Chapter 860: Monster Ambush Outside
"Err… Are we there yet?"
"Mnngghhh~"
"Lisa? Are we… Lisa…"
"Ehehehe~ Aster's boobies~ Squish, squish~"
I pinched her on the arm using the hand that was carrying her, causing my Infrid to let out a yelp of surprise.
"I'll let you fondle my boobs later, Lisa, but I need to know if we're nearing the Dungeon," I admonished her.
Her eyes sparkled, "Ohhh~ That's a promise, Aster!"
Not sure why she would even be excited about that because I already let her do that anyway.
She looked around and pointed towards the forest below us, "That way! I remember seeing that weird looking tree when Goddess Hiandoca was showing me a vision of it!"
I followed her gaze and found a tree that was growing almost in an 'S' shape in the forest below.
"Hold on tight," I warned, tightening my grip on Lisa before diving down towards the tree in question.
My Infrid let out a yelp of glee as we dove towards the forest below, my wings flaring up to slow down when we reached the canopy.
I tried to look for a place to land and didn't have to look very far when I came across a clearing a short distance away with a rock formation at the centre.
I'm guessing that rock formation was the entrance to the Dungeon.
Looking to the side, I realise that the main road was about half to a full kilometre away and there wasn't anything around here to warrant someone exploring this deep in the forest. No wonder this Dungeon hasn't been discovered yet.
I flapped my wings once more to fly over to the clearing and landed right in front of the rock formation.
The moment my feet touched the ground however, a shadow rushed out towards me and I reacted quickly by jumping away from the attack.
But it seemed like that was unnecessary because Eins had appeared from my shadow to intercept the attacker by grabbing onto it.
The shadow revealed itself to be a monster that looked like a panther except it had red eyes and instead of a normal tail, it had two and both of them ended in spikes.
Of course, I immediately used [Screened] on it.
[Name: Dungeon Assassin Panther
Race: Monster
Stats:
25 Strength
100 Dexterity
45 Endurance
55 Magic
Magic Skills:
Umbramancy (Tier 1)]
Eh?
Hold on… I've learned that any monster with 'Dungeon' in its name usually means that it's found in the Dungeon… So why is this one outside?
Don't tell me that if a Dungeon has too many monsters, they will overflow from the Dungeon?
Or… Maybe there's also supposed to be monsters guarding the entrance of the Dungeon but since all the Dungeons I've been to have been discovered, they were all cleared out and thus this is the first time I've met one outside?
The Assassin Panther tried to stab its tail at Eins but my shadow Guard merely tilted her head to the side to avoid it.
She then quickly killed it by crushing its throat with her hand, killing the monster instantly.
I heard a rustle coming from behind and I quickly spun around to point one of my hands in that direction, making sure Lisa still remained in my arms.
Another Assassin Panther was leaping towards me but my [Spark Strike] was already leaving my hand, striking the monster while it was midair in the head and blasting it back.
Zwei appeared from my shadow next and finished it off by slicing its head off while it was still in midair with her sword she created using her Umbramancy.
I lowered Lisa on the ground right as I heard even more rustling sounds coming from all around us.
Damn, there's a whole horde of them?
I called out even more of my Shadow Guards while pulling out my Light Sword and my Shadow Sword, lowering myself into a combat stance.
Two more Assassin Panthers leapt out of the shadows to lunge towards us but they were quickly struck down by two lasers courtesy of Eins and Drei.
As if that wasn't enough, a horn blew from within the bushes and a crowd of Dungeon Goblins rushed towards us with their weapons in hand.
Checking with my [Screened] it seems like these goblins also had 'Dungeon' in front of their names.
A few of them were even archers and mages as well, all of them hanging behind the front line to shoot arrows and spells at us.
"Lisa!" I yelled out, afraid that she would be hit by the ranged attacks.
But I had completely forgotten that she was my Lumenmancy teacher and I didn't even need to worry because she had already finished chanting the spell needed to cast [Light Forge] to create a full suit of armour for herself.
The arrows and spells that actually hit her merely bounced off her armour without leaving a mark, my Infrid looking more annoyed by the attacks than hurt.
My Shadow Guards on the other hand had no problems avoiding the arrows and the spells shot towards them, holding their ground as the wave of goblins rushed towards them.
Leaving them to protect Lisa, I spread my wings and leapt into the air to fly over the frontline.
The goblin archers looked up and screeched at me as I dove towards them, a few of them shooting their bows at me.
I flared my wings and flapped them downwards, creating a strong gust of wind that blew the arrows away from me.
Tucking my wings, I dove towards the backline of the goblins while avoiding the wave of fire bolts shot at me.
I crashed into the ground in the classic three point landing, creating a shockwave that blew the goblins in the landing zone away.
Pulling back my hand that held my Light Sword, I immediately poured my mana into it before leaping forward and slashing in an arc.
The light blade cut through the bodies of several goblins like a hot knife through butter, cutting them into two separate pieces and sending both pieces flying in different directions.
A mage tried to shoot a [Static Bolt] at me but I reacted by imbuing my Shadow Sword with mana to activate its dark flames enchantment.
I swung the sword in an arc, hitting the projectile with the flames and burning it away into nothingness.
While the goblin mage was still surprised by the fact that I cancelled its spell, I leapt forward and stabbed him with my Shadow Sword, the flames immediately lighting him up like dry kindling.
The goblin panicked and fell backwards, only to fall onto one of his comrades which caused the black fire to be passed to him.
That goblin let out a scream of pain and tried to extinguish the fire by patting it out with his other hand.
I got to watch him panic even more when the fire ended up spreading to his other hand instead and he started to run towards his comrades for help while letting out panicked shrieks.
While my goblin fire starter went on to pass on the fire to the other goblin archers and mages, I ran towards the goblins that were engaged in melee with my Shadow Guards, all of them completely unprepared for an attack coming from behind.
With my Shadow and Light Swords in my hands, I sliced through a throng of them with ease before they even knew I was behind them.
By the time they realised they were being attacked from behind, I had already reduced their numbers by half and there were only a dozen or so of the frontline left standing.
The goblins finally realised that they were completely outmatched and a few of them tried to retreat.
One of the goblins that tried to run got punted away by Eins towards me and I lifted my sword to let the goblin fly straight into my light sword, my blade stabbing through his chest and piercing through it to appear on the other side.
I then swung downwards to dislodge the corpse from my sword, turning it into an improvised projectile as the body flew out to crash into another group of retreating goblins to send them crashing onto the ground like bowling pins.
Taking advantage of the panic, my Shadow Guards charged forward and started cutting them down from behind, allowing none of the goblins to escape.
A few of the archers and mages that were able to avoid getting burned by my black flames managed to reach the edge of the clearing and they thought they were safe, only for me to appear from a portal in front of them to slice their heads off.
In just a few short seconds, the previously boisterous and chaotic clearing had suddenly quieted down and the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing through the trees.
Ok, this really felt weird… Why were there so many monsters here?