West took Brielle's staff in his still trembling hands and walked away like he was told. Brielle had trusted him and now it was his turn to trust her. West wandered a little up the path, before taking a seat in the grass with his legs crossed. He could still see where Brielle stood, just in case a fight broke out and he needed to run over, but even then he wasn't quite sure how to tackle the situation. His mind was still racing with strategy, all of them involving lethal methods or situations where his own life would be at risk. The only way he could see to win the fight was to talk them out of it, but West didn't posses that skill. He trembled slightly, still panicking, as he watched Brielle. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he could see her confidence. West was worrid about her, but he had to trust in her capabilities.

And, all of a sudden, the three thugs began to move. West stood up, grabbing his sword and preparing to dash forwards and aid her in the fight. But, he paused when the three walked straight past her and back towards the town. He didn't know what she had said, but it had worked. She had diffused the situation without having to hurt anyone. Slowly, West put his sword back into its sheathe, letting out a sigh of relief. He had drawn the sword without thinking, if a fight had broken out he would have been going in blind and he almost certainly would have killed someone. The thought of what he was willing to do scared him, he felt sick to his very core. They were scared and stupid, he could see that, but he was willing to kill them to protect his and Brielle's lives, he had never considered such a thing before.

Kill or be killed. This world was dangerous, West had prepared himself for that but he hadn't begun to consider the danger of other people. He had prepared himself to keep himself ahead of the curve, so much so that other people wouldn't want to challenge him. But, people were stupid and in desperation they would attempt to fight him despite the imbalance in their levels. If they did, West would have to fight back and he didn't know what his mind would make him do. Fighting in a dungeon was one thing, he was just killing programs, they didn't breathe. West closed his eyes and breathed for a moment.
"Thanks Brielle." West mumbled, starting to realize how much he was going to need his partner in this world "I uh... Sorry I couldn't do anything."

Brielle watched them walk away for a minute before exhaling. Her heart was racing and she just realized that her hands were shaking. She hasn't noticed until they were gone but she had been terrified. After all what if they hadn't listened to her? What if they had decided to jump her right there. She all too easily could have just died. The thought made her head spin. She quickly shook her head, "Stop it!" She muttered to herself. "You're not dead. You're fine and you need to keep moving." As she walked back to West she thought about it and realized there would be plenty more stupid and desperate people that she would have to deal with in this game. People in this world were just as much of a threat as any of the creatures.

She put her smile back on her face as she stood before West. "It's all right. I understand. It's harder dealing with people than it is dealing with pixels," she assured him gently taking her staff from his hands, trying to make her own hands stop shaking. "I'm sorry that I got you dragged into that. I'll work harder on keeping a low profile." She took a few steps, "So let's carry on then. We need to get to work after all," she said cheerfully.

She was suddenly looking forward to this dungeon. She was looking forward to a straightforward battle where she could simply attack with no consequences. She wanted to demolish an array of creatures that would evaporate to nothing and meant nothing. Because thinking about the gravity of human life in this game made her feel sick.

West nodded but remained silent. He could see that Brielle was slightly shaken by the encounter and it only served to make him feel worse. He should have been able to figure something out, something that didn't endanger anyone, but his mind just simply wouldn't obey him. Right now, he only had two settings; off and total offense. West needed to figure something else out, otherwise he would be putting both his and Brielle's life in danger.

It didn't take too long from there to reach the entrance of the dungeon, a huge set of old looking wooden doors embedded in the side of a rocky outcrop. West's feet had carried him here faster than he had expected, probably given how shaken he was from the last fight. He was eager to do something that he knew he could succeed at. The dungeon was large, the doors would open to a stairway that would lead them to a series of catacombs filled with all manner of enemies and treasure. Of course, the biggest advantage to being the first ones here was that the armour and weapons within the dungeon were theirs for the taking. And, to make matters better, they had a map to all the things that they would need.

West flicked open his inventory, double checking that he had everything he was going to need. The dungeon was going to be long and hard, a strain on both of them, but West was prepared. His heart was thumping eagerly in his chest, every beat feeling like his heart was trying to pull him towards the door. He drew his sword and turned to Brielle, placing one hand on the door in preparation.
"You ready?" He grinned.

Brielle looked up at the massive door and felt a surge of excitement. This was how a game was supposed to make you feel. This was the feeling that kept her coming back again and again to her favorite games. The feeling of adventure. The feeling of boldly facing the unknown. The feeling of confidence knowing that with your skills you could destroy the enemies in your path and reach your goal. She hoped this feeling, this surge of adrenaline would carry her through this dungeon. She would give her all and she would help West through this.

She looked over her own inventory before gripping her staff with both hands. She exhaled slowly, her heart beating rapidly, and smiled at him, "Ready." Together they pushed open the door and peered into the darkness. They were meant with a set of large stone steps that led down into darkness. On the walls hung torches casting flickering light and dancing shadows. "No going back now," Brielle thought as they stepped inside and the door slowly closed behind them.

They began making the descent down the stone steps and Brielle noticed how quiet it was. Outside there was the chirp of birds and the breeze but in here: silence. It was eerie and a bit unsettling. "but then that's how a dungeon is supposed to feel," Brielle thought with a nod. After they walked a bit they encountered a few small bats. Vermin really. Only worth a few experience points. They were placed there more for ambience than an actual challenge. "What's the first room?" She asked west quietly.

West had scanned the journal on the walk here and had the beginning of their route mapped out in his head, including what to expect in each room.
"The dungeon features a lot of goblin enemies, pretty simple but they can be worrying in large numbers." He began to explain, carefully poking stairs in front of him with the tip of his sword, searching for traps "The first room probably won't offer too much danger, it'll be designed to teach us what to expect deeper within instead of attempting to kill us." He had encountered Goblin style enemies in other games and could expect certain things from these enemies, but it was still going to be a new experience and he was certainly on edge about it. The notebook gave a lot of detail about the creatures, their weakness to fire and how quick they were were mentioned in fantastic detail, but it still felt like certain things were missing.

After what was beginning to feel like an eternity, the stairway began to level out and suddenly West found himself in an archway, standing before a well lit room. Inside the moss covered walls he could make out a pair of small tents on either side, made simply from very crude leather and rope. In the center of the room was a large fire pit and on further inspection, West could make out a series of small holes in the wall.
"Here we are." West mumbled quietly to Brielle "Looks like... Four, maybe five goblins." He said, although he couldn't actually see any of the creatures, he had no doubt that they were inside the tents. He stopped and began to calculate, figuring out the best way to deal with the situation.
"It's a group fight, so we should try to make them panic, it'll weaken them greatly. Set fire to the tents, it'll send them scattering then we focus on taking them down one at a time."

Brielle nodded, "one at a time," she repeated in agreement. She glanced around and noticed the torches on the wall. "Maybe we can use these to burn the tents?" She suggested. She reached up and pulled one torch off the wall handing it to him. She then grabbed one for herself. "All right... Ready?" She asked glancing at him. When he was ready she walked with him through the arch. She decided to stay slow and quiet hoping not to alert the goblins.

As soon as she was close enough she threw her torch onto one of the tents. The tent burst into flames and two goblins came running out in a panic. They wore almost no armor and were only armed with small rusty swords. Brielle swung her staff knocking one of the goblins to the ground. Her staff lit up and a second later a bolt of energy shot out causing the fallen goblin to disappear. At this time the second goblin charged at her. She sidestepped striking the goblin in the back knocking him forward. She shot a bolt of energy but he rolled out of the way. He stood and swung at her but she blocked the attack with her staff before pushing him back. She then swung her staff flinging a bolt at him and disintegrating the creature.

As soon as Brielle disintegrated the first Goblin, a couple more emerged from the tent to the side. He held his sword up, dashing forward and stepping in front of Brielle, kicking through the ash of what was once a Goblin. The Goblin swung a tiny pickaxe towards West, but he was prepared. He spun around, flicking the tiny pick upwards with his sword and sending it sailing through the room. With a quick step to the side to dodge a desperate bite from the beast, he lunged forwards with his blade, piercing through the chest of the Goblin. It shattered into shards and West readied himself for the next attack, eyeing up his surroundings.

The remaining two Goblins were different, wearing makeshift armour of any scrap metal they may have found. West concentrated and suddenly he was aware of other movement within the room. His eyes darted over to the other side of the room and was suddenly aware of a small creature creeping around the edge of the room. It was another Goblin, dressed in rags and without any sign of a weapon. A series of similar looking creatures from other games flashed through his mind before it suddenly struck him.

He changed his stance, holding his sword upwards in a protective stance as he reached for a knife in his back pocket. The armoured Goblins stood their ground, watching West carefully as he concentrated on the Goblin creeping along the back. All of a sudden, he dived to the right, taking the knife and tossing it towards the creature. His suspicions were confirmed as one of the armoured Goblins intercepted quickly, letting the knife ping off his armour.
"Brielle, that Goblin is trying to escape, he'll attract more goblins if we let him get out." He spoke quickly, moving forwards and preparing himself to fight the armoured Goblins "I'll distract these two, if you get the shot take it!"

Brielle looked up and immediately spotted the un armored goblin. "Got it!" She said quickly. She knocked aside an attack from one of the other goblins before dashing across the room. The goblin in rags startled and began to move more quickly. Brielle ran after it and swung her staff in a wide arc. A bolt of energy erupted from the staff and caught the escaping goblin in mid motion. The bolt stunned him so Brielle could catch up. By the time the stun had warn off Brielle was on top of him and she struck him down with her staff.

She watched the creature disintegrate before immediately turning and rushing back to help West. She came up behind one of the goblins he was engaged with. She struck the goblin in the back to get its attention. The creature turned away from West facing her instead. It swung it's rusty pick axe at her. She quickly lift her staff, holding the pick axe away from hitting her.

With only one of the armoured goblins to deal with, West realized he had the time to experiment. When they fought the wasp and the boars, his mind had been on other things like their imminent survival, but now he was able to take the time and learn. He walked slowly around the goblin, gauging its reactions as he did. The creature attacked wildly, charging at West without a care time after time, despite the seemingly futile nature of its assaults. The attacks seemed to be unpredictable, totally erratic, but West knew better. This game was realistic, but it was still a game by it's very nature. No matter how close they got, the programmers couldn't create a sentient being, it was all just data flashing before his eyes. It took him six parries to notice a trace of the pattern and another three after that to figure out what he was doing.

West swung into action quickly, stepping to the left and in doing so dodging attack that hadn't even begun yet. He dragged his sword along the stone floor, creating a trail of sparks he smacked the goblin from behind with the flat of his blade. The Goblin was quick to react, spinning around and lunging at West with its dagger, but West was already ready for it. He raised his sword slightly, positioning it perfectly so the Goblin ended up diving straight into the tip of his blade, the dagger falling a couple of inches short of West's chest. There was a crack and the Goblin vanished into a cloud of particles. West smirked, satisfied with his mind as he checked the room for any more of the creatures.

Brielle caught the conclusion to their exchange in the corner of her vision. "Wow," she thought watched the goblin fall on his blade, the dagger falling to the ground. West really was quite an impressive player. She imagined that under normal circumstances he would be a formidable opponent. She was glad in this case that he had chosen to be her ally. She only hoped that she would not hold him back. She wanted to do everything she could to get stronger so that she could fight as his equal.

Slightly distracted by this train of thoughts the goblin pushed her back. He swung at her with his pick axe aiming for her ribs. She sidestepped and blasted it in the head with a bolt of energy. The creature fell to the ground and disintegrated to dust. She straightened up and turned to West. "Do you think we cleared this room?" She asked glancing around uncertainly.

West glanced around at the room, taking in every detail before relaxing his stance and letting his sword drop to his side.
"Yeah, that's the last of them." He nodded, loading up his stat screen. The Goblins had given a lot of experience, more than he had expected. That meant clearing this dungeon was certainly the correct move for them, they would quickly become the strongest players in the game. He put the screen away with a swipe and picked up whatever loot had been dropped by the creatures. There wasn't much, but combined with the quests they had picked up they would be able to live comfortably for a couple of days by his calculations. So far, everything was looking pretty good.

"According to the guide, the boss is down the central path, we just need to walk straight down and we'll wind up at his door." He opened up an image of the map he had copied from the book, letting it hang in the air so Brielle could see it too. "However, the notebook says there's a staff here." He pointed to a point on the map, down a long path to the right "It's special, there's only one in the game and probably the strongest you'll find on this floor of the game. If we grab it now, we'll have an advantage over the other players" He lowered the map, nodding to the door to his right and left "It's up to you, wanna go straight for the boss or wanna get some new gear?"