An Unexpected Ambush and the Iron Frog's Fury
The wooden palisade, crumbling like tofu in the dead of night—not quite Chapter 17—turned into an unexpectedly effective ambush, against Dorne's intentions. Seeing the goblins still dazed and disoriented, Dorne didn't wait for the fireball. He charged straight in himself.
That one's a warrior, that one's an archer, and this one's the shaman…!
Even inside the village, the goblin with two escort warriors pointed his staff at Dorne, whose eyes burned red. Leading with his shield, Dorne ignored the shaman and every goblin between them, barreling forward.
-Kwachak-
-Thud-
A goblin warrior with a fairly quick head targeted not Dorne's shielded upper body but thrust his spear shaft between Dorne's legs. Dorne's legs snapped shut like scissors, snapping the shaft like a dry twig, but he couldn't stop his balance from giving way, driving his knee into the ground.
Dorne felt no shame or embarrassment. Seizing the moment, he slid across the earth like a wrestler dropping into a low tackle.
The round iron shield nearly concealed him entirely.
-Whoosh-
By the time the barely completed fireball fizzled out without transferring to Dorne's iron shield, he had reached the shaman and his two escorts. He swung the heated shield to bat aside the left guard, then front-kicked the right one flying. Finally, the remaining shaman reeled from Dorne's sidearm hammer blow, like a pitch from a baseball mound.
As the goblin village chieftain, I wanted to fight like a general commanding an army… At least talk to that iron lump of a warrior, make him stop… the shaman thought.
-Kwajik-
Dorne's hammer strikes had something special about them. Ordinary swings relied on the hammerhead for impact—that way, you could swing more, longer. Plus, the heavy head was far from the leverage point of human strength, putting extra strain on the body: the ligaments and muscles gripping the handle.
But Dorne was a warrior whose every tissue was reinforced by 【Iron Man】. So he used his gripping hand as another joint, whipping his extended arm like a flail. The blow had enough power to shred a normal person's wrist, forearm, elbow ligaments, triceps, and shoulder muscles. It unleashed force beyond common sense.
Less like a laborer's hammer and more like a crane or trebuchet—that was Dorne's swing. Exhibit A: the goblin shaman who took it to the shoulder.
Anticipating the shaman might dodge, Dorne swung a bit low, since the unstoppable trajectory couldn't be altered mid-swing. The struck shoulder shattered into pieces. Both collarbones snapped like twigs, and the swept-up spine folded like paper from the force. The shaman's head, spewing blood from seven holes, dangled limply at his side.
-Hah, hah, sss-Hoo-
Confirming no killing blow was needed on the shaman, Dorne turned. Time was short. His comrades were exhausted too. Finish off the goblin archers and regroup—that was his sole focus.
Turning, he saw goblins hastily forming ranks—but not toward Lilia, Raon, and Eresa. Toward him.
Situation's looking good? I'll catch my breath and hold position.
Dorne ignored the charging goblins, simply backing against the wall to avoid encirclement.
-Keruk, kek!
-Kegak?
-Kekekeg!
The goblins reaching him and swinging claws and weapons soon ate shield bashes from two warriors and a scout to their backsides.
"Hyungnim! You okay?"
Raon asked with a grin, suppressing his ragged breaths.
"Hoo… Nothing much…."
-Whine—!
-Awoo-
-Awooooo-
Then came wolf howls from the passage Dorne's party had traversed. Far off, at the front of a goblin mob, a goblin wolf rider brutally reined in an agitated wolf. The beast seemed enraged by the shaman's death.
What's the deal between wolves and shamans? Rider's the boss, shaman's the mentor? An explorer like me can't know such truths. He just memorized the facts.
"So they were following after all…."
During the self-imposed forced march of nonstop 24-hour movement, no threats had shown a whisker. Now the veil lifted. A massive threat, but better faced head-on.
The goblin mob dragged in by the rider charged the weary Dorne party. Perhaps aiming to finish them while pinned by the village, their numbers exceeded any seen before—over 30 strong.
But these monsters couldn't kill Dorne's party.
The rider's reinforcements, lit by torches in the village depths, were all cleared out. No exit portal in the clearing.
(The labyrinth's cruel trials.)
Even so, Dorne's party, unwilling to leave empty-handed, grabbed only the goblin shaman's staff and prepared to move.
The fierce village battle, the reinforcements crashing in on their exhausted state, the moment the once-phantasmal threat became real… Once those tension-builders faded from sight, the party's mind and body were like ingredients frozen and thawed repeatedly—utterly wrecked.
Checking their bags and lantern spot for recovery only worsened the fatigue. Lantern shattered, bags slashed to ribbons. Rage boiled at the intelligent, vicious goblin wolf rider's work—smarter than average goblins.
"This bastard's no joke. Let's pack up and move."
Dorne even felt fear toward a goblin pathetically weak compared to him. The party bundled the four ruined bags into two carryable ones. Essentials: water, preserved food, intact potions. No sleeping anyway—ditch the blankets. Lantern gone too, unwillingly. Sandglass kept—that had value.
They split rations and water between belts and bags.
-Gulp, gulp
"Don't drink too much, Eresa. Tough to run."
"Hic! Got it…."
They say the world's heaviest weight is eyelids. Raon and Lilia dozed against the wall.
-Clap, clap!
"Alright, let's move. I'll carry one bag. Lilia and Raon, alternate the other."
Worse off than when they found the village, Dorne's party set out—sans lantern, now using village torches. Hurrying, Dorne pondered briefly.
From my experience, the labyrinth grants abilities not by monster kill count, but degree of trials overcome… If we conquer this without fleeing, what reward awaits?
Two reasons Dorne could endure back-to-back bloody fights, over a full day active without rest: First, the stamina surge completing 【Iron Man】. Second, 【Iron Bone】's enhanced blood function.
"Eresa, sit on the bag a sec."
"Hek, hek, huh? On the bag?"
"Later…."
At near-sprint pace, he hoisted Eresa onto the backpack and chatted.
After that, only skirmishes. The goblin wolf rider showed his face a few times, but nothing special. He knew Dorne's party neared the Layer 3 descent portal, yet didn't block them—no frustration, no scheming glare. Just blank.
Time passed.
-Keruk!
-Kerur!
-Come here!
-How…
One corner from the Layer 3 portal. Beyond, a massive battle raged. The sneaky-faced goblin wolf rider seemed to smirk.
Pity for the other party swept up en route to Layer 3, but boon for Dorne's—now they could team up to break the rider's scheme. Dorne quickened his pace.
-Keruruk!
-Clang-
-Thud
-Argh!
"We're joining!"
"Woo-!"
"Yaaah-!"
Roaring to draw goblin eyes, easing pressure on the wall-backed, encircled party. Swinging hammer, shoving with shield, Dorne glanced afar: the sneering goblin wolf rider and his bloodshot-eyed wolf.
After the village, the emotionless facade hiding his final plot—he'd come to witness Dorne's party's end.
Dorne signaled his team.
"Plan as discussed!"
"Yes-!"
Raon and Lilia, shielding legs with crude bags and torsos with shields, blocked before Dorne.
"Eresa! Here!"
"Yeah!"
Dorne hooked under Eresa's armpits, hoisting her up. Like a gelada baboon lifting a lion cub from a cliff, the 【Iron Man】 bore a lesser panda. Dizzy at the new height, Eresa stepped on his shoulder, calmly aiming her crossbow.
The goblin wolf rider ducked in panic—then tumbled off his wolf.
-Pack!
But Eresa targeted the wolf from the start! The bolt to its brow felled it.
"Hit it! Dorne!"
"Perfect shot—! You're the best!"
Dorne set Eresa down behind, grabbed hammer and shield.
"Hold the line! I'll handle it!"
Lilia and Raon nodded grimly. This was the agreed plan. Post-forced march, amid Dorne's hyper-vigilance building tension—fleeting. After the village fight proved his fears real, all their resentment targeted the goblin wolf rider.
Thus, consensus: even wounded, deliver death to their tormentor. (Dorne's psycho-ish calculus of trial rewards swayed it a bit.)
Dorne's face, hopping man-height bounds, gleamed with slight madness. In the packed descent clearing—like rush-hour subway goblins—he frog-leaped. Terrifying even to humans. Not mere strength enabled it.
Goblin warriors aimed at airborne Dorne—weapons blocked by iron-plated soles, or glancing off 【Iron Man】 skin through pants. If scratched, Dorne yelled—It hurts, you bastard!—swinging hammer past. Not just the attacker, but three innocents(?) crossed to the Styx.
The watching goblins (wolf rider) felt terror. Un-goblin-like, he didn't flee—feigned stupidity to hide in the crowd. (No mount, can't escape that monster,) he thought. (Maybe running was better. Dorne lacked spotting means.)
The mad human named Dorne bounded repeatedly, soon near the goblin (wolf rider). The monster-in-man-skin scanned around.
The goblin (wolf rider) ignored his pounding heart, playing dumb. Primitive goblin instinct: fixate on clustered humans! He'd disguised as such.
But a massive hand seized the goblin (wolf rider)'s nape. Forced around, he saw Dorne's crouched, mania-twisted face. Breath raggedly close. Distant torchlight danced on wide-grinning teeth and frenzied eyes. Flickering whites weren't firelight—but labyrinth madness.
"You dumb fuck. Think I wouldn't recognize you? Your left ear got chewed off by that wolf, right?"
The goblin (wolf rider) just wanted to pass out.