I kind of already knew that Dungeons weren’t all going to be the exact same, but I didn’t imagine I’d see something like this.

I had been teleported into another forest, one very similar to the one I came from. Similar but not the same, the trees were a tad smaller for one, and due to that, I could see the sky a lot clearer. It was the type of sky you saw in animated movies. Simply beautiful.

I would’ve stared at it a lot longer if there wasn’t something else in front of me to look at.

In the distance before me was a clearing, and in that clearing was a wooden structure very similar to the Outpost I now temporarily called home.

It was then I got another notification.

The Goblin Outpost

Objective: Clear the Outpost

Only Death or Completion allows one to Leave

So, the objective is different, but the meaning is technically the same. It says to clear the Outpost before me, which I’m assuming means to kill everything in it. Something that may or may not be as easy as I thought before getting in here.

The Outpost before me was similar to mine but again, it was only similar not the same. It was smaller, but from what I could see, its walls were massive.

Both the walls and the gate easily stood over 12 ft and apart from them there were four guard towers in each corner of the Outpost and there was a Goblin posted in each of them. I was facing the front of the Outpost, and I could only see the backs of the Goblins in the back two Guard Towers, but the ones in front had weapons. Not a club, or a knife but they looked like little crude bows.

That’s new.

I don’t know how strong those bows are, or how accurate they are but let’s assume they were both strong and fast, would I be able to dodge them? Not sure, but that’s not even my biggest worry.

What’s in the Outpost? How many Goblins do I have to face? How strong are they? Those are a lot of unknowns. And considering this is a level of organization from the Goblins that we haven’t seen yet plus the increased difficulty rating, there has to be more than just regular Goblins inside when I take those things into account.

Perhaps a lot more of the big ones? Or a different type altogether? There are Goblins who can cast fireballs, why can’t there be others?

I think it’s probably unlikely that I get answers to any of these questions if I just sat here and did nothing. I could probably keep using the forest as cover to scout all sides of the Outpost just to see if there is any other information I could find. Hmm…I should also scout the forest. Is there anything in it? How far does it stretch?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Could I lead the inhabitants of the Outpost in the forest and fight them there? I would need to check the forest to be sure.

I’ll do that first, then I’ll scout the around the Outpost itself.

The result of scouting around in the forest wasn’t very promising. It was kind of magical, but not promising.

I only walked forward for a few moments before everything went dark and I was back where I started and staring at the Outpost. When looking out at the forest behind me it seemed to stretch for a while, but I guess it’s all just an illusion of sorts?

Either way, luring them into the forest to fight likely wasn’t an option. After figuring that out I circled the clearing from within the forest around it and saw that the front was the same as the back. I’m not actually sure which side was the ‘front’ or if there was a front at all.

So, I had a big Outpost of hostiles, 4 guard towers with one each corner, to points of direct entry/exit and I would more than likely have to fight in or around the Outpost itself.

I thought about trying to wait for night, but for some reason, I didn’t think this place had a day and night cycle. My options are somewhat limited now, I could probably just set the place on fire and go from there, but I actually wanted to see how they behaved in a normal setting. If bring a team here, they won’t have access to my flames and would need to fight clear this Outpost normally, so I wanted to first do it myself so that they could be properly prepared.

Alright, no time like the present.

I walked to the edge of the forest and created two arrows with my flames. It wasn’t something my flames liked doing, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t.

I lined myself up with the wide gate in front of me and before I took off, I sent the two arrows flying to the Goblins within the guard posts.

I didn’t waste any time and darted straight towards the Outpost. I didn’t hesitate in my steps, nor did I worry to see if they would spot me as I knew there would be a brief moment before the arrows got there that they would see the arrows and likely scream out before dying.

What I wanted was to stop them from shooting at me as I approached with the intention of breaking through that gate with a powerful opening strike.

As expected, both the Goblins in towers soon screamed out something in their tongue and by that point, I was halfway to the gate.

I could hear some loud shouting coming from within the Outpost and even the sound of a horn...? Yeah, that was a horn. Real fantasy-like.

Anyway, by the time I was nearly upon the gate, it started to rustle and slowly begin to open outward. I wouldn’t let it.

The gate was now in striking distance, and I leaped up towards it with my spear held high above my head and coated in beautiful black flames. I then swung down with all the force my body could muster.

BOOOM

The noise from the collision roared in my ears as splintered wood and dust flared up all around me. Blood and guts were mixed in too. My flames which were only used to add more power to swing dissipated quickly. I didn’t want to set everything on fire just yet.

I quickly retreated a couple of feet back to get a good look at what was around me and distance myself from the noise of the screaming Goblins just beyond the dust.

It only took a moment for the dust to clear and I could finally see the real reason why the difficulty had gone up.

And what I saw caused me to step back even further.

Three of the big ones stormed out of the Outpost, quickly forming up just a little in front of the gate.

That’s right. They were forming up. Not screaming and immediately chasing after me. Following after them were about 20 Goblins each forming three different squads who then lined up behind one of the big ones.

From what I could see they were all mostly normal Goblins with a few mage types mixed in, some had knives, some had clubs, and some had a bow and even a small quiver strapped to their backs.

That wasn’t even the end of it, the big ones themselves weren’t just standing there menacingly. Each of them was clearly hurriedly looking and scanning the area as if trying to find additional enemies.

It didn’t take long for them to realize it was just me.

This was going to be fun.