The group entered room after room, killing groups of kobolds one after the other until they found a staircase leading deeper down into the dungeon. The group looked at each other.
"Is there anyone opposed to continuing down?"
"I still have plenty of energy left" Said Sage.
"Me too." Said Avery.
Lia looked disheartened at the group. "I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be of much use."
"Why? Is there something wrong?" Avery looked concerned.
Lia sighed. "I guess it's better to tell you than go grumble on it by myself. The truth is, I feel really useless." Ace was shocked to hear it. "What do you mean?" He said, "you've been doing a lot up until now. Why would you be useless?"
"Well I can't seem to do any real damage. The best I can do is distract one of them or temporarily stun them."
Ace would rub his temple, were it not for the disgusting kobold blood on his hands. "Hear me out Lia. That mentality sucks." He said
Lia was taken aback and was almost about to argue when Ace continued. "What I mean is, were you to party up with someone like Asher, he'd most definitely agree with you and from then on out, you'd be called dead-weight."
"This new world that we've landed on is totally different from our previous world. Levels and one's power is what will now determine where you end up in life..."
Ace sighed, "Sorry. I'm beating around the bush. You might feel weak right now, but that is precisely why we are here in the first place."
"Exactly!" Avery jumped in.
"But how come-" Lia tried to speak but was interrupted by Ace. "My class is rogue. I have a sharp dagger which I can penetrate the enemies' flesh with. Sage and Avery has bows which they use to pierce the enemies' flesh with arrows."
"You started out with a staff because you can cast spells. My guess is that one of your passives increases the intelligence stat by 5. And to be honest, it doesn't matter if you kill them. Making them incapacitated is just as good as killing them since it gives me room to do as I want."
Lia noticed the three of them looking at her and she blushed. "Sorry for bringing down the mood. And also for wasting time like this."
"Hey! Don't worry. It's good that you told us. And that goes for everyone here. If you're struggling with something or whatever, tell the group!" Said Sage.
"That's right. Now let's continue if everything's good."
The group nodded and headed down the dark stairs. Reaching the bottom, the greenery was for the most part gone, with only a few patches of moss still lingering. Everything else looked pretty much the same. The temperature must've dropped and the smell had changed to an odor.
They followed the hall which eventually led to a larger room, similar to the one they saw previously. This time however, housed three campfires and a total of nine kobolds. Ace was just about to share his plan when one of the kobolds screeched and ran in his direction.
"RUN BACK TO THE STAIRS!" Ace yelled out and the group turned and ran.
"When we get to the stairs, get ready to fire all you have at them."
Once they arrived, they did just as Ace had said and started firing arrow after arrow, ice sphere after ice sphere, at the charging enemies. In the middle of all the action, blue light and an energy like that of a wave swept over them. The girls had leveled up.
Soon, the kobold screeching died down and a mound of bodies blocked the hallway.
"Congratulations on leveling up!" Ace said and turned to the group.
"What was that feeling?"
"I know, right? And it feels like all the back pain from sleeping in that accursed bed is completely gone as well."
"It's one of the 'boons' which I like to call it. It basically refreshes all your needs."
"That's amazing. Leveling up is wonderful!"
"Yeah, it is. Anyways, we need to talk about what just happened." Said Ace.
"Oh right, yeah. I was too immersed in the whole leveling up thing." Avery rubbed the back of her neck and smiled.
"It seems like we won't be able to take it easy anymore and kill them off one by one. We need to enter combat knowing that we'll face them all."
"Then how about we continue using this strategy then?" Sage asked. "It's not like they can do anything about it. If they don't chase us, we'll be able to just hit them from afar either way."
"That's true. It would also be safer for me since anything more than three is too much. I might be an agility class but I'm not that used to dancing around enemies with a knife quite yet."
"Then we have a plan!" Lia exclaimed.
"We just need to move these bodies..." The group looked at the heap of bodies and felt a collective sense of disgust. Sage and Avery both went to return their arrows while Lia and Ace started moving the bodies out of the way. Only minutes later they were on their way to another room. Ace poked his head around the corner.
Ace made a weird sound and returned to the safety of the wall. The girls all looked at him in wonder.
"What did you find?" Lia demanded. Ace hushed her and whispered, "A chest of some kind." The girls' eyes went wide, their reaction prompted a weak laugh from Ace.
"I counted six kobolds but I'm not sure since it's so dark."
"Then count again." Sage responded with more energy than before.
"Alright alright." He said and turned back to look. He counted, "four, five, six, se-" He stopped counting. Further into the room sat a larger creature with two mighty horns and brown fur covering the entirety of its body. Hooves as feet that were as large as his torso and only wearing a tarp, hiding his, 'what would be' jewels. The creature's arms and hands were bigger than any he had seen before.
"It's a minotaur!" Ace thought. The creature's chest moved slowly as it's breathing was calm. The minotaur's nostrils flared with each breath. A large black two-headed axe could be seen leaning against the minotaur's chair. A chair of power that sat on a platform higher up than where the kobolds stood. The throne was made of gray stone and had a symbol behind the minotaur's head
In a panicked hurry, he turned back to make the girls move back to the previous room. Seeing the expression on Ace's face, they didn't ask any questions and followed his word. Once back, Ace put his hands on his knees and breathed heavily.