A bit later, Daniel arrived at a large cave. There were a few burned down campfires and it seemed like the goblins that attacked him came from here. He looked if there was something useful in the camps, but again he could only find junk. This dungeon was really different than the ones he'd read about in fantasy novels. There weren't coins that magically appeared from dead enemies and no goblin had dropped a heavy plate armor or a battleaxe, yet.

Daniel looked up when he heard curses that sounded like a woman. He grabbed his weapon and ran down the tunnel the noise came from. Ten seconds later, he arrived at another cave where a young woman had climbed on a large rock and tried to keep three goblins at bay with her composite bow.

He ran over and killed the goblins from behind before they even knew what had hit them. Then he looked up at the woman. She was very pretty and could have probably worked as a model. But, why were her clothes spotless and why was she wearing fresh make-up, shouldn't she have been in the dungeon for more than five days now?

"Hi, are you ok? I'm Daniel by the way." He greeted the young woman and removed his head protection so she could see his face.

She jumped down and hugged him.

"Thank you, you saved me. I thought this would be my end. These little assholes are really creepy."

"No problem, I think anyone would have done the same thing." Daniel responded and saw that the system was telling him that the woman was level two. That would mean that she already killed a few goblins, but why was her make-up still fresh, shouldn't she have other priorities with her life on the line?

"Are you alone?"

"Yes, I'm alone. My name is Kimberly. I had met another man, but we were overrun by goblins and he sacrificed himself to save me. These three goblins got past him and followed me to this cave."

"When was this? Maybe your friend is still alive? We should check, just to be sure." Daniel inquired.

"It was half an hour ago and there is no way that he is alive. He was overrun by ten goblins." Kimberly answered confidently.

"Can you tell me where? We should check anyway. The least we could do would be to prevent him from being eaten by goblins." Daniel inquired again.

"It was over there!" Kimberly pointed at one of the tunnels connected to the cave. "But, we can't go there. I'm one hundred percent sure he is dead and it makes no sense for us to get killed, too."

That was weird Daniel thought. She must have seen how fast he was able to kill the three goblins and she had a bow. She would probably be able to kill more than two goblins before they even got to them. Maybe she was really afraid? He had to be sure.

"I could go alone. If there were ten goblins and he already killed a few, it should not be a serious problem for me to get rid of the rest." Daniel suggested with a light smile to calm her down.

"No! You can't go there. You'd get yourself killed for nothing!" She yelled back at him nervously.

"Ok, it's your friend and you know the situation best." Daniel gave in.

She went to the other side of the cave, picked up two of her arrows and they left the cave through one of the other two tunnels.

"Nice bow, were you practicing when we were summoned here?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, it belonged to my mother and sometimes I like to shoot some targets to clear my mind." Kimberly answered.

You have met another dungeon traveler. You can create a party and all XP will be split between party members.

"We should create a party. I'm at a higher level and will probably kill more enemies. It's better to split the XP because you can level up much more quickly right now." Daniel suggested.

Kimberly went a little pale for a moment.

"What, no. We shouldn't. I would just slow you down. I don't really need levels to shoot arrows and I don't have a sword or something like that." She stuttered.

Daniel scratched his head for a moment then he accepted and they moved on.

"Were you and your friend summoned together? I've only encountered one other human and he was already dead. You can tell me if all my questions bother you." Daniel said with a smile to keep her calm.

"No, he found me when I was still at the safe zone. After it was no longer safe, we left together with the hope to find an exit from this shitty cave. I don't mind some questions." Kimberly answered and smiled back at him.

"Ok, if we encounter more goblins, I will take the front and stay on the left side of the tunnel. This way, I'll leave you a clear line of fire." Daniel decided.

"Ok, sounds good to me. Just make sure that the goblins don't overwhelm you like my friend." Kimberly replied.

"Did he have a name?" Daniel asked.

"Who?" Kimberly seemed confused.

"Your friend." Daniel clarified.

"Oh, yes sure. He had a name. His name was, hmm his name was Steven." Kimberly answered, looking nervous again.

It was weird that it took her a moment to remember the name of her friend that sacrificed himself for her. Maybe, she was still in shock?

They continued their path and a few minutes later, they heard noise of screaming goblins coming their way.

"Get ready, and try to shoot the ones that try to flank me."

A group of twelve goblins came into sight when the they passed the bend in the tunnel in front of them.

"What? There are too many. We should run." Kimberly sounded afraid.

"Stay calm, it's better to face them in this narrow tunnel than in the open cave." Daniel responded.

Daniel hesitated for a moment, then he decided not to use the Air bomb. He wanted to be sure and it would be worth it, even if he got a few smaller injuries.

Before the goblins reached him, Kimberly had already put two of them down with burning arrows. She was an expert marksman and seemed to have chosen fire magic. Daniel stayed with his left side close to the wall and created a Windshield behind him. Then he activated Windcutter and killed the first two goblins that came at him with one attack. But there were nine goblins left and the first ones started to flank him. He felt a burning sensation from behind and a fast glance showed him that his Windshield had deflected a burning arrow that had been aimed at him.

"Fucking bitch, I knew it." Daniel cursed.

He saw Kimberly running away and decided to create a large Air wave in a half circle around him. The goblins were so close that he got all of them. Less than a minute later the last goblin was dead. He checked his status.

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Life

Stamina

Mana

85%

92%

73%

His left arm and right leg were bleeding a bit. Two of the goblins managed to penetrate his gear and wound him before they were all dead. He checked the wounds and decided that they were not that serious. He had no needle and thread to close the wounds. He hoped that his high regeneration would take care of it sooner or later.

He thought a moment about what he should do next. Then he smiled and shook his head. She had tried to wound him, so the goblins would focus on killing him, while she could escape. If a man had tried that, he wouldn't have thought about what to do. It would be very misogynistic of him to let this go, just because it was done by a hot woman.

Becoming serious again, he thought about the situation. Kimberly was using her looks to manipulate people. He had met little princesses like that before on earth. Well, none of them tried to kill him, but there had been a few women who thought they were better than anyone else and deserved special treatment, just because they were hot. This had been the reason she still had make-up on. To better fool and manipulate people. She had probably wounded Steven the same way she tried on him. She had known that they would find an arrow in his back, if they looked after him and that was why she was so anxious not to go there. In addition she must have known something about the system. Maybe, she was marked as a traitor and that was why she didn't want to form a party.

Kimberly only had a bow and there was a good chance that she would run into a larger group of goblins that would be able to kill her. On the other hand, she could find another person and get that one killed, too. The worst would be, if she found a group and was able to convince them that it's a really good idea to kill Daniel the villain who treated her very badly. He didn't know how many survivors there were, but it would probably be in her best interest to silence him before they left the dungeon.

He activated Haste and ran after her. She couldn't have more than a two minutes head start.

Back at the cave where he'd met her, he decided to move into the last tunnel. Kimberly didn't know what was behind him in the tunnel he himself had come from and probably wouldn't want to take the risk to encounter the goblins that killed Steve. That left only one tunnel. She must have come from there before, because she wouldn't have been able to pass the goblins when she and Steven encountered them and the other two tunnels had been full of goblins.

Running through that tunnel and passing two caves, he finally found a crying Kimberly. Standing next to her were two men that listened to her sad story. They were between 20 and 30. One was pale and fat, the other had a thick beard and looked like a hipster. Then she spotted him.

"That's him. He tried to rape me! Be careful he is a butcher." she shouted while pointing her finger at him.

Daniel looked down at himself, indeed he was soaked in blood, mostly it was goblin blood. Then he shook his head and looked at the two men.

Human   -  Level 3

Human   -  Level 2

"She is lying. I didn't try to rape her. Look at our level difference. If I really did, how could she have gotten away." Daniel explained.

"Who cares. We only need to know that a young woman needs our help. Leave now!" the Hipster declared.

"You can't let him go. He will follow us and kill you in an ambush. Then he will rape me. Please do something." Kimberly begged with her eyes tearing up.

She really sounded honest and her acting skill to cry on command was pretty impressive.

"She is right Bill. We can't risk him attacking us from behind, when we are busy fighting goblins. This is a new world, there is no police and there are no prisons. We will do the world a favor to punish a rapist and I kind of like his weapon. It will help us to protect the woman!" the fat guy interjected in a righteous tone.

"Guilty until proven innocent? Do you two believe everything that a woman says without evidence, just because she is good looking? If I really tried to rape her, why are her clothes not damaged." Daniel tried to convince them with logic.

They didn't really listen to him he noticed. It was probably far more important for them that Kimberly may open her heart for them, if they so heroically saved her.

They looked at each other, then Kimberly raised her bow, the fat guy grabbed a large knife and the hipster looked like he was concentrating on a spell. Daniel reacted immediately. With his left hand he created a Windshield between him and Kimberly, with his right he removed the pistol from the dead man from his inventory and shot at the Hipster. He hit him center mass and he went down with a groan. The fat guy was distracted by that and Daniel switched from the pistol back to his saber and jumped forward to pierce his throat, while Kimberly's arrow was deflected from hitting his head.

"Why won't you die you asshole!" she cursed.

Then she ran to the other exit of the cave. Daniel used Haste instead of his Air bomb or pistol. After all, ammunition was sparse and he didn't want to destroy the composite bow.

With his high agility and the spell, it wasn't even close. He was almost twice as fast as her and he reached her before she could even move 20 steps. He rammed the tip of his saber all the way through her, from back to chest. She went down and landed on her back when he pulled the weapon out.

Kimberly looked at him with wide eyes. She didn't seem to believe that he would just kill her and be done with it.

"Such a beautiful body and such a ugly personality. Using everyone as disposable tools. Well, at least you were capable in what you were doing. Unlike those two morons back in the cave. For that at least, you have my respect." Daniel observed while shaking his head in disgust over the absurdity of the situation.

Then she died and her inventory emptied around her. Daniel picked up around 20 arrows, the bow and some food. The rest were some kitchen utensils and beauty products. He turned around, but then paused and put the make-up into his inventory. Maybe, in the future he would find someone who would appreciate it.

Back at the cave, he saw that the fat guy was already dead, while the Hipster was still laying on the ground breathing stertorously. The bullet had probably pierced his lung, but the higher attributes of the system made him harder to kill. He stepped into the dying mans field of vision.

"I didn't try to rape her. I saved her and then she shot an arrow at me to slow me down, while she fled when a fight started to look dangerous. Oh, and she probably killed her last partner, too. You were fooled and died for nothing." Daniel shook his head.

The Hipster flinched and it looked like he wanted to say something. Then his inventory spilled over the ground.

With a grim face Daniel went through their stuff and took most of it. He had just killed three people. The only thing that he could tell himself was that they didn't leave him any choice. He didn't know what kind of spells they had at their hands. Something like his Air bomb could have killed him instantly. So, he couldn't risk it. In a way, he was telling himself that he had only accelerated the natural process. Somebody as backstabbing as Kimberly would have met a violent ending sooner or later, while the other two were too trusting and stupid to survive in the long run.

The Hipster only had a baseball bat as a weapon, but the long knife from the fat guy looked useful. In addition he found a emergency kit from a car. He looked at his arm and leg and saw that he was not bleeding anymore. For now he put all of it into his inventory. Then, he noticed that he had leveled up again. He opened his status menu and saw that his vitality and toughness had also increased by one. He put three points into agility and mana capacity and four points into regeneration again. After that, he opened his skill menu.

Skills

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot 3

Slot 4

Slot 5

Swordsmanship

Meditation

Self Improvement

unlocked

unlocked at Level 15

Novice 5%

Novice 4%

Novice 6%

He had unlocked a new skill and should probably try to take a break and focus on a skill he wanted before he got some random crap. But, first he wanted to check what had really happened to Steven.

On his way there, he had a look at his elemental skills and was surprised. It looked like skills leveled much faster in combat than in training.

Elemental Spells:

Air:

Windcutter

Windshield

Air wave

Air bomb

Haste

4

4

5

4

3

When he found what he thought to be Steven's body, there were no living goblins around. He spotted four corpses and concluded that the others must have left after they had eaten his innards. It was a gruesome sight. Daniel looked away and just as he spotted a very interesting looking long dagger, a woman spoke to him in a disgusted voice.

"What the fuck are you doing with that body?"