-----

Noah darted through the damp and dark caves, as goblins followed him around, raising their rusty weapons and roaring fiercely.

"Grryaarr!" action

"Grrurryaa!"

"Greee!"

One Goblin emerged from his left, raising its axe and trying to slash Noah's back, however, Noah evaded in time with a kick jump, as he used his crimson claws to slice off the Goblin's head in one swipe of his hand.

However, there was no time to relax, as two more emerged behind him, one with a sword and the other with a knife, pointing their rusty blades into his back, they sliced him cleanly!

Slash!

Noah felt a slight pain as he twisted his body in a split of a second, moving his crimson claws and slicing the two Goblins in half with a vertical swipe.

Slash! Slash!

"Grryarr…!"

The two Goblins exploded into black smoke, as only a core was left from the two.

"Because I got two cores from the first one, I really thought I would get at least one per Goblin, but their drop seems to be lower, I guess I was just being lucky in my first kill…" said Noah, since he entered the Dungeon that he has killed around 12 Goblins, but he only had five Cores, including this new one.

F-Rank Cores can only give 1 point of stat, so Noah needs a rather big quantity if he wants to hit the max number of stats and be considered an E-Rank Hunter.

"T-They're fast!" cried Iris at Noah's back, as she used her Black Nails to puncture the Goblin's chests and faces, injecting a deadly poison into their flesh, making them convulse and die in the ground.

However, Iris lacked a lot of tactfulness, and often found herself attacked by many Goblins, so Noah had to aid her a bit.

But now that a few hours had gone by, she was getting more and more used to move and fight.

Noah noticed that the wound on his back had already healed thanks to the Blood Progenitor's Ability which gave him automatic regeneration and walked near Iris.

Iris gently picked the single Core dropped by the Goblin, as she offered it to Noah.

"Noah-sama, here, for you!" she said, wiping her forehead from the cold sweat.

"What are you doing? You killed them, right? It is yours," said Noah.

"Eh? Really? Usually, the Hunters give all the rewards to the leader and then the leader distributes them…" said Iris.

"What a pain, just grab what you earned, I will do the same, so don't expect me to gift you anything, Iris," said Noah rather coldly, although Iris found on his cold words a very gentle nature.

"Okay then!" said Iris with a stupid smile, just a few hours ago she was someone that everyone stepped on, but she had gained all this power and opportunities from Noah, whose she feels great gratitude.

Now, she was even able to gather Cores and grow even stronger, something that she had only fantasized about.

Noah felt honestly the same, the exhilaration of finally having the strength and killing monsters to gather their Cores really did make him feel excited.

"Let's go," said Noah, as he ran through the caves looking for more prey, while Iris nodded and followed him silently.

As the two advanced through the caves, a few more Goblins came by, as the two worked together to take them down each time.

However, Noah felt like this exploration was rather lacking, as the Goblin's quantity was very small, he wanted to at least get a considerable boost on his stats in these hours, but it seemed rather impossible due to the slowness of the spawn of monsters.

"Maybe we should go check an E-Rank Dungeon next?" wondered Noah, as he and Iris came across a larger cave section to his left, which emanated an eerie presence.

"Hm? Noah-sama, that cave…" muttered Iris as her expression turned serious.

"Oh? Just when I was thinking of moving to another Dungeon… Could this be the actual nest of the Goblins? Perhaps they are simply sending small groups towards us while protecting the rest of the group in here…" said Noah.

"That might be it…!" said Iris.

"There is something odd about this cave, Noah, be careful!" said the Blood Progenitor.

"Oh? you're worried about me?" asked Noah.

"Ah?! Of course not. But if you die, I will most likely die too!" said the Blood Progenitor.

"Oh, I see…" said Noah with a smirk, as he walked slowly into this strange cave section alongside Iris.

This cave section was rather different than the others, as there were very few glowing lights in the ceiling or blue crystals to illuminate the area, making it almost completely pitch black.

However, Noah and Iris had the natural ability to see in the dark as Vampire and Dhampir and seemed to not be affected by something that most Hunters would.

"The presence… is increasing…" said Iris.

"Hm, keep your guard high-" muttered Noah, as he was interrupted by the roar of a Goblin!

"GRRRYARR!"

Flash!

A larger than usual Goblin emerged from the darkness, wearing simple leather armor, a shield, and a large blade, charging towards Noah as it used it bashed its shield against Noah's body!

Boom!

"Ngh…! You're fast…" said Noah with a smirk, as he felt the excitement engulf his body!

He raised his claws, grabbing the shield that the Goblin had used to push him away, and then with his crimson claws, he destroyed it!

CLASH!

"Gryar…?!"

The Goblin was left startled, as Noah charged forward, slashing the surprised monster's chest, slicing through its leather armor like a hot knife through butter!

Slash!

"Grraaarrr…!"

The Goblin resisted the damage, however, as blood flowed from its wound, making Noah's senses sharpen!

The Goblin gnashed his teeth, as it used its own strength to stop Noah's arms, and raised its blade, trying to slice his torso!

However, Noah smiled as he exerted more of his strength, completely shattering the Goblins' hand with his claws and then slice apart the arm that held the blade!

Slash!

"G-Graaahh…!"

"Blood Gathering!" said Noah, as he raised his hand and began to gather the blood of the Goblin while it was still alive and did not disappear yet, the Goblin fell into the ground while struggling, but Noah simply put his feet over its chest and pressed lightly, slowly crushing its ribs.

Blood Gathering was a special technique that came with the Blood Progenitor Skill, it let Noah manipulate the Blood around him, and gather it around his hands for him to drink.

Noah drank the blood straight away, although it was that of a disgusting Goblin, and it was worse than Iris' blood, it was good enough to appease his hunger and recover his Mind a bit, so he could use more of his Skills.

"Graarr…!"

The Goblin cried as Noah sliced its head off with a fell swipe of his claws.

Poof!

The Goblin disappeared, as two cores were left, which Noah quickly picked up and saved inside of his backpack.

Then he glanced at Iris, who was fighting against a larger Goblin and a smaller one.

The smaller one held a bow and was shooting arrows at her, which she was barely evading, while the larger one was also using a blade and a sword, bashing Iris, and then trying to slice her in half with its enormous blade!

Iris gnashed her teeth as she jumped towards the larger Goblin with her eyes gleaming with crimson light, as she was enveloped in a dark, blue-colored phantasmal aura, showing as fox ears atop her head, and a fox tail at her back, her claws were enveloped by this force, as her speed increased slightly, managing to slash the large Goblin's face, seeping her poison into its eyes!

"Grryaarrr…!"

Noah smiled as he felt slightly proud of Iris's progress, however, his face quickly changed as another squad of Goblins came near… one of them was holding a staff and conjuring something.

-----