Infernal Apocalypse

They chatted for a bit longer while I kept vigilance. We weren’t attacked a second time though, so I didn’t really end up doing much of anything. Though it was time to go, resting for roughly 15 minutes was long enough.

“Alright we should start moving again.”

I somewhat expected some pushback, but they all got up, gathered their things and were waiting for me to show them the way.

“Ready when you are Raizen.”

I just nodded to Richard and began walking again to the Dungeon. We still had a ways to go so I was pretty focused on our surroundings in case of another attack. Though it never came, and we got to the entrance of the Dungeon without any more hiccups.

“Did all of you get the prompt?”

“Yeah…this is so magical… I know this entire Tutorial thing is pretty magical, but seeing this so called ‘Dungeon’, that has a name, and everything has some magic of its own.”

The others seemed to share his sentiments.

“Well, I’ll see you all inside, don’t wait out here for long.”

And with that the familiar feeling of being teleported once again overtook me and I found myself back in the Dungeon. By the time I dismissed the prompt, the others started popping up.

It was my first time seeing how teleportation looked on others. One moment there was nothing, then all of a sudden they just appeared as if they were always standing there. That’s kind of incredible.

“Alright everyone let’s stay focused. Remember, this won’t be like fighting Goblins in the forest, as there are no trees or anything to hide behind. It’s an enclosed space with nowhere to run.

“All of you will run into the cave first and I’ll hover around for support. I recommend staying together and watching each other’s backs. Listen to Richard. Oh, and feel free take off your backpacks once we enter the cave, the Goblins should ignore them.”

The atmosphere around everyone turned serious and they all just nodded and began walking down the pathway. It seems they were taking my words seriously, which is good, I’m sure by now they all knew that death was very real in the Tutorial, and they couldn’t afford to play around.

Either way I think my ability to lead is getting better every time I talk. It even feels natural. And I feel through my flames that it agrees as well. Not in a ‘yeah I agree that you leading feels natural’ kind of way, but more so that it agrees with my current emotions, or something like that. Either way this was good.

A few short moments later, the team had reached the cave entrance and could finally see all the Goblins just standing there waiting. It definitely looked creepy so I could understand the looks on their faces, but we didn’t have to waste.

“Go.”

That was all it took for them to refocus and enter the cave. Richard was at the front while Trent and Lance flanked his sides. Cristine was slightly behind them and Brandon even further behind her bringing up the rear.

They were kind of shaped like an arrow.

I didn’t know anything about formations so I kind of left them alone and just observed. Well, I tried to just observe but every now and then a Goblin would go out of their way to attack me. I simply kicked it and repositioned whenever it happened.

Anyway, apart from that I just watched them fight in this formation and Richard bark out his orders.

“Lance cover for Cristine! Trent go help Brandon!...

“Everyone move to the left! Stay in formation!..

“Retreat to the wall! Brandon provide more support to Lance! Cristine shift to the left and help Trent!...

This went on for quite some time and eventually all the Goblins were slain…I didn’t need to help a single time. They were tired and had some injuries, but nothing big. I realized it before but seeing it again like this truly is mind blowing. Was Richard a former commander in a roman army in a past life or something? This is definitely not normal. Maybe he served in the military? I had to ask.

“Good job again everyone, the bodies will disappear in a moment and the chest will appear right after. Rest up for a bit and then we’ll be moving along.”

Everyone was too tired to say much of anything, so I just got a couple nods and waves to show they heard me.

I stepped towards Richard and finally asked the question that’s been bugging me.

“Richard. How are you so good at commanding while fighting? Did you serve in the military?”

“Haha not at all. I was just a project manager, but in college I took an elective that focused a lot on historical wars and the way people in different cultures around the world. I got kind of into it for a bit, so I remember some stuff and I’m really just trying to apply what some of those commanders did back in the day.”

I stared at him blankly for a second before telling him I understood and just calmy waiting for the chest to appear.

I don’t think that guy understood exactly what he just said. There’s no way just attending a class year ago would give you the ability to do what he’s doing on the fly without training. He was talented, and that’s something I need to keep in mind going forward.

Oh, the chest finally showed up. Cristine was the one who walked up and opened it.

“Are these the things you were talking about? Each one of them is really worth 5 Bronze? They certainly don’t look like it.”

“They don’t, but 5 Bronze is the price. Store them away and let’s keep moving.”

“Mm.”

She quickly put all of them in her backpack and the team was moving once more. We had already agreed during our walk here that each of them will hold the Rock Iron given on a floor in their bags. So, Cristine had the first floor, Trent had the next and so on.

After a short walk we made it to the second floor, and they didn’t need to be told to go this time as all entered and threw their bags down immediately before getting into formation and getting ready to face all 100 Goblins charging at them.

They did good on the last floor, but from this point on I was going to have to help a bit more on each floor. Though it wouldn’t be right away as they needed to struggle a bit first.

Ah on second thought they were already getting overrun. Seems I have to help out sooner than I planned, maybe I should change my approach? Cause I don’t think getting overrun the whole time is all that beneficial. Hmm, how about I just help to relieve a little bit of the pressure going forward by taking the attention of a portion of the Goblins? Yeah I think that’s a good idea.

And so, I quite literally jumped into the fray and caused some of the Goblins to focus on me. I wasn’t really fighting them at full strength because my plan wasn’t to kill them, it was just to help relieve a bit of pressure, but my end goal is to them kill these guys themselves.

“I’m going to help for a bit! Clean up the ones around you then come do the same to these guys!”

I had to yell since the cave was pretty noisy right now, but they all yelled back, and they started fighting with renewed vigor. Yep It’s all in my leadership skills.