A dark craggy tunnel was what laid in wait for us as we passed through the only exit we could pass through except for the hole in the wall. We were currently in a tight formation as this was a bad area to be in for goblins. Amanda held her nose as she complained: “It stinks….”

“It’s also very humid….” Leo cried out.

“How do you think Sophie and I feel? We have much keener senses than you guys.” I complained as I wrinkled my nose. The stench was really too much. Even poor Sophie’s eyes were watering up due to the stink.

“But Boss, you don’t look like you are affected at all.” Steven said as he walked up to my side. For someone who comes across as a kid who would be a smart-aleck and cause trouble, he has been very reliable and very nice. While I should still keep my guard up, I do not mind dropping it for those who are willing to dive headlong into the abyss, even though it could mean we will all die. Plus, he was quite handsome as well. So a bit of eye candy is not bad once and a while. While I am surrounded by beautiful girls, I have no guys at my side, so this was not actually all that bad.-.

“I have no choice but to keep pushing forward. From what I know, the way down to the bottom floor where the boss is will take a long time. And we will always need to be on guard. I don’t have time to really complain much. I want everyone here to leave this place alive and untainted.” I explained. But I guess my words hit everyone hard because they all went quiet. But that was only a thought that lasted a second.

“Boss! You care so much about us!” Steven cried out and hugged me, causing me to stop moving and push the idiot off. But I couldn’t help but smile. I mean to have so many people who were willing to be friends with me, I really feel blessed.

“Stop being clingy! It’s hot!” I said as I pushed him away. But as I did, I heard something not too far away.

“Ah, no fun….” I placed my finger on Steven’s mouth, stopping him from talking.

“Shhh!” I said as I scanned the area. I then turned to everyone and whispered: “Get ready for combat.”

Everyone quickly got serious. Even Adel reigned in her anger that was about to explode when Steven hugged me. I could tell because she had that look in her eye. “Grace lighting.”

“On it!” Grace replied as she waved her hand and quickly wrote six magic circles: “Lighting!”Six balls of light spread out in all directions lighting up the area we were in. I had been trying to use my detection magic this entire time, but I could not seem to detect any of the monsters in this dungeon no matter how hard I tried. I had to rely on my own natural instincts. While it was less efficient, I could still smell the goblins coming toward us and knew the direction they were coming in.

“Caster’s get ready! Incoming from our front. And the left side!” I yelled out.

“Boss, there’s only rock on the left side!” Bard yelled back.

“Look at the dark areas on the left! They should be some kind of side passages. Keep your eyes peeled! Begin forming a half moon circle and move towards the right side wall! Melee in the front, Casters behind!” I yelled back. My plan was simply to make sure everyone had the most amount of coverage and to consolidate our area, and keep our blind spots minimal. By moving towards the side back wall where there were no hiding spots, we could easily keep our backs from being attacked.

With a barrier blocking all those outside of it, we could easily attack at will without taking any damage. While I could do the same if we all stood together, I did not dare to do it in a dungeon with such monsters that I couldn’t even see their levels. While only the boss monster was the only one I had come across so far, I did not want to risk any sudden surprises.

“Steven, Blake, up front!” I yelled out. Steven and Blake quickly took their positions with swords in hand. As soon as we were in position, I put up a barrier around us. Not more than a few seconds later, a bunch of short green men came out of the darkness beyond the lighting spell that Grace cast. Some wore tattered rags around their waists, while others had nothing at all.

In total, there were about twenty of them, which made me frown. Goblins always hunted in some kind of pack in novels as well but never this many at a time. I guess I should not complain because my novel loving self from my past life had knowledge that was very useful in situations like this.

“Get ready! Opening a hole to let some in! Take this time to practice! Melee, kill the goblins on the inside! Ranged aim for the goblins on the outside of the barrier!” This was something else that I decided on, that we would take time to practice against the weaker monsters as much as we could to gain the experience needed for fighting goblins or any kind of monster. Everyone here besides a few has no real combat experience. This was the perfect time for that.

“Boss, leave it to us!” Steven yelled out with a big smile on his face. I do not know why but he was very excited about fighting these things.

“Grahhh! Grahh!” One of the goblins banged on the barrier. I sneered and opened the barrier up just as it was about to use its shoulder to bash into it, making it stumble and fall over on its face. But it was quickly followed by five other goblins.

I gripped my sword and yelled out: “Attack!”