Battle It The Cave

They continued on their journey until eventually reaching a cave. The party stood outside staring at the entrance. Inside was dark, pitch black, and the sense of danger filled the air.

Reed stood behind the rest but could still sense the energy around the cave, dense and suffocating. Whatever was in there, he was no match for it.

"We are here," said Simon, readying his sword. He told Blaze to cast a magic spell. Blaze stepped forward, stretching her staff. She cast basic illumination magic, and a light orb appeared, allowing them to see the entrance more clearly.

Simon asked if everyone was ready. Dawn stretched his bow, and Blaze nodded, prepared to start casting.

But Reed was confused. He had barely survived against a goblin and now had to take on whatever was lurking deep within the cave. Right now, all he demanded to know were answers.

He turned to Simon with a straight face, asking what exactly they were here for. Blaze looked at him with a somewhat annoyed expression. "This again! I told you, you are here to heal, not ask damn questions."

But she was interrupted by Simon saying, "It's okay, Blaze. He should at least know what's going on so he won't be caught by surprise."

Simon walked up to Reed, placed his hands on his shoulders, and gave him a brief explanation of what was going on.

He began with a calm tone and a soft expression of companionship, "Look, Reed, we are about to go into big battle. This time we need your aid as a healer, so we will be counting on you."

"Right, I promise not to let you down," Reed replied with a sense of commitment in his tone. It was his first time being a part of a party in his entire life, and he didn't want past regrets to weaken his resolve.

"If you're all going to stand here, I'm going in. I didn't come all this way to waste my time when I'm this close to getting my stuff back," Dawn muttered, and he recklessly walked ahead of everyone into the cave.

Simon was slightly annoyed by his impatient attitude, yelling for him to wait as they hadn't thought of a strategy.

Blaze intervened, agreeing with Dawn, saying that standing in front of the cave wasn't magically going to kill the monster lurking within its walls, and so she began walking in as well. Simon and Reed joined shortly after.

Moving within the cave wasn't easy. The darkness seemed to close in on itself, and the sound of their footsteps echoed on the walls as they walked past.

Reed, following from behind, took note of the littered bones and skeleton skulls on the floor. He knew whatever was in here had a nasty way of killing its victims.

Then suddenly they encountered a figure. Blaze intensified the light emitting from her light orb to see it more clearly.

Resting next to the wall, a red bandana tied around its eyes, a human-sized goblin folded its arms, holding red and black daggers. Black miasma seemed to spew endlessly out of its weapons.

The monster's name tag appeared, displaying the monster's true identity: [Goblin Assassin level: 20].

Reed stared at the goblin with shock. It was unusual to see a goblin dressed like an assassin at such a high level close to the tutorial village, not to mention its relaxed demeanor, making it even more mysterious.

"We are back to take your head, monster," Simon said, stretching out his sword and entering a battle stance. The goblin turned to look at him, a mischievous smiled played on its lips before it suddenly vanishing from the wall, appearing in front of Simon and swinging its dagger against Simon's blade. Both weapons clashed with intensity.

Dawn pulled out his bow, aiming at the goblin. Blaze started casting a magic spell. Reed watched from behind, waiting for the moment when any of his party members would need healing.

Dawn fired his arrow. It tore through the air, heading for its head. The goblin noticed it in time, tilting its head to the side so the arrow flew by.

It leaped back from Simon. Blaze seized the opportunity, finished casting her magic spell, and launched a fireball at the goblin. The goblin zipped out of there just in the nick of time.

The fireball scorched the ground, igniting it temporarily. The goblin turned and looked at Blaze, identifying her as the main threat. If the attack had landed, it would have dealt critical damage, giving Simon enough time to swoop in and take the kill.

Blaze's spell didn't land on her enemy, so she began to cast again. The goblin rushed after her, not wanting to let this chance slip by. "Oh no you don't." Simon stepped in, countering the monster and blocking it from getting any closer.

Both blades clashed against each other. Simon swung his sword, performing a vertical slash. The goblin countered, blocking the attack with its daggers. It pushed back Simon and slashed him on his wrist.

The unique skill of its daggers activated, paralyzing Simon for a few seconds. Seeing he was now paralyzed, the goblin grinned, slashing Simon on different parts of his body using the gaps in his armor.

The others saw the goblin as it chipped away at Simon's HP. Dawn stared at Reed, barking orders, "Don't just stand there, get over there and help him!"

Reed nodded in agreement. His teammate was in danger, and it was finally time for him to be useful. He rushed to Simon's side as quickly as he could.

The others used their attacks to buy him some time. Dawn shot arrows repeatedly, and Blaze would momentarily attack with her fireball spell, but all they could do was slow it down.

Reed, now behind Simon, placed his hand on his back and activated his skills, 'Heal Touch' and 'Blessing,' recovering his HP and buffing him at the same time.

But it was still too weak. He was just at level one, restoring 1 HP per second; it was the best he could muster at this point.

The goblin, dodging the others' attacks, had finally gotten used to it and adapted, cutting through Dawn's arrows as if they were paper and dodging the slow-paced fireballs Blaze threw at him with ease.

The monster dodged all the attacks and went after Simon. Seeing he was still paralyzed, he would be the quickest one to kill. Reed saw it coming and still persisted.

He had just made a friend and didn't want to abandon him. Sure, the rest still treated him badly, but he believed if he stayed with them long enough, those frowns would all turn into smiles, and so he gave it his all.

Eventually, Simon was depetrified and fell to his knees. The paralysis had finally worn off. "Simon, you're back," Reed uttered in relief. The monster was getting closer; everything hung in the balance.

Simon stood back up without saying a word. Suddenly, Simon ran past Reed, pushing him onto the floor.

Reed fell to the ground, and time seemed to slow down all around him. His eyes widened with disbelief. "What just happened? Am I falling?"