Muddy diversion (1)

To think that getting pissed off enough would be the key to leveling up my instructing skill to level two. I feel like my words left a lasting impression on the skull goblins. Maybe they will act more decent in the next encounter.

That is of course once we actually encounter something. We've been here a while now and have only encountered this one elf.

I can't just speed up here. The footing here is unstable and I don't want to get stuck. Additionally, enemies could be all over the place. They had control over this floor before so they must know the area better than us.

In a swamp, why?

I'm in a dungeon. Where are going with this, Navi?

Oh. I'm an idiot am I not? I completely forgot about the dungeon map!

I quickly open the dungeon map and a holographic map design appears before me. There are countless red dots and just as many green ones. The red ones can be divided into two types. There are individual dots that move around in a pattern and always keep a certain distance from each other, probably scouts, and groups of dots that are probably handling direct combat.

On the right side of the map deep in the territory of the red dots, there is a large green dot. That must be the manticore entrusted with handling the diversion on that side. It is doing a masterful job since a dozen scouts and multiple combat groups are engaging it.

Our side of the map doesn't look so good. The scout's death must have been noticed since three scouts are approaching from different directions. The combat groups aren't approaching us but instead the third group of green dots I can see.

The third group must be the cyclops along with the Amazons and Spartans protecting it. They are getting far more attention than they should and it's because our group is lagging behind. No wonder Navi told me to hurry.

"Guy, do you hear that sound?"

Jade seems concerned. Her head is flicking from side to side as if she is trying to see something.

"I can't hear anything out of the ordinary. Can you describe the sound?"

"It's something high-pitched, barely audible. It sounds like a... it sounds like a whistle."

A whistle? I strain my ears and indeed, I can make out a high-pitched tone within the surrounding sounds. But isn't that just the wind?

"Hmm, wind."

"Guy! I'm not so crazy that I would pick up wind as something strange."

Realization runs through my mind as I stumble over to the dead elf's body and rummage around.

"Everything alright with you? Is looting corpses a goblin thing?"

I ignore Jade and swiftly find what I'm looking for. I strike a victory pose with my discovery in hand. A small wooden instrument that must be either a flute or a whistle was tucked into the elf ladies' back pocket.

"What you are hearing must be how the elves communicate. Since there is a fair amount of distance between the individual scouts they need something to exchange info."

"How do you know that the scouts are moving solo?"

"Dungeon map."

I hold back a laugh as Jade slaps herself on the head with her tail. She must have forgotten about that incredibly useful skill just like me. We were both so accustomed to being the intruders that we still acted like it sometimes.

But we are monsters now and we have a mission. I begin to briskly walk into the direction of the leftmost scout and take a deep breath.

I blow into the wooden instrument with all my might and release an ear-shattering screech. No one would guess that this sound and the one we heard before presumably come from the same instrument.

The skull goblins get excited and start to clamor. In a moment of mad genius, I throw the wooden whistle to an eager-looking skull goblin and he immediately begins to produce more screeching. If we are lucky this will thwart the elves' attempts to communicate.

"That sound is even more horrible than the high-pitched one from before. However, it seems to be working."

"How so?"

"They are all coming towards us."

I quickly pull up the dungeon map again and see at least thirty scouts heading our way. Four of these scouts seem to be leading combat groups towards our location. Safe to say we got the attention we wanted.

The scout we are heading towards is very close now. I close my map and look around. Before I can spot the scout the skull goblin holding the whistle is hit by an arrow. Following the trajectory, I find another female elven scout perched on a branch with her bow drawn once more. Her face is warped with fury and she releases her second arrow.

The skull goblins are running wildly at the tree the elf is perched upon and her shot only hits one into the shoulder. The moment her hand goes to her quiver to draw another arrow I through a miniature javelin at her.

Since I hadn't been blowing the whistle anymore she had overlooked me in the horde of skull goblins. She isn't as adept at dodging projectiles as the first elf so she jumps backward and lands on the ground.

The skull goblins attack and seem to have learned from last time. They don't immediately charge at her but surround her first and then charge.

The elf looks troubled. She drops her bow and draws a short sword from the sheath on her waist. With just one weapon it is near impossible for her to defend against enemies from all sides.

I trust the skull goblins to handle her. Since they now have prey that holds their attention, the whistle has been left unattended and I go pick it up from the ground. I hide it in my leather armor as to not get shot and open the dungeon map again.