“Father are you sure about this?”

“Leave it alone boy.”

“Bu-…”

“I SAID LEAVE IT!”

The entire smithy rumbled due to the power released in that voice.

The old blacksmith hung his head in his hands as he continued to speak.

“…We have no choice son…if the spear isn’t perfect we will die…but if we don’t finish it all together, we will still die…”

It was then another voice burst into the smithy.

“What the hell are you talking about old man?”

The old blacksmith’s eyes widened when he saw who the voice belonged to.

“L…L..Lord Rai...-”

“Who said anything about dying? I just asked you to forge my spear and you said yes, if you don’t want to forge it then say so, but I want my money back.”

“…But your guard that came by after you left…”

“My guard? I don’t have a…ah. That uptight bastard must have said something weird to you. I will deal with it. But does this mean you don’t actually want to make the spear?”

“….We will still make it”

“Good. I didn’t want to look for another blacksmith.”

After the person left the old blacksmith gave a stern look to his son.

“Did you lock the smithy up when I told you to?”

“…..no?”

Pah!

“Oww”

“Stop your whining and get the flames going.”

- A random interaction between an Infernal and a blacksmith…

Even though they didn’t sense anyone else, the big guys before me waited a few more seconds before they did anything. Staring at me the whole time without pause. I definitely could’ve attacked during this time, but I wanted to understand their new behavior.

This is more than just a small difference from how they were usually. They are quite literally behaving like intelligent commanders. Is this the real version of them perhaps? Are the ones we see outside the Dungeon just crazy versions for the sake of the Tutorial? Or are the Dungeon versions just made to be smarter for the sake of the Dungeon?

Who knows.

Anyway, they finally started doing stuff.

All three big ones began quickly yelling a whole bunch of Goblin gibberish I couldn’t understand and then the rest of them sprang into action.

All the archers spread out behind them and formed one big line, while both the regular and the mage Goblins followed after them and formed a line of their own just in front. Are they there to protect the archers maybe? I don’t know and I didn’t really have time to figure it out.

The three big ones immediately took off after me.

Ah…they were fast.

Faster than they were on the outside, faster than I was at the 1st Cycle, and not only were they fast, but they were also well coordinated.

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It didn’t take long for me to be on the backfoot just dodging everything headed my way. As I stepped back to dodge a punch from my left, another came from my right, ducking to dodge that, left me facing a kick from the front.

If I was still at the 2nd Cycle, maybe I would’ve already been turned into meat paste, as the type of speed and force these guys were attacking with was probably enough to topple trees.

But unfortunately for them, I wasn’t at the 2nd Cycle. As the kick came flying towards my chest, I simply kicked back and the one in front of me went flying a few feet. Before the other two could react, I slammed the but of my spear into the chest of the one on the left before delivering another kick to the one on the right.

At that moment when all three were pushed back away from me, I vividly heard the snapping of bowstrings, and a rain of arrows began falling in my direction. Of course, fireballs were on their way as well.

Huh, so they weren’t just standing around for decoration after all.

It’s a shame though, I was expecting this fight to be a bit harder due to the upped difficulty, but I guess being two whole cycles ahead of the minimum requirement tends to throw things off. And I didn’t think I had anything else to learn from this fight.

The big ones were charging at me again, timing the impact of their charge to reach me after the arrows and fireballs landed.

I quickly did two very wide swipes with my spear with most of my strength put into it. The force of the swipes was strong enough to toss aside any arrows heading near me and dissipate the nearby fireballs. Even the big ones had to pause their steps lightly as the force hit them.

I didn’t miss that chance.

Well, I didn’t really need a chance at this point but there was no reason to dilly-dally.

I once again coated my spear with flames and charged at the nearest one, it didn’t run nor cower and instead began attacking in a flurry of punches, seemingly realizing that death was on the horizon, it screamed out as it did so.

Of course, that did nothing to stop its head from leaving its body.

The other two screamed something out while they charged when they saw what happened to their partner and the regular Goblins who hung back until now began charging into the fray as well, while the archers began letting out as many arrows as they could, and the mage Goblins began charging fireballs once again. It seems they were no longer concerned with hitting their allies.

It won’t change anything.

Since I now longer had any qualms about learning anything about the Goblins, I would allow my flames to run rampant.

I willed my flames to cover my spear yet again, and as I leaped in the air I simply willed for it to burn all who stood before me, and I roared out as I slammed my spear into the ground, similar to what I did to the gate.

Though this time the destruction was far more devastating.

No blood and guts were flying about this time.

Everything was burned into the nothingness, and all was welcomed into the embrace of my flames.

I stood to my feet as a sea of black flames roared furiously around me. There were no sounds, no movement apart from my flames, just destruction.

A ruthless, merciless sort of destruction.

It was moments like this where I wondered what Infernals really were. What I really was.

The book never really explained that, but it did mention I had responsibilities. I was always aware the term Infernal had potentially demonic connotations but that line of thinking never felt quite right. I don’t think I’m a demon or even a type of demon, but maybe we relate to them in some way. Maybe we rule demons?

I don’t know, just something else to ask whoever or whatever is waiting for me after the Tutorial.

Moving on, no bodies were remaining since everything was burned to ash, but no matter how long I waited, no chests appeared in front of me.

I hope burning the bodies didn’t actually affect my reward…

Hmm, now that I think about it…the exit prompt isn’t popping up either. The objective was to clear the Outpost right, so maybe there are a couple of Goblins still hiding within?

Before walking to the Outpost, I quickly went back to the forest to grab my bag, before making my way through the destroyed gate.

Inside the Outpost was a fairly simple place. There was one building in the center, but the left and right sides had a couple of tents, all of which were empty.

Of course, I verified that, before making it to the building, I searched the area in detail to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but there wasn’t anything to find.

On to the building, I guess.

It was perhaps about the size of the shop in the Outpost outside. Not too big, but it looked like a few people could stand inside.

I was half expecting to find one or two small rooms where Goblins were hiding but no, it was just one big open room, and in the center of the room was a weird-looking brown and green rug? Or maybe the hide of some animal turned into a rug? I don’t really know, but it was surrounded by candles, and on top of it sat a small chest.

Weird.

I walked around the entire room trying to find anything amiss, but there was nothing of the sort. Which left me just looking at the small chest for a couple of seconds.

Anything surrounded by candles on a weird rug thing would 10/10 times give me a weird feeling. So instead of using my hands, I used my spear to pry the chest open from a distance.

Despite the chest being fully open, I still waited a couple of seconds before I walked any closer to it. Nothing wrong with being cautious. Nothing at all.

Moving on, I finally gave in and walked close enough to make out everything in the chest.

There are only three things present.

A small stack of Bronze Coins.

A necklace of some sort.

And finally, a small shiny-looking ticket that read “Outpost Upgrade Ticket”.

Nice.