"CRRRAASHHHH"

I was going to die. I thought about all the great times I had with Seth and Kace as the Hobgoblin raced towards my limp body. 

"SYSTEM NOTIFICATION"

Huh? A system notification at a time like this? 

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO REBIRTH?"

Rebirth? I didn't know what that meant but I was about to die.

"Yes" I blurted out before the Hobgoblin reached me. 

2 hours earlier

"Hey Seth, Kace, you guys wanna go hunt some monsters?"

"Yeah sure, I only have 3 silvers left."

"How about you, Kace?" 

"Yeah, let's go!"

After talking it over a little more, we decided to go to the Forest of Scrolls and look for some weak monsters. We needed to pay the fee to get our adventurers license, after all.

After a 20-minute trek up the mountain, we finally made it to the Forest of Scrolls. The trees were at least 60 feet tall with the leaves starting to fall off. Winter was coming soon. As we entered the Forest, talking about what we wanted to do once we became adventurers, I noticed a wooden door in the mountain, it was hard to see as it was covered in moss. 

"Seth, Kace, do you guys see that door?"

They looked around and didn't seem to notice it until I pointed it out to them. 

"Yeah, there is a door! Could it be a labyrinth?"

"Maybe, looks like it's pretty old with all that moss covering it."

As I got rid of the moss on the door with my wind magic, I noticed that Seth seemed anxious to go inside. 

"Seth, I think we should contact the Adventurers Association, we don't know what could be in there. It isn't a registered labyrinth."

"Yeah, let's contact the Association, Seth."

Both me and Kace wanted to leave, if the monsters in there were above silver rank, we wouldn't stand a chance with our low-rank magic. 

"How about we look inside and if we see anything out of the ordinary, we run and contact the Association?"

"That way we won't miss out if it's full of copper or silver rank monsters"

Seth's idea seemed like a good one, we talked it over for a couple more minutes then decided it was our best option.

The door squeaked open and we peered inside. It was definitely a labyrinth. A big one at that. The interior was like a castle, with walls made up of stone bricks, many of them starting to crumble, dirt floors with no living plants, and torches on the walls. It was a long hallway branching out to 3 separate smaller hallways. 

As we walked through the dungeon, we realized that we would not be able to see if we didn't light up the area, Seth grabbed a torch off the wall and used his fire magic to illuminate the area. 

After walking around the labyrinth, staying close to the exit, there was a sudden squeak.

The door was closing

"QUICK GET OUT" I screamed. 

I began running to the exit when I noticed Kace had tripped on a dead plant, I hesitated for a moment but quickly ran to help Kace, Seth was already out of the labyrinth screaming at us to get out. 

The door was about to close when I realized that I could use my wind magic to propel us. I tried to do it but my magic wasn't strong enough to push both of us. I used my wind magic and pushed Kace out the exit. It was just a few feet away but, I couldn't make it to the exit. 

I was now trapped in the labyrinth. 

I lay on the dirt floor for a few minutes and then it hit me. I was going to die here. There's no way I would be able to clear out an entire dungeon with my low-rank magic. 

"Shit. "

"I'm fucked."

After a few minutes of thinking about my fate, I got up. If I was probably going to die, I might as well try to clear the dungeon. 

I went to the first room, it had the same dirt floor and stone brick walls but, it also had skeletons of what I assumed to be other adventurers. They would probably never be found. 

"Grrak"

As I heard the noise I turned my head and there were goblins. 

"...Goblins?"

Goblins were one of the weakest monsters, even people without attack-type magics could kill them. The only reason why they were ever a threat was because of their large groups. However, there were only 5 or so goblins in front of me. I can win this fight. 

I quickly blasted the goblins away with my wind magic and grabbed my sword, while the goblins were still recovering, I quickly dashed towards them and slit 2 of their throats. After finishing off 2 more goblins in a similar fashion, the last one started running. I wasn't going to let it escape. 

As I was about to turn the corner, I heard a "Grrrcack". There was a hobgoblin. It ate the goblin. Now I realized why there were so many dead adventurers. They didn't die to goblins, they died to this hobgoblin. As I came to my senses, I used a blast of wind to push myself away from the hobgoblin. This fight wouldn't be so easy. 

I ran about 50 meters to recover some mana, using wind blast repeatedly wasn't the best idea. The hobgoblin wasn't fast but it was getting closer.

"CRRAASHH"

The hobgoblin swung a club at me, it was only 3 feet away from hitting me directly in the face. Luckily, I had enough mana to use a few more windblasts. If I can't keep dodging that club I'll be dead. I quickly pulled out my sword and ran towards the hobgoblin. The club was dangerous but it was slow. I quickly used my wind blast to propel myself up, if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be able to hit the hobgoblin. I jumped onto its arm and quickly stabbed his wrist. The hobgoblin screamed out in pain, it probably hadn't fought an adventurer in decades. 

Suddenly, the hobgoblin's eyes turned red and he jumped at me.

"It got faster??"

It rushed towards me at a speed that it shouldn't be able to reach. The hobgoblin picked me up and threw me against the wall. 

I was going to die. I thought about all the great times I had with Seth and Kace as the Hobgoblin raced towards my limp body. 

"SYSTEM NOTIFICATION"

Huh? A system notification at a time like this? 

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO REBIRTH?"

Rebirth? I didn't know what that meant but I was about to die.

"Yes" I blurted out before the Hobgoblin reached me. 

Then I blacked out.