Ike raced through the dungeon's second floor, closely followed by the sound of screeching goblins trying to keep up with their prey. How did he end up in this situation? The question kept popping up in his mind as he tried to keep up his pace, tried to get away from his pursuers. He knew why he had gotten so cocky, Mask on! had activated on the first floor as he was unfortunate enough to lose against a goblin by accidentally dropping his katana in the battle, taking serious injuries before finally regaining his bearings. Just how had he been so clumsy? However, once the adrenaline had started to rush through his veins, his mind had cleared up and Ike had an easy time dispatching the monsters on the first floor. Long story short, the adrenaline had made him cocky and arrogant, thus he had ventured forward, further down into the dungeon. Ike dashed through the narrow corridors of the dungeon, yet the dungeon seemed to smell his weakness. He could hear the heard of goblins behind him growing as more of the beasts spawned, all that was left was just hoping he would be able to outrun the monsters. Oddly enough, the clueless adventurer hadn't met any others yet in the usually crowded second floor. After what seemed like an eternity of running, Ike's luck finally ran out. The routes he had taken had let him into a dead end, a small clearing within the second floor's layout. "Kuso!" He cursed under his breath as he turned around to face the horde of goblins behind him. He unsheathed his katana ready to face the horde, his eyes emitting a bright red light from behind his mask. "Might as well take as many as I can with me." He mumbled to himself, a slight grin forming underneath the cover of the demon-mask. Ike watched as the 15 goblins swarmed the clearing, less than he had anticipated, but with his current wounds it wasn't a horde he would be able to take care of easily. The blood dripped from his wounds unto the ground beneath him, he estimated he would be able to take a few hits before going down, but against fifteen goblins his odds were grim. Out of the group of 15, a crazed goblin emerged, seemingly the leader of the group. Ike wasted no time as the red light within his eyes grew brighter. "Kabuki." He mumbled to himself, his voice void of any emotion. Ike surged forward a direct charge at the surprised goblin. He stopped mid charge to dash at the goblins right flank, an attack the crazed leader wasn't expecting. Ike managed to take him out in one attack, cleanly cutting the goblin in half. It didn't take long for the goblins to react, the group charged at Ike, the three rockslingers in the back unleashing their ranged attacks unto Ike as the melee fighters lunged at him. Ike managed to dodge the first salvo of rocks as he jumped back, swatting one of the melee goblins away and blocking most of the attackers, the clashing of the weapons echoing through the dungeon. One of the goblins managed to chip his arm, creating a small cut. The situation became increasingly dire as Ike realized he wouldn't survive this encounter, unless he could take out the rockslingers to free himself from their ranged suppression so he could focus on fighting the normal goblins. @Lavian
If Lavian had to be completely sincere, she thought a vast majority of the freshly turned adventurers populating Orario were complete amateurs. Sure, they had strength, some even had talent, but so many of them were flashy and fought in such esoteric, if pointlessly flashy ways that Lavian was convinced they would already be dead were it not for their vastly superior physical abilities. With that said, she deftly took down another goblin with a series of thrusts, capitalizing on the speed of her weapon to force the creature to raise it’s weapon high in order to intercept an attack meant to impale him from above, only to leave him vulnerable to the trust to his abdomen that came a split second later. As the creature fell, Lavian stabbed it’s head again for good measure and without fanfare, the creature simply evaporated into a dark mist, leaving behind a tiny crystal which she promptly picked up and stuffed into her pouch. How many did that make now? Ten, twenty? It was probably around that number. Really, all she had to do was make sure they didn’t have time to call for reinforcements. Some would certainly call her tactics cowardly, but as a huntress, she didn’t care. The means weren’t so important as the rewards. Speaking of, she wrapped a free hand around her pouch and tested it’s weight against her palm. She found it sorely wanting. The amount she’d harvested still wasn’t nearly enough to make this trip worthwhile. Almost as if to answer her prayers, she heard a commotion not too far into the distance. It was either a party of adventurers, or a lone guy getting himself into trouble. Oh, she’d initially considered a third option, the rare powerful fighter wandering the lower levels for god knew what reason, but after a few trips she’d learned that there weren’t anyone that strong that was stupid enough to waste time where the monsters couldn’t yield real money. But until such a time she herself was that strong, she’d put up with this. It was almost too easy, truth be told. Dungeon-diving was like hunting prey, only, there was an abundance of them and they pursued you rather than avoid you. An improvement, in her books at least. Peeking around the corner, she noticed a cornered adventurer. He certainly was taking on more than he could chew, though was he worth saving if he got himself into this mess in the first place? She considered her options… still, it wasn’t going to be too hard if she played her cards right. She might make him indebted to her, that was always a plus in her book. Steeling herself with a deep breath, the seasoned huntress stepped out from the shadows and with nary a sound, thrust her spear into the back of the head of one of the creatures throwing rocks at the cornered man. Before the others even turned to respond, she followed up her attack, striking down one in the neck, cutting through the spine, then twisted her hip and shoulders so she could turn her arms inward, slamming the butt of her spear into the back of another goblin. Now this one wasn’t unaware of her, but sprawled in the ground as it was, stabbing it through was child’s play. Funny how so many humanoids creatures were so similarly built. It meant that they had the same weaknesses. The area around the lumbar vertebrae, at least for these cretins, were a prime target for her attacks. Though she did have to restrain herself. There was no point in thrusting too much, either she’d overextend if she did that - and leave herself vulnerable to counter attack - or get her polearm stuck in her foe’s carcass, which was a sin as far as she was concerned. “You there.” she called out to the stranger still putting up his desperate fight. “I’ll lend you aid, but the corpses of the ones I slay are mine to loot and mine alone.” It was bold, perhaps reckless to speak in combat, but she did outmatch these goblins in physicality and they weren’t really intelligent. All she had to do was step back when they advanced or re-position herself so that one goblin was always in front of her and another. Getting flanked, would not help her take care of these creature faster, so she made sure to avoid that predicament.
