Biohuman

Keng followed the Goblin riders around for a while, but got nowhere with them. They seemed to turn at any given moment and head in a random direction while they panicked and complained about the situation they were in. When Keng gained a better understanding of why they were finding a gift, he decided he would scout different areas, quickly, to figure out the team's options.

The South-west area he had come from was jagged flatlands. He moved the opposite direction towards north-northeast and found the forest moved longer in the direction. Strange woodland beasts appeared in this area. They all seemed to blend well within the forest. Large bears, wolves, and a couple Elves. They seemingly roamed the land without noticing him.

He swept around in a circle, heading East and found skeletons roaming parts of the forest.

'This is definitely a low ranking dungeon. There isn't anything crazy here. Just fodder.' Keng thought. When he was done scouting, he headed back towards his allies.

"It's been thirty minutes. He hasn't come back. I think we should find him." Manny impatiently said.

"Just wait a bit longer. This forest is probably big." Liz hushed him. The rustle of the branches alerted them. Obsidian Glass appeared in Ritsuka's hands as Evan's shield appeared on his arm. Purple lightning coursed around Liz as they all watched Keng land on the ground.

"There he is." Olivia pointed. The three lowered their weapons as Keng came back to them. "Find anything?"

"Jagged flatlands mixed with hills." Keng pointed Southwest. He turned and pointed East. "Skeletons." Keng pointed Northeast. "Bears, wolves, goblins, some Elves. There ain't much West. The jagged lands curve around towards the West and North."

"So we're dealing with a low ranking dungeon, then." Liz nodded. "Odds of us surviving increased."

"Some Goblins were blabbering about finding a gift of sorts." Keng added. Manny and the others gave him a strange look like he did something wrong. It took Keng a couple of seconds to realize what he did wrong. Ritsuka gave him a knowing look. He had accidentally slipped.

"Huh? They were talking in English?" Evan asked, confused.

"Mmm, kinda? Let's just say Gloria is here… But they're further and trapped somewhere with something much more powerful than what's lurking around here." Keng casually diverted to giving the rest of the information to the team. "Where? I don't know but Gloria is probably there. Apparently they're going to offer this thing at the end, a gift. Some monsters took Gloria there as an offering."

"So we have no choice but to kill it…" Manny sighed. "Well, I guess this makes things easier on us. We'll have to kill the boss to get out, anyway, so if the boss has this Gloria person, then it makes things easier for us."

"What I don't understand is if this is a low ranking dungeon, a D maybe even a C, what happened to Gloria? They must be capable of clearing dungeons, right?" Olivia asked. "Dungeons typically can't alter their rank value unless something extreme happens… So did something extreme happen? Wouldn't the monsters be a higher rank value, too?"

"Not sure." Ritsuka shrugged. "Have you guys heard anything about that before?" The group shook their heads. There was no real information when it came to stuff like that. As far as the group knew, dungeons couldn't alter their rankings dramatically. Portals would open and Adventurers would be called to handle it based on Energy readings. It was a rough process that wasn't 100% foul-proof.

"So worse case scenario something did alter and this isn't just a low ranking dungeon. It's a dungeon with something special inside of it and we have to be careful." Manny broke the silence. He looked at each member of his team.

'We have to be extra careful.'' Manny thought to himself. 'Everyone needs to succeed.'

"So everyone must be extra careful and not do anything crazy, got it?" Manny finished aloud. The group nodded and Manny turned to Keng. "Which way do you think we should go then, Lee? Since you scouted the nearby areas."

"Probably the jagged lands that way." Keng turned and pointed the way he had disappeared the first time.

***

Obsidian Glass slashed through a goblin, pulling away as Ritsuka sucked in a breath. The goblins came out of nowhere. When they saw the group, it was like a frenzy. Goblins rushed at the group, forcing them into a battle. A goblin screeched behind Ritsuka, waving the cleaver it had around as Ritsuka turned to block.

He pushed the cleaver away, swinging the sword down onto the goblin. The goblin shrieked as the blade connected, instantly killing it. Ritsuka let out a sigh, turning to see the others. Purple lightning whipped around the battlefield, frying the ranged goblins in the distance while Evan and Manny stayed near her side. Keng decapitated a goblin, quickly pulling the blade back and lifting his right hand and blasting a large hole into another goblin.

'He's definitely gotten a good grasp of his fighting style.' Ritsuka thought as Obsidian Glass pulsed in his hands. Ritsuka side stepped to the left, dodging a jagged sword passing him. The goblin howled as it passed Ritsuka. He quickly took another step back, swinging the sword straight for the goblin's head, watching the blade carve off part of the goblin's head.

Olivia punched a goblin square in the face, sending it flying. The goblin seized up as another Goblin screeched at Olivia. A blast of gravity flew out, killing the goblin off Olivia's radar.

"Oh!" Olivia turned watching the goblin slam into a tree, dead. "Thanks!" She waved at Keng. Four goblins swung at Keng, a shield appearing in front of him. Keng flicked his finger and watched the goblins soar through the air as he slashed the air. The goblins severed in half, denting the nearby trees with another slash mark.

"Manny!" Liz shouted. A bolt of purple lightning flew out of her hands, hitting one of the Goblin riders. The goblin flew off its mount and the Direwolf went in for a bite. Its teeth sank into Manny's leg as Manny yelped in pain. Another bolt of lightning flew out, sending the Direwolf flying away from Manny. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Manny grunted. He swept his hand down on his wound, healing it as Evan jumped in front of him, blocking another magical spell. "Liz! Lee Seng! Take out the ranged ones!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!? You're so exposed without a weapon! This is why I told you to bring one!" Liz barked at him. She lifted her hands, eyes crackling with purple energy as she shot another bolt at the mages. Three Observer goblins jumped in front of the mages and produced a shield. The purple lightning slammed against the shield, arcing off into the trees as Liz cursed under her breath. "Get the Observers!"

"Roger!" Keng shouted, jumping backwards. He lowered himself as he slid the katana into its sheath. He sprinted forwards, pulling the katana out as he slashed horizontally. His body appeared right in front of the magical shield of the Observers, katana rippling with energy as he released the slash.

The shield gave way instantly as the gravity slash decapitated the goblins and hit the mages in the back. The rest of the mages screeched as they began to turn and make a run for it. Purple lightning flew past Keng, killing the stragglers in an instant. Keng stood up and twirled the katana in his hand as he scanned the area.

The group had made quick work of the goblins' impromptu attack. The last of the goblins were killed by Ritsuka and Olivia as Manny, Evan, and Liz continued to keep an eye out for any more attacks. Keng knelt down next to the goblins he had killed and casually looked for anything of use from them. When he was sure they didn't have anything of value on them, he stood up and turned.

[14 Goblins have been slain! Ritsuka has boosted your soul value! A Reduced total amount of 42 souls has been added! Total number of souls is 9,123/10,000!]

'Goblin souls are starting to really not give any great value anymore.' Keng slid the katana back into its sheath. 'I guess I've grown strong. To think something like this would've killed me at one point…'

"Everyone okay?" Manny asked. Keng looked up and nodded at him. "Good? Good? Alright, if you saw something useful on the goblins, take it, otherwise we're continuing on after we catch our breaths."

"Are you guys on a job for a couple days?" Keng asked, rejoining Manny, Liz and Evan. Olivia was wandering back while Ritsuka casually took his time to look around the goblins he had killed. "Are we going to be back before school, I mean?"

"The types of jobs we usually find aren't anything like this." Manny replied. "It's usually just a whole day, so I'm not sure what to expect since this is our first time in this situation too."

"Really showcases how prepared we are." Olivia sighed. She looked at Keng. "We've been on the field for a whole day, maybe a day and a half. We've slept in rotations too if you wanted to know that." Keng nodded as Ritsuka rejoined the group.

"One of the goblins was wearing this." Ritsuka lifted the large necklace up. "What should we do with it?"