Dungeon Hallow

Arduous Rescue

Walking on a rocky terrain from a viewpoint no farther than ten meters away, Erix and Haruka continued to move forward.

So far, the monster blocking their path had been the same – a Mug, a type of Mud Monster, and a simple opponent for Erix. He dismissed these monsters to be nothing more than weeds as they were so easy to defeat.

Haruka didn’t know what to do, so she just stood there watching him demonstrate his sword techniques. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, but there was no opportunity for her to showcase her abilities. He eliminated all the monsters that blocked their way without a trace. She only picked up the Dungeon Stone after he defeated the monsters and stored it in her small bag.

Finally, they reached a junction in the corridor. The three branching corridors brought their steps to a halt.

Erix stared at the map he held seriously. His eyebrows furrowed, and sometimes his head followed the direction of his gaze. He finally chose one of the paths.

“Let’s take the right corridor,” he said. They continued their journey and traced the rightmost corridor.

Mud Monsters kept appearing and attacking them with sticky and smelly mud sprays during their journey through this corridor. He avoided every attack with quick movements and easily defeated the monsters.

For some reason, he felt much lighter, more agile, and nimble since arriving in this world. It had impacted all his movements. Attacking one monster and then darting towards the next was not a troublesome task. With his agility, he could defeat any opponent that blocked his way.

Once again, their steps were halted at a junction. He looked at the map again and chose the correct path.

“Now we go through the middle,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Um… Erix, where are we actually going? You chose the path as if you knew where my brother is,” asked Haruka, causing him to pause for a moment.

He spread out the parchment map he held and pointed to a location marked ‘Boss Room.’

“HAAAA…!! A-are you serious,” panicked Haruka, “My brother couldn’t have gone into that dangerous room alone.”

“At first, I thought the same thing. But, look at the boss room area! On the right wall near the door, there is a narrow gap leading to a small room.”

“This is the Save Area. A shelter because no monster wants to get close to that place.” She said.

Erix nodded and went on to explain, “The idea is simple. Your brother intentionally took refuge there to rest and wait if a group of Shensin tried to challenge the boss, then he would come out and escape at that opportunity. The distance is also safe enough, only about 5 meters from the cave entrance. Whereas from the middle of the room, the gap is far enough away so that he can easily enter without facing the dungeon boss. But unfortunately, no one wants to risk their life for it, and the possibility of getting trapped there is high.”

Actually, he came to this conclusion because he often played RPG games. But the problem was whether her brother was really there. If so, the young man must be dying by now without food and water for several days.

“But that place is the deepest part of this dungeon, surely it’s very dangerous,” Haruka insisted. Then a sense of sorrow arose when she thought about her brother’s condition. “Yura, you poor thing.”

She understood, and they both continued on their journey.

The Mud Monsters reappeared, but this time they were accompanied by Black Wolves. Their numbers were so great that the two human children were easily surrounded.

Erix was on guard and ready with his sword, while his gaze was sharp and waiting for an attack. One of the Black Wolves pounced, followed by another. The Mud Monsters didn’t just sit still; they also attacked.

He slashed at every monster that approached him, leaping around and moving quickly and gracefully. He danced as he played with his katana, protecting Haruka and combining his sword moves with elegant footwork. At times, he even pulled Haruka away from the path of a mud spray attack, but it looked more like an invitation to dance.

One by one, the monsters fell until only a few remained. Eventually, all of them were defeated, leaving nothing but the glittering Dungeon Stone surrounding them on the floor. Haruka stood there, stunned and awestruck by Erix’s sword dance.

“Incredible,” she murmured.

“Haruka…hey, Haruka,” his voice snapped her out of her trance. “The stones, please.”

*****

On the other side, Lucius unpacked his belongings in the hidden room which were filled with the pile of bones. Not only were there human skeletons, but also strange ones that he had never seen before. Perhaps these were from fantasy creatures that he had never encountered.

In addition to the bones, he found gold coins, jewelry, and a ruby stone from the looting. With his spoils in tow, he continued deeper into the cave, traversing an increasingly steep and winding path.

As he walked, he stumbled upon two complete sets of armor beside the path. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were the remains of two knights, unmistakable in their armor. he also found a sword adorned with precious stones, as well as a beautifully carved bow and two arrows.

Without a second thought, he donned one of the suits of armor and stowed the other in his backpack. He also took the sword and bow and arrows.

He continued further into the cave, following the twisting passageways until he arrived at a brightly lit room. As he approached, he could hear someone muttering to themselves.

The closer he got to the room, the clearer he could hear someone’s voice. He slowed down his steps so as not to make any noise. He crept up to the cave wall next to the illuminated room’s door and peered inside.

“DAMMIT!! Where is it? Where?!” the voice grumbled.

He continued to peer from behind the door, and there he saw a creature dismantling a pile of human skeletons. The creature was somewhat small and skinny, with a slightly crooked, pointed nose and long, elf-like ears, holding a rod with a small skull at the end. The two eyes on the skull emitted red light.

“Is that a goblin?” He thought to himself.

“Damn it! Everything’s just useless drops,” the goblin muttered as it left the pile of bones it had been dismantling. Lucius remained hidden.

Once the goblin was far enough away, Lucius came out of hiding, entered the room, and examined what the goblin had been dismantling. He took out his smartphone and turned on its flashlight to see better.

He discovered several wolf fangs in a small bag, some black wolf hides, three small glass bottles containing a white liquid, five rolls of white thread, and a bottle of potion.

“This must be what Master meant by ‘Drop Items’,” he said to himself.

In fantasy RPG games, “Drop Items” are items or goods that are dropped by monsters after they are defeated. Usually, “Drop Items” consist of parts of the defeated monster. From this information, he immediately took all of the items without hesitation, putting them all in his large backpack. And for the first time, he complained about how heavy his backpack was.

He continued his journey to follow the goblin, walking slowly and quietly to minimize any noise. After a while, he heard the goblin’s voice again.

“Finally…!! Finally, I found it.”

Lucius remained hidden in the dark, observing the goblin’s movements.

“With this book, I won’t follow you anymore, Jareth. Because I will be the goblin king and rule the world,” the goblin said, laughing while holding a thick book with a brown cover that had a hexagram symbol on it. But the book wouldn’t open. The goblin was very frustrated, angry, and howled in rage.

In his hiding place, Lucius was feeling a bit curious about the peculiar book. He pulled out the bow and arrow he had discovered earlier and slowly withdrew an arrow, taking aim at the goblin. With confidence, he released the arrow, which flew swiftly towards the goblin who was previously cursing at the book. However, the goblin soon realized that he was being attacked and deftly deflected the arrow with his rod, causing the book to fall from his grasp.

He didn’t stop there. Seeing the book he had been eyeing fall to the ground, he quickly attacked the goblin with his knife. Despite the weight, he remained nimble on his feet.

At this point, Lucius became aware of something different about his body; he felt lighter and quicker. Whatever the cause, he didn’t pay it too much attention, as his focus was on the coveted book.

The goblin promptly leapt away, avoiding Lucius’ sudden attack. Lucius then rushed over to retrieve the book.

“Who are you? The path to this place was supposed to be sealed. How did you manage to get here?” demanded the goblin, his voice raised.

Lucius remained silent, preoccupied with the book he had just seized. Indeed, the book proved difficult to open; the cover was quite tough.

“Give me back my book!” bellowed the goblin.

“This book doesn’t seem useful at all. It’s too hard to open,” he replied nonchalantly.

“Useless?! That book is the key to my success. Give it back now!” the goblin spoke harshly.

Lucius let out a sigh. “Only a fool would reveal the value of something to someone who might take it. Moreover, what kind of book is this? Why do you want it so badly?”

“That book is a magic book, YOU IMBECILE! It can increase my magical abilities!” snarled the goblin in a rough tone.

Lucius felt increasingly irritated by the goblin’s brash attitude and purposely put the book into his backpack, which only served to make the goblin even more infuriated.

“RETURN IT, YOU BASTARD!!” electrical sparks emerged from the skull at the end of the goblin’s rod, and shot towards him. For a moment, he was caught off guard by the magical attack, but quickly jumped to the side to evade it and ran towards the goblin, ready to attack with his knife.

He was certain that attack was magic. It was a long-range attack that proved quite troublesome. If his master were present, he would undoubtedly be ecstatic and behave in a naive and unsophisticated manner. The mere thought of it made him feel like chuckling.

As he swung his knife towards the goblin’s neck, the creature ducked and managed to avoid the blow. In retaliation, it conjured up an electric ball, which it hurled towards Lucius. However, the young man was quick to react, and he skillfully kicked the goblin’s hand, causing the ball to ricochet off and hit the cave wall, causing an explosion. The goblin immediately leaped away from Lucius.

Then the skull eyes on his staff suddenly emitted a red laser beam. It shot straight at Lucius from the eye sockets of its skull. However, the young man was quick to react and managed to duck out of the way, before swiftly slicing the goblin’s chest. Thick blood flowed from the wound. He smirked and teased the goblin.

Lucius knew that he could have performed better, but the burden he carried slowed him down. Nonetheless, he managed to cause the goblin some trouble at various points throughout the fight. The creature kept attacking with relentless lightning magic from a distance, but he remained composed and simply dodged. Whenever he saw an opening, he didn’t hesitate to attack.

The fight went on for a long time and was very troublesome.