Descending from the forest above, the two girls climbed down a ladder that had been dug from an earthly wall as the visibility of the space declined. Lucy looked below and watched as Worm landed safely, then did the same.
[You have entered the 2-man dungeon 'Acron's Goblin Outpost'.]
There was no feeling of entering a 'private instance' that belonged to only them, but Lucy supposed it likely was still so based on the message. Simply put, the developers had made the transition between the over-world and the dungeon a seamless experience for all those within the party.
The first thing each of them did was summon their Traveler's Book and look for the new achievement they had gained.
[Pioneer]
—congratulations, you are amongst the first to find a dungeon. It's a significant achievement worth noting.
*When entering a dungeon for the first time, your exp gain is increased by 100%.
"Oh this is good," Lucy's eyes shined in delight.
"Mhmm." Worm nodded.
"Alright," Lucy said, wishing the book away and drawing her sword, "Now let's get to this."
Worm did the same. Her blade a clean bronze as the two looked at the tunnel before them. The place was long and underground. There were small ores glowing orange along the walls and roofs as dirt fell. Yet, the visibility was still quite low.
"Goblins must be able to see better than us at night huh. . ." Lucy said, taking a careful step forward.
A click rung.
She blinked her eyes and looked down.
"Huh?"
There was a slab.
A whoosh echoed within the underground space as an arrow passed through a socket in the wall and struck her abdomen, sending her a tinge of pain. Her vision blurred for a moment then steadied before her health bar took on a hazy green around it.
Lucy hurriedly pulled the arrow out.
"Poison," Worm muttered beside her as she stared at its tip oozing with the color green. "This dungeon has traps. What's the damage overtime rate?"
Lucy threw the arrow on the floor and stomped on it, breaking it in half.
"Looks like a percent every 5 seconds," She gnashed her teeth. "These darn developers!"
Worm frowned.
The tunnel was wide enough for the two girls to pace side by side. This time, they took more careful steps, looking beneath and around them as they walked. Lucy found that the poison wore off after a minute.
"<Small Heal>," Worm waved her hand and a light fell upon her.
Her health climbed back up to 98%. Evidently, the girl's healing skill could only regain 10%.
"How long till you can cast it again?" Lucy asked, squinting through the tunnel.
"Thirty seconds." Worm replied. "I also have a barrier skill that lasts for ten and cools-down for a minute."
It was not a long time, relatively speaking. Yet, if they were within a battle, both skills could save a life in conjunction.
Lucy nodded and stood before an expanding hole.
The two stepped within.
". . ."
". . ."
They entered a wide space and a group of goblins seated upon wooden, terribly manufactured, bunk-beds stared at them in confusion for a moment. There were three of them.
As the two immediately launched at them, the goblins drew their weapons and snarled to defend themselves.
Lucy's blade shined and a heavy slash connected with a goblin's chest, cutting into it, tearing blue, and the creature's health jumped down to 70% as a bed frame broke apart.
"They're level 10!" She realized.
Not only that, but they were also wearing breastplates of leather.
The goblin moved to counter and an arrow flew. She managed to dodge the blade, but a pang of pain thudded against her chest, driving her recently healed bar down to 73% in one go.
"One of them is an archer!"
She blocked an attack from the nearest goblin and a sword came beside her, piercing forward in quick succession as holes of blue crawled the creature's skin.
Lucy moved her blade as a spark few, clanging against a sword and throwing the beast aback.
It moved to steady itself and slashed.
"Switch." Worm spoke.
Lucy leaped out of the way of the goblin's blade and a sword passed beside her, drilling into the head of the foe and dropping its health point to red. Her feet stomped against the ground, she stopped her momentum, took a step forward, and slashed as her companion sidestepped, exploding the creature into blue particles.
[Goblin Warrior killed!]
{Rewards: 37 + 37 exp, 30 Gild, Goblin's Leather Breastplate}
The fight wasn't over, however.
There was still another goblin wielding a sword and one with a shoddy bow remaining.
Lucy breathed quickened breaths and stood with her weapon ready.
"I'll take out the archer," She said and kicked forward.
A sword came her way but she dodged it and went for the goblin still nocking its bow. Her heavy-slash was still on its thirty-second cool-down so she slashed regularly.
The goblin blocked her blade with its wooden bow and snarled at her face. Its left hand reached for its quiver. It pulled out an arrow coated with green and stabbed forward.
'Smart NPCs!' She thought as she stepped back, avoiding the thing, then struck her blade down with both hands.
This time, her blade connected with its skull and its health immediately dropped into the orange zone. A metaphorical critical hit. As it scrambled about, she pulled her weapon out and slashed.
Though even that wasn't enough.
She dodged its lunge at her, avoiding sharp teeth, and stomped upon its head. It crashed against the dirt floor and she took the handle of her sword in both hands before thrusting down into its skull.
[Goblin Archer Killed!]
{Rewards: 37 + 37 exp, 30 Gild, Goblin's Awful Bow}
She turned around to see another creature explode into particles, holes having aligned through its entire form.
[Goblin Warrior Killed!]
{Rewards: 37 + 37 exp, 30 Gild, Goblin's Bronze Sword}
[Congratulations! You have reached level 7!]
[Battle over: You have obtained 12 Souls!]
Both girls were breathing roughly, scars of blue along their form. Though, Worm seemed much better. Lucy thought she must have deployed a barrier around herself at some point. Either way, they had taken down three level 10 goblins with only Lucy's health in the orange zone to show for it. Again, Worm's was barely depleted, likely having healed herself.
'She really can farm faster than most. . .' Lucy thought as she walked over.
"So you use your sword like a rapier huh," She said.
Worm nodded.
"I've taken a bit of fencing before. It became a habit."
"I see."
The two turned to their rewards as they waited to heal. It seemed, though experience acquired was shared to them both, items gained as a party went into a storage area visible by all members but exclusive to be handed out by the party leader. There was an option to randomly distribute the items, roll for them, or bid with the in-game currency.
Lucy looked at the three pieces of loot thoughtfully.
"I don't need a new sword," Worm said, "So you take the weapon, and I'll take the chest piece. For the bow, I think we can likely sell or trade it later and split the revenue."
Lucy nodded.
[Goblin's Bronze Sword]
—a standard, mass-produced, weapon for goblin swordsmen. Nothing fancy, but it's decent.
+9 to physical strength.
+3 to physical defense.
It was an improvement on her former [Cracked Bronze Short-sword]. It was still the same length, but now it didn't look as if someone had been bashing rocks with it.
They took a few minutes to heal. Mostly to wait for Lucy's health while they organized. Worm could heal her, but then they would also have to wait for the girl's mana to regenerate—which did so at the same rate as hp—before they could move from the room that seemed a cross between a bed-room and a guard's outpost.
"There's no map in dungeons," Worm noted.
"Evil developers," Lucy replied.
The writer chuckled.
"I suppose so."
When both girls were ready, they moved towards the entrance adjacent to where they came. Lucy looked within and couldn't see much past a certain point, she inched closer, touching the wall to stare at the tunnel that led forward.
"Seems pretty sa—"
An explosion reverted, dirt and chunks of earth fell as her arm exploded into particles and a section of the wall blew off.
". . ."
". . ."
Lucy speechlessly blinked her eyes at her missing limb. It took her a moment to take in what had just happened. It felt surreal. But, when she did, when she realized her health-bar had fallen to orange in one move, she yelled.
"Are you kidding me?! Poison that takes 1% of my health every 5 seconds! Low visibility! Level 10 ranged archers that can take 20% of my health with one shot! And now a trap that blows off my arm in one move?! They call this a beginner's dungeon?! These developers are evil!"
This was merely one section of a dungeon they didn't know the size of. It would probably take them the entire day just to get through it.
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/vwKhVUR
Wanna help keep my motivation up? Vote
Want more interesting stories? Check out my profile.