The walk felt endless. I didn’t expect it to go by as quickly as before, when I had a target to keep track of, but I still somehow underestimated the distance.

  The night sky completely hid the magical feeling of the purple desert, and all I was left with was darkness, a path to walk, and stinky goblins and a stinkier skunk as my company. Fink kept his pace just behind me, silent after the day’s events, but I didn’t really feel like just letting him end it on this note. I deserved to be praised for willing to color my beautiful skin to black just for this riffraff!

  At least it would start coming off tomorrow, or so Mark said. I seriously hoped that he was not kidding. There was no way that the gods would support me for looking like a damn earth goblin.

  “You checked your skill upgrade yet? We’re nearing level five on it.” Mark suddenly broke the silence.

  I almost stopped in my tracks. “Skill upgrade? I got one?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “When you tore off Xila’s leg. Apparently, that counted for a cool enough stunt for the gods to get you a skill, at least.”

  I opened up the skill menu, looking for a difference. I saw it almost immediately. “Bullet strike went up a level, decreasing the cooldown by an hour. It’s still too long, though. Why does hitting level 5 matter?”

  “Can’t tell you till next floor, but you should be excited about it. Hitting level 5 on any skill is huge for you, I’ll say that.”

  “You know, I like having a guide and all, but you really can’t say much, huh?” Fink joined in.

  “And you can’t escape cages, apparently. See, we both have something we’re bad at.” Mark smiled, looking forward.

  There was a silence then, for a few moments as Fink absorbed the remark. “I… thought about what you said back there.” He swallowed. “I.. I’m sorry for the way I treated you. Both of you.”

  I scoffed, but it was nice to hear something at least. “Why even behave like that in the first place? I only tried to help you guys from start.”

  He chuckled somberly. “You got us to defend a city we didn’t plan on defending, and it was Bryga got you out of that ant nest. I just… want to live on, you know? And while your goal is admirable, life’s become crazy last week, and even crazier since we’ve met you.” He paused for a moment. “But yeah, you’re right. I was perhaps a bit too harsh.”

  I scoffed. “Perhaps?” Who was this dude lying to?

  Fink sighed and nodded. “Not perhaps, definitely. I’ve just… had a hard time, okay? I got teleported to the middle of the jungle, barely a clue about what was happening, and nobody to tell me what to do. You had Mark on your side, Shrimpie. And Crudia. I had nobody at all.”

  “But you met Bryga!”

  “Yeah, but that happened later. It’s the best thing that’s happened to me. I… I don’t even want to say that, but it’s the only way I can think of naming it. As stupid as she can seem sometimes, she’s pretty smart. Figured out a lot of stuff I didn’t. How to summon a weapon, how to distribute stats.” He scratched his arm nervously. “All of that was on her own intuition. Took me to level up. I guess I depended on her a lot, and it made me a tad too defensive about it.” He looked forward, mulling over his next words. “It doesn’t excuse my behavior, but I wanted you to know where I was coming from.”

  I scratched the back of my head, suddenly a bit awkward. “Yeah, okay. I don’t totally get it, but let’s just drop it. I’m too tired for all this anyway.”

  “A better topic of discussion.” Mark leaned forward as he hovered, looking at Fink. “How did you get abducted?”

  Fink looked to the side, shy. “I uhhh… dropped from Bryga’s shoulders?”

  “That a question?” Mark smiled.

  “No. I dropped, having wanted to use a skill to help her out. It’s called [Stomp]. Something based on my abilities from before the tournament. Shakes the ground a little.”

  Mark nodded. “Seems very ‘intuitive’. You can shoot long-range gas balls from that weapon of yours, but your ability is close-ranged?”

  “Tell me about it. I got knocked away the moment I hit the ground, and when I came to, I was at the feet of the armored goblin. I don’t think Bryga even noticed, or she just didn’t notice soon enough. The goblin noticed, hit me on the head, and the next time I woke up, I was in that damn cage.”

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  That checked out. Having a long-range weapon seemed to offer some advantages, but some disadvantages as well, namely being damn defenseless in close range. I, for one, loved the fact I had to get in the middle of the fight to do damage. Shooting someone from far away seemed a bit cowardly. But without a choice, I didn’t really envy any of these players. Especially if they didn’t have someone to block enemies from coming closer.

  I grabbed Fink’s shoulder. “We’ll have to protect you better the next time we fight. I think having you ride Bryga’s shoulders might be a bit too risky.”

  Mark smiled at that. “My shrimp is getting strategic here, isn’t he? But yeah, I’d suggest so too.”

  Fink nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “OH!” Mark exclaimed. “I think I have the perfect bodyguards to protect you!”

  “Who?”

  Mark smiled the way he did when he had an idea nobody else liked, and pointed behind us with his thumb. “Those guys proved their worth, no?”

  Fink gaped. “You can’t be serious. Goblins are going to be babysitting me?”

  I thought about it for a little, and found myself liking the idea. I was willing to let the bygones be bygones, but seeing him squirm still seemed like a good small payback. “I think it has some…”

  “Merit.” Mark added.

  “Yeah, that. We have tomorrow to try it out and train Gummz and a few goblins to be your guard. I want to try fighting Bryga too.”

  “You didn’t have enough fighting yet?” Fink raised his eyebrow.

  “Never.”

  We continued walking, sometimes talking about the training and the fight on the horizon, but we mostly kept to ourselves. The goblins seemed to be tired enough to only comment stupid stuff occasionally instead of all the time as well, thankfully.

  I opened my inventory, for some reason expecting to find some new items there, but there were none. What a sad day. Out of all my expeditions, this one was probably the least bountiful one. Maybe the goblins could count as loot, but that didn’t make me stronger personally.

  The only new item in my inventory was Xila’s leg, which had no use at all. Maybe I’d use it to taunt her if we met again. She was supposed to attack the town I was defending, after all, so there was a fair chance I’d get to do so.

  The sun started rising again by the time we arrived near the city, back in the black grass region. It almost felt like I was coming home. I certainly missed the bed, at least. Because of Crudia, I didn’t even get to sleep in it on the last day here, so a good nap was long overdue.

  Even though the sun started rising as we got nearer, I saw several of the goblins just fall down to the ground as they fell asleep. The other goblins found that extremely funny for some reason, and laughed at every single one. It became something like a competition, and they started betting on who’d fall asleep next.

  The city started becoming visible soon, and I felt myself relax, the similar sight spurning me on. My teammates knew I’d come today; I texted them right at the start of the journey, and they told me they’d wait. Despite knowing I’d see them, the sight of my three teammates made me happier than I ever expected it to.

  The city looked a bit different now; I could see several small buildings and blockades around the walls, and the walls themselves seemed to have been reinforced quite a bit. Even though it was barely morning, there were several dozen, no, hundreds of human workers reinforcing the walls further. Dusk, apparently, really knew how to persuade. The traps were not visible, of course, but the knowledge that they were there was enough.

  I looked at my companions in front again, and smiled. Another goblin collapsed and a burst of laughter erupted as Crudia started running our way, her speed as fast as I remembered, yet my only thought was how Xila was even faster. I didn’t tell them about Xila’s lost leg yet. Perhaps I could use the leg to illustrate a point with it as well.

  Crudia stood in front of me in just a moment, wrapping me in a hug. Ohhhh, the fuzzyness. Lovely. I squeezed her back, and continued walking, holding her shoulder as she finally let go.

  “We missed you, Shrimpie!” She beamed.

  Fink coughed behind us, in reply to which Crudia just gave him a wave and then focused on me again, her expression full of expectation. “I.. missed you. We were all scared. Even Bryga was. Or at least she said so when she was drunk.”

  I chuckled. “I missed you guys as well. I see the preparations are going well?”

  She nodded, her energy so pure that I couldn’t help but feel a little of it rub onto me. “Yup! Just final things now. These goblins will be helpful too!”

  “As long as we get them into the city.” Said Mark, musing aloud. “Most fantasy races don’t like goblins that much, as far as I know.”

  “It’s going to be fiiine.” Crudia said, dragging the last word. “Dusk basically rules over the city now, anyway. They won’t force them out as long as he says so.”

  “Dusk rules the city?” The three of us said, almost at the same moment.

  “Uhh, yeah!” Crudia said, loudly. I forgot how noisy she could be when she gets excited. Though, admittedly, I did miss it a bit. I missed my hype-woman being at my side as well.

  But what I didn’t miss were lengthy explanations. “Good. But you can explain later. I need to sleep now, cause I’m barely standing on my legs.”

  “I can carry you!” She beamed again.

  “God, I’d love a camera so I could capture that and torture you with the footage.” Mark smirked, and the line got a chuckle even from Fink.

  I wasn’t having it. “Not necessary.”

  In just a minute, we finally approached the gate, had our greetings with Bryga and Dusk, and told them we’d listen to all the news later. I headed straight to the inn, almost fell from the stairs on several occasions, and finally, oh-god-finally, hopped onto the bed. I somewhat registered Fink opening a door in the next room before I was out completely.