I woke up the next day and untangled myself from the blanket. I headed downstairs and found Aria already down there cooking a breakfast of bacon and sausages, along with perfectly cooked brown bread toast. Aria was an amazing cook, and I could not wait to eat the delicious platter of food that was laid out before me. I tucked in, and it wasn’t long until I had finished it.

“That was indescribably tasty, Aria. Thank you for cooking such a nice meal and for putting up with my nonsense for the last 6 years of my life. I am so lucky to have someone like you in my life.” I said, smiling softly at my companion and best friend.

“Aww. You’re too kind, plus I got to eat the food too, and I would have felt bad if I hadn’t cooked you anything.” Aria said, grinning at me. “Anyway, I’ve heard that there is a dungeon a couple of miles away that is a bit higher levelled than the last one. It’s goblin type with a boss at the end. It gives pretty good rewards for our level, provided we complete it.”

“I’m in,” I say. “It gives me the chance to test out my abilities more.”

One short walk later, we are facing a dungeon rift again. This time it’s green, which means the dungeon is of an uncommon rarity. This time the only emotion within me is pure excitement. I did know, however, that I would have to be more cautious about the monsters this time. They would be smarter, stronger, faster, and better geared, all because this dungeon was level 15. It was a higher level than us, which meant that the rewards would be much better than if we were overleveled.

I went through the rift, the now familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tunnel pressing in on me from all sides. I was then dumped into a long stone corridor, lined with burning torches alongside Aria. I took in my surroundings and headed down the corridor until I saw 2 goblins. I focused on the one closest to me. The text floating above its head indicated that it was a Lvl 12 Goblin Guard. Its green skin glistened in the light of the torches, and it blinked in surprise as it saw me before unsheathing its short metal sword and charging at me.

I readied my own greatsword, seeing Aria ready her own shortsword and shield for the second goblin who was charging at her. The goblin reached me, and I activated [hair snare], causing my hair to wrap around her sword. I then activated my [hair strengthen] technique as well as my [tress bind] technique, causing my Qi to flow through my hair as it wrapped quickly and tightly around its neck. It dropped the sword, causing it to hang in my hair, and clawed at the hair around its neck. It was failing miserably at trying to get free and was gasping for breath as I drove my sword through its heart, ending its life quickly and efficiently.

I looked over to see Aria still battling her goblin, so I activated my hair snare technique to wrap around its sword and wrenched it to the side, allowing Aria to get a good blow in and stab through the goblins primitive metal armour. Blood started pouring from the wound before it collapsed on the ground, dead. Aria panted, looking up at me, “Nice work.” I nodded in response, and we headed down the corridor, where we were met with a group of three goblins. I smiled and lifted my sword in preparation for the fight. The goblins readied their weapons (2 spear wielders and a short sword wielder) and stood there waiting for us to come to them.

I walked closer to them and activated both my techniques as I did so. [Tress bind] and [Hair Strengthen] activated my qi flowing out from my core and into my hair, causing it to glow slightly as it wrapped around two of the goblins necks and squeezed, cutting off the flow of air to their lungs. The goblins gasped for air as it squeezed. Suddenly two cracks echoed through the air as it broke their necks, and they slumped, their bodies going limp, still held up by my hair. I deactivated the [tress bind] technique but kept up the [hair strengthen] technique as I shaped a shield in front using my [Trichokenisis] perk.

The third goblin's sword bounced off it, with a slight snickt sound as the metal edge of the sword failed to find purchase on the hair. I dropped the shield and sliced the goblins head off with my greatsword. The goblin's flesh provided some resistance, but it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum of my sword. Its body dropped to the ground, laying there with the other two corpses of the goblins. It was the only one with any blood on it.

I looked around for any more goblins that I hadn’t seen and saw Aria standing a few feet behind me, staring at the destruction I had caused. I realised that I had killed him before Aria even had a chance to join in and grimaced. ‘Whoops,’ I thought to myself. ‘I really should have let Aria get some experience. I’ll let her handle the next group. Besides, I haven’t really had a chance to see what she can do.’

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“You can handle the next group; I want to see what you can do.” I said to her. She nodded, and we walked down the corridor before coming within eyeshot of two level 13 Goblin Warriors. I stayed back and watched as they fought against her. Every single time they attacked, their weapon was blocked by her shield. The constant clang of metal hitting metal was getting painful just before she finished one of them, the second one dying soon after. Aria panted from the exertion, sagging slightly in relief as she watched it fall to the ground. I walked up to her and put my arm around her shoulders and helped her sit down on the cool metal floor while I waited for her to catch her breath.

Eventually she turned to face me and said, “Turns out being a tank does have its downsides. I can’t deal out as much damage as you can.” Her face looked slightly disappointed, so I quickly responded to console her. “They couldn’t hurt you either, though. I’m not sure that I could have taken all of the hits you took before one got through and injured me.” She brightened at that and stood up before offering me a hand and pulling me up. Her grip was strong, and she pulled me up quite hard, almost making me knock into her. I quickly recovered, and we headed down the corridor.

We came face to face with a whole battalion of goblins. There were 6 of them, and although they were weaker than the ones Aria had fought, a whole group of level 10 goblin warriors still posed quite the challenge. I was nervous for the challenge, although I knew that if needs be, we could always retreat. They wouldn’t even follow us too far, due to the way that low-level dungeons worked. There were invisible boxes that prevented the monsters from seeing us from too far away from their spawns.

I summoned my sword, feeling its familiar weight. It was heavy in my hands as I stepped forward, ready for the fight ahead of me. The goblins ahead snarled, their yellow eyes glowing with menace. With a quick surge of Qi, I activated my [Hair Strengthen] technique, feeling the power flow into each strand, turning my hair into an even more dangerous weapon. Aria was beside me, her stance calm but alert, her blade gleaming in the dim light. We charged as one.

As we reached the goblins, I wasted no time. I activated my [Hair Snare] ability. My blonde hair shot forward like a living creature, wrapping around the blade of a goblin's sword before it could raise it to block. The goblin’s eyes widened in shock as it lost control of its weapon. In the same instant, I lunged forward, driving my sword into its chest with deadly precision. The blade screeched against the edges of its metal armour as I pulled it free, blood spilling from the wound.

But I was far from done. Even as I struck the first goblin, I activated my [Tress Bind] technique. My hair moved like a striking serpent, wrapping around the necks of two other goblins in a swift and fluid motion. The strands tightened, cutting off their airflow entirely. Their swords clattered to the ground as they clawed at their throats in desperation. I didn’t give them much time to suffer. With two swift slashes, my blade sliced through their necks, my hair parting effortlessly to let the sword pass through, before tightening again as their bodies crumpled to the ground.

Besides me, Aria was dealing with the remaining 2 goblins. She had already killed one of them. The creatures snarled and lunged at her, but she danced around their attacks, her movements fluid and controlled. Seeing an opening, I acted. My hair lashed out once more, wrapping around the neck of one of the goblins. I yanked it backward with a quick, precise motion. The goblin stumbled, thrown off balance. Aria didn’t hesitate. Her sword plunged into its chest, and it let out a final, choking gasp before collapsing.

Only one goblin remained, its beady eyes darting between me and Aria as it realised the hopelessness of its situation. But we weren’t about to show mercy. In perfect sync, Aria and I advanced on the creature. I activated both [Hair Snare] and [Tress Bind] in rapid succession, my hair shooting out like a net, wrapping around the goblin's wrists and arms. The strands tightened, binding its limbs to its body, rendering it helpless. It struggled, eyes wide in panic, but it was no use. My hair had it completely restrained.

With its arms pinned to its chest, the goblin was exposed. Aria’s sword flashed in the dim light, slicing cleanly through its neck. The creature collapsed without a sound, its head rolling to the side as its body fell limp.

The fight was over as quickly as it had begun. I let out a slow breath, my hair loosening from the corpses and returning to its natural state. The battlefield was littered with goblin bodies, the air thick with the metallic tang of blood. Aria sheathed her sword, giving me a nod of approval. “That was beautiful,” she said, her tone impressed.

I wiped the blood from my blade and glanced down at the fallen goblins. "They never stood a chance," I replied, a small smile playing on my lips.

Aria chuckled softly. “With your hair, you’re practically an army on your own.”

I grinned, feeling the familiar warmth of victory rise inside me. “And with you by my side, we’re unstoppable.”

We marched onwards until we came across a large glowing barrier. I reached out and touched it with my hand. A bubble of text popped up.

Would you like to challenge the boss?

Y/N

I selected the Yes option, and my body glowed as I was teleported to the arena. I looked to my right and saw that Arias body wasn’t glowing.

Uh-oh.