Vol.1 Ch.22 Hiding in the Shadows

Vol.1 Ch.22 Hiding in the Shadows

It took Ryan about a half hour of wandering around the cavern before she found a passage out.

"Well, here goes nothing?" Ryan said to herself while carefully walking through the passageway of a tunnel. Her hair and clothes were still damp from falling into the underground lake. So she was a bit cold at first but with her adrenaline flowing, it didn't bother her too much.

"So Nils said this Dungeon Core is a spawner, huh? Well, hopefully, it's not a goblin spawner." Ryan said quietly to herself. ‘Who am I kidding! IT'S NOTHING BUT A GOBLIN SPAWNER!... Fuck me, dude.’

As Ryan was walking with caution she kept looking around the cavernous tunnel to make sure there weren't any traps or monsters waiting to ambush her. She had no idea what to expect from this labyrinth but if Nils said it was a spawner then she figured it wouldn’t have traps in it that were created by the labyrinth, but that didn't mean the goblins didn't have traps. Ryan wasn’t going to let those green bastards try to kill her or get the drop on her.

As she continued down the dark tunnel. Ryan started to notice something, she could see in the dark, way better than she ever used to when she was a human. 'Maybe I can see better in the dark because I'm becoming a Dark Elf? I'll ask Nils about it next time.' Ryan thought to herself.

While proceeding down the narrow stone tunnel, Ryan was contemplating about what she'd do if she came across a horde of goblins.

“I wonder how powerful my Dark Earth magic will be? From the images Nils put in my mind, it looks like I can manipulate a football-sized field worth of earth if need be... Man! I’m becoming a fucking juggernaut! Whoa!... Calm down, Ryan. If you start thinking like that. I’ll let my guard down and that's when I get killed by something stupid." She muttered to herself.

After a moment of introspection, Ryan noticed a lit room ahead of her about 50 feet away. 'Huh? I wonder if there is a goblin camp.' She thought to herself.

Ryan made an effort to stay hidden in the shadows of the tunnel. There was a slight shimmering in the air and Ryan felt a tingly phenomenon run down her spine. 'Is that ether or something else floating in the air? Gah! Get your head in the game, Ryan! You don't know if there are goblins in the room with the light!' Ryan mentally chided herself.

In front of her, about 50 feet away, was a group of goblins out on patrol. While a couple were standing in the middle of the room encircled by torches. They were all wearing crude chain mail armor and wielding various weapons such as swords, maces, axes, hammers, and crossbows.

'Looks like they are preparing for something?' Ryan thought to herself.

Ryan looked back at the tunnel she came from just to make sure that nothing was going to ambush her. Luckily there was nothing there that she knew of.

'Well, they haven't noticed me. I'll have to use those stalagmites for cover. If I hide behind them I should be able to sneak up on the goblins without them seeing me. Then I could get the high ground on them if I can climb that wall over there. That's if I play my cards right.' Ryan thought to herself while waiting for an opportunity to move.

After a minute, Ryan started to sneak forward until she made it behind a ginormous rock. Once it seemed like the coast was clear, she began climbing up the rocks towards the stalagmite. As Ryan was climbing up the rock face she came to notice that there were a lot of cave-ins and missing stones and boulders that came off the rock wall. 'Please let this be sturdier than it looks.' Ryan thought to herself as she continued to climb. 'If something breaks off I need to book it back to the underground lake.'

Luckily the rock wall was sturdy and when Ryan made it to the top. She took a look over the edge of the cliff to see her surroundings and saw that there were a bunch of goblins below that just missed spotting her. She could see others moving through various corridors while a few were hanging around doing nothing as they looked bored.

***

After some time has passed.

Ryan awoke to the sound of clanging metal in the distance.

'Huh? Is that a adventure party? Goddess, I wish I could have slept on a bed instead of this stone floor.' Ryan thought to herself.

Ryan tried to get up off the ground but failed miserably due to losing the feeling in her legs.

'Fuck. I guess sleeping on a rock floor didn't help my legs that much.' Ryan said while she was shaking out her legs. She tried her best to get the feeling back in her legs as quickly as possible.

A group of goblins came into the area and stopped just outside the door of the storage room.

‘No need to look in here guys... Nothing but useless rocks and empty boxes in here.’ Ryan said to herself trying to will the goblins away from her, in hopes they wouldn’t notice her hiding in the shadows of their storage room.

"Yaaah!" The goblin leader shouted out. "Come, intruders! This way!"

'It must be the adventurers?' Ryan thought to herself. She peeked her head out from behind the rock and saw a group of goblins through the cracks of the crapy door. They gathered their weapons and followed after the goblin leader towards the corridor that the other goblins ran through before Ryan hid in the room.

That's when Ryan heard something new. The sounds of metal

"Prince Quinus, there's another horde coming our way!" Yelled a man's voice in the distance.