"Twins!" The swordsman shouted as the archers took down a couple of goblins.
From outside, the cave looks like a small enclosed space but, once you get inside, it's actually huge with enough space to fit a three-floor house. The reason behind this is because, the lair actually goes deeper underground, making the space wider as the group moved along and, increasing the number of monsters as well.
"Dammit! How much further do we need to fight Allesiah?" The swordsman shouted to their mage.
"Just a bit more." The mage said, also feeling tired from all the monsters they've encountered thus far.
As for Zeke, he's having trouble holding up the bag as he continued picking up various things dropped by the monsters.
"These stuff?" he said as they began, pointing at the clubs used by the goblins.
"Yup. Those can be sold for a reasonable price in the black market." The shielder answered but, Zeke thought otherwise.
As he used [Analyze] on everything, he saw that none of the materials are actually worth much. The durability is even weak and yet, certain people would buy these things in bulk. With this useless collecting, they continue on. Zeke also learned that, unless he's the one who killed the monster, no loot will drop just like in some games that distribute items automatically.
"Fireball!" Allesiah shot three approaching goblins while the tank rushed forward, blocking the goblin shamans as they casted their spells.
The fighting continued for a while longer and, Zeke observed all their movements carefully. He thought of how he could kill them off once they try betraying him.
"Okay let's rest here for a while." The swordsman said after the group of goblins were eliminated.
The group sat down and, Zeke took out the rations which the party has prepared. Understandingly, there isn't any for him, with the swordsman saying 'we weren't able to pack extras because we wanted to move quickly'.
"I'm just going to take a piss." One of the archers said.
"Seriously? Get a bit further man we're eating here." The leader replied.
Just a bit more and the quest would be over with. Zeke probably doesn't have to fight these adventurers because, everything seems fine. Yet, he can't shake the feeling of something else being inside this dungeon.
"Marin!" The archer shouted, coming back and forgetting to place his thing back inside his pants.
"F*ck you ruined a perfectly good sandwich!" Their leader said as he saw it swinging sideways. Even Allesiah looked at it and smiled at how small it is.
"I found something!" The archer said, finally able to come back to the group and hiding his wood.
The party immediately packed everything up and went to where Kram directed. It's hiding behind a boulder so one won't be able to notice it right away but, there is a symbol on the ground, one that adventurers are familiar with.
*Whistle*
"Fellas we got ourselves a secret dungeon!" The swordsman said with a widening smile on his face.
Zeke also saw the information about secret dungeons on the adventurer contract. Clearly stated there is the fact that, contents of a secret dungeon which an adventurer party finds requires that, its contents be split 70 – 30. With the lower percentage going to the guild.
Secret dungeons always include riches and, most of the time it is safe. Making a lot of adventurers wealthy as they chance upon it in their missions. But, if it's otherwise, then the group can only expect the worst.
"I don't know about this." Allesiah said, worried that the secret dungeon may be dangerous.
"Oh come on, this is a low level goblin lair! If anything, only wealth waits for us beyond this symbol!" Every other member thought the same as Marin. That's why, when they put it to a vote, the decision was inevitably to go inside.
Zeke worried about this as much as Allesiah did. Greed consumes a lot of people and, if there are tons of loot inside, then these people may actually try to finish him off.
"Let's get going then!" Marin said as he pressed on the symbol, creating a blinding flash of light.
The transportation only took a second and, immediately, they are placed inside a dark room with torches lighting it at every corner.
"This doesn't look good." Zeke thought to himself, feeling a cold breeze pass through his body.
It didn't take long for eyes that gleamed yellow appear beyond the darkness. Everyone stepped back and created a formation, with the Shielder being in front and, everyone else aligned to back each other up.
"I told you this was a bad idea." Allesiah said in a low and trembling tone.
"S-shut up. We're going to get past this." The leader said as the eyes in the darkness multiplied. Soon after, larger ones appeared and, as these figures stepped out into the poor lighting provided by the torches, Zeke's [Analyze] immediately took effect.
[Name: None]
[Species: Undead]
[Specification: Goblin Skeleton Soldier]
[Rank: E+]
[Health: 1,000]
[Mana: None]
…
[Name: None]
[Species: Undead]
[Specification: Goblin Skeleton Archer]
[Rank: E+]
[Health: 1,000]
[Mana: None]
Hundreds of these appeared, not counting the larger ones that made the ground shake as they moved.
[Name: None]
[Species: Undead]
[Specification: Hobgoblin Soldier]
[Rank: D-]
[Health: 5,000]
[Mana: None]
"Allesiah, how long do you need before you can create an exit portal?" The leader said, shaking as the numbers of the enemies grew.
"I don't know, probably an hour." She replied.
"Well what are you waiting for? Get to it then!"
The monsters didn't wait for the party to make any further moves. They started attacking from every direction. The Shielder created a large wall of earth that blocked the attack but then, arrows came flying in.
"Twins!" The leader shouted, making the archers of the group fire arrows that exploded upon reaching a certain height. This created enough wind to throw all the skeleton's arrows away from the group. But then the hobgoblins started bashing through the wall, denting it in the process.
Aside from this, there are skeletons who have already climbed on top of the wall. The twin archers are able to shoot down some but, the number of skeleton soldiers that climbed just kept increasing. Soon after, large portions of the wall have been destroyed, making the swordsman rush forward in order to meet the enemies that tried to come near.
*Sigh.*
"We'll all die at this rate." Zeke thought to himself, finally dropping the group's luggage to the ground.
"Shielder, can you make another wall?" Zeke asked, bringing his sword and buckler out of his inventory.
"What? Why?" Boulder responded, concentrating on keeping the wall's toughness as the monsters kept trying to destroy it.
"Just answer the question." Zeke continued, standing at his side.
"Yes. I can still make two." He replied.
"Okay. Create a wall as soon as I pass through." Zeke continued, stretching his legs and his shoulders.
"Why should I listen to you?" Boulder replied, thinking how stupid it is for a newbie to go and fight a hundred skeleton soldiers and archers all on his own.
"Just trust me on this. You're out of options right?" Zeke replied.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Boulder said, agreeing to the idea.
With this Zeke activated [Mana Conversion] raising all of his current attributes in the process. He then sprinted away from the group, surprising Boulder with his speed. As soon as the swordsman and a few soldiers were passed through, Boulder created another wall leaving the first wall and the hobgoblins destroying it for Zeke to handle
He immediately sprung up, surprising his enemies and, without a moment's hesitation, bashed his shield on the head of a hobgoblin.
This left a huge crack, making the Hobgoblin drop to its knees. As soon as it did, Zeke took the sword it is using that is now stuck on the wall. With all his strength, he swung it sideways as he landed on the ground. Catching a dozen of skeleton soldiers and taking off his grip on it.
The sword went flying a bit further away, giving Zeke enough time to get two swords from the scattered remains of the soldiers he hit. There are still some hobgoblins on the walls but, Zeke thought that the party would be able to handle those.
Meanwhile, he continued pressing on. Hundreds of arrows rained down on him, making him use [Quick Step] twice in order to get out of range. This left him with only 200 mana points, making him rush towards reducing the number of archers.
These artillery type enemies tried to get away but, Zeke didn't allow it. He stayed within their ranks, making it difficult for the archers to land anything. The hobgoblins also came here and, as he dodged these gigantic enemies' blows, some archers and soldiers came as casualties.
As the fight raged on, a crystal began gleaming at the furthest end of the dungeon, summoning a creature through the miasma of defeated goblins.