Dungeon Sniper

"Get on the vehicle, now."

Benedikt picked up the underground scanner and threw it on the back of the four-wheeler.

Meanwhile, the rumbling intensified until a bestial shriek pierced the night air—and emerged the first of the horde from the hole.

By two, five, and eight, the Goblin Crawlers sprung out of the nest entrance.

"We're moving out!" yelled Benedikt from my back. I turned and saw that my other two companions had already been seated. I grabbed the metal frame and landed on the backseat awkwardly with the scanner stand beneath me.

"You said 'dozens.' That's at least a hundred," I said numbly.

Benedikt did not say anything back. He started the four-wheeler and made a wide turn and drove off to the same direction from which we had come.

I looked back and saw with relief that the Goblins could not keep up with our speed. There were some determined ones on the pursuit. There were also some smart ones finishing up the two dead guards near the entrance.

"Stop the car."

Benedikt did not hear me, again. Or he just pretended that he did not.

"Why are we running away?"

Finally, Benedikt erupted. He almost hit the brakes then. The bravest and sure-footed Goblin had disappeared out of our sights for a while now.

But Benedikt placed his foot on the accelerator, and the four-wheeler drove on furiously.

"Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious? Why?" screamed Benedikt. I met his murderous gaze reflected on the rear-view mirror.

"We need the crystals stored down below, no?"

"Not at the expense of my own f.u.c.k.i.n.g life, you f.u.c.kface! How dumb do you have to shoot right in the nose of the enemies? Uncovered, unplanned, unbelievably reckless!"

"I thought I could take them on."

"The hundred of them? Are you seriously retarded?"

"Not one hundred. Seventy-three by my count."

Both Benedikt and I stared at a member of the race known for their meticulousness.

"It's an Elf thing," Elysia added with a shrug.

I did not know what to say, so I just turned to Benedikt and picked up the conversation from where we had left off.

"You said 'dozens.' Dozens, I could handle. Seventy-three, iffy."

"Iffy?" gaped Benedikt exasperatedly.

"Yeah, so, it's partly your fault for misleading me, if you think about it."

Benedikt hit the brakes then. The four-wheeler stopped abruptly. Elysia and I bumped our heads on the frames in front of us. Well, Elysia deftly covered her head in time, while I clumsily covered mine 'after' the impact.

"You really need to put the seat belts on the back," I hissed angrily, rubbing the pain on my forehead.

"Now you listen to me, you brainless dimwit," Benedikt turned from his seat and waved his finger threateningly, "You pull an uncoordinated random shit like that ever again, you're a goner. I'm this close to regretting not having just left you out there with the Goblins."

"... Not trying to sound needy or anything, but if only you had installed a suppressor in the first place—"

"How about I suppress your throat right now?"

Benedikt almost jumped out of his seat and at me, not unlike the last time he flung himself onto me when all three of us heard a faint cry—a Goblin cry.

Benedikt frowned past me, and Elysia and I turned around to see a very determined and strong-legged Goblin had kept its pursuit and was shrieking feebly and lonesomely by itself.

"Who wants to do it?" I asked warily.

Benedikt grunted and sat back on the driver's seat. He did not start the four-wheeler, however, as if waiting for either of his passengers to close the matter.

The Goblin had lost all of the spring in his limbs as he galloped precariously toward us, never once shutting up his grotesque mouth, salivating and crying inaudibly, bestially.

I turned to Elysia, who was fidgeting with her Dwarven pistol but seemed reluctant to get off. So I jumped off the back of the four-wheeler, drawing out the dull, unlit Mataki's Blade.

"Elysia, make sure Benedikt doesn't start the car until I get back."

As if on cue, Benedikt started the engine, growling in unison with the machine.

The Goblin Crawler limped its way toward me as fast as it could, but it still took more than thirty seconds for us to meet at the halfway point.

The crawler gargled and snapped its mandibles as it jumped at me.

Holding Mataki's Blade on one hand, I took out Tolliver with the other and shot the crawling monster right in the stomach, halting its bold flight midair and making it flop on the sandy ground helplessly.

Tolliver was quieter than Niper, but the bang still sounded like a thunder crack in the middle of desert nothingness.

The Goblin-turned-insect trembled pitifully as I flipped Mataki's Blade in the air to hold it upside down.

"Bon appétit, Mataki."

I thrust down the blade right between the dull, beady eyes.

[Skill gained: Seism Sensor - Level C]

I waited for Mataki to speak.

The dead Goblin's first words: he wanted to speak with Benedikt, now.

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.

.

Benedikt had taken Mataki's Blade, holding it dearly in both hands, and walked a couple of yards away from the four-wheeler. Meanwhile, I reattached the scope onto Niper and tested the range of the sight. I was tempted to calibrate the scope right now, only if there was a target I could test and reference the adjustment. Aside from some dusty, brittle stones here and there, not even a cactus stood in the vast barrenness.

Elysia was coyly taking out a bottle of beer from the built-in-cooler of the ATV. Our eyes met as she popped the bottle cap despite her effort to be sneaky all the way.

"I'm thirsty," said Elysia defensively.

"I didn't say anything."

Elysia sipped the beer, looking bashful, as I turned to see Benedikt walking back toward us. Mataki's Blade glowed steadily in his hand, and I knew that meant the conversation was ongoing inside the wielder's head.

Benedikt got on the driver's seat and handed me the Orcish dagger-sword with a reverent delicacy I had never expected from the virile Dwarf.

"You two have a good talk?" I asked, noticing the look of mixed emotions on Benedikt's face.

"We caught up, somewhat," grumbled Benedikt.

"Wait. Is that tear I see in your eyes?"

"Dwarf men don't cry! Don't think we're like you feeble Humans," barked Benedikt, rubbing his eyes roughly with his forearm.

"Aww, someone misses his old buddy."

"Shut your mouth, kid!"

"And you, Mataki, you're uncharacteristically silent in my hand."

[... Forgive me, young hero. The foul taste of the last tainted soul is still afresh in my mouth.]

"But you don't have a mouth."

[I also apologize that you had to look at that heinous form into which my kin have evolved.]

"Well, you weren't exactly lookers back in Level One either—"

Benedikt started the four-wheeler. Elysia sat next to me on the backseat, staring at me curiously—and a little drunk.

"I want to talk to him too," smiled Elysia with faint, lovely blushes on her cheeks.

I could also feel the alcoholic breath from her grinning mouth. It was not unpleasant. Just... smelled like alcohol.

"... How many bottles did you drink?"

Elysia lifter her three fingers. She then frowned and lifted one more.

I could even throw the talking blade out of the vehicle if I could see more of that adorableness out of Elysia.

Elysia held Mataki's Blade and blinked in sync with the dagger-sword's glowing light.

I faced forward and kicked the driver's seat to gain Benedikt's attention.

"Kick my baby one more time—"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll give me a good kicking, as if your short legs could reach my a.s.s."

"I'll make sure you'll be walking on your a.s.s by then. How about that?"

"Enough empty threats. What's the plan? Why did Mataki want to talk to you? You didn't just spend all that time catching up, did you?"

Benedikt did not say anything for a moment.

"Mataki, he came here through the Gate while the last Colosseum Ultimatum took place."

"Yeah, I heard him saying something like that."

"He found her."

Benedikt said the words so tersely that I thought he was going to say something more right away, but he did not.

"You mean, the Queen? How?"

"He roamed the entire Level Two. As a soul. Ethereal and bodiless, through some spiritual magic shit I don't care for."

"It's good news then, right? He knows where she is, so all he has to do is guide us to her and we'll be done."

Benedikt, however, did not look pleased at all.

"The situation's more complex than that," grunted Benedikt.

"Of course. Nothing comes easy for me. What's the situation?"

Benedikt grunted and opened the mini-cooler on the side. I did not even try to stop him this time. I did, however, grabbed the frame in case of another wild drive.

"... I swear I had more beer in this thing," frowned Benedikt as he stared at me suspiciously through the rear-view mirror.

I shrugged innocently, trying my best not to stare at Elysia. She even hiccuped at the worst timing, but Benedikt did not see her as she was sitting right behind him.

Benedikt swigged a bottle in one gulp and helped himself to another.

"Really? You're just going to drink and drive? You're not going to talk?"

"We're almost home. Settle down, kid."

"How am I supposed to know where I am in this middle of nowhere?"

"Don't you have a compass inside your head? Every hero has a crisp sense of where he is... but then I saw your tomfoolery back there so maybe you don't have any sense at all."

"First off, I have a compass, not GPS, and second, I've killed a couple dozen Goblins before. I think I can take on some insect version of them."

"The 'insect' version is their ultimate form of evolution for a reason. The Crawlers are stronger, more resilient, and more prolific—"

"So give me lots of bull-rats so I can shoot them to death."

"That's only one of our problems."

"What problem?"

"There are more Crawlers than we have bull-rats."

I blinked. There was north of million of them, Benedikt had said.

"Okay, that does sound like a problem."

"Now you see it? Alpha would have come up with a solution by now. Some hero you are," Benedikt clicked his tongue.

"You really want to do this now? You're the one who's being all tight-lipped about Alpha, and now you're throwing his name around to make me feel bad. What gives, man?"

"Try to think like Alpha for a second."

"I would, if I knew who the f.u.c.k that guy was."

"Entering the base, now," Benedikt belched nonchalantly as he opened the ramp leading below and drove inside the bunker.

"I might have to go outside," I said as the four-wheeler came to a stop. I saw that Elysia had not been intently conversing with Mataki. She was fast asleep. I thought about lifting her up, but instead gently stirred her to wake up. She g.r.o.a.n.e.d softly, revealing her skin beneath the zipped-down stealth suit.

Forget outside. I was carrying her into my room.

"What for? What's outside?" asked Benedikt as he reached for the cooler first thing he hopped off the vehicle.

"What outside?" I asked back dumbly, placing my hands beneath Elysia's slumped body.

Benedikt was staring disapprovingly at me.

"Let her sleep there where I can watch her. I don't want to imagine what you're going to do to that poor girl in her sleep."

"You know we're practically lovers, right?"

"Don't be a d.i.c.k, kid, and also don't let your d.i.c.k take all the blood away from your head. Be cool."

"I was just going to lay her on her bed, like a gentleman."

"At least pretend to hide away that embarrassing boner of yours and then talk lies."

I looked down, and there it was. Stupid stealth suit, so light, so thin, and obviously no stealth granted when it came to hiding some body parts being... healthy.

"That's Tolliver, the pistol you gave me."

"I don't remember making a handgun that small."

"Now you're just being mean."

"Why did you want to go outside again?" asked Benedikt, approaching the backseat of the four-wheeler with a blanket on his hand. He placed it on Elysia, who still had the rosy cheeks that seemed cute, even a little e.r.o.t.i.c, inviting—

"I asked what you had in mind, kid, other than some perverted thoughts, no doubt."

"It's called love, Benedikt."

"And you were drooling."

"No, I wasn't—"

Maybe I was. I gulped a large amount of saliva that might have overflowed slightly.

"I need to calibrate the scope on the sniper rifle," I said after clearing the throat needlessly.

"What do you mean you need to calibrate it. You made those shots," frowned Benedikt.

"You didn't see that I had taken off the scope?"

"So you made those shots... how?"

"I can zoom in on an object, falcon style."

"Like Velonis."

"So I've heard," I shrugged.

Benedikt thought for a moment and went over the messy shelf and turned with another familiar-looking firearm in hand.

"... That's a hunting rifle."

"So I've heard," scoffed Benedikt as he threw me the rifle. I caught it with two hands and realized one hand would have sufficed. It was extremely light.

"You would obviously need a scoped variant in case your Eye doesn't work or the scope provides a farther range. The one you're holding is also bolt-action, although it's considerably less c.u.mbersome, allows for faster reloads—"

"I can see that. I'm just wondering whether you have any shotgun I can use?"

"Shotgun. That's the one with metal balls spreading everywhere, right?"

"I'm not going to ask how you know this. I have an idea though."

"My knowledge is unlimited. It's the resources that's in limits. I'm aware of the concept of how such a weapon works. I just don't have the materials."

"Why not melt some bull-rats and turn them into shells?"

"And waste more Crystalites for melting? Do you actually think before you speak or have you always lived your life like this?"

"Hey, as a sign of something's working, I'm still alive, right?"

"By some miracle, I bet."

"I'm actually trying my best to stay alive, hence my request to go outside and test these babies," I flaunted Niper and the hunting rifle in my possession.

Hunter. Just like that, Niper got a little brother named Hunter.

Benedikt pressed the remote controller to open the trap door leading outside. The moon was directly above me.

"Where's the sword?" Benedikt called as I climbed the ladder.

"I don't have it with me. Maybe Elysia's sleeping on it?"

That worried me. Mataki's Blade had pretty sharp edges.

Benedikt searched the backseat and showed me that he had found the Orcish dagger-sword hidden just beneath Elysia's feet.

Benedikt had gone back to a table where he had left his beer.

"Ask him about his hometown," I said before exiting the trapdoor.

"What's that?" called Benedikt belatedly.

"His hometown. That was Mataki's wish. He wanted me to take him back to..."

I closed my mouth as I saw Benedikt's face hardening with regret. Mataki's Blade kept glowing, a sign that the soul was talking at the moment, and it was glowing sadly, resignedly.

"He says there's no need," said Benedikt at last.

"Does that mean—"

"He's been there. He knows," said Benedikt tacitly as he sipped the beer tastelessly.

There was nothing in Level Two, except a lonely Dwarf hero with his little gadgets and a million Goblin Crawlers.

And, of course, a Queen.

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The telescopic scope had more range than my Falcon Eye, but not by much. Considering that Falcon Eye consumed a lot of stamina, a scope would come in handy in tight, controlled situations.

Hunter the hunting rifle, on the other hand, was an excellent, versatile firearm. I could not ask for anything better. It was light, and it also had serviceable range and lethality packed into its narrow, slender frame. The whole elegant design and efficiency reminded me of Worra, and stroking its smooth frame felt satisfying in more than one way... but I was never going to share that with Elysia. Contrary to Beneditk's observation, I was capable of thinking ahead and keeping my mouth shut... once in a while.

I had fired all eighteen bull-rats I had with me, and it was only then I realized that Benedikt mentioned the shortage of bull-rats in the inventory.

Then again I figured eighteen fewer bull-rats against a million enemies would make only a little difference. What mattered more was that I mastered new weapons. A small price for a learning experience.

The night was still deep, and I was just growing tired to ask for sleep. I walked toward the trapdoor and looked toward the direction of the nearest Goblin nest from which we had escaped one last time.

Despite my bravado, that too was a chilling experience. I might have gotten a scare even though I tried hard not to show it.

I chuckled as I imagined the horde of Goblin Crawlers marching this way through the calm, windless desert night. I could even see the large wave of sand storm trailing the four-legged insect army.

And my smile dropped.

I was not imagining anything at all.

I did not even need to activate the Falcon Eye or look through the scope to realize that I was not hallucinating.

One, two... at least three hundred Goblin Crawlers were storming toward us.

The ominous rumbling came a moment later. Not from the ground, but from within.

I was the one shaking.