Liora stared at the dead body of the goblin for a few seconds, letting out a frustrated sigh. She couldn't afford to idle around any longer; eventually, the goblins would figure out that the women hostages had escaped.
"Alright, let's clear this place quickly," Liora said as she ran back into the Ruby Mines, quickly putting her Fox Mask back on and grabbing a stone dagger from one of the dead goblins along the way.
---
The dungeon wall fell to the floor with a loud thud as Liora arrived on the other side. She quickly began to move towards the first floor, where she encountered the Venom Spiders again.
This time, she didn't want to rely on the help of her summons or Talon, but instead, fight the enemies on her own.
There were about six of them, standing 100 meters from her, all patiently and cunningly waiting for Liora to make the first move. She took a step forward, and the Venom Spiders took a step forward as well.
A few seconds went by without either side moving. "Sigh, I don't have time for this!" Liora said as she broke into a sprint and quickly charged toward them. The Venom Spiders grouped together and formed a barricade with their bodies, lining up to block her path.
They then spat venom at Liora, the purple, viscous acid flying toward her quickly. Liora used the strength in her legs to jump onto the dungeon wall, landing swiftly on the grimy surface as the venom flew past her, missing her entirely.
The Venom Spiders looked up to see her leaping down toward them, but before any of them could attack, Liora plunged the stone dagger into one of the spiders' skulls, killing it instantly.
The Venom Spiders grew enraged and immediately pounced on her, trying to inject their venom into her body directly with their fangs. Liora saw the attack coming and swiftly spun around in a 360° rotation, her stone dagger cutting cleanly into every Venom Spider, spilling their insides all over the place.
"Phew," Liora breathed a sigh of relief, taking off her Fox Mask to wipe the sweat from her forehead. She opened her status window to see that she had leveled up again, now at Level 18, with 40 Stat Points and 18,000 Beast Points.
'I don't really need to use these right now, so I'll save them for later,' Liora thought as she closed her status window, deciding not to allocate her Stat Points and Beast Points.
She then proceeded to advance through the first floor, battling Venom Spiders and other bug-like monsters. With every horde of enemies she defeated, and the more she advanced, the stronger the monsters became and the more EXP they gave, making this dungeon a goldmine for her.
After advancing and killing all the enemies on the first floor, Liora reached Level 24 with a staggering 40,000 Beast Points. Along with that, she received her first treasure from the dungeon: a black ring with an intricate design resembling that of a spider. The ring had a flat, round purple gem in the middle, glowing with a soft purple pulse.
[Item Aquired: Spider Ring]
[Description: Allows the user to climb walls and stick to them like a spider. Magic is required to be infused into the limbs of the host for the item to create a sticky effect, making the item very useful for climbing difficult surfaces.
Additionally, the more magic is infused into the item, the stickier the host's limbs become, making it easier to climb surfaces.]
'Wow! This is really good!' Liora thought with a wide smile, slipping the ring onto her finger.
She quickly moved to the side of the first floor and touched the wall, noting that her hand didn't feel sticky. It made sense, as the ring required magic to activate. Liora then concentrated and gently infused her magic into the ring, and the soft purple pulse brightened instantly.
Liora felt a strange warmth flowing through her fingertips. It was different from the first time she had transferred her magic into the dungeon wall, making her feel like she was touching spider silk.
She then opened her eyes and tried to remove her hand from the wall. It was a bit difficult, as she had to pull harder before it came off. The magic Liora infused into the Spider Ring wasn't much, so her hand didn't stick to the wall strongly enough.
'I want to try something.'
Liora infused her magic into the ring again, and this time she spread her magic through her hands and feet.
'Steady…'
Liora began to climb the dungeon wall, her arms and legs trembling slightly from fear. She steadily scaled the wall, using her hands and feet in tandem. It felt like she was climbing a mountain, using the ledges and rough areas to grip and propel herself upward.
After a few seconds, Liora reached the ceiling of the first floor. She was still on all fours, her hair hanging upside down, and her Fox Mask lying on the ground after falling off her face earlier. Slowly, she rose from her spider-like position and stood on two feet, hanging from the ceiling like a bat.
'Holy smokes!' Liora thought in amazement, starting to walk around the ceiling. It all felt strange and a bit terrifying to her, but also exciting and kind of fun.
Talon stood below Liora, looking up at her with a confused expression, tilting its head slightly.
"I'm coming down!" Liora said as she released the flow of magic from her feet and started falling to the ground. She quickly performed a small backflip while mid-air and landed swiftly on her feet.
Liora knelt down and picked up her Fox Mask before gesturing for Talon to mount her shoulder. Talon flapped its wings and perched on her shoulder. Liora smiled and put on her Fox Mask as she walked further into the first floor.
---
A goblin swiftly ran through the third floor as fast as it could. The third floor was where the rest of the goblins were relaxing and waiting for the women to arrive. The floor was filled with other monsters as well, but these ones couldn't talk, as the Beast Tamer didn't need them.
Most of the goblins were engaged in conversations to keep themselves busy, while others expressed their frustrations and couldn't wait to engage in the act of breeding the women.
"Guys! The women have escaped!" the goblin yelled as it pushed through the crowd of goblins, screaming the same line over and over, but nobody paid attention to its words.
After a while, the goblin arrived at the end of the fourth floor and in front of the Boss Room. The entrance of the room was guarded by a giant metallic black door that stood hundreds of meters tall.
In front of the door, two guards stood tall. They were goblins but much stronger than normal. These goblins were huge, standing several feet tall with massive clubs in their hands. They were muscular too and emitted a very powerful aura that demanded they shouldn't be messed with.
One of the guards perked its head to see the small goblin running up to it, breathing heavily and out of breath.
"What are you doing here!? You haven't been summoned by the Beast Tamer. Get out of my sight before I smash you with my club!" the guard barked, his deep, powerful voice vibrating off the floor's walls, making the small goblin shiver in fear.
Mustering up the courage, the small goblin spoke. "T-the adventurer women, t-they've escaped!" the goblin stammered. "T-the two goblins that were sent earlier, h-haven't returned yet, so I-I went to investigate and found their d-dead bodies. B-but the adventurer women w-were nowhere in sight."
The guard goblin's expression shifted to shock as he realized the seriousness in the goblin's tone. If this information was true, it would cause big trouble for them. Weeks of work would be lost, and all the time spent training the goblins would be wasted.
The guard goblin looked at his partner and received an affirmative nod. They moved from their positions and placed their massive hands on the door of the Boss Room.
"3, 2, 1!" the first guard goblin said, planting its feet on the ground and starting to push its side of the door. The other guard did the same, both of them grunting with effort as they pushed the door open.
The loud screech of metal grinding against the floor echoed through the fourth floor until finally, it stopped, and the Boss Room was open for entry.
Inside the Boss Room sat a figure on a grand throne, cloaked in heavy dark robes. A white mask obscured their face, hiding their expression.
Around the throne, four imposing beasts stood guard: a massive snake coiled tightly, a lion with a mane of roaring flames, a silver hawk with wings spanning half the throne's size, and a towering minotaur clutching two golden axes.
The goblin entered hesitantly, each step echoing in the oppressive silence. As it approached the throne, the beasts' gazes bore into it, making the air heavy and suffocating. Struggling to breathe, the goblin dropped to its knees, bowing deeply in respect.
"M-my lord Beast Tamer," it stammered, its voice trembling. "I... I bring urgent news."