Chapter 114: The Goblin Boss
It only took her a few minutes to encounter the first group.
The dungeon was almost disappointing.
A single corridor wound its way underground, wide enough for several people to walk side by side. The dark stone walls were streaked with crystalline veins that emitted a cold, bluish glow, transforming the depths into a strange, perpetual twilight. Here and there, clusters of crystals protruded directly from the rock, like mineral bouquets frozen in place for millennia.
Their reflections danced across the walls in rhythm with her movements.
Beautiful.
And probably designed to distract adventurers before getting them killed.
Very appropriate décor for a dungeon.
Eventually, three goblins appeared ahead of her.
Still just as small, green, and hideous as ever, sporting suspiciously white loincloths. In short, ugly.
Ridiculously ugly.
Their pointed ears twitched when they spotted her. One raised a crooked spear, another wielded a club that looked suspiciously like a random bone, while the third let out a shrill scream that immediately drilled into her eardrums.
Blanche sighed.
Then charged.
The first goblin didn't even have time to react.
Her axe came down diagonally and launched him into the wall with a sickening crack.
The second tried to flank her.
Mistake.
Her dagger left its sheath with the smooth precision born from hundreds of hours training under Derek.
The blade found its target.
The goblin collapsed.
The last one hesitated.
It was his final mistake.
Seconds later, all three creatures lay dead on the ground.
Blanche wiped her blade clean.
Already irritated.
Not by the monsters.
By the timer.
She could feel the seconds slipping away.
Every wasted minute felt like throwing away something precious.
She accelerated.
The following groups offered little more resistance.
Six goblins.
Then nine.
Then twelve.
As she advanced, the crystals became increasingly abundant. Some chambers resembled underground cathedrals, where natural pillars supported the ceiling. The bluish light reflected off her weapons and made Phoenix's eyes gleam whenever he bounded ahead of her.
The fights blended together.
The movements became automatic.
An axe swing.
A dodge.
A spin.
A thrust.
A thrown dagger.
A scream.
Blood.
Again.
And again.
Derek's teachings echoed through her mind during every encounter.
Conserve your movements.
Never stop.
Always watch your blind spots.
Finish quickly.
She was no longer the girl who panicked at the sight of a monster. Blanche moved forward with the cold efficiency of a seasoned fighter, and somewhere deep down, she found that realization slightly unsettling.
When she finally checked the remaining time, her heart nearly stopped.
Half.
Already.
— Seriously?!
Her voice echoed through the empty tunnels.
The dungeon remained utterly indifferent to her outrage.
As always.
Blanche broke into a run.
The crystals blurred past her in luminous streaks.
Her boots hammered against the stone while Phoenix galloped beside her.
She crossed several corridors.
Turned one corner.
Then another.
Before suddenly emerging into an enormous chamber.
She stopped dead.
— Ah.
The room was gigantic.
The ceiling nearly vanished into darkness.
Colossal crystal formations rose from the floor like trees made of blue glass, casting unreal reflections across the walls.
And most importantly...
A hundred goblins stood before her.
Silence lasted a second.
Maybe two.
Then the entire chamber exploded.
The goblins shrieked.
Dozens of weapons were raised.
Hundreds of tiny hateful eyes locked onto her.
Blanche sighed.
— Of course.
The dungeon had apparently decided to abandon subtlety.
Phoenix growled.
His fur bristled.
Then his body began to expand.
Muscles swelled.
Claws lengthened.
His silhouette literally exploded in size until he regained his second form.
The creature standing beside her no longer resembled a harmless familiar.
It was a predator.
A monster.
A living war machine.
With a roar that made the surrounding crystals vibrate, Phoenix charged.
The first goblin vanished beneath his claws.
The second was hurled several meters away.
The third didn't even have time to understand what was happening.
And Blanche let loose.
Completely.
The exhaustion.
The stress.
The timer.
The weeks of training.
Everything erupted at once.
She plunged into the horde.
Her axe traced deadly arcs.
Her short sword appeared and disappeared in flashes of steel.
Her daggers flew.
Every movement found a target.
Goblins fell by the dozens.
The blue crystals reflected the flashes of her blades.
Screams mixed with Phoenix's roars.
For several minutes, the entire chamber descended into chaos.
A true slaughter.
And Blanche advanced through it with almost terrifying efficiency, casting her spells whenever she could.
The last survivors tried to flee.
Bad idea.
Very bad idea.
Seconds later, silence crashed down once more.
Not a single enemy moved.
Only her breathing.
Phoenix's breathing.
And the sound of blood slowly dripping onto stone.
Blanche remained still for a moment.
Out of breath.
Muscles tense.
Heart racing.
Then something appeared.
No light.
No spectacular effect.
As though the dungeon itself had simply decided the time had come.
At the center of the room.
A chest.
Small.
Rectangular.
Made of rough wood.
The most ordinary chest imaginable.
After a hundred goblins and a massacre worthy of legend, the dungeon rewarded her with the visual equivalent of a shoebox.
Blanche stared at it for several seconds.
Then looked up at the ceiling.
— You've got to be kidding me.
Once again, the dungeon refused to answer.
— It is messing with me, right? Tell me it's messing with me... she asked Phoenix.
Sorry. I'm just as clueless as you are on this one.
The young woman sighed.
Only fifteen minutes left.
Inside the chest, she discovered a pouch filled with gold coins. The black mage didn't bother counting them and simply stuffed the bag into one of the large pockets of her military trousers before continuing her adventure.
She burst into a new chamber without taking the time to catch her breath.
Mistake.
The room was far from empty.
Not as crowded as the previous one, but still.
Like the others, it had been carved directly into the rock, but this one was far larger. Massive blue crystal formations erupted from the walls and ceiling, spreading a cold light that gave the entire chamber the appearance of an underground cathedral. Shadows danced between the natural columns, distorting the silhouettes moving among them.
And there were plenty of silhouettes.
About twenty goblins occupied the room.
Beside them stood a machine that looked suspiciously like some kind of cloning device.
Well.
That explained a lot.
Some carried crude spears.
Others wielded chipped axes.
All of them immediately looked up when she crossed the threshold.
At the far end of the chamber stood three creatures far larger than the others.
Two of them towered over ordinary goblins. Their knotted muscles stretched the limits of their crude leather armor, and their arms resembled tree trunks more than normal limbs.
The third was even larger.
And most importantly...
He was sitting.
On a throne.
A genuine throne made of rough wood, positioned atop a rocky platform.