Chapter Sixty-Seven - Convinced

Chapter Sixty-Seven - Convinced It took some negotiating, but I convinced Becky to delve deeper into the dungeon. She... was a bit of a pain in the ass, true, but she was also strong. The way she moved, sometimes, suggested some sort of self-buff to make herself faster. There was no way her thin little arms were delivering punches that broke noses and skulls with such ease. And then there was her other magic. Burst of electricity that stunned and jumped from one enemy to another wasn't to be overlooked. I wasn't sure I could take on the number of goblins this portal had. Actually, I was pretty sure I just couldn't. Ten? Sure. Twenty? If they were spaced out. Forty? Maybe? If they weren't all grouped out and aware of each other, and I had a bit of time. I was starting to suspect that this portal had a lot more than that. So for now, Becky and I were going to work together, at least until I felt more confident about my odds. "What do you know about the layout of this place?" I asked. "Not much, I guess," Becky said. She reached down and picked up that rusty warhammer the largest goblin had been using earlier. A few experimental swings later, and she gestured to the antechamber. "Wanna find out more?" "That's the plan, yes," I said. "Let's stick to the right side, follow along the walls. Usually that's a good way to avoid getting lost." "Oh, that's clever, like doing a maze!" "Exactly," I said. "Have you tackled a lot of portals?" "Eh, like, five dozen over the last couple of years," she said. "The corps can be pretty greedy, but they can also be hella slow." "You're... very strong for someone who faced so few," I said. "Just built different," Becky said. I wasn't so sure about that. Then again, while portals were generally considered the best way to gain magical strength, they weren't everything. Casting speed and spell knowledge was entirely independent of magical strength. It's why potentials were measured as two different numbers. We walked up to the antechamber together. Unlike last time, with Josh and Franklin, there were some goblins lingering around here still. Those on the scaffolding above worried me the most. "Hey, think you can snipe those down?" I asked as I gestured. "Sure, can't you?" she asked. "I don't have any good ranged spells," I admitted. She blinked. "Spells? You worry about that?" "What do you mean? I've seen you use some." "I mean, I guess. But I'm not the sort to sit around and read no books! Check this out." She squinted, then made a finger gun with her free hand. A moment later, a beam of lightning connected her to a goblin with a bow, and it was sent flying off the scaffolding to land, hard, on the ground below. Two more fingerguns took out the others. And then I couldn't question her, because we were fighting. I wasn't well versed in all of that 'perfect cut' stuff, but I tried to slip into the forms I'd learned and strike from those. The fact that my backsword was one-handed and a bit shorter than the aikido practice blades I'd tried before made it tricky, but not too bad. The resting horizontal position had the blade almost exactly at neck-height on a goblin, which made a downwards swipe pretty effective. Still, I found myself having to kick one back, and another came in fast enough that they managed to stab me in the leg. "Dammit," I muttered after I stabbed them dead. I checked the area, but it was clear, so I reached around, pulled out my IFAK, and opened it up to get some bandages. "Oh, bad cut?" Becky asked. "No," I said. "I mean, it didn't hit anything important. I won't bleed out. Urgh, I need a better pain-handling spell, mine... it works, but damn, this stings." "Aren't you 'pposed to disinfect that? Look at that lil knife. Bet the goblin picked his nose with it." I shook my head. "Infections take hours to start. I'd rather stop the bleeding for now. Or at least not get my pants all wet." "Sticky pants do suck," Becky said. I decided not to pursue that. "Here, we're moving right," I said as I gestured that way. The large main chamber seemed pretty empty at the moment. No goblins in sight, which was maybe a good sign? I'd rather face them in small pockets, even with Becky's help. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from novelhall. Please report it. The space to the right, behind one of the taller pillars holding up the ceiling. There were walls between the pillars and the sides, which meant that... with six pillars, and the antechamber, the main room was likely surrounded by three rooms on both sides, and whatever was at the far end. A central hub dungeon? It was different from the more linear tunnels that I'd mostly seen so far, but I'd heard of these before. They were a little more dangerous in some ways. Standing in the middle and being noisy could mean pulling in all the mobile monsters from the entire portal to you. The boss was often fought in the central chamber as well. With how many goblins there were, I wouldn't be surprised if the boss was relatively weak. I hoped, at least. We found a caved-in wall at the end, surrounded by small goblin huts made of scraps of wood, piles of branches, and slapped-on mud. The goblins could build, but it looked very primitive. A few started to crawl out of their homes on seeing us, and I felt a tingle of worry as a shaman burst out of a hut and started to chatter at us. So I took an executive decision, and shot him. "Conserve your magic, if you can," I said. "That might have alerted some others." "Damn, warn me next time. That shit's loud!" Becky complained a pinkie shoved into her ear. "What's that made for, hunting rhinos?" "It's for downing problems, and it works," I said as I holstered my gun. The remaining goblins weren't as much of a threat. Most were runts, with a few picking up weapons as they rushed us, but most weren't impressive. One came out of the cave, wearing armour, but cast-iron pans and bits of plate were all very conductive, as Becky proved when she zapped him and let the goblin crash to the ground. I stabbed him in the back, aiming for more or less where I figured his heart would be. Then I refocused. There was a trick to fighting goblins. They were fast, but cowardly. A sudden motion their way would often have them flinching back, and then a quicker step in turned into a stab would take them out. Becky was still moving in and just punching them to death, which seemed needlessly reckless to me, but... yeah, I'd gone after kobolds with nothing but a knife and a lot less experience than she had. "Cleared!" Becky said as she kicked a downed goblin with her armoured boots. I paused to count. Seven smaller goblins, two slightly larger, one with armour, and then the shaman. Eleven here. "Anything in the cave?" I asked. "Iunno?" She walked over, created a flickering light over her hand with a ball of sparking energy, and poked her head in. "It's not super deep," she said. I followed her over and peered within myself. There were a few low tables, or at least, planks sitting atop stones at about hip height. They had bits of herbs on them and there was what looked like a mortar and pestle as well as a small fire pit. "It looks like a very primitive kitchen. Or a lab?" "Think they make potions or something? Oh yeah, look, bottles." She was right. There was a shelf with a half dozen clay bottles. None were labelled, and they were all kind of misshapen, but they had stoppers and were clearly... something. I checked for traps, then stepped in and plucked one off the shelf. A shake confirmed that they were full of some sort of liquid. "I'm not testing these," I said. "What about that, then?" I turned to find Becky pointing to something just out of sight of the entrance. A chest. "Open it," I said. "Don't need to tell me twice!" Becky unlatched the chest, then flung it open. Within, sitting on a bed of dried grass was a lumpy cloth bag. There was a crudely stitched mushroom on the side, and the top was cinched up with a leather cord. She reached in, then opened it. "Empty," she said. "Does it feel magical?" Becky blinked, then sniffed it. "I... maybe?" "Might be worth appraising," I said. "You never know. This is a D-rank dungeon." "Yeah, but this doesn't look like it's worth much." I shrugged. "Let's check the next few rooms. It might be that there's a pattern here." "Oh, loot in every side-chamber?" Becky asked. "It's like a gacha, but real magic items instead of hot lady PNGs!" ***