Gamers of the Underworld

On a gray mud stump, a Houndhead Man looked around warily as his nose sniffed about. In the Labyrinth-like Spiders’ Lair, the smell of Goblins pervaded the air, and the Houndhead Man felt uneasy.

Ten days prior, a group of Goblins appeared in the normally peaceful Spiders’ Lair. Initially, these Goblins were food for the Spiders, and they came in mad hordes.

The Houndhead Men Tribe benefited from the extra food source, though not for long. The predator and prey switched roles within a few days. The Spiders faced extinction as their numbers dwindled, and the Goblins ventured deeper into the Spiders’ Lair and disrupted the Houndhead Men’s lives.

The most important thing was that the Houndhead Men didn’t have enough food!

The young Houndhead Man didn’t know anything after that. He only knew that the leader left, the Elder left, and the strong warriors left and that they never came back.

He had to hunt for food, and his prey was the Goblins!

And he didn’t ponder the important question of why the leader, Elder, and the warriors didn’t come back because his low intelligence couldn’t cope with such a complex question.

Then he discovered a lone Goblin, who could be eaten once the head was removed!

The young Houndhead Man edged closer to the lone Goblin, whose head was showing strange green words. The Goblin was wearing a Breastplate and Plate Leggings. However, it was alright since his back skull was unprotected. All the Houndhead Man needed to do was to club the Goblin, and he would pass out.

The young Houndhead Man was confident, and his charging speed accelerated. Suddenly, he felt something trip his leg, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

He felt dizzy and nauseous. He was unable to stand up, and he heard the Goblins talking.

“Gosh, the traps are effective!”

“666, the degree of freedom is too high. I’m going to brag about it on the forum.”

The Houndhead Man screamed and wanted to stand up, but he felt he was being tossed over. His neck felt cold, and he was unable to make any sounds. He saw three Goblins staring at him before his vision became blurred…

Arthur ended the Houndhead Man’s life with a precision cut. NotWearingPants and Sylvanas checked that the HoundHead Man was no longer breathing before searching around.

“There’s nothing valuable. It’s too pathetic. At least have some bronze coins…” NotWearingPants sighed with disappointment.

“We’re better off fighting Spiders. At least the materials can be exchanged for coins and Reputation Points or used for equipment improvement.”

Sylvanas was disappointed and said, “We laid an ambush here for an hour, and there’s only a Houndhead Man. If we don’t venture deeper into the Spiders’ Lair, there won’t be any Spiders.”

“Never. If we venture deeper, we might get lost. It wasn’t easy to improve my equipment to Level 4. If we all perish, I’ll lose my equipment. No way. We’ll form a larger expedition for safety and find the Spider Queen as soon as possible. Once we defeat this BOSS, I bet there will be a new plot and mission.”

NotWearingPants folded his arms and said, “Let’s go back. I’m going to post on the forum and then go offline.”

Sylvanas and Arthur agreed, and the three of them walked in the direction of the Dungeon.

The gamers had already left road signs and location marks in the lair. They even cleared a large space for use as a stronghold.

The term stronghold was the gamers’ term, and the place was meant for gamers who were in danger or needed to go offline to obtain sanctuary. Those who were lucky might encounter other resting gamers who could help out.

“Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom” was a Virtual Reality Online Game with a high degree of freedom. When the Goblins were outside the Dungeon, there were no safety zones.

The concept of the stronghold was randomly proposed by a Beta Gamer and promoted on the discussion forum. It was well-received by other gamers. As there were only a hundred gamers, it was easy to get a consensus.

NotWearingPants, Arthur, and Sylvanas didn’t bother with the corpse of the Houndhead Man since Sherlie didn’t require any Houndhead Men as materials. The three gamers decided to return to the Dungeon.

As they were about to leave, there was movement coming from behind. The dead Houndhead Man stood up trembling!

His eyes were shimmering with green rays of light.

“What’s that?” NotWearingPants was confused.

“I don’t know, I’m a bit scared…” Sylvanas squirmed her body and shifted closer to Arthur.

“Gosh, don’t pretend to be a dainty girl. You’re a rich gamer, learn the aloofness of Arthur.”

NotWearingPants looked teasingly at Sylvanas, who was indignant as she replied, “Since when am I pretending? I’m a dainty girl born after 2000. You don’t believe me?”

“The heck I do!”

“If you say one more word, I’ll kill you. Don’t smear my virtuous image in front of Brother Arthur.”

“Gosh, I almost vomited my meal from last night. If I were you, Arthur, I’d chop off her head.”

While NotWearingPants and Sylvanas were bickering by Arthur’s sides, the Houndhead Man charged forward.

“That fast!”

NotWearingPants saw the charging Houndhead Man, who had greater speed than before. He instinctively raised his shield and Short Sword. His experience told him that things weren’t so simple. This Houndhead Man was different from the other monsters!

While NotWearingPants was getting ready, Arthur had charged forward while swinging the Cramer’s Short Sword. He penetrated the Houndhead Man’s body with his sword, but the Houndhead Man raised his club as though he was intact. Then the Houndhead Man smashed the club down on Arthur’s head.

“Arthur—!”

As Arthur collapsed to the ground, Sylvanas shouted out like in the young idol love dramas. However, her Goblin voice sounded like pigs being sent to the slaughterhouse.

Sylvanas readied her Short Bow with an arrow in one smooth motion.

“Shoo!” An arrow flew towards the Houndhead Man and struck Arthur’s face.

Arthur’s Short Sword, Breastplate, and Plate Leggings vanished after flashing with brilliant rays, leaving Arthur in shorts. An arrow was stuck in his face as he fell face up at the Houndhead Man’s legs. He was motionless.

It was obvious that he had perished.

“D*mn, it’s so hilarious, you’re killing me. Hahahaha!” NotWearingPants fell to the ground rolling as he guffawed.

Sylvanas gave NotWearingPants a vicious kick. She put away her bow and readied her Short Sword as she charged towards the Houndhead Man.

NotWearingPants laughed for a while before he charged.

Both of them attacked the Houndhead Man in a pincer formation. Though the speed of the Houndhead Man had become faster, the gamers were prepared, and the Houndhead Man collapsed to the ground once again.

The skeletons left by the Spiders started to stand up. Their eyes were filled with a green light.

“What’s that? New monsters?”

“There are too many of them. Let’s run!”

NotWearingPants and Sylvanas dragged Arthur as they fled. NotWearingPants took two steps before returning to drag the HoundHead Man’s corpse.

“It’s so funny. Arthur was killed by you, a guy pretending to be a girl.”

“I’ll shoot you the next time! It was unintentional!”

“Do you believe that he’ll give you a good scolding? Hahahaha!”

“Brother Arthur won’t scold me!”

The teasing and bickering of the two gamers faded into the distance.

Professor Bacon, who was at the corner conjuring the Specter Warriors and observing the gamers, looked seriously at Sherlock and asked, “Lord Sherlock, did you… give the Goblins drugs?”

“No, no, no. Why would I give them Combat Stimulants? They went through basic combat skills training. With proper training, the Goblins can be good fighters,” Sherlock said while shaking his head.

“I don’t mean that. I’m saying…” Professor Bacon organized his thoughts and said, “They saw the Specter Warriors, but they were fearless and even killed one of their companions. They dragged the corpses as though it was normal. They even chatted and joked while running away. Were they high from the drugs?”