Chapter 43: Return To The Goblin Crypt
Leah knelt beside her bed as she prayed to the Goddess Euna. She was the Goddess of Rivers and Lakes, and her deceased mother was one of her firm believers.
Right after she finished her prayer, she heard a knock coming from the door of her room.
‘It must be Big Brother checking up on me,’ Leah thought as she hurried to open the door.
However, the one standing outside her room wasn’t her brother, but James, the Overseer of Lont.
“Sorry, did I disturb you?” James asked.
“No, Grandpa,” Leah replied. “I just finished my prayer.”
James smiled and nodded his head. He then gave Leah a letter and bid her goodnight. Leah watched her “Grandpa” disappear in the hallway before closing the door of her room. She looked at the letter in her hands with curiosity.
Leah knew that James wouldn’t do unnecessary things. If he wanted to talk to her, there was no need to use a letter as a medium. Since that was the case then where did this letter come from?
‘I guess I have no other choice but to read it.’ Leah sighed and started reading the letter in her hand.
Five minutes later…
Leah left her room with hurried footsteps. Her heart was thumping wildly inside her chest. If possible, she wanted to run towards the door, but she didn’t want to cause a commotion inside the house.
The moment she left the main entrance, her calm demeanor broke down. Leah no longer cared about etiquette as she ran with all her might towards the Eastern Side of Lont. Her white robe fluttered in the night, not caring if it got dirty or not.
Her lungs were already screaming at her and the stinging pain in her chest made her aware that she was pushing herself to the limits. However, she didn’t care.
There was only one thing in her mind. She had to see him. The man whom she and her brother thought had died during the Beast Tide.
Under the moonlight, the beautiful girl with midnight-blue hair arrived at the grove. She leaned against a tree, panting for breath as she endured the pain in her chest.
“Silly girl. Why do you need to push yourself like this?” Sebas asked. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Dad!” Leah cried out and jumped into her father’s arms.
Feeling the strong and protective embrace wrapped around her, Leah’s final defenses broke down. She cried, and cried, and cried, until Sebas could no longer endure and teared up as well.
There were so many words that they wanted to say, but all of them disappeared the moment they held each other. For now, those questions would have to wait. The reunion of father and daughter had started in this manner.
—–
William locked the main entrance of the goat open and closed all of its windows. His grandfather had reminded him that he should be more aware of his surroundings when using the Ring of Conquest.
The goats lined up in order as their eyes looked excitedly at William. They had been waiting for this moment and all of them were raring to explore and train inside the Goblin Crypt.
“Is everyone ready?” William asked with a smile.
“”Meeeeeeh!””
“What is our main priority?”
“”Meeeeeeeh!””
“That’s right.” William nodded his head. “Safety is our main priority. All of you are not allowed to leave your team and wander alone inside the dungeon. Troublemakers will be punished! You will be banned from entering the dungeon for a day. Do I make myself clear?”
“”Meeeeeeh!””
William smiled and mounted his Mama Ella. He then clenched his fist and activated the ring in his finger. “Open, Ring of Conquest!”
A white light enveloped everyone inside the goat pen and transported them inside the dungeon. William’s understanding on how to control the Ring of Conquest had made it possible for him to choose which floor to appear on.
He didn’t hesitate and chose the Twelfth Floor of the Goblin Crypt.
The two Team Leaders, Aslan and Chronos, stepped forward and their party members lined up behind them.
William and Ella were at the front, while the two teams flanked his sides. The difference between the Eleventh Floor and the Twelfth Floor was the number of Hobgoblins in a party.
Two Warrior Hobgoblins and One Hobgoblin Archer were the most common party composition on their current floor. Sometimes, there were exceptions where there were two archers and only one warrior in the party.
Even so, it didn’t make much difference against the small herd of goats who were looking at them, not as monsters, but as experience points. The tactics of the Angorian goats were very simple.
They first used Quick Attack in order to get close to their targets. Next, they use Horn Attack to inflict greater damage. The arrows fired by the archers were immediately blocked by William’s Ice Bullet.
The battle would immediately become a one-sided beating as soon as the goats arrived in close combat range. Seven hours later, the group managed to clear the Twelfth floor with ease.
William ordered them to rest for an hour before they continued their exploration. The Thirteenth Floor was a bit tricker because there were four Hobgoblins in each party.
In order to overcome this formation, Aslan and Chronos decided to split their team. William only gave them a suggestion and the two leaders acted on it with determined expressions.
Three goats per Hobgoblin. That was the new battle plan that they had devised. The battle took longer, but the results were satisfactory.
After two days, William and the rest cleared the Thirteenth Floor, and descended to the Fourteenth.
The goats had gained a level and all of them were currently Level 20.
Ella, on the other hand, was now Level 10.
After careful considerations, William decided to allocate her skill points on two offensive skills that matched her rank.
< WIld Charge 10 / 10 >
(30 Mana Points)
— Enshrouds self with inner strength and charge towards the target with wild abandon.
— Damage dealt is equivalent to Strength Stat x 10
— Deals 2x Damage to Beast Type Monsters
— Has a chance to stun the enemy.
This was the more powerful version of Horn Attack. It was a skill that was meant to destroy everything in its path.
The next skill that William chose was Mega Kick.
< Mega Kick 8 / 10 >
(30 Mana Points)
— Delivers a powerful kick that can shatter boulders with ease.
— Damage dealt is equivalent to Strength x 8
— Deals 3x Damage to non-living creatures, objects, or constructs
If Wild Charge was a skill that was meant to take the life of living things. Mega Kick was meant to destroy non-living things.
According to the system, there were several creatures in the world like the Undead, and Golems, that were very hard to kill using normal means. This was why William chose to add Mega Kick so that Ella would have a means to handle any kind of situation.
Although the skill wasn’t currently at its Max Level, its damage was still powerful enough to blow away everything that stood in their way.
In truth, William wanted to call it a day, but the goats were still raring to go. Will and Ella were in a predicament. Both of them thought that it was time to go, but they were also curious about what was in store for them on the Fourteenth Floor.