Dungeons Online

Chapter 113: Grim reminder

'I wonder how far I should go,' Tom thought, kicking away the nearest group of goblins as if they were some maquettes. Just a few hours ago, they still posed a serious threat to his health, yet now, they were nothing more but cannon fodder. 'It wouldn't be good if we were to appear too strong,' Tom thought, taking the future into account as he made his way through the swarm of monsters. 

"URA!" Claudia shouted as soon as she joined Tom's side. Then, with no regard to her image, she started fisting away any enemy that was unlucky enough to get into her range. "What's holding you up?" she asked, turning her head around after grabbing one of the goblins and throwing it at the ogres at the front. 

"Women..." Tom said, rolling his eyes. 'There goes my wish to keep a relatively low profile,' he thought, raising the speed at which he was mowing down the monsters. 

"Just a little bit longer!" One of the people behind the monsters shouted. 

'They noticed us,' Tom thought, biting his lips as his spear sank into the chest of yet another goblin. Instead of trying to wrestle it's free, something that even for him could prove to be slightly challenging, he simply conjured another weapon and continued the carnage. 

Rather than trying to pull the weapon out, it was easier to keep going and recall it a moment later. 

"Hold on!" Claudia shouted. The heat of the battle clearly got to her head, making her forget about any and all possible reservations that the two of them should have. 

The reservations against showing the full extent of their strenght in the face of a group of people from a different world. 

Yes, another world. Because there was no place on earth where a long-eared race of people lived!

"ROAR!" The ogre at the very front roared. Even though it was relatively quick to notice a threat from behind, Claudia and Tom managed to slay half of the entire group by the time it finally took notice. It wasn't that the orc was slow. It was the two of them that were exceptionally fast. 

"Just shut up!" For some reason, Tom got annoyed with that roar. Unwilling to see the first elf he ever saw die in the hands of this hideous monster, he conjured two spears in his right hand before throwing them right at the monster. 

But rather than aiming for its vital points, Tom took aim at its wrist. For now, whether that poor elf was alive or not was yet to be confirmed. 'It would be bad if it tore that poor fella apart in the fit of a flying rage,' Tom thought, swapping positions with one of his magical spears as soon as they flew past the orc.

"Huh?" Even in this tense battlefield, the other party couldn't help but gasp in one voice when Tom suddenly appeared between them and the dwindling horde of monsters.

"Stay back!" Tom shouted, instantly pushing forward. This time, rather than dealing with the monsters in detail, he swung his spear horizontally. Even though the corridor itself wasn't all that narrow, Tom managed to block two-thirds of it with the length of his spear. 

And then, as if he was pushing some kind of cargo uphill, he moved forward. 

"Take care of the Orcs!" Tom shouted. For now, those massive monsters luckily have yet to pay him much attention. As such, facing only poorly armed goblins, he could make use of his superior range to push them away without putting his torso in danger. But as soon as the two remaining pig-like monsters were to catch on...

"On it!" Claudia didn't bother to waste time hesitating. Without any wait, she leaped forward, sending a kick straight to the head of the first of the two orcs. 

'I really wish she could take a better care of how she fights when there are others watching,' Tom thought, watching how the girl unknowingly flashed everything that a man could wish to see about her. Yet, after this momentary distraction, he infused a tiny bit more mana into his flesh to increase the strenght of his arms. 

"..e her!" between the noise of the weapons clattering and monsters moaning from pain, Tom heard a voice from behind. "Save her, I beg of you!" 

Tom turned his head around. As soon as he noticed the intense stare of the foreign group, he suddenly felt a wave of shame washing over his soul. With nothing but a ragged piece of cloth wrapped around his hips, he appeared like some kind of exhibitionist pervert rather than a valiant hero coming to the rescue of some random adventurers. 

'If I were to appear like that back home, I would finally find out how the prison looks from inside,' Tom thought grimly before looking over at where one of the people behind him pointed their hand. 

Just as expected, there was only one person that required a direct saving right now. 

It was the elven girl that the orc previously held like a trophy in the air, currently tossed to the side yet still well within the ranks of the monsters. 

"Fend for yourself for a moment!" Tom shouted to the back, adding the strenght of his back to his hold. With a short burst of energy, he pushed the swarm of goblins away. Using the momentum of the rebound, he shot his right arm to the back before bringing it forward and letting go of his spear. 

'Swap!' he thought, instantly appearing above the heads of the remaining goblins, just a meter away from the unconscious elf.

'I can't use everblaze here,' Tom thought, landing right beside the lifeless body. Even though it was a quick glance, he could tell that her body, although properly covered in clothes and some rudimentary armor, could easily rival that of Claudia herself. "I guess I don't have much choice, then,' Tom thought, closing his eyes for a mere moment. 

'Spear domain!' he shouted in his thoughts, properly closing his eyes. 

And then, the true carnage started. 

Without moving an inch from his spot or opening his eyes even a tiny bit, Tom started to wildly swing his spear. Whenever a monster would cross a distance of two meters away from Tom, it would instantly have its body torn by the spear's blade. 

This was the first time for Tom to deploy his newest skill in a real fight. With how he preferred to be as mobile as possible, something as stationary as this sphere of perfect awareness wasn't useful at all. Only now, when his priority was to defend this single, particular spot, could this kind of skill finally turn helpful. 

"Help!"  A sudden shout reached Tom's ears. Opening his eyes, Tom saw something that he didn't really expect nor wished to see. As he was focused on defending the lifeless body of that elven girl, the goblins finally realized that approaching him was akin to suicide. 

To the back, Claudia ravaged their ranks just with the collateral damage of her fight with the orc. To the side, Tom would spear any monster that would be stupid enough to approach them. As such, there was only one way left for the monsters to push with any chance of success. And with how focused he had to be to invoke his domain, Tom missed it. 

'I won't make it,' he thought, throwing his arm to the back in an attempt to send another spear flying. Yet, a swarm of goblins already clashed with those strange adventurers of the other side of the dungeon. And right now, Tom could see in slow motion how one of the rusty swords used by those relatively weak monsters was reaching for the unguarded throat of one of the female adventurers. 

"NO!" A male behind her shouted. Tom tensed his entire body along with invoking his haste, hoping that he would make it in time. 

Sadly, he didn't.

Just as the spear left his hand, the throat of the unlucky girl opened up under the relentless attack of the rusty sword. 

The goblin responsible for the attack died a moment after that, pierced by Tom's magical spear. But that didn't change anything for the girl that suddenly found it impossible to catch a breath as a river of blood rushed out of the deep wound on her throat. 

"Fuck," Tom muttered, feeling how a familiar yet unpleasant feeling spread out through his soul. 

For the young man, the dungeon has long lost its aura of danger. Ever since he managed to somehow best the boss of its final floor, no monster stood any chance against him. Ever since that point in the past, Tom unknowingly started to disregard the danger, confident that he could ward off against any threat that the dungeon could pose. 

Yet, the sight of the girl falling to her knees as she drew her last, gaggling breath served as a grim reminder that this dungeon never stopped to be dangerous. 

Because it never ceased to be full of threats. Tom simply reached a point where those threats no longer applied to him. 

But this knowledge would make no difference to the girl that fell face-first to the floor. Judging by the amount of blood gushing out of her throat, she was already welcomed in whatever afterlife she believed in. 

'Fuck,' Tom gritted his teeth before putting his attention back to the fight. As much as he hated the situation, he couldn't do anything before all the monsters would be eradicated!