It was mayhem.

  It was chaos.

  It was all I ever wanted.

  The Dread Tigers differentiated little between friend and foe, attacking all in their path. In their tormented state, they became even more vicious, pinning their victims and eating them alive. Their fangs and teeth glowed red with their trademark [Bleed] skill, which allowed them to draw blood even through health armor.

  The bulk of the goblin army thankfully stood between us and the freed Dread Tigers. The ferocious attack elevated the terror in the goblins’ hearts which in turn enhanced the effectiveness of [Fear Aura]. A plethora of new [System] messages assaulted me as the hardiest goblins succumbed to [Dismay]. Many of them lost the ability to move, too scared to do anything but gawk in place.

  Our side capitalized on this. With Kajal taking the lead, we went first for the Goblin Riders. They responded lethargically, unable to suppress their fear. [Dark Stalker] improved the potency of my aura, thanks to the synergy that existed between the skills.

  The combination of advantages, including others that I couldn’t pinpoint, resulted in an overwhelming victory for our party. Goblin Riders screamed and died beneath various techniques.

  I cracked a goblin’s skull against the wall and stepped back to regard the chaos I had wrought. Goblins actively fled from my position only to double back upon encountering the rampaging Dread Tigers.

  With nowhere else to go, the nearest goblins fell over themselves in a mad dash for the cave’s exit. I found myself side by side with Rilwan as our two groups finally merged.

  “You,” she said with wide eyes. “You are the Lord of Terror?!”

  Not this again. “If I were, you wouldn’t have survived our last encounter.”

  Rilwan responded with a dubious gaze, but Kajal yelled an order before any more could be said:

  “Follow!”

  We fought past the stampeding goblins toward the exit. Beyond the cave lay the tunnels and the sweet promise of escape. With the goblins as terrified as they were, the chances of potential problems were greatly reduced. However, I couldn’t put it past the critters to have a few dirty tricks up their sleeves.

  The first set of regulars, led by Tybalt and another Dark Elf Ranger, reached the stone bridge. Both had ditched their bows for daggers: a sensible choice, considering the nature of the fight. Tybalt waved his hand, sending a Dread Tiger cartwheeling off the bridge with [Throw]. The other Dark Elf sprang through the exit.

  A large bolt, fired from an unfamiliar contraption, punched through the Dark Elf’s health armor and sent him tumbling back. He died before he landed.

  The goblin behind the shot—the same pale-skinned goblin whom I had called a milkskin during our initial arrival—fixed us with a glare. He stood behind the mobile crossbow, unbothered by the stampede that pressed him on all sides.

  His eyes met mine, and he grinned. “Fuck you, Hagar.”

  And then, the exit collapsed, set off by a series of detonations. The falling boulders crushed a couple of unlucky elves and a few goblins to boot. Tybalt survived by dint of a gust of wind which blew him aside.

  “Futile,” Nana said at the impassable wall of rubble. “We can clear those rocks.”

  Huh? Did I hear her correctly? My Strength was only at the Common tier!

  Kajal seemed to think so too because she approached the rock wall, ki glowing on her fists. A set of loud noises interrupted her, accompanied by foreboding vibrations.

  “They’re collapsing the tunnels behind them!” I realized.

  Many of our people moaned in dismay, especially those who fought to defend our flanks. Paz blurred nonstop at the edge of my vision, focused on killing goblins. He seemed to enjoy our predicament, given his laughter. But, I couldn’t share his mirth.

  Kajal stared at the blockage with a hint of worry written on her features. “There has to be some other way. If we give chase . . .”

  “We’ll die,” the female Enchanter said. “We non-rankers can’t travel as fast as the rest of you.”

  It was nice to see that the Enchanter had survived the battle, but her downcast expression revealed the turmoil she felt over her failure with the alarm spell.

  What was up with that mess anyway? From the way she had explained runecrafting theory, the Enchanter knew her onions. How then did she manage to botch the job?

  “Get the div to open up a path,” Nana bellowed and blew a bunch of goblins clean off the bridge.

  The rampaging Dread Tigers neared our position with every passing second. This was not good.

  “We need a path?” a new voice announced from the back of the group.

  I turned in anger to Medekeine who had somehow fought his way to us across the sea of goblins. “Where have you been?”

  The grumpy dwarf, who retained his green-skinned appearance, rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. It wasn’t as straightforward as I imagined. The goblins had established a small laboratory beneath the cave, including a network to transport supplies between here and the Fanged Mountains.”

  “You found a hidden tunnel?!” That was exactly what we needed. If we could just fight our way to it—

  “I did,” Medekeine said forlornly, “and set it to detonate in the next . . .”—he checked a [System] screen—“two minutes. I assumed by the div’s position that escape was in sight.”

  “Two minutes . . .?” My vision swam. “What the hell, man?! We could have used a backup plan!”

  “Don’t call me man,” Medekeine hissed. “And, you don’t understand. I didn’t single out the hidden tunnel for destruction. The whole laboratory beneath us is set to blow—equipment and all. Lots of volatile chemicals. Massive explosion.”

  I couldn’t find the words. The wave of goblins had thinned, but the survivors contested still with the Dread Tigers. Most of them tried to run up the two bridges that stood at right angles to the now-buried exit. What could we even do with Medekeine’s information? How could one protect themselves against an explosion?

  Medekeine intended to improve his chances because he activated a skill that covered his skin in thick metal plates. He followed it up by transforming into [Bestial Shape] to exploit the HP buffer it provided.

  “Defensive skills,” I screamed. “Everyone! Massive explosion incoming!”

  Logain balked at my command, while Paz chanted something about his indifference to death that would annoy me if I bothered to parse it. Div’s massive frame glowed with the activation of a personal shield, but a majority of the elves sported ashen faces, at a loss for what to do.

  As a ranker with no real defensive skills, I faced a high chance of death. If my odds were low, what did that mean for the regulars and specialists?

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The first set of detonations went off beneath the ground. A few goblins took notice and glanced at their feet only to scream as a part of the cave collapsed. One chamber erupted in a rush of dust and dirt.

  “Huddle up!” Nana said and pulled a trinket from her staff. It splintered to dust with a close of her fist and dissipated into wisps of translucent light that floated around our party.

  The wisps hastened to a cool breeze and then into something more. They formed a dome of furiously spinning wind that encapsulated our party. The nearest goblins screeched as they came into contact with the dome. Blood and limbs went flying. The luckier ones encountered the wind at the farthest reaches of the technique. It picked them up bodily and flung them across the cave.

  The buffeting winds muffled all sounds that proceeded from outside the dome, but it did nothing to stifle the vibrations of the earth. The exploding goblin munitions caused large sections of the cave to crumble around us. A loud groan, ominous to the ears, announced the impending collapse of the bridge.

  “Hang on,” Nana screamed.

  To what?! I wanted to say, but I couldn’t communicate through the roaring in my ears.

  The bridge tumbled with a crack and spilled us all onto the ground. Large slabs of stone fell from the ceiling, condemning everyone—goblins and elves both—to a harrowing burial.

  “Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Nana said.

  I opened my eyes to find myself unburied, suspended in midair. The rest of our party hovered nearby, just as stunned as I was.

  Nana floated in the center of the group holding her trinket staff aloft. A bead of sweat rolled down her brow. Loud winds spun around us, slicing falling rocks to bits. However, the dome had now become an orb that dropped gently to the ground. All twenty-odd strong of us hovered in the center of the giant orb, as though robbed of weight.

  “So, this is the power of a gold ranker . . .” Kajal said in an airy whisper.

  Nana simply grunted.

  The wind orb faded away at a sufficient height from the ground. All of us landed gracefully, relieved by the return of gravity. Not a single hair had been harmed on any of our heads, which was incredible to think of. The same could not be said about the rest of the cave.

  I whistled at the aftermath of Medekeine’s destruction. Vast portions of the ground, which had now become the ceiling, had caved in, dumping us within the lab. Many of the goblins and Dread Tigers had been buried in their fall.

  Many yet whimpered with fleeting breath, clinging on to life. We ignored them for now. There were much better things we could do with our time . . . like finding a way out of the ground. The explosions had rendered the cave treacherous to remain in, compromising the integrity of the upper ceiling.

  Medekeine, in Komodo dragon form, shook his head. “All that risk . . . all that carnage . . . and, I didn’t even gain a single level.”

  “The goblins were far weaker than you, man,” Paz said. “If it was that easy, everyone would be a gold ranker.”

  “I am not a man,” Medekeine repeated.

  I checked my [System] messages to confirm my progress: Level 33. Not too shabby. I’d hoped to rise by more than two levels over the course of the battle, but this too was good. I chucked the extra points into Perception, bringing it up to 26.

  My Strength and Willpower both sat at 10, the threshold of the Common tier. [STR] promised to improve my overall damage and speed, while Willpower augmented [Fear Aura] and my mental defenses. The frequency with which my enemies resisted [Dismay] had started to irk me. But, I should probably focus on increasing Strength next. I didn’t have enough sustains to warrant the need for more Willpower. And, I hadn’t gone up against anyone in forever who could test my mental defenses.

  “This is no time to rest,” Kajal snapped as some of the elves fell wearily on the ground. “A crumbling cave is the last place you want to linger in. Drink some potions if you need to and get moving.”

  The elves followed her instructions.

  Kajal climbed atop a boulder and surveyed the landscape. It lay riddled with debris, forming a barrier around us on all sides. “Medekeine, you mentioned something about a hidden tunnel?”

  Komo-keine snorted and tasted the air. His forked tongue darted out of his mouth, much like an actual lizard. “There was one, but I don’t expect to find it in this mess.”

  “Try. We’ll break up into two groups and scour the area. Everyone’s expected to pitch in.”

  “Who are you, girlie?” Nana asked, studying Kajal. “You talk with such confidence. Who is she?” She directed the last question at me.

  “She’s Damien’s woman,” Paz replied, unsolicited.

  Logain spluttered. “Damien’s what?! How dare you? Have you lost your mind?!”

  “She’s not my woman, Nana,” I said before the idiots could make it worse.

  Kajal’s shoulders stiffened. “I can speak for myself, Damien.”

  “So, which is it?” Nana pressed. “Is she or is she not?” She gave Kajal a blatant once-over, making an expression that would have looked at home on a Nigerian mum. “She has a strong physique; I can’t approve of that enough. But, she’s a bad match for you, Damien. Elves and humans can’t produce offspring from their union.”

  “I’m not looking to produce anything!” I spat.

  “He’s right, gran,” Paz said. “He can’t get it up. I can confirm.”

  Nana’s eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates—“How in the Herald’s name did you confirm that?”—and then, they narrowed. “Did you just call me gran?”

  I groaned into my palm. “What even is this conversation?”

  Kajal ignored us and split the elves into two groups. Many of them had recovered their stamina, but their harrowing experience in the goblin pens remained etched on their faces.

  “What you pulled off back there,” Rilwan said from behind me. “It’s Fear, isn’t it? That’s how you got the goblins to stop moving.”

  The elves turned my way, almost as one. An uncomfortable silence descended over the cave.

  No point in hiding it. “It was.”

  Rilwan took a sharp breath. “The goblins have been using that same affinity. You know that, right? It allowed them to spread rapidly through the forest.”

  “Damien’s one of us,” Nana said. “Since before the goblin invasion. He has nothing to do with it.”

  “He doesn’t, huh?” Tybalt said. “And yet, if memory serves me correctly, the goblins attacked for the first time immediately after his appearance.”

  You fucking bastard. I saved your life, didn’t I? Is this how you choose to thank me?

  To my greatest surprise, Tybalt deflated. “There are many mysteries surrounding Damien, but it doesn’t change the fact that we owe him our lives. He brought us a ray of hope where only darkness existed. Ironic, huh, considering his affinity?”

  “Maybe we should stop the chatter,” Komo-keine growled, “and start the fucking search. There are pockets of volatile residue left over in this cave. Not the wisest place to lollygag in.”

  We sorted ourselves into the groups that Kajal recommended. I still had enough stamina to keep going strong, which probably had something to do with the [Heroic Defense] from earlier, but I downed a health potion just in case.

  The Wood Elf Enchanter searched the rocks beside me, mumbling to herself.

  I patted her shoulder or tried to, at least, only to realize that Hagar’s goblin form was too short for that maneuver. “It wasn’t your fault. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

  She blinked down at me. “No . . . my enchanting was perfect. The only way I could fail was if I had gotten a core value wrong from the start.”

  In the distance, Div—back in the form of a little girl—accompanied Komo-keine. Her dark bangs covered her face, veiling her eyes.

  What core value did the Enchanter speak about? A mistake in her interpretation of the sigils? But, Div had helped with that, and—

  “Found it,” Komo-keine said in a gravelly voice. “It’s somewhere around here.” He gestured with his tongue at a pile of rocks gathered around the wall.

  The strongest members of our group, which was everyone in our original party save for me, harnessed their Strength attributes to move the rocks.

  It took long minutes of grunting, but they eventually managed to clear a small portion of the cave. A half-buried exit revealed itself in the wall, thankfully traversable.

  “This goes back to the Fanged Mountains,” Komo-keine said, “if my guess is right. But, it’s only our way out.”

  “It isn’t,” a new voice said.

  Nana paled in the face. “You! Dwarf! Get back now!”

  Komo-keine tried to backpedal, but a translucent bolt of energy flew from the open tunnel and struck him in the face. He took enough damage to revert to human form and topple on his back. Screams crawled from his throat, painful to the ears.

  A barrier of purple energy formed around the entrance of the tunnel. Soft footsteps resounded from just behind it. Two goblins appeared behind the barrier, sporting twisted expressions of barely repressed rage. The first goblin, Hog Ring, stood with arms outstretched—the cause of whatever afflicted Medekeine. The second one glared at our party.

  Galagor didn’t need to say a word to convey his displeasure. His murderous intent was clear enough to see.

  Div glanced at the convulsing Medekeine and chuckled. But, she didn’t need to say her favorite phrase. Galagor announced it of his own volition:

  “You’re all going to die.”