This is the story of an adventurer. An adventurer named Marcus.Marcus is a brave man. Not scared of monsters nor what lays beyond in the unknown. Marcus was lucky enough to be a skill user and thus have access to the system and magic. When he was younger he always wanted to be an adventurer, going on quests down in the iron tombs below the mountains in the kingdom of Nerlim and now that he is 25 and an A-level adventurer he is allowed to enter these tombs not knowing what aways him down there.
Before entering the dungeon, Marcus needed to show his equipment to the guards and personnel of the fort surrounding the entrance. This is common procedure whilst entering any dungeon, this way the guild and government can be sure no harm to the dungeon itself can be done.
While emptying his waist bag to show the guards the 5 healing potions he had on him, he noticed he is missing a small dagger to carve up the hides of monsters to sell later. Because of this he quickly asked one of the guards if they have a spare one so he doesn't need to to turn back and go buy a new one. They luckily have spare ones. While following a guard to their barracks Marcus makes some small talk to pass the time.
"How long have you been a guard here?" Marcus asked.
"We rotate posts every other month, so I have only been here for about 3 weeks”
“It must be hard living here so disconnected from civilization"
"Yeah… last week especially only the resupply came here. We basically are stuck with ourselves until we can go to our next post"
A silence falls on them while they walk as neither of them have anything to talk about. Marcus follows the guard until they reach their barracks on the far side of the fort from the entrance.
Marcus quickly thanks the guard and is ready to enter the tombs.
He once again follows the guard but this time it's to the gate of the dungeon. When they arrive the guard wishes him good luck and goes back to his post. Before entering the dungeon Marcus carefully inspects the dungeon gate. These can tell a lot about how the dungeon is designed. As Marcus took some lessons from an S-rank adventurer he is familiar with reading dungeon gates and picking up signs about what to expect. He quickly notices a golden glow on it, this means he is in luck as a lot of treasure is currently present in the dungeon and quickly strolls in to the dungeon, but this time he was reckless as he missed the ruby gems surrounding the gate signaling an increased amount of monsters imminent in there.
The entrance was like he expected from the research he did on the place beforehand. A giant open room leading to 3 halls going separate ways. From what he has heard the left path would lead him to a maze with shifting walls, making this an extremely dangerous path for single people to enter as they can quickly get lost in the evershifting halls of corridors. On the other side the right path would bring him to a staircase going up 3 levels. But also trapping the adventurer up there with no way back except forward. Thus he simply chose to go forwards. Whilst following the path he got ambushed by 4 weaker dungeon goblins. 2 of them were holding a iron short sword in rough shape with 1 also holding a wooden shield that most likely got scavenged of a dead adventurer. Another one was equipped with a spear that was clearly cut to size so the goblin could use it. The last goblin was putting a stone in the slingshot he was carrying to fire at Marcus.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
----------------------------------------
Dungeon goblins are about 1.40 meters tall and look quite friendly compared to the fairytale version of these monsters.they are however not to be confused with the sapient kind living outside of the dungeons. But because they show up in dungeons and the overworld many have been classified as monsters and are killed on the spot when entering any town or village.
----------------------------------------
The ambush of the goblins quickly turned for the worse for them. Even though they had the surprise advantage, they were no match for a skilled adventurer like Marcus. He quickly turned the tide and killed the one without the shield by slashing him along his neck. The other goblin readied his sword and shield to charge the adventurer, but also quickly failed as Marcus parried the shortsword and stabbed him in the back. Leaving only 2 goblins. The goblin with the slingshot finally loaded it and fired it towards the head of Marcus. And hit …him straight on the leather helmet he was wearing only leaving a small mark on where it hit. Marcus quickly pulled out his sword and charged the ranged goblin while he was reloading to finish him off, however the goblin with the spear came in the way wildly swinging his spear around trying to land a proper hit on his target. However because of the massive weight difference most attempts could be stopped or catched. Causing him to be unarmed and unable to cause any proper threat to Marcus. In a form of sportsmanship he gave back the spear to the goblin as he knew nothing could hurt him even if they tried. This unfair fight went on for a while longer until He became bored and finished them both off with a simple cut or stab to the chest. Marcus quickly searched their bodies but ultimately didn't take anything as nothing was worth the extra weight.
Eventually he came across another fork in the road. One leading to what adventurers call the goblin trail. 28 rooms after one eachother each with stronger and more goblins then the last until it clears into a grand hall where you are tasked to fight 9 hobgoblins. The other way leads to the deeper and darker parts of the dungeon where many seasoned adventurers got their claim to fame. The hallway was grand, being about 8 meters tall and 4 wide. The walls were lined with murals of skeletons, stone work out of marble not conceived to originate from this area of the world. The floor is lined with grooves in parallel to the walls following the hallway and the roof a half round arch. Every 5 meters a torch is held in a sconce which lights up the path ahead and behind anyone traversing these halls.
5 minutes further along the path Marcus spotted a trap in front of him lining the floor perpendicular to the grooves and walls. it clearly was connected to something outside of the hallway as a small hole on one side of the rope. Marcus made a mental note of where the trap was and moved over it making sure not to trigger it.
He walked for 2 more minutes until he found more monsters but this time Marcus had the surprise advantage. The party consisted of 9 goblins. 3 of them had proper iron short swords and were holding a shield. 2 of them had a small bow that seemed to be made for them. 2 were holding spears in almost perfect shape. 1 seemed to be a mage holding a staff with a glowing gem floating on top of it. The last goblin seemed to specialize in buffing the party holding a banner with a skull on it.