"…That was fast," I muttered.

But honestly, the thing tilting its head at us—even while we were armed and clearly intruders—made me question its intelligence. Even for a goblin, that was impressively slow-witted.

Elena let out a small, tense breath.

"Could this be… a dungeon?"

"It seems that way," I replied.

The moment I confirmed it, both Elena and Lisa's expressions tightened.

Their shoulders stiffened, brows furrowed, eyes sharp.

They'd heard about dungeons—of course.

But hearing about one and stepping into the entrance of a real one were two completely different things.

Dungeons weren't simple caves.

They were isolated spaces formed by concentrated mana—nests where monsters spawned endlessly.

Which meant…

"This isn't the time to freeze," I said quietly. "That goblin is calling friends."

"And probably not just goblins…" Elena added, swallowing.

Lisa clenched her fists, visibly nervous but trying to appear brave. Even her wolf companions had lowered their stances, hackles raised, ready for danger.

The oppressive air of the dungeon pressed down on us.

The sound of footsteps—multiple—began echoing faintly from deeper inside.

They weren't wasting time.

"…They're coming," I said.

And just like that, we had no choice but to move forward before the dungeon moved on us.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps—hundreds of them—drummed across the ground, growing louder with every second.

"Get ready for battle," I said, lifting my sword.

From beyond the trees, a sea of small figures burst into view.

Goblins.

So many that the forest floor practically turned green.

"E-Eek…!"

Lisa squeaked behind me, clutching her staff like it was her last line of defense.

Her fear made sense.

They really did come in ridiculous numbers.

But me?

My heart stayed strangely calm.

Goblins are… well, goblins.

The universal punching bags of every fantasy world.

Weak.

Squishy.

Practically EXP in walking form.

Even if a few hundred showed up, it wasn't exactly life-threatening.

…Though, okay, this was a bit more than I expected.

Did they call a family reunion or something?

Still manageable.

"Kirik! Kirik!!"

One goblin at the front stepped forward, waving its arms wildly while screeching in its scratchy little voice.

It pointed at us.

Then pointed behind itself.

Then hopped in place, gesturing frantically like it was trying to deliver a speech.

"…What is it doing?" Elena whispered.

"Trying to talk, probably," I said. "Not that I understand a word of goblin."

The goblin puffed out its chest, slapped the ground with its stick, and kept chattering—as if it was desperately trying to communicate something important.

But all I heard was:

"Kirik! Kirik-kik-kik!!"

Which roughly translated to: gibberish.

I glanced at Lisa.

She shook her head rapidly. "Don't look at me! I don't speak goblin!"

The goblin's gestures grew even more exaggerated, using its entire body to act out some kind of story—maybe a warning, maybe a threat… or maybe it just wanted food.

Either way, the horde behind it was slowly inching closer.

"W-Why does it feel like they're surrounding us…?" Lisa whispered, voice trembling.

Elena tightened her grip on her sword.

I lowered my stance.

Whether they wanted to chat, negotiate, or throw a surprise party…

If they rushed in—

We'd just have to cut our way out.

It waved its arms wildly, hopping in place, pointing at us, then at the ground—clearly trying to say something.

But unsurprisingly, I didn't understand a single word of goblin language.

If I had to guess, it was probably something along the lines of:

"This is our territory! Get out!"

Unfortunately for them, that wasn't an option.

We had no way to escape this place on our own.

Either we found an exit hidden somewhere deeper in the dungeon…

or we defeated the dungeon boss.

Those were the only paths forward.

And from the way the goblins kept glaring at us, gripping their mismatched weapons tighter, they weren't going to let us stroll around freely.

A clash was unavoidable.

Elena and I raised our weapons cautiously, neither of us making the first move.

The goblin that had been "communicating" with us stared for another second—then something snapped.

It let out a sharp cry and lunged forward, raising its crude club above its head.

"Kruk!!"

"Here they come…!" Elena shouted beside me.

The first attacker was the same goblin who'd tried to negotiate—or whatever that was supposed to be.

It swung its club down at me with more speed than I expected from its stubby arms, but I stepped aside, letting the attack slice through empty air.

"Hup—"

Then I countered immediately, cutting into its torso with a swift motion.

"Kyaek…!"

The goblin let out a shrill scream as blood scattered in an arc, splattering across the dungeon floor.

That single strike became the spark.

The rest of the goblins screeched, raising their crude weapons as they charged at us all at once—

and the real battle began.

Goblins kept pouring out of the trees like a living tide—shrieking, snarling, scrambling over one another in their desperation to reach us.

But no matter how many came, they were still just goblins.

Easy.

"Haah…!"

I exhaled sharply and turned just enough to check behind me.

Elena and Lisa were holding their ground surprisingly well—Elena cutting down goblins with steady precision, and Lisa swinging her staff like she fully intended to break skulls with it.

Yeah. They didn't need me babysitting them.

Good.

I kicked off the ground, aura flaring faintly along my blade as I carved through the frontline.

Goblin bodies fell before they could even understand what hit them.

Then, the moment I reached the center of the swarming pack, I gathered every bit of magical power left in my body.

My fingertip tingled.

My sword hummed.

"Lightning Strike."

KWAAAAAAANG—!!

A column of blazing lightning erupted outward from where I stood, branching violently in every direction.

The sound was deafening—like a chain of explosions going off all at once.

Goblin screams filled the air, shrill and overlapping, until they were drowned out by the roar of electricity.

And then—

Silence.

Thick smoke drifted around me, the air stinging with the smell of burnt hair and roasted meat.

When the haze finally thinned, dozens of charred goblin corpses lay scattered across the ground like fallen shadows.

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