Dragonire found himself pinned to the floor by the Goblins. From the outset, he was no match for them. He couldn't even manage to defeat a single Goblin, let alone injure one. These Goblin soldiers were formidable; their skills and coordination were so impeccable that Dragonire stood no chance against them.

‘Fuck! These guys are too strong! I thought I would at least be able to kill some before getting pinned down… it looks like I underestimated them.’

Dragonire was taken aback; he hadn't anticipated such a significant power gap between a regular Goblin and a Goblin Soldier.

The Goblins relentlessly stabbed Dragonire with their swords and spears.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh!!!" Dragonire screamed in pain.

Every minute, every second, the pain Dragonire endured was utterly agonizing.

As the Goblins tortured him, he could literally see them reveling in laughter and enjoyment. The sight of the Goblins taking pleasure in his torment ignited a deep anger within Dragonire.

‘These motherfuckers! Ahh! This is pissing me off!’

Luckily, there was hope, no matter how painful it was, it was only going to be temporary.

‘Bastards! Laugh while you can! It won’t be long before I kill all of you green bastards!’

***

It has been approximately two hours since Dragonire exited the room, leaving a lingering sense of anticipation in the air.

Inside the room where the four players waited, it appeared as though they had abandoned the idea of devising a plan. The overwhelming fear prevented them from taking any risks and venturing beyond the confines of the room.

"Seriously, how on earth is he still alive?"

"This is insane. The fact that he's still kicking after two hours – what a monster."

"Shh! Everyone be quiet for a second! Did you guys notice anything unusual?" David asked.

"Hmm, no. What is it?"

"Listen carefully. You can hear that it's getting progressively quieter outside." David said.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit less noisy compared to two hours ago."

Standing near the door and peering through the peephole, David observed the absence of any Goblins outside. Following David's lead, each of them took turns to gaze through the peephole and survey the surroundings.

A short while later, someone knocked on the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Stolen story; please report.

Hearing the sudden knock, everyone startled.

The person who knocked on the door was Dragonire.

“Hey, it’s me. Open the door.” Dragonire said.

Hearing that Dragonire was still alive and safe, everyone felt a wave of happiness. Not only that, they experienced a profound sense of relief, as if all their stress and anxiety had completely vanished. Throughout the entire ordeal, they had been intensely worried about Dragonire's well-being, and now, with the assurance that he was fine, they could finally find peace of mind.

Soon, the door opened, and Dragonire entered. Curiosity filled the room as everyone had numerous questions about what Dragonire had been doing outside.

A few minutes later...

"What?! You killed them all?!" David said.

"No, not all. There are still many more Goblins in the other buildings. But for this building, I've already cleared them all," Dragonire replied.

"Wait a minute, what about the Goblin King?"

"I haven't encountered the Goblin King yet. I suppose it's not in this building and probably in the other buildings."

Sitting down together in a circle, Dragonire began explaining his plan. In short, he expressed his preference to go solo due to the unforgiving nature of this quest; a single person's death could lead to a game over.

Despite Dragonire’s opinion, they insisted on fighting alongside him, fully aware of the risks. They believed that hiding was not a viable option, as to grow stronger, they needed to engage in combat, earn experience points, and level up. If they chose to run away now, they feared they wouldn't survive the 4th Tutorial, as catching up later would be nearly impossible. After all, they had to get stronger to prepare for the future 4th Tutorial.

Dragonire agreed not to kill the Goblins, opting to let his teammates secure the kills for experience points, as they needed it the most. Of course, if the situation were to take a turn for the worse, Dragonire would step in and start eliminating threats. For now, his focus was on performing his role as a tank for the team.

***

Thirty minutes passed, everything seemed to go smoothly according to the plan.

RAARRRR!!!

KRAARRRR!!!

GRAARRRR!!!

Inside the Goblin Castle, in the hallway area, five players could be seen fighting the Goblins.

"Good job, everyone! Keep it up!" David said.

"Phew! Thank God we have Sasha healing us; otherwise, this would've been much harder. Of course, Dragonire is doing a good job tanking too."

Ding!

[You have leveled up!]

“Woohoo! I leveled up!” Jack said.

“Oh, nice! So what level are you now? D-Class?”

“Yup! This is going to be much easier for us now since I leveled up,” Jack replied.

A few hours later…

By now, everyone in the team had already leveled up to D-Class.

"Alright, good job, guys! Now, let’s take a break before we go to the other buildings," David said.

Right away, they went to the kitchen area to collect food and water, settling down in one of the bedrooms in the castle. Of course, they made sure to lock the door to eat in peace, preventing any surprise Goblin attacks.

The Goblin Castle, a massive castle comprising five large castles merged into one, featured numerous buildings interconnected by multiple bridges at the top.

At this point, everyone was exhausted from the prolonged fight, so they decided to call it a day, planning to rest up and continue tomorrow. Fortunately, the 3rd Tutorial quest had no time limit, allowing them to take their time clearing it.

“Delicious! I have to say this leftover food tastes really good despite being cold.”

“I’m impressed. I didn’t know those Goblin Chefs could cook so well.”

“Well, too bad we killed those Goblin Chefs; otherwise, we could have used them to cook fresh food for us instead of eating this leftover food.”

The players continued to chat while eating. After finishing their meal, they relaxed for the rest of the day until bedtime, then went to sleep.

Once everyone was asleep, Dragonire woke up in the middle of the night and quietly sneaked out of the room.