“A dungeon doesn’t need to use monsters to kill you,” Eve said looking down at the currently bedraggled group of starship ex-leaders. Out of all of them, only the teleporter hadn’t been sucked into the trap.

“Traps.” Meyun spat in disgust as his nose wrinkled at the stench.

“Traps,” Eve said nodding. Her sense of smell filtered the stench out by reflex.

“Filed with substances both vile and unmentionable,” Iantha grumbled.

“Well, yes. For me, it was a choice between educational immersion and letting the sharp wooden spikes just underneath pierce you.” Eve said holding her hand out palm upraised before lifting them up. The starship command team floated out of the pit before being dropped unceremoniously on the forest floor.

Meyun looked over the pit’s edge to see the sharpened stakes that had been less than an inch underneath the pool of feces appear as the vile liquid rippled. He shuddered and said, “Evil.”

“Indeed.” Eve said before continuing, “The dungeon is always hungry. Do not think that it requires assistance from the creatures within to be lethal.” Snapping her fingers, the feces was devoured by Witch’s Dust leaving the bedraggled crew sparkling clean.

“How common are traps?” Bennie asked rising to her feet.

“Very.” Eve said as she continued, “Without a rogue in the party, it is highly likely traps will become extremely prevalent. Every dungeon has a limited amount of power to spend repelling invaders. They tend to take the most cost-efficient route to do so. No rogue? Traps. No mage? Magic traps. Unless the dungeon is old enough to have a Theme this is the commonality, they all share.”

“Basically, dungeons are like training camps for fighting monsters and other Races from the Deeps?” Iantha asked as she stood before giving a hand up to Meyun and Mishka.

Everyone glared at Helsted after they moved away from the trap. She was the only one that had reflexively dodged the cesspit and the rest of the starship team gave her varying looks of annoyance. She was wise enough not to take the bait, though.

“In a dungeon traps and monsters are approximately ninety percent of the content which is pretty much exactly like how it is in the Deeps. To some Races, Adventure is just another word for suicide.” Eve said as Bennie interrupted her to say, “What’s the other ten percent?”

Eve grinned as she pointed a finger into the cesspit. Witch’s Dust stripped everything bare revealing a solid gold treasure chest. “Treasure, of course,” Eve said.

Granted, it wasn’t the first-time drops had occurred for the group. In the tunnels, it wasn’t uncommon for a goblin chief, shaman, or hobgoblin to drop something useful. That, however, did not make the expression on everyone’s faces any less amazed. There was something to be said about the age-old trick of treasure chests employed by dungeons.

Forming a dart from Witch’s Dust Eve tested the chest to ensure it wasn’t a mimic. While something like that was of no threat to her, it was a decent danger for the others. After the solid thunk of the dart into the gold-framed wood revealed nothing untoward she lifted the chest out and dropped it on the forest floor.

“Does it matter who opens it?” Helsted asked softly.

“Eh, no one in the Adventurer’s Guild has ever confirmed it one way or another,” Eve said as she waggled her hand in an iffy motion. Before anyone could open the treasure chest a sharp horn sounded in the distant depths of the goblin forest.

Eve’s eyes narrowed as silver lit within the depths of her eyes. Witch’s Dust showed her glimpses of the enormous Horde in the distance. It appeared the goblins had decided to cleanse their territory of every interloper. She could see multiple strike teams targeting different sections of the forest, likely attacking encampments not aligned to their Race. Eve made a decision, forming Talismans for each of the others with a thought. Attaching the paper to each of the starship team members she said, “Think of them like powerful suits of armor. They’ll keep you safe.”

“There’s a trade-off isn’t there?” Iantha said with a questioning look.

Eve looked abashed and said, “Yes. You won’t gain the same amount of experience as if you soloed the entire Horde yourselves.”

“Horde?” Meyun said catching the important bit.

“Indeed, just several thousand goblins of Tier Two, Three, and Four led by a Tier Five. Nothing big.” Eve said with an evil grin.

“How long will these last?” Bennie said studying the floating piece of paper rotating around her head.

“Long enough. I’ll be parting ways here for a bit to thin the numbers.” Eve said as she started to float above the ground. In a flash, she moved above the forest rising into the sky like a comet in reverse. Clothes shifted as her Jian formed in Eve’s right hand.

Searching among the Horde she located the Tier Five before swooping down like a hawk to land upon the forest floor without disturbance. Exactly as she expected, the Tier Four bodyguards struck with customary brutality. Shoddy iron swords reinforced with mana from Skills impacted her body to minimal effect as she shunted the force down to the dirt beneath her feet.

“Thank you!” Eve said brightly as the entire Horde became a living, breathing, flowing target. Whereas a human commander’s guards might have paused and attempted to Observe, Inspect, or Analyze her the Tier Five’s guards did not have such a breadth of thought.

Carving her way through the Tier Four guards, Eve met the club of the goblin’s leader with a deft parry. She didn’t waste movement flowing smoothly into a series of chops that left the larger opponent minus all five extremities. As the Tier Five’s head rolled on the forest floor, Eve used Spatial Step to shift among the Horde like a ghost at the banquet. Where she passed heads rolled leaving only Tier Two’s alive.

Can’t kill all the cannon fodder. Eve thought as she methodically reduced the threat level of the Goblin Horde. I’ll just take care of the steamrollers.

Encampments that found themselves besieged witnessed a silver ghost flicker among the attackers. Where she passed, only the weakest remained alive. Eve took special care of those encampments that were multi-Racial affairs or had a high proportion of humans. It was clear the entrances into Red’s dungeon, and by extension Felix, were quite far-reaching. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, selkie, beast tribes, and more had formed factions on this floor alone.

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Felix, what’s going on? Eve thought sending a question towards the sapphire ally.

Red took my lessons on space and learned to create portals. Felix replied slightly embarrassed. The Hut is extremely unhappy with me for sharing secrets.

Eve blinked before she replied. Wait, is Red…female?

Yes. Felix replies tersely.

Eve’s face split into a grin as she realized her crystalline calculator was having trouble. She would be more than happy to contribute to needling him later over it. However, now wasn’t the time for it. Witch’s Dust spread out throughout the entirety of the forest as Eve paused for a moment to double-check her recent actions.

Tier Fives are not raised in a vacuum. Eve thought. For this one to be here is extremely suspicious.

It was fortunate she had Witch’s Dust spread throughout the forest as the warning to her senses allowed her precious moments to prepare for the incoming Tier Six that seemed to warp into existence.

Ah, now it makes sense. Eve thought preparing for combat. Red isn’t like Felix, she’s pushing the boundary of the agreement looking for weaknesses.

Runes flowed into her body imprinting into skin, bones, blood, and organs to reinforce the already formidable defenses she had. Another set of runes flowed along her Jian turning it from something sharp into something sharper. The preparation allowed her to tank the first strike of a spiked club sparkling with crystal shards embedded within it.

Eve wasted no time counterattacking with a chop to the enemy’s left leg forcing them to dodge and giving her time to inspect the attacker.

Goblin Titan

Tier Six

Eve narrowed further information was unavailable to her eyes. The goblin titan’s mana swirled in confusing twists that would require time she didn’t have to decipher. Shrugging, she allowed her ‘normal’ mind to relax as Savage Survival Mind surged into place.

Strong. Fast. Enduring. Eve thought as her mind analyzed the available information without pausing combat. Poison.

Green smoke spiraled out from Witch’s Dust as she turned the air around them both into mana-infused chlorine gas. Her own body effortlessly detoxified the substance pushing it into her nails and hair with ease. The same couldn’t be said for the goblin titan. Vitality didn’t directly combat the gas as evidenced by the choking coughs of her opponent.

Eve watched the club rise before her body twisted in a gravity-defying motion to dodge the strike that descended. Her blade flashed in a blur as multiple chops struck at the goblin titan’s wrist. The creature hopped backward causing the strikes to land upon the club’s handle instead.

Her enhanced blade didn’t treat the mana-reinforced club any different than butter. While the goblin titan paused in momentary shock Savage Survival Mind had no such delay. A titanic roar alighted in the forest as her Jian sliced through the enemy’s left wrist causing a fountain of bloody red to spurt out. The momentary feeling of victory was crushed as Eve witnessed the hand regrow in a burst of mana.

Regenerator. Eve thought. Limits?

Eve’s form blurred as she turned into a whirlwind of death. Wrist, arm, shoulder, ankles, heart, and throat were all struck within seconds of each other. She watched as the Regeneration showed a noticeable decrease in speed towards the end of her combo. It was clear that tilting so heavily in one direction, such as physical Stats, had consequences to accompany the benefits.

Minimal mana pool. Eve thought as her eyes flashed.

Once the baseline had been established, taking apart the goblin titan turned into nothing more than an exercise in precision. As the enemy collapsed at her feet after a solid twenty seconds of back-and-forth combat Eve frowned. She had been testing her physical capabilities and the results were acceptable. Savage Survival Minddrained away as Eve’s eyes lost their cold calculating glint. She was pleasantly surprised at the results of the fight which had only reinforced her decision to continue improving her body.

A quick look at Iantha’s team caused Eve’s eyes to roll.

Somehow that disaster must be Meyun’s fault. Eve thought about locating Kudzu who had stayed with the starship team in shrub form. She trusted her Talismans but Eve saw no reason not to have additional layers of security in place. Spatial Step moved her instantly to the Iantha’s team, although her arrival prompted the high-strung elves holding them at bow-point to swiftly fire warning shots towards Eve.

The elven archer’s eyes widened in shock as the arrows disintegrated before even reaching a meter out. Unlike the goblin titan’s body and club, there were no innate Skills protecting the arrows from Witch’s Dust.

“Why does everyone attack first?” Eve muttered watching the elves' ears twitch.

“You blind them with your sparkling silver beauty,” Bennie replied deadpan.

“Bennie, remind me to make up punishments for blasphemy,” Eve said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

“Won’t matter, I’ll have it edited out of the Holy Book,” Bennie said flashing a grin. She was the only one in the group that paid no more attention to the elves as air.

“Mishka, it's not too late to convert and become a High Priestess,” Eve said ignoring the elf trying to cut in on the conversation.

“I would rather worship a shrub,” Mishka said pointing to Kudzu’s smaller form.

Just before the leader of the elven squad’s irritation reached the peak, Eve whirled on him and said in perfect Wood Elf Tongue thanks to Polyglot, “What? I’m busy here.”

The flicker of bewilderment in his pupils was amusing as the elven leader’s eyes betrayed his emotions. Mustering his courage the elf said, “You are trespassing.”

There wasn’t even a flicker of motion before Eve was directly in front of the elven leader her Jianheld loosely in her right hand. “Territory belongs to those who can hold it,” Eve said in a quiet voice. Arrows tightened on bowstrings as the elven leader held up a hand to halt his people.

“The forest sings of a fallen Titan.” The elven commander said his eyes hooded.

Eve shrugged and said, “He was tough. Took me a whole twenty seconds to dismember.”

The elves blanched while Iantha’s group rolled their collective eyes.

“Don’t worry.” Iantha said to the elven leader, “She grows on you, like a tentacled horror of the deep space depths.”

Eve wiggled her left hand’s fingers at the elves causing the leader to flinch.

Mustering his courage the elven leader said, “Titans are legendary goblin overlords. If there is one, there could be more. We are currently engaged in moving our kin to safety. The presence of intruders is a risk that had to be assessed.”

Eve waved her left hand nonchalantly and said, “There’s nothing to worry about here. I’m tutoring these five on behalf of the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Honored One, might we see a representation of the Guild’s trust?” a younger version of the leader asked from the back of the elven group.

Eve nodded before pulling out her Orihalcum adventurer’s badge. The flash of the metal lit up the elven eyes as tension melted out from their bodies.

“Forgive my haste, Honored One.” The elven leader said before continuing, “Today's events are something we haven’t seen, ever. For those of us who live such long lives, the unexpected is always a source of fear.”

Eve nodded sagely and said, “Are we good?”

“Yes. There should be no issue with someone of your caliber escorting others in the Forest.” The elven leader replied.

“Can you communicate with the other encampments I saw in the Forest?” Eve asked curiously.

“Yes, we have lines of communication for times such as these.” The elven leader said hedging his reply.

“Excellent. Let them know that anyone with those,” Eve said pointing at the floating Talismans circling the five, “Are with me.”

The elven leader’s eyes glowed brilliant green for a moment as he examined the Talismans before his eyes shook. It was clear he recognized that had arrows flown at Iantha’s group instead of Eve the result would have been catastrophic.

“I will endeavor to ensure our allies are kept aware.” The elven leader said after several moments. “May we depart?”

Eve nodded and said, “Certainly. Go in peace, me and mine will be hunting the goblin remnants.”

After a swift exchange of courtesy, the elves departed with uncanny haste. Eve watched them move thinking of the Forest Wolves from a few years ago with a soft sigh.

“So, I hear we just got voluntold to start a mop-up operation,” Meyun said cheerfully.

“Was it his fault?” Eve looked at the others.

“Yes,” Iantha said shamelessly throwing her boyfriend under the bus.

“How was I supposed to know the nearby trees had elven sentries while I was killing those goblins!” Meyun said claiming innocence.

“Ah, so we need to have training involving spatial awareness,” Eve said with an understanding tone.

Meyun looked helplessly at his common partner in crime who said, “Don’t worry I’ll be sure to patch you up.”