Dynamite

They had been walking along the cave for a long time now but for some reason, they still hadn't reached the end. Liam was following Leo as always and definitely not the one leading. The longer they walked the more anxious Liam felt.

"Why don't we just turn around?"Liam asked as he stuck closer to Leo.

"No way! I bet we're really close to something!"Leo said as his eyes flashed with determination.

"But what if this cave was just a prank, leading us to nowhere or it could be an endless route? Then, it will just be a waste of ti-Ahhhh!"Liam was trying to convince Leo but suddenly the torch's light vanished, leaving them in the dark, which scared Liam.

"What's going on? How could the fire be extinguished if there's no wind?"Leo hesitated until Liam unexpectedly clung onto his back, digging his nails into his flesh."Ouch! Calm down, there's no one here!"

Liam let go of Leo after Leo reassured him that there were no enemies nearby to ambush them.

"Sorry..."Liam apologized for what he did.

"No need to get upset, it's only normal for you to be scared. But the problem is...how can the fire vanish?"Leo groped in the dark as he tried to find a wall to stick to while Liam kept rummaging through his bag to find a way to light the torch as he kept cursing about not being able to see in the dark.

Unexpectedly, lights began to emerge out of nowhere, it was flashing, fiercely in front of them like they finally reached the end. Leo, who is an experienced adventurer definitely wouldn't believe in this but Liam on the other hand...

This cave was already weird enough but now an exit appeared out of nowhere?

Leo stood still on his ground, he wasn't going to move toward the light but suddenly a dim silhouette caught his eye.

"Finally!Freedom!"He heard Liam yell as he saw something dashed past him.

He knew it was Liam.

"Liam!Stop!"He called as he followed after Liam into the light.

Liam dashed into the lights, it was blinding his sight but he didn't care, the only thing he cared about was to get out of there as soon as possible. Suddenly, he felt himself miss a step, he looked down and it was a pit, he couldn't see how deep it was due to the blinding lights that seemed to emerge from there. He was still able to balance himself since one of his feet was still on the ground but he was staggering and about to fall.

He was about to lose his balance when he felt something grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him away. He landed on the rock-hard ground, relieved and saw Leo standing in front of him.

"Didn't I tell you to wait?"Leo asked, then, gave him a little nagging."You were the one who kept saying that the cave was scary and weird but when you see some weird lights you were the first one to-What is that?"

"Just notice?"Liam said with a smug on his face."You were so busy with your nagging that you didn't see it."

The lights vanished and revealed a deep pit, in which there were lit torches in the pit so they were able to see what was down there. There were a lot of creatures in the pit, they were green and ugly-looking and they stood like a human.

They had sharp ears and noses and they were smaller and shorter than a human. Liam had never seen anything like that in his life and was looking at them in disgust.

"They are goblins," Leo said when he noticed Liam's expression.

"What?"Liam asked, confused like he didn't catch him.

"There're goblins. Never seen them before?"

Liam nodded.

"They look weird and disturbing..."Liam replied honestly and Leo chuckled.

Liam tilted his head, confusedly, he didn't get what was funny since he was only telling the truth.

"Wait till you see an orc," Leo said.

"Don't tell me, they are like goblins or worse..."Liam replied as he wondered worriedly about how they would look like.

"No, but they do have green skin and sharp ears like goblins. And they have two long lower teeth that are sticking out of their mouth, we called them tusks."

"Sharp tusks?"

"Yup!"

"They sound scary..."

"Yeah, and not only their appearance but their strength are terrifying too! Oh, and they are bigger than us, humans."

"Really?!"

They were chatting, enthusiastically until an arrow suddenly shot between their faces. It flew just a few inches away from Liam's face, it was a near death. Liam was stunned by the sudden attack while Leo looked to the pit to see the goblins holding their bows and arrows and aiming at them.

"They saw us!"Leo yelled as he hastily pushed Liam down onto the ground to dodge the other murder attempts.

Liam snapped out of it and grabbed his bow and took out his arrow from his quiver. Leo saw what Liam did and followed him, he took out his sword.

"You ready?"Leo asked and Liam nodded.

Both of them stood up from their spot and readied their weapons. Liam's heart was beating, intensely, he had never shot another being before other than a slime. And worse this creature seemed to know how to think, it could even wield a weapon which means it had the intelligence to dodge too if it was fast enough.

The longer Liam thought he started having second thoughts, his hands began to tremble as he slowly lowered down his bow. Leo turned around when he noticed Liam lower his bow. He knew Liam was panicking, his face was paler than he already was and he was breathing, loudly like he just run a marathon.

Seeing Liam in such a panicked state, Leo immediately ignored their enemies to help Liam.

"Is everything alright?"Leo asked as he placed his hand on Liam's shoulder and gave him a worried yet gentle smile."If you can't handle this, you know we can run away, right?"

Liam felt all his worries vanish as he stared at Leo's warm and caring smile. He was lucky that he met such a nice partner...no, a nice friend.

He then realized what he was doing, he was letting Leo down. (even though Leo didn't think of it like that)He shook his head and Leo smiled, brightly.

"That's the spirit!"He said but the moment he said that, Liam noticed something shiny was dashing toward them.

It was an arrow.

"Leo!"Liam yelled as he pointed behind him.

He did think of pushing Leo away but he knew he wouldn't have the strength to do so. And shouldn't an experienced adventurer have a fast reflex?

Leo turned back to the pit and saw the arrow, dashing toward him but he didn't move away, he just stood at the same spot. Liam was about to yell again when Leo suddenly raised his sword and slashed the arrow. The arrow broke in half and fell to the ground, uselessly.

Liam was too amazed to even utter a single word. He knew Leo was quite experienced but not that skilled!

After that, Leo turned back to him and patted his shoulder as if comforting him.

"You don't have to worry about me. Focus on what you're doing. I will protect you."Leo gave his final smile before turning back to the battlefield, his sweet smile vanished and his face switched to a serious expression. Leaving Liam thinking, is he the same guy, he was talking to a while earlier?

Liam knew he shouldn't be thinking this but it was really embarrassing to be protected by someone shirtless.

He looked back to Leo, seeing his expression was fierce and serious as he continued to slice through the arrows. Liam then focused on himself, he aimed his arrow at one of the goblins that was still reloading its bow. He steadied his aim, then, he closed his eyes, he breathed in and released his arrow.

He could hear the bowstring released and his arrow soaring through the air. Then, there was a cheer.

"You did it! I told you, you can do it!"He heard Leo cheered and he opened his eyes.

He looked to the goblin that he aimed and saw it lying on the ground, motionlessly. He did it, he never thought he was able to hurt it but now it wasn't a tiny cut but a kill.

Liam could feel his spirit fired up and they continued their war. After some time, the goblins realized Liam was a bigger threat than Leo and started switching their target to him but Leo didn't allow them to lay a single injury on him.

They were like a perfect team, one was attacking while the other was defending until an arrow flew out of nowhere, aiming at Liam's side.

Leo noticed it at the last moment before it hit Liam, he pushed Liam away and Liam fell to the ground as a groan could be heard in front of him.

He looked up and saw blood pouring out of Leo's waist as an arrow could be seen. It was stabbed quite deeply. Liam didn't hesitate to stand up and shoot the one that hurt Leo, it was hiding behind a boulder, that's why they weren't able to see it. After he was done, he turned back to Leo, who was now sitting on the ground, his hand was pressing, tightly on his wound. (He didn't take the arrow out)

"Why did you do that?!"Liam yelled at him as he gripped his bow.

"I did tell you, I will protect you..."Leo replied with a forced smile, trying to hide his pain.

Liam felt his heart sank as he looked down at the ground. He was about to open his mouth and apologize but the sound of laughter cut him off. He turned to look at the pit and saw all the goblins were laughing, their laughter echoed through the cave and Liam knew they were laughing because they hurt Leo. They finally managed to get rid of an annoying one that was defending the attacker, why aren't they happy?

Liam felt his blood boiling as he gripped his bow again but this time, it wasn't because of heartache but rage. He took out another arrow again and aimed it at the distracted, celebrating group. He was about to shoot but something caught his eye, he saw a pile of stacked up boxes in the corner, there were letters written on them.

'Dynamite'

A plan struck into his head and he turned to Leo.

"Leo, do you still have the torch with you?"Liam asked.

"Yes, why?"Leo held the torch in his hand as he replied.

"Nice! Can you help me light it up again?"Liam requested, he knew it was wrong of him to ask Leo to do other stuff since he was injured but this is extremely important.

"Sure!"Liam accepted, almost immediately.

"Thanks!"Liam thanked him and went back to attacking the goblins while Leo started doing his job.

After a few minutes, the fire was lit.

"It's done!"Leo called out and Liam snatched it away from him.

He thanked Leo again and switched to his target, the dynamites. He lit his arrow on fire with the torch and aimed it at the dynamites. Then, released his arrow.

Leo raised his head to see what was Liam planning to do with his fire arrow and saw him aiming at the dynamites. At the last moment when the fire arrow hit the dynamites, Leo pulled Liam down to the ground, followed by an explosion.

The explosion caused the ground to shake like having an earthquake but worse. They turned to look at their success and saw some goblins fall into the endless pit, they now have created.

"We won!"Liam yelled as he looked back at Leo with a bright and huge smile on his face.

Liam unknowingly raised his hand as if he wanted a high-five, which made Leo look at him in shock. Liam noticed his look and looked at his hand.

"Ah...it's weird, isn't it?"Liam said, awkwardly as he slowly lowered down his hand but was stopped by a clap to his hand.

"We did great!"Leo praised as he clapped Liam's hand.

Liam's eyes were sparkling as he stared at Leo's bright smile.

"Though...I didn't help much..." Leo added afterward and Liam felt offended.

"Why did you say that?! You did a lot-"Liam was going to praise and thank him for his help but was stopped by a loud, piercing scream coming from the pit.

They covered their ears as they turned to look at the pit. They weren't celebrating anymore even though all the goblins were now gone but instead, they felt fear as something was emerging from the abyss.