As he came upstairs, Arthur encountered a strange sight.
Sitting on a large sofa was a little girl with golden curls and green eyes, no more than ten years old. She was wearing a fluffy yellow dress and playing happily with a small teddy bear, not even noticing Arthur's presence.
Not far away, a woman leaned lazily against the wall, her slender, athletic body accentuated by the tight black leather of her armor. She was about 1.65 meters tall, with a toned abs and breasts that matched the perfect proportions of her slim waist and wide hips.
Her face was partially covered by a mask, and her short black hair was hidden by the hood of a cloak. Still, Arthur only had to look at her beautiful blue eyes as they studied him with interest to know that behind that mask was a deadly beautiful face.
A young man, no older than Arthur, stood in the other corner of the room. He wore a silver armor, had beautiful golden hair, and his lips were parted in a gentle smile.
He was on his knees, his eyes closed, his head resting on the hilt of his silver sword, which was gloriously embedded in the ground, as if in some sort of silent prayer.
'A shadow assassin and the archetype of a hero.' That was the only thought that crossed Arthur's mind as he watched them.
"The brat playing with the bear is Alice. She snuck up behind us and found a way to follow us here," Conrad pointed at the little girl.
"Hey! I'm not a brat!" the little girl shouted, finally noticing Arthur's presence, who just grinned at her.
Ignoring the girl's reaction, Conrad nodded to the woman. "This is Safira. She doesn't talk much, so don't worry about her silence."
"And this is Gabriel, one of the hundred holy sons of light from the Church of Aelius," Conrad finally introduced the man in silver armor who had already stopped praying and was now walking towards Arthur.
"You must be Arthur," Gabriel said as he held out his hand. "My name is Gabriel, as Conrad mentioned. It will be a pleasure to have you as a member of my team."
"My pleasure," Arthur said as he shook Gabriel's hand, recognizing Conrad's intentions.
Receiving Arthur's strong, firm handshake, Gabriel pointed to a campfire where some sort of meat was roasting and said: "Sit down for a while and let's talk."
To say the least, Arthur couldn't deny the proposal; compared to the mixture of what they ate down there and what he ate himself, this meat seemed like a gift from the gods.
Shortly after, Gabriel waved to Safira. "Why don't you sit with us?" There was a bit of affection in his tone, but it was completely ignored by Safira, whose gaze towards Arthur had changed from mild interest to a smoldering look.
With a muffled moan, accompanied by a sweet, melodious voice, the girl simply turned and left.
Gabriel watched the girl's back move away with a disgruntled look on his face, but he kept his composure and sat down by the fire next to Arthur, who was watching everything carefully.
It didn't take a genius to understand the dynamic between these two.
"So, do you have any questions?" Gabriel asked Arthur.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed, "What is the purpose of this expedition?"
This wasn't a big question for Arthur, who was more interested in getting out of this place than actually exploring it, but he thought it was the most logical question to ask.
"Hm..." Gabriel exhaled before answering, "A few months ago, the lord of a small colony village of the Albrid Empire brought a small group of soldiers to explore this dungeon."
Gabriel paused as he cut a piece of meat and handed it to Arthur.
"It should have been a quick and easy exploration, but he never returned... So we got a request from the Village Master and went after them. There were over 100 of us when we arrived in this town, but less than 30 survived the encounter with that damned masked brute," Gabriel concluded, his voice carrying a hint of anger as he mentioned the last part to Arthur.
"I see..." Arthur muttered as he took a bite of the tasty-looking piece of meat.
It wasn't the best meat he had ever tasted in his life, but considering how hungry he was, it was certainly a king's meal.
"And why are you, a holy son of the Church, on an expedition to find the lord of a small village?"
Arthur asked, though he didn't know what the Church of Aelius was, or even what the holy son represented in it. He could assume that he was an influential figure, to say the least.
Hearing Arthur's question, Gabriel scratched his head before answering, "Well... it's complicated. I guess you could call us old friends, or something like that...
"Of Safira too?"
"No... she's a noble of a powerful family in Albrid and she's doing her initiation ritual." Gabriel's eyes twitched when he heard Arthur mention the mysterious woman's name, but he soon regained his composure and asked, "Aren't you going through your ritual as well? You look old enough for it."
"Ah... Yes." Arthur confirmed, although he didn't know for sure that it was an initiation ritual, he had an idea of what it was.
In many societies, it was common to send their young adult children on dangerous journeys for coming-of-age rituals.
"Uncle, did you know that you are very beautiful?" Alice, who seemed tired of playing with her bear, suddenly appeared at Arthur's side and exclaimed happily.
"Oh... Thank you. You're very pretty too," Arthur replied to the compliment with a sincere smile, completely ignoring the fact that the little girl had called him uncle.
"Hehe" Alice smiled proudly before sitting down next to Arthur and waving her small hands at Gabriel, asking for some meat as well.
At that moment, Arthur let his body fall back, leaned against the wall, and finally relaxed.
Despite everything he had been through, despite all the pain, all the suffering. He was happy.
He had something that had never been given to him in the last 3 years since he was thrown out of his family.
-Hope
Something so common, but for some reason was becoming more and more rare in this world.
"Uncle, are you sad? Do you want some candy? Alice has candy here!" Alice exclaimed, noticing the smile on Arthur's face disappear and be replaced by a melancholy face.
"It's okay," he regained his composure and smiled again, "I'm just remembering things from the past.
"Hm... is that bad?" Alice asked.
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no." It was Gabriel who replied as he stood up and walked towards the stairs.
"There seems to be something going on down there," Gabriel said, waving for Arthur to come and see.
Arriving at the staircase, Arthur saw a bloodied man walking through the large doors, desperately screaming, "Monsters!! monsters coming from the south!!!"
"Easy, man!" Conrad, who had already come down the stairs, grabbed the man by the collar and asked, "What kind of monsters?"
"H-hobgoblins, dozens of hobgoblins!" The man replied in a stuttering, panting voice.
"Shit..." Gabriel muttered before yelling, "Alice, hide somewhere! Arthur, come with me! It's time to see if you can handle a sword."
Arthur didn't question and just followed Gabriel downstairs. While Alice wiggled her little legs and hid in a closet.
"Get your weapons and get out of this building! We'll defend ourselves in the streets!" Conrad yelled as he ran for the main doors.
"Come on!" Gabriel shouted to Arthur as he ran after Conrad.
"Okay" Arthur replied briefly, drawing his sword. His face wore a serious expression, and there was a glint of anxiety in his eyes.
Soon, more than thirty members of the expedition left the building and crowded onto the wide main street of this lost city.
On the horizon, they could see a large group of greenish creatures, their features not so different from the goblins Arthur had encountered. Their bodies, however, changed everything.
With an average height of six feet, they were large even for humans. That height was accompanied by over one hundred kilograms of pure muscle mass.
Unlike their smaller relatives, who had thin, undernourished bodies, these could be considered true forces of nature.
Along with all the power of their bodies, they carried two-handed swords, large axes, and maces, and wore armor that seemed to be made of leather and the scales of various animals.
[Corrupted Hobgoblin
Description: Corrupted by Chaos, he was once a powerful goblin who received the blessing of a war shaman and became a mighty warrior of his race, but now he is just an irrational and empty shell. dominated by his thirst for blood.
Grade: D
Stage: 2
Level: 21
HP: 760]
The moment Arthur saw the status of this goblin, his eyes went wide and his grip on his sword trembled.
From what he could see from the statuses, most of these people were between levels 20 and 30, with a few at level 40, and besides Conrad at level 60, there was only one warrior at level 50. As for the younger ones like Gabriel and Safira, they were level 19 and 20 respectively.
Since Arthur himself was only at level 8, he could only rely on his bloodline buffs to fight.
"There must be at least 60 of them!" Gabriel shouted before turning to Conrad, "Where's Safira?"
"She knows how to handle herself, don't worry about her, focus on the battle ahead!" Conrad replied, drawing his sword as well. He might not be able to use magic, but he still had a strong body, which could be useful in such a battle even if weakened.
"Grroarrk!" A hobgoblin, who seemed to be leading the whole horde, roared and the march turned into a desperate race, as if they were competing to see who would kill the most humans.
"Prepare to fight and bring steel to the asses of these damned bastards!" Conrad shouted vigorously, and his entire group prepared for impact.
They knew this was going to be a tough fight and that many would die.
[Quest: Getting to the outside world 2/5.
General: You are in a dark dungeon, survive the adversities and find a way out!
01: Choose a path! (completed)
02: Danger ahead! (completed)
03: A horde of hobgoblins
You are cornered by dozens of hobgoblins! Join the Blackwing mercenary group and help them to victory!
Rate: C
Rewards: 60 XP, +10XP for each Hobgoblin you kill or help kill, and 2 prestige points.
04: ?
05: ?]
Safira Ai-generated art can be found in the comments!