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We eventually staggered our way back to the surface. We ran into a few group of goblins on the way, but they weren’t a problem. What was a dozen goblins compared to over a hundred?
Though we’d had a rather difficult time, that wasn’t the typical experience. Usually we would go into the dungeon and fight a similar number of goblins spread out over many more battles and groups. We fought bosses, but never two at once.
However, even with all the difficulty… we had managed. That meant we were ready to move on from hunting goblins. No, actually… we needed to. Even with all of the goblins we killed and ones from previous days, we hadn’t leveled up. To level up, we would have to kill somewhere around 2-3000 more goblins. That could take a month… which wasn’t terrible, but it would only get worse and worse. The highest level goblins were around level eight, and with us being level ten we would have to kill about 50% more of them compared to goblins of our level.
The group gathered together after we recuperated from our latest adventure to discuss. Alhorn started us off, “As I’m sure you’re all aware, continuing to hunt goblins isn’t the best option for us. Though there is some danger, we need to move onto something stronger. While we can continue to hunt goblins and make a profit, we will likely not come upon much improvement in equipment, unless we get lucky with drops. Kantrilla, how likely is that, as the resident Luck expert?”
“Umm…” Kantrilla pursed her lips as she thought, “While we will probably continue to get good stuff, counting on that to continue to improve our equipment almost certainly won’t work. Any time you rely on Luck for something it’s likely to give out.”
Kasner nodded, clutching his staff, “Even though this staff isn’t lightning specialized, all of us already have at least one good piece of equipment-”
“Not all of us,” Halette mentioned.
Kasner raised a very puffy and wild eyebrow, “What do you mean? We had enough money to buy you that bow. That’s something for everyone.”
“Socks didn’t get anything.” Halette crossed her arms and frowned, and Socks barked at the mention of her name.
Kasner sighed, “Alright, five of us have a suitable piece of magic equipment. That’s better than standard for C-rank adventurers. We need to choose what to do next, in either case. We can attempt the next nearby labyrinth- but the minotaurs it contains are a little bit out of our level range. We could probably deal with them but… I’m tired of small hallways and dim lighting. I suggest we check to see if there are any good quests or hunting outside we can do.”
Halette nodded, “Being outside would be… nice. Though we’d have to worry more about different monsters than expected, at least there probably won’t be traps. Minotaurs are between D and E rank too, so it would be nice to level up a bit more before trying to fight them.”
“Um… I’m okay with that.” Kantrilla nodded.
“I’m fine with it too,” I replied. I would have a chance to use some different weapons more outside.
Alhorn stroked his chin, “It is harder to protect those in the backline outside, but I am not opposed to the idea in general. If we do it right, we can defeat our enemies before closeness becomes an issue. We are quite capable of handling enemies at range… and I myself can bring a bow if we do so.”
“You can use a bow?” I asked.
“Of course. I am a half-elf after all.” Alhorn frowned slightly at that, as if there were some bad memories.
I didn’t think it would be a good idea to say more at the moment. Him being able to use a bow wasn’t completely strange, but he hadn’t yet. I supposed in the dungeon, switching between a bow and sword and shield was a bit too slow. Even I rarely used my bow there, and I had less I needed to swap out.
—–
“Hmm… there’s not really anything good.” Halette shook her head as she looked at the job board.
I nodded in agreement, “Everythings too far… too high level… too low level… or just not right for us.” There were some jobs like gathering specific kinds of herbs, but since we didn’t have anyone who specialized in that area we would be less efficient. If it was a safe area, we wouldn’t need to do it as a party either. Sometimes there were requests to escort herbalists to specific places, but there were none that fit our party.
At that point one of the guild workers came up, “Looking for good quests?” He looked us over and thought for a moment, “You’re… C-rank right? You guys usually hunt goblins in the dungeon.” It wasn’t a question. After all, we came to the guild to sell the various bits of armor and weapons goblins dropped, as well as the magic stones. “You might try hunting hydras. It’s hunting season and they could be about the right level.” He pointed to the extermination board, which listed the bounties on various monsters and their usable parts if they had any. It also contained continual hunting quests.
All of us crowded around the board to look at information on Hydras. They were C-D rank, and usually solitary. They inhabited a swamp a few days to the northwest. The prices seemed pretty good, though the only thing of real value was their scales. Their heart was to be brought in as proof of extermination.
“Oooh, I like this one!” Halette said.
“Really?” I wondered why that was. “I mean, it says these are smaller hydras, but their scales will still be pretty hard. Not the easiest thing to kill with arrows.”
“But~” Halette pointed to another piece of information, “Some parts of them are good for eating! At least… for Socks.”
Kasner rolled his eyes, “Of course. Regardless, my magic specialties won’t be at any particular advantage against them, nor will they be at a disadvantage.”
Alhorn shrugged, “We could try it. Let’s finish checking everything before we decide.”