The sound of coughing echoed throughout the cave. Anticipation tingled in my gut. How do they look? Using my unique property as the dungeon’s master, I tried to float through the walls but my head thumped against the stone.

Ouch! Why did that not work? Once again I tried to float into the walls, but it didn’t work at all. What the hell was wrong with the walls? I knew for a fact that I could float through them. I did it a few seconds ago.

Suddenly, the door to the dungeon slowly creaked open. Fear crept down my back, and wondered how the goblins would fare. They scratched their backs, fingers drilling into eachothers noses and ears which they giggled at.

I might be doomed.

“Go,” I said to them, “there are enemies here. Go slaughter them.”

They ignored me.

“Go!” My voice gained a new quality. It became louder but also deeper and more powerful.

All of a sudden, they turned and marched towards the door. One of them had a spear. One of them had a small shield. One of them had a sword. All and all, they were rather poorly equipped but still rather balanced out.

There’d be a fight soon. The tension was torturing me, couldn’t they walk any faster? I wanted it all to be over, yet I floated silently behind them waiting for the fight to start.

A torch broke through the darkness, illuminating two figures. One woman with a staff that ended in a curve which grew smaller as it created small circles, similar to the shape of a snail's shell. The other man carried a sword which was dragging on the floor. The sword was about the length of his leg, in other words, 48 inches.

My gut was stuck between relief and full out panic. Humans could be anything from all out pathetic, to fearsome enemies, and I wasn’t sure which one they’d be. I made sure to keep my eyes stuck to them, just like the goblins that snickered at how cool the torch looked.

Light from the torch flickered towards us. The second we saw them, they’d also seen us.

“Goblins? Wait, I thought they were regulated to the dungeons in Africa.”

Africa? What’s that? Wait. What do they mean “regulated”?

In a second, they straightened up, and took a combat position. “Do you also see it?” The mage said.

“The ghost in the back?”

“Yeah.”

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“We’ve got to be careful.”

There’s no ghost here. My head jerked around, left and right, down and up. Could it be that they’re talking to me? Could they see me? Oh no. If they could see me, that might mean they can hurt me. I’d have to keep my distance.

“Attack them,” I hissed at my goblins who looked around unsure of what that meant.

The mage started muttering what sounded like gibberish, and a ball of water formed in front of her. The ball slowly gained a lighter color, and a flatter shape, before hardening into ice. A few moments passed with me staring at the ice, but nothing happened.

“Go on then attack!” I screamed at my goblins but they stood still, completely unsure of what to do.

The ice shard shot straight towards me with the speed almost making it a blur. I dropped down towards the floor, but the ice still managed to pierce my Right eye. Half of my sight disappeared.

Panic gripped me, but it seemed that it wasn’t only me. The goblins shrieked and cursed, and green shapes rushed past my sight. Damn traitors. The tapering of their feet echoed and just after, I heard much louder steps slam against the ground.

Fuck. I needed to get away if I didn’t want to die. What would happen then? Usually the dungeon core was what had to be broken to win, but since I absorbed it, I might have taken its role. My death meant the end of the road.

It would end everything. I didn't want that to happen, and it seemed my instincts didn’t either, as something gripped me and I jerked to the side. A sword slammed down where I'd just beed. Close one.

Another ice shard flew towards me, and I jerked up. It made a hole through my abdomen. This wasn’t any good. I’d be full of holes before my first raid was over. Another hole could spell the end for me. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t planning on finding that out this way. I floated in top speed, towards the room previously holding the dungeon core and found the goblins hiding to the side.

They should have been the ones fighting and getting attacked, not me. They should be willingly throwing their lives to protect me, the same way they would a dungeon core, yet that was the opposite to what happened.

“What the fuck is wrong with you guys?” I screamed at them.

Two of them fell down onto the floor. It was the goblins holding the sword and shield. Tears welled up into their face and two seconds later, tears streamed down their cheeks as they dry heaved.

“I can’t do it,” one of them managed to get out between breaths.

“What the fuck!”

Disbelief was the only thing in my mind at that moment. If I could slap them, I would, and I’d do it again. Did I accidentally create a bunch of children to defend the dungeon. I can’t believe it! What do they expect me to bring them tissues and a therapist to discuss their problems with. I mean, soon two murderers are going to come through that hole completely aiming to kill them.

“Get up, pick your weapons, and fight!”

“No, no nonononono. I don’t want to do this,” one of them said.

“It’s either you fight or you die.”

They banged their heads against the wall creating noise. I found it really stupid, since it was revealing his location to the enemies. And it seemed they agreed, as the man wielding the sword jumped out from the dark hole, and shoved his sword right into the crying goblins skull, making blue blood spray out everywhere.