Speechless, Yue and Avan looked at each other. The carnage had been burned into their mind. He could see tears of despair in her eyes, which showed the extent of the situation they just witnessed.

"These bastards... Let us finish these THINGS now. We can think about what we just saw later on." He whispered to her furiously.

Getting his spear sticking out of his backpack, he slowly moved back to the cave with clenched fists holding his weapon.

"Can you finish the small ones before they wake up? I will try to take care of the bigger two before they do." He told her in a low voice over his right shoulder. Satisfied, seeing her nodding, both entered the cave.

Sneaking to his targets and holding his spear tight, Avan awaited Yue's attack. Almost simultaneously, both of them stab the goblins with their weapons from below to knock their throats and then pierce their brains to a swift death. Even if the goblins didn't deserve such a quick death, his quick thrust finished his first target instantly, and only a short gurgle could be heard.

Throwing a sideways glance at Yue, he notices that she has problems with the second [Fodder Goblin], which she wanted to kill with her second dagger at the same time. With the blade stuck in its cheek, the other [Fodder Goblin] screeches out loud, waking up the rest of the goblins instantly. Closely crouching above the big second [Goblin Brute], Avan suddenly came face to face with a surprised and angry enemy.

Quickly thrusting his spear forward, he only managed to pierce the goblin's right shoulder. With an angry hiss, the [Goblin Brute] tears the spear out by the handle, throws it next to him on the ground and stands up threateningly quickly. It towers over two meters above Avan and immediately tries to grab him by the throat.

At this moment, his martial arts instincts take over, and he quickly backs away sideways under the goblin's arm.

Being out of its arm range, he analyzed the whole situation while glancing at Yue's fight against the last [Fodder Goblin] that was awake by now, too. Commanding Horny to help Yue with a thought, he concentrates on his opponent and gets in a fighting stance. With one look at his still injured right arm, he changes his fighting stance barely to focus more on his left arm. After a short and confused expression, the [Goblin Brute] finally attacks, swinging with wide arms. Flowing under the arms left and right, Avan goes on the offensive, too, and steps into the attack to land a few blows on its arms and the open shoulder wound he inflicted before.

With another hiss at him, the goblin tries to grab him at his wrist. While attempting to avoid it, he stumbles over a loose stone on the floor and suddenly loses his footing. Throwing himself backward, he escapes the goblin's reach and fell on his butt.

Immediately the [Goblin Brute] pursues and raises both fists to crush him with a powerful blow. Rolling to the left, Avan evades but receives part of the blow on the right shoulder. He gets up hastily in pain and probably with a dislocated joint, moving back into a fighting stance.

Just as the [Goblin Brute] is about to attack again, it is suddenly hit by a white lightning bolt on the back of the head and angrily waves its arms around to catch the nuisance who dared to attack it.

Seizing this chance, Avan sprints forward and hits his enemy with a targeted blow on his larynx. Gasping for air, instead of grabbing at Horny, it holds his throat with his left hand and bends slightly forward whilst clearly having breathing problems. Before he could even react, Yue jumped over from the side and rammed both daggers deep into the eye sockets of the [Goblin Brute].

With a loud thump, the dead ugly bastard falls lifeless to the ground.

Both breathing heavily, while Horny only cleans himself again, plopped down on the floor.

"Thanks, Yue... And thank you, Horny. Are they all dead? Are both of you unharmed?" Avan asked while looking at Yue and Horny for any visible wounds.

Shaking her head, Yue started sobbing after the adrenaline left her body.

Looking around at the dead bodies of both goblins and women, he tried to comprehend what happened here.

With a quick jerk and clenched teeth, Avan adjusted his dislocated right shoulder. Standing up, he watched her quietly crying and squeezed her left shoulder with his hand to give her some sympathy.

"We... need to give the victims a proper funeral, Yue. What do you think? Will you help me?" He asks her gently and with the thought to give her a task to overcome her sorrow for now.

Looking up at him, she stood up and threw herself at him to hug him full with emotions. Still sobbing, she nodded with her head buried in his chest. He caressed her soft furry head lightly and waited.

After some time, she finally calmed down a little bit and averted his gaze in embarrassment. After sighing and stepping back, she wipes her face with one of her sleeves and turns to the corpses of her comrades.

Both of them carried the corpses of the women outside to the others, quietly and in a sad mood. With the corpses lying next to each other, Yue and Avan stood in front of the dead and were silent for a few minutes.

"I'm going to collect wood ... Take your time to say your goodbye, okay? I'll be there when you need me or when something happens. Just call for me." He whispered to her softly and walked away in search of dry wood.

Lost in his own thoughts, he gathered wood and returned several times with full arms to build a pyre. While occupied with this task, he remembered the disabled notifications from fighting the goblins. He chose to pick up the messages at a later date when there were less important matters to attend to. After almost an hour, both of them stood in front of the wooden bedding on which the corpses were neatly lying next to each other. Already thought ahead, Avan ignited another homemade torch after the first had burned out a long time ago and handed it to Yue. With a sad, grateful smile on her face and tears glinting in her eyes, she accepted the fire and lit the pyre to send her companions on their last journey.

After watching them burn for another hour until only ashes remained, Yue spoke to him.

"I will need to go back to Cyntha and inform their parents and relatives about their deaths. I... want to repay you for saving my life, and I will follow you until the day I die, but I need to do this first... Will you wait for me?"

Still, in a sober mood, he stared into her eyes.

"I said it many times already, Yue. You owe me nothing. I will accompany you back to town, so no harm comes to you. But I will not interfere in the grief of loved ones. If you really want to continue with me, then I would love to take you with me as a companion."

And after this shithole, I need time to think. I need to talk to people and know more about the world I am in now, but first, I need to fight something and vent some of my anger.

Smiling sadly, she answered him with a nod.

"I will need time to inform the families and the adventurers guild about the deceased and the dead goblins. You could explore the dungeon in the meantime. But please... don't die in there. I will promise to wait for your return, Avan."

Remembering the necklace he had found on the dead adventurer back at the camp, he got it out. He showed it to her while explaining what happened yesterday. With understanding, she promised to look out for relatives and give it to the adventurer's guild.

Collecting some personal items from the deceased, they started marching in the direction of Cyntha. Without further disruptions, they reached the village thirty minutes later. Saying goodbye to Yue for now, they hugged once again.

Turning quickly, Avan watched as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and ran to the guards at the gate to be let in. Meanwhile, the guards kept glancing at him. He watched her for a while until she was waved through by the guards. Probably after briefly describing the situation.

After she was out of sight, he turned and went back to take a closer look at the dungeon entrance again.

Reaching the dungeon doors half an hour later, he investigated the murals again to better understand what he should do to open them.

It seemed simple: hands-on, mana or energy pumping into the doors, doors opening. After he had tried this approach many times, he still couldn't perceive and grasp the feeling of mana.

Sitting and leaning back on a wall on the opposite side, he glared daggers at the double doors. What was even more interesting was that he could not perceive and penetrate the dungeon door and walls within his sphere of influence skill. He couldn't make out what was behind it.

Maybe I need some more profound understanding of mana. Typically it is combined with meditation in all these games I played. And I guess the runes are meddling with my perception. I should remember this.

And now, let's try out meditation.

Sitting there with crossed legs, closed eyes, and deep, calming breaths for minutes, he finally sensed something. Something inside his very being, some core with a calm and deep ocean.

Concentrating on this feeling, he could sense the energy within. He just knew what it was. It was his soul. As if he was sticking a finger into it, there were waves around the point of contact that struck outwards. Gentle, but powerful nonetheless. Upon further observation, he sensed another source of this energy. But also different. Not as dense as the ocean of his soul, but still more.

The energy was wavy and could be felt outside of his body. Maybe the mana that surrounded him?

It would match because, on closer inspection, he could only feel it within his dungeon perception skill. Thin lines were connecting the ambient mana around him to his soul core.

Opening his eyes, he still felt the connection to his soul core and mana.

Confidently, he stood up and walked to the dungeon doors, laying his hand on both doors simultaneously and sending some of his mana of the soul core through his arms and hands into the doors. He felt the contact with his mana linking him to the intrinsic runic inlay inside the double doors.

With a loud booming sound, both doors shined in bright blue-tinged color while opening slowly until they came to a screeching fully opened halt.

The smell coming from the dungeon was a welcomed change to Avan, who was tired of the stench coming from the goblin feces and blood in these tunnels behind him.

It smelled like old, dusty hallways, stagnant, but also with a touch of freshness.

Walking through the dungeon entrance, he immediately sensed a much denser ambient mana after crossing the threshold. It was already leaking into the tunnels but only drop by drop.

Upon entering the hallway, a new sensation entered his mind.

[You have entered the Dungeon: Tower of Akkalon]

Uhhhh... My first dungeon. Monster, puzzles, treasures, and traps! Here we go! Avan giggled.