Goblins.
[Ace POV],
The scene in front of me after my blurred vision cleared was not the portal, but another location.
I was in a cave.
Even though I could not see anything that could emit light, the cave was as bright as day.
We appear to have been transported to the dungeon.
""Wow""
Everyone else on the team, including Chris, exclaimed loudly.
"This world is turning out to be more exciting and interesting than I expected," the gamer girl beside me said.
She is clearly not normal enough to be classified as such.
Others would want everything to go back to the way it was, but looking at you, I'm sure this world is better for you.
But I agree with her that the world is becoming increasingly interesting.
I looked around as I considered this.
Behind me were only rocks, and it appeared to be a dead end, despite being the entrance to the dungeon.
So I'm assuming that this is a dungeon that must be cleared to leave.
"It appears that we can only clear this dungeon before leaving," the gamer girl said.
She seems to be thinking the same thing I am.
Seeing this, I turned to her and said;
"Ace, close combat"
She understood my intent and spoke as well after hearing this.
"Emma, I'm a mage," she said, and the others immediately began to introduce themselves.
"Adara, Mage"
"Elsie, Mage"
"Chris, Close combat"
"..."
It appears that everyone else is a "mage" besides Chris and me.
Did they choose this name because they attack in the same way that mages do in fantasy books or movies?
It should be.
I did this to get to know everyone's attack style.
If we just go into battle without knowing what the other side is up to, it could lead to complications.
Looking around again, I noticed that, aside from the dead end made of rocks behind me, there was an open road ahead of me that led somewhere, so after our brief discussion, I made my way forward.
When the others saw this, they followed suit.
As we moved deeper into the cave, I noticed that the cave space grew larger.
I ignored it and continued on my way.
We only came to a halt after hearing a noise.
We all slowed down and tried to make as little noise as possible after seeing this.
As we continued walking, the noise level increased, and we began to hear a variety of strange sounds.
Finally, something other than the rocks we kept seeing caught our attention.
With our backs to a large rock, I slowly peered out to observe the creatures we had just discovered.
They are small, green dark-skinned creatures that had human characteristics, almost resembling a dwarf I've seen in some arts.
They had big ears and noses, with filthy, yellow, crooked teeth, and held wooden clubs that were bigger than them.
One thing they all had in common was that they were all ugly and dressed in dark-tattered leather.
Some were even naked and without clothing.
[Green Skin Goblin Level 15],
Green skin?
Is this to imply that goblins have different skin tones?
When I saw this, I took a closer look at the other goblins.
[Green Skin Goblin Level 15],
[Green Skin Goblin Level 16],
[Green Skin Goblin Level 17],
[Green Skin Goblin Level 15],
[Green Skin Goblin Level 17],
....
....
..
Aside from the green-skinned goblin, I didn't see anyone with a different skin color.
What I did notice was that the one with the lowest level was level 15, and the one with the highest level was level 17.
And there were more than ten of them.
Roughly around 12 or 13.
That explains why it is difficult.
And this is most likely not the entire dungeon's monsters.
Fighting a total of 10 to 12 monsters with the lowest level being level 15 is indeed difficult.
"Goblins, they look exactly like I expected."
"It's so ugly!" Emma exclaimed beside me.
She also poked her head out slightly to observe.
"I just don't know if they're as stupid as games and videos make them out to be," she added.
"How do we deal with this?" Elsie stated.
The others have at some point already popped their heads outside to observe.
There were five of us here, and the goblins numbered around thirteen.
The numbers alone outnumbered us.
While I was thinking about these things, Emma opened her mouth and spoke;
"Three goblins should be no problem for me." "If you don't include the ones at level 17," she added.
Elsie and Adara both spoke up immediately after she did.
"I can handle three as well," Adara stated.
"My limit is two," Elsie discussed.
When I heard this, I took a close look at the girls and asked them a question.
"Are you certain you can handle those numbers?" They all nodded in response to what I said.
Seeing this, I returned my attention to the goblins.
If they're correct and can take on the number of goblins they claim, that's eight goblins gone, leaving only four or five.
Keeping this in mind, I counted the goblins this time and confirmed that the total number is 13.
There are eight level 15 goblins, two level 16 goblins, and three level 17 goblins.
The cave we were teleported to was one that kept leading us deeper, so there were scattered level 15 goblins in front of us and level 16 and level 17 goblins deeper inside the cave.
Fortunately, there was so much open space in the cave that it didn't appear to be one that made us spot the higher-level goblins.
It appears that the deeper you go into the cave, the more powerful the goblins become.
That's good because lower-level monsters don't give me enough primordial records to level up.
As I was thinking this, I looked at Chris, and he spoke first, without waiting for me to say anything.
"I can deal with the level 16 goblins," he said.
Hearing this, I nodded in response.
I was more familiar with Chris Strength than the other three.
When he exchanged sword techniques in the store, his strength only increased.
Well, I'm guessing he got something to do with sword techniques.
After dividing the monsters amongst ourselves, I charged out in a blur with Chris, who also charged out with me.
Because of how close in level we are to the goblins, they immediately noticed us when we charged out, but Chris and I were moving too quickly for the level 15 goblins in front of us, so we avoided them and continued on.
When the level 16 goblins noticed us and charged at us, I ignored and avoided them while Chris dealt with them.
When I got close to the level 17 goblins, I drew the twin blades and prepared to attack.
As I got closer to the first goblin, I was about to attack with a slash when I sensed an object coming at me, so I withdrew my attack and dodged.
When the objects landed where I was, I noticed they were large rocks at least half my size.
Before I could finish observing, I sensed another object being thrown at me and remembering the large rocks that had previously been thrown at me, I didn't dare to take it on and rolled to avoid it.
I quickly glanced in the direction the rocks had been thrown from when I dodged the attack and saw that the two goblins in the back had at some point dropped their wood clubs and started throwing rocks at me.
I didn't have time to observe any further when I felt another attack coming at me from behind.
I ducked without hesitation, and when I realized that the attack had been missed, I pushed myself further back from the three goblins' assault.
With this level of cooperation, I knew these goblins were not as stupid as Emma thought and had some intelligence.
Intelligence is at least on par with the special level 18 zombie I fought.
When the goblins realized I had escaped their attacks, they began shouting and making strange sounds at me.
Whatever they said sounded completely unfamiliar to me.
It was even unclear whether they were speaking or talking because everything that came out of their mouth sounded out of place.
After shouting whatever came out of their mouth, the two goblins in the back immediately carried large rocks and threw them at me.
When I saw this, I left my previous location and charged at them.
These guys are strong despite their small size, but because I wasn't charging and attacking blindly like before, I was finally able to launch an attack.
When I got close to the only goblin still carrying its wooden weapon, I dodged its attack and slashed its neck with the blade in my hand, removing its head from its body.
[You have acquired the primordial records of Green skin goblin level 17],
I ignored the notification that appeared when the goblin was killed and charged at the two remaining goblins in the back.
I avoided the large rocks that the goblins continued to throw my way and slashed at them as I got close to them.
Unfortunately, one was able to avoid being hit and only had one of its hands severed.
The other wasn't as fortunate as its head was cut off from its neck.
[You have acquired the primo.....
Ignoring this, I turned back right away to attack the other goblin that had evaded my attack, stopping it in its tracks before it could launch another attack.
After the goblin died, I finally took a look at the text on the panel that appeared.
[You have acquired the primordial records of Green skin goblin level 17],
[You have acquired enough Primordial records to level up],
After reading the last text, I began to wonder if the goblins I killed now were rich in primordial records because of the dungeon's existence.
After all, I knew how difficult it was to level up as your level increased.
Before I could continue thinking, I saw the corpses of the goblins I had killed disintegrating, and something appeared on the ground where the corpses had previously been.
It wasn't an orb, but rather something unexpected.
This...
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