Quest updated.

  Opportunity Quest liberate the Mine of Struggle

  To liberate the Mine of Struggle, kill the Chief, and appoint a new successor

  Mine of Struggle Liberated 0/1

  Rewards

  2000 experience

  How can I do any of those things right now? The smart part of his brain told him he should try and find a way out. Use his map to backtrack a route and GTFO; however, his animal side of the brain stared at the experience and mentally drooled. I guess liberate it is.

  He stared at the captors, all green-skinned, all ugly. Two of them were normal-looking goblins, and one had the set of keys hanging on a robe necklace. He glanced at the third goblin, who was bigger than the others, an enforcer. He was almost as big as a dwarf and must have been the one to drag Mara’s limp form inside the cave. The last one wore a small pointy leather hat, like a silly Captain.

  Raccoon winked at me, how did he know how to wink. The goblins showed little facial expressions, sort of like dogs. Reina stirred on the shoulder of the enforcer, and he set her down. “Walk!” he barked.

  So these are Thunderfist goblins? Different from the Black Dagger group that kidnapped Reina in the beginning. The enhancer regarded the group with a look of pure disgust and anger. Mara silently followed. She looked down at the ground. A final goblin trailed them with all the gear in a small wheelbarrow.

  “Psst.” Rook got Mara’s attention and flashed her a smile.

  “Face forward,” the goblin directly behind Rook said, jingling a set of keys.

  I guess Captain Dickhead is the leader of this little Thunderfist group. Rook glanced at dunce cap. They walked for what must have been an hour, through rocky, winding cavern tunnels leading up through twisting corridors. Rook traveled pressed shoulder to shoulder in the middle with Reina. That way, they could stab them in the back if necessary. Rook kept his pace count for when they would eventually run from these fucks. Left turn at the beginning, right up the tunnels eight hundred meters until they came to an opening.

  “Are you ok?” He whispered.

  “I’m feeling a little lightheaded, but my health is almost full, so I’ll be fine.”

  “I was speaking to the goblins,” he replied with a smile.

  One thing about leadership Rook came to love was levity. If you’re not trying to make light of a situation, you’re not living. After cresting the summit of the mine, Rook stared into the chasm below. They were at a dizzying height. Within the cavern were twinkling crystals that pulsed with an unnatural, albeit beautiful blue hue. I wonder how much those would sell for at the Pike Place market. I’d show those snotty hippies selling their homemade ice cream. Only idiot big backs actually enjoyed homemade ice cream. Rook sighed, knowing full well he had bought that ice cream on several occasions.

  The blue crystals sent his mana bar into a frenzy. The normally blue bar blinked orange with a sense of urgency as if it was about to explode. What is this? Rook surged his Attramancy, focusing on a rock the size of his head, and to his delight, it rose easily. The increases in Arcane Wisdom and the ring of focus made using it easier, but this was ridiculous. There was no effect on his mana as he rotated the small boulder while moving it around the top of the cave as if it were in orbit. A spinning asteroid to use at his disposal.

  It’s time.

  Rook held the boulder about thirty feet in the air above the enforcer and dropped it. His heart pounded like a piston as their captors marched them along towards the chasm below, unsuspecting. C’mon luck. Rook shut his eyes as his asteroid fell straight into the fourth goblin. Rook jerked his face away in time to be showered with bloody spray. Bits of what he assumed to be brains flew in all directions. On them, on the goblins, and in the chasm below.

  The brain surfaced a memory he wished stayed hidden. One of those unfortunate truths of life revealed itself to him years ago. That brain was weirdly sweet-smelling when it was exposed, and when a skull was drilled into it, it smelled like corn chips. Knowledge is power, but this cursed knowledge made him hate corn chips, and his mouth went sour with the memory.

  The goblins began looking up towards the ceiling. Rook successfully added falling rocks to the list of dangers.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Do you think that cleared his mind?” He asked Captain Dickhead, who promptly punched him in the side of the ribs.

  Rook grunted in pain, and his body violently rocked to the side. “My grandpa used to whoop my ass way worse than you could, ugly,” Rook said to the goblin.

  Bastard, I’ll get you back for that. After several tense moments of the goblins warily looking up at the ceiling, they reached a bridge. The first goblin approached the rope bridge and shook the rope railing. He gave a hand signal, which must have been the equivalent of a thumbs-up.

  A quick glance at Mara told Rook she was ready to toss the lot into the chasm below and be done with it. The Torokin looked comically big compared to the small goblins.

  The goblin with the keys they affectionately named Captain Dickhead, pointed a dagger at the wooden OSHA violation. “Walk. Erk”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Rook took one unsure step towards the thin bridge with the distinct thought of plummeting into the cavernous abyss below. Here goes nothing. He winced as he grabbed the frayed rope railing. It had long since dilapidated, matching the stained boards of the rickety bridge below them. Rook’s face was carved into a sour scowl as he looked around at the enhancer. She shot him an apologetic expression. Some beginner dungeon this is.

  “Move on. Then,” the goblin said, poking Rook once again.

  That dagger of his is definitely going to give me tetanus, or some other disease that hasn’t been introduced to Earth. A gangly, limbed Thunder fist goblin smiled as if he knew the punchline to a joke Rook didn’t. It growled incoherently in their backwoods language at the enforcer, who passed the babble to Captain Dickhead. Rook glanced over to Reina and winked. We may not be able to talk, but I want to die having fun. He interrupted the goblins’ guttural conversation with hacking and trilling of his tongue.

  “Apologies, I think I’m getting a cold. You wouldn’t have any daytime cold medicine, would you?” Rook asked the leader, who gave his second-in-command a confused look.

  “Walking, human,” the goblin replied, sending a bony fist into the middle of his back.

  Rook grunted in pain as he was forced a few stumbling steps forward. He grabbed the rope to steady himself and was unpleasantly surprised to find that this portion was slimy. What kind of psychopath punches someone in the middle of their spine? The captain poked him once again, prodding him forward, and continued their conversation.

  Rook hacked and coughed over them. Until he was certain they were distracted by his interruptions. The goblins hissed, and he felt like the asshole would try to punch his back again. Opening his inventory, he equipped the mace and jabbed it backward, catching the goblin in its teeth.

  “Not smiling now are ya!?” Rook asked, following up with a baseball bat-like swing in front of him.

  The arc caught the goblin in the side of the head, embedding like an axe in a stump. The leader went down limp as a dishrag. He tried to yank the mace free, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Great, hold on to it for now. You can’t have it,” Rook said to the dead goblin. “I will take this, though.” Rook picked up the leader’s curved blade

  The bridge wobbled as the goblins behind Reina and Mara rushed past them to meet him. Please take the hint, guys. Rook held a defensive stance with the curved blade, and compared to his mace, this felt off and unbalanced.

  “One at a time, please.”

  The goblins stepped on their fallen companion to meet him. The goblin in the middle rolled his ankle on the fallen jailer and yelped as he fell beneath the railing and into the chasm below. They watched him fall for a moment, listening to his gargling pleas for help. Rook took that opportunity to send the blade deep into the front warrior’s forehead with a thunk.

  The goblin behind him tried to catch him, but was struggling with the enforcer’s mass. He pushed the big one off of him and smiled at Rook.

  “You’re dead, human.” The goblin enforcer said, snapping his jaws.

  He stepped over the corpse in front of him and was promptly lifted into the air by Mara and dropped into the chasm below. Rook reached down to grab the keys and placed them into his inventory with a smile. One more to go.

  The small goblin warrior took another step towards him and stabbed with his iron dagger. He turned back towards Reina Mara, unsure of who was the biggest threat among the three of them. Mara snorted before letting out a bellowing war cry that made Rook’s skin crawl with fear.

  “Where’s my Sword!”

  The goblin pointed towards the way they came, in a pile were the greatsword and rapier. I guess whoever brought them along ran away

  Rook watched curiously as Reina rolled the dead goblin off the bridge and smiled at him, with that same wicked grin she had when she was planning something nefarious. The body spun as it was sent tumbling into the chasm.

  The goblin cried out as his leg was yanked out from beneath him. There was a metal hook attached to the goblin’s leg, and the other side was presumably attached to the dead one. The carabiner. Rook smiled, but his joy was short-lived. By some sick miracle, the goblin clung on to the bridge, the wood straining beneath his grasp. Reina walked to the goblin’s fingers, slow and methodical.

  “You lot told me when you captured us. You’d skin me and wear it to town, did you not?” Reina asked, stomping on one of the goblin’s fingers. “Said you would visit my father in Ollar wearing me as a costume. I don’t speak your language, but the broken bits said enough.” Reina stepped on another finger. “Do you wish to add anything, Rook?”

  “Yes, this little piggy cried wee wee wee.” He kicked the goblin’s other hand, sending the little green being screaming into the abyss. “All the way home.” Rook sighed. “You know that was quick thinking. I forgot we bought those hooks and rope.”

  “Ah, about that,” Reina said shyly. “I’ve been meaning to use them like that.”

  Mara smiled and clapped both of them on the shoulders before moving to the captain. With a great pull, she pried the mace free and handed it to Rook. As Reina jogged back for the weapons, the bridge creaked. In the middle of the bridge, the wood waned, sending cracking echoes through the cavern. Rook leaned over the rail and frowned into the abyss.

  “Reina, hurry!” Rook called out, then slapped himself. “Why did we send her for a greatsword?”

  Quickly, Mara jogged over to grab the burden from Reina, and before long, they all passed through to the cliff opposite. Symbolic. Looking down, Rook let out an involuntary gulp. That would suck to fall. One hundred meters ahead, the cavern split into two separate paths, forming a fork that branched off into darkness.

  “Say, these crystals are sending my mana into a frenzy,” Rook said, focusing on the blinking orange bar.

  “What do you mean?” Reina asked, frowning a the ceiling, as they walked further into the dark.

  “I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s like my mana was boosted. I’ll show you if we see another group of the crystals.”

  With no real idea where they were, one path could easily lead to death. Rook pinched the bridge of his nose. How many cave spelunkers die each year because they take a path and get stuck in the rocks that end up becoming a tomb?

  He tossed the keys to Reina and held his wrists up. I wonder. With a quick surge and focus on his cuffs, he broke them into two, sending the broken binds to the cavern floor with a clang. He silently cursed, and he could’ve broken the cuffs by forcing the pin out of the joint.