" he shouted.

Instead of aiming at the Goblins, he started aiming ahead of them.

"What are you thinking?" Alan asked.

However, Oliver didn't have time to explain. He began aiming at the walls and ceiling, firing dozens of consecutive shots.

Soon, the ice that had spread along the sides and ceiling of the cave began to fall—initially just a little, but the amount was increasing.

"Jump through the ice!" was all he could shout. The four ran and passed through to the exit before even larger chunks began to fall.

THUMP

The passage between the exit and the fork had been closed. Some ice blocks were blocking the way.

Raaakk!

However, they could still hear the Goblins screeching on the other side.

"They'll probably break through this soon; let's not stick around to find out," Isabela alerted the others.

They returned to the formation with Katherine in front and started moving through the cave.

Krrrrrack

However, the sound caught everyone's attention. With the ice falling, the ground seemed to have cracked. What started as a small fissure expanded and was opening.

"Run—" Oliver shouted before the ground gave way.

Katherine, Alan, and Isabela managed to leap away. However, Oliver, being the last, didn't reach solid ground intact.

"OH! Fuck!"