The narrow hallway continued further ahead. The two quietly moved forward.
*Twang*
Crumb stepped on a small trip wire and the floor suddenly gave in. As if it was on a hinge, a portion of the floor that stretched from wall to wall suddenly collapsed.
"Ahh!" Crumb yet out a yelp in fright as he fell through the opening.
*Thud*
Chuck ran forward to the edge of the pit and looked in.
"Crumb! Crumb! Are you okay?" He yelled out in a hushed voice.
The scrappy goblin had the luck of the heavens. There were several wooden stakes in the bottom of the pit but most of them had decayed in the foot of water that hadn't been removed from the hole. When he landed on the pikes, most of them broke and crumbled. The waterlogged wood only caused some scrapes and bruises. Thankfully he wasn't punctured.
Crumb got to his feet and dusted off his head. "Crumb fine."
Chuck laid down and stretched out a hand. The hole was over 10 feet deep. A faint glow surrounded the legs of the goblin. After enhancing the strength of his legs, he was able to leap up and grab Chuck's hand.
He was pulled out of the pit after only losing a few HP.
Both of them then jumped over the five-foot-wide hole and continued forward. This time, they took it even slower. Crumb took one of the torches from the wall and inspected the path carefully as they treaded forward.
A few minutes later they spotted a stone tile that was slightly raised compared to the others. Whether it was a trap or not, both stayed far away from the stone as the bypassed it.
They then came to a set of stairs that lead upwards.
The pair journeyed upwards and found a large room. On the side was another set of stairs leading downward. In the back of the room was the entrance to the second floor of the dungeon. On the left wall was a wide opening that led to a balcony. They could see two skeletons walking back and forth on the balcony in a mindless pattern.
Both skeletons were equipped with a bow and a quiver full of arrows.
They neared the edge of the room and glanced out over the balcony while making sure the skeletons didn't see them. Bellow the balcony there was a large open area with at least 20 skeletons wandering around. Each skeleton was equipped with some sort of melee weapon. Further from the open area was a large pathway heading towards the entrance of the dungeon.
Chuck surmised that the wide path at the entrance of this place led to the melee skeletons.
He then signaled Crumb. When the goblin was in position, the pair waited until the two skeleton archers were the furthest away from the edge of the balcony. Then they pounced.
Chuck swung his knife and spatula. He slashed and slapped the skeletons head and chest. These archers didn't have any armor on and weren't too powerful.
Crumb shattered his target with a single bash from his hefty longsword.
With both archers' dead, the skeletons below didn't seem to even notice.
Before heading to the next level, Crumb and Chuck slipped down the stairs and then found a door that was barred from their side. This door should lead to the area where the melee skeletons were walking around.
The fact that the door was locked caused Chuck to pause for a moment. Instead of opening and rushing directly into the skeletons, he went back up to the balcony to take a look again.
He studied each skeleton one by one. He then saw one that look bigger than the rest. That skeleton had a key hanging from his waist. It all made sense now.
Gareth had explained to Chuck that all parts of a dungeon must be accessible in order to get the full daily allowance from the dungeon size. If a portion was walled off or impossible to get through, it would not count towards the free DP every day.
Chuck understood how this dungeon got around that with its locked doors. If it hadn't been abandoned and sunk into disrepair, they probably wouldn't have been able to break open that first door without being a lot stronger. They would have had to come to this large area and fight the 20 skeletons, all while under fire from the archers above. They would kill the biggest one and get a key to the first locked door they encountered. Then they would have to bypass the deadly traps and then reach the skeleton archers.
This way, even though both doors were locked, it was possible to access all of the dungeon.
Chuck made a mental note to remember this sort of trick.
He and the goblin planned their next move. They could go straight to the second floor, face what was there, get the core and be done or they could first take out all the skeletons that were still on this floor.
Crumb was fine either way. Skeletons didn't matter much to him. As a goblin that had a strength enhancement and loved to bash. These were his perfect opponents.
Things were a bit more difficult for Chuck since the skeletons didn't have any meat to cut or blood to spill. But he was only a few 100XP from level 10.
They decided to clean up the skeletons first. That way Chuck could have a second ability when they faced the second floor.
Chuck and Crumb moved to the door that was under the balcony. They each grabbed an end of the large beam that barred the door from opening and then they set it aside.
Cracking open the door, they took another look. The 20 skeletons were wandering around with swords, clubs, axes and hammers. Although they were wearing armor, it was in a pretty sorry state.
Without waiting any longer, they charged out and were immediately spotted by the undead. Green energy covered Crumb's legs and sword. He shot forward and directly smashed through the closest two skeletons.
Chuck ran forward and started hacking and slashing. He wasn't killing as quickly as Crumb, but he had to pay more attention to dodging and not getting hit. He wasn't able to smash the creatures into bits with a single swing. He needed to strike at least 5 or 6 times to put one down.
Thankfully the strongest skeleton was only level 10 while the weaker ones were at level 5. In under 5 five minutes all the undead were laid to rest.
These creatures had come from a spawner. Spawned creatures weren't as strong as contracted or creatures that came from the wild. They only received an ability every ten levels and the big skeleton didn't even get a chance to use his ability before Crumb enhanced his arms and weapon and smashed it to bits.
[Congratulations, you have reached level 10]
Chuck sat down and caught his breath. He had finally reached level 10. He saw that it would take double the XP to get to 11. It seemed like it would follow the same pattern as the previous levels.
Level 10 needed 5,000XP
Level 11 needed 10,000XP
He guessed it would continue in a similar fashion to the lower levels.
Level 12 needed 20,000XP
Level 13 needed 30,000XP
Level 14 needed 40,000XP
Level 15 needed 50,000XP
Then it would double again.
Level 16 would need 100,000XP
Level 17 would need 200,000XP
Level 18 would need 300,000XP
Level 19 would need 400,000XP
Level 20 would need 500,000XP
Then it would double and continue on and on. It would be hard to keep leveling up unless one continued to fight stronger and stronger creatures.