Zoltan heard the noise too.
He seemed to recall something horrific. Pulling his powerful neck into his shoulders, he turned:
"Maybe we should go back?"
Reyn and Roger exchanged puzzled glances.
Meanwhile, Reyn quickly looked around. They were in an irregularly shaped cave, as if hastily dug. The ceiling was no higher than ten meters, but the cave's area was impressive—about a thousand square meters.
The cave ceiling was covered in a layer of fern-like plants emitting dim light. Below grew countless huge mushrooms. Some reached three or four meters tall, their stems so thick one man couldn't encircle them, hats like umbrellas. Tens of thousands fused together formed a bizarre mushroom forest.
Under the mushrooms lay a thick mycelium layer, with several paths trodden through it.
A wide trail led to the far end of the cave, where the only exit was visible.
Seeing this, Reyn was surprised. It was clearly the work of intelligent beings, not a natural formation.
"Too late to turn back," Reyn shook his head. The cries already came from the cave exit.
Before he finished speaking, a group of short creatures appeared. They burst into the cave and, spotting the trio from the passage, froze.
"Definitely night goblins," Zoltan said dully, his face very grim.
Reyn examined the humanoids. Under a meter tall, dark green skin, clad in primitive leather armor. Ugly faces, sharp teeth in big mouths, pointed green ears. Cloudy eyes—poor vision, but huge noses for superior smell.
Reyn noticed these creatures, which Zoltan called night goblins, located them by scent upon entering.
Each night goblin clutched a weapon—swords, axes, hammers, even bows with arrows—a complete mess.
One stood out, clearly the leader. Larger and stronger than kin, riding a strange beast.
The beast had only a huge head without a body, on two powerful muscular legs. Nearly two meters tall. Front gaped a bloody maw full of fangs. Skin rough and thick. It balanced with a dinosaur-like tail.
The night goblin leader sat on its back. The beast fidgeted restlessly, occasionally yawning wide to show its bottomless throat.
Over twenty night goblins.
Scenting strangers, they first huddled hesitantly, but seconds later argued, shoved, and shrieked chaotically in their language—no discipline.
The word "rabble" came to Reyn's mind.
In his Soul Eye, the night goblins' souls were very weak, weaker than ordinary humans. Only the leader's matched a second-level Superhuman.
"Kill them, or more will come!" Zoltan shouted irritably.
With that, he charged into the cave first.
Reyn and Roger followed.
The night goblins on the opposite side panicked. They scattered chaotically at first, but regrouped under the leader's shouts and rushed forward.
The foes clashed under the mushroom canopy.
Roger was fastest. He raised his hand and cast a spell.
A roar-like sound rang out. A fan of invisible force with icy breath struck the goblins. Blue-white light flashed, sweeping the front-runners. Their fragile bodies couldn't withstand—several goblins exploded into pieces, dark green blood freezing before spilling.
"Va-dji-gua-la-ruuu..."
The scene didn't scare the remaining night goblins; it excited them more. Waving rusty weapons, trampling kin bodies, they charged on.
Several rear goblins drew bowstrings.
Boom! Boom! Boom...
Shots rang out—Zoltan firing. One shot, one corpse. Goblin archers fell one by one.
Roger with steel sword flashed between goblins like lightning, leaving mangled corpse piles.
In moments, nearly all night goblins were dead.
Only the leader on his strange beast survived. Smarter than brainless kin, his eyes filled with terror; he yanked reins desperately to turn and flee.
Boom!
A heavy warhammer whistled through air, turning him and mount into bloody pulp.
Silence returned to the cave.
Reyn retrieved his hammer, shaking his head mentally. Over twenty night goblins plus leader gave less than five full charge bars.
To not waste energy, he poured it into Strength upgrade. The progress indicator moved just a couple segments.
"What's going on here?" Roger asked.
Zoltan holstered his rifle, kicked a night goblin corpse, and said grimly:
"These are night goblins. Distant kin of common goblins. Like us dwarves, they love underground living. Besides growing mushrooms, they're good for nothing—lowest race with primitive intellect.
"They usually live in burrows and love capturing dwarven fortresses.
"Night goblins are incredibly prolific, breed faster than pigs. Eat anything. Impossible to exterminate, like rats. If one night goblin appears, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands nearby.
Zoltan, inspecting dead goblins' gear, continued bitterly:
"These from one tribe. Weapons forged in dwarven smithies. Obviously captured the fortress. Must be a huge tribe.
"Unknown how many years here. If long, they could've dug up the whole fortress, turning it to chaos."
Zoltan's mood sank. If night goblins ruined the fortress, no treasures, even runic knowledge possibly destroyed.
Reyn wanted to console him, but chaotic cries sounded outside again.
"More goblins coming," he warned.
Roger looked at the dwarf:
"Zoltan, do we continue?" He meant if pursuing runic knowledge, they'd face hordes of night goblins and endless slaughter.
Zoltan hesitated a second, then said resolutely:
"We continue.
"Reyn, block the passage. Can't let goblins find it and reach upper levels."
"Got it." Reyn returned to the passage and shifted the boulder they'd used to seal it.
The boulder weighed over ten thousand pounds sterling. Even he struggled. Night goblins, even finding it, couldn't move such stone.
Sealing the passage, Reyn hammered the nearby wall several times, collapsing earth and stones to mask the entrance.
Returning to the cave, he found a new night goblin crowd bursting in.
More than last time—over thirty, led by two leaders on Squigs.
Night goblins too weak. Reyn and Zoltan didn't need to intervene. Roger wiped most with a few Ice Roars; few survivors left.
The two leaders on Squigs, Roger chased and slew with sword pair strikes.
Reyn reaped benefits, absorbing another seven or eight full charge bars.
The trio didn't linger, moving deeper quickly.
The entire sixth level was originally a dwarven farm for edible mushrooms. After night goblin capture and years of digging, it became a vast underground labyrinth of hundreds linked caves, more complex than honeycomb.
Zoltan's ancient book map became useless.
The trio could only follow the direction goblins came from.
Every cave planted with tall mushrooms, no empty space. Grim thought: how many night goblins could such food sustain?
Likely far beyond tens of thousands.
And it proved true.
New night goblin squads came at the noise. Low intellect—except leaders, fearless. Spotting three strangers, eyes bloodshot, shrieking wildly, they charged like mortal foes.
Reyn even suspected these brainless green-skinned creatures, due to low intellect, immune to mind control spells.
Night goblins came wave after wave, numbers growing.
After clashes, enemy squads exceeded a hundred. Each wave took at least half a minute to clear.
Roger eyed corpse-strewn ground, sighing heavily.
Even he, legendary warrior, felt pressure. Too many night goblins, seemingly endless.
To conserve strength and spiritual energy, he avoided spells, relying on sword mastery.
Zoltan struggled too. From second wave, he stopped using spirit rifle.
Rune armor and the heavy chest on his back increased the load; his strength was quickly depleting, and the two-handed axe seemed heavier and heavier.
Of the three, only Reyn remained unharmed.
He wasn't just untiring—each killed group of goblins charged his phone. Gradually, the charge had increased by more than thirty full bars, all of which he invested in improving Strength.
Zoltan sat on the corpse of a tooth-grabber, breathing heavily.
"Maybe we should head back?" the Dwarf suggested regretfully. "We can't kill all these green-skins. I'm afraid they've filled the entire fortress. There must be several tribes. Just on the sixth level, there are probably tens of thousands of goblins."
Roger hesitated too.
So far the fights had been relatively easy, but he knew it couldn't last forever. Even a legendary warrior tires. If they kept fighting nonstop, their strength would eventually run out, and they'd be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Reyn had no intention of retreating.
So many night goblins—how much charge could they give him? He planned to harvest their souls, raise Strength to the fifth level, and maybe even Steel Body to the third!
He thought it over and said:
"We've come this far already. It'd be a shame to go back empty-handed."