Murr and Kron watched as the red-headed elf put on his helmet and stepped into the swirling yellow gate of Balrock’s Mine. The ocean breeze blew onto their backs as if urging them to follow.
“Hey,” Val said. “You two sure your guy is up to the task? I gotta know since my life is on the line here.”
Murr smiled just like the confident son of a merchant he was. “Sam isn’t your average tank. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Maybe, but I think I’ll wait out here till you guys get to the first mining area.”
“That’s reasonable,” Kron said.
“But waiting for your buddy is a bit boring. So how about we make things a bit more interesting?”
As if he sensed easy money, Murr’s pink ears swiveled toward the purple-haired dwarf. “What do you have in mind?”
“Ten coins.” He rubbed his fingers together. “We’ll bet on if there are any monsters hiding at the entrance. And we’ll be able to tell if your tank comes out unscathed.”
Murr crossed his arms and considered.
Kron, being a bit less eager, asked, “What if he just takes care of them and leaves without issue?”
Val grinned. “Then I’ll still be out 10 coins, yeah? But this mine hasn’t been used for a long while aside from a few miners dabbling at the first mining vein now and then. So I’m thinkin’ that I’ll win.”
“Agreed,” Murr said solemnly.
Kron frowned. “Isn’t this betting on Sam’s life?”
“No, this is wagering on his skills, which our miner here is doubting. Besides, he’s not a normal tank.” Murr grinned. “I’d be worried if he was.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see. Won’t we?” Val said.
***
No one knows who first decided that the tank should go first when entering an unfamiliar dungeon, but it was considered best practice for one to enter and look around to ensure the area was monster free, then come back out. Because they sometimes created traps at the entrance and the only person who could survive a sudden attack first was the guy with the best defense.
Even though my main defense was my agility, I still had the best chance to survive a surprise attack compared to the other two. And honestly, it eased my mind that I could keep them safe.
A nervousness and excitement ran through me as I entered the yellow gate alone. Since this was a known dungeon, we were able to research what to expect from it before we left. The entrance was supposed to look like an empty mine with rails, old broken carts off to the side, and a few glowing mushrooms here and there providing natural light. And that was exactly what I found.
But nobody had mentioned that the shrooms were an eerie pink. I mean, I would have mentioned it if I were them.
Then again, adventurers—who we received our information from—weren’t known for caring about the color of plants unless they were dangerous or worth money.
As I walked deeper into the initial cavern, I recalled the information we gathered about this dungeon was mostly about two types of mobs. While it predominantly had a type of bipedal lizard that looked a little like a hound, we should also occasionally find large crab monsters that feed off the lizard-dogs. Of course, there was a rumor that, now and then, the corpse of an adventurer who died would rise from the dead and attack anyone it found. But that was just a rumor. Using necrotic mana to animate corpses was very illegal, and any dungeon with undead was obliterated with great prejudice by the Empire itself.
I assumed that was because of space issues. When you had limited space to build, you didn’t need skeletons crowding the place. Of course, it could just be that necromancy was loathed by the fae.
Just as I was about to leave, a dark boulder fell from the ceiling. Even though it was only the size of a large doge, it absolutely would have crushed me if I didn’t use Dangerous Dodge to avoid it by mere inches.
That was when I noticed the rock was actually a large rock crab.
Since it was a small monster, I first tried going around it. It used its creepy black legs to sideways walk to get in front of me. When I tried the other direction, it still blocked me.
As it turned out, this crustacean had a crabby personality.
I took out Blood and Honor. Just before the monster thrust its large black claw toward my stomach, I redirected it. The crab’s strength was no joke. My feet left shallow tracks in the dirt.
Wait a second! Weren’t these crabs supposed to be the more dangerous of the two enemies?! Why was this thing so close to the entrance rather than deeper in the cave?
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Its smaller, faster claw jabbed toward me. I dodged the claw by jumping over it.
Briefly, I considered running for the gate and grabbing my party, but there was no telling if this was the only enemy or not. I couldn’t let my team enter a dungeon and immediately face danger if I could take care of it myself. Plus, this might be a good test of how much I’d grown in the past couple of days.
I stabbed toward it with one aura-infused sword.