Before them, one of the huge entrances to the Goblin King's dungeon. It emanated a smell that Al-Hek quickly recognized as miasma. Something that shouldn't exist there, unless there were demons now. That made his hair stand on end.

  “The shouting has stopped!” Zad assured.

  Al-Hek hadn't sensed a thing all the way there, making him feel useless. He needed more Perception if he wanted to reach his previous level.

  “You think it was Jean?”, asked Dih.

  “Honestly, ... I couldn't tell you! Your friend's tenacity borders on insanity!”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Yarosh murmured from afar. “Are you seriously thinking of going in, Zad?! You yourself once said that you almost died in there. Besides, you didn't mention any miasma!”

  “That's because there wasn't any!” Zad looked around suspiciously, worried by the abnormal silence.

  Al-Hek moved back and forth thoughtfully; his plan was now impossible. Not only because of the lack of goblins to level up. He wouldn’t survive more than an hour without the relevant potions. The only one who could handle that level of miasma was Dih, and it would be reckless to send her inside alone without any kind of invisibility skill.

  “What now?” Dih murmured. “How are we going to get to Jean?”

  “Are you sure she can survive that?” Yarosh asked.

  “Not only that, but she could feed on it and even spread it to others.”

  “You think she's the one spreading it?” Zad asked.

  Dih shook her head. “Why would she waste it? She needs it to live. Besides, I don't think she can either.”

  Zad sighed. “I'm sorry for your friend, but we're leaving!”

  Erish began to mumble something inaudible. Zad ignored her and turned to Dih. “I already made it clear that it was madness to come killing goblins so close to the entrance of this damned place. Don't count on us.” He hoped that would bring Erish to his senses. “I said we're leaving!” Only Yarosh obeyed him.

  “Wait! What if we go southwest to see that camp the peasant girl talked about.” Al-Hek interceded. “Maybe they'll scratch our backs if we promise them we'll scratch theirs later!”

  “No! None of my people will go to that camp!” Zad aggressively stated.

  “What's wrong with going to the camp?” Erihs demanded to know. “They are from the Guild and from there we could call for help...”

  “...to help a Cursed One?! Are you serious?! As soon as they find out, hell will break loose! Besides, I believe I told you that the Guild kills those who bear the Sacrificed mark! Exactly the one we have for getting out alive from an offering to the demons! An offering that several veteran members of the Guild assiduously organize.”

  “So Jean was right!” Dih fidgeted, thinking that surely she, too, carried that mark. “You can see those marks?”

  Zad denied. “No, but I have a reliable source of information.”

  “Who?”

  “The guardian of a sacred lake that...”

  “Narhad is another fucking manipulator like you!” Erish shouted.

  There was an awkward silence that Zad tried to fill as he approached her. “She's been helping us for years with...”

  She pushed his hand away with an icy stare. “Don't touch me!”

  “This is how you thank us for saving your ass?!” Yarosh blurted out outraged. “Leave her here with them if she wants to die so badly!”

  Zad nipped the argument in the bud. “We don't abandon any human, least of all at the hands of demons.” He didn't spend much time calming the tension. Something caught his attention.

  There was an extra smell in the air. Zad looked toward the distant village, but saw no smoking chimneys. After all it was spring, no one needed a warm house at that time of the morning. He soon realized that the smell was coming from the west, not the north. Without explaining himself, he headed off into the woods.

  “Where the hell is he going?!” Dih shouted indignantly.

  Al-Hek didn't hesitate. “Hurry up! She may not be inside the dungeon after all!”

  She instinctively glanced at the horizon as a knot tightened in her stomach. “Do you really think she might still be outside?” She ran after Zad as if a whip was lashing her. “If she's in the forest...”

  “If she's in the woods, she's just as screwed!” Zad interrupted her. “We'll just swap goblins for bandits. If your buddy wants to get inside anyway...”

  “Jean can remove the miasma and cure him.” Dih assured, glancing sideways at Al-Hek. He nodded in agreement with the strategy.

  Zad watched them dumbfounded. “Why on earth do you trust her so much and not us? Do you think she is Jesus Christ?”

  “You don't know her like we do! Before she was cursed, she never abandoned us even as a mere level 2 cleric! Never!!” Erish interrupted with glassy eyes.

  Zad sighed. “All right! It's a crappy plan, but I'll help you guys!”

  “We're really going to mess with them? Those guys are tough and have the forest full of traps!” Yarosh added. “Half of my group fell when we wanted to rescue some peasants a few months ago.”

  “Calm down! They don't have anything I can't deal with.” Zad confidently stated.

  Al-Hek smiled. “How many have you killed?”

  Zad didn't say a word, he simply marched towards a specific direction. Despite the fact that no one was carrying torches and the colors were conspicuous by their absence, he seemed to have a clear idea of what he was looking for. Perhaps he had Low-Light Vision or some sort of tracking skill characteristic of his Hunter class. That encouraged Al-Hek to trust him.

  It didn't take them long to locate the area of the forest to explore. High up near a cave. Typical hiding place for bandits and criminals. The Black Bow bandits who attacked the village had probably come out of a similar place. How many would they have to deal with?

  Shortly, Zad detected a trail of about twenty to fifty individuals. He wasn't sure as they were just very flattened weeds. They shuffled the possibility that something had come out of the dungeon only to return with more weight. Several human skeletons recently stripped of skin and muscle along the way told them so.

  The trail was even bigger the closer they got to the dungeon. That made everyone nervous.

  Al-Hek prayed it wasn't all that was left of Jean. Erish was close to tears. She was shaking so badly that Dih had to comfort her. “Calm down! It's not her! We... We have to keep searching!”

  “Could this be her doing?” Yarosh asked.

  Dih and Al-Hek denied in unison. “She wouldn't even leave the bones.”

  With each step, it became clearer that several spell casters had passed by. The underbrush had been burned and the ground had explosion marks as a result of huge magic projectile impacts. Al-Hek knew them well.

  Suddenly, Zad ordered them to start moving forward under the cover of the trees. Only when he gave the signal did they move a short distance. The first rays of sunlight peeked over the tops of a huge mountain on the horizon.

  Dih was dying to shout that they had to hurry up, but she had to bite her tongue as she remembered how helpless she had felt against only four of those bandits in the village. If all those bastards were around level 20, the only one who could make a difference was Zad. It was better not to compromise the situation any further.

  Zad commanded them to duck and hide. “Do you hear that?”

  “Damn it! What are you? A bat?”, muttered Al-Hek.

  Zad waited for everyone's attention. “On the count of three, you follow me and shoot!” That went for Erish and Yarosh. “You two, don't let anything get close to us and stay hidden behind us so he can underestimate us!”

  “What are we going to fight against?” Yarosh whispered with a trembling voice.

  “Have I ever failed you?” Seeing Zad's serious look, the young man composed himself. He readied his crossbow and denied. Zad looked at Erish. The young woman had transformed; her look of insecurity was completely gone.

  Zad smiled. He then looked at Al-Hek and Dih. “Don’t attack until I tell you to. Move always hidden.” They both nodded.

  He was the first to rush at the enemy, bow in hand. He did it at an unsustainable speed for the rest. He looked like a cheetah fixed only on his prey.

  Al-Hek came out last. With his level 13, he was by far the weakest. However, when he saw the target in the distance, he froze in place. It was a huge demon goblin, easily one meter ninety and 140 kilos of pure muscle. In his hands, huge, rusty metal gauntlets. The rest was barely rags.

  He wasn't even aware of their presence. He was sitting near two dead bandits,eating the head of one of them.

  ?Brute Demon Goblin?

  Level ??

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Name: Big Fists

  Marks: [Killer], [Sadist], [Torturer]

  Details: This creature represents an impossible challenge for you.

  Arrows flew swiftly from Zad's bow. All of them straight at the creature's head. They all hit, but barely pierced.

  “What the hell is his skin made of?”

  Erish's shots were no different. It was Yarosh's bolt that made the difference. It would have hit him in the neck and pierced it through and through only if the goblin had not interposed his muscular right arm.

  “INSECTS!!!”, shouted the demon goblin getting up in a hurry. Furious after ripping off the bolt, he imbued himself with a fiery red aura. Arrows rained down on him again, but were even less effective.

  “Shit! What the hell do we do now?” Al-Hek shouted at Dih. She didn't react. The look on her face was one of total panic.

  Zad approached the goblin and left the bow behind to switch to the claymore he carried on his back harness. Everyone held their breath as he charged while three magical blades danced around the blade.

  The goblin had never seen that attack before and decided to not underestimate it. He jumped back as Zad continued to approach. Unfortunately, he did not reach him. A mighty roar triggered a shockwave that raised a small dust cloud.

  The goblin concentrated power in his right fist. A small tornado formed around it. Everyone moved instinctively to dodge it.

  The shock wave advanced like a tunnel boring machine in fast motion. Dirt and rocks leapt in all directions, impacting on most of them. Almost blinded by the dirt in their eyes, they distanced themselves from the goblin.

  “This is fucking suicide!”

  Al-Hek's hood had shielded his eyes and now he watched as Yarosh loaded the next bolt into the crossbow despite the tears. Wanting to give him some time, Al-Hek decided to do what he did best. He picked up one of the small stones that had fallen at his feet, stood in front of a tree and hurled the rock at the goblin's face.

  When the huge demon goblin received the insignificant attack, he didn't even blink as his face was the living image killer instinct. His eyes were bloodshot as Al-Hek raised both middle fingers with a smirk on his face. “Are you afraid, asshole?”

  After a deafening scream from the goblin, the red tongues of flame coming from his body grew larger and larger. That was the harbinger of a powerful onslaught as he prepared another devastating punch.

  He shattered everything in its path, but Al-Hek wasn't afraid. He was never afraid, or so he told himself as he repeated his father's phrase to himself. “Fear is for eunuchs.”

  “Damn it, old man! Why are you always in my head?”, he mumbled as his legs trembled slightly.

  Al-Hek rolled at the last moment to the left, letting the goblin's lunge slam into the tree behind him. Words failed him to describe how half the tree exploded into a thousand pieces, but Al-Hek hadn't come as a spectator. With his short sword and dagger, he dashed forward to slash the demon's legs.

  To his despair, it barely penetrated the flesh. Not only that, but he barely escaped by the skin of his teeth from his elbow. Instantaneous, like a spring.

  “DAMN GNATS!”

  Al-Hek was pushed by the shock wave. He tried to regain his balance, but he wasn't going to be able to dodge the next strike just by rolling. Yarosh and Erish gave him that time he needed with a bolt to the cheekbone and an arrow to the nose.

  The goblin shouted and charged straight at both of them without worrying about the pain. He had changed targets and Yarosh was the new lucky one.

  Al-Hek knew today was the day for his crazy ideas. “Guys I need some pressure! Give it everything!”

  He didn't wait for them to nod. His old team always followed him in his recklessness because it always worked. Except the last one. That one killed them all.

  Trying to dominate the trembling in his hands, he threw one of his daggers at the goblin's ear and ran towards him. With Precise Aim, it was easy for the dagger to enter the goblin's ear, drastically interrupting his advance.

  The screaming as he tried to pull the steel out of his eardrum without success and tried not to lose his balance, almost forced them to cover their ears. Al-Hek took advantage of this dance to try to sink his sword into his testicles. That was unexpected for everyone.

  The goblin was barely able to react when Zad charged again with the claymore imbued with magic. Another arrow from Erish timely hit one of the goblin's eyes, allowing Zad to hit him squarely in the abdomen.

  The goblin tried to pull the arrow out, but between Dih's punches to the open wound, Zad's thrusts to the arms, and a deep slash across the neck that Al-Hek made sure to deliver, his death sentence was sealed.

  [You have defeated Brute Demon Goblin. Level 51]

  [You have reached Level 17. +20 attribute points.]

  [You have learned Chameleon — Level 1.

  You are made to fight unnoticed. Allows 15% presence concealment. In the shadows it's twice as effective, and quadruples if you are standing still. High mana consumption when moving.]

  “You got it?”, asked Zad.

  “Yes! I have Chameleon!”, he happily exclaimed as Erish surveyed what was left of the camp in search of Jean.

  "Stop! She can't be here! We'll look for her though." Zad asserted.

  "Here! It's a potion to withstand the miasma. I only have one. And this is a healing potion. Spend it only when you get out. Now go and bring her back! If the miasma is impossible to bear, just locate her and come back!"

  "Thanks, man! I will never forget this!"

  Zad nodded. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? She's pretty, but she's not worth dying for a fuck.”

  “If you find yourself surrounded, lure them outside to finish them off as we did just now. We will do this as many times as necessary. When we secure the area, she'll go in and take her out.” He pointed at Dih.

  Al-Hek nodded, looking at them all. They looked tense, especially Erish. She was on the verge of tears. She looked like she wanted to go instead. “I don't understand how you're so tenacious when it’s related to Jean and so wimpy the rest of the time.”

  “Jean is everything to...” She covered her face and turned away, unable to utter a word.

  Dih, on the other hand, had a glimmer of hope in her eyes. He winked. That annoyed her greatly. "Don't even think about dying, asshole! You owe me one!"

  “I wouldn't forgive myself if you'd had such a bad time for nothing.”

  She frowned and then smiled. “Run!”

  ?????? ??????

  Without wasting a second, Al-Hek ran down the hill in the direction of the dungeon. The others stayed with Zad to check the camp. The demon goblins had completely razed it to the ground and carried the bandits for a meat party. "I hope she’s ok!"

  “[Don't waste time! Things are looking bad for her!]”

  “Motherfucker! You scared me!” It was bad news that he intervened. The pact came back to his mind again. “Which way?”

  “[Straight ahead!]”

  A miasma of an intense red hue flooded the entrance.

  “[Take that potion now or you won't make it alive!]”

  He swallowed it without stopping running. As soon as it was impossible for him to see in the dark, he conjured Low-Light Vision. A magical skill he always chose at level 10. He moved without Chameleon to save mana after he allocate five necessary points in Perception. The difference was abysmal. Smells, sounds, even Low-Light Vision was far better.

  “[Hurry up!]”

  He ran at top speed even though discomfort flooded him. His skin itched and his eyes burned because of the miasma. "Keep going, keep going! There'll be time to complain later!"

  A voice in the distance alerted him; someone was groaning. It wasn't Jean’s voice. “Perhaps she’s torturing them…” He wished with all his might that was the case, but he knew he was only fooling himself.

  Pustules began to appear all over his skin and blood trickled down his nose and ears. It had been several seconds since he had opened his eyes to avoid bumping into a wall. "The miasma here is so dense! I don't know how I'm gonna manage to reach her!"

  “[You will!]”

  "You just want me to find her, don't you? You don't care about me! … No problem! I can handle it."

  “[You always lie to yourself like that?]”

  The voices became crystal clear. It was the hoarse voice of something huge moaning. "Suffer bitch! Suffer!"

  “That thing is the target?”

  “[Wait! He’s not alone!]”

  Enduring the terrible pain, Al-Hek cast Chameleon and crept forward until he could see him. The creature was much larger than the damn demon goblin outside. He must easily be three meters tall and he kept punching himself in his huge belly. Action that didn't seem to be the real source of his pain.

  "Die, die! Your power will be mine and your pets will be today's food! HA HA HA! SUFFER! Did you seriously think you could defeat me?"

  Al-Hek felt his stomach knot and his blood run cold. He couldn't believe it. That bastard had eaten Jean? Was that why he was punching himself in the stomach?

  “No, I have to do something!!”

  “[FOCUS!! NOT YET!!]”

  “What do you mean not yet?! I'M FUCKING DYING!!”

  Al-Hek drew his sword and rushed towards the huge goblin. He could barely see and blood gushed from every sore with every step he took. He became increasingly aware that these were his last moments.

  Less than 10 paces from his target, what was left of his senses alerted him that something was on his tail. As he turned around, he threw his dagger. However, it was already too late. His left arm fell to the ground. He almost followed it due to the lack of balance.

  Despite his eyes burning and his vision blurred by blood, Al-Hek managed to see a hooded man with an immense greatsword.

  “What are you trying, minion?” His voice was strong and manly. For an instant it sounded familiar.

  ?Ascended Human Aspirant?

  Level ??

  Name: Jarholk

  Details: This Cursed One represents an impossible challenge for you.

  “Cursed One? No shit!!”