Dungeon Hallow

Goblin King

Goblins, small creatures with green skin the size of young children and ears longer than those of elves, had surrounded Erix and Haruka in a large crowd. The two human children were like sugar being swarmed by ants. The goblins were armed with knives and assisted by a pack of Black Wolves, making their group appear large and powerful.

Without warning, they attacked. Erix repeated the technique he had used before, performing a sword dance to slash his opponents. However, he was quickly overwhelmed as there were too many attacking monsters. His focus was distracted, causing a cut to land on his arm. On the other side, a Black Wolf managed to bite his leg. The young man quickly beheaded the wolf and continued to slash at the monsters, trying to endure the pain in his body.

Erix hunted down the monsters until they were all dead. Exhausted and wounded, he lay on the ground while Haruka checked on him. “Erix, are you okay!?” she exclaimed.

“What do you mean ‘okay’? I almost died!” The pain making him irritable.

He knew what was happening then. This pain was the risk he had taken. He shouldn’t have complained about what had already been his choice. Haruka took out a wand from her pocket and started waving it. Beads of light came out from the tip of the wand and drenched Erix’s body from head to toe. The young man’s body was instantly enveloped in white light. The blood flowing from the wound stopped, and the wound closed by itself. The pain Erix felt also disappeared, and it was healed in an instant.

“Haruka… Y-You can use healing magic?” Erix asked in disbelief, looking at his hands and feet that had been injured but were now healed without a trace. This was the first time he’d witnessed a fantastical yet real phenomenon.

“Of course. The basic spell of the Cleric Class is a healing mantra,” she explained.

“Wow… wait, what’s a Cleric?”

“It’s my shensiku class. Come on, let’s keep moving!” she said, cutting off further questions.

Goblin and Black Wolf hordes continued to appear and block their path, and their numbers kept increasing. But the brief pain Erix had felt earlier fueled him even more. He was more focused than before, his swordsmanship was more impressive, and he moved quickly. Dozens of monsters that stood in his way were defeated in minutes.

As they progressed, the paths became more numerous and complicated, but they chose the one that would lead them to the dungeon boss room. The monsters they faced became more diverse, including a group of goblins and giant spiders. Erix rushed forward, slashing every monster near him with incredible speed and precision. In one stroke, he could take out three goblins at once.

However, he didn’t realize that one of the giant spiders was preparing to attack him. The spider spewed poisonous thorns from its mouth, and dozens of large nail-sized thorns flew towards him. But then, a beam of light shot from the opposite direction and hit the spider’s thorns, preventing them from reaching Erix.

“I won’t let you get hurt again,” Haruka declared, her wand raised high. Beams of radiant light encircled her, darting forward with unerring aim and piercing the giant spider.

As she swung her wand, rays of light shot forth, striking the goblins in front of her. With only three attacks, she decimated the remaining creatures, leaving Erix to face the giant spider alone.

“Is that another Cleric Class ability?” Erix queried as he collected the Dungeon Stones.

“Correct, it is an offensive spell,” she confirmed.

“If you can attack with spells, why didn’t you help me earlier?” His voice carried a hint of annoyance.

“Oops, my apologies. Every time I tried to assist, you had already finished off the monsters,” she explained with an apologetic smile. “Plus, my attacks are quite weak. I can’t protect anyone with my current strength.”

Erix let out a deep sigh before changing the subject. “You mentioned classes before. How many are there in the shensin group?”

“The basic classes consist of around fourteen types,” she replied.

“Just the basics alone have fourteen classes. That’s impressive,” Erix responded in amazement.

*****

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lucius was still busy dealing with the troublesome wizard goblin. Despite being cornered, the goblin was proving to be a formidable opponent.

Using all the magic at its disposal, the goblin unleashed a barrage of lightning strikes, fireballs, acid slimes, and even red lasers. But despite his best efforts, his attacks were easily avoided by Lucius, who seemed to be one step ahead of him at every turn.

As the servant rushed forward, ready to strike his opponent, the goblin raised his wand and held back the attack with ease. Not one to be deterred, Lucius quickly turned around and attempted to tackle the goblin by spinning towards his leg.

But the goblin was too quick for him. He anticipated Lucius’ move and jumped back, hurling a fireball in his direction. In a split second, Lucius leapt to the side, avoiding the fiery projectile, and then darted towards the goblin, striking him in the chest.

Despite sustaining numerous cuts and wounds all over his body, the wizard goblin refused to give up. He continued to unleash a barrage of spells, jumping here and there to avoid Lucius’ counterattacks. Lucius pursued him relentlessly, like a tiger stalking its prey. It was clear that he was determined to bring his opponent down, no matter what it took.

*****

Erix and Haruka approached the door to the boss room with steely resolve, and without hesitation, they stepped inside. The chamber was not shrouded in darkness; instead, the cave’s ceiling radiated a warm light, illuminating every corner of the room. It was as if the sun’s rays had penetrated the cave walls themselves.

The floor was not dirt but rather a pristine expanse of concrete tiles. At the end of the hallway, a figure sat upon an antique stone throne. He was a goblin garbed in black armor, a metal helmet obscuring his features

“Who are you?!” Erix demanded, his voice echoing through the room.

The goblin grinned, his eyes gleaming. “I should be the one asking that, considering you’ve entered my castle.”

Erix scoffed, “You call this a castle? It’s nothing more than a rat’s nest.”

Haruka scanned every nook and cranny of the room, searching for a narrow gap that was indicated on the map they had.

The goblin burst into a mad laughter. “Don’t play games, you stupid fly. I am Jareth, the Goblin King. I’ll cut off your useless brain and remove it from your head!”

Haruka finally spotted the narrow gap they were looking for, which was approximately ten meters away from them.

“Okay, he’s been provoked. I’ll keep him busy. You quickly get into that gap,” Erix whispered to Haruka without taking his eyes off Jareth. “Ugly goblin, try it if you can!”

The Goblin King’s eyes gleamed red, and he stood up from his seat, stretching out both his hands. A purple light emanated from his right hand, while a green light emanated from his left. Two keris daggers appeared from each light, and Jareth caught them with ease, ready for battle.

Seeing his opponent draw his weapon, Erix unsheathed his katana. The goblin smiled and darted forward, eager to face his challenger.

“Now!!” Erix shouted.

Haruka ran with all her might to reach the narrow gap on the right side of the room, while Erix clashed with the Goblin King.

This goblin was truly formidable, displaying remarkable skill with both of his weapons. His movements were quite agile and fast. His title as the Goblin King was not just an empty claim. But Erix was not weak either. He could match every move of his opponent.

However, a king is still a king. His prowess was worth fearing. He parried Erix’s sword attack with the keris in his right hand before quickly counterattacking with the keris in his left hand. Erix dodged the attack, then sliced the air from top to bottom. Jareth blocked it with the daggers.

This fight was intense. The clanging of their weapons echoed throughout the room. Sparks of fire bloomed from the friction of their weapons. Occasionally, they jumped around, switching positions while avoiding dangerous attacks.

While Erix and Jareth battled, Haruka arrived at the narrow gap and quickly entered it. At the end of the gap, there was a small space that was not dark. The blue light from the moss dimly illuminated the small room.

A young man was lying there, unconscious. Haruka approached him immediately. She recognized him, he was the reason why they entered this dangerous dungeon. He was her brother.

“Brother…?! Brother…?! It’s me, wake up!” Haruka shouted while occasionally checking his pulse to make sure it was still there.

The man’s eyes opened slightly, his gaze was blurry and hazy. “Ha-ru-ka… is it you?”

“Yes, it’s me. We need to get out of here!” She carried him to leave the room.

Erix was still facing Jareth. The plan to keep the Goblin King occupied was still in action. The fight was still intense, and they were evenly matched. Shortly after, Haruka emerged from the narrow gap, carrying her unconscious brother. Seeing this, Erix jumped back, distancing himself from Jareth.

“Why, you little brat? Are you trying to run away!?” Jareth shouted.

“No, I want to end this game soon,” Erix said.

His plan was to approach Haruka, take her brother, and flee from the fight. But what about Lucius? He didn’t know where his servant was now.

He began to think hard about how to solve the problem in front of him now. Suddenly, a technique appeared in his mind. Erix was somewhat surprised by this. It was like a memory transfer. A memory that taught him a movement he had never done before. But this memory wasn’t his own. What was happening?

“Ha!! Don’t get cocky!” Jareth yelled, interrupting Erix’s thoughts.

Erix closed his eyes briefly with his katana still pointing forward. Trying to delve into the technique that had just been sent to his brain. There was something different around him. The air around his body seemed to be agitated. Although it was faint, a white aura enveloped his body. Like an overflow of extra energy.

He opened his eyes again, his gaze serious and cold towards Jareth. The atmosphere of this fight seemed to be changing.

Erix quickly darted forward, closing in on Jareth with great speed. He swung his sword with force, striking his opponent hard. Jareth recognized the danger and managed to block the attack by crossing his two keris. However, the impact was so intense that it threw him far away.

Without missing a beat, Erix launched forward again with incredible speed, cutting through the air towards Jareth. He attacked his enemy relentlessly with a flurry of slashes. Jareth struggled to defend himself against each attack, as each swing was more powerful than the last, at least five times harder than before. He was thrown back every time he tried to block Erix’s attacks.

“F-f-fudge! Who is this guy? If this keeps up, I’m done for,” Jareth thought in a panic. Suddenly, a powerful swing from Erix tore Jareth’s armor apart, sending him flying backwards until he crashed into his throne, destroying it. But Erix didn’t stop there. Jareth slid across the ground and slammed into the cave wall.

“Damn it!” He shouted as he struggled to get up, holding onto the pain coursing through his body.

Haruka was stunned by the ferocity of the battle. Erix was just an ordinary human, not a shensin, but he possessed incredible strength that rivaled that of a four-star shensin. It was hard to believe.

Erix himself was surprised by his own power. The fragments of memory that had surfaced in his mind earlier seemed to be coming to life before his eyes.

Jareth managed to stand up again, breathing heavily.

“That’s enough! I have no reason to fight you,” Erix declared.

“You might not, but I do,” Jareth retorted.

Erix was curious about what could possibly drive Jareth to fight so fiercely.

Jareth stumbled towards Erix, who looked at him with pity. The situation was chaotic, and blood was oozing from Jareth’s mouth. He removed his torn armor to reveal a large wound on his body, blood still flowing freely.

Suddenly, one side of the cave ceiling exploded and collapsed. A figure flew out of the debris, crashing onto the floor with a loud thud, not far from Jareth. Everyone was startled by the unexpected turn of events.

“What’s happening?” Haruka panicked.

Erix was even more frantic, running around and holding his head. “The ceiling collapsed! The ceiling is destroyed! Save yourselves!”

Shortly after the explosion, something big fell from the hole created by the blast. Emerging from the dust was someone dressed in a butler’s outfit layered with armor and carrying a large backpack on their back.

“Lucius?” Erix flinched as he recognized the figure.

Lucius immediately approached his master. “Are you okay, Master? I’m sorry for leaving you for so long.”

“I’m fine. Whose armor did you steal?”

“I found it earlier. There’s still one more set left, you should wear it, Master,” Lucius replied.

“No need, check on Haruka’s brother! We’ve found him,” he instructed. Lucius nodded and quickly made his way over to Haruka and the unknown young man.

He checked the man’s pulse, which was weak. Lucius sighed heavily, shaking his head. Haruka, full of worry, asked, “Why are you making that expression? What happened?”

“Your brother, he…” Lucius trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.

Translator’s Note: Keris is a traditional asymmetrical dagger or sword with a wavy pattern blade, originating from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.