Guy spins around after hearing Navi and so do I. Behind us, twenty golems approach as a group and I think Guy now understands why we are being extracted. We may be able to handle one but twenty?
Yeah, we'd just get obliterated. And actually, that may still happen. The armor golems are only a few steps away from us and we are still here.
"What do you think will happen to the goblins if we leave? As a fellow goblin, I feel kind of bad for leaving them here..."
"Do you want to stay here and die together with them? I'm sure Navi can arrange that."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I'll just pray for them and hope they die a painless death."
Moments before the armor golems reach us I'm pulled back into the void losing all feeling from my body. Seems we made it out alive and without getting trampled by those armors. What do we do now?
I am pulled out of the void and back into my... body. I'm sitting on the sofa in Darwin's office facing him. As I look around I see Guy also waking up beside me.
"Nice to see you made it out in one piece."
"We can't die remember? There's no way we'd not come back in one piece."
"I wasn't referring to your lives. You were extracted instead of dying correct? You should cherish that. Someday you may not have that luxury."
"What's the difference if you have one more death or not? And how do you know about the extraction, did Navi tell you?"
He looks me dead in the eye and I think I can see a symbol flicker into existence in his eyes. It's there for only a fleeting moment but it feels like that moment was burnt into my brain. What was that?
"One death can make all the difference. Do not think yourselves immortal or invincible, at your very core you are still a feeble, powerless, and vulnerable mortal. Keep that in mind."
I feel like a heavy weight has settled on my chest making it hard to breathe. Darwin's words stir a deep, long-forgotten unrest within me. I can't seem to shake off the heaviness despite telling myself how stupid all this is. I can't die, there's nothing more to it!
Guy looks to be deep in thought after Darwin's words. He must be feeling similar to me. After a few moments, he released a long breath and straightened up.
"Is this all you called us here for?"
"No, this was merely a well-meant piece of advice. I called you here to talk about your first large scale mission's completion.
"You've done extraordinarily well so far. You've successfully defended the dungeon against the first wave of adventurers. Furthermore, since you managed to take out one of the armor golems the dungeon could absorb it and we got access to its data. Knowing how these things work and what their weaknesses are proved very useful."
"I'm curious, can we know what you learned about the armor golems?"
Guy seems quite interested in those armor golems. Not like we are going to meet them again right?
"There's no reason to keep it a secret. The armors are golems made to maximize defensive properties and a simple movement and revenge pattern.
"Their glaring weakness lies in the movement and revenge patterns. They move in a pattern that makes them very vulnerable to traps. Additionally, they have a revenge pattern that makes them all move to the location of their fallen ones. This works great against monsters like you saw when all of them came for you.
"We have come to the conclusion that we'll simply keep the monsters away from them and let the traps do their thing. We aren't the ones under pressure after all, right?"
"Will that really work?"
"Questionable... But as I said, we aren't the ones under pressure so we can afford to feel them out."
"What about the mage who activated them?"
"He immediately left the dungeon after sending the signal that called the golems into action. If he'd stayed for only ten seconds longer we could have been rid of him."
Darwin seemed quite vexed by the fact that that mage had escaped his grasps but nothing could be done.
"What now?"
"Well, the dungeons defense will of course continue but the two of you won't be participating since you're still too low level. This mission is very important and we won't be sending you into any other dungeons before this is over. Until then you are free to spend your time training or however else you like."
"So it's basically a short vacation?"
"Yes, Guy, you can see it as such."
Guy looks to be weirdly excited by all of this talk about vacation. But what do we even do?
We both leave Darwin's office and walk to the employee dining hall.
"Guy, why are you so excited about having a vacation?"
"How could I not be! I get to spend time with my family. Since I started working here I had far too little I could spend with them. I don't want my children to grow up with a father who is never home."
"I see. Your family must be very important to you then."
"More than anything! Oh, sorry if I said something that made you recall bad memories."
"No need to worry, I don't have any problems with my family."
After all, we are all strong. There is no need for love when there is discipline.
We enter the employee dining hall and are assaulted by a flood of reddish tentacles. Out of reflex, I try to draw my sword but there is nothing there. Before I can think of something else to do I see the small victory flags the tentacles are holding.
"My guy! Congrats on finishing your mission, you ready for a crazy victory meal! I made Tonkatsu!!!"