The way up to the cave proved thankfully uneventful, and other than a few trips and scrapes here and there, the party eventually found itself crouched behind a dense growth of bushes and tightly knit branches, spying on the cave entrance a few feet from them, the sky having long gone dark overhead.

Nar's heart was in his mouth, as he silently watched Jul creep her way towards the cave, from which a flickering of orange flames shone.

Too close, damn it! He thought, holding his breath when she poked her head into the cave's entrance. However, and thankfully, the quam made it back safe and soundly, and without apparently alerting anyone within.

"Twelve goblins," Jul whispered when she rejoined them. "Split between sleeping and eating around a fire."

"Nobodies on watch?" Kur asked, frowning.

Jul shook her head. "But there are two more of those wargs, so maybe there's also two more of those ice casters… Oh! And some of these goblins have different gear as well. It looks like some kind of white metal? And there's maces and shields too!"

She glanced at Gad. "They kinda look like tanks…"

"Damn…" Kur whispered. "And I hope that's not metallium."

"Could it be?" Gad asked. "In a low-level dungeon like this?"

"The rules don't apply anymore. Anything can be possible," Kur said, shaking his head. "Crystal, I'm so glad we dealt with their main force down there. Well done Gad for suggesting it and everyone for getting it done, as I don't want to imagine how hard it would've been to force our way in through a proper defense…"

"Hmm," Gad rumbled, nodding.

"And the boss? Did you see it?" Kur asked Jul.

"No," Jul said. "But there's a path leading deeper into the cave. And it feels… Colder there. Scarier."

"So likely where the boss is, then," Kur said, rubbing his chin. "Maybe we've still got hope of getting out of here… However, with what I assume is a much stronger guard of ice goblins, potentially wearing metallium gear and weapons, two wargs and maybe at least two casters, this isn't going to be an easy fight."

Nar glanced back towards the entrance of the cave with a frown, as their first dungeon continued to prove itself to be quite the first.

"Does it matter?" Mul grunted. "We'll just get in, and get it done."

"Simple as that?" Tuk asked, smiling down at the brawler.

Mul shrugged. "Why over complicate it? Nar's a bit knackered but the rest of us are fine. Let's just go and light up the place!"

"The fuck we are!" Kur snapped. "Do you want to be buried alive?"

"Bah… We'll be fine. Those massive trolls lived there! Can't imagine the place being that weak."

Nar couldn't help chuckling at the brawler's simple, yet perhaps effective, outlook on life and combat.

"From my side, I'll be fine," Nar told Kur. "I can fight as normal."

"You sure?" Kur asked him.

Nar nodded. "Don't worry. I'm ready."

He was still very sore, sure, but with half of his HP returned thanks to Kur's potions, he was rearing for the fight, and for the chance to hopefully be done with that screwed up dungeon once and for all, and for getting all of that forest.

A shame you can't take more than 5 of those things in a day, Nar thought. But he wasn't willing to risk the warnings on the potions, not even for another 60 HP, no matter how potentially lifesaving the shielding from those health points could prove to be.

"Do you want me to sneak up there?" Jul suddenly asked, her tone barely a breath. "With [Stealth], I could maybe just go and [Back…"

Kur raised a hand to stop her.

"One thing is to be our scout and senses, Jul, for which we are all eternally grateful to you," Kur said. "Another one entirely is to force you to act in a way that will push you deeper into the path you're trying to get out of."

"But…"

"No, Jul," Kur said, without hesitation. "This won't be the last time we find ourselves in a tight spot, and we can't just let go of our paths like that everytime it gets difficult. No, we're going up there, all of us, together, and fight this out. Our party has no assassins, Jul."

Jul's green-blue compound eyes glimmered in the flickering orange emanating from the cave up ahead, and she nodded quickly. Nar reached over and squeezed her shoulder, earning a smile from her.

"But! We can't just march up there and fight it out without a plan either," Kur said, casting a sideways glance at Mul.

The brawler shrugged, unbothered.

"We need to think this through, and we need to worry about the boss joining the fight," Kur continued. "Given the reaction of the coyotes and the tree guardians, we can expect this monster to be very strong. Probably stronger than anything we've faced alone as a party before."

"Even more than that spider thing?" Rel asked, her tone muted.

"Yes."

"Could we use Cen's new skill, then?" Tuk asked, eyeing the caster. "Uh, in a more toned-down version, of course!"

"I'd rather not," Cen said, shaking her head. "I've only used it once. I don't trust myself to control it yet."

"My thoughts exactly," Kur said. "We're already going in there blind, so let's not bring any other unknown variables into it with us. But… If things do go bad, do what you need to do, Cen. And that goes for everyone. No matter what, we're getting out of here! Our first dungeon is not going to be our last! Is that clear?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Nar nodded gravely at his party leader's words.

No, it won't, he vowed to himself.

"So, what are you thinking?" Viy asked.

"I'm thinking we're going to sneak up there, and Tuk and Rel are going to open up this fight," Kur said, staring at the two ranged fighters. "Tuk, you will toss your rings in there, aiming to cause as much chaos as possible. If you can bring them down, go for it, but what I really need from you is to make a mess of things. Make sure they don't get organized!"

"I can do that," Tuk said, grinning. "I love chaos!"

"And Rel, you know what a "sniper" is, right?" Kur asked.

The archer nodded grimly. "Yes. It's in my future path… You want me to snipe the casters, don't you?"

"I do," Kur said. "Keep an eye out for those blue daggers, and as soon as you see anything glowing blue, take it down. And headshots if you can! No HP is going to stop that, not at our levels at least."

"Got it," Rel said. "Leave them to me."

"Next, Gad," Kur said. "You're going to run in there, and head straight for that path leading to the boss. Your job is not to help us in this fight, but to make sure that boss doesn't join it. Is that okay?"

"That's perfect," Gad said, in her low, gravelly voice. "I'll save my taunts for it."

"Viy, Mul and Nar, your job is then to get in there, and kill everything."

"Nice and simple," Viy said, giving Kur a thumbs up.

"Fine by me," Mul said, crossing his arms.

"We'll get it done," Nar added.

"And that leaves the four of us," Kur said. "Me and Cen will hang back with Tuk and Rel, ready for anything, and I'll keep an eye on the entrance behind us, just in case there's more of them out there."

"You think there are?" Rel asked, scanning the dark forest around them.

"Always expect the worst," Tuk muttered. "So depressing…"

"But so true," Kur said. "And it's just in case. I don't want us to be surprised from behind while fighting those goblins, and dealing with a possibly insanely strong final boss at the same time. And that leaves you, Jul…"

Kur turned to the quam, and here, he hesitated.

"Our fights are getting faster and faster," he said. "It… It can be hard for me to keep up. And given how we don't know what's waiting for us in there, I need to ask you to please be more of our eyes and ears than a DPS this time. At least at the start. I need you to help me make sense of what's going on, if that's okay?"

"Of-Of course!" Jul stammered. "You don't have to ask it like that! Just-just tell me what to do!"

"Sorry," Kur said. "It's just a bit embarrassing for me to say. I don't have [NPC] to help me react, and my [Sight] can't keep up with you guys sometimes, especially you two, Viy and Nar. Most of the time you're just blurs to me now!" "Yeah," Cen said. "It's crazy how fast you guys have gotten…"

Gad nodded solemnly at that, and Nar scratched at the back of his head, unsure of what to say in reply.

"So, Jul, I need you to keep your senses up for anything and everything," Kur continued. "Anything the boss does, anyone sneaking up on us, or doing something we don't see, or anything that happens too fast for me to catch… Basically, and I know this is a big ask, I need you to keep us all safe, as best as you can. Because I have a feeling that things are about to get crazy in there…"

"Don't worry!" Jul said, despite a nervous gulp. "I-I can do it!"

"And we believe in you!" Viy said, smiling at the nervous quam.

"And that's that," Kur said, sighing. "Any questions?"

"Any plans for retreat?" Gad asked. "Just in case?"

Kur grimaced. "Ah… I didn't think of that. Let's see… How about we head south and downwards from here? Eventually you get to the ravine, you can't miss it. And if you follow that all the way down to the boundary, maybe that will be a nice spot to gather up again… If we end up splitting up."

They all nodded in a heavy silence.

Retreat means defeat, Nar thought. It means we failed, and we have to run away…

They had never run from a challenge they could surpass, like the giant guardian in the Pressure pillars, or the spider in the chasm, or their near death at the end of the Ceremony of Final Atonement, or just a few hours ago, from the hundreds of tree guardians…

Now that I think about it, we've really gone through some crazy shit, haven't we? Nar thought, shaking his head at the memories. But when it really mattered, we always toughed it out and got through whatever stood in our way, so for Gad to be suggesting a retreat now… Damn, this is going to be a bad one, isn't it?

"Alright people, things look… Not great," Kur said. "But we can do it, and we have to do it. We have no other choice, so believe in yourselves, your training over the past weeks, the challenges you've overcome, and above all else, in each other. And now, let's go and finish this. I'd like to sleep on that beetle tonight…"

*********

Tuk and Rel positioned themselves by the mouth of the orange lit cave, and the rest of them formed up behind them, armors up and weapons ready for the grim task ahead.

Nar clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the sword as he waited for Kur to start their final battle.

Here we go… Time to finish this, he thought, as Kur gave Tuk a thumbs up, and the ring tosser jumped forward, his rings shining into the cave.

Shouts and cries of surprise erupted from within almost immediately, and Rel quickly joined Tuk, a red arrow glowing and notched on her bow, ready to hunt those casters.

"Wait," Kur whispered to the rest of them. "Wait…"

Nar closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, and his racing heart slowed down to a steady drum, as it always did when the actual fighting began. It was funny how he could be so nervous and overthink about it before the fact, but when death actually came to stare at him, threatening to close its cold, bony fingers around him, all his worries just vanished, his mind emptying of everything but the killing ahead.

"Now, Gad!" Kur whispered.

The tank stomped forward, her shield glowing with aura, and Tuk and Rel swayed out of the way to let her through.

"Wait. Wait… Go, go, go!" Kur shouted.

Nar dashed forward, followed closely by Mul and Viy.

"Let's do this!" Mul shouted.

"Oh, shit!" Rel suddenly cried.

Nar looked up in time to see the archer pulling Tuk out of the way, before two ice projectiles came sailing out of the cave, exactly where the two of them had stood before.

"They're fast! And there's another path!" Rel shouted. "There's more of them! Archers!"

"What?" Jul shouted, going wide eyed. "I didn't sense anything!"

"My rings…" Tuk lamented, trying to peek into the cave. But Rel pulled him back again, and ice exploded against the rock, right where his head had been.

"It doesn't matter now!" Kur shouted, holding a hand to halt them. "How many more?"

"Another eight, I think. Archers and more tanks, and one of them is wearing a robe," Rel said.

"Crystal dammit!" Kur shouted. "Another caster?"

"Is that the boss?" Gad asked, having beaten a hasty retreat back outside.

"I don't think so," Rel said. "Like Jul said, I'm getting a pretty bad feeling from that other passage."

"I'm so sorry!" Jul shouted. "I don't know how I…"

"Jul, it's fine!" Kur said. "Focus! Do you sense anymore goblins?"

Jul shook her head vigorously. "There's nothing there! I can't even sense that other passage!"

"Must be some kind of skill then, maybe from the robed goblin," Gad said. "What do we do? They know we're here now, so we need to get in there before the boss decides to join in."

Kur sighed, as more ice projectiles went glimmering through the air, trailing frozen mist that quickly lowered the temperature around them.

"Do I go in?" Gad asked.

But it was not to her that Kur's eyes slid to.

"I can do it," Nar assured him.

"With half HP?" Kur asked. "That's too much…"

"Then…" Nar glanced at Viy. "Send Viy in with me. Her AOE will even things out."

Viy's defiant smile died. "What? It will hit you too!"

"I am not guilty of anything," Nar said. "Don't worry."

Viy pursed her lips, and glanced at Kur. "I…"

"Can you do it?" he asked her.

She hesitated, then nodded. "I can."

Their party took a deep breath. "Alright… Let's do that instead."

"I'll go in first, and draw their attention," Nar told the spear wilder. "Then you go in, and hit them with your skill. And give it everything you got, you hear me? Don't worry about hitting me!"

Viy gulped. "Alright… I will."

Nar glanced at Kur, and the party leader nodded back. "You two just worry about staying alive. We'll make it work from there."

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