Goblin King

We continued to make our way through the dungeon. It took us two days to reach the third floor, and another four days to reach the fourth floor. It wasn’t that the floors got larger as we descended, but the monsters got stronger. However, we were still alright. Dragon and Justice were gaining levels, if slowly, and the rest of us were gaining practical experience, which gave its own kind of improvement.

“How do people normally do dungeons?” Nero asked while we rested in a dead-end. It wasn’t a safe zone, like the stairs, but there was only one entrance, so it was easier to defend it. Nero and Richie were on duty, keeping watch while the others rested.

Richie kicked unhappily at the stone ground. Tiny pebbles skittered down the path away from him. “I dunno. I guess it depends why they’re there.” He lifted his head and peered suspiciously into the darkness for a moment, then relaxed and resumed staring at the ground. “Like, sometimes parties’ll group up if one just wants to collect ores or something, and the other wants one of the guardian’s drops. Or, like, how it’s a little hard to find Hellhounds normally, right? So people’ll probably start farming this dungeon for Hellhound parts, since there’re a bunch of ‘em here. It’s about efficiency. There’s some dungeons no one visits because you can get the materials better from other places.”

Nero frowned. He was sitting on the ground with his arms hugging his knees to his chest. Compared to Richie, he looked incredibly young.

I wished I could talk, both to comfort him and to ask my own questions. For instance, where did the monsters in dungeons come from? Why were there so many Hellhounds here? What determined how many and what types of monsters you encountered? Did other monsters ever appear, or were the types and numbers consistent over time?

No one answered me, so I could only keep the questions in mind and hope I’d get a chance to learn the answers eventually.

On the fourth floor, once we reached the end of Fay’s map, our progress slowed.

“We should go left. Don’t you know, when you’re doing a maze, you should put your left hand on the wall and just keep following it?” Lainie argued.

Michael groaned and rubbed his temples. “That only works for some types of mazes. Look at Fay’s map. There are sections it wouldn’t work for.”

“Well, that’s why we keep mapping as we go!”

Alicia raised her hand. I kind of hoped she never lost that habit of hers. I thought it was cute, though I supposed it would become less cute and more weird as she got older. “Luna’s got LUCK UP, right? So maybe we should have her and Nero decide?”

Never mind, Alicia wasn’t cute at all. Please don’t put that kind of pressure on me!

“Makes sense,” Richie agreed. Michael considered it for a moment, then nodded, and Lainie sighed and pouted but didn’t protest.

Nero and I gave each other dismayed looks, but we took up the lead.

“At least there aren’t any traps,” Lainie said as we walked. Maybe she was trying to bolster our spirits. I privately hoped she hadn’t jinxed us.

“Traps?” Nero asked. Even if she hadn’t summoned traps via raising the flag, she’d at the very least put the thought of them into Nero’s head, making his steps instantly less confident.

Lainie didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah. In the other dungeon, there were pitfalls all over the place. They weren’t too hard to detect, but I hear that some dungeons have crazy traps. Poison, teleportation, monster spawns, and all kinds of things. But don’t worry. Usually, a dungeon with traps has them scattered throughout. Since we haven’t found any, there probably aren’t any in this dungeon.”

“Unless it’s trying to lure us into a false sense of security,” Richie muttered.

“Oh shut it. The dungeon isn’t sentient, idiot.”

“Who’re you callin’ an idiot, stupid?”

They started bickering. It’d been happening more often since the dungeon formed, but it felt almost forced. The topics were usually fairly inconsequential, so I wondered if they weren’t maybe trying to break up the tension.

When we reached the fifth floor, the atmosphere changed. A new monster appeared, a shadowy shape that crept toward us silently. In the darkness of the dungeon, lit only by our lanterns, it was hard to spot it, save for a faint red glow from the magic stone buried deep within its chest. It swiped at Nero, who jumped back just in time.

“Flame Pulse!” Richie commanded. Fire splashed against the shadow, illuminating it horribly. It had a humanoid shape but gnarled features and skin so black it appeared to be burnt. Its teeth were sharp and discolored within a lipless hole in its face. It had a hunched back and a protruding stomach at odds with its otherwise emaciated appearance. Spindly arms and legs ended in hands and feet with long, black claws. Assess!

Name: --                                                       Level: 41/80
Summoned: --                                            Master: --
Type: Goblin
Status: normal                                           Health: 82/82
Skills:
     Active: ??                                                 Passive: ??
Titles: –

I stared, stunned. A Goblin? This was a Goblin? That made no sense. Goblins were little green things with just a couple of hit points. They did almost no damage, and they were the perfect fodder for beginners just starting their journey.

... Alternatively, they were still all of those things, but also creatures that swarmed in large numbers and performed all sorts of horrific deeds. Regardless, they weren't meant to be strong individually. The common sense of my previous life floundered against this reality. Magic? Fine. Becoming a cat? Okay. But Goblins being entirely different creatures somehow threw me for the loop I should have hit long ago.

"Luna, Blessing!" Nero cried, struggling to hold off the Goblin. It wasn't daunted in the slightest by his daggers, nor by Dragon's attacks.

I snapped out of it. I could have a midlife crisis later. Blessing!

It was super effective. The Goblin staggered, more than a third of its health removed in one hit. Then another appeared. I jumped forward to scratch at the first Goblin.

“Flame Pulse!”

Between my pitiful second attack, Justice’s fire, and the damage Nero and Dragon had already done to it, the first Goblin crumbled, leaving behind a smoldering core. We ignored it and turned our attention to the second Goblin.

Another three Goblins arrived over the course of the fight. Justice's flames weren't quite as effective as my Blessing, but since her cooldown was much lower, it evened out. Between the two of us, with support from the others, we managed to subdue the Goblins.

Nero shot me a questioning glance, and I looked away, raising my left paw as I did. Was I putting us in danger? Yes. But what good would it be to escape the dungeon alive only to be killed by our companions immediately? I was fairly sure I’d understood that conversation correctly. I hadn’t been able to find any other reasonable interpretation for it. Yes, we would need them to get out of here if there was a guardian, so we had to work together right now, but after?

I somewhat hated Fyth for telling me. It'd be easier if I could believe in this party.

Nero picked me up and pressed his forehead against mine. "I trust you," he murmured. "Don't worry. I know you'll do your best to get us through this."

I felt like a horrible person. Luckily, I was a cat. I wasn't meant to be a person in the first place. That's what I told myself as Nero set me back down and our party continued down the corridor.

There was, in fact, a guardian. Of course, there was. "At least it doesn't have a guardian room," Michael muttered. "When it's in one of those, it closes the doors behind you, and you can't retreat."

I wondered just how badly their last experience with a dungeon had scarred them. He’d clearly researched dungeons carefully, a strange thing to do for the leader of a party that never even considered quests involving them.

The lack of a guardian room was, we determined, a small consolation. This dungeon had a teleport circle, which wouldn't activate until the guardian died. That meant we couldn't try to slip past it and escape through the exit without fighting it. The guardian in question looked like a larger version of the Goblins we’d been fighting on this floor, meaning Justice and I would be in charge of doing most of the damage. Since I'd have to alternate between healing and doing damage, that left most of the burden on Justice.

"Don't worry," Richie said with false bravado. "If worse comes to worst, we can retreat and grind some levels until Justice can wipe the floor with this thing!"

None of us commented on the way his voice trembled. We were all scared. Yet Nero didn't question me. I understood, in a way. In this world, it was unthinkable not to trust your summon. He'd been brought up with that kind of belief, so even if I didn't behave like your typical summon, he still believed in me. It probably never crossed his mind that I could be on anyone's side but his. Granted, I was on his side, but... I wasn't obedient the way summons were meant to be. I didn't have an innate desire to obey him. I just happened to want to protect him.

I shook myself. I was just complaining about having responsibility at this point. That wasn't useful in the slightest.

"Alright, let's go," Lainie said. Her summon, Wing, had been stuck providing only support magic, since the halls weren’t wide enough for him to fly around in. Now, Lainie left him with Fay and Heather and instructed them to keep an eye out for (and defend against) monsters coming in from behind us, then she cast, "Whirling Storm!"

Electricity crackled to life through the corridor and struck at the guardian, illuminating the world in too-bright blue light. Assess!

Name: --                                                          Level: 60/80
Summoned: --                                               Master: --
Type: Goblin King
Status: normal                                              Health: 235/240
Skills:
     Active: ??                                                    Passive: ??
Titles: ??

I darted forward. Blessing! The bright light of Blessing lit up the area just as the lightning faded, and a moment later, Justice's flames surrounded the Goblin King as well. Assess! It was down to 215 health. But then, as the light of Justice's flames faded, I saw something that made my stomach sink. Its burned flesh was healing. Assess! Sure enough, its health was recovering. 220. Assess! 225.

I carefully measured its rate of healing.

Skills:
     Active: ??                                                  Passive: Regen Lv. 2, ??

Well, that was interesting. Apparently, if I figured out a skill, Assess would reveal it for me.

"It's got regeneration," Michael said, voice tight. "We need to attack without giving it a chance to recover, or this fight will never finish. Everyone, cast on cooldown. Dragon, be ready to shield. Richie, order Justice to cast her strongest spell on cooldown, then get in there."

Richie grimaced, but he obeyed. None of us was about to argue with Michael right now.

Before we could cast our next round of spells, though, the Goblin King made a gagging sound, like a cat with a hairball, and magma boiled up and out of its throat, spewing everywhere. The Goblin King shook its head swiftly, and the magma splattered about.

"Shield!" Michael shouted to Dragon, who spread her wings wide and activated her defensive skills. The rest of us ran behind her, trying our best to stay behind her cover. Blessing! I sent a heal toward Dragon. Even so, her body was in bad shape when the magma dripped down and started cooling on the floor. Her health was down to only 15. Blessing! 45.

"Keep healing, cat," Michael ordered as though I hadn't already figured that out. "Everyone else, keep attacking! Lainie, your electricity interrupts, so save it for when you see that attack coming."

Slowly, steadily, we were whittling away at its health. The cooldown on Lainie’s interrupt was long, so she couldn’t block every one of the Goblin King’s magma attacks, but she blocked enough that I was just barely keeping up with the damage Dragon was taking. I stopped casting Assess just to have access to that little bit more MP.

Then the Goblin King raised its hand in the air. Darkness swirled around it.

Assess!

Its Health was at 20, though it ticked back up to 25 before the Assess screen faded. We were all on cooldown, though. None of the spellcasters could do any damage, and our physical attackers couldn't do enough damage to kill it before it used whatever attack this was.

"Urgelfein," the Goblin King said in a gravelly voice, the first time I’d ever heard a monster speak. The words made no sense to me consciously, but a part of me understood them nonetheless. Shadow Flare.

Darkness ripped through space. Strangely, I felt fine, but everyone else let out agonized screams. There was only one choice available.

==Evolution Available==
                 YES

It felt like time slowed. I'd started the thought as soon as I heard the Goblin King's words. Around me, I heard the screaming continue, distorted through the time dilation. Darkness swallowed me, darker even than the Goblin King's attack.

==Evolutionary Options==
Summon Luna (former: Lena) has evolved. Summon may now choose between the following options:
* Gain three levels in any one skill
* Obtain five new skills
* Enhance Master

I froze. If I gained three levels in Blessing, would it let me heal the party before they died? Doubtful. I could gain new skills, but I didn’t know of any combination of them that would let me save us, and while time was greatly slowed, it was still passing. I couldn't sit down and peruse the Skills Store in hopes of finding something.

What did it mean to enhance my Master?

I looked at my LUCK UP skill and gambled. Enhance Master.

"Luna?"

Time had well and truly frozen now. Nero's skin was blackened, burnt beyond recognition by Shadow Flare, but he seemed unaware of it in the moment. He and I alone existed in the timeless void. "What's going on?"

Fyth's voice echoed through space. "You're evolving. Congratulations." His tone was dry and anything but congratulatory, yet I somehow got the feeling he was pleased. "Feel free to choose your reward."

I couldn't see Nero's Status screen, but I could see the effect the moment his 'evolution' ended. Mine ended as well, and time resumed. "Reverse," Nero said tonelessly.

To my astonishment, the attack the Goblin King had used disappeared back into its staff. I didn't let the chance go. Before the spell and its effects finished reversing, I cast Blessing.

The Goblin King exploded into fragments of obsidian-colored ash and red crystal.

Richie collapsed. Everyone else stared at Nero. "What did you just do?" Lainie asked, eyes wide. "We were dead."

"You weren't. You were about to be, but you hadn't died yet," Nero said flatly. He turned to look at Richie, who was unconscious. Justice was nowhere to be seen. "It wouldn't have revived you if you'd been dead."

Justice had the lowest Health besides me. Dark spells didn’t affect dark creatures, and they didn’t hit all at once. They were invariably damage over time spells, and that held true for Shadow Flare. The spell's damage hit everyone but me in several consecutive, fast ticks of massive damage rather than a single tick that would have wiped them all out immediately. Justice simply hadn't had the necessary Health to last the two ticks that had passed while Nero and I were evolving.

Lainie's expression crumpled. “Richie…” She took several shuddering breaths before she finally nodded. "It just means that we need to cure Richie, too. That’s all."

Michael glared at Nero for several seconds, but then he dropped it. “Let’s go,” he said, gesturing to the teleporter. “You can explain why you didn’t use that skill sooner after we get out of here.”

Nero staggered, and Alicia grabbed him, struggling under his weight. I understood. Evolution was unexpectedly exhausting.

It didn’t seem that anyone had noticed my evolution, though. I was a little surprised, but then again, the only visible difference was that I’d grown a small pair of bat wings. I tucked them against my back, making them nearly invisible in the darkness of the dungeon. Michael had Dragon lift Richie and carry him. We made for a sorry procession as we trudged to the teleporter.

I’d leveled to 31 upon killing the Goblin King. As we walked, I quietly bought a skill and leveled it with the two points I'd received for leveling.

Just as we stepped onto the teleporter and it started to light up, ready to transport us to the exit, I activated my skill. Telekinesis.

Telekinesis
Mana Cost: 30
Effect: Apply force to a set area. When used against living targets, determination for success is affected by skill level, user STR and current stamina, and target’s STR and current stamina.

I shoved Michael, Lainie, Dragon (with Richie in her arms), and Wing out of the circle. They cried out in shock, and then we were gone.

"W-what just happened?! A trap?" Alicia cried. She spun around. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no sign of the dungeon near us.

Nero grunted as Alicia's spin knocked him off-balance, and he collapsed. He rolled onto his side and stared at me. "Luna, you -"

Telepathy (Passive)
Effect: Allows user to speak directly to target’s mind within a distance of one mile.

Nero, the cure they were talking about is killing the two of you to give Heather and me to Fay and Richie.

He held my gaze for a long time, silently judging me. I calmly stared right back. Eventually, he nodded. "I'm out of energy," he muttered. "Alicia, can you set up camp? Sorry."

"What?" Alicia looked down at him, seemingly only just realizing she'd dropped him, and fell to her knees. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, Nero. I just -"

"It's fine, I get it. Just, please? It's taking everything I have to stay awake."

"Of course. You rest. I'll keep watch with Luna and Heather."

Nero lay there, and I sat on his chest, purring for all I was worth. He eventually reached up a hand and scratched behind my ears. "So?" he murmured. "Explain."

I hunched my shoulders. I heard them discussing replacing Storm with Heather for Fay. And with Justice... gone, they would probably use me to replace her. They’d need to kill you and Alicia to manage that. The rest is just speculation based on fragments of conversations I heard, but… I think they killed their previous party members to steal their summons.

"Seriously?" Nero asked. He sounded exhausted. "Well, I guess that tracks with some things I heard... That... sucks..." His voice trailed off, and he fell asleep.

I examined him. Assess.

Name: Nero                                                               Level: 31/120
Birth Date: 04.13.06
Race: Human(?) - D
Status: AGI UP, INT UP                                            Health: 242/242
Skills:                                                                          Available Points: 3
     Active: Backstab Lv. 4, Haste Lv. 1,                   Passive: Daggers Lv. 6
     Reverse Lv. 2
Titles: Demon Lord Candidate

I stared. Demon Lord Candidate. Fyth?

The demon lord said nothing, but I felt his presence there in my mind, watching me with smug satisfaction. Whatever had happened during Nero's evolution, it was exactly what Fyth wanted. He'd intended all along for me to choose for Nero to evolve.