Since I had no leads, I kept exploring deeper into the dungeon, navigating through numerous intersections and carefully marking my map.
“Interesting, it’s like a massive maze,” I muttered, tracing the intricate paths.
Turning corners, I avoided unnecessary fights with large groups of goblins. Then, I spotted a horde dragging something large.
“What’s that?” I whispered, creeping closer. In the dim light, I saw it was Zack's body.
“What do they want with a dead body? Food?” I wondered, my curiosity piqued.
They dragged Zack deeper into the dungeon. I sketched the path roughly and as fast I can, noting how easy it would be to get lost here. Surprisingly, I didn’t encounter other adventurers on this route. Their sounds echoed from different paths, but this one path seemed unexplored. It means these goblins are avoiding adventurers as well.
“What’s down here in this cramped room?” I questioned.
The goblins entered another path leading to a well-lit hall. I peeked in and saw a massive Shadow at the center. It wasn't still clear so I took a picture of it and tried to change light condition of the image.
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The more I clear the image I realized it was the hobgoblin, Receptionist and Eva was talking about.
“So, this is their lair,” I realized. “They’re feeding the hobgoblin with dead bodies.”
Not wanting to enter, I traced back, avoiding monsters and hiding in a corner. Updating my map and adding the location of hobgoblins, I noted, “It took half an hour to reach here. This first floor is as big as my school ground.”
Suddenly, I heard footsteps and voices. I quickly put away my phone to avoid detection and hid in the darkness.
“Man, this sucks. No minerals, no magic crystal veins,” complained an adventurer with a deep voice.
“It might just be this floor, Mack. We can still make money,” replied another voice.
“How?” Mack asked.
“Two days from now, there’s a raid planned to kill the hobgoblin. We can ambush the exhausted adventurers after the raid,” the second adventurer suggested.
Mack laughed, “Good job, Riley. We’ll benefit more than those old hags. We’ve got the future ahead.”
“There’s another young one, that Everett kid,” Riley added.
Mack grunted, “We’ll find something valuable on him too. We’ll loot him and leave the city together on the same day.”
They laughed and moved deeper into the dungeon. I stayed hidden and decided recording their entire conversation.
I guess in this echoing dungeon, every wall seemed to have ears. I need to visit to the guild it seems.