“Quackers, cover John!” Iris called out from behind him.

“HONK!” The goose bellowed, then rushed to the side, grappling the goblin in its beak, injecting venom into the monster. It writhed around in the gooses’ mouth for a moment, screaming in pain, before the goose tossed it to the side, honking again.  

“Thanks Quackers. Detoxify!” John shouted, casting another spell on Terra, the magic expelling the poison from the goblin arrows stuck in the seams of her armour.

It was their second day in the dungeon, and they had made it down to the third floor. The maze-like cave had multiple intersecting and branching paths, preventing the party from completely being able to keep the little bastards from flanking the party. 

On the first day they only moved across the first floor. The goblins they found were weak and poorly equipped, easy to kill even for John. They would only come in groups of two or three, armed with spears or rocks, and rush the parties front line. Shallia and Terra were more that able to crush the beast before they got close to anyone else. They only stopped once they found the staircase for the second floor.

They returned back to camp, everyone excited that John made it to level three without even needing to draw his weapon. He was just casting a few Firebolt spells, turning the goblins into walking torches. He felt a noticeable difference in his strength from those few levels alone, finally understanding what the difference was when people talked about levels in this world.

He was slightly terrified of Nanaella for a moment, happy that she didn’t accidentally kill him when they were intimate with how much stronger she was than him. She just cuddled in close that night, laughing at his worry. 

Yeah, its silly worrying about a fiancée that could snap you like a twig if she sneezed at the wrong moment… right?

Evie was mapping out the dungeon as they went, and that was when they discovered that the dungeon was a lot more extensive than Brod had let on. Branching paths appeared frequently, and seemed to extend quite far away from the entrance and the stair cases down to the next level. They started to map them out but soon gave up, the sheer size of even the first floor would take days, if not weeks to map.

The morning of the second day, the party proceeded down to the second floor, which started to include goblins with leather armour and axes. John managed to knock a few off with his sword, some of the larger groups getting past their front line, or coming in from a branching path. Still, it wasn’t anything they couldn’t manage, John only healing a nasty bruise that Terra took from an axe connecting with her helmet.

The most interesting thing to John so far was the lack of corpses. Anytime they killed something, it disappeared into a cloud of mana, leaving a stone laying on the floor, which they would collect after each fight. No larger than a thumbnail, he was told they are low ranked non-elemental stones, used in a lot of devices, such as the mana lights on the streets or in homes. 

They are like little batteries.

It did not take them long to find the next staircase down, so they paused there for a quick lunch, then proceeded to the third floor. This is where they found themselves in their current predicament. Assaulted on multiple sides by a dozen goblins.

“Evie, can you hit those Archers?” John asked, swinging his sword at yet another axe welding goblin. They were standing in a pentagonal shaped chamber, with Nanaella guarding their backs, and including Quackers, someone with a melee weapon at each exit. Goblins were mainly focused on Terra and Shallia, with only John and Quackers covering the last two passages for the odd roaming goblin. 

The archers behind the lines were the real problem. Not because their weak bows caused a lot of damage, rather the arrowheads were soaked in a poison that enfeebled whomever hit it, and would paralyse someone if left untreated too long. It was the perfect thing if they were intent on capturing the party and not kill them.

“I can’t see them, but I should be able to neutralize the arrows easy enough. Wind Wall!” She called out, casting a spell down the cave in front of Shallia. John couldn’t see anything, but he felt a pressure wave of air move in that direction, and about ten feet past Shallia, arrows started stopping in mid-air then falling to the ground. After a few moments, the arrows stopped, and another wave of goblins charged into the room, only to be greeted by an arrow from Evie’s crossbow. 

It was quite the chaotic melee, which they did end up winning after a few more minutes. It was probably due to the sheer level differences between the monsters and most of the party more than anything else. John only had to hit both the front liners with a detoxify spell, a couple arrows managing to graze their skin. Quackers appeared to have made it out unscathed, and was waddling around Iris, making some quiet honking noises.

“Good work everyone… not sure how we should have approached that situation, but it worked out in the end.” John said to the group as they went around gathering magic stones. 

“Normally we would have a scout-type checking things out for us, but as the scout is watching our backs, we are doing it the old fashioned way, brute force and ignorance. Not that anything so far could actually hurt us…well not easily anyways.” Terra said, checking her spear for any damage.

“This was easy? Even with the poisoned arrows?” He asked her, genuinely curious. 

“Well, they are just goblins, they are mostly harmless. The numbers are concerning yes, but only because they could circle behind us. It isn’t uncommon for me to hold the attention of twenty of the grubby little buggers. It sounds like a lot, but verses my armour and shield, they have a hard time hurting me.  That and they all can’t get close enough to hit me at the same time. Lets the rest of the party have their pick of targets.” She replied, then continued her instruction.

“It would be different if we were fighting these monsters in the wild. They are smarter out there, more cunning. Not to mention their bodies don’t turn into mana dust when they die. In here though, these lower level monsters are fairly straight forward in their thinking. Just watch the next fight closely, you will see what I mean.”

And so John watched. They moved deeper into the third floor, choosing one of the branching paths at random. They had several other engagements, each fairly straight forward, with the enemies coming from the front in waves of five to nine, sometimes with archers in behind. And every engagement was about the same. 

The goblins would rush in, trying to stab Terra or Shallia, just using a simple thrust of their spears. Then they would do a slash, then thrust again. Usually that was the most any of them managed to do before they died. If they carried axes, it was an overhead slash to start, then a left, then right slash. 

Nothing changed, almost as if they were stuck in a pattern.

“Are all monsters like this? Stuck in this pattern?” He asked between battles. Evie was the one who answered this time.

“Yes. It is when dungeon monsters reach about level one hundred, they change and start acting like their outside world counterparts.” She said, then her tone changed, sounding remorseful. “In Grandol, the City of Labyrinths, that is about the time adventurers hit the wall.

Going from D Rank to C Rank in strength is about the same time these monsters get smarter. A lot of D Ranked parties fail when they are trying to push to C Rank, mainly if they did most of their fighting in a dungeon. They get used to the patterns, then when the patterns change, they can’t adapt, then get hurt…or die.”

John moved over to the short woman and kneeled down. Under the wide brim of her mage hat, her eyes were tearing up a bit. She had a haunted expression on her face, the talk of fighting smarter monsters looking like it reminded her of something she would rather forget.

“You okay?” He asked, genuinely concerned for her. They were not close yet, but the last couple days had shown her to be quite intelligent, and she had a joyous expression on her face every time they worked on John’s magic skills. He didn’t want to see her sad.

“Yes… umm… just memories of my old party. I’ll tell you about them sometime when we are not in a dungeon.” She said, giving herself a shake. She reloaded her crossbow then, and looked him in the eye. “I will be fine John, lets just kill some more of these blasted monsters.”

“Sure.” He said, standing up. He wouldn’t pry into anyone’s issues, not when they were in a dungeon.

He looked around then, the passage way they were walking down seemingly endless. It had been nearly thirty minutes, and no branching paths had appeared, just this long, slightly curving tunnel. He was beginning to wonder if they chose the wrong path.

I am gaining experience, so it really doesn’t matter.

“Yeah, lets keep going. Terra, when you are ready, take point again please.” He said, sheathing his sword.

With that the party dived deeper and deeper into the dungeon.

Meanwhile…

The Adventurer’s Guild Main Hall

Lumina came alone to the Adventure’s Guild so as to not make a spectacle. With the amount of side eyes and glares she was receiving, she failed at that self imposed mission spectacularly. She stepped up to the receptionist counter, an attractive brunette woman standing on the other side. 

“Good Morning. My name is Commander Lumina, of the Church’s Valkyrie Regiment. I am looking for John Wayne, the healer that works here. Is he available?”

“Good Morning. My name is Marnelle. John is currently away on guild business right now, but he should be back within a week. If you want to leave some contact information, we will send you a message upon his return.”

Lumina sighed. Once she had calmed down from her initial assumption that this healer, John Wayne, had assaulted the townsfolk unprovoked, she started her own investigation. This led her to many revelations about this healer, first and foremost was he was working at the Adventurer’s Guild of all things.* 

I really need to remain neutral when I am investigating things. I only had one side of the story. Cattleya would kill me if she saw me act like that in public.  

“I can, but it’s imperative that I speak with him soon. Can you tell me where he is so we can ride out to meet him?” She asked the receptionist.

“I am sorry, but I don’t have the authority to pass on any information about his whereabouts.” Marnelle said, the leaned forward a bit, speaking in a conspiring tone. “In fact no one knows where he is currently, other than he is on business for the guild. If you find him, bring him back here please, we have adventurers that need healing.”

“Can I speak with the Guild Master then? I am on orders from the Pope to find him.” She tried again. 

“I am sorry, he and the Vice-Guild Master are unavailable right now. If you leave me the name of the Inn you are staying at, I will have them contact you upon their return.” Blocked again.

“Lumina-Sama? What are you doing here?” A woman’s voice said behind her. Lumina turned around and in front of her, Miss Kururu stood.

“Kururu? What are you doing here? Why are you not at the guild? Wait no… are you okay? Are you safe?” She asked. She was the one that the townsfolk said was taken from the Healer’s Guild. 

“Yes. I am fine. As for the rest, well come with me. We need to talk elsewhere.” Kururu replied, looking around at the crowd of people watching Lumina and Marnelle talk. 

A half hour later, Lumina left the Adventure’s Guild, the meeting with Kururu shedding more light on the situation here in Meritoni. 

I need to get back to the Healer’s Guild and use the communication crystal. This is too big for me to take on without further guidance. 

She paused at that thought. There were only a handful of people with more power than her in the Church. The Pope and the three archbishops. But if the corruption is at the highest levels of the Church, who could she trust?

I can trust the Pope, but the rest… I… I don’t know anymore. Do I just take charge and make a decision here? Or do I ask and hope it isn’t a corrupt Archbishop who replies.

She closed her eyes and massaged her temples, feeling a headache coming on. 

I have been charged by the Pope to act valorously and root out corruption wherever I find it.  Well, I have found it, so if I have to wait anyways, I will crush it under my boot.

She opened her eyes then, her path set. She was about to take a step forward when she noticed a hooded man standing in front of her, shrouded in darkness. 

“I hear you want to find a healer. I know where he is, but that information will cost you.” The man said. 

She just stared at him.

* – Lumina was two years older in the LN when the MC started interacting with her other than the initial meeting. So I am writing her more as a leader with less polish, still trying to find her groove in the role as the commander of her regiment, rather than the confident character she is in the LN.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep