"...That was fast," I muttered.
But honestly, the thing tilting its head at us—even while we were ard and clearly intruders—made question its intelligence. Even for a goblin, that was impressively slow-witted.
Elena let out a small, tense breath.
"Could this be... a dungeon?"
"It seems that way," I replied.
The mont I confird it, both Elena and Lisa’s expressions tightened.
Their shoulders stiffened, brows furrowed, eyes sharp.
They’d heard about dungeons—of course.
But hearing about one and stepping into the entrance of a real one were two completely different things.
Dungeons weren’t simple caves.
They were isolated spaces ford by concentrated mana—nests where monsters spawned endlessly.
Which ant...
"This isn’t the ti to freeze," I said quietly. "That goblin is calling friends."
"And probably not just goblins..." Elena added, swallowing.
Lisa clenched her fists, visibly nervous but trying to appear brave. Even her wolf companions had lowered their stances, hackles raised, ready for danger.
The oppressive air of the dungeon pressed down on us.
The sound of footsteps—multiple—began echoing faintly from deeper inside.
They weren’t wasting ti.
"...They’re coming," I said.
And just like that, we had no choice but to move forward before the dungeon moved on us.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps—hundreds of them—drumd across the ground, growing louder with every second.
"Get ready for battle," I said, lifting my sword.
From beyond the trees, a sea of small figures burst into view.
Goblins.
So many that the forest floor practically turned green.
"E-Eek...!"
Lisa squeaked behind , clutching her staff like it was her last line of defense.
Her fear made sense.
They really did co in ridiculous numbers.
But ?
My heart stayed strangely calm.
Goblins are... well, goblins.
The universal punching bags of every fantasy world.
Weak.
Squishy.
Practically EXP in walking form.
Even if a few hundred showed up, it wasn’t exactly life-threatening.
...Though, okay, this was a bit more than I expected.
Did they call a family reunion or sothing?
Still manageable.
"Kirik! Kirik!!"
One goblin at the front stepped forward, waving its arms wildly while screeching in its scratchy little voice.
It pointed at us.
Then pointed behind itself.
Then hopped in place, gesturing frantically like it was trying to deliver a speech.
"...What is it doing?" Elena whispered.
"Trying to talk, probably," I said. "Not that I understand a word of goblin."
The goblin puffed out its chest, slapped the ground with its stick, and kept chattering—as if it was desperately trying to communicate sothing important.
But all I heard was:
"Kirik! Kirik-kik-kik!!"
Which roughly translated to: gibberish.
I glanced at Lisa.
She shook her head rapidly. "Don’t look at ! I don’t speak goblin!"
The goblin’s gestures grew even more exaggerated, using its entire body to act out so kind of story—maybe a warning, maybe a threat... or maybe it just wanted food.
Either way, the horde behind it was slowly inching closer.
"W-Why does it feel like they’re surrounding us...?" Lisa whispered, voice trembling.
Elena tightened her grip on her sword.
I lowered my stance.
Whether they wanted to chat, negotiate, or throw a surprise party...
If they rushed in—
We’d just have to cut our way out.
It waved its arms wildly, hopping in place, pointing at us, then at the ground—clearly trying to say sothing.
But unsurprisingly, I didn’t understand a single word of goblin language.
If I had to guess, it was probably sothing along the lines of:
"This is our territory! Get out!"
Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t an option.
We had no way to escape this place on our own.
Either we found an exit hidden sowhere deeper in the dungeon...
or we defeated the dungeon boss.
Those were the only paths forward.
And from the way the goblins kept glaring at us, gripping their mismatched weapons tighter, they weren’t going to let us stroll around freely.
A clash was unavoidable.
Elena and I raised our weapons cautiously, neither of us making the first move.
The goblin that had been "communicating" with us stared for another second—then sothing snapped.
It let out a sharp cry and lunged forward, raising its crude club above its head.
"Kruk!!"
"Here they co...!" Elena shouted beside .
The first attacker was the sa goblin who’d tried to negotiate—or whatever that was supposed to be.
It swung its club down at with more speed than I expected from its stubby arms, but I stepped aside, letting the attack slice through empty air.
"Hup—"
Then I countered imdiately, cutting into its torso with a swift motion.
"Kyaek...!"
The goblin let out a shrill scream as blood scattered in an arc, splattering across the dungeon floor.
That single strike beca the spark.
The rest of the goblins screeched, raising their crude weapons as they charged at us all at once—
and the real battle began.
Goblins kept pouring out of the trees like a living tide—shrieking, snarling, scrambling over one another in their desperation to reach us.
But no matter how many ca, they were still just goblins.
Easy.
"Haah...!"
I exhaled sharply and turned just enough to check behind .
Elena and Lisa were holding their ground surprisingly well—Elena cutting down goblins with steady precision, and Lisa swinging her staff like she fully intended to break skulls with it.
Yeah. They didn’t need babysitting them.
Good.
I kicked off the ground, aura flaring faintly along my blade as I carved through the frontline.
Goblin bodies fell before they could even understand what hit them.
Then, the mont I reached the center of the swarming pack, I gathered every bit of magical power left in my body.
My fingertip tingled.
My sword humd.
"Lightning Strike."
KWAAAAAAANG—!!
A column of blazing lightning erupted outward from where I stood, branching violently in every direction.
The sound was deafening—like a chain of explosions going off all at once.
Goblin screams filled the air, shrill and overlapping, until they were drowned out by the roar of electricity.
And then—
Silence.
Thick smoke drifted around , the air stinging with the sll of burnt hair and roasted at.
When the haze finally thinned, dozens of charred goblin corpses lay scattered across the ground like fallen shadows.
Reviews
All reviews (0)