Chapter 14 - First Kill.

Loki spewed a mouthful of blood. In just a single hit, his head was already spinning, and he felt like he was about to vomit all his innards. This was his first time receiving such a severe injury. In truth, he was scared. Although he already realized he could die inside a Dungeon, being injured made the situation real, which scared him.

His body lost its strength and could barely move. If the kobold decided to attack him in his current condition, he wouldn't be able to do anything to save himself. With difficulty, Loki raised his head, wanting to know what the kobold's next action was. And when he did, he saw green roots tangle the whole body of the kobold, preventing it from moving.

This made Loki look at the timid girl. Her face didn't belong to someone cowardly; instead, it belonged to someone brave. It seemed he was the one who was more cowardly, not Pandora. With just a single injury, he got scared. What about Pandora? She experienced 2 party wipeouts, and yet here she was, facing her fear and strongly fighting for them.

This won't do! I need to stand and fight! How can I claim that I will become a strong Crawler if a single kobold is enough to destroy my confidence?!

Regardless of Loki's desire, his body still refused to listen. He could grasp that Pandora wouldn't manage to keep holding the wolf for long, as her face was frowning and her forehead was full of sweat. It was now or never!

He forced himself to push his body off the ground. He wanted to stand. He needed to stand. He had to stand! With a scream, Loki successfully stood up. However, someone screamed along with him, but the difference was that Leo was already charging towards the kobold.

"SHIELD BASH!"

Leo managed to stun the wolf once again. But he didn't stop there. He continuously bashed his mace against the kobold, intending to finish the battle before the enemy could regain its senses.

This calmed Loki for a little. With Leo there, he wouldn't need to worry about Pandora's safety. He needed to focus on his recovery; he had to return to the fight as soon as possible.

Upon stopping, Leo panted from the intense barrage of attacks he had just done. Yet the kobold remained conscious and still tried its best to untangle itself. But then, arrows suddenly pierced the kobold's hide.

This confused Loki; none of them used a bow and arrow as a weapon, so who was responsible for the attack? Looking around, he saw the man standing beside Pandora while holding a bow. It appeared Pandora had successfully healed the stranger.

This is good! Having more hands to fight with is always a good thing!

Finally, Pandora couldn't take it anymore and released her hold on the kobold. But that was fine; there were two Crawlers there, and one of them was a tank.

As Loki predicted, Leo distracted the kobold while the stranger rained it with arrows. He felt useless, as his body was too fragile for his liking. He could understand that his Class wasn't good at taking damage, but it was annoying nonetheless. If he didn't get distracted, or at least use his skill to evade, he wouldn't be in a pathetic state.

But as of now, he couldn't do anything but watch.

Leo changed his tactics due to the kobold's attack, which made him fly away. He focused more on deflecting than blocking. By slanting his shield a little, he could change the course of the kobold's attack and not absorb most of its force.

It was smart; Loki didn't know Leo had a secret technique like that! As time went on, the kobold's attacks became slower and weak that even Leo, who was slower than Loki, could evade them.

The stranger also stopped, as it seemed he had exhausted all his arrows. But that was fine, Leo bombarded the kobold with his mace, and it finally fell to its knees. Leo saw the chance and targeted the wolf's face, as he previously couldn't due to its height.

Leo screamed like a madman while bashing the head of the kobold.

After a while, a notification popped up before Loki.

[Your party member Leo has slain an LVL 3 Kobold. You received 15 experience points!]

"Finally!" Loki slumped on the ground. Even though he was confident that Leo could do it, the situation was too intense for him to fully relax.

However, before he could rest, Pandora weakly walked to him and spoke. "W-we should leave. The battle might attract other kobolds here."

"Ah, that's right." Loki slowly stood up.

"D-do you need help?" Pandora asked.

"No, I'm fine, but thank you."

Loki looked at where Leo was lying and shouted. "Leo! Get up! We need to leave!"

"What? Already? Can we rest for a few minutes?" Leo complained.

"No can do, other kobolds might be on their way."

"What? There's more. We better get moving then. But what about the bodies?"

When Leo and Loki glanced at where the other two dead Crawlers were supposed to be, they found nothing. Even the kobolds and the blood were gone.

"Where are they?" Leo confusedly asked.

"W-we need to go now," Pandora pushed.

"Okay, Leo, forget about the bodies; we need to move!"

With that, the trio and the stranger ran away from the scene. After a few minutes of running, they sat beneath the trees.

"So, can someone tell me what happens to the bodies?" Leo asked while panting.

"Are you guys newbies?" The stranger inquired. "Sorry for asking, and thank you for saving me."

"Yes, we are. How did you know?" Loki responded while leaning against a tree.

"Well, the fact that you don't know about the Dungeon Anomalies shows that you guys are."

"Dungeon Anomalies?"

"One of the Dungeon Anomalies is that when anything that has Level dies inside a Dungeon, it will be absorbed as nutrients for its growth."

"Absorb? Wait, don't tell me Dungeon is alive?" Loki's eyes widened. This was never mentioned in The Basic Knowledge About Dungeon book.

Isn't this kind of thing supposed to be among the basic knowledge? Who wrote that book?

"That's a question that is being argued by many, so I don't really know the answer to that."

"Can you tell us more about Dungeon Anomalies?"

"Sure, do you guys know about the item loot?"

Loki and Leo shook their heads.

"It's another Dungeon Anomalies, where monsters who died drop a part of their bodies as an item."

Baffled, Loki looked at Pandora. She seemed aware of the Dungeon Anomalies, as she didn't appear surprised like he and Leo were.

"Is this common knowledge among Crawlers?"

"Yes, it's common. But don't worry, it's normal for a newbie like you not to know about this kind of thing. Sooner or later, if you're lucky enough to survive a few Dungeon Crawls, you will automatically learn about these things."

"By the way, how did your party get in that dire situation?" Leo changed the subject.

"We got unlucky and got ambushed on our way to our Quest. Kobolds usually don't show up in this part of the forest. But for some unknown reason, they did, and that caught us completely off guard. Normally, we will escape when there are three or more kobolds in a group. But because they ambushed us and I injured my legs, we couldn't run. I told them to leave me behind, but they didn't listen. It's my fault why they died. If they just left me, they would still be alive!"

The man began crying after blaming himself. It seemed the incident traumatized him.

"I'm sorry," Leo said with a saddened face.

Loki wanted to know more about Dungeon Anomalies, but the man wasn't in the right state to answer his question.

Loki was about to ask the stranger about his plan. But Pandora spoke first.

"W-we need to leave now; I think the kobolds track us here."

Loki squinted. "How did you know we're being tracked?"

"I-it's one of my skills; please believe me, we need to leave now."

This was the first time he had seen Pandora panic. Even the storming Kobold didn't manage to do it.

"Okay, let's move back to where the portal is."

"What about our Quest?" Leo asked.

"We can just enter the portal again."

Without wasting any more time, the group ran towards where the exit was. They didn't need to use symbols, as the massive tree was still visible from their position. After an hour of exhausting running, they arrive at the portal.

"W-we don't need to exit; we can just wait here for a while," Pandora suggested.

"What about the kobolds?" Leo inquired.

"T-they don't come near the portal."

Another new piece of information.

"Can't we just go out and go back later?" Loki frowned.

"No, you can't," the stranger said. "Once you exit a Dungeon, you need to wait at least a day or two before you can enter again."

"What? I didn't see that when I read the rule book!"

"Well, it's a new rule. Because some idiotic Crawlers played around with the portal by entering and exiting repeatedly."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Who would do such stupid things, and why?"

"Who knows, rumors say the Crawler did it because of a bet. Anyway, I will part ways with you guys now. Again, thank you for saving me. If you need help, just look for me in the guild. My name is Ron, by the way."

Ron walked towards the portal. His back was a bit curved, an obvious sign of the toll he suffered.

After watching Ron leave, the trio set up camp to rest and tend to their injuries.