Dungeons and Dalliances

They quieted down after those initial discussions, since while this might not be a stealth mission, it was preferable to approach the search as inconspicuously as possible. She also pulled out Malice to join them. She hadn't earlier because she had wanted to talk freely, perhaps even about Malice herself—since she was an agent of the dungeon, captured or not. While Natalie didn't distrust her for that, she did need to acknowledge reality. And they needed to be able to talk about the possibility of Malice being incorrect without offending the girl. Who did, admittedly, seem like she would be easy to offend.

The Duskwood was navigable, as far as forests went. Neither the thickest and most treacherous of woods nor particularly spacious and flat. They trudged through at a decent pace, taking note of distinct features, of which Varten had marked many with great detail on the map he'd provided them.

Before long, they arrived at the subsection of the forest Varten had feared to explore by himself—the dangerous portion, and not just because of the goblins' presence. The remote, untamed places of Valhaur, or any country, held all manners of creatures and beasts that could be a threat even to combat-classed individuals. Modern age or not, the world was far from conquered.

About two hours into their search, they ran into trouble.

The most shocking part was that it was unannounced—an ambush. Or, an ambush by goblin standards. They weren't the most subtle of creatures. But one moment their party was walking through the forest, and the next something thumped into Natalie's upper arm. She faltered on her next step, attention flicking down to see, incredulously, that an arrow was sticking out of her.

Surprising as such a realization was, it took even the battle-hardened group of six a fraction of a second to understand. Natalie stared dumbly at the black-feathered shaft of wood, eyes wandering down to where the arrowhead was invisible inside her flesh. Another projectile whistled past, missing her.

Jordan staggered backward as an arrow hit her square in the skull. The projectile shattered and slammed to the ground, repelled, but Jordan reared back, a hand shooting up to grab at her head. Her HP had saved her, rejecting the attack entirely—since an arrow through the skull would've meant death. But where Natalie had an arrow sticking out of her arm, and Jordan only had a trickle of blood seeping between the fingers held to her forehead, the HP cost had been significantly more severe on Jordan. She might even be briefly out of the fight. Certainly, she was dazed.

Natalie snapped out of her shock and confusion just as the screaming of goblins began. The squat, foul creatures streamed out from between the trees, as if from nowhere; she almost didn't understand where they'd come from, especially so many. Had they been lying in wait?

She pushed her baffled confusion to the side. Ignoring the pain, she pulled the arrow off her arm and tossed it to the side; she couldn't afford the metal grinding up the muscles in her arm, messing up her attacks. On cue, Liz's empowering spell, along with a heal, washed through her even as she hefted [Valentine] into the air. Not by intention, she let out her own scream of adrenaline, rushing forward toward the group of goblins to draw as much attention as she could.

As she ran, she took note of the battlefield.

Opponents and allies—allies first.

Malice followed behind her, the martial artist eager as always to get up close and personal, probably more so than Natalie herself. A glance over her shoulder showed Sofia staying back to hover around Liz and Ana, guarding them against the incoming swarm, the enemies Natalie wouldn't be able to occupy since there were so many of them.

Jordan was gone; Natalie had to scan left and right, eyes flicking around wildly in concern and confusion before she finally caught a glimpse of the girl sneaking forward, surprisingly far from the fray. Setting up for a flank, as a rogue tended to. Natalie was glad she'd brushed off the surprise arrow, though probably with the help of a heal from Liz. Her HP probably wasn't in a great position now. Another fatal attack could mean bad business for her. Natalie had to force herself to squash down that worry. One of the downsides of delving and adventuring with friends.

Then the enemies.

There were about fifteen of them. Maybe more, enough to make it hard to count. The squat, wrinkly, green-skinned creatures wore rags and weapons of mottled arrangements. The sight wasn't any different from the encounter at the farmstead.

Except for one. The largest of the goblins, standing a foot taller than the rest, coming up nearly to Natalie's chest, was an image that briefly seized her with shock, almost making her stumble a step in her charge. Not because of his size and muscled stature, an unusually powerful physique for a goblin, which were normally wiry, jagged things full of thin muscles stretched across crooked unnatural frames, but rather, another distinguishing feature.

The glowing golden veins running all across his body.

[Goblin Raid Leader - Lv. 3]

Just level three. There had been some of those back at the farmstead, too. In fact, there were fewer total opponents here than the previous fight, which they'd been fine in.

Yet Natalie had a bad feeling about this. Or in particular, that goblin. What were those? The vibrant golden lines snaking across his body, bulging across his muscles? They looked like veins, but why were they gold?

And where all the other goblins were screaming and rushing, the distance between Natalie and them vanishing, the Raid Leader held a bow at the ready, an arrow with a black feather nocked—pointed toward her. He released, and Natalie sidestepped, the arrow whistling by.

He had daggers sheathed at his hip. A rogue of some type. A calm expression was on his face. Tense but analyzing as he pulled another arrow from his quiver and nocked it.

Watching Natalie come. Ready for her. Intelligent. Without a doubt less mindless than these other creatures … almost not a goblin at all, by the keenness in his eyes.

She definitely had a bad feeling about this.

Then again, another part of her was thinking—

It was about time she got a good fight.