A heated battle

Jay would have loved to keep watching the aftermath of the bombs explosion as it had taken care of two more Goblins and wounded another one. Those ones looked a bit smaller though and wore different clothes that looked shabby and dirty like a workers ones.

He had to hurry down the ramp though, as two more Goblins came running up.

This time he wasn't going to take chances and disposed of them from some distance. (Arcane Missiles) was his spell of choice and Jay again got only critical hits in.

The reason he had used arcane magic was of course the high probability those creatures had bombs on them as well. Had Jay used fire- or lightning magic he might have destroyed the ramp through exploding bombs.

Passing the two headless corpses he learned he had been spot on. All together he looted 5 more of the small bombs and stored them inside his inventory.

While thinking about if they could explode inside it and what might happen should something like this occur, Jay had reached the end of the ramp.

There he got greeted by three smaller Goblin workers of whom one was severely wounded and came running while swinging his own severed arm. Jay killed it first and then fired the next volley of arcane missiles on the second creature.

By that time he had seen the workers had no bombs on them and eased up a little, even when the third one managed to come close in the short time it took Jay to get rid of the other Goblins. Jay went with his signature move again and kicked the short figure with all his might between the legs.

While it was still airborne he began to cast a (fireball) and shot it the moment the Goblin hit against the melting pot. To his surprise the damage it took from the fire spell was relatively low and it didn't even get incinerated.

After switching back to arcane missiles it took only one spell to dispose of it, so Jay decided to stay with this kind of magic. Guessing the workers or even all goblins there had some kind of resistance to fire, he followed the path around the furnace.

Two more goblins came running as they had surely heard the impact of the last goblin hitting the melting pot. Jay used arcane magic again and the moment when the second missile hit and the first Goblin died to it, a certain line appeared in the log he here and there kept watching.

Jay just had leveled up his (Arcane Missile) spell to Level 3 with this kill.

But as the second Goblin was still closing in the time for joy had to be kept short. A (Shadow Step) followed by a (Lightning Strike) made a hole appear in the center of the Goblins upper body where its heart used to be.

After checking the bodies of his last victims but finding no more bombs, Jay turned around and traveled on. A couple of steps later he stopped again though.

What he had spotted was a massive Goblin, making the bigger ones he already met pale in comparison.

Its proportions were the same as with the other goblins and it had the same green skin color, only a little bit darker. But the whole impression it gave off was still worlds apart, so Jay analyzed it without wait.

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Gilnid (Goblin-Smith LVL19 elite)

Base LVL21

*Hobgoblin*

HP 2040/2040 * Mana 613/613

[One-handed Mace LVL 3]

[Smithing LVL 3]

[Shooting LVL 2]

[Engineering LVL 1]

__________

It was the same race as Sira, but the appearance was nothing alike.

With its ugly facial features like the long nose, sharp chin and rugged teeth it looked simply like a double sized Goblin, while the female one Jay had seen had been more of a small woman with green skin.

Dismissing this thought, Jay concentrated back on Gilnid and the weapons he was holding. With the Hammer and a Handgun at the ready, there was no question if he had heard Jay and was waiting for him.

-Bang-

A shot coming from the Goblin and missing Jay by a small margin confirmed the Goblin had been awaiting him. He had noticed his opponents mana decrease by a good chunk from the single use of his weapon, so Jay got a little closer as he wanted to confirm something.

When the second shot arrived after the Goblin carefully took aim, Jay's suspicion got proven right. It had been no skill the green-skin had used but the weapon itself that took some of its mana. But that wasn't the only thing that confirmed Jay's guess that it was a magic gun as the projectile, or better spell it was loaded with, simply bounced off from Jay and beamed back to the Goblin.

It was something Jay had learned was really rare in this world, but something he had in his own inventory as well.

The magic guns he had had high level restriction though, so he only had the rifle available for use at that moment.

Gilnid barely managed to dodge the shot by ducking down and then hopped some steps backwards. Jay saw it reaching out to some kind of console to his side and made ready to dodge as he had learned what might happen from the last time he let a Goblin pull a lever.

Just as his opponent was about to pull it, Jay's (Shadow Step) was ready for use again though and so he did.

Appearing behind the Hobgoblin he slashed out and got another surprise.

His opponent had extremely good reflexes and used its hammer to block the attack. Without giving him any chance for a follow up attack, the green-skin hopped backwards and gained some distance.

Spotting a black spherical object at Gilnid's belt, Jay got an idea and began to cast.

The fireball that followed hit square but didn't bear the result Jay had hoped for. Neither did it deal much damage, something he had expected, nor did it light the fuse or even explode the bomb.

But the Goblin wasn't lucky either as the shot from his gun got repelled again and this time hit itself.

"Guyaaahh…" G.

A loud yell in a shrieking voice came from the green-skin after it got hit, and seemingly out of nowhere three more goblins came running. They got really close fast and Jay only spotted the door where they came from after a second. It was more of a hole next to the big door Gilnid had been guarding.

Jay unsheathed the dagger he always wore on his girdle at the back with his left hand and covered both weapons with lightning. A (Slash) with his right and a (Stab) with his left hand weapon decreased their numbers by two.

The last small Goblin that had come running died a moment later with the hilt of Jay's dagger peeking out of it's forehead. Those small level 15 creatures had no way to defend against his overpowered attacks.

Gilnid though was different.

It had attacked once again with the gun but after even the third shot got reflected it threw the gun to the side. Jay was just pulling the dagger out of the last Goblin as the big one came running, ready to attack in melee as shooting was no longer an option.

By then Jay's (Shadow Step) had finished its cool-down so he used it without wait. He still had his weapons swapped from pulling the dagger out when he appeared behind the Hobgoblin.

It really had sharp senses and keen reflexes as Jay had to parry a swig of its hammer.

But exactly that was Gilnid's downfall.

The moment Jay successfully parried, (Riposte) lighted up and he countered with the dagger in his right hand using a (Stab). For the next seconds the green-skin looked slightly dazed and Jay used this moment to get in more attacks.

With each of the strikes being critical and dealing enormous damage, his opponent fell seconds later.

Jay was reluctant to check it for anything of worth, as it was still bleeding profoundly after the defeat, so he only snatched the big bomb.

Inspecting it, he learned that it was not a mere bomb that had to be lighted but a grenade with a built in fuse, what explained why it didn't go off.

Storing it away he went over to where the dropped gun had landed. It was just like he had guessed, a magic gun.

__________

Strange Gun (rare)

Mana- Handgun

Requires Level 19

Damage 18-26 Speed 2,0

Weight 3

[Dexterity +1]

__________

The gun had lower level requirements than the one in his inventory, so he would surely put it to use.

Stuffing it into his belt for quick access, Jay turned around and went to check out the room.

Under the giant melting pot he saw molds for casting metal and looking to the side he understood the shape. A small pile of gold bars lay to the side what he instantly looted into his inventory. Contrary to his expectation the melting pot held copper though.

Jay had found the splashes that had sprinkled all over when the goblin fell inside the pot and analyzed them.

Other than that he found some copper and iron bars he could loot but nothing else of interest.

Like this he went back to where he came from and checked on the big door Gilnid had been guarding. There was no lock or keyhole, not even a handle or anything else that might open the door.

Jay decided to sit down and rest for a while to clear his head, then start searching for a way to open the door. The immense heat in the room and battling one way or the other over the whole day had finally taken a toll on Jay. He was sweating a bit and the nutrients he got from the sparse meal he had eaten were used up since a while.

After snacking on an apple and learning it didn't help resting in the heat of that room, Jay rose up and looked around in the vicinity of the door. Thinking it might have been more intelligent to leave one of those ugly bastards alive, he then noticed he probably wouldn't have been able to communicate with them anyways.

But thinking about the green-skins remembered him of something. They seemed to control everything in that cave with some of the levers, buttons and switches at those consoles.

Walking over to the closes one, Jay began to use the first lever.

Jumping to the side as hot steam blew up from a sewer he was standing on, Jay even thought about using the grenade he looted on the door.

He had already tried a number of combinations and still no luck opening the door.

Some of the levers released boiling hot vapor from the pipes, other vented the drainages and some seemingly did nothing. He got similar results from the switches but it only got dangerous when he hit the buttons.

One had, for whatever reason, flames shoot out of the ground at certain places. Though Jay was safe at the console, he completely charred Gilnid's corpse with that one.

But the most troublesome button was the one where after pushing it, the melting pot tilted to one side.

Jay had hurriedly pushed it again and as nothing happened he pulled levers without plan until it stopped and returned to the original position. Some of the molten metal had by then flown out and smoldered the cast and even some of the dead goblins below it. Glad he had first looted the precious metals placed there, Jay then sighed and carefully tried some other combinations.

A few minutes later mechanical noises coming from behind the wall rewarded his patience and the door slowly slid to the side.

Numerous eyes looked at Jay as he walked through the door.

He got completely surprised by the over ten miners in close proximity that stared at him, and even more so when they all turned to him and rushed in while swinging their pick-axes.

At least this time his opponents held onto something like a weapon and didn't drop it.

Not even holding a weapon himself at that moment, Jay rubbed his hands and smiled. The way down around the forge had reminded him of how much fun it was to cast and use only magic, what he had nearly forgotten thanks to his more physical oriented combined fighting style over the last days.

Using an (Arcane Blast) first, Jay got surprised by it's effectiveness in this situation. While the miners ahead and to his left got hurled backwards and onto the tunnels walls, the ones coming frm the right front flew back down the wide adjoining passage.

The true effectiveness though was the result of their tools getting pushed back as well.

Like shrapnels the pick-axes and shovels flew through the air and wounded the men even more.

Some of the few that came out better hurried down the slope slightly to the right and yelled out, alarming even more men. During the time it took for more living XP to arrive, Jay collected the rest. For that he activated another area spell he hadn't really used up to this point.

The moment (Blazing Flames) spread through the small tunnel section behind the door to the furnace, most of the few miners left died and those who didn't, got set aflame.

With a small (Scorch) Jay dealt the final blow to them just when the next batch arrived.

Just like before Jay waited until they got close enough to swing their weapons and repeated the same spell sequence. Those miners that had tried to flank him again ended on the walls, some of them even pinned to there by their own pick-axes.

While again some tried to flee or fetch reinforcements, this time not all of them had been fast enough and got incinerated by the second spell.

Watching the living torches illuminate the pretty dim passage, Jay learned the slope took a turn to the left a good bit further down.

After taking care of the sparse survivors he followed the fled miners down the tunnel.

There was no use in searching the miners for anything of worth.

Other than some coins there wasn't anything that could have endured the flame spells and Jay was anything but short on those.

He only checked the two still smoldering corpses on his way down the slope to check if they really had died.

Walking around the not too wide turn, Jay got welcomed by yet another group of miners that tried to attack. While wondering why there were so many in this passage, he repeated the sequence once again. Only this time, there was no survivors as he used the spells in very fast succession.

Leaving the dead men there, Jay walked down the slope and at its foot, he found the next door after a right turn. There he understood why there had been so many workers.

In the last part of the tunnel the ceiling and walls had yet to be reinforced and on the left side he had found two smaller and short tunnels that looked new.

Turning back to the steel plated door after checking the tunnels, Jay found out it was unlocked as he pulled the handle.