Viktor waited until the three adventurers were completely out of sight.

  After the last trace of their footsteps had been swallowed by the roar of the waterfall, he turned away and walked toward a nearby tree, its roots tangled at the water’s edge. He scanned the area one last time before sitting down, back against the trunk. Eyes closed, breath in, breath out. He steadied himself.

  As the Dungeon Master, he possessed the ability to see and hear whatever was happening in any part of his domain, at any time, from anywhere. Now, he was going to use it to monitor the trio’s progress as they ventured deeper into the dungeon.

  He shifted his vision to the entrance of the maze. Soon, the three of them would emerge from the tunnel leading from the cave’s entrance.

  Minutes later, he saw them. The first to appear was Jake, who was built like a brick shithouse, and about as clever. Behind him, Hans kept close, while Petra trailed last, her eyes darting around nervously.

  “There is really a dungeon here,” Jake said in excitement. Viktor could hear his voice clearly as if he were standing right next to him.

  “A maze, huh?” Hans smirked. “How predictable.”

  “W-what if we get lost in here?” Petra asked.

  “You’ve never been in a dungeon before, have you?” Hans replied. “Don’t worry. While it may seem overwhelming to new adventurers, a maze is nothing to worry about compared to other types of environments.”

  Jake grinned. “There’s a very simple trick to help you navigate a maze,”

  Hans drew his knife, approached a section of the wall, and began to carve into the stone. “Whenever we reach a branch, we mark it,” he explained, “then choose one of the paths. If we hit a dead end, we come back and choose the other. The marks will help us remember which paths we’ve taken and which we’ve not.”

  “I... I see.”

  The young woman breathed out slowly, her shoulders beginning to relax. What she didn’t know was that the method Hans had just mentioned was not going to work. Not here, not in this dungeon. Because the moment they turned the corner and their footsteps faded, a goblin would pop out from one of the hidden tunnels and erase the mark.

  Viktor’s vision moved forward to follow the group. Looked like the first encounter was about to begin.

  “Goblins!” Jake shouted as soon as the creatures emerged, brandishing their crude weapons.

  He let out a war cry and charged. With a single swing, he chopped off one goblin’s hand. It screamed and fled, while the others ran in the opposite direction.

  “Weakling!” The man laughed as he chased after one of the fleeing goblins. But when he rounded the corner, he was met with empty space. His opponent had vanished without a trace.

  “Where the hell did it go?” Jake was dumbfounded. A long corridor stretched before him, and the next intersection was quite far away. There was no way the goblin could have reached it in just a few seconds. “Can these bastards run that fast?”

  Viktor couldn’t help but chuckle. Of course not. His minion had simply slipped into a hidden tunnel.

  Such an encounter was part of his plan. By giving the adventurers some easy fights they could win effortlessly, he aimed to boost their confidence and lure them deeper into the maze. Also, occasional combat would disrupt their focus, making them even more disoriented.

  “Don’t run ahead like that!” Hans yelled as he and Petra hurried to catch up with Jake. “What if you run into a trap?”

  “Trap?” Jake snorted. “Have you found any traps yet?”

  Hans shook his head. “No,” he said, glancing around with a furrowed brow. “But there’s something strange.”

  “What’s strange?”

  “I’m not sure,” Hans replied. “But I have a feeling some parts of the wall are... empty.”

  “What do you mean? Is there a trap inside or something?” Jake asked, striking the wall with the pommel of his sword.

  “Or a secret passage?” Petra suggested. The two men frowned, clearly uncomfortable with such an idea.

  Viktor watched as Jake and Hans examined various sections of the walls around them, tapping and probing with their weapons. If they keep checking, they might eventually find the tunnels, he thought. But that will be very time-consuming.

  Eventually, Jake tossed his sword at the wall with a curse. “Fuck this! Let’s move.”

  So they did.

  The path ahead offered them more fights with more goblins. The adventurers won, but the creatures managed to escape every single time. Jake became more and more frustrated since he hadn’t gotten a kill yet. Hans grew more paranoid, glancing around nervously. As for Petra, it looked like she just wanted to go home already.

  Once they reached a dead end, the trio retraced their steps to the previous branching. And they found...

  “Where the hell is the mark?” Jake barked.

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  “I think it was here,” Hans said, pointing at the scratches on the wall. “But someone has erased it.”

  “Someone? Who?”

  “The... the goblins?” Petra said hesitantly.

  “How is that possible?” Jake said. “Since when did goblins get that smart?”

  Viktor chuckled. Goblins might look underwhelming, but they shouldn’t be underestimated. They were agile, stealthy, and very cunning. However, since the creatures were individually weak but numerous, their masters usually used them as expendable fodder. This practice gave people the impression that goblins were insignificant threats, merely minor obstacles on the path to greater challenges.

  But he was different. Every dead goblin was one that needed to be replaced, and that cost mana, an invaluable resource that he needed to conserve.

  “How... how are we going to get out of here without the marks?” Petra was on the verge of tears. “I want to go home. I can’t stand this place any longer.”

  “Shut up!” Jake yelled at her.

  “Calm down, you two,” Hans said. “There are still other tricks we can use.”

  “Really?” Petra asked, her eyes brightening slightly.

  “The hand-on-wall rule,” Hans explained. “It’s simple. Place your hand on the wall and keep it there as you move. Just keep going like that, and eventually, you will reach the exit.”

  “Really?” Petra asked again, her voice tinged with hope.

  “Well,” Hans replied with a shrug, “only if the wall you choose at the beginning is connected to the outer boundary of the maze. Otherwise, you’ll just run in circles and end up back here.”

  Petra slumped against the wall. “No way!”

  “Don’t worry,” Hans assured her. “If that’s the case, we’ll just have to choose a different wall and try again.”

  That works, Viktor thought. But even so, the adventurers would still have to continue walking through the maze, becoming more and more tired and stressed while being harassed by his goblins. Meanwhile, the next phase was about to start.

  His minions now ran in large groups around the intruders, staying just out of sight but close enough for their footsteps to be heard. The trio never saw their enemies, but those ominous echoes kept gnawing at their minds.

  “What the hell?” Jake yelled. “How many goblins are here?”

  There was no answer.

  Only footsteps.

  They were fast, they were numerous, and they were unrelenting.

  The man snapped. He sprinted toward the noise, sword raised, rage burning, but the goblins had vanished, scattering like smoke in the wind. And the moment he stopped, the sound returned.

  The psychological torment continued, until the group had been completely exhausted. Hans murmured to himself in an endless loop, his boots dragging, his shoulders slumped. Jake’s confident smirk was long gone, and he barely spoke, unless it was to occasionally yell at Petra, who, meanwhile, flinched at every sound, her staff trembling in her grip, hollow eyes darting like a trapped animal’s.

  And now, it was time to strike.

  Viktor’s minions swarmed from the dark. Petra screamed, staff clattering to the ground. Useless. Nevertheless, the other two should not be underestimated. If Jake and Hans were allowed to stand back to back, covering each other’s blind spots, his goblins would suffer heavy losses. They could still win, of course, but the price he had to pay would be high. Thus, most of the creatures rushed toward Hans, trying to overwhelm him with their numbers, while a smaller group circled Jake, cutting him off from his companions.

  The rogue was not a pushover, though. He quickly threw two knives, one striking the shoulder of a goblin and the other hitting the leg of a second. Then he drew a longer blade and sliced it into the belly of a nearby goblin. The creature shrieked, its hands clutching the gaping wound as it struggled to keep its intestines from spilling out.

  Despite his best efforts, the minions still held the advantage in numbers. Hans jerked as one of the goblins stabbed him in the back. Another goblin followed up with a swift slash to his right leg, and he stumbled, face slamming into the stone.

  “Jake! H-help—” The rogue’s words were cut off as the goblins pounced on him, their jagged blades flashing down in a flurry of strikes. He tried to rise, pushing weakly against his attackers, but there was no strength left in him. His breath grew more ragged with each blow, until it stopped completely.

  Even after their opponent had been still, the goblins’ savage onslaught continued without any mercy. They piled onto him. Blades rose and fell. Viktor could hear clearly the sound of metal scraping against bone and flesh being torn open. Blood splattered everywhere, from the wounds on Hans’s back, from the cuts on his limbs, and from the many holes in his skull.

  Petra shrieked and fled into the maze. The goblins paid no heed to her, their eyes fixed on their next target—Jake. There was no need to rush; they could pursue and kill her later. It was impossible for the woman to find the exit before they reached her.

  No goblin had been killed yet, and the wounded ones could recover, so Viktor wouldn’t have to waste mana replacing them. Nevertheless, several of them had been incapacitated and could no longer continue the fight. Thus, now Jake was facing fifteen goblins, wielding his sword in one hand and his shield in the other.

  Jeanne was right; he was a capable fighter. With one powerful swing, he bisected a goblin. Another goblin scrambled to drag the two twitching halves of his friend away while the remaining minions resumed their attack.

  That was an amusing scene, really, given that goblins were known as a treacherous species that constantly backstabbed their own kind. Yet, here in this dungeon, they were directed by Celeste to follow Viktor’s instructions to the letter and cooperate with each other.

  The horde pressed and the battle raged on. Jake fought with all his might, but the goblins’ onslaught was relentless. Slowly, inexorably, it began to take its toll.

  As his movements grew sluggish, a goblin took the opportunity to step forward, plunging its spear into his groin. The man screamed in agony as the creature twisted the sharp tip, tearing deeper into the wound. Jake struggled to stay upright. He swung his sword in a wide arc, trying to strike back at the enemy who had just dealt him such a painful and humiliating blow. But before his blade could reach the target, another goblin leaped at him, the jagged edge of its weapon met his arm mid-swing, slicing a long gash across his bicep.

  Jake’s sword slipped from his grip, his body lurching forward, unable to maintain balance. The minions closed in, surrounding the man, and they began to stab. They stabbed at his thighs, they stabbed at his abdomen, they stabbed at his chest. Jake gasped with each blade sinking deep into his flesh. He could no longer resist. His arms hung limp at his sides, his body swaying from side to side as blood spattered across the ground of the dungeon. Then, he dropped like a stone.

  There’s only one left. Viktor’s vision swept through the maze, searching for Petra. It didn’t take long for him to find her. The last member of the group was sinking to her knees at a dead end, her body shaking as she sobbed uncontrollably.

  His minions were catching up with her as well. When she turned around, her eyes widened with terror as she saw a group of goblins blocking her path, slowly creeping forward.

  “P-please, let me go!” Petra’s voice trembled. “I just want to go home. So please, I beg you.”

  Her plea fell on deaf ears. The goblins didn’t stop. They exchanged mocking glances, grinning as they approached their prey.

  “No, no, stay back!” Petra cried, tears running down her cheeks. “D-don’t come any closer!”

  Sorry, girl, Viktor thought. But I don’t want to make the dungeon public just yet. So no survivors today.

  The creatures closed in on the young Emerald Mage, encircling her, their weapons still wet with the blood of her dead companions.

  Then they stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed.