Cooper was done. Just done. Of fucking course his hunting trip had been interrupted by a goblin tribe. Of course that tribe was at least thirty goblins strong and had a shaman. Of course they had chased him and Albert until they hid in some random cave. Cooper was done.

"Least we're still alive, right bud?"

Albert meowed. For all that displacer beasts were the things of nightmares, their juveniles were adorable. Albert could perform short bursts of illusion, but he still only came up to Cooper's knee. Said juvenile displacer beast seemed to think that the deeper area of the cave was interesting, and fell off Cooper's shoulder. His familiar was a very majestic beast who under no circumstances would face-plant onto the floor of a cave. Yep, nothing to see here, just a very majestic and not at all face-planting beast.

They began to trek through the cave, passing through a massive cavern, a room filled with earthen spikes, and a small cavern that branched off into an absolute mess of corridors. Curiously though, Cooper could see sunlight at the end of one. He picked Albert back up and continued forward. Just before passing into the room, [PREY'S DENIAL] activated, like a punch in the gut. Someone was using a skill on him. Dropping Albert, he drew his ax and [LOYAL DAGGER].

"Cloak."

Albert raised his tentacles and the light around them bent and blurred. The beast was not yet skilled enough to achieve full invisibility, but this would still help. Cooper slowly stalked into the room, eyes straining to take in every detail. The room was cylindrical, with an opening at the top that seemed to lead to Willowdale forest. There were cavities and recesses in the rock, each going about a meter back. He paid extra attention to the recess that held a large, ornate chest. It helped that said chest was behind a mass of [WILL-O-WISPS]. His brow wrinkled in confusion. Outside of dungeons, those were supposed to be incredibly rare. Ten in the same place? That should have been impossible. Regardless of statistics, the wisps were a threat, and should be dealt with as such. He threw his [LOYAL DAGGER], sending it straight through its center. He adjusted his position and recalled it, sending it rocketing through another wisp as it returned to his hand. The wisps all started to fly around erratically, seemingly confused. That made sense, seeing as how a dagger had just flown out of a walking blur and killed a fifth of them. Said blur began to flicker, Albert seeming to have lost his concentration. Cooper leapt from the last shreds of the blur, a sweeping strike from his ax taking out two and another throw from his dagger a third. Only five left. He recalled the dagger. Only four. Another lunge with the ax took out two more, But the last three drifted out of range. He picked them off one-by-one with his dagger, the wisps seemingly failing to grasp the concept of ranged weaponry.

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"Well bud, lets see what they were guarding."

Cooper hoisted Albert onto the ledge above to check for anymore surprises. Activating [A FAMILIAR SIGHT] let him see through Albert's eyes, and the ledge seemed barren besides for the chest. He pulled himself up, and opened the chest.

"A stick?"

[DRAGON'S BREATH WAND]

"Fuck!"

The voice of the System booming in Cooper's head always hurt, but that was just unnecessarily loud. Wait... The System only announced [ARTIFACTS] in this kind of situation. Flipping the stick over, Cooper checked the openings at the end. And what did he see through it? [MANASTONE].[FLAME-TOUCHED MANASTONE]. This was an artifact with [FLAME-TOUCHED MANASTONE]. The kind that could easily sell for a whole mithril coin. That kind of money could buy a whole town food for years. That kind of money could make you a noble. That kind of money meant that you would never have to work a day in your life ever again. Cooper laughed.

"Do you know what this means Albert? We're set."

Albert stuck his tongue out and licked the wand. Cooper laughed again. That laugh was cut short by a realization. Only [DUNGEONS] could create [ARTIFACTS]. There were only four of those places in the whole kingdom, and each was soaked in blood. Entire armies of adventurers had perished in their depths. And those [WILL-O-WISPS]. They must have been from this dungeon. This dungeon. He was in a dungeon. He was in a murderous labyrinth of living stone and demented monsters, all created for the sole purpose to kill, to consume. And how much power must this dungeon have, to leave such a valuable artifacts with only a few wisps to guard it? To waste the energy needed to create it and then assign the weakest of guards? How many [ROOMS] did it have? Dozens? Hundreds? One thing was clear.

"We need to get the fuck out of here."

Cooper grabbed Albert and ran. Ran back across the room. Ran through the corridors that had taken him into this cursed place. Ran back to the woods that held goblins that didn't seem so daunting in the face of a dungeon. Ran back to the plains that held his home. Ran for his life, and for Albert's. Ran to tell the village. And then...

The guild.