They were all on the same wavelength. When they saw the two goblins they had a.s.sumed that the monsters were charmed by the staff wielding caster, Arcadia. Goblins were low level monsters that even a beginner could defeat—troublesome only in great numbers. The girl in the white dress, with blonde hair, seemed like a rich girl who most likely hired the caster and their leader—Somnus—to get boosted to a higher level. In other words, they thought it was four versus two. They completely ignored the goblins and Emily.

They were right about one thing; Emily was useless. She wasn't even rich. Even though she was a princess, she had left all her coin inside the barracks of Somnus's old body.

The goblins may be weak, but even those sp.a.w.ned by lower cla.s.s Dungeon Cores were extremely cunning. The ones that inhabited Arrod were Heroic Goblins—brutal, cunning and relentless.

Their battle tactics were flawless so far, Somnus thought. If he was to attack, he would have chosen the same target. "Attack the force multiplier or the weakness," was the wisdom gained from centuries of constant warfare. Somnus knew that mages, either healers or attack mages, wore robes. He wasn't really sure why, but that seemed to have been the dominant factor among them.

Somnus glanced to Lod, as the elf was still screaming from the shock of losing her companion.

This was the second advantage of taking the initiative—inflicting shock and disrupting the enemy ranks. These goblins were far too cunning. Without exchanging a single word, they knew what the immediate objective was. Their next target was…

"Fasia!" the human adventurer screamed as he turned towards Det and lunged at him. He was extremely acrobatic, crossing the distance with two ma.s.sive leaps.

The dwarf turned to look towards Fasia as the knife went through her head like a bullet. He let loose a roar, raising his warhammer and running towards Det.

This was the beauty of the goblin's tactic: Take the initiative, take out the force multiplier, inflict panic on the enemy ranks and then attack the weakness.

Their second target was always the archer. No one likes fighting in melee while arrows are flying at them. Besides, archers would have a lot of trouble protecting themselves with their bows against swords and spears, making them easy to deal with.

Somnus saw Lod use the [Windwalk] ability, and to Somnus it looked like Lod was moving slow but straight for the target; others would be hard-pressed to even see a flicker of movement. Lod's silver sword pierced through the other elf's back with ease, as if the elf's chest was made out of air.

Blood splashed onto the ground in front of the elf and her scream drowned in blood. Lod freed the sword by slas.h.i.+ng through her ribcage, sending another splash of blood onto the ground. The elf fell to her knees, lips mutely shaping words that her ruined lungs just couldn't vocalize. Her color drained, lips turning blue before she even hit the ground. And when she did hit the ground, all she could do was reach for the other elf, before expiring.

This time, the human and the dwarf were speechless. There was no scream, no angry roar, no threats… there was nothing but fear. The look on their faces was that of someone knowing that they were about to die and that there was no way to escape that fate. The human in particular had a heartbroken look on his face as he watched the other elf fall to the ground, practically torn asunder from that silver and red-gold sword. The wounds the blade inflicted were so clean, yet so brutal, the human had never seen anything like it. It froze the blood in his veins.

"Koma, run!" the dwarf shouted as he regained his composure. The dwarf understood military theory enough to see that the tactics used here were not those of ordinary goblins. Goblins are supposed to run away until their numbers are great enough to overcome the enemy. These two, however, charged into the fight, outnumbered, and quickly evened up the sides. It was two versus two now, and the goblins had the advantage. Goblins shouldn't do that, it was unthinkable.

As a team, the four were very powerful. In this world, however, a mistake can cost someone their life, and underestimating the enemy is the quickest path to death.

Hearing the words, the human adventurer, Koma, looked to the dwarf. The human was already engaged in battle with Det, although it wasn't going anywhere. Both of them appeared to be agile fighters, relying on their movement speed to inflict damage. Det was faster than Koma, but Det's weapon was a knife with a wedge-like leaf blade. It was too short, compared to a shortsword, so Koma kept an advantage in the fight.

Det was faster than Koma, and more skilled. Every time the two clashed, Det would get tantalizingly close to slas.h.i.+ng Koma's throat. Sparks flew off their weapons each time they collided, and the goblin still managed to get a swipe in at the human. Goblins however, were short, and each time, Det's slash was just centimeters too shallow to score a killing blow.

The dwarf's target was Lod and, initially, they just circled each other until Lod sprung to action. Lod jabbed twice with his sword, and the dwarf dodged each one. Transitioning naturally, Lod turned the final jab into momentum for a slash and the dwarf attempted to parry the sword with his warhammer.

The fighting pairs were mismatched. The human, with his agility, should have fought Lod. The reason was simple, the dwarf would try to parry Lod's sword. The moment Lod's sword touched the head of the hammer, it blew through it like it was a baseball bat going through something incredibly weak. The dwarf saw this and only had time to drop his jaw in shock, before the sword blew his head away in the same manner.

Emily turned around when she saw what happened to the dwarf's head and emptied her stomach, retching loudly.

"Ho hoooooh. Ewwwww," Lod yelled, jovially. "Lod no hungry anymore. That wases nasty!" the goblin laughed.

Det and the human stopped fighting for the briefest of moments to see what was going on. When the human saw the headless dwarf, he swallowed and began backtracking. There was no shouting the dwarf's name this time, no curses, no pleading. Survival was the only thing on the human's mind and it was painfully obvious on his expression.

When Det didn't follow the human or try to corner him, Lod looked over and snarled, "Stop orking around. Kill."

Det straightened up as he heard those words and looked at the human. The shrug Det offered to the human was almost apologetic. The goblin launched himself at the human once more. The human parried the jab and leaned back to avoid the slash at his throat that always follows. There was a flicker of movement under the human's nose and he stumbled backwards.

The human smiled, satisfied that he managed to dodge another dangerous slash. He tightened the grip on his sword, trying to figure out how to use his buckler against this goblin. The human's mind raced. It was two versus one and he had no chance of winning the fight. There was no shame in running.

Suddenly, the human felt very tired. He fell to his knees. His chest felt unnaturally hot, as if his skin was burning. His sword fell out of his hands. He looked down in an attempt to find his sword and recover it, and that is when he saw it. Blood. He was covered in blood. It was on his chest, seeping under his leather armor and crawling down his arms. The human reached for his throat and found that it was slashed open. He didn't dodge Det's slash after all. He tried to ask why, but all that came out was an airy hiss. His vocal cords had been destroyed as well.

Finally, the human fell on his side and then he too was dead.

You have unlocked the Ruler job.

You have learned the Imperium skill.

Of the two, Somnus thought that Det was the significantly more mobile fighter, judging by this fight alone. There was not a drop of blood on Det or on his knife, despite all the messy situations he went through. However, Somnus knew that Lod was the more powerful one, and not seeing Lod's best was a bit of a disappointment. Still, Somnus considered this to be a successful demonstration of the abilities the goblins possessed. Their tactics were top-notch, their aggression was tempered and precise and their skills were also superior. As an army, they had the potential to be extremely powerful, and as a workforce they were also valuable.

Somnus cracked a rare smile. He was pleased with their performance.

"Station guards here," Somnus said. "Eliminate intruders."

Lod looked to Somnus as he was pulling a ring off the elf. Not because he wanted the ring, but because he wanted to bite the finger off. Lod may have been a goblin that would eat anything, but there was no way he could digest metal.

"What about the upper dungeon, master?" Lod asked.

"Leave it as is but monitor the situation. There is no proof that the enemy knows this dungeon connects to our dungeon. If powerful adventurers come to our upper levels, then we will know for sure," Somnus said.

Lod nodded.

It was Det's turn to ask a question. "What about this dungeon, master? Det can send scout. Scout find valuables."

Somnus nodded. "Proceed."

With that, Somnus turned around and left.