Inside a spacious cavern of Goblin Cave.
The third stratum of the Goblin Cave.
The dark, damp, wide cavern of this strata was this Dungeon's most dangerous stage.
Goblins and Hobgoblins spawn in a bigger number here, forming a herd of 50 Goblins.
The nature of the terrain only worsened the environment of the strata. Other than the tens of gigantic stalactites and some stone pillars connected to the cave ceiling, there are no hiding spots here, which greatly put the challenger in a disadvantageous position, except the challenger possessed great power or came in numbers.
After some time of peaceful period, this place welcomed Its new challengers.
Crowded by a large group of goblins, a pair were fighting in the middle of the cavern.
A man and a woman.
The man had quite an easy time, slicing his foes one after another in a flow. While the woman was in a hard time.
The woman raised her staff only to stumble to her knees. Her eyes widened in terror.
"M-master... I-I am running out of Mana!" She used her staff as her support to stand and shouted at the man to let him know her state.
The man, Loryarc, immediately turned around and looked at Marie.
"W-we'll move to the second stratum asap!" He quickly states their retreat after scanning their situation and knowing that it would be bad for them to keep staying at this strata.
Marie desperately caught up for air and wiped her sweet.
She looked at her surroundings before mustering more and more strength to move out of this strata and walk forth to the stairs connecting this strata to the second stratum.
Running out of Mana.
That phenomenon was a case where you used too much Mana, almost emptying your stored Mana inside your body. Since Mana was the source of magic, you couldn't use any spell if you hadn't any Mana left.
But the main problem was not the lack of Mana itself, but the loss of strength after you ran your Mana empty. In most cases, you cannot even stand properly in this state.
If your foe took that chance to attack you, then it was your end.
Loryarc immediately makes a retreat and steps back toward Marie while watching any approaching Goblins and Hobgoblins.
But when he turned around, he spotted a figure of Goblin running toward Marie with a raised club.
"Marie, watch out!" He shouted while running toward her as well.
"Ha... Haa... Haa..."
Marie wiped her sweat, turning to look at her back after hearing her Master's warning.
The distance between her and the Goblin is about 7 meters, and it keeps decreasing while the Goblin runs toward her.
Her eyes feel so heavy, urging her to close her eyes and let her body rest.
But she gritted her teeth.
And raised her punch.
Toward the Goblin, who coming to her.
Unexpectedly, her punch connected with the Goblin's body faster than its club towards her body.
"Guga!?"
The Goblin stumbled to its back by the impact, groaning in pain.
"Well done, Marie!"
Her Master came to her side afterward.
He quickly raised his sword and sliced the Goblin in two.
After confirming that the Goblin had died, Loryarc turned around. He raised his sword towards the herd of Goblins chasing after them.
"Can you walk?" He asked Marie, took a peek at her plight.
"Y-Yes... n-no problem." Marie nodded despite sweating profusely.
Marie's knees were trembling, but she could still walk, or that's what she wanted and tried to force herself to be able to do. Because she didn't want to further drag her Master down.
Loryarc nodded at her and shouted. "Go!"
Marie pushed her trembling legs moves. She moved and walked, albeit slowly.
Loryarc guarded her back and sliced the Goblins again and again. Because their goal was to retreat, Loryarc couldn't stay too long with a foe and could only slice a single foe with one or two attacks, inflicting little damage to the herd, and couldn't kill any Goblin.
After about an hour, they finally reached the second stratum and ascended the stairs.
The Goblins from the third stratum won't follow them after they back up to this stratum because the absolute rule of the Dungeon doesn't allow them to move from their stratum, except that something unusual happened.
Marie immediately stumbled to her butt after she reached the cave corridor, the specialty area of the second stratum of this Dungeon.
"Haa... Haa... Ha..."
She really looked like she was in pain while leaning on the wall.
Loryarc smiled gently and handed her a water bag.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
Marie weakly nods her head while drinking water from the water bag.
"I see."
Loryarc could only sigh and smile at her with a bitter endearment.
This maid of his was so stubborn.
After exploring this Dungeon, he'd come to realize that fact.
Loyal, yes, very even.
But her feeling towards him, or rather, her 'Master' is...
Loryarc forced himself to stop thinking about that. He inhaled air and leaned against the wall.
"As expected of the last stratum before the Boss room. The number is crazy." Loryarc laughed with a weary smile.
Marie nodded to his words. She seemed to be better after drinking some water.
Loryarc took another water bag from his bag and drank some water to alleviate his dehydration.
Loryarc, of course, had already done some research and looked for any information related to the Goblin Cave before deciding to enter this Dungeon.
The level of monsters inside was so perfectly matched his level; perfect for his practical opponents. Not so strong, but could endure some movements from him with their numbers; that was the Goblins here. That's why he was sure that even he, who was newly trained with a sword for only 6 days, could fight those Goblins.
But Marie... She was a Maid. Not even a real Mage. Her agility is something to be praised for, but her magic, to be honest, is not too helpful.
Maybe she's more talented as a close combatant instead?
While thinking about that and this, Loryarc breaks the silence between them.
"Do you still... Have any Mana potions left?"
Hearing his question, Marie bit her lip and looked at the floor.
"No..."
Her voice is so small as if she's going to cry over it in no time.
"I-I was an idiot, didn't I?" She muttered in a shaky voice.
Tears began to well up in her amber eyes. She squeezes her skirt in frustration and apologizes.
"I follow you, but instead of being a help, I am being a burden for you, Master."
Even before Marie said her next words, Loryarc already knew it.
'I was so useless,' She's going to say.
So he stopped her.
"It's okay, Marie."
And pat her head.
"It's okay, really."
When Loryarc remembered how much Marie had helped his predecessor in the past, her merits for him were so great that his predecessor might not be able to repay her all his life.
"You already helped me more than enough."
Loryarc smiled with the most sincere smile he could create.
"B-but..."
Marie still looked like she wanted to say something pessimistic, so Loryarc immediately covered her lips with his index finger.
"It's okay, Marie."
Marie's face turned red. She could feel her Master's finger touch her lips. The memory of when her Master kissed those ladies from the Marble Rose House appeared in her mind.
Marie immediately forgot about her frustration of being a burden to her Master; she innerly screamed. Could it be that Master would kiss me, too!?
But different from her expectation, her Master separated his finger from her lips instead. He looked into her eyes with worry mixed with endearing bitterness.
"Did you hear me?" He asked her.
She was stunned, looking at him in silence for a moment.
Then, she blinked.
And nodded, lowering her head, reddened even more.
Loryarc sighed. He couldn't help but smile at her cute, blushing face.
***
"He's entered a Dungeon, you said?"
Galird stopped writing his '1000 sheets of apology letter', his punishment, because he beat Loryarc 5 days ago.
He then looked at the two guys, his subordinates, Reybond and Attey.
Reybond, the thin-looking man, nodded to him.
"Yes, that's right, My Lord! That 'guy' brought his maid to the Goblin Cave."
"And there's also a woman in Burger shir—"
Attey, a bulky man with an idiotic daze face, wanted to say something, but Reybond punched his face before he could finish his words.
His punch doesn't hurt the bulky man much, but Attey's cheek is still reddened by the punch.
"Wh-why are you suddenly punching me, Rey!?" Attey protested while holding his tingling cheek.
"BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THESE UNIMPORTANT THINGS, OF COURSE!" Reybond shouted, seemingly having enough of Attey's idiocy.
But even an idiot had pride, so how could he stay silent while someone mocked what he believed?
"H-HUH!? U-UNIMPORTANT, YOU SAID!?" Attey repeated Reybond's mocks and clutched his fists, barely holding his anger.
Reybond wasn't intimidated before his 30 KG more weighted man.
"Yes, of course it's UNIMPORTANT! Because Lord Galird won't be interested in BURGER!"
"WANNA FIGHT!?"
"HUH!? WHY NOT, YOU BURGER HEAD!"
And then, the punches are being thrown forth from the two sides.
Galird ignored the two idiots in front of him and frowned, pondering about a certain man.
"That fool, was he already so bored that he wanted death?"
Galird immediately stood up and grabbed his sword, which leaning at the side of the table.
"Be prepared, you two. We're going to the Goblin Cave."
The two could only stop their fight and nod to Galird. But the glares exchanged between them were inevitable, and Galird didn't have enough time to properly calm the two.
They're going to the Goblin Cave!
To find and teach that fool what the world could give him.
... Also, Galird actually quite liked burgers. They're cheap and liked most by commoners, but he just couldn't forget that deliciousy.