Adventurers

As soon as the two crossed the twenty-meter mark from the orb room, Elroy was taken over by instinct as the fear rose to a peak. Almost as if taken over by instinct, the clouds inside the orb rapidly faded while five streams of fog were sent out of it to land around the room. From those spots, silhouettes started to form in a flash of light, ending up at slightly above a meter tall.

They were evidently humanoid in shape, possessing two arms and legs, however as the light faded out Elroy noticed some odd characteristics. The skin tone was obviously not that of humans as it was more like a dark green. The facial features were also off, as the ears seemed slightly elongated, ending in a point, while the teeth resembled more closely small knifes than anything close to human teeth. A set of round amber eyes completed the creatures' faces. He also took note that each one was armed with a long stone knife.

Feeling a pulse from the orb and his fear disappearing, Elroy instinctively sent out what seemed to be a command to the five creatures as a few words came to his mind.

'Intruders, protect.'

As if hearing this command, the five beings readied their knives as they dashed as silently as possible towards the tunnel. They were demonstrating extraordinary speed, covering five meters in an instant.

Oddly enough, after the two adventurers heard the footsteps, they appeared to be more relieved than worried at the sudden sound. Flashing a quick smile, they both readied themselves for the inevitable confrontation. When the first creature arrived in view, all their previous stress seemed to disappear instantly.

Resembling a practiced movement, the warrior took a strong step forward as the first creature entered his striking distance, sending his sabre arching towards its neck in a powerful slash, beheading it in a spurt of blood as its body fell down. The other four creatures, which were a few steps behind the first, momentarily slowed down upon seeing their brethren's demise.

The rogue, not missing this window of opportunity, quickly sent out an arrow which lodged itself in the eye of a creature. As it slumped down, the other three went back on the offensive as two of them attacked the warrior while the last one made a beeline for the rogue. As it passed by the warrior, he tried stopping it by sending a strike its way, however, the other two quickly attacked him, forcing him to redirect his attention.

Softly snorting at the warrior's attempt to stop the creature, the rogue let loose one last arrow, puncturing the throat of one of the creatures attacking the warrior, before having to take out one of his knives, holding it in a reverse grip. When the creature was almost upon him, he then grabbed its arm wielding the stone knife before proceeding to stab it repeatedly in its chest and neck, swiftly ending its life. As he let fall down to the floor, he turned his attention to the warrior.

At that moment, the warrior delivered a strong shield strike to the head of the last creature, dazing it for a few seconds. These seconds would prove to be fatal, as the warrior then cleaved down from its shoulder to the bottom of its torso. Dislodging his blade from the creature, he then turned his attention to the tunnel.

As no more creatures seemed to be coming, the two adventurers then relaxed, smiling brightly. The slain creatures on the ground then started to dissolve into the same bundles of fog that had formed them, part of it turning into tiny streams of light going to their respective killer and the other part sinking down into the ground. One of the five bundles of fog, instead of sinking into the ground, concentrated in the form of a crystal which then fell on the ground.

"Come on, Lloyd, be more deserving of your silver rank and don't let one slip by next time, this could've been dangerous."

"As if a mere goblin would be a match for you Reid" replied the warrior before bending down to pick up the fallen crystal, "Only one Essence crystal this time, although it's of poorest quality at least it will fetch some coins on the marketplace, making this trip a bit more worthwhile."

"Don't forget the commission for investigating this Dungeon, the same as the other weeks. Let's go, we should get to the Core to finish up here."

Elroy was still a bit dazed from the happenings, but focused on their conversation to hopefully gain some more insight as to what was happening.

'So, these things are called goblins. This place cannot be Earth as there are no such things there… Although you can say they exist in folklore but they are definitely not real. They also said that this place is a Dungeon and talked about a core? Could it be the orb as there is nothing else besides it here?'

As the two continued towards the Core, Elroy could sense his fear grow again with each step they took, culminating when the warrior stood besides it, while the rogue had stopped at the entrance of the room.

"You know, it almost had me scared when there were no goblins earlier. There's been too many stories of adventurers dying due to a strong monster suddenly appearing in similar circumstances" said Reid as he started to lean back on one of the walls.

"Yeah, me too. Do you reckon some wolves cleaned up the place while we were not here?" replied Lloyd before continuing "I just wish we could destroy the dungeons; you know? It would be a good riddance."

As he said so, he drew his sabre before going through the motion of striking the orb. The sabre stopping just above the orb before he sheathed it, leaving Elroy chilled at the feeling of doom and impending death he had just felt.

"You've said that every week since we've started coming here Lloyd, but you know as much as I do that the Adventurer's Guild will not let us destroy a Dungeon Core and go unpunished" said Reid, "After all, they see these dungeons as a natural resource, a way for humanity to develop by absorbing the Essence released by monsters after death."

"Is it not ironic then, the higher ups were so excited to have located the emergence of such a massive Essence Well and a new dungeon on top of it when the heroes were summoned a month ago, even sending silver ranks to investigate. Look at it now, only us two continued to come here every week to continue the investigation."

Reid laughed a bit, "What a waste of time, and all for a simple goblin cave in the end. Speaking of the heroes, I heard they had begun scaling the Skypierce tower at the capital, did you know?"

"No, I didn't, that's news to me. I guess we will hear all about their exploits when we get back to town." Lloyd said before going back to the entrance to the room.

The two then started to go back through the tunnel, seemingly finished with whatever they were doing in the cave. As they were going away, Elroy's anxiousness was lessening as he remained pensive over the two's conversation. One thing he couldn't help but notice was how much more fog was rising from the ground around them before being absorbed by the Core, which was absolutely incomparable to the amount from the wolf that had been there earlier.

As he looked at them leaving, he thought about what he had heard.

'So, this place is a Dungeon, the glass orb is actually the Core of that same dungeon. From the feeling I had when his blade was above it, I definitely shouldn't let anyone or anything break it unless I seek death. I guess that's what the goblins were for, although they seemed pretty useless.'

'And most importantly, I am safe?'