Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 173-174 (Patreon)

An eerie feeling enveloped the entire forest. It was difficult to place exactly what it was, but there was something deeply wrong. The closer he looked at anything around him, the more he found slight inconsistencies that just didn’t match up properly with real life.

Leaves sprouting from tree branches were just a little too symmetrical. The twigs on the ground had strange patterns in them that shouldn’t have been there and the birdsong was just a bit too close to a loop.

The dungeon was trying to emulate life, but it couldn’t quite do it. Even though it had enough magic to make what almost felt like a whole recreation of a world, everything was fake. As far as Arwin was aware, people didn’t know what dungeons were.

They were simply part of the world, placed there by the Mesh. And, like the mesh, their ultimate purpose was difficult to discern at best. There would have been a time when he’d say that the dungeons weren’t any more alive than the Mesh was. But, given the messages it had been sending him recently, Arwin wasn’t so sure he was willing to make any assumptions about the dungeon.

In the end, it changed nothing. The dungeon had tried to replicate life, but it had failed. It was still just a dungeon, and it couldn’t make real life from just magic. It needed more — and it would get more if a Dungeon Break happened.

Arwin’s hands tightened around Verdant Blaze. He was grateful that the trees were spread so far apart. Fighting in an enclosed space with a hammer wasn’t exactly ideal. It gave him room to maneuver the weapon and himself.

“Where are all the monsters?” Reya whispered from behind him, her dagger clenched in her hands before her. “I almost wish something would happen. Walking like this is nerve wracking.”

“No clue,” Arwin whispered back. “Just keep it together for now. Rushing isn’t going to get us anywhere. Do you hear anything, Rodrick?”

“Hear? No.” Rodrick shook his head, then nodded up to the rustling leaves above them. “It’s impossible to pick anything up with this. I’m doing my best, but it’s like trying to hear someone whisper while a baby screams in your ear.”

Arwin grimaced. “Figures. Just keep your eyes out, then.”

They continued on. Minutes passed as they crept deeper into the forest, doing their best to balance moving quickly with not making too much noise. It struck Arwin that it took exactly five same number of steps to pass between every single tree. He started counting them off idly in his head.

It makes sense for there to be less monsters near the locations that adventurers arrive. There are definitely several different spots the portals drop people off, or we would have run into another group by now.

This is a bit much, though. It almost feels like we’re completely alone. I bet the dungeon has been patching over any damage it takes from fights with all the excess magic. That could make it hard to find a way back to a portal.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be a single monster between us and the door,” Rodrick muttered to Arwin.

Arwin went to nod, then paused. Something was wrong. He stopped walking beneath a tree and the others all froze. It took him a second to realize what it was. His mental count had only reached four. The pattern of the trees had changed.

“Ready up,” Arwin whispered. “Trees changed. It might mean nothing, but dungeons like separating things. I think we just entered the equivalent of the next room.”

“What happened to the first one?” Reya asked in the same tone.

“Probably cleared by all the people they sent through here,” Lillia said as they studied their surroundings with renewed vigor.

Nothing was immediately apparent so they continued forward. But, this time, it wasn’t long before the changes became more apparent. Distant grunts and grumbles reached Arwin’s ears and they drew up on a line of bushes hidden within the trees.

Everyone lowered themselves and crept up to the foliage. Arwin poked his head over it and bit back a whistle. A camp composed of a hide tents had been erected in a large clearing. Large, red-skinned goblins strolled around within it. The majority of them had gathered around a small campfire in the center of their camp. He studied one of the monsters.

[Hobgoblin – Journeyman 4]

The others were roughly the same tier. He ducked back down before anything could spot him.

“Hobgoblins,” Arwin said, the distaste clear in his tone. “Looks like there are around fifteen of them.”

“That’s a lot,” Anna said, her face paling.

Rodrick looked over the bushes to size them up himself. He lowered himself a few moments later and gave them a grimace. “We aren’t the first party to find them. There’s armor around their campfire.”

A flicker of confusion passed over Reya’s face, only to be replaced with disgust. “They’re eating people?”

“Is anyone still alive in the camp?” Olive asked. Her face had paled a tone, but her voice remained steady.

Arwin looked back over the bushes. He spotted the piles of armor around the campfire and directed his attention away from whatever it was they were cooking. There were some things he didn’t want details for.

He couldn’t find any signs of cages or humans anywhere. Arwin ducked back down and shook his head.

“Nothing that I can see. They could be in a tent, but I doubt a tent would hold someone very well.”

“Can we take 15 hobgoblins?” Reya asked. “If they’re like goblins then it shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“I think we can,” Arwin said after a moment of thought. “Hobgoblins are distant cousins of goblins. They’re a bit smarter and a whole lot burlier. They also aren’t as blind as goblins are. Lillia, any thoughts?”

“They’re far from intelligent,” Lillia said after a moment. “They won’t be able to adapt well to any sort of surprise and are incredibly self-centered as a standard. None of them will go out of their way to protect each other, so we can try to pick them off.”

“How do we pick off monsters that are all in the same camp?” Olive asked. “They’ll spot us the moment we get close. Arwin could use that huge bow of his to take out one, but what then? Are they too dumb to see where the arrow came from?”

“Probably not,” Lillia said with a frown. “But they aren’t actually all that fast. I think I’ve got an idea that should let us take them out without too much difficulty.”

They all looked to her.

“That’s a relief,” Rodrick said. “I was just going to charge down there and swing my sword around until everything was dead.”

“We know, dear,” Anna said with a sigh. “Which is why we’re even more thankful for anything that gives you a chance of making it out of this with your pants intact.”

“My pants will be perfectly fine. Don’t forget who made them.”

“With you, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Anna said with a wry smile. She sent an apologetic look to Lillia. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. What’s your plan?”

Lillia told them.

***

Olive watched Rodrick and Reya sprint out of the forest and into the clearing, her heart rising up into her throat. Sending two people charging straight at a hobgoblin camp seemed like a strikingly stupid idea.

She hadn’t fought them before, but she’d heard stories. Hobgoblins definitely weren’t the strongest monsters. That didn’t mean they were weak. Even a talented adventurer could go down under a horde of them, and these were a higher tier than they were.

Everything hinges on Reya and Rodrick being fast enough to stay ahead of the hobgoblins. I don’t envy their positions. I don’t think I’d trust myself not to trip.

The first hobgoblin in the camp glanced up. It spotted Rodrick and Reya sprinting toward it and let out a snarl, grabbing a roughshod iron sword from its side and drawing the weapon — only for a streak of green light to carve through the air.

A massive arrow slammed into the monster’s chest and pinned it to the ground in a spray of viscera. Crystals jutted out from the monster’s chest, ripping through its body. The arrow vanished a moment later and the hobgoblin dropped to the ground, dead.

The rest of the camp let out snarls and scrambled to ready themselves for a fight. Several of them pulled out bow and started trying to string them, but Rodrick and Reya didn’t complete their charge.

As soon as they reached the edge of the camp, they skidded to a halt and started running in the opposite direction, running back toward the treeline. The hobgoblins were only confused for an instant.

Seeing their prey turn and flee, the monsters broke into pursuit — and they started gaining ground quickly. They were definitely faster than humans. Olive’s grip tightened around her sword.

I can’t move until they make it back to the treeline. That’ll spoil the ambush. Come on. Push!

Rodrick and Reya were only a short distance ahead of the monsters. Every single second brought the hobgoblins closer to them. They bore down on Rodrick and Anna’s backs, gaining ground with terrifying speed. The monsters hooted and hollered, waving their weapons in the air.

A hobgoblin that had stayed back in camp with its bow raised the weapon, taking aim.

Oh, shit. It’s too soon for Arwin to shoot again! His bow takes too long to prepare.

Olive opened her mouth to call out a warning but caught herself at the last instant. Hobgoblins weren’t smart, but if they realized there was someone waiting in the trees for them, their whole ambush would be ruined.

Who cares about the ambush if Reya gets run through the back with an arrow?

She prepared to yell despite the plan — and an arrow screamed through the air. She stared in disbelief as it slammed into the hobgoblin standing in the camp, turning its head into a fine mist. There hadn’t been any green energy around it this time.

Arwin had literally thrown the arrow, but it had flown with such force that it looked like it had been launched from a cannon.

What kind of smith is he even meant to be? That kind of strength should be impossible for someone our Tier.

Olive didn’t have time to wonder any longer. Rodrick and Anna were just moments from the trees and the hobgoblin horde was right on their tail. The closest monsters were so close that they were nearly in swinging distance.

“Now!” Arwin roared, launching from the forest. He stepped straight into the surprised monster’s path, his hammer roaring with flame as it hurtled through the air. It pulverized the head of a hobgoblin in a single bow, killing the monster before it even knew what hit it.

Strands of shadow whipped out from the trees and bound at the hobgoblin’s feet. The monsters at the front of the group stumbled over them, causing their compatriots to trip over them like a bunch of ugly red dominos.

Olive joined the fight alongside Reya, sending her blade flicking forth into the eye of a hobgoblin as it tried to rise. Fire hissed as the sword punctured the creature’s skull and melted its brain. Olive twisted the sword to make sure the monster was dead before jumping back to avoid a swing from another monster.

Reya ducked under a rusty sword and stepped into its owner, driving her dagger up through the bottom of its jaw before ripping it down through its throat. It lunged for her, but a tendril of shadow wrapped around Reya’s waist and yanked her out of the way before the hobgoblin could reach her.

A hobgoblin landed a blow on Rodrick’s arm, but a ripple of water swirled around the monster’s sword and stopped it from connecting. Rodrick’s blade drove into the hobgoblin’s chest a second later and he kicked it back into the crowd.

Olive was tempted to press forward, but Lillia had been firm on their orders. She took several steps back, joining the others as they formed a wall in front of the treeline to cover each other’s sides.

Over half of the hobgoblins were dead, but their ambush had run its course. The monsters regrouped and gathered into a formation, snarling and roaring.

“Get ready!” Lillia called. “Here they come! Remember the plan!”

Olive’s hands tightened around her sword.

The hobgoblins charged.

Chapter 174

Arwin slammed into the mass of red flesh like a runaway cart. Blades rang off his helm and chest, scraping against the metal of his enchanted armor harmlessly. Verdant Blaze was considerably less kind.

The massive hammer pulverized another hobgoblin. Arwin only had to use a little extra power from [Scourge] to strengthen his swings. The hobgoblins were ill prepared to go up against something that could hit as hard as Verdant Blaze.

Screams and roars filled the air; familiar sounds that brought him back to times that he didn’t care to remember. Arwin’s teeth clenched as an oppressive magical aura rolled off him. Every swing his hammer made accelerated his next one.

He didn’t even bother trying to block any of the monsters’ attacks. Blades cut into the outside of his arm, leaving behind long, scoring wounds that wouldn’t be fatal anytime soon. The screams mixed with the crunch of bone and the thump of blood in his ears.

Every kill lent itself into the next. The aura coiling off him continued to intensify as it drank in all the death around him. None of the monsters had any magic, but the sickening power roiling off Arwin’s body was enough to hinder them.

Verdant Blaze seemed to sing in his mind as the weapon devoured the life of the monsters that fell under it. But, despite all the power coursing through him, there were a lot of hobgoblins.

If it hadn’t been for the others fighting them at the sidelines and drawing their attention away, Arwin suspected he would have been overwhelmed. Weapons clanged off his armor and sought to pierce into the openings between it.

Unfortunately for the hobgoblins, he wasn’t alone. Every glancing wound they managed to land on him was already reduced by [Indomitable Bulwark], and he made the hobgoblins pay its cost in their blood.

The battle was over in just seconds. Arwin spun in search of the next hobgoblin, but there was nothing but a field covered in corpses and blood. He let Verdant Blaze lower, his breathing heavy, and dismissed his helm.

Anna pressed her hands to his back, sending healing energy flooding through his body to patch over the cuts he’d gotten. Arwin gave her a nod of appreciation.

“Was anyone hurt?” Arwin asked.

“Nobody other than you. Sprinting right into the middle of their horde is bold to say the least,” Anna said, a note of admonishment in her tone.

“It was the plan.”

“He can handle it,” Lillia said, drawing up beside them. “Everyone did a great job. If anything, this was a really good test run. Hobgoblins aren’t the biggest threat, but that could have gone a lot worse.”

“I got an achievement for killing a group of monsters whose average Tier was a whole level above my own and went up to Apprentice 4,” Reya said, rubbing a small cut on her hand. It closed up even as Arwin watched, sealing shut over the course of a few seconds. “I took an ability called Warden’s Patience that lets me increase my reaction timing and understanding of an opponent’s moves if I spend enough time staring at them. The other skills weren’t great and this one got upgraded… and it also seems pretty useful if I can stay out of the fight for long enough.”

Arwin pulled his thoughts away from the dead monsters for long enough to think about Reya’s new skill. Anything that buffed movement in any way was going to be a powerful skill, and considering she was already generally fighting from the backline, it seemed like a pretty good way for her to secure a kill on an otherwise superior opponent.

“Sounds like a good skill,” Rodrick said before Arwin could speak. “Moving faster is always pretty good. I’m pretty close to getting to Apprentice 6 myself, I think. It’s been a while since I went up a level.”

“What did you end up specializing in at Apprentice 5?” Arwin asked curiously, finally shaking the last of the fight thrills off.

“Liberate.” Rodrick flicked the blood from his blade and returned it to his sheathe. “The ability that I used back in the fight with the Bonehemoth. I try to avoid using it excessively because it can have some drawbacks on my body and it’s not great midway through a dungeon, but having a huge burst of power can be pretty good for major fights.”

So it’s more than just a debuff remover. It’s a berserker skill. Definitely not a skill that a paladin would have normally taken. I really want to know more about his past.

“We should check the camp out,” Lillia suggested. “The adventurers that were here before us might have had something useful.”

They all nodded and left the dead hobgoblins behind to look into the scattered tents. Arwin shoved the campfire over and kicked dirt over flame, not letting himself spend too much time on thinking about what had been cooking.

He studied the armor, but there was nothing special about it. It looked to be made of Roughsteel and had below-average quality. It wasn’t worth bringing back — but he made care to check every surface to make sure nothing valuable was hidden within them.

Something gritty brushed against his fingers on the inside of a chestplate. Arwin used [Scourge] to crack it open, revealing a small woven badge that had been pressed into the padded armor’s interior.

The badge had nothing but a woven spiral pattern on it. It was poorly made and done either hastily or by an amateur hand. Arwin frowned, then tucked the badge into his pocket. There was a chance someone would recognize it and he’d be able to give the adventurer’s surviving relatives some closure as to their fate.

He turned and walked back over to the tents. The others had all gathered around the largest one, where Lillia had a small pouch in her hand. As soon as Arwin’s eyes drifted over it, the Mesh shimmered to life and scrawled letters through the air.

Miniscule Spatial Storage: Average Quality

[Bigger on the inside]: Spatial energy has warped this item, causing it to be five times larger on the interior than the exterior. Any objects placed into this will remain in the state that they are put into it for 1 week, after which they will begin to rapidly decay. Attempting to place living creatures into the bag will destroy the magic that holds it together.

“Huh,” Arwin said. “That’s not bad at all. Basically a pouch that can carry the amount that a backpack can. Good find.”

“More than a good find,” Lillia said. “I can use this to store food we get in dungeons. Anything we get, really. Up until it’s full of course. But food is the most important one. Things won’t rot for up to a week as long as I use this. The adventurers that had it before were using it to carry fresh rations around.”

“I think that settles who gets it, then,” Anna said with a small that faded away as she looked over to where Arwin had come from. “It’s sad to think about how many people have already died here.”

“It’s part of the job,” Rodrick said. “I don’t mean to be callous. That’s just how it is.”

“I know.” Anna shook her head. “That doesn’t make it less sad. Should we keep moving? We don’t want to linger long in one area.”

“Yeah. Just give me one second,” Arwin said. “I want to see if there’s anything strong in this camp that we’re missing before we continue.”

He closed his eyes and activated [Dragon’s Greed], using the smallest amount of energy he could get away with. Unlike the previous time he’d used it, he wasn’t trying to scan the whole dungeon. That would be useless right now. All he wanted to see was the immediate area.

A faint line tugged at his left shoulder. Arwin turned in its direction and followed it into a nearby tent, where it brought him down to the ground near a matted bed of dirty straw. Arwin ran his fingers across the ground and they caught on a small piece of metal.

He pulled it free of the grass. It was a tarnished brass ring with a tiny gem twinkling in its center. Thin designs ran along its surface in a plain but well-done pattern depicting a swirling wave.

Flowing Water Ring: Average Quality

[Glittering Wave]: This item was made with the sea in mind and quenched within its waters. Activating this item will cause it to glint like the sun off water, potentially blinding anyone looking in its direction for a short period of time.

“Huh. This is nice,” Arwin said, turning the ring over between his fingers. He raised it to his nose and took a sniff.

The ring smelled pleasant. It wasn’t amazing, nor was it rancid. There were notes of warm sand and distant ocean, but not overwhelmingly so. It was relatively weak.

“Nice little ring,” Rodrick observed. “These adventurers weren’t random nobodies if they had two magical items.”

“We don’t know they came from the same group,” Arwin pointed out. He tucked the ring into his pocket. Something about wearing someone else’s ring just wasn’t right, and this one was far too small for his fingers.

He could, however, use the ring to try and learn how to make some of his own. The magic in it looked quite limited. If he could replicate it, he could start making bracelets and rings for the others that wouldn’t completely drain them of all their magical power when they went off.

“Good point,” Anna said. “We should—”

A massive roar split the air, cutting Anna off and tearing through the camp like an explosion. All of them spun toward the source, but despite the intensity of the cry, there was nothing nearby.

“What in the Nine Underlands was that?” Rodrick asked, drawing his sword. “Sounds like a big bugger. Doesn’t bode well for whoever pissed it off.”

Arwin reactivated [Dragon’s Greed], putting more power into it and casting his senses out. His lips pressed thin as lines of energy attached themselves to him. Several of them were coming from the direction that the roar had.

“There’s magic there,” Arwin said. “And a decent amount of it. Three pieces. Unless whatever made that roar just happened to be sitting on three magical items or materials, there are adventurers with at least a little strength fighting it.”

“It’s not from the same direction we were heading,” Lillia said. “We could just start moving faster.”

“What if the adventurers get themselves killed? If they’ve got decent magical gear, they might be a little stronger than random people. Their death could end up causing the dungeon to collapse,” Olive said with a concerned frown.

Arwin cursed under his breath. “Olive is right, and they aren’t that far off the path in the first place. We should interfere with the fight and make sure they don’t get themselves killed. Picking up the kill for ourselves certainly won’t hurt either. It’s too dangerous to just hope they survive.”

“Then we’d best be fast,” Anna said. Another roar shook the air, marking her words. Whatever the massive monster was, it was angry.

The magical energy in the dungeon was already teetering, and it would only take one firm shove to send everything toppling down. They all broke into a sprint, running as fast as they could to stop the monster before anyone else could die.