Kyra froze under the sudden spotlight as over fifty - perhaps reaching a hundred? - goblins stared at her. Each one snarled. Kyra's palms were stuffed and sweaty. She felt heat surge through her veins and her heart started thumping in her ears.
Thump. Thump.
Slowly, Kyra moved the dagger in her right hand to her left. With the now free hand, Kyra barely whispered 'Menu' in her mind as it showed up. From her inventory, Kyra pulled her last mana potion, which didn't even lift her MP bar from the red.
Thump. Thump.
She regains her posture. Feet apart, shoulders squared, weapons at the ready. Her heart was roaring. Every instinct was screaming at her to escape. But where would she go to? Back to the maze? If she could even make it out and not be cornered in the spikes, she could only go up, back to the entrance where an invisible barrier awaited her.
Thump. Thump.
There was a loud creak. Kyra's eyes instinctively snapped up from surveying her enemies. The red eyes in the darkness moved. It swerved to the left, and then up. And they grew larger.
Thump. Thump.
And from the darkness stepped the largest, foulest goblin Kyra ever saw. The chief goblins, which each should stand to be about 5"5, looked like dwarves. The hobgoblin boss was at least seven feet, if not taller - where hobgoblins this tall in her video games?
Thump. Thump.
Not to mention, the hobgoblin's level was twice hers at level 10, and as a boss, Kyra couldn't even fathom what bonuses it had. Speed? Strength? Or a skill? In games, dungeon raids happened in groups, especially if they knew it was a dungeon full of goblins. And there would preferably be someone who had area control skills, like a mage who had fire spells or a damage dealer with an area effect skill.
Thump. Thump.
A humming buzz vibrated through the air, although none of the goblins seemed to take note of. Both sides - the 100 or so monsters and Kyra stood, staring at each other, the tension thick, and the air itself seemed to turn wavy. Or Kyra was just about to faint from all the blood rushing through her veins.
Thump. Thump.
The hobgoblin walked closer. The goblins in front split apart so he could pass - it looked like thirty-some children making way for an adult. Kyra's muscles twitched but she didn't dare move. An aura filled the already tension-full air.
Thump. Thump.
Kyra's heartbeat grew louder. Thump. Thump. She could feel her heartbeat echoing through her skull. The giant hobgoblin walked closer, its teeth grinding together. Kyra's breath sped up, her mouth running dry. Her fingers twitched.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The hobgoblin stood inches away from Kyra. She stood, staring straight ahead into the leathery skin of the boss. Her mind swarmed. How to escape? HOW TO ESCAPE? Yet she was doing everything she could not to turn tail and run. But no doubt the boss would just slam her into the ground for trying.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Thump. Thump.
Was the boss even that strong? Kyra wanted to bash herself. It wasn't the boss alone she was worried about. It was the combination of horrible events colliding together that made the boss so terrifying. There was the fact that its level was twice as high, and the fact that it had this horrifyingly large club that it dragged behind him, fashioned with many spikes protruding the wood. Kyra was cringing from not noticing that sooner.
Thump. Thump.
And not only that, even if she could somehow defeat the boss 1V1, there was still the 100 goblin strong army that sure wouldn't let that scenario happen. And that her nearly 250 MP stat was sitting at a meager 41.
Thump. Thump.
But she wasn't going to give up. Kyra still had hope. She only had to survive until Tiny returned. And surely he'd return any time soon. She'll just have to not die before then. Yes...I can do that, Kyra thought. A plan formed in her mind.
Thump. Thump.
She'll use some MP to drag some of the crystals down and hinder the army while retreating back to the spiked maze. Hopefully, the plummeting crystals will be shock enough and she'll have a few precious seconds to get a lead and disappear into the maze. And then, borrowing an earlier strategy, Kyra will hunt down the goblins one by one. Hopefully starting with the boss. Because, to her understanding, a dungeon disappears once the boss is slain.
Thump. Thump.
Her facial muscles relaxed from her panicked face. Kyra even smiled a little. The mana crystals were buzzing. Mental countdown, 3, 2, 1! Kyra sucked in a huge breath.
Crystals fell from the sky and crashed into the unsuspecting goblins. There were many screams and snarls that were quickly silenced in a fog of dust. Kyra smiled. But it quickly turned upside down. Her MP bar dropped and dropped until there was barely anything left.
MP: 1/241
Kyra's eyes bulged. Her legs forgot to move. She realized it a second too late.
The hobgoblin, recovering from the shock, grabbed onto Kyra just as her feet started to move again. She screamed as she was yanked away from the dark tunnel.
"No!"
<<<>>>
Four day since Kyra ran off.
Marc counted the days painfully, a flashback constantly replaying at the back of his head.
Marc gave himself a few minutes to cool off when Kyra stalked off into the forest. Really, it was a few minutes to wrap his head around her weird behavior. Kyra at school had been outgoing but gentle - and occasionally rougher when they hung out at her house - but she overall really just acted like a princess. She's proud and adept at so many things - and Marc was too embarrassed to admit that Kyra was pretty - and she's always so composed at school.
It just seemed like Kyra... lost it? Marc didn't know how to explain. But he knew that he shouldn't have used [Killing Intent] on her. As much as he hated to admit it, it probably wasn't easy for Kyra right now. Her whole world turned upside down. Marc knew that feeling all too well, and he had to endure alone in a dungeon. He should really be by her side right now. So what if she's a little moody? Marc smiled. She's still his best friend.
Marc sighed and walked into the trees. He used [Scan] to search for Kyra. [Scan] was a really useful skill since it produces a mental image of his surroundings for him to observe. It stretched quite far as well. Marc's eyebrows furrowed together as he bit his lip. He couldn't see Kyra anywhere. Not in front or behind nor beside him. But there were several other life-forms. He could feel them cowering away but Marc could sense them.
Were there already monsters who travelled that fast? Or did the monsters auto-regenerate? Marc's eyes flashed wide in panic. Back in the dungeon, he had grown accustomed to clearing the waters beside the island before he settled down to rest.
While it wasn't a fool proof method that ensured safety 100% of the time, the empty waters meant that if something were to get to him, it'll first have to travel across the 1 mile radius of monsters that he'd already cleared out. It baffled Marc and he had to slam his palm against his forehead several times to realize that he was no longer in a dungeon.
Monsters regenerated unless the piece of land was counted in Villager Town borders. And even in dungeons, some monsters respawned. The rules of the dungeons vary. Marc HAD to get his head around that. He had to cast away the habits he'd made to survive.
But enough about that. Right now, finding Kyra was first priority.
And he found her. Well. Almost.
He came to the face of a cliff that stretched up. The long cliff stretched both sides as well, acting as a large wall that forbade people from progressing further in that direction lest they scaled the cliff. And in front, resting in a patch of torn up grass, was Kyra's bracelet. And grass with the dirty brown crusting of dried blood.
His eyes stung. Marc felt the air knocked out of his chest. He knelt down, the weight of the world spinning on his shoulders, drunk and dizzy. He picked up the bracelet. When he slipped it on his left wrist, it matched his own bracelet.
Kyra had bought that in middle school. Marc had visited the same shop and bought another one a few days later. Tears dripped from the corner of his eyes. He thought he long forgotten how to cry. Even when his HP were mere points away from 0 or his body was shaking uncontrollably from an overextended training session, Marc only sighed and grunted. He didn't cry.
Since middle school, no one cried anymore - except for that one time that no one talked about - and the time where Marc was bullied and Kyra had stopped them, she told him "I'm your friend now, so don't cry. That would make me cry too." as she smiled and handed him a tissue.
But now Kyra was gone and his tears painted his shirt.