We all nodded at one another. The transport ritual began, which enveloped us all in white light. If the black drop phenomenon were to happen, this was said to be the time. I’d been told that this white light would turn black, but there were no signs of that happening at the moment.
And then, my vision was filled with nothing but purple.
†
Past the light, we found ourselves wrapped in chill air.
Seems to be a limestone cave? A cave-type dungeon, for sure. We weren’t inside a hallway, but a wide open, dome-shaped space. Luminous moss gave the place a faint amount of light, but it wasn’t enough to abate the dim and dark feel.
Everyone suddenly froze in place.
“...What was that?” A whisper started.
“Wh-What?! What’s happening?!”
“The light was purple!”
“I thought the black drop’s light was black! Why did that happen?!”
Both the members of Dragon’s Roar and the Crimson Moon Brigade were throwing out words wildly. Looking around, every face was stricken with fear. If all ten of us started panicking, it would be hard to get anyone to work together—which was the situation we found ourselves in.
Behind us was the structure that looked like the Transport Gate. The inner part, however, was glowing with a purple light.
“Mr. Tadokoro! We have to retreat!”
The Gate made things so much easier. All we needed to do to get back was use it, as we’d planned. Our group began calming down at my words.
“R-Right,” someone huffed. “There aren’t any monsters around, so let’s go back! Mr. Tadokoro, please!”
The reason the black drop phenomenon had previously taken so many of their lives was because it had been a death trap that took place right after transport. They’d apparently encountered a Monster House right as they landed, which hid all kinds of high-level instadeath monsters inside it and unleashed a full course of instadeath magic and skills upon the expedition members.
“Got it,” Mr. Tadokoro breathed. “Let’s go back immediately.”
He turned to the gate and put his will into it, same as before. One, two, three, four, then five seconds passed.
“No!” he yelled, flustered. “We can’t leave!”
That was all it took for the cries of agony to begin. Everyone’s faces ran blue, some paled with fear.
“What do you mean we can’t leave?!”
“This is bad, this is bad!”
“I told you I didn’t want to do this!”
Eyes were wide, spit was flying everywhere, and voices were raised. This is really bad. Everyone was in a complete panic and no longer being cautious of their surroundings. If high-level monsters showed up, what were these people planning to do? Did they not realize that by shouting so loudly, they could attract danger? Only Ms. Kaori was desperately pressing her hand to her mouth. The rest were emotionally down for the count.
No, wait. In a way, this might have been inevitable. These guys had been living above the natives with their overwhelming powers, living in safe places far removed from anything dangerous. If you put stress on them in a situation like this, it would be easy to get them to have a breakdown.
That was when the even more inevitable occurred—the sound of rushing footsteps came from afar, likely drawn in by the loud shouts. All eyes turned toward where the sound was coming from, and a small shadow stood at the entrance to the space we were in.
“A goblin...?”
A single goblin holding a bow. The tension we all felt immediately dissipated.
“Damn thing gave us a good shock...”
The goblin readied its bow, aiming it right at us.
“Yeah, thinking rationally, we’re not automatically in danger just because the phenomenon happened. This could even be a dungeon full of the little gob—”
The sound of the air being sliced through interrupted the mage. The goblin had fired its arrow, which then appeared through the man’s bald head.
The man crumpled to the ground, spewing blood. We all gathered our eyes onto his convulsing figure, shock spreading to each of us.
“...What was that?”
“H-Hey... That’s a goblin, right? How...? How did it...?”
One man whispered to nobody in particular. “It... Its stats. Look at its stats!”
Everyone froze, their eyes widening and their bodies stiffening up as fear and surprise overwhelmed them. They probably physically couldn’t move.
I understood why. If they were looking at the same thing I was, then they saw—
Name: Legendary Goblin (Bow)
Race: Demon
Class: Archer
Recommended Level: 105
We were practically stunlocked for a good moment. After that hesitation came yet another inevitable situation—chaos. Total chaos befell the room.
“Ah! Ah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“R-Run! Run!”
“What is that?! Legendary?!?!”
“Ruuuuuun!”
“We can’t go anywhere!”
Ms. Kaori was the quickest to move. It might’ve been their dignity as leaders, but next, the two heads of Dragon’s Roar regained their composure as well and followed her.
The goblin moved too. Fwip, fwip, fwip. Arrows flew, one after another. Was it programmed to go after the weakest first? It seemed to be specifically aiming for those under level 99. The people here were so desperate to run that they were willingly showing their backs to it, completely unprepared to fight back. The goblin was smart to reduce our numbers.
None of those arrows hit anyone, however. I’d jumped in to save the others. I’d either grabbed the goblin’s next arrow, or slapped it away with the back of my hand.
Its arrows stopped. I looked toward the three heading for the goblin.
“Grade 5: Maximum Beat!” Mr. Tadokoro—a healer—buffed up Ms. Kaori and Mr. Murashima, who were both melee classes.
Ms. Kaori struck the goblin’s right wrist with her katana, landing a blow on a major artery with her legendary weapon, the Masamune Shin’uchi. Blood gushed from that wrist like a fountain. She’s level 99, but it’s only gushing? A normal goblin would have had its entire top half sliced off, along with its wrist.
Regardless, it was bleeding quite a bit. The goblin paused for a second in distress. Mr. Murashima took that chance to unleash the pressure he’d been gathering up in his blade above his head. It was a perfect blow that was not only from a buffed heavy melee class, but also enhanced by a power-building skill. Even a high-level dragon would be split in half by it. It was, theoretically, one of the strongest damage-dealing attacks in the entire game.
A normal goblin would be blown to bits, from its head to fingernails, leaving no traces of flesh from this unbelievable move. Yet, the damage of the attack was similar to one of a lower level. Rather than a clean slice of a blade, this was more like a blunt one to cave in the head. Only one of the goblin’s eyes went out, and it didn’t stop breathing.
“Just how fucking tough is this goblin?!” As superior as Mr. Murashima was, he was halfway screaming.
“Think later!” Ms. Kaori shouted. “It’s still alive!”
She swung her katana at the goblin’s right ankle. You could hear the sound of its Achilles’ heel cracking. Even with one leg down, the goblin managed to hold itself up. Mr. Murashima attacked its stiffened head once again.