It took Ryan about half an hour of wandering around the cavern before she found a passage out.
"Well, here goes nothing?" Ryan said to herself while carefully walking through the passageway of a tunnel. Her hair and clothes were still damp from falling into the underground lake. So she was a bit cold at first, but with her adrenaline flowing, it didn't bother her too much.
"So Nils said this Dungeon Core is a spawner, huh? Well, hopefully, it's not a goblin spawner." Ryan said quietly to herself. 'Who am I kidding! IT'S NOTHING BUT A GOBLIN SPAWNER!... Fuck me, dude.'
As Ryan was walking with caution, she kept looking around the cavernous tunnel to make sure there weren't any traps or monsters waiting to ambush her. She had no idea what to expect from this labyrinth, but if Nils said it was a spawner, then she figured it wouldn't have traps in it that were created by the labyrinth, but that didn't mean the goblins didn't have traps. Ryan wasn't going to let those green bastards try to kill her or get the drop on her.
As she continued down the dark tunnel. Ryan started to notice something; she could see in the dark way better than she ever used to when she was a human. 'Maybe I can see better in the dark because I'm becoming a Dark Elf? I'll ask Nils about it next time.' Ryan thought to herself.
While proceeding down the narrow stone tunnel, Ryan was contemplating about what she'd do if she came across a horde of goblins.
"I wonder how powerful my Dark Earth magic will be? From the images Nils put in my mind, it looks like I can manipulate a football-sized field worth of earth if need be... Man! I'm becoming a fucking juggernaut! Whoa!... Calm down, Ryan. If you start thinking like that. I'll let my guard down, and that's when I get killed by something stupid." She muttered to herself.
After a moment of introspection, Ryan noticed a lit room ahead of her about 50 feet away. 'Huh? I wonder if there is a goblin camp.' She thought to herself.
Ryan made an effort to stay hidden in the shadows of the tunnel. There was a slight shimmering in the air, and Ryan felt a tingly phenomenon run down her spine. 'Is that ether or something else floating in the air? Gah! Get your head in the game, Ryan! You don't know if there are goblins in the room with the light!' Ryan mentally chided herself.
She slowly approached the open cavern where the light was emanating from. As she got closer, she was greeted with a large opening that allowed her to see a huge cavern with natural stone pillars throughout the large arena that was three stories tall.
In front of her, about 50 feet away, was a group of goblins out on patrol. A couple was standing in the middle of the room, encircled by torches. They were all wearing crude chain mail armor and wielding various weapons such as swords, maces, axes, hammers, and crossbows.
'Looks like they are preparing for something?' Ryan thought to herself.
Ryan looked back at the tunnel she came from just to make sure that nothing was going to ambush her. Luckily, there was nothing there that she knew of.
'Well, they haven't noticed me. I'll have to use those stalagmites for cover. If I hide behind them, I should be able to sneak up on the goblins without them seeing me. Then I could get the high ground on them if I could climb that wall over there. That's if I play my cards right.' Ryan thought to herself as she waited for an opportunity to move.
After a minute, Ryan started to sneak forward until she made it behind a ginormous rock. Once it seemed like the coast was clear, she began climbing up the rocks towards the stalagmite. As Ryan was climbing up the rock face, she came to notice that there were a lot of cave-ins and missing stones and boulders that came off the rock wall. 'Please let this be sturdier than it looks.' Ryan thought to herself as she continued to climb. 'If something breaks off, I need to book it back to the underground lake.'
Luckily, the rock wall was sturdy, and when Ryan made it to the top. She took a look over the edge of the cliff to see her surroundings and saw that there were a bunch of goblins below that just missed spotting her. She could see others moving through various corridors, while a few were hanging around doing nothing as they looked bored.
'Jesus! They're everywhere! How the fuck am I going to get past all of them?!' Ryan thought to herself as she desperately tried to figure out a plan, but she was coming up empty.
Just as Ryan was contemplating what to do, a goblin came from a different corridor on the far end and started squawking at the other goblins, getting their attention.
"Hyaaaah!" the goblin shouted out to the other goblins in the area. "Come, intruders!" he said to his cronies.
The goblins began to gather their crude weapons—rusty daggers, makeshift clubs, and slingshots—before scurrying towards the far corridor, following their leader in a chaotic yet determined manner. Just moments ago, the narrow passage had been teeming with the green-skinned creatures, their raucous chatter filling the air, but now it felt eerily deserted. At least, that's what Ryan believed as she crouched behind a crumbling stone wall.
"Well, that's the first bit of good luck I've had in days," Ryan whispered to herself, her heart racing from the unexpected quiet. She felt a swell of hope as she considered making her escape.
But just as she prepared to slip out of her hiding spot, a new group of five goblins came barreling down the corridor in a tight line formation, their eyes wide and frantic as they sprinted toward the exit where their comrades had vanished.
'Well, I guess they're not complete idiots,' Ryan thought, observing their coordinated dash. 'At least they're smart enough to have a rearguard to protect them...' She knew that underestimating these creatures could be dangerous, and their semblance of strategy only heightened her instincts to remain hidden.
It took them a minute before they were out of sight, and then Ryan took her chance and started making her way towards a slope so she could make her way down to the main floor of the cavern.
It didn't take her long to get down the rocky slope, and then she started heading in the direction of where the goblins went.
'This seems too easy?... Maybe I'm finally getting luck on my side? I hope so because I need a win.' Ryan thought to herself as she could feel her body starting to ache after hours of running, fighting, and almost dying.
As Ryan was walking towards the corridor, she noticed different chambers were in this goblin's makeshift camp and saw a smaller doorway that might be a storage room, and thought that might be a good place to hide, so she could have a bit of rest, as she was really feeling her body ache.
"What the hell would a goblin store in the first place? If they don't use it for anything disgusting. Then maybe I can hide in there for a couple of hours..." Ryan muttered to herself before another thought occurred to her. "Hold on... If I'm in a dungeon, then there should be adventurers, right? I wonder if that's what caught the attention of the goblins? Jeez! I can't believe I'm in this fantasy set-"
*Growl!* Goes her stomach.
"Oof... I know, stomach, I'll try and get you food as soon as possible. But I doubt there's anything in there," Ryan said to her stomach.
Ryan started to walk to that smaller door to see if the room was safe for her to rest for a bit. She opens the door slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. Once inside, there were a lot of empty crates, wooden barrels, and small boulders lying in the small room.
"Well, it's better than nothing, I guess," Ryan said as he lay down on the ground, hiding behind a rock in the shadows.
"This will have to do for now," Ryan said as she tried to get as comfortable as possible as she drifted off to sleep.
***
After some time has passed.
Ryan awoke to the sound of clanging metal in the distance.
'Huh? Is that an adventure party? Goddess, I wish I could have slept on a bed instead of this stone floor.' Ryan thought to herself.
Ryan tried to get up off the ground but failed miserably due to losing the feeling in her legs.
'Fuck. I guess sleeping on a rock floor didn't help my legs that much.' Ryan said while she was shaking out her legs. She tried her best to get the feeling back in her legs as quickly as possible.
After a minute, the pins and needles sensation started to fade, and she thought that was good enough for her to get moving. When she was getting up, she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor to the left of the room. She stayed behind the rock in the storage room and got ready in case they decided to enter the room.
"Crap! It sounds like the goblins are coming!" Ryan thought to herself as her elven ears were able to tell what direction the footsteps were coming from.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Ryan swore under her breath. "I was hoping to rest longer. I'm not fully recovered yet."
A group of goblins came into the area and stopped just outside the door of the storage room.
'No need to look in here, guys... Nothing but useless rocks and empty boxes in here.' Ryan said to herself, trying to will the goblins away from her, in hopes they wouldn't notice her hiding in the shadows of their storage room.
"Yaaah!" The goblin leader shouted out. "Come, intruders! This way!"
'It must be the adventurers?' Ryan thought to herself. She peeked her head out from behind the rock and saw a group of goblins through the cracks of the crapy door. They gathered their weapons and followed after the goblin leader towards the corridor that the other goblins ran through before Ryan hid in the room.
That's when Ryan heard something new. The sounds of metal
"Prince Quinus, there's another horde coming our way!" A man's voice yelled in the distance.
The sounds of metal were getting louder as the seconds went by. 'Yep! It is a group of adventurers. Maybe I could use them as a distraction. So I can get out of this shithole of a dungeon.'