4 Chapter 4(Floor 1)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START------

As we walk down the now bustling stone road as the sun has set I notice music coming from a 2 story building that looks like some sort of inn. As I'm about to ask about it I see Tibor make a beeline straight to the door and I quicken my steps to enter beside him. We are immediately met with the sound of soft music, the scent of wonderful food that immediately makes my stomach growl, and best of all, a cute cat girl. She appears to be a bit older than me but not by much and has black hair matching her cat ears. She quickly comes up to greet us.

Chloe Rollo: "Hi there welcome to The Hostess of Fertility. We seem to be a bit full right now but there are seats up at the bar so please take a seat and someone will serve you shortly."

Yang: "Thank you and we'll go find a seat immediately."

As we both find our seats I notice a large woman behind the bar as Tibor greets her.

Tibor: "Hey Mia how you been."

Mia Grand: "Oh Tibor how was the hunting trip, the little one ok?"

Tibor: "Yeah he did great and we even picked up Yang here on the way back." nodding his head slightly to shift the large woman focus to his dinner companion, "He joined a familia today so his first meal as an adventurer is on me. Then when he gets rich he can treat me to something fancy ahahahahh."

Yang: "Well I can't forget the man who saved my life after all. As soon as I start making good money I'll take you and your family somewhere fancy to eat. You can count on it."

Tibor: "Hahahahaha oh I will kid, I will, these old bones could use some pampering every now and then you know. Anyway Mia we'll both have the fried steak cut special and a pint of ale yeah. Trust me Yang those fancy places are nice and all but when you've spent all day in the fields or the dungeon and want food that'll fill you and put you to sleep, this is the place to be. That I can assure you."

Yang: "Well then I know where I'm gonna be a lot in the future starting from tonight."

Mia: "Always the flatterer aren't you Tibor, your plates will be ready in 5 minutes anyway, and I'll even throw in something for the wife and son for the free advertising you just gave me. Don't count on it every time though hahaha."

As she is about to speak again a fight breaks out in a far corner and she rushes over to break it up.

Tibor: "Mia used to be an adventurer too you know, retired and opened up this place.A nice safe place for your worries to melt away with some good music and good food."

After a few minutes pass Chloe walks out of the kitchen with our food which we happily eat exchanging a little bit of what life in the city is like. From what I gather everything is fine and the higher level adventurer you are the more money you make and then life becomes super easy. Of course at the cost of risking your life a lot.

As we part for the night as I need to be ready for the dungeon tomorrow and he needs to be ready to get to the market early tomorrow I tell him when I'm out of the dungeon again I'll come to find him and treat him to a meal. He gives me one last nod and tells me to be safe as I leave and make my way to my room in the tower.

When I enter my room I see a chest on my bed with the same symbol Sarran had on his shoulder, hmm that must be his personal symbol. I guess he really did make all my starter equipment himself. I'll have to remember this for the future. As I open the box I see simple studded leather armor, bracers, shin guards, and leg guards as well as boots and a sword roughly 4ft long and a trench knife roughly 1ft long both made of simple iron.

'I suppose starter gear is starter gear after all so I can't be picky, it's better than using my hands'. On my bed, there is also a note and a small glass bottle. As I open the note it reads: From our goddess, please be careful-Tsubaki. Inside the bag is one health potion, 'Damn I guess they really don't want me to die huh'.

I quickly store the potion in my inventory as I try on my armor. It's a bit tight but that's fine for starter armor made in a few hours, I really can't wait to get some custom stuff made. I quickly remove my clothes to get to bed, huh, looks like I need to get new clothes. The clothes included in the closet of the room are spartan at best.

The following morning I wake up and get dressed before heading to the meeting spot in front of the dungeon. To my surprise, there were 14 level 1 adventurers so we decided to split into 2 groups and each of us would take half the floor, this was for the sake of not dividing the loot too much. As we entered the dungeon I couldn't help but feel nervous and from the looks, I saw on people's faces I wasn't the only one, none of us have been in the dungeon before and lots of people die so being nervous is normal. But I expect my nerves to be eased as I level up and become stronger.

Why would I be nervous if I know I will win after all right. As we approached the first monster room in the caves I saw everyone get tense. We managed to get close to the group of Kobolds before they even saw us but we were already in the positions we discussed earlier, I was in the middle with my sword out, whose with shields and heavy armor in the front and archers at the back. The Kobolds had natural daggers however and were small making them difficult to hit. We had to be careful, being level 1 means most things in the dungeon can kill you and even here we can't afford any mistakes.

3RD PERSON POV------

As Yang's group rushed forward more kobolds began running down the tunnel, the level 1 party was outnumbered by twenty Kobolds as it was only 6 adventurers. Everyone took their positions as archers began firing arrows. Some hit, but not enough, kobolds were tiny, and even that many of them were too much for only 2 archers to thin out especially while the tiny creatures were running full sprint with daggers out.

The tanks at the front of the group raised their shields and defended from rocks being hurled by Kobolds at the back but quickly became swarmed by kobolds. This caused Yang and the other swordsman to spur into action and begin slashing the Kobolds. Seeing that many enemies especially moving that quickly was extremely intimidating but he knew if he froze he would die. Unfortunately, his tanks were already being swarmed and although the kobolds were weak, they held a massive numbers advantage.

Yang saw his team being pelted with rocks and stabbed and cut his way through to the front lines killing many kobolds as he was doing so. This wasn't part of the briefing, they said 10 kobolds per room, not 20, this is too much, and more just keep spilling in, as his hands moved feverishly slashing kobolds left and right he heard a yell 'Arghhhh'.

As he looked to the right he saw one of his frontline fighters got stabbed behind the knee where he had no armor for the sake of mobility. As he went down the kobolds immediately swarmed him and before they could do anything he disappeared in a heap of kobolds. There was no more screaming from him. This completely shifted the battle momentum.

The male archer supporting the party began panting and he dropped his bow and ran out of the dungeon in a panic. This one action placed his entire team in a kill box as kobold can now flank and surround them. Even after all the kobolds they killed the numbers barely changed as more kept filling the room.

They were surrounded on all sides, one of their shield bearers were already dead and one teammate abandoned them.'THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN!' was Yang's only thought as he kept hacking away at the swarm of Kobolds. As he slashed kobold after kobold the blood coated the floor and dripping down the hilt of his blade he began to feel tired, his teammates were doing much worse as his stats were a bit higher for a level 1.

He noticed small mistakes they were making, whether it was stepping out of the formation or slipping on the evergrowing pile of bodies at their feet, exhaustion was taking its toll. The fight has already gone for 15 minutes and the kobolds weren't stopping.

He came to a stark realization immediately, 'I can die here, we can all die here, this isn't just some game this is my life now, and I'm about to throw it away in a damn cave!'.As his thoughts raged he steeled his will and rushed to the side of his last remaining shield-bearer and with a shaky attempt at a commanding voice yelled "We need to leave, focus on moving back to the exit".As he looked back he saw his female archer had slung her bow over her back and pulled out a Tanto(Shortsword) as the kobolds are swarming her at the back of their formation.

"Everyone move to the exit now, together" as he cut down more kobolds, his pace had slowed greatly, all of the little cuts and stabs they made to his legs and arms are beginning to add up. He's exhausted and needs to get out but he can't do it alone it seems. As he looks back he sees the female archer with her Tanto in hand get hit by a rock to the head, the split second she loses her balance, right before his eyes she disappears into a pile of kobolds. Right before his eyes, the person guarding their backs die, and with her, all their hopes of surviving this encounter.

Something in him snaps, it appears like anger or bravery, but he knows exactly what it is, desperation, he wants to live. He doesn't want to die like this, not on the second day in this world, he wants to live. His body begins heating up and visibly steaming as he moves with strength and speed that was never there before. His hits are much harder, his reactions are much faster, his hands move that much quicker, but not quick enough as he hears a gurgled scream and looks over his shoulder to see his fellow sword-wielding companion on his knees with a kobold holding a dagger up at him piercing his throat.

This causes Yang's blood to burn, his skin begins to dry and blister and more steam rises off him and his hands burst into flames. He drops his sword when the wood in the hilt turns to ash and he can no longer hold the blade.'This is it, fight or die, I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die!' he screaming in his head as he grits his teeth and brawls with his fists moving even faster than before.

Kobolds are apprehensive to approach as the heat radiating from him is painful to them and more and more of them are dying. As Yang goes on his killing spree his ally is pinned into a corner of the cave with his tower shield in front of him, he sees everything but should he move with his leg injuries he will die. He bets his life on his ally and whatever is happening to his steaming body right now, he wants to live, but cannot fight.

To his surprise, after a few minutes, he sees that the kobolds have stopped flooding the cave and their numbers in the cave are beginning to dwindle. Fewer and fewer bodies lay on the floor as they become ash after death aside from whatever bits and pieces are dismembered along the way. He sees Yang and silently prays that he can pull off a miracle of some kind. Eventually, his prayer comes through as Yang's body suddenly combusts, but he still keeps fighting even after that point, even as he is screaming in pain he doesn't stop. His desperation to live won't let his body stop. Suddenly when only 12 Kobolds remain the entire cave is filled with fire.

JOLEE POV------

I'm holding onto my tower shield for dear life, back into a crevice with my only saving grace being that the kobolds cant get to me. Hopefully, my last ally whatever his name was can somehow perform a miracle and clear enough of them for me to help him fight. This wasn't supposed to happen at all,10 kobolds per cave at most was what the map said. As I look up again I see the steam becomes fire but he keeps fighting, I can see his clothes being burnt as he combusts and is being burnt alive but he doesn't stop.

I feel like a damn coward. His bravery should inspire me but I still can't move, I don't want to die, I have a family, and I'm sure another team will come through this cave and help me if I hold out long enough. As I'm having these thoughts I look up and see a wall of fire coming toward me incinerating any kobold in its path. I duck back down behind my shield and brace for impact. My entire body buckles and screams as the flames lick at me and push me into the wall behind me certainly injuring my back. I don't move a muscle as I focus on listening for anything. Silence is all there was, aside from the smell of burnt corpses.

I peek my head out of my cover and I see my last ally on the ground with his arms and part of his chest charred. Not a kobold in sight but only magic crystals. I quickly move toward him and try to wake him only for him to open one of his balled hands palm up and in a shimmering light, one health potion appears. Understanding his message I nod my head and reach for the potion.

END OF CHAPTER 4------