Chapter 21 flesh and steel

  After the wave of goblins we encountered a hobgoblin, on their own they weren't an issue however.

  “Dark blade!”

  Jean slashed clean through one as we traveled, it barely being a warmup. A small dark sheen covering his sword as it fell over dead after failing to stab him with its crude spear.

  “Man, I wish we could get something of value from these things at least, they mostly attack with varying kinds of sticks!”

  Jean complains. So far every goblin had been using a small club made of wood, and the one we'd just killed had a stone tipped spear, essentially a stick.

  “Wait, I think I see something in the corner…”

  I say as we move through the small chamber. A glint of light proves me right as we find a small treasure chest.

  “Hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!”

  Jean jumps up in joy.

  I open the chest with the tip of my sword, inside is a small pouch and a vial of red liquid. A quick Appraise lets me know that it's a healing potion. The pouch contains a few gems, some onyx, citrine and a small sapphire.

  “This will fetch a decent price when we get back.”

  I say, as we let Derrick haul the goods.

  “Standard formation going forward, me and Jean will take vanguard while Derrick takes up the rear, girls, in the middle.”

  I pull out my swords as we move on.

  After slaying a few more goblins we come across another staircase going down.

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  “Looks like we've found the next floor, we won't be facing small fry this time around, does everyone think we should go ahead and go down?”

  Everyone agrees and we start walking down the next set of stairs. As we reach the bottom a system notification pops up for all of us.

  [Optional objective-no magic on this floor.

  Rewards- bonus xp, small mana bonus skill and one random piece of loot.]

  Sarah has her eyes wide as she shakes me.

  “We HAVE to do this. That mana bonus will be huge for us!”

  “I agree.”

  Alice chimes in. I nod my head when the boys just shrug.

  “Alright, no magic then, Sarah is the most vulnerable now, let's maintain formation.”

  We continue onwards, the dungeon now having a cleaner hall instead of the dingy cave from earlier. As we walk into a large open room, the wall slams closed behind us, as if there never was an entrance. Torches flare to life around us as the room is illuminated. The sounds of goblins fill our ears, and noses as segments of the wall fall down, releasing a combination of hobgoblin and normal goblins. Some of the goblins are wearing pieces of armor this time, and the hobs have shortswords.

  We begin with open stances as they flood towards us, 20-30 being how many this time.

  With a small stroke my blade cuts an arm off, my other blade parries a hob and with the momentum my tail blade pierces his head.

  “I'm gonna go all out! Keep Sarah protected!”

  I vault off the hobs falling body and become a whirlwind of steel, my legs occasionally push out for a kick as I flow between beast arts and swordplay, my tail arts keeping my motions fluid when my momentum starts to die. I sweep a hob's legs out from under him as my tail pierces his chest, a quick parry and I move behind another hob, throwing him onto Derrick's sword. A cold chill comes from behind me as I flick my sword into a block. An arrow plinks off my blade as a goblin archer takes aim once more. I throw one of my swords at him, he ducks beneath it while I run up and sky jump with my remaining blade. As I fall the goblin looks up at me right as my sword embeds itself in its right half. I kick the small thing off and turn around, only to see no more goblins moving.

  “Damn, what were those moves?”

  Jean asks as he holds his nose. I look down to see myself covered in goblin blood, the green goo dripping off me as I retrieved my other sword.

  “I wanted to test myself, I've been training since I was a toddler with a blade after all.”

  I almost summoned water to clean myself off before I remembered the floor's condition.

  “I see the next floor's stairs, lets get this floor done with, I want to get this crud off me.” we walk down the stairs, the system giving off a chime as we were met with success.

  [Optional objective complete!]

  +4200 xp, staff of flames given

  [New skill learnt! Mana+ - 5% more mana in total, meaning for every 100 mana you get 5.]

  [Skill point earned, +20 stat points.]

  [Level up!]