“A tank, a mage, and an archer…” Kanade whispered to herself, whether it was a way to steel herself or simply a calculation she was doing. Nonetheless, the composition made sense to her somewhat, a solo frontline and three longer-range attackers. While Kanade looked at the bright side, in Han’s opinion the party was horrible. In fact, he would have rather slept longer than been woken up to this. At least now, she wasn’t blindly working together; everyone has value, and she should know how to use it like he does.

  Han could assume that the archer girl was a player by the way she was eyeing them both. Though, he can’t let her bare impression dictate her usefulness. The mask-wearing mage had to be a pay-to-win kind of guy, already increasing their chances, and the tank, he wasn’t giving off player vibes. He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, just a hunch. Anyhow, since Kanade came from the other end, the closest party member was him, which she nodded to as a first greeting.

  “Hello.” She gave a light nod as her eyes glimpsed through all of them. “I’m Kanade. This is Pochirin.” She gestured to Han, her formulaic introduction was fine. It was better to show some social skills to build rapport. He was more interested in their personalities so that he could tell if they would be a drag.

  “Berdrogh’s my name. A battle-tank.” The big guy spoke with a smile just from the get-go, despite it; he was quite intimidating.

  “…Juuka.” The elven archer barely audibly said, her head was pointed somewhere else, and she used the corner of her eyes to peek at them. Kanade’s eyes land on the mage, who promptly turned away and began walking. A cold shoulder from the start. Han immediately began theory-crafting; a friend of the archer or a prick.

  “I guess we’re walking. It’s not that far away.” Berdrogh added in a befuddled tone. Lifting up his large shield and attaching it to his chest. Han couldn’t help but think how unique that was. Since the battle-axe on his back balanced out the shield’s weight on the front, it was quite a feat to walk with that kind of luggage. Though Li wouldn’t have too much trouble, at least once she wasn’t ill.

  Since the mage took the front, Kanade and Han stuck at the back, either way, both of them didn’t know the path to the dungeon. Once again, the whole area was covered by plains from which their destination could clearly be seen; the woods.

  “You’ve been to this dungeon before?” Berdrogh slightly leaned in towards Juuka. It didn’t seem like she would answer, but she shook her head.

  For a group that should care for each other’s lives, the atmosphere was toxic from the get-go. At least Han had Kanade, and Kanade had Han. It had to be miserable for that guy.

  Tsk tsk, good thing I never really got into guild dungeon raids.

  His method was far simpler, despite being harder. Since he already knew the majority of the lower-level dungeons, at least those he needed to speedrun to level 20, they were all that he needed. So no adventurer guild forced parties. He understood why they do it lore-wise and gameplay-wise. It just didn’t matter.

  The destination was pretty close, all things considered, it took them only a couple of silent minutes of walking to enter the woods that were a tad hilly.

  They pass a thin river by walking over a few tied logs, as light as they were, the mossy logs weren’t an issue. Though, as they were the last to cross, Berdrogh’s weight in the front was dampening Han’s paws and Kanade’s shoes in the cold running water. Once they crossed, nobody waited for them aside from him. He began walking alongside them. His eyes were clearly examining Han as he was between Kanade and him.

  “Say… he’s a wolf? Quite a unique one if he is.”

  “Mm.” She shakes her head. “A hound.”

  “A hound, you say? He really looks like a wolf…” Han clearly saw his hand hover over him, and he wasn’t having any of it. To avoid that, he walked around Kanade and took her left side.

  “Pfuu…” He suddenly chuckled silently when faced with Kanade’s confused face. He quickly shook it off. “Ahem. It’s nothing.” Berdrogh and the others continued walking in silence, giving time to strategize.

  The upcoming dungeon is a low-level one, sadly among the majority of ones he hadn’t explored. The core principle was still the same; it becomes stronger the deeper they went, and there were landmark bosses at varying floor digits. And finally, the big bad boss was at the end. Overall.

  Shouldn’t be too bad… all we need is a couple levels and dip.

  They have no real chance of going deeper than floor 20 or so, after that, a random landmark boss could wipe them out effortlessly. Though, if the layout was favorable, and with ample rest and teamwork, it was doable. Han face-palmed inwardly as he observed the three dimwits he and Kanade, are stuck with.

  The party quickly went deeper into the hilly woods, although most of them were fine with the silence; Berdrogh just couldn’t stop. He kept glancing stealthily at everyone and grimaced, a good way to calm himself down soon came into his mind.

  His thick hand slid into a pouch he had hidden near his hip, though paused, glanced around again, seemingly changed his course of action.

  “Want one? They’re freshly baked.” He asked and showed Kanade a pouch filled with cookies. She took one and sniffed it a bunch before finally eating it, Han assumed that she could tell whether it was drugged or toxic.

  “Thank you.” She nodded gently after munching.

  Since Berdrogh didn’t offer him one, it was probably because he, and well, Han too, didn’t know if he could. Though before Berdrogh could delight to a cookie himself, all of them noticed Juuka repeatedly glance over her shoulder, the moment they saw her, she jolted straight back. He promptly chuckled and extended his arm far enough for her to grab one without needing to face them.

  However, it also caught Lionel’s attention.

  “…What?” Juuka asked upon seeing him stare at her. It was hard to tell what he was thinking with that mask on his face. Nonetheless, she averted her eyes from his glaring. “I haven’t eaten anything before so…” Her voice came to a fading halt, though not before they could overhear everything.

  “D-Do elves… do elves really barely eat?!?” His sudden surprised face turned to Kanade, who didn’t know how to react. “I thought it was a myth… Personally, I couldn’t… I’d force-feed myself my daughter’s cookies every day. Though, to be fair… I do that already. Hohohoho.” He couldn’t help but slap his shield a couple of times as if it was his stomach. The loud banging once more alerted the high-strung mage.

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  “Ssh! You’ll give out our location you buffoon.” Lionel exclaimed without stopping his gait or even turning around. Although Berdrogh’s laughter had waned, his joy did not. He tapped Kanade’s shoulder and then put his index finger near his lips as a gesture whilst quietly snickering.

  This has to be the most dysfunctional party ever.

  Han sighed inwardly, hoping that they will focus up as he smelled something irregular up ahead. But he wasn’t the only one with exceptional senses.

  “There’s a weird stench right in front of us; dung, sweat, and other foul scents I can’t describe.” They all slowed down a bit as they listened. With them proceeding further with at least some guard up, it did not annoy Han as much as if they would not have. Though, he could barely tell.

  Their footpath led them to tiny hills, they didn’t even need to peek over them to hear the rummaging behind them. They weren’t even trying to hide their footsteps, Lionel kept stepping on branches, and Berdrogh was a walking street attraction with his loose bells and whistles that were his heavy armor. Lionel and Juuka were the first ones to glance at what was happening, promptly taking cover via the trees. The trio behind them got the hint and did so as well, at least Han and Kanade did.

  “Wow. That’s new.” Berdrogh said calmly whilst completely standing in the open.

  Beyond the hill was a glade nestled in depressed ground, ringed by sparse trees. It had a surprise waiting for them; an outpost. A crude one at that. A short watchtower built upon bones and thicker branches. Leather tents propped up by wooden stakes, their own stench somehow didn’t vex the sole race there; goblins.

  Over a dozen or so, slugging along, some laid bare in their rather open tents and their supposed outlook; it was staring at the face of a cliffside. Right where the main putrescent stench was coming from was their ticket for loot. A large cliffside with an oblong cave entrance that was unnaturally receding inwards.

  Since Berdrogh said it was something new, Han had trouble understanding how they appeared here all of a sudden. However, it shouldn’t be too hard to take care of; after all, the dungeon they were surrounding was of a low-level. To add to that, they were simply goblins.

  “I’ll cast a ball of flame to destroy that watchtower, causing a distraction. Tank will go on the ground while the two of you clear everything out with me. Converse energy.” Lionel blurted out a plan, he stared at Berdrogh at the last part though. Overall, that wasn’t a terrible plan in both Han and Kanade’s opinion. Nonetheless, without waiting for the fighting to start, Han looked down at Kanade’s ankles and bit the handle of a dagger, unsheathing it.

  I’m not filling my mouth with shitty goblin blood.

  “Did you teach him that?” However, Han’s action didn’t go unnoticed as Berdrogh promptly asked.

  “Mm.” She shook her head. Now, Kanade was the one observing Berdrogh. He unlatched the huge hunk of metal that was his shield off his chest and promptly placed it on the grass without looking. Due to its thickness, it simply stood on its own despite the waviness on the ground. He threw his right hand over his left shoulder, at the same time unbuckling the mechanism that held his battle-axe on his back.

  He even turned slightly to avoid accidentally swinging it into a tree or Kanade. He wielded the long-handled battle-axe with a single hand, seemingly effortlessly. His eyes were still locked onto the goblin outpost, though she couldn’t help but notice his eyebrows scrunch up. She roughly traced his gaze to Han, who was in the middle of the outpost.

  So… it hasn’t changed too much.

  It was the perfect time to retest his ? Cloak of Obliviousness ? passive radius. The goblins weren’t putting him, or anyone, in grave danger, so he sent it. His size was enough to finally tower over someone who wasn't a baby. He snuck into one of the open tents, though they didn’t have much cover, so he pretty much waltzed in unnoticed. Inside was a single goblin just sitting on the ground.

  That’s… three meters.

  He inched forward. While he wasn’t rushing the gauging process, he kept a linear pace whilst guesstimating the distance, until the goblin’s green eyes looked straight at him. The goblin was ugly, akin to an old green man covered by nothing but a loincloth. Yet its skin was smooth, covered in dirt, mud, or worse. The bottom fangs were protruding, though just a tad, as if it was a child of an orc. His green eyes were filled with oblivion, not a care in the world, eventually turning back to doing whatever it was doing. Conclusion.

  Two meters is the limit.

  A few moments before, under the shade before the outpost, the party was ready to ridicule the smiling Kanade. Berdrogh’s confused expression had more worry than anything, among the other two, assuming a harsh remark from Lionel wasn’t out of the question. Especially considering his faceless mask kept glaring Han and Kanade the whole way.

  “Tsk…” Lionel lets out a sound, presumably reflexively. He extended his staff hand and began focusing. Right at the charred staff’s tip, a thumb-sized flame flickered on. His commitment didn’t falter and continued as it kept increasing in volume. Seeing Lionel starting the first step of the plan.

  “Alright. I’m coming, Pooch.” He started descending into the grove, his large size quickly alerted one of the goblins. They promptly started yelling high-pitched gurgles.

  Han, on the other hand, leapt forward, slicing the nape of the sitting goblin without any resistance or noise. The goblin’s head jerked forwards; the thin skin ripped apart under its own head’s weight. He seemed to have timed it during its breath, as the open throat let out a slight whistle before finally collapsing and creating a second light thump. Instead of going on a rampage, he really wanted to observe the party. Their capabilities shouldn’t be too weak by his guess, but it was still a guess.

  Using his passive, he pretended they were enemies, not that he had any connection to begin with, so the process was easy; with Kanade, it probably wouldn’t be. Anyway, he glanced at the hill. Lionel’s ball of flame didn’t fit the description; it was akin to a good boulder. The flame kept swirling around by the leaves and his robes that kept fighting against its pull, it seemed to be pulling an immense amount of oxygen.

  Then Lionel’s staff leaves the ball mid-air as he instead motions his staff’s tip akin to casting a fishing line. With minimal delay, the ball was flung by an invisible force, pathing after the mage’s rough trajectory. However, the hill gave an advantageous latitude to arch over and shoot the watchtower that was near the cliff side, but it was losing airtime fast, drooping right below the top of the tower already.

  Is it even gonna reach?

  His question was soon answered as the ball of flame combusted upon barely touching the crude watchtower’s side. While Han couldn’t feel the warmth from his spot, he did have to dart his eyes away simply due to the brightness of it. And luckily because of it, he avoided the absurdly bright fiery explosion that followed after it. Covering the nowhere-to-be-seen watchtower and the whole leftwards backend part of the outpost

  High-pitched gurgles of goblins running around in panic reached his keen ears, their rabid panic lit up nearby tents and even each other. Quite honestly; it was horrifying to see. For someone that was just a zombie not so long ago, this was akin to being an impostor and killing his own kin. The pinging he heard was the kill tally ramping up, he didn’t even want to check it right now. Though, not that he could.

  The windless woods forced the singed flesh into his nostrils. Pushing the gagging sensation back, he controlled his nose as much as he could to avoid smelling that horrid stench ever again. It could only be described as putting moldy, rotten meat in an open smoker.

  A loud thunk drew his attention next. It sounded like something heavy landed.

  Berdrogh had arrived at the playground. Armed with a battle-axe he was already locked onto a target, a brave goblin wielding a jagged dagger. Before swinging, he juggled his weapon, turning to the blunt side. Then, he swung.

  The brave goblin’s rush ended with him turning into a green mist; a couple of his limbs flew in the respective direction of the strike. Han’s eyes were blinded by yet another ball of flame it landed in one of the tents near the cliffside. At least now he was ready to obstruct the stench.

  This is… this is just a massacre—

  —OUGHH!?!

  A deep, loud shout grabbed all of their attentions. Out of one of the burning tents, something big emerged. Something green. An evolved goblin. Its size even rivaled the likes of Berdrogh’s. His sheer size, though, wasn’t comparable to him. Aside from its fat belly, its whole upper body is muscular to a point where every larger vein could be distinguished from a distance. Wearing nothing but a furry loincloth that seemed to be made out of multiple hogs, it stood directly opposite of Berdrogh. Enraged. The grass unwillingly kept reacting to its every pulsating breath.

  Han’s hearing evidently caught a mutter from Berdrogh’s side. “It’s on…”