Digging my heels into the ground, I began to push forth with both arms behind my shield as the goblin guard was forced to do the same. Rain was continually pouring on the two of us as we struggled for physical superiority, unwilling to give in. Putting my head down and giving it another shove, I managed to overpower the goblin for a split second as it stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.
In its desperation, it quickly lashed out with its spear, thrusting wildly and as rapidly as it could, only without any leverage or force behind it as it lay pathetically on its back. A quick step backwards and I was outside of the rain as ice cold water rolled down my face. I was completely drenched and nearly frozen over, but now, the frost had started to melt.
The goblin guard attempted to get back up as quickly as he could, but I had already prepared for this moment. With an outstretched arm and an open palm, I began a channel of electricity that connected the two of us. With the tether established, the lightning pulsated wildly as I watched the guard attempt to resist. The creature had a high willpower and was quickly regaining his composure, but it didn't really matter.
The goblin guard had been inside the freezing rain for almost ten seconds now, and it was nearly entirely white. Its movements slowed as it got to a knee, then as it attempted to stand up it stopped moving entirely. I ceased my channel as I surveyed the room, only to find that where five goblins had been leisurely enjoying their freedom less than a minute ago, there were now five frozen statues and a nearly frozen dwarf.
"You alright there, Barik?" I asked calmly.
"I'm a friggin' popsicle, damn," he replied as he stood there shaking.
I was shaking too, but it was only cold, nothing more nothing less.
The frost mage stopped channeling his [Freezing Rain] as the group gathered around the frozen goblins, eager at our prospects. It wouldn't take too long for them to defrost but they were kind of anxious to check the loot.
"That seemed, almost… too easy," I said after some time had passed.
"Told you she'd be right," said Ethan.
"Easy for you maybe, both of your health pools were dropping incredibly fast there at the end," spoke up Alan. "It wasn't that easy to heal you two."
"If I weren't so damn chilly after, I would be in love with that strategy," said Barik as he frantically rubbed his arms to try and warm up.
I had a better idea though, and reignited the campfire that the goblins had been using prior. It had been put out from the rain, but the wood was still usable.
All it took was a little fire magic to get it going again.
Not that I had sufficient control or proficiency in fire magic.
All I could manage was the equivalent of a strong lighter.
It wasn't too bad though; came in handy more often than not.
Warming up at the fireside, I already knew that the loot wasn't of any use to me. During the fight I was able to get a closer look at all of the items that the goblins used, thanks to my hyper-attentiveness recording all of the useless information that entered my field of view.
My memory was in shambles from all of the concussions, but strangely the more useless aspects still worked better than intended. I would rather be able to divide and do multiplication in my head without it taking a few minutes, only to question the results. That assumed I was even able to complete the problem in the first place, which wasn't really a guarantee.
Eh, nothing I could do about that though.
My brain simply didn't work normally anymore.
Normal, being a relative thing.
"Anything you want Sigurd?" asked Alan after he had started to pick through the items. "I think you already have all of these pieces… less you want a backup?"
"Nah I'm good, thanks though," I replied quickly and sincerely.
"Fifth floor?" Barik asked bluntly not more than a second after I had spoken.
"Should we return to the town first, to pick up the quest?" I added on top of Barik's question. "From what I've read, there's a bonus for the first group that completes the dungeon and the dungeon's quest chain. It would be worth it."
"You mean what that forum post was talking about, with that dungeon in the central kingdoms?" inquired Ethan as he playfully shot miniature fireballs into the campfire.
"Yeah, according to the guild that cleared it first, just two weeks ago, they received a huge bonus to their experience and reputation reward from the quest chain, along with some spiffy new title," I started to explain while stretching out in front of the fire. "I think it would be worth it to grind this out and be the first group to clear it, reputation bonuses are hard to come by in this game."
"Right, I agree," replied Barik succinctly. "Any other opinions from ya lot?"
"None here," said Ethan.
"I'm fine with that," said the frost mage that had been mostly quiet.
"It's such a long walk though," complained Alan at the end. "That's at least thirty minutes of our time just walking. I don't even think we can clear the boss."
"He has a point," chimed in Ethan with a disappointed look on his face. "I mean, we don't even know what the fifth boss looks like… it could be something outrageous."
Everyone had gone silent for a moment to think things over, as I started to wonder if there was any merit to what was said. It was true that we didn't know how powerful the fifth boss would be, and there was a good chance it might be too strong for us to handle. What worried me, was that there were two [Goblin Guards] this time around. That meant there could even be three next time, and three was one too many for me.
"I'm in favor of clearing the trash and taking a peek," I finally said, shrugging my shoulders as if it wasn't too important. "There is the chance it's too tough for us."
"I don't mind either way," replied the frost mage as he sat idly by.
Ethan nodded, as did Alan and now all we were waiting for was Barik who seemed to be lost in deep thought. He was definitely thinking of something, but it was taking far too long. And then he surprised us all with his random outburst, "bah this sucks, can't even bring a handle with me, if this were a computer I could have been drinking!"
Four pairs of eyes were locked on the man as we tried to hold in a laugh.
"What are ye lookin' at," said a puzzled Barik. "Got somethin' on me nose?"
"Uh right," I said with a confused expression displayed clearly on my face. "Let's clear the fifth floor then, shall we… I don't think Barik is mentally with us at the moment."
"What nonsense, I'm just a step ahead of ye all!" he bellowed as he confidently started to walk down the next passageway. The rest of us let out a laugh and followed suit. Heading down the narrow tunnel that led to the fifth floor… a floor that was in even worse condition than the fourth.
That was to be expected, though.
The air quality was horrendous and my eyes had instantly started to water as I could barely see what was ahead of me in the dark tunnel. A few steps further and I knocked my head on a low-hanging rock that instantly sent a sharp pain through my skull and deep into my neck.
I cursed under my breath and became pissed as I anticipated the oncoming massive headache and all of the other issues I was used to experiencing. Impaired vision, the ringing in my ears, clouded judgment, those were all things that had manifested and lingered after my previous head injuries… and now, I was so susceptible that the smallest impacts sent my mind a flutter.
But, nothing happened; the pain simply washed away.
"Ah… that's right," I whispered to myself.
We were in a game, my mind was fine.
I was still moody, angry that I had accidently hit something once again. I didn't consider myself a clumsy person, but when a little bump happened, it always seemed to end with the worst possible outcome. I faltered in that other boss fight and ended up stabbed and in ghost-form shortly after, from such an infinitesimal lapse in judgment.