"Well, nice explanation," Dilek said. "Doesn't explain why there's a goblin with you," he added, turning to the miners.
"Woah, woah, calm down, Dilek," Marcus said quickly. "Like they said, they're just lost in the cave."
The miners nodded one by one.
The situation for the miners was simple: they came in here and got lost. They couldn't find their way out, so their company made a quest request to rescue them. During that time, they found a goblin shaman.
"And the shaman is surprisingly chill about it," Diego said as he sat next to the shaman.
The shaman looked like a regular goblin, but with a staff and a pair of robes.
"Doesn't help the fact that his goblins attacked us, does it?" Dilek turned to Diego, who suddenly realized.
"OH YES—SHAMAN! YOUR GOBLINS TRIED HURTING THE SAINT! HOW DARE YOU!"
"Saint? Who?" The goblin looked around and said, "I don't see a saint."
Dilek stood there as Diego pointed at him and said, "This is the saint."
The shaman stood upright. "And I'm a god."
Dilek's nerve popped. "HEY, YOU FILTHY GOBLIN! WANNA FIGHT?!"
"Sure I do, fake saint."
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Nandita jumped in between them. "Our goal is to get these guys out of here and awaken Diego's class—did you forget? You suggested it, Dilek."
Dilek blinked. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Wait—how do we do that anyway?"
Marcus walked in and said, "A dangerous situation. Maybe? I mean, everyone awakened during the troll hunt, right?"
"Yeah," Dilek said. "But… if everyone awakened during that time, then how come Diego didn't awaken?"
Diego, who was looking around the cave, noticed the three staring at him. "Hm? What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
"Hey, Diego? Do you remember how you came here?" Dilek asked.
"Oh yeah, I do," Diego said. "I teleported into this place, and there were lots of boars in a big dome-type area. The pigs were easy to beat, so everyone was suddenly brought in front of the city. Then I just wandered around until you rescued me."
"Boars?! How come boars? We had to face a troll!" Dilek shouted.
"Maybe it was different for everyone? Like, maybe there were more than the 100 people with us that came here, maybe there were lots of people paired in groups of 100 and got a different tutorial fight?"
"THEN HOW COME WE GOT THE HARDEST? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK I PUT IN KILLING THE TROLL?!"
"We didn't though," Marcus replied.
"OF COURSE WE DID! JUST A COUPLE MORE SECONDS AND THAT THING WOULD'VE BEEN DEAD! THAT HANDSOME GUY DIDN'T NEED TO HELP US AT ALL!"
"Well, that's not the point," Nandita sighed as she turned to the miners. "So you just don't know the way out? Then ask the shaman."
One of the miner looked at her and said, "Well, the problem is the shaman doesn't know either."
"Okay, that's kinda bullshit, right?" she said.
The shaman replied, "Really, I don't! I did send out the goblins to look around, but they can't see anything in the dark. Hell, even I'm lost in here."
She sighed and turned to the three. "Do you guys remember the way out?"
"Maybe…" Dilek said.
"You don't, do you?"
"…No."
"Well, anyways, we can find it—since I am the saint! Way better than this talking goblin who can't find his own way out."
"WHAR DID YOU SAY BOY?" The shaman tapped his stick on the ground. "A fake saint like you is no match for me! Fight me, coward saint—fight me!"
"Of course I'll fight you, but I have a condition," Dilek said.
The shaman raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"You will summon goblins until Diego can awaken his class."
"Summon goblins? For training someone? That's new." The shaman smirked. "Sure, it's on."
The miners sat together while the other three grouped up. Marcus noticed how the miners just sat there silently—no emotion, no movement, just blank like robots.
"FIGHT STARTS IN 3!" Dilek shouted.
"2!" the shaman shouted.
"1!"
"GO!"
The second both of them shouted, Dilek removed the cloth from the crystal and yelled, "FULLBRIGHTTT!"
Forgetting that Fullbright was already activated, he still shouted—and instantly shut his eyes.
"MY EYESSSS! MY LITTLE EYESSSS!" The shaman grabbed his face. "Let me just get a good grasp of you—I'll beat you up!"
BONK!
Dilek, eyes closed, swung his staff and hit the shaman. "Was that your head?" he smirked. "Gotcha."
—
"That was cheating, wasn't it?" Nandita said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Dilek asked with an oblivious look. "I won fair and square."
"THAT'S RIGHT, SAINT, YOU WON FAIR AND SQUARE!" Diego joined in.
Dilek grabbed him and threw him forward. "IT'S YOUR TURN TO FIGHT, DIEGO! WIN THIS!"
"HUH?! SAINT?!?!" Diego looked shocked, then clenched his fists. No… I need to be stronger for the saint. "It's alright, saint! I'll get that class!"
The shaman lazily summoned goblins one after another as Dilek walked up to Diego.
"Diego, we are together—we are family. Remember that. We need to be stronger to compensate for each other's weaknesses."
"YES, SAINT!" Diego saluted.
"Now just remember—brothers born from blood suck each othe—"
"NO, NO, NO, DON'T CONTINUE THAT, DILEK!" Nandita stopped him. "WHERE DID YOU EVEN LEARN THAT?"
She sighed. "Diego, you have to fight as many goblins as possible. Feel like you might die against them."
Marcus nodded. "Yeah, I mean, even I thought I was going to die against the troll."
"The fear of dying…" Diego muttered.
The shaman sighed. "Goblins, charge—lazily."
The goblins slowly marched forward like they were on a casual stroll.
"Dilek," Nandita said, "this isn't scary at all."
"C'mon, shaman, up the volume!" Dilek shouted. "Tell your goblins to do despicable things to Diego to scare him off!"
"Not that far, Dilek!" Marcus stopped him. "Diego, do your best!"
Diego looked at the three. Ahh, the saint and my two best friends are cheering me on.
He looked at the goblins. 'I gotta get a class.'
'I just gotta be scared, right? That's it. Just be scared… They're small… like children… that are… stupid?'
The goblins slowly danced toward him. Even the hobgoblin in the back looked like a tired father.
'Still, I gotta get a class for the saint. Even if these aren't scary… Saint saved me when no one did. I can at least do this much.'
'Still, they aren't scary at all… look at them… Uh… they might do something bad to the saint'.'—NO WAIT, WHAT IF THEY DID SOMETHING OBSCENE TO THE SAINT WHILE I WAS TIED UP AND THEY MADE ME WATCH—'
His eyes widened, tears filling them.
"DON'T TOUCH THE SAINT, YOU FILTHY MONSTERRRSSSSS!"
"HOLD ON, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!" Dilek shouted.
"Brawler?" Diego blinked, stopping mid charge
Dilek ran next to him. "You got the class, huh?" looking over to diego's status board.
Diego nodded, smiling.
Dilek blinked. "Ah, well… I just realized—people can only see their own status board…"
"Congrats," Nandita said with a relieved smile.
"OF COURSE! I'M GLAD THAT I'LL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU ALL!" Diego said proudly.
Marcus smiled. "Well, now that that's done, let's take the miners and get out of here, shall we?"
"Oh yeah," Dilek said, covering the glowing crystal again to avoid blinding everyone.
"Alright, you three, get up," Dilek said. The miners stood and began walking. "Oh, come to think of it, what's your name anyway?"
They just walked past him silently.
The shaman waved. "Okay, okay, talk outside—move on."
"Fine. Thanks, shaman," Dilek said. The others waved goodbye too as they exited the cave. No goblins attacked them.
"Well, the shaman sure is handy—he didn't let any goblin attack us, right?" Dilek said as they walked.
They saw sunlight ahead, and the three got excited.
"THE SUN!" they shouted together.
Nandita looked at the miners. "They must be more excited to see the sun than us, right?"
Dilek turned to the miners. "Oh yeah, hey, you guys wanna—" He stopped, as he thought.
'Hold on… didn't we just walk straight? The entire time? No turns… no intersections… just one straight path. Then how come these miners got lost anyway?'
Dilek looked at them. The three miners just stood there, unmoving.
'The goblins… the shaman… none of them talked while the other was talking. Each had the same tone of voice… it's as if someone was controllin—'
FLAP—
The heads of the miners suddenly expanded grotesquely—then burst like balloons, splattering green blood everywhere.
Marcus, Nandita, and Diego screamed in shock. Panic filling their faces.
Dilek looked back toward the cave. It was pitch black. But at the end of that darkness… he was sure something was smiling. Something that had acted friendly only for the time being.
"Well, shit—"