Chapter 8: Die
The next day…
'We are here'
Looking at the 3-meter-tall and wide cave entrance in front of us, a sense of nostalgia washed over me. Even though I did have some difficult times during my time here, it was still my first home after being reborn into this unfamiliar world.
The motive for coming back here was to take care of those adventurers. From what I heard while spying on them, they will come here to try and locate Mia.
Taking advantage of this situation to earn some major exp, we arrived here before the sun had fully risen to set up an ambush.
Although this will be our first time fighting a group, if we plan the ambush perfectly, we could easily defeat these adventurers without breaking a sweat.
As soon as we entered the cave, a heavy smell of blood and rotting meat filled our noses. The cave was littered with the remains of goblins; dried blood painted the ground and walls. Showing the aftermath of a massacre.
'Ugh'
I quickly covered my nose and held in the sudden nausea.
'This smell'
"Blarg"
"Daddy, it smells awful in here." Kene, disgusted by the awful smell of the dry goblin remains littering the cave, wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Even Noah has a frown and a hardened expression from the nasty smell spreading around the cave.
"Garw Garw Garw" (There is nothing we can do about it; just endure it.)
"Okay…" Kene reluctantly complied and endured the smell to the best of her ability.
…
Two hours later...
On the other side, the group of adventurers has just arrived at the cave.
"Is this the place?" Ner ask
"Yes, boss," Gerrit replied as he double-checked the location.
"Is that so?"
'But why am I feeling so uneasy?' He questioned.
For some reason, the thought of entering the cave filled him with uneasiness, and he will regret ever entering.
The goblin tribe has already been annihilated, and even if there are some survivors, they will still be mere goblins. There is nothing to be scared about.
'I am thinking too much' Shaking his head to get rid of the uneasiness filling his mind, he turned toward his party.
"Let go"
Entering the cave, their expressions hardened as a nasty stench assaulted them; however, as they had experienced these smells countless times, they tolerated it and continued forward.
The cave was pitch black. One may wonder how the goblins can move effortlessly in this darkness. That is because certain monsters are born with natural night vision, allowing them to see clearly in these dark environments, and goblins are one of them.
Kerr summoned a mini-fireball that hovered above the group, providing light for them.
A few minutes later, they arrived at an intersection where the path was split into two.
"Boss, what should we do here?" John asked.
"Hmmm, Kerr and Gerit will go to one, me and you the other."
"Any objections?"
""No""
"Then get going!""
The group split into two and proceeded toward the pathway assigned to them.
Traveling through the left pathway, Kerr and Gerit moved onward when they came across a wide area of poorly built wooden huts. Most of the roofs have already collapsed, and the few that are still intact are barely holding up. The logs that make up the walls of these huts have huge gaps in between them, and there isn't any privacy for those who live inside.
At the center was a slightly better and larger hut compared to others; however, some parts of the walls had fallen apart, and the interior of the hut could be seen scattered with rubbish.
"This must be the shelter of the goblin chief."
"How about we check it out?" Kerr suggested as the previous adventurers may not have looted this place as they hurried in searching for Mia.
"Let's do it later; we should check the throne room first. That is where that girl disappeared."
On the west side of the huts was the throne room. The area around the entrance to the room was littered with a large number of goblin corpses. The horrible stench was even heavier here, forcing the two to cover their noses.
"This smell is worse than I thought," Kerr said, covering his nose with a piece of handkerchief.
He commanded the fireball hovering above to move forward, spreading light along the narrow path, and just as Kerr was about to follow the fireball, Gerit stopped him.
Kerr raised his eyebrow. "Why are you stopping me?"
"There is a presence nearby," Gerit said, withdrawing the hammer from his back. "Lit up the area quickly!"
Kerr did not doubt Gerit and summoned a larger fireball than before, illuminating their surroundings. They cautiously looked around, trying to spot the creature spying on them.
"There is no one. What are you yapping about? Scaring me for no reason. Tch" Kerr grumbled, as even after scanning the surroundings for several minutes, nobody could be seen.
"I swear, I sensed someone near us," Gerit said, confused.
"Your senses must have dulled. Come on, let's not waste our time here. Ugh, it stinks."
"Weird…"
'Did I make a mistake?' Gerik thought. Maybe his sense has dulled, just like Kerr has said.
Thinking that he must have made a mistake, he placed his hammer back on his back and followed behind Kerr.
…
"Hey, is the path getting narrower?" Kerr said as they traveled further into the path.
"Now that you have mentioned it..."
At first, the pathway was wide enough for both of them to walk side by side comfortably, but further into the path, Kerr eventually had to move behind Gerit to avoid colliding with each other.
'There's no way the previous adventurer can even travel safely through here.' Gerit's eyes widened in realization: 'a trap!'
The path has been modified.
"This is a trap! We should head ba—huh?"
As Gerit turned his head around to inform the mage, his mouth became wide open, shocked by the scene unfolding before his eyes.
A sword could be seen impaled through Kerr's heart from behind his back, his eyes wide open with disbelief as he stared at the blade covered with his blood.
"What…"
When Kerr tried to turn his head around, the owner of the blade twisted the blade sideways, causing him to puke out a mouthful of blood that landed on the still-shocked Dwarf's face and, at the same time, ended the pitiful mage, who wasn't even able to catch a glimpse of the person that killed him.
Thud-
When the body of the now-dead Kerr fell to the ground, Gerit was able to see the individual responsible for his comrade's death.
A green-skinned monster with sharp fangs, sharp-like ears, and crimson-red eyes stared right at him, grinning ear to ear. A mere goblin...
Breaking out of his daze, a burning rage began to well up inside of him as he looked at the goblin.
"How dare you!" He roared in anger. Although he disliked Kerr's personality, they were still comrades for a good period, supporting each other when needed. To see him die in front of his eyes brings great pain to his heart and rage to take revenge against the monster responsible for his death.
"Die!" Gerit wielded his hammer with both of his hands, intending to smash the goblin to pieces, but before he could do so, he sensed a sudden fluctuation of mana behind him.
As the pathway was narrow, the huge hammer got stuck in between the wall when he turned around with the hammer, preventing him from blocking the incoming ice slash.
The arc of ice mana slashed deep into his shoulder, freezing his flesh and bones on impact, causing him to feel tremendous amounts of pain.
"AHHHHHH!!!" He screamed out in pain, holding his left shoulder and falling to his knee. His hair then stood upright as he felt danger coming toward him.
Before he could even move, a huge ice chunk smashed his face, making him fall backward. The last thing he saw was the tip of a blade descending toward him.
…
Ding! Ding!
[Level 9 Human Killed]
[Leo +900 exp]
[Level up! (9)]
[200/10000]
[New title! Ambusher:
Concealed in the darkness, striking those least expected.
+ 10% stealth in dark environments
+ 10% boost on skill |Silent Step|
]
[Level 9 Human Killed]
[Leo +600 exp]
[800/10000]
[Noah +250 exp]
[Level up (4)]
[30/500]
[Kene +100 exp]
[240/400]
The ambush worked rather nicely. Though I almost got caught by the bald dude in the beginning, I wonder how he knew I was there. I am pretty sure I did not make any noise for him to notice me. Is it a skill? Or perhaps his battle instinct. I have no clue.
But that didn't matter since he was already dead.
Through this ambush, I seemed to have leveled up and even got a new title [ambusher], which is nice.
But looking at the amount of exp needed for level 10 makes me want to cry.
'10000, are you serious?'
That is almost twice the amount needed to go from level 1 to level 9. It looks like I won't be leveling up anytime soon.
"Daddy! Are you okay?" Kene came running up to me from the other side, worried that I may have been injured by the dwarf.
"Dad, are you alright?" Noah was following behind her.
"Garw Garw" (I am fine).
It still feels weird that I have to look up to see their faces every time. When can I grow taller? Sigh
"Garw Garw Garw" (Anyway, strip them and take their equipment; there are still two left.)
Their equipment will be an upgrade for us. My sword is already low on durability; it can break at any minute, and I don't even have any armor protecting my body.
Stab stab stab stab
All of a sudden, multiple stabbing sounds could be heard. Weird. Does stripping someone require this much stabbing?
Curious as to what the hell they were doing, I looked over at them just to see a gruesome sight.
"Hehehehe"
"How dare you... try to hurt my dad?"
"Unforgivable.."
Kene was repeatedly stabbing the dwarf's body and tearing apart his body.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone