The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

Cluster was in Lumilia's room alone. Lumilia's dorm was protected by the Ladro institute so she was safe.

Lumilia and Souta stocked foods and water for her. They couldn't bring her to the outdoor training and it was the only thing they could do for her.

"I wonder when they will come back... I'm getting bored here." Cluster muttered with a sad expression. She laid down on the bed and tightly hold her pillow.

"Ah~ I want to play with Yuko." Cluster puffed her cheeks. She was extremely bored inside this room. "Even brother Bryan aren't here. What am I suppose to do?"

She wanted to go out but Souta and Lumilia said that she shouldn't go out alone because it was dangerous for her. She knew it. That's why she didn't dare to leave this room.

"Hurry up and come back here!"

...

Three days had passed...

Early in the morning...

There's a change in the event. The challenges that they receive grew harder. The challenge today was that they needed to clear one monster nest. In other words, they had to clear one dungeon.

Clearing a dungeon was different from hunting three to five monsters. They didn't know what's inside a dungeon or what will happen there.

"They probably will not right now. It could be this night or tomorrow." Lumilia said to them.

"Yeah, the challenge today is entirely different from yesterday." Souta nodded at her words.

"We should ask for a detailed map of the dungeons here in the Adventurers Guild," Lumilia suggested to them.

"Let's do that. We're not familiar with the area around the village that much." Souta said to her. Even in the game, he wasn't familiar with this part of the land. His main focus in the game was the part around the Mechanic city. He knew that place very well like the back of his hand.

"So we're not going to train today?" Yujin suddenly asked Souta.

"If we still have a time later," Souta replied to him. He felt that his [Sword Mastery] was going to reach a new height with him practicing with Yujin. He learned a lot from Yujin in these past few days.

"Okay, I actually wanted to try some skills that I just comprehended," Yujin said as he looked at the sword on his waist.

Souta turned his head and looked at Yujin when he heard his words. Judging from his words, it seems that Yujin learned some sword skills.

"You will have a lot of time to try it later." He said to Yujin before he started to walk towards the Adventurers Guild.

Alice and Lynn who was sitting stood up. They followed behind Souta as they looked around the village. The village was still the same as before.

The people that were living here rarely came out of their house. They only came out when they were going to buy something. They were the only people who were going in and out of the village. Even the merchant that came here didn't stay too long.

It feels that this was a ghost town. Souta tried to investigate it but he found nothing. He couldn't understand what monster was protecting this village and taking those people.

This village was really a mysterious one. There's no shortage of mysterious things in this world and right now he's the only player that would actively complete all these quests.

If this was still in the game, thousands of players would wander around the continent and triggering a quest like this one.

During these three days, Souta earned some skill points by completing the challenges. He also earned some of it through completing the quest in the Adventurers Guild.

Not only that, but he also received the rewards when Lumilia took and completed a different quest with Lynn. He also received some from Bryan and Brando. The party system was really good and beneficial to Souta.

But the problem was that he couldn't get anything from Alice, Lynn, and Yujin as they were not a part of his party. He couldn't rashly ask them to join his party as it could backfire him if they didn't like it.

...

The group arrived in the Adventurers Guild and Lumilia requested for a map in the dungeons around the Ibish village. The receptionist complied and gave them the map of the dungeons around the village.

After that, Souta asked the receptionist if there's an available quest related to clearing the dungeon. In this way, he could get two birds with one stone. Completing the challenge will give him some rewards and that's the same for completing the quest.

After taking the quest, the group immediately exited the Adventurers Guild. They shared their map with their classmates. In times like this, they have to help each other.

Souta pointed at the dungeon that they were going to clear. It was to avoid two teams going to the same dungeon.

Everyone was adapting to this kind of life. They were getting used to it. By the end of this outdoor training, they could probably support themselves. But living like this was hard.

...

Souta's group arrived in front of a dark tunnel. This was the dungeon that they were going to clear. According to the records of the Adventurers Guild, the monster that inhabited this place were the armored ants.

The armored ants were just a first evolution monster. They were weak but their numbers were overwhelming. Even the Adventurers Guild couldn't accurately detect their numbers.

"Ready to get in?" Souta glanced at his teammates and asked.

Lumilia, Lynn, Yujin, and Alice nodded their head at him. They all have a serious looked on their face. This was the first time they were going to enter a dungeon so it's natural to feel that way.

Souta entered the dungeon and the rest of his teammates followed him. It was dark but it wasn't a problem for Souta who had night vision trait. He could clearly see the whole tunnel.

The tunnel was quite wide and large caused the armored ants were huge.

The atmosphere inside the dungeon was different. The moment they entered it, they felt thousand eyes looking at them.

"S-Souta... They are looking at us." Lynn said as she hugged her body while looking around.

"Can you tell me which direction?" Souta asked her.

Lynn shook her head and said, "They are all over the place. I felt them looking at us from every direction."

"I see... Given their numbers I think that's normal." Souta nodded and said to them. "We're going ahead."

The group walked for a few minutes and they arrived in front of a double path.

"Lynn, what do you think about these paths?" Souta asked Lynn about the two ways in front of them.

"Um... I think this one is the dangerous way... I felt ominous presence deep inside it." Lynn said as she pointed at the left path.

"Okay, we're going there." Souta said as he walked towards the left path. He then stopped as he noticed that his teammates were looking at him with a surprised expression. He sighed and explained, "The presence that Lynn sense must be the queen. If we want to clear this dungeon then we had to kill the queen of the armored ants."

They understood what Souta was trying to say.

"It's coming..." Yujin said in a low voice as he pulled out his sword. He turned his head and looked at the back with a fierce expression.

Suddenly, a loud screeching sound echoed in the whole tunnel.

Everyone opened their eyes widely as they felt killing intent in all direction.

Lynn shivered as she felt the killing intent in the air. She subconsciously took a step back but someone grabbed her shoulder. She looked back and saw that it was Souta.

"Don't lose focus! The moment you lose focus you already lose! Just do you role and everything will be alright." Souta said to her.

"T-Thanks..." Lynn said as she lowered her head. Her cheeks was slowly turning red.

"No! No!"

She then recalled that they were in a dungeon. She shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. Her expression turned serious as she looked around. She was ready to support her teammates.

After a few seconds, no ants were still coming at them.

"Why?" Alice looked around and wondered why those armored ants weren't attacking them.

"They were just trying to scare us. I think that Souta is right. That way must be where the queen is. They become aggressive the moment Souta stepped there." Lumilia explained to them.

"You have a point... So what should we do right now? I'm fine with fighting them as I wanted to test my skills." Yujin turned to Lumilia and asked her.

Lumilia looked at Souta and she looked like she wanted to ask for his opinion.

Souta smiled and he glanced at Yujin. He said, "If you want to stay here then stay here. I'm sure that you can handle it yourself."

"Okay, I'll do what you say." Yujin nodded his head.

Souta looked at Alice and Lynn and said, "Let's go."

The group went deeper in the tunnel and after a few minutes they heard a sound of fighting behind them.