Chapter 160: The Goblin Dungeon
Since they were already dead, Ark just kept walking, and everyone swiftly followed him.
Even though he had surprised them, they still held their composure, they were all strong adventurers after all, and everyone here knew that being careless in a dungeon was essentially a death sentence. The further down the dark cave they walked, the more damp the air became.
Unlike the outside, the air was quite foul, and just breathing was a bit of a challenge in comparison to the lush forest outside. A slight stench lingered inside the cave, which was something commonly associated with goblins, who were quite nasty.
Even though Ark could easily see with the help of his night vision skill, he knew that not everyone was as fortunate as him, and he created a source of bright light with the help of his light magic, which quickly illuminated their surroundings. The cave wasn\'t too dark in the beginning, but at present, it was almost pitch black.
Everyone was thankful for Ark\'s thoughtfulness, as they continued down the rather wide cave.
Along the way, they had bumped into several patrols of goblins, who almost blended perfectly into the darkness, but to Ark, these goblins couldn\'t even be considered an obstacle. Just like the goblins in the beginning, they all just turned into dust as soon as they tried to approach them.
For the other adventurers, this dungeon exploration eventually just turned into a casual stroll, while Ark took care of everything.
Whilst he was busy with taking care of the goblins, he just casually chatted with Ephine and Thufrat. This was in reality the only reason they had come to the dungeon in their human forms, just to chat along the way. To the other adventurers, it all looked a little bizarre, as they had never seen anyone just casually stroll around inside a dungeon whilst happily chatting, it all just looked so odd.
After walking deep into the cave, a faint light could be seen in the distance. Although it was faint, judging from the colour, it was obvious that the light was originating from some form of flame. When they came closer, they were finally able to discern what the light was. Surely enough, the light was indeed a flame, and not only that, but two torches!
The two torches were attached to either side of a rather imposing gate. Even though it looked a little odd that there was a gate deep down inside a cave, everyone present knew that this gate was the entrance to the goblin settlement. The gate wasn\'t left unattended, and underneath each torch was a guard. These guards were not like the goblins they had met before, they were an evolved species.
Though the most normal route was that of a hobgoblin, these had evolved into something similar, yet something far more powerful. When Ark used inspect, he found out that they were both over level 80 and they were called hobgoblin gatekeeper. They were still considered hobgoblins, but their strength had evolved far more, and as long as they fought near this gate, they would be even stronger.
As a price for that strength, they would lose almost all combat effectivity as soon as they left the vicinity of their gate, which was why they almost never left it.
As soon as the group of 20 approached the gate, the two gatekeepers simultaneously got ready for combat. Armed with a spear each, they pointed them at the foreign intruders. Even though Ark really wanted to fight them with his spear, to see who was superior, he knew that it wasn\'t really appropriate considering that he was hiding his identity.
Since he couldn\'t really use his holy spear, he wanted to try something else out.
It was boring to just end every fight normally, and he decided to try and beat these monsters with a sword. Since he didn\'t bring a sword with him, he just conjured one out of ice. The sword wasn\'t just some ordinary ice shard that he had hastily conjured, instead, he took his time to craft an elegant and refined sword made out of shining cyan ice.
The sword was imbued with an immense amount of mana, and he made it as sharp as he possibly could with the mana control he currently had. To the others, the sword looked like it would cut them if they just so much as looked at it. Grabbing the sword in his hand, it had a cool and refreshing feeling to it.
Even though he had just crafted it, it felt like he had been using this sword for all his life, like it was a part of him.
Naturally, this feeling came from the fact that this sword was made out of his own mana, mana that had actually just been an actual part of his being, the sword was just like an extension of his being in that sense. At least that was what it felt like. With the sword in hand, Ark turned around to face everyone else and left them with two words. "Don\'t interfere."
With another turn, he was once again facing the gatekeepers that were pointing their spears at him. Since he didn\'t want to end the fight in a single second, Ark only used a bit of mana on his cellular mana infusion skill. In a single stride, he instantly appeared in front of the left gatekeeper. Seeing the human appearing in front of it, the gatekeeper instantly thrust its spear at him.
Leaning his body slightly to the right, Ark managed to deflect the spear with his sword.
He kept running forward, and almost instantly arrived slightly to the right of the gatekeeper. The sword in his hand exuded an icy cold fog as he swiftly used it to slice his opponent in two. Well, that\'s what would\'ve happened if he didn\'t sense an immense amount of danger approaching him from his right side.
Forcefully using wind magic to send his body flying backward, Ark skidded along the slippery floor of the cave, and almost arrived back to where the others were watching the battle.
In front of him, the two gatekeepers were staring at him with venomous eyes. The gatekeeper that Ark had tried to attack hadn\'t withdrawn its spear yet, while the other gatekeeper\'s spear was aimed at the left gatekeeper. This was obviously the danger he had sensed earlier, and Ark was quite pleased that he was able to avoid the attack, this was going to be a fun fight!