"Vic, Cynthia, this is all you guys. I'll assist if and when needed," I told them. They both nodded and stepped forward, ready to fight. Vic was the first one to engage the goblins, hacking and slashing with his longsword. He cut a path through the goblins, the large horde just throwing themselves at us.

Cynthia was also fighting with the goblins, though her tiny shortsword was barely larger than the daggers that most of the goblins were wielding. This didn't deter her and she kept fighting, slowly but surely killing her own share of the goblin horde. However, regardless of how many goblins she and Vic killed, there were always more. I could tell that they were slowly getting overwhelmed.

"Okay, Drauum, go ahead lay down some covering fire, give Vic and Cynthia some breathing room, please," I told the small earth golem.

[My pleasure.] He replied. Sticking his hands out, stone shards shot out, gunning down dozens of goblins. But even with Drauum's help, Vic and Cynthia were still being overwhelmed.

"!" Cynthia shouted. Her shield glowed and she suddenly dashed forward at incredible speed, slamming into several goblins. The attack didn't kill many of the goblins, but quite a few of them were left injured and/or knocked aside. However, this also left her stranded in the middle of the swarm, surrounded on all sides by goblins.

"Alright, Iron Giant, can you take out some of those goblins as well?" I asked the automaton.

[Yes.] It answered. The wide mouth on its head opened and I watched as energy charged up. A beam of magic energy lanced out, cutting through the horde. Iron Giant moved its head side-to-side, wiping out a large number of the goblins.

The goblin in the mech armor started to look a little panicked, seeing that its army was mostly dead. Vic and Cynthia finished off the last remaining goblins and then turned to face it. The goblin shrieked and its mech armor started stomping towards them.

[Stupid humans, getting in the way! You don't even have any idea what's happening to your world, do you? But I suppose it won't matter once you're dead!] The goblin yelled at us. One of the mech's arms lifted up and a gun-like apparatus started rapidly firing bolts of red energy. Cynthia stepped in front of Vic and held up her tower shield.

"!" She yelled out. The shield suddenly had a metallic gleam to it. Several of the energy bolts struck her shield and either dissipated or bounced away. The goblin growled when it saw its attack not working, and suddenly, a bunch of missiles flew out of the mech's back and hurtled towards the pair.

Vic noticed and raised his own shield, though there were too many missiles for both of them to block.

"Hah!" I exclaimed, throwing several rocks at the missiles. My throws were dead-on, the makeshift projectiles hitting the missiles, setting most of them off. However, three of the missiles continued flying towards my friends. Before anyone could do anything, the missiles impacted Vic's shield and the ground around both of them.

I watched as smoke and dust billowed up around them, concealing both of them from sight. Gritting my teeth, I balled my fists and prepared myself to engage the goblin and its mech. However, I saw something that astounded me. Cynthia's shield had doubled in size, protecting both of them from the majority of the blast. The goblin also looked shocked by this outcome, too surprised to even react.

"Alright, Vic, it's your turn," Cynthia panted, sinking to her knees. Vic nodded and began charging at their opponent. However, his speed surprised, as I had never seen him move that fast before. He avoided incoming energy bolts and even blocked a missile with his shield.

As soon as Vic was close enough to the mech to attack it, his sword blade began glowing red. He swung his longsword and it cleaved through the mech's armor. The mech sputtered and sparked, before eventually collapsing to the ground. The goblin inside screamed before jumping out and trying to run away. However, Vic chased it down and decapitated it, ending the fight.

"Wow, that was very impressive, both of you," I said, clapping. Vic raised his sword in triumph while Cynthia staggered to her feet under the weight of her shield. "But how did you guys survive the missiles?"

"We both leveled up while fighting the goblin horde, then we both decided to get a new random Skill using the reward," Cynthia explained. "The Skill I got is an Active Skill called . It doubles my defense and the size of the my shield, which is how we survived the missiles."

"Y-yeah, and my new S-skill is a Passive Skill called ," Vic added. "I-it makes my damage and movement s-speed increase by 10% when charging towards e-enemies."

"I see. Very nice," I replied. "Those Skills sure were just the perfect ones for the situation. Now, Vic, did you level up at all from beat that goblin and its mech?"

"Yeah, I a-actually got two level ups, one f-from the mech and one from the g-goblin," Vic answered. "I haven't d-decided what I'm going to choose f-for rewards yet though."

"Well, since you've chosen the Skill reward the last few times, then why not increase your stats or get an item?" I recommended. Vic nodded, agreeing with my idea.

"Yeah, I-I'll choose [Stats (Player's choice)] for m-my first reward, then [Item (random)] for my s-second one," he decided. After making his two selections, a helmet appeared in the air in front of him. Vic grabbed the helmet and began examining it, before telling us what it was. "It's a , so it's n-not something fantastic, but it's still h-helpful. It increases my Con and Sen s-stats by 5, as well as red-reducing all headshot damage t-taken by 10."

"That does sound like a pretty decent helmet," I agreed. "But what about the Skill reward? Did you get a new Skill, or did it upgrade a Skill you already had?"

"I-it gave me a new Skill. It's another P-passive Skill called ," Vic answered. "It g-gives me an additional 1% Str and d-damage for every ally within 10 f-feet. Basically, the more allies I-I have, and the closer they a-are, the stronger I am a-and the more damage I deal."

"That's pretty cool," I admitted. "I wonder if my familiars count as allies for you?"

"W-we could test and see, I s-suppose," Vic said. I nodded, then told Drauum and Iron Giant to stand next to Vic. He then checked the Skill and saw that his Str stat and damage had indeed increased from my familiars being near him.

"Okay, that's something we're definitely going to have to exploit," I said with a chuckle. I could already imagine just how strong Vic could become with an army of familiars all near enough to activate the effect. Honestly, that wasn't someone even I wanted to fight, especially Vic seemed to know how to properly use the sword and shield already.

"Also, I'm n-now level 5 thanks t-to the three level up I-I've gotten while we were in th-this dungeon," Vic stated. "Two more t-times, and I'll have m-met the goal of l-level 7."

"Awesome, now we just need to get Cynthia leveled up as well," I said, looking at the girl. Her eyes widened a bit and she hid behind her enlarged shield. "Also, how long does that Skill last?"

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"It has a duration of 5 minutes, so it'll still be in effect for a little bit. The biggest problem with it is that my Dex is halved for the duration, meaning I can only move half as fast as normal," Cynthia replied.

"Got it. Guess we'll just wait out the remaining time here," I decided. We all sat down and began talking about different things. Eventually, we started speculating on what the Great Game might be.

"I th-think it might be some k-kind of test by a h-higher power," Vic said. "I d-don't know if that p-power is God or s-something else, but that's wh-what I think."

"I don't know, I'm thinking it's some kind of joke created by an advanced alien species," Cynthia blurted. "I mean, some of the monsters are intelligent enough to speak and create things, so for all we know, they could actually be aliens. I mean, the goblins are literally little green men."

"Those are both good ideas, and that's certainly a good point, Cynthia," I agreed. "However, I don't think we'll guess what's going on here just by sitting and talking. I think the only way to figure this out will be to go and search for answers."

"Sounds like a good idea to me!" Cynthia said. Also, right as we finished our conversation, her Skill deactivated. Her shield shrank back down to its normal size and her Dex stat was fully restored. "Alright, I'm good to head out!"

"Right. Then let's go," I replied. The three of us stood up and began exploring again. We decided to examine the large chamber we were currently in, since it had to have something interesting in it somewhere.

"H-hey! Check out what I f-found over here!" Vic called out after a while. Cynthia and I ran over to where he was searching and saw a wooden chest. Vic grinned at us before turning back to face the chest. He tried to open the chest, but the lid wouldn't budge. "L-let me try something e-else."

Vic gritted his teeth before trying to pry open the lid using the tip of his sword blade. However, it still wouldn't open despite his best efforts. Raising his sword above his head, he brought it down on the chest, the blade slamming into the wood. Unfortunately, even this didn't achieve anything.

"Here, let me try," I said, pulling out my war hammer. Lifting the high into the air, I swung it down as hard I could. The hammerhead crashed into the lid with enough force to make it splinter apart, revealing the contents within. We all crowded around and saw that inside the chest was a black and red object that looked kinda like an arm bracer. "Well, since you were the one who found the chest, you get to keep the contents...whatever it is."

"Oh, th-thanks, Dex. In that case, l-let's find out what it i-is," Vic replied. He grabbed the bracer and pulled it out of the wreckage of the chest. Examining it for a minute, he then told us what it was. "The is wh-what it's called. It's an Epic-Ranked i-item with a defense of 65-130 + Con stat, a-and the effects are +25 Con, +10 End, and the S-skill ."

"Sounds like it could be quite helpful for you then, that way you don't have to keep using that wooden targe," I replied.

"Cool, th-then I'll keep it," Vic said. Dropping his old targe to the ground, he fit the bracer onto his arm. He then held up his arm in a defensive position, and a round black and red shield somewhat larger than his targe spiraled out from the bracer. He swung it around for a moment, probably trying to get a feel for the weight. "I-it's nice, I really like it."

"It does seem to be a pretty cool shield, and it looks like it fits you well, but I hope the next item can be mine," Cynthia said. "Because Dex has his hammer and orb, and you just got both a helmet and a shield just while we've been exploring this dungeon. I'm not upset or anything, I just want to join in on the action."

"Sure, we'll try to find you something as well, Cynthia," I told her. She beamed at me before turning back towards Vic. She frowned for a moment, but then shrugged her shoulders.

With that, the three of us decided to leave the chamber and keep exploring the rest of the dungeon. However, as soon as we left the chamber, several goblins blocked our path. But there was something different about these particular goblins. They were noticeably taller than the other goblins and much more muscular. Also, they were all wearing crude armor made out of leather and iron plates.

[Humans, you stop here.] The goblin in front said. It pulled a longsword out of a sheath on its back and brandished it at us. [We are chief's personal guards, and we will not fall easily like weaklings before us.]

"Oh? So even the goblin in the mech was considered to be weak?" I asked casually. The lead goblin's left eye twitched for a moment, but it played it off.

[The mech may been strong, but it was slow, clumsy, and covered in weak points. Pilot was weak and not good pilot.] The goblin warrior said. He then began advancing toward us. [If humans have honor, send out one of you to fight against me in duel. If you win, humans move on. If I win, humans turn back.]

"But what if we decide to attack you altogether?" I asked, brandishing my hammer.

[Then we all attack too. Can humans beat us together?] The goblin smirked as it said this, and its allies all chuckled. They, too, pulled out their weapons, but didn't move from their spots. Sighing, I started moving forward to fight the goblin, but Cynthia cut me off.

"Aren't I the one who's supposed to be leveling up right now? In that case, I need to fight guys like this goblin in order to do so," she told me. I shrugged and let her step forward.

[So, you duel me?] The goblin asked. [Want challenge, not little girl.]

"Hmph, I'll give you a challenge! !" Cynthia roared. She shot forward at impressive speeds, her shield surrounded in glowing energy. The girl slammed into the goblin, surprising her opponent. However, the unusually large goblin simply skidded backwards a couple of inches, seemingly unharmed.

[Watch this, humans.] The goblin said with a sneer. It raised its sword and a blue glow surrounded the blade. The monster swung the sword and it slammed into Cynthia's shield with enough force to make her stumble backwards. However, she remaining standing and recovered her balance quickly.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed, swinging her sword. However, the goblin easily parried her blow, deflecting her blade to the side before smacking her in the head with the pommel of its own sword.

[I said, give a challenge.] The goblin jeered. It tripped Cynthia, causing her to fall onto the ground at its feet. The monster then kicked her with enough strength to send her tumbling over to us. Luckily, due to her high defense, she seemed to be alright.

"O-okay, you monster. You w-want a challenge, I-I'll give you one," Vic said, anger evident on his face. He charged towards the goblin, his sword held out to the side. With a swing faster than any of us were expecting, Vic had already clashed his weapon against the goblin's, sparks showering across the floor.

[Interesting. You have makings of skilled swordsman. Too bad you die here.] The goblin mused.

"Sh-shut up. You're the one who's g-going to die," Vic muttered back. He pressed harder against the goblin, which seemed to be surprised by the boy's strength. The two then retreated, staring the other down. When they once again clashed, the goblin's sword was surrounded by that blue aura, however, Vic didn't meet the attack with his sword.

Instead, he lifted his shield arm and the sprung into full form, blocking the attack. More than that, its Skill seemed to activate and the goblin recoiled, its right arm suddenly covered in bloody gashes. It hissed at Vic before switching hands, now wielding its longsword in its left hand. Once again, the goblin attacked Vic, who raised his shield, a triumphant smirk on his face.

But this time, instead of attacking the shield directly, the goblin drew the weapon back before it made contact with the shield. Then, faster than lightning, the blue aura on its sword extended outwards, piercing through the shield and stabbing into Vic. Coughing, the boy struggled to remain on his feet, his body swaying back and forth. He even had to use his sword to prop himself up, but it was no use.

[Just fall, human, and you live. I keep promise and let humans leave without more pain. Otherwise...] The goblin didn't finish its sentence, the ominous statement trailing off. Gritting his teeth, Vic stood straight and lifted his sword. I watched in amazement as he endured the pain and activated a Skill.

"!" He roared. The blade of his sword glowed red, then he swung it against the blue glowing blade of the goblin's sword. The two empowered weapons clashed, the energies sparking against each other. However, Vic was ultimately the one sent flying back, his injury now even worse.

"Alright, it's my turn," I snarled. "Let's end this, goblin."

[By all means, after you, human.] The goblin said in a mocking tone. It brandished its sword with a grin as it faced me. Raising my hammer, I swung the massive weapon towards the goblin warrior. Its eyes widened when it saw my attack, but it was too late. The head of my hammer slammed into the blade of its sword, shattering the weapon despite the blue aura that had been strengthening it.

The goblin flew backwards, a chunk of its own blade embedded in its abdomen. However, instead of finishing it off myself, I turned to Vic. Ripping off part of my shirt, I began dressing his wound as best I could. While I didn't do a very good job, it was good enough to help stop the bleeding and apply pressure.

"Okay, Cynthia, you started this, you finish it," I told her. She stood up and approached the goblin, a fierce look in her eyes. The girl then swung her dagger-like shortsword, stabbing the goblin's heart in one stroke. Its eyes went blank and its mouth lolled open, death evidently having claimed it. A light then shone around her, showing that she had leveled up.