"We caught another prey!"
"Oh yeah! We haven't had any new creatures appear recently."
"Uh guys? Aren't they human?"
I open my eyes, and see three gentleman staring down at me. They had long beards, with a body so strong but stature so short. Looking towards them, a notification appears,
I notice that they use the word race instead of species, so I come to the conclusion that different races live in different areas, but the ruling species must be some sort of animal.
I look back at them, and they were just like what were depicted in those fantasy video games. They were about my height, but a lot bigger, with each one having an axe strapped across their back.
"Hi.", I say towards them. They seem to be surprised that I was able to speak their language.
"Uh, where did you come from?"
"Up there." I point towards the railroad tracks.
"Yeah, we knew that. I mean, your hometown, or where-else you came from."
"Up there." I point upwards above me.
I could see that they were visibly confused, so I instead say,
"I came from a faraway village, and I promise, I have no ill intent."
They seem to buy this story, and they let us out of the net. But before I went on my way, one of the dwarfs said,
"May you please come see our king before you go on your way?"
I didn't see anything wrong with that, considering that I kind of broke my way into the hidden city, so I followed the three dwarfs towards the king.
Walking along one of the stone paths within the city, I can see many dwarfs bustling around, taking care of their children or working jobs. The farms were even more impressive up close, with irrigation systems and artificial light coming from the ceilings.
After walking for a bit, we reached the end of the path, but turning left, there was a staircase traveling across the cavern. The whole city was embedded into the walls of a vertical shaft, with pathways extending from wall to wall. Walking downwards along these paths, a tip of some sort of building appeared.
After walking for a while longer, I was standing in front of a massive building hovering in the middle of the vertical shaft. Propellers on the two sides of the building were holding the building up, with another propeller attached to the bottom of the building. The building was made out of steel, with some gold scattered at the top of the building.
We enter the building, and are instantly met with a clanging sound, the sound of metal hitting metal. I instantly recognize this as blacksmith, which was obvious because...you know, dwarfs.
There were many dwarfs, all pounding away at metal, probably making armor or weapons. Walking past them, we reached a massive double-door, with jewels embedded into the edges of each door. They were very tall, extending at least forty feet upwards. One of the dwarfs knocked on the door, and I hear a very gruff sounding voice say,
"Come in."
Two of the dwarfs opened the doors, and motioned for me to walk in, while the other dwarf introduced us to the king.
The king and I locked eyes, and I saw a small flutter in his expression, but it only lasted for a second, and he returned to a stony face. He had a stout stature, with his height being about my height, but his arms were at least three times thicker than mine. He had a rugged helmet on his head, slightly lopsided but covered in soot, with small horns sticking out from the top. His clothing was quite simple, with occasionally spots covered with jewels and gems, but his weapons were magnificent. The axe strapped across his back was larger than he was, with the two sides as sharp as a newly polished sword, made of a metal that I knew nothing of.
He seemed to be a very serious man, and he finally called out to me.
"What brings you here?"
"I was just exploring this land, until I reached a mineshaft. It led me here."
"I see."
He looked at Ranko besides me, fast asleep, and also noticed Momo.
After a while, he tells me,
"Follow me to a private room."
I get up and follow him through another set of doors, and I was met with a luxurious living room, with coffee tables and couches all embroidered with gold. Bookshelves towered everywhere, basically becoming the walls of the room.
The servant dwarfs closed the door behind us, and silence ensured. I awkwardly sat there, waiting to see what the king wanted, his countenance as cold as ever.
But unexpectedly, he smiled, and walked up to me,
"My friend! I am so glad you came! My name is Komlimrak, but you can call me Kom!"
He yells to his servants,
"Bring in two barrels a beer!"
Then turns back towards me and says,
"We have a lot to talk about my friend."
The beer comes in, but each barrel was taller than me. I was also thirteen years old...
"Do you not want to drink some?"
Kom asked, and I shook my head, saying that I don't drink beer.
"Its some quite good stuff, but don't mind if I do."
He grabs a whole barrel and starts chugging it.
After he finished half the barrel, I finally started speaking,
"I have been notified that a person with silver hair would arrive at some time, but I did not believe it to be true..."
"Well, here I am"
"Ah yes..."
Kom strokes his beard gently, but suddenly, his eyes narrow, and he brings out his axe and attacks my head.
I quickly react and dodge to the left, avoiding the attack, but Kom comes at me again with another swing.
I do a quick backflip and flip over his swing landing out of his reach.
I look at Kom and see him smiling, but with no time to waste, he lunges at me again.
I pull out my gun and shoot his axe, but the bullet just bounces off. He swipes at my legs, but I jump off the couch and land even further.
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down! What are you do-"
Before I could finish my sentence, Kom chucks his axe at me, but I easily jump over it. The axe gets lodged into the bookshelves behind me, but it was just now that I saw a thin line connected to the axe. Realizing the danger, I leaned backwards, but was not fast enough, as Kom pulled the line and the axe came sweeping at my face. A small scratch appeared on my face, but not much damage has been done.
Kom pulls his axe back and prepares for another attack. I heighten my senses and stand very still, until suddenly, Kom stomps his left foot and the whole room tilted, knocking me off balance. It was at this moment that he decided to strike, but looking at the angle of attack, it wouldn't hit me. I was surprised my this attack, since I did not expect Kom to miss, but I just stood still as the axe whooshed above me, missing my head by less than an inch.
I took this chance to jump towards him, and pull out my gun, but he stomped his right foot and returned the room back to its original state, again throwing me off balance, preventing me from being able to shoot him. But during this whole time I never intended to shoot him, I instead shot the thin wire attached to the the axe, effectively detaching Kom from his axe.
I leapt at Kom as he was weaponless and landed on his back, with a gun pointed towards his spine.
"Fine, fine, you win! I was just testing your abilities!"
I of course didn't completely believe him, so I told Ranko to kill him if he made any moves. With the safety measures in place, I relax my grip on the gun and land back on the couch, ready to hear what he said.
"Let me continue my story. After talking about the boy with silver hair, I was told that they would help cleanse this land of what's sapping the life out of the living things. I am pretty sure you saw the state of the land above? Sooner or later, all of it will die, and our city down here will soon run out of energy. We dwarfs have already tried taking care of the problem, but to no avail. I humbly ask of you to get rid of this creature."
With that, Kom presented towards me a gold token, with an image of a dwarf on it. There were rings on the edge of the token creating grooves in the token's surface. Upon holding it, a notification appeared,
And looking at its description,
I see.
This creature must be a boss right?
I really want to fight another boss! A perfect chance!
"I will gladly fight this creature for you!"
"Alrighty! Let me bring you to the entrance of its lair!"
With that, Kom walks up to a bookshelf, and removes a row of books. Behind the books was a massive lever, and after pulling it, the whole forge starts to shudder, and we plummet to the ground.