1.26 – The Last Push

As they headed down the tunnel leading ever deeper, Rika turned her attention to the bundle of power sitting just below her ribs. While she didn’t have anything to go by other than the feeling, she was getting used to the building pressure. She guessed that after the greater goblin, she was about halfway to her next level. The pressure wasn’t uncomfortable, thankfully. It was just sort of there—a constant reminder that her own personal power was expanding, inching ever closer to the next plateau, where it would spill out and grant her one more level. It was more present when she focused on it. And thankfully, no matter how close she got to a level up, she could always ignore it. It would simply fade from her attention, like all the other bits of information Chryson constantly fed into her awareness.

With torch in hand, they only had to wind through a few more craggy twists of the tunnel before they came upon more signs of habitation. The torches placed along the tunnel in their crudely made stands were no longer dark. Branches led to more storage areas, sleeping spots, and other signs of subterranean life. It seemed that last attack had been meant to break the intruders. Rika had to admit the goblins had nearly succeeded.

That had formed her chief concern since recovering from that last fight. By her count, they’d barely scraped through. If she ran into more of those greater goblins, they were in trouble. Erik didn’t have the skills necessary to brute force his way through the damage they dealt, and she didn’t have the damage or the toughness to deal with more than one of those creatures at once. Not as she was now, at least.

If both of them could grab another level before making their move on whoever led this group, they’d stand a better chance. The goblin warriors had been noticeably tougher than the foragers and skirmishers outside. Tougher than the simple level difference would suggest. But once she’d drawn even with them in level, they’d posed far less of a challenge. She could only hope the same would hold true for the greater goblins, despite their “elite” tag.

By now she’d lost count of how many hollowed-out chambers they’d come across. So when the passage opened up yet again, she proceeded accordingly. A pause and a listen just inside the tunnel. The goblins were good at ambushes, but sometimes, the scrape of a weapon against stone, or the creak of leather as one of them shifted was warning enough. A darkened chamber was a sure sign of a potential trap, but this one remained well lit. When she heard nothing beyond, she peeked out from the passage and risked a look. The chamber was empty. She motioned Erik to follow her as she ventured in, still on her guard. Despite appearances, she wasn’t rushing the both of them headlong into anything that might serve as a trap.

Her caution satisfied, they made a sweep of the chamber. This one was a fairly natural cavern. Stalactites plunged down through the darkness, softly glistening in the flickering orange torchlight. Stalagmites rose below them, reaching up for their partners, and more than a few had fused into columns at the edges. The air was damp, cool, and still. Aside from the scrape of her own boot against the stone floor or her axe’s wood haft bouncing off the brigandine at her hip, the cave yawned in silence.

Opposite where they’d come in from, a large tunnel with yet more dripstone formations beckoned like a tooth-filled maw waiting to swallow them. So far, most of the way forward had been through similar tunnels. The large, the obvious, and usually opposite the entrance. The flickering orange light deeper in the tunnel made the path all the more obvious. She searched for another passage just the same.

She’d just about given up on finding a side tunnel before she spotted it. Tucked behind a lumpy foot of flowstone, and obscured by a mess of vertical formations, a small tunnel led away into darkness. It was narrow. Narrow enough that the prospect of following it made her pulse quicken. She’d have a hard time getting a proper swing off in there. Her shield would be all but useless. But then she caught the glint of rough iron between two of the pillars.

A goblin axe lay against the wall. Although it was of the same crude make the goblins used, it appeared well-kept. The wooden handle didn’t show any obvious signs of warping, nor were there any spots of rust on the blade. That didn’t mean it had been dropped recently enough to ensure there were goblins beyond, but it put an upper limit on how long it had been there. The damp air, the constant dripping; it would only last so long without maintenance and care.

It may be a detour, but it was one worth taking in her eyes. Since the last fight, they’d heard nothing but quiet. Seen nothing but shadows and flickering flames. Her thoughts turned once more to the pressure inside, and the too-recent recollection of taking a hammer to the side of her head. Anything that could help against the unknown leader would be welcome.

She picked her way past the pillars and crags, and Erik followed. They both knew where they stood. For better or worse, this was the course they’d committed to. They’d talked it out, and they both also knew the threats ahead. Any edge, any advantage—if they’d any hope of seeing daylight again, they’d need to take whatever they could find.

The passage was worse than it had looked from the outside. Only a few steps in and it narrowed. A few steps further, and she had to angle herself to the side, as her shoulders were too wide to fit. Then she had to take off her pack. As the passage narrowed further, she looked ahead and took the last deep breath she’d be able to for a while.

It was a good escape chute for goblins, to be sure. The normal variety were small enough that they’d navigate this fairly easily. And while Rika wasn’t large, she couldn’t help the twist in her gut as her brigandine scraped against stone as she shuffled forward. Just breathing made it feel like the walls would crush her at any moment. She looked back to where Erik squeezed through behind her. Despite his lack of armor, he didn’t seem to fare much better.

The passage opened up ahead, and Rika breathed a silent sigh, thanking Serendipity for at least this once looking kindly upon her. While few would risk drawing undue attention from any of the Watchers, she felt at least this once it couldn’t hurt. She pushed herself out from the narrowest confines of the passage and breathed deep. Just the act of air filling her lungs seemed to push the walls that much further away.

The rush of fletching against the still air was all the warning she had. A barrage of a dozen arrows fell on her. A good number bounced harmlessly off her brigandine, but enough found their mark.

Minor Bleed x4: 6 seconds.

She only had time to swing her pack, heater shield still attached, in response to the goblin warriors that surged from the darkness. It bought her enough time to get her axe from her belt. Dropping her pack and shield, she slammed a Dark Strike at the still-recovering goblin closest to her.

Enemy Slain: Goblin Warrior – Level 10

Dark Strike II: 9 seconds.

Tempo I x1: 6 seconds.

With deadly efficiency, she fell upon the disoriented and disrupted charge. Erik landed a Mend on her, and the Minor Bleed lost most of its remaining time, ticking from five seconds to two. She grabbed a nearby goblin’s shield and planted her foot on the bearer’s chest. Another volley of arrows sailed from the dark beyond the melee, with similar results as before. She wrenched the crude collection of boards off the warrior’s arm, then drove a Shield Slam into its midsection.

She split the skull of the goblin she’d knocked over with her Shield Slam, and shoved the kill notification from her awareness. After another few moments, the warriors lay dead in the passage. Lifting her shield against the incoming arrows, she charged the hunters beyond.

The instant she hit the archer line, it crumbled. A moment later, another rush of warriors closed in from the sides. It seemed this bunch was smart enough not to leave their back line wholly undefended. Not that it mattered; it was too late. Panic had already spread through the archers. Any semblance of order or intent they’d once had evaporated the instant Rika reached them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She didn’t know if they could see her level as she could see theirs. Even if they couldn’t, they knew what she brought. She’d cut through the warriors at the van easily enough. She’d stood under their arrows without flinching. They were at her mercy now, and they all knew she had none to give.

The last of the goblins died, and the dam inside her broke. Breathing a sigh of relief, she let the level up wash over her, infusing her with a surge of new power.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 12!

Name: Rika

Class: Dark Warrior (Basic, Rare)

Level: 12 (Grade I)

Affiliation: Adventuring Guild – Novice

• Stats Increased: Might +2, Finesse +2, Resilience +2, Magic +1, Control +1, Ward +2

• Primary Stats

  • Might – 25

  • Finesse – 25

  • Resilience – 25

  • Magic – 14

  • Control – 14

  • Ward – 25

“Do you think that’ll be enough?” Erik asked. He looked and sounded far less flustered than he had after previous fights.

“It’ll have to be,” she said. “If this group was hiding here, I doubt there’s much of this tribe left to fight. They’ve either run away or holed up in crevices like this one. Finding them will be a nightmare.”

The chamber they were in was small. Large enough for the goblins to have set up a defense of sorts, but only just. There weren’t any signs of long-term use here, either. The goblins likely kept it in case of situations like this one—a group of attackers that pushed deep into the stronghold. Anyone much larger than Rika wouldn’t have made it past that crevice, and Rika’s insistence on exercising each morning had left her figure packed with lean muscle. Someone like Vilmos would have never gotten through the narrow crack.