Bab 75: first cleared Dungeon
Alex unflinching gaze was making them more and more nervous. As much as they were Level 2, their position wasn't favourable at all. Through that, they could escape through their horses, but Alex's display of skills had been enough for them to understand that they wouldn't make it.
As much as their horses were faster than the common one, they would need time to build their momentum, and this timeframe would be their demise.
"We will withdraw and return to the guild; this situation is out of our reach to handle." Finally, say Driti, much to the relief of the two women. "Be warned that an envoy will shortly make its way to the settlement. Even if we are at fault, this conflict must reach an end acknowledged by both party, or the image of the guild would suffer a blow it can't afford."
Alex nodded at the warning, and the group was about to recovers both dead and their horses until Alex stopped them.
"Wait. Those two had tried to end my life; other than self-defence, I judge that I have right over their possession." Said him, seeing that he was making thing difficult for them, he added. "Were we in the Dungeon, any would be able to claim what they found; as such, you can't expect me to accept of earning nothing but the ire of the guild due to THEIR action. I will claim all thing they had here; anything else is yours to deal with."
The three left Alex to guide the two horses away, their previous rider on their saddles even if they wanted. Tying the rein to a nearby tree, he also took two of the backpack having their send on them, off the loaded horseback.
"You can go." Say him not quitting them of his eyes until they vanish from his sight.
~~~
Alex carves way through the rocks to lead the two horses to the waterfall, letting them drink while taking their charge. Stripping both dead of anything, he carelessly drags them a little afar before lighting their bodies on fire.
As he goes through their belonging, Alex didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They had the same camping gears, only in better qualities and a complete set each. Like the previous party, he only found three thousand Valis on each and no cores.
The few changes of Liam would be the most useful to Alex, growing his lacking wardrobe. Not the least attracted by the idea of rummaging through the clothes and undergarments of the petite girl, Alex crafted all the fabric into rolls.
He doubts he would use either frills or pink-dyed bits of fabric but threw nothing.
Out of all, the handy thing was the armours and weapons. Looking at them, Alex discovered them to be made of steel. Made in the form of simple metal, only of lesser quality than his own, he put them to recycling later.
Taking the opportunity to run a thorough inventory of his belonging, Alex emptied his storage once again, bare his grimoire and knives.
"Let's start with the more tiring task, cores. Previously I had accumulated 1,456 goblins core, 236 variants cores, and 7 hob-goblins cores. With the raid of yesterday, it's added 1387, 141 and 8, respectively.
This gives me 2843 GC, 377 VC, and 15 HGC. I had 91.997 Valis in coins, and I had 6 kilos of magic alloy in ingot, the remaining 650 grams in wire roll. I have 12 dungeon cores. After this came the space gems, 13 variants and the remaining 34 goblins. I have around half a square metre left of leather and eight unprocessed skins. The bags left that the outpost had the adventurer's equipment, and a two change of shirts and pants, four oat and five travelling cloaks. These are the two sets of camping from the two I just killed, three pair of change and a bunch of useless fabric roll in a different colour.
I can melt the metal armour and other bits and re-work the leather on a good metre square. I could either keep the weapons or melt them... Yeah, melting is it."
-What you are going to do until the guild envoy arrive?-
'The only thing left other, raiding the last nest and bring down the Mother Dungeon one for all.'
~~~
Packing all type of cores, gems, alloy and coins, he left all equipment behind, carefully stored in a stone cavity.
Closing the hole he made in the rock to keep the horses inside, Alex bolted through the wood toward the last nest. Following the instruction of CS, he needed to run for three good hours before he attains the spot where he theorised the dungeon to be. He had needed a little help to kept on the right track as he started to be lost, but thankfully found the remnant trail already nearly dissipate.
The nest was perhaps the most look-a-like he found until then, hid in the depth of a cavern open in the forest. Entering the nest faced a cross between the last Dungeon he cleaned and the first one.
A single large room at the end of the cavern made the nest. Spreading on the sidewalls and facing the entrance, he could see between three and four levels, depending on the place.
The walls looked more like a piece of cheese than a proper cavern between layers and walls, an extensive network of summary wooden bridges. Alex could see goblins could patrolling with pike made of simple branches, roughly cut.
The small number he was witnessing and the lack of apparent variant gave Alex hopes that he would deal with this rapidly and clear the Mother Dungeon shortly in the night.
~~~
Not needing to hide, Alex started to snipe the highest goblins from the cavern's entry. As they came crashing down, the dead goblins would sometime pile enough to snap the weak rope keeping the bridge in the air, bringing few in their falls.
Coming down on each he saw from top to the floor, Alex then turned to the approaching one. As the distance became too short, he switched with knives and brought down the running goblins.
After a disturbingly short fight between him and, what amounted to thirty-eight goblins, Alex started to explore.
The surprise attack he expected to come at any moment died with the last female and babe he killed and the barely glowing core, who flickers one more last time.
'That was somewhat anti-climatic.' Said Alex, disappointed, still struggling to come to the fact it was over.
-You can't expect to face horde each time to attack a goblin stronghold, more so when it just a nest. I think the last fight had perverted your perception of what was fighting goblins. It will not always be a large group, more likely two or three at a time. The situation is particular only due to the horde in the first place.- CS recalled Alex.
'True.' Though Alex. 'I think I had been too engrossed in the diving the last few days and lost perception of reality.'
-And it a good thing it not. You would burn down rapidly if you were always under the stress of needing to deal with horde-sized groups.-
~~~
Shaking off the feelings, Alex still neared the rock that acted as a core a few seconds before and pulled on when the external appearance shattered and gave a dungeon core.
Done with all this, Alex feels his step lighter, now knowing that he was near getting rid of the danger. But as much as he was feeling good, he didn't dare to growth complaisant, knowing Murphy law was looking at him from the corner, ready to strike him with all its perversion.
Even with the falling night, Alex step wasn't hindered, his vision more than enough to overcome the diminishing light.
It was only as the moon started to rise that he arrived at the hole, leading itself to the dungeon.
~~~
Rather than directly going for the last floor, Alex took great care to look in any room. Seeing that no bad surprises had popped up for the previous two days, he made his way to the end of the staircase leading to the eighth floor.
Nearing the core after throwing a side glance around the root, Alex sees that the corpses had been cleaned. Bringing more attention to the floor, he even notices that the Dungeon hadn't stopped its extension.
Taking a deep breath, Alex put his hand on the core. When he didn't felt any feedback, he smirked knowingly.
Pulling back, Alex felt nearly physically the link between the core and Dungeon snap. As soon as the large core was out, the first layer broke, letting a single polished core fall. The second layer turns into two cores inside it, while the third layer burst into dots of light, leaving behind four cores. The fourth layer burst, too, releasing seven core while the last one gives ten other cores.
-Those numbers are suspiciously the same gathered from the other Dungeon and nest. The last was one, as the outer layer, the second his like the first cleared, the other coincided. The meaning of those numbers still evades me.-
'As long as we take care of them, I think it can wait.' Said Alex while storing them.
As he turned around, Alex could see the structure created by the dungeon rapidly withering away.
By the time he made it to the first floor, all trace of the dungeon, Besides the gaping holes in the underground and staircase, were left.
'Another good thing from the death of a Dungeon, this place could be used as an emergency shelter.'
-With an enlarged entrance, yes. It could be a good idea to share its location with the peoples of the settlement.-
'We will wait after the meeting with the guild and see.'
-Work for me.-
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Linrim
Linrim Sorry to not have warned you before., in hindsight it may have been best.
Anyway, starting now, I will change the release schedule.
Weekend: no chap
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: one chap
Tuesday, Thursday: two chaps.
I made it this way for you to keep you seven chap a week and have my weekend to relax and/or write the week chap.
I hope this will be alright with everyone, and even if not, I will keep it that way; see you tomorrow for the double release!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone