Chapter 112: The Goblins Treasure

*Craassssh*

Ash: “*Cough*, Jasmine are you alright?”

Jasmine: “I-I will be, as soon as you remove your hands.”

Ash looked down at the angry and flushed face of Jasmine. Both his hands found their way to Jasmine chest and was given each a nice firm squeeze.

Ash: “Woah!?”

Ash leapt to his feet, releasing Jasmine from his grip.

Ash: “S-Sorry, I-I really was trying anything.”

Jasmine: “It’s fine, I know you didn’t mean it, thanks.”

When the tunnel collapsed, Ash grabbed Jasmine and threw himself the remaining length of the tunnel. His gamble did save them from being buried, however his chivalric action lead to their current state.

Jasmine got up and dust herself off and readjusting her shirt, a face still a bit flush from the feeling of Ash hands, still fresh on her chest. Ash turning around to assess the situation and also to get her some privacy. Now there was nothing, but a dirt wall and the tunnel was no longer accessible.

Ash: “Well, we’re not getting back through there.”

Jasmine: “No we’re not, you still getting that funny feeling?”

Ash: “Funny feeling, oh the danger………….. no, it seems like where we are should be safe or as safe as could be after a cave-in. And I the Goblins got caught in the cave-in.”

Jasmine: “Not all of them, some of them went back to cut us off up ahead and call for reinforcements.”

Ash: “Then it’s a good chance they will be coming here any minute now, we should go.”

Jasmine: “What about Nathan, he was back down there.”

Ash Checked the party status list and was happy to see that Nathan and Iris were both still alive. However, he couldn’t tell where they were. They were in the mating chamber, but he didn’t’ know if Nathan escaped when Threat Detection went off.

Ash: “He’s alive at least.”

Jasmine: “Oh good, he made it out.”

Ash: “I don’t , our party search hasn’t been working right since we entered the dungeon, it’s been even worse since we entered this cave. I don’t know if his down there or not.”

Jasmine: “Then we need to go help him.”

Ash: “Calm down, Nathan has been buried alive before, and he was able to get out then, I doubt he wouldn’t be able to this time. But we should work to get him out but not from here. If we stay here, will be trapped if the goblin horde shows up. And honestly I’m more worried about that sudden mana spike.”

Jasmine: “Yeah I felt too, that was crazy, I’ve never felt anything like that before in theses caves. And it came from below, I wonder what could cause such a thing.”

Ash had a pretty good idea who could do that, but what he wanted to know is why. Nathan usually doesn’t like her letting out so much energy at once since it’s so conspicuous and hard to explain away. But if Iris was willing to do it in spite of that, there must have run into a real problem. And the only thing he could think of that would cause her to do that, would be if they came across something way too powerful for Nathan to face on his own, namely, the Goblin Don.

Ash: “Is there another path into the mating chamber?”

Jasmine: “Not that I know of, just the one way in, oh but there was this new tunnel I notice on our way down. It was dug out recently and way larger than any I’ve seen before.”

Jasmine brought up her map and took a look, it was filled in pretty much already. Ash wondered just how many times she ventured into this place before she met Zane.

Jasmine: “From what I can tell by the layout, it seems to come out somewhere right below the mating chamber.”

Ash: “It’s our best bet, lead the way.”

Jasmine: “Right, before that feeling of your come back.”

Ash followed Jasmine down the cave, glad to be away from the collapsed corridor. Ash was honest with Jasmine a moment ago, the Threat Detection was still going off, just not as strong as it was earlier. There were more of these cave-ins to come, so regardless of Nathan having procured the Goblin accessory or not, they had to get out of there immediately. Before whatever cause that cave-in to happen again.

Jasmine: “Hold it, you hear that?”

Ash listened out and heard what she was speaking of all to clear. The sound of a horde of goblin running down an adjacent hall.

Ash: “Are they coming this way?”

Jasmine: “No, they are heading down a different hall. Let’s look.”

Coming to the end of the hall, they found that the tunnel they originally came down with everyone, the intersection was half caved, only a portion of it was traversable and it would take some doing to pass through. Lucky for them, because of how much work it was to move through it, the goblin took a different path. Climbing over to a safe spot, Jasmine peeked around to see the horde of goblin running down the path in a panic.

Ash: “ What do you see?”

Jasmine: “They look……..panicked. Because of the cave-in?”

Ash: “Maybe, they’re probably running away from the collapsed area.”

Jasmine: “Good for us, this path leads to the new corridor and this cave-in keeps us from being spotted, we should hurry before one of them decided to climb over.”

Jasmine pointed down the tunnel that led to the to their destination. With the wall here, even if they wanted to leave, they would have to dig, but right now the other side was crawling with goblin and it wasn’t worth it. Ash knew that Nathan’s plants would be their best bet, so there was no choice but to head toward him first.

Jasmine: “Come Ash, your falling behind.”

Ash: “Ugh right.”

With the sound of the panicked Goblin horde behind them the duo headed off to find Nathan. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much trouble digging him out.

_

_

Nathan: “*Sigh* Who else could say they’ve been buried alive twice.”

Nathan set and the darkness holding on to Iris protective stance. Currently he was in a small area surround by boulders and rocks, held in place by many vines and a mana barrier.

Nathan: “Iris I told you not to.”

Iris: “But you were in danger, I had no choice.”

Nathan: “I get that, but you will never get better if you keep straining yourself, I’m worried about you. For my sake please rest.”

Iris: “U-Understood.”

When the ceiling came down, Nathan quickly surround Iris and himself with as many of his snyare plants as he could. He knew that his vines could hold lots of weight when weave together, so all it took was for him to weave as many them together to act as a makeshift cocoon shaped shelter from the falling ceiling. However, at the same time, in spite of Nathan telling her not to, Iris erected a barrier around them to further support the vines.

Honestly, he was thankful for the assist. He knew his vines could withstand a lot of weight, but he never tested to such an extent before. Either way he was both upset and thankful to Iris.

Nathan: “How are you feeling?”

Iris: “A little better, the headaches still throbbing, but not so much that I can't function.”

Nathan: “Good, because we still have a problem and I’m gonna need you to stay calm.”

Iris: “I’m well aware of our predicament and I shall remain calm as long as they do not make a move toward us.”

They were safe from the cave in for now, but an additional problem had arisen. While creating his safe area, right before he was done sealing it, they were invaded. And right now, these three individuals were staring at him from the other side of the safe area. Note, the safe area wasn’t that big since it wasn’t meant to accommodate more them him and Iris and he only had a few seconds to expand it.

So even thought they were on the other side of the cocoon, they were still relatively close.

There were huddle together staring at Nathan as he stared at them. They weren’t causing his Threat Detection to act up, but he still kept his guard up. To be honest they look so human one would doubt it upon first glance, however according to their status window, the three little girls were a variant of Goblin that trump all other goblin variants he met so far.

Nathan: “...................Hollee Shit.”

Iris: “Master, what’s wrong, what are they?”

Nathan: “They’re………….. ‘High Goblin’?"

Iris: "High Goblin?"

Naathan: "Yeah and from what I’m seeing they’re probably the treasure the goblins are all fighting over.”