It was then that something in the distance caught my eye. Holding up my hand, everyone stopped. Something had been watching us from the wall of the cavern.

  “It’s gone,” Aeris whispered. “I think the cave takes a turn up there. It could’ve been a scout.”

  “I think you’re right.” I glanced over at Melony who was straining her eyes to catch a glimpse. I doubted her ability would have shown her anything because there was no surge of mana or stamina. Still, I planned on keeping an eye on her. “It’s time we go into stealth mode.” As much as I wanted to also discuss Perry and Jess’s abilities, it would have to wait. I cast Invisibility on everyone except myself.

  I hadn’t forgotten the danger that the Underworld posed, but my progression had given me a lot more confidence in my ability to take a hit. I also highly doubted anything less than Waldemar or a monstrous succubi like Lady Contessa would give me much of a problem protecting the others. My Fire Incubus Form made me almost invincible to lesser creatures. In the worst-case scenario I could ramp it up.

  I watched Aeris float down from overhead in the ethereal state that came from Invisibility. Just as we’d discussed, I would act as bait. Stepping ahead of the others, I stretched out my wings. I would have thought they’d feel stiff after being pulled in behind me for so long, but it was just the opposite. It was as if they contained excess energy. No better time to practice flying than when you were hoping a tribe of angry goblins was waiting just around the corner.

  I considered leaving my partial Minotaur Form in place as I became our clumsy flying target, but it would add weight and I had almost no experience flying with my new wings as it was. My human body retook its shape before I flapped my wings for the first time. Multi-shifting with only my wings, tail, and magma fist gave me an additional 2,666 MPM without the Minotaur Form. I checked quickly to see that the new form had already reached level 3 and I wasn’t even trying.

  Here we go. I stretched my wings high into the air, readying myself for what was about to happen. My perception of time was at its peak as I pushed my wings toward the ground. Before my mind could process my surprise, I shot toward the ceiling. Looking up, I had to contort my body to squeeze between two stalactites that were reaching out toward me like imposing spears. Bracing with my hands and feet, I managed the collision well.

  That didn’t go as expected. As I fell back toward the ground, I spread out my wings and caught myself like a glider. I tipped awkwardly in the air from side to side as I tried to gain stability. Before returning to the ground, I flapped my wings—this time with as little effort as possible. It raised me up in the air about a foot before I was falling again and had to flap again. I cast Skeleton Titan’s Defense. So much bone added weight, though not as much as Minotaur Form, but I was now convinced that I needed the armor to help keep myself from accidently finding myself impaled.

  It took me three to four minutes before I found a comfortable enough rhythm where I didn’t have to give the simple practice of beating my wings all of my attention. Aeris was there the entire time giving me instructions from behind. She was trying to use hushed tones, but my wings moved so much air that they were like being next to a man-sized ceiling fan. Besides, if the thing we’d seen was really a goblin scout, they already knew there was more than just me. The plan wouldn’t fool them for long. It should force any ambushes to focus on me though.

  “Better,” Aeris said. “Don’t use your wings’ full range of motion. Use little flaps. Good.”

  I heard snickering from the ladies behind me. Hopefully trying this out in front of them didn’t earn me the new nickname Little Flaps. I hadn’t said as much to Richard, but it was always the names that other people gave you that really seemed to stick.

  It was another ten minutes before I dared to start heading forward. When I did, the little adjustments I made fit in well with the already established beating of my wings. Finally, we were on our way. Come out, little goblins. Little Flaps wants to play!

  Chapter 7 – It’s Time to Talk

  I might as well have been calling out that I was there with the amount of noise I was making flying. There were other options available to me if flying silently was really my goal. Zorik’s constant flapping of his wings wasn’t nearly as loud, but Imp Form’s -20% to Strength and Dexterity was a big turn off. It was a debuff that didn’t go away even as the form leveled. There was also my Bat Form, but it didn’t allow the use of gear while it was cast. It was also the only form I had that didn’t level up. Who needed stealth though? To anyone that saw me coming, I was a skeletal demon flying nonchalantly around Underworld’s Dungeon Level without a care in the world.

  It wasn’t easy to fly at a slow enough pace for the others to keep the full benefit of Invisibility. The faster they moved, the more visible they became. I ended up flying ahead of them at a reasonable distance but remained in casting range so that Aeris could back me up. Then I’d slow myself to a stop and wait a minute while they caught up. In this way, I reached the end of the straight stretch of cave and came to the place where it turned left—to the south.

  As I’d half expected, there was nothing in sight. The goblin scouts that had entered Sanctuary’s Outer Perimeter had already shown atypical intelligence, so if there wasn’t an ambush here, they were probably setting something up further on ahead. I continued on when the others caught up to me, and soon, I noticed that the cavern was changing colors. Instead of the blue and green speckled rock I was used to seeing in our dungeon and the surrounding area, the world around us turned dull and grey. Hopefully the goblins’ dungeon would contain different ore, which could mean more resources.

  The further we went the more the path seemed to twist. The cave was more natural here and the glow of mana was much less than in our own dungeon, and even the Belly. Unless I was mistaken, this was the least amount of mana visible in any tunnel that I’d experienced. My travels were limited, but my memory was also better than it had ever been. If they dwelled in an area with less natural mana formations, then what could it possibly mean? Would the goblins be weaker than we thought?

  I didn’t dare let my guard down. It had already been quite some time since we’d last seen the scout, and even though we weren’t exactly trying to catch him quickly, I’d expected to see him already.

  Turning down Mana Sight, I allowed my perceptions to return to only twice what was normal so that an hour didn’t seem like four.

  I was sure the others were thinking the same thing I was. Why hadn’t we gone after the scout the moment we saw him? There was no way it would have been able to run from us. Even if it was one of their level 500 hobgoblins, it would have been of little challenge after the level 1,000+ minotaurs.

  I was just about to touch down and wait for the others to discuss what to do, when I saw the faintest glow in the distance. It wasn’t an individual creature, but the glow of something large, like the beginning of another dungeon. We didn’t reach the new area right away. It took another fifteen minutes before the rock around us began to change. The colors weren’t as concentrated as they were in the granite-like rock of Sanctuary. Instead there were great veins of green, brown and purple with the grey rock filling in the areas between them. It wasn’t the only thing that changed. The cave began to straighten out.

  It finally opened up into a massive chamber. The ground was foot-worn and smooth. The ceiling shot up until it curved like the dome of an underground theater. It was more like a miner’s Union Station. There were countless tunnels that had been dug out along the walls. The room itself had the same manmade shape to it as if an army of tunnellers had found this place and begun digging in every direction, including up.

  I stopped after a moment’s observation, and amped Mana Sight to full power. “Wait here,” I said without waiting for the others’ reply. It was time to draw the little boogers out.

  The act of stopping and moving forward with the subtle change of the flap of my wings was becoming more natural. I started forward.

  This grand room reminded me of the coliseum of ancient Rome. I was literally surrounded by entrances on all sides that opponents could slither out of.

  I’d flown into the room a good thirty meters before I saw the first glimpse of mana. Hidden in the shadow of the entrance to one of the many tunnels on my left I saw the green glow of a creature as tall as a man, if not taller. It wasn’t a goblin, but one of the hobgoblin variety. Out of my peripherals, I saw one in a tunnel directly in front of me, then another on my right. Where there was one, there was a thousand. It was only a moment after I’d spotted the first creature when the flood gates were opened and they began pouring out. Activating Creature Observation’s skill form, I did a quick survey of their levels and what type of creatures they were.

  Goblin and hobgoblins surrounded me. The goblins were in the low to mid hundreds and the hobgoblins were between 500 to just over 1,000.

  Maybe I should’ve been more afraid than I felt, but my level was 730 and I had the base stats of someone that was 2,066. If I dared to use In the Buff x4 or more, then that could double. Fire Incubus Form could take it even further.

  “I see you,” I said aloud, hoping the goblins would hear and react. We were still easily within the range for Richard’s magic, so we were still able to communicate at a distance at will. The others heard what I’d said.

  I didn’t stop flying forward until I reached the middle of the room. It was much larger than I’d first thought. The dome above me wasn’t evenly shaped, nor was the room perfectly round. My assessment that this had once been a mining colony was sound.

  For so many goblins, they were keeping incredibly quiet as they hid inside their tunnels—creepy quiet. It crossed my mind to just start my attack, but then they could scatter, and we’d lose out on a lot of experience. Even I should get a good deal of it with so many mobs around my level.

  When they moved, they did so all at once. Thousands of them, dozens from each tunnel, scurried out, but stopped soon after, giving me a wide berth. It only took seconds for the room to fill with the green and blue creatures. They glowed green and a surprising purple in the mana realm. Green was from Nature Magic, but this hue of Purple was Neutral… My Alpha Bolt was the only element neutral magic I’d seen.

  Of course, I could call the others in to help, but this was an opportunity to try something. I now had enough base mana to case Andesitic Magma, the Magma spell’s second rank. It had three ranks in total.

  Basaltic Magma

  Spell Cost – 2,000,000 MP (400,000 MP with buffs)

  Andesitic Magma

  Spell Cost – 1,000,000 MP (200,000 MP with buffs)

  Rhyolitic Magma

  Spell cost – 500,000 MP (100,000 MP with buffs)

  I hadn’t even considered testing it just because I had a feeling it would get messy. Also, I’d like to try it in a place with a lot of air since I’d almost killed myself with its nasty fumes when we were fleeing the Belly. Did I want to be left with nothing but mana over time spells though? Casting it would limit me greatly.

  There was also Fire Incubus’s Fire Breather ability. Hell Hound had something similar. I could try to cook them in this very room. With enough mana, Flame Thrower could even do the job…

  Maybe I should just stick to what had always worked by putting on my best form and busting some skulls. I wanted to see what their neutral magic was like anyways—if they used magic at all. Trying to fight them while flying would certainly add a new level of difficulty.

  Something about the way they just waited after surrounding me stayed my hand. It would take a single flap of my wings for me to reach their ranks in any direction.

  Finding the highest level hobgoblin I could, I tried to read his body language. Unlike the goblins, the hobgoblin’s skin wasn’t green, but a rich blue. They also stood as tall as a human if not taller. The one I was watching had to be at least seven feet. He looked much more human than I would have ever imagined. He had a pretty defined underbite, but his eyes were bright and perceptive. They turned down at the outside corners, giving him an almost empathetic look.

  This one’s arms were crossed in front of his chain-covered chest. The hilt of a large, twohanded weapon was still strapped to his back. He wasn’t the only one with his weapon still sheathed. Most of the hobgoblins had yet to draw their weapons and were waiting as if they expected something to happen.

  The goblin crowd began to split directly in front of me. A path cleared and an old, bent over goblin with a cane took his first step toward me. It wasn’t apparent if he actually needed the cane to walk, for he shuffled with each foot out to the side with every step. When he reached the front of the goblin line, they closed in behind him, but were sure to give him space. Creature Observation gave me some rather underwhelming news.

  Goblin

  Level: 100

  It was certainly strange. He just stood there leaning on his cane as he examined me. If they followed someone with experience and not the highest level that spoke volumes about the type of culture they had.

  Taking one last deep breath, the old goblin pushed off his cane and threw it to the ground. His yellowy eyes widened as his gaze turned into a glare. He looked like he was about to start something. Before I could laugh at the thought of him threatening me, his mana began to grow. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The mana realm lit up as Power exploded inside of him.

  I heard a high-pitched squeak through group chat. There was no need to ask Melony if she had seen something.

  Not taking my eyes off the old goblin, I watched as his power continued to skyrocket. Not only his power, but his body started to change with it. As he grew taller, his muscles thickened. The only thing that didn’t change was the glare he gave me. It was a challenge.

  “Elorion?!” Aeris’s voice sounded in my ear.

  His transformation couldn’t have taken more than a couple seconds. It seemed longer to me because of my perceptions, but he shifted from goblin, to hobgoblin, then evolved to—something else. His skin was deep purple, and he had a long, entirely human looking face. Standing at least twelve feet tall was impressive, but it was his mana density that convinced me of his true strength.

  “Be ready to run at my word,” I commanded. During the old goblin’s transformation, I had undergone a bit of a transformation of my own. My tail and Magma Fist had disappeared. Beneath my Skeleton Titan’s Defense, my Fire Incubus Form had taken shape.

  “You know I’m not leaving you,” Aeris said. Even though she wasn’t there I could easily imagine her shaking her head.

  It was more serious than she knew. This level of mana density I’d only seen a few times. It wasn’t at Lilith, Nava, or Xaphan’s level, but it was still beyond us. It was eerily similar to Lady Contessa’s, except instead of Dark Magic, this elder goblin shone purple with pure neutral mana.

  With a twist of his head, he waited, daring me to make the next move. At his new height, his glare was level with mine where I hung in the air. We both stood our ground for what had to be a minute or more as we watched each other to guess at each other’s intentions.

  I wasn’t sure how to react. His level now registered as too high for me to observe. It looked like a challenge. A challenge I might not be able to win. I’d come a long way since Lady Contessa though. If I used Advanced Mind Buff and Fire Incubus Form to their fullest, it might be possible. It could also lure Mistress Nava right to us. We were too close to Sanctuary for it to be safe. What choice do I have though?

  There was an instinct inside of me, or intuition, that said there might be another option. But I couldn’t just drop my guard.

  I dropped my wings, cutting the mana to them to allow them to fade into nothing, and removed my scepter and Warhammer from my inventory in the same movement. My scepter was swallowed up by my bone breast plate to become a part of my armor, while also allowing me to retain the item’s buffs. My Warhammer hung in my hand at my side in as nonthreatening a way as possible. I fell from where I’d hung in the air and landed with barely a bend of the knees.

  The elder goblin’s eyes were now looking down on me from his superior height. I hadn’t lost an advantage but gained one since I had no experience flying during a fight. Not that I would tell him that. If he was looking for me to back down all together, that wouldn’t happen.

  Craning his neck, he looked down his nose at me and opened his mouth to speak. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was too unexpected. The words that came out of his mouth were perfect English. “Are you here to talk, or fight?”

  This should be interesting. I regretted not having Zorik here, but I could contact him if I really needed to. He’d know far more about goblins than I did—like if they were fans of setting traps.

  I’d always wanted a giant purple goblin for a neighbor. “I’m willing to talk.”

  Chapter 8 – Unexpected Friends

  With a nod of his head, the elder goblin began to shrink until he stood as tall as I did. He still possessed the purple pigment of his advanced form and his mana density didn’t change.

  Depositing my weapon, I conceded for real this time.

  A wave of his hand sent the entire room scurrying back into the numerous tunnels. He twisted his head to the side as if examining me. “What are you, shapeshifter?”

  I let my Fire Incubus Form fade entirely, leaving just my human form showing beneath Skeleton Titan’s Defense. I hesitated, but after of moment of mental preparation, I let my skeletal helmet disappear as well to reveal my face.

  “Human…” he said, emphasizing each syllable. He stood rigidly for what felt like a long time.

  Half expecting him to change his mind about talking, I took a step back, balancing my weight between both feet so that I was ready to move in any direction.

 

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