Emi

"Will she be all right?"

Our strike team had to stop before we even entered the dungeon. As the others claimed, the entrance was near where the Cerberus tried to attack us, and they made short work of the other hellhounds too, but my brother used way too much mana for her little show, and we brought her back to Gomel's workshop. It looked more like a mansion than a smithy.

The entire dwarven city looked amazing, and if the monsters and nature didn't try to ruin it, the structures would easily stand for another hundred or a thousand years. I never saw architecture this amazing in our world, and they didn't have cranes or modern technologies to pull it off. But they had magic, and a long lifespan to practice their skills. Gomel was no exception either.

"She just needs to rest. I guess, she didn't know what happens when you suddenly use up all your magicules..." Ember said, standing over Nati's bed. "But it's nothing strange, I passed out twice on our journey across the lizard's territory. I burned down a forest and blew up a bridge."

"I have never passed out in my life from overusing magic." Omerta shook her head. Like me, the orc witch was nonstop turning her head, trying to take in as much of the city's sights as possible. "I mean I was knocked out after my first duel with the Elder... I did much better the second time and won't let her survive the third."

"I was there on that second fight too, can't call that a duel." The Fire Witch shook her head as we left the drawf's guest room. "So what should we do now? Explore the city, scout ahead in the dungeon, or wait until she wakes up? I barely warmed up..."

"How long do you think she will sleep?" I asked curiously once we all sat around the smith's large table. "There does seem to be a lot of things worth to watch, but I'd rather explore this place with her..."

"And we can't stay here forever, the village might be under attack soon," Omerta added, glancing over at the orc shaman. Gitaut seemed lost in thought, his eyes closed, taking deep breaths. From what I could tell he possessed some interesting abilities that could detect enemies, or certain events and their severity through the changes in the mana flow.

I was jealous of all this magical stuff, but I didn't have any aptitude for it, and even their explanations sounded mystical and strange. It didn't seem fair when my bro-sis turned out to be such a powerful wizard in this world, but I didn't have to feel ashamed either, thanks to my exceptional strength and skill in martial arts.

"Well, last time I slept for an entire day, before that it was two or three? So don't hold your breath..." Ember noted, pulling out some food from the Bag of Holding. "I think we are plenty strong without her to do a little exploration, but shouldn't go in too deep or the Goddess will be mad."

"You were the last I expected such a sensible suggestion from..." One of the hobgoblins noted. The warriors we borrowed from the Demon Lord's army were unscathed after our first engagement, and the overall morale of our team was high. "I say we should check out that entrance, if we already slain its guardian, but don't spend more than an hour inside."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear the first part and agree with this suggestion..." Ember shrugged, pulling her nose up, then raised her free hand. "I cast my vote to explore a bit... After lunch."

"Aye, agreed." The other two warriors and Omerta cast theirs, all raising their hands. Gitaut's eyes were still closed, and he didn't react to our chatter. I felt like I should stay with Nati, but craving some action I raised my hand too.

"Gitaut, you stay or come with us?" Omerta nudged the shaman with her elbow, and he finally opened his eyes. I expected him to stutter and say we should stay, but his reaction was quick and firm.

"We must go back to the dungeon." He claimed and was already on his feet. "Now that the guardian was slain, critters trapped there broke out and are currently swarming the city."

"That doesn't sound good..." Gomel noted, joining us at the table with a beer keg in his hand. "The city was relatively quiet until now, but if the abyssal monsters take over it, I won't be able to go on a scavenge hunt."

"Are there any more residents we should warn about this?" I asked, feeling responsible for the turn of events.

"No, lady Emi, I'm pretty sure I was the last one in Baran since the last year. Ran into more monsters than people at the very least." The dwarf shook his head, comforting me with his answer.

"Still, it's better if we defeat them at the entrance before they scatter around the entire city, and who knows when they will set up an ambush against us?" Omerta urged us and while Ember seemed the most eager to go earlier, she allowed herself an angry glance towards the orc witch for not letting her finish the food. "So everyone's coming?"

The team members nodded in unison, and we were back on the road in a few minutes. Gitaut kept turning his head with eyes closed, like some kind of locator, but the medieval equivalent. He stopped us halfway.

"These monsters aren't abyssal, so they will be easy to take down. I suggest we split into three groups and push them back into the cave." He shared his idea, and our small team was soon organized into two to three-man groups. Gitaut got the two hobs, Ember the ogre, and I advanced with Omerta as a pair.

We covered the left flank and approached the dungeon from behind. There were indeed some strange creatures we encountered on our ways, that reminded me of Spanish slugs. Except these had froglike legs and arms but no eyes or tentacles.

The big difference is that they were nearly the same size as me and carried primitive tools like shovels, pickaxes, and spears. Their color was dirty orange, brown, and dark green and some grew venomous-looking spikes on their backs.

"Troglodytes," Omerta noted, pulling me behind a building. "They don't have eyes, but can detect obstacles and movements."

"Are they strong?" I asked, peeking out behind my cover.

"No, not even abyssal monsters. Gomel mentioned that they often infested dwarven mineshafts and ate their food, but they would run away even from children." She educated me, while I quickly counted about a dozen of them. My hands were itching for combat, though they looked a bit icky to touch. "Some say they were mutated from goblins and barely reach the level of sentience, but my teacher said they were here way before the goblins, or even dwarves. I wonder how they got here?"

"Maybe they came from a mine and stumbled upon the dungeon by chance?" I suggested, pulling back my head behind the cover. "Then the Cerberus trapped them or something. Can I take them down?"

"By all means, but expect them to be mucous..." She warned me.

"Yeah, they look like giant slugs on legs." I nodded but decided to attack them, instead of wasting more time. I got a short sword from Gomel in the village and was eager to try it out in combat.

Since they didn't have eyes, I couldn't tell where they were looking, and just assumed they scanned the area in front of them like some sort of radar or something. For this reason, I tried to attack them from the side and behind and achieved surprise, cutting down the first one effortlessly.

It let out a screeching sound, alerting the rest of them, but the moment they turned toward me, Omerta released a lightning attack, unlike any of the ones I had seen her perform before. It hit the first critter with a crackling sound, but then jumped right across the next one, and two more, before the sparks disappeared. All four went down immediately, and the rest hesitated about which way to focus. I didn't want to be left behind.

I stroke again and cut a troglodyte almost in half. I made sure to keep my distance though, not because of their weapons or their strength, but because I didn't want their mucus to end up on my clothes. They tried to retreat, but I quickly stabbed another one and engaged their remaining spearmen in combat. Omerta threw fire arrows at them this time, and their damp skin sizzled as they fell over one by one.

"Well, that was disappointing..." I noted after the last one tasted my sword too. "Are the rest of the enemies in the dungeon this weak too?"

"I doubt it, these weren't even supposed to be here." Omerta shook her head, examining the destruction we caused in less than a minute. "I don't think Fang would say it's dangerous if this is all."

"I guess there was that Cerberus too." I shrugged. "So now what? We leave them here, or like... Loot them?"

"You can have their tools if you want, but I wouldn't bother." I heard her giggle but saw nothing of value. "Let's see if we run into more of them before we rejoin the others. The entrance should be two blocks that way."

We weren't that lucky. Ember and Gitaut also encountered a few, and we arrived simultaneously. The entrance was a big hole dug from below, leading into one of the squares close to the Gate. The hobs and the ogre made a pile from the hellhounds and lit them on fire. Omerta quickly pulled a knife out to peel off the Cerberus' skin before she met the same fate. Nati's treatment was brutal, but the hide survived relatively nicely. Other than the fact, that they smelled like rot...

"Can't wait to meet Captain Dio again, and show him this." The witch giggled. "According to Gomel they had quite the trouble with these monsters, and Nati got rid of the biggest one as a mere experiment."

"Was she like this ever since she came to this world?" I asked, trying not to remember the morbid image of the Cerberus being imploded into itself, thanks to her overpowered magic.

"She did have the potential, but couldn't use it without outside help. She severely wounded the Elder on our first encounter too." Omerta noted, stuffing the hide inside the bag of holding. "I understand your world doesn't have magic but the images she sent into my head were crazy..."

"Oh, yeah, she did say something about a military-grade laser she shot out from her eyes twice," I remembered, but the witch scratched her head. An invisible laser beam that burned through flesh was quite magical for them in itself. But it was not the time to think about that.

"All right, let's do some reconnaissance inside..."