Shortly after exiting out of the Guild, the five-party group had begun to make its way through a forest, outside of the town's reach. Throughout their little trip to their destination, Stoss was able to learn a little about his new comrades. Apparently, Warrior and Fighter grew up in the same hometown and wanted to become adventurers. Fighter's reason was that her father had passed away, so she wanted to make sure she could go out into the world and protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Warrior's reason was that he heard stories about adventurers from his family, so naturally, wants to carve out a name for himself. Despite this sharing, Wizard didn't bother to really share, so Fighter did it for her. Keeping it short, Wizard had graduated top of her class when she was studying in the capital. This impressed Priestess, but caused Stoss to sign in dismay.

I'm starting to think I'm out of her league... Stoss thought as he began to look towards the sky, the wind lightly blowing onto his face. Gott damn it.

"Stoss? Is there something wrong?", Priestess asked in concern.

Hearing his comrade ask in concern, Stoss began to look back down and quickly shook his head. "No... I'm good" Stoss said in fake glee, hoping Priestess wouldn't see him unfocused and know all was well with the Stormtrooper.

To his relief, Priestess smiled, "Glad to hear nothing is troubling you, Stoss. I'm counting on you." She exclaimed, causing Stoss to return a simile of his own. He then began to focus his gaze up ahead. Exhaling, his nerves still creeping in, and began to realize he wasn't in training anymore.

Keep a cool head Stoss...be brave and you'll get out in one piece. Stoss thought, Tilting his coal scuttle helmet a bit forward, being prepared.

After a few moments, the group arrived at the entrance of the cave. Oddly enough, there was a shrine posted next to the cave's entrance.

What the hell? Stoss thought as Warrior stepped out of the group to get a better look.

"Ha Ha! This is the place guys, come on let's get going!." Warrior exclaimed in delight as he began to lead the way into the cave. He only made it a few inches before a hand grabbed his arm from behind.

"Woah Woah Woah!. What do you think you're doing?" Stoss said as he began to pull Warrior back.

Warrior, a little angered by this, shook his arm off from Stoss' grip. "What do you think I'm doing? Those girls are waiting in there and we need to get them fast!" Warrior argued, this time with a little annoyance in his voice.

"We're going into enemy territory...may I ask if we have some sort of "plan" when we enter?" Stoss asked, looking past Warrior and his attention was towards the pitch-black cave.

Warrior began to open his mouth but stopped halfway. His expression started to change from annoyed, to unsure. "ummm...I..I'm not really sure…", Warrior said ruefully.

"Have you faced them in the fields? Or inside their nests?" Stoss asked, his tone serious. Again, like before, Warrior didn't know how to respond and began to scratch the back of the head, unsure. "It's different from actually facing them on their home turf Warrior..we can't take these goblins lightly." Stoss finished, as he crossed his arms, realizing Warrior was probably just going to wing it or something. "What we should do is-"

"What we should do is hurry up and enter the cave already," Wizard stated impatiently, starling both Warrior and Stoss. She then began to approach Stoss, stopping a few feet in front of him. "You arguing with Warrior isn't going to help anyone! We are more than capable of taking care of these low leveled goblins" Wizard directed, causing Stoss to stagger a bit in shock.

"I-I was just trying to help out, so we don't get killed!" Stoss said, feeling a drop of sweat come down from his head in an effort to extinguish the situation.

Wizard, now annoyed and a bit angered was about to bark something else at Stoss before Priestess decided to speak up. "H-hey! Listen, guys, we shouldn't be arguing at this moment. Stoss just wants us to make it through this okay..!" Said in an effort to prevent her group from becoming disunified. However, this just made Wizard give her a cold glare, causing Priestess to cower behind her staff a little.

"Relax guys! Stoss is just looking out for us, that's all." Fighter added in, which kinda helped Stoss feel a little better.

Glad someone appreciates what I'm trying to do, Stoss thought in relief.

Warrior and Wizard, after a moment of thinking, exhaled, then nodded in agreement. However, both of them still shot a glare at Stoss before entering the cave.

So what? We're still going into a cave without a plan? Stoss thought as he put his palm over his face in dismay. Warrior is marching us into the unknown like an arrogant moron and Wizard is to busy being stubborn! Stoss was at near boiling point. He always hated when someone was being incompetent or just too blind. Shaking his head slightly, Stoss began to enter the cave, when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

Turning his head, his black eyes met Fighters' purple eyes. Fighter began to simile. "Don't worry about those two Stoss. We're more than prepared to take these goblins, you have nothing to worry about okay?" She exclaimed, giving him a warm simile. Stoss, his check a little red, changed his worried expression and began to relax a bit, slowly nodding in agreement.

"Alright..you lead the way Fighter," Stoss said as Fighter nodded, tapping his shoulder before moving forward ahead of him. I think I'll be able to count on her.. Stoss thought as he exhaled and waited for Priestess to be by his side before they entered the cave.

There, Warrior and Wizard were waiting for the trio a couple of feet into the cave ahead. Once everyone had entered, Warrior began to light his torch and began the expedition into the cave. Surprisingly enough, the cave was extremely dark, Stoss began to notice he couldn't even see a few feet outside the torches' light. Frustrated already from his argument with Warrior, or Wizard for that matter, he began to try and feel the caves' walls. Even through his gloves, he could feel nothing but wet, cold rock. Removing his hand from the walls, he began to think of the possibilities of them being ambushed.

"Warrior is leading up front, fighter next to him, with Wizard and Priestess in the middle, and me serving as rear guard…" Stoss said quietly to himself, his hand over his mouth as he began to think. He wondered how they would perform and if he could count on them. He looks down and examined his own equipment.

Unstrapping his rifle harness from his shoulder, he slowly set it to fire mode. He felt the fine craftsmanship put into his rifle. He didn't remember the exact name of the rifle, but remembered his comrades back home calling it, the "Needle Gun". After that though, he reached for his back pocket pack and pull out his short saw back bayonet, equipping it to the tip of his rifle. Stoss felt pretty secure but double-tapped on his five-shot flintlock pistol holstered on his left pocket to make sure it was still on him. On his right, he had his sword sheathed. It's supposed to be used as a last resort, mostly because it was of medium height with a slight, beautiful curve that resembled a cleaver, perfect for close quarters. Again, Stoss forgot what the name of the sword was, but could recall when his older brother used it to slay goblins before he decided to give it to him. Shrugging, he marched on.

As the cave's silence began to grow bolder, Warrior spotted another shrine inside the cave. "Look, there's another one!" He shouted, before dashing over to it like a kid when he spotted an ice cream cart. "We're getting close! I know it" Warrior exclaimed as he began to speed walk ahead of the group. Stoss thought about stopping him, but after a moment of thinking it over, he decided against it.

Let that idiot get himself killed Stoss thought, looking over to see if Wizard was going to follow him. However, to his surprise, she was examining the shrine a bit. Stoss and Priestess walked past her, slowing their past so she could catch up when she was done. Instead, Fighter followed Warrior, telling him to slow down. Signing, Stoss turned to his right side towards Priestess, who was surprisingly quiet. Even as the light from Warrior's torch began to slowly fade further into the darkness, Stoss noticed Priestess was slightly shaking and she was staring directly towards the ground. Concern, Stoss tapped on her shoulder, snapping her back to reality.

"Priestess, you alright? You look shaken up." Stoss asked.

"O-oh..sorry I was just thinking…" She trailed off for a moment before continuing. "I feel like something is going to happen as you said...we're walking into a place we know little about.." She finished. Unknown to Stoss, who was too busy with how his comrade was feeling, wasn't keeping track of Warrior's torch, now deeper into the cave, leaving them in almost complete darkness. Stoss' eyes began to adjust to the dark, as he could have sworn he saw tears form up in Priestess' eyes. Before he could comfort her, he felt a sharp jade on his back.

"If you guys are done talking. We need to catch up to the others." Wizard said firmly as the duo noticed a small dim of light, more down in the cave. Scheisse, Stoss thought as he began to jog over to Warrior and Fighter, with Priestess and Wizard a few feet behind him.

*multiple small footsteps* Stoss halted his jugging and froze. His comrades, stopping directly behind.

"What are you doing? We need to catch-" Wizard began, but was quickly shushed by Stoss as he turned and looked into the darkness behind them.

"..did you hear that?.." Stoss whispered. His rifle now slightly pointing towards the cause of the distant noise.

"I didn't hear anything.." Wizard said, sounding more and more impatient.

"..Actually, I-I heard it too.." Priestess also whispered. Slightly frightened, she began pointing towards the darkness behind Wizard.

"Impossible. We traveled through a single, narrow corridor." Wizard stated, "We would have noticed som-" Her thoughts were interrupted as she now heard multiple growls coming directly behind her. She turned around, and to her horror, she saw several goblins. Drool slowly sliming out their mouths as they had their weapons drawn and looked ready to pounce. Wizard staggered back, her serious expression changed into dread.

Quickly, Wizard began to cast a spell, just as a goblin leaped into the air towards her. "Firebolt!" She shouted, as a fireball shot towards the goblin, engulfing it in flames. "I'm a genius!" She declared with a smirk.

However, three goblins emerged from the darkness, weapons in hand and began to rush towards Wizard. Panicking, she began to conjure up another spell, but the leading goblin closed the gap and leaped at her.. Reacting to this, Wizard used her staff as a shield in order to protect herself, and closed her eyes, expecting the worst.

*Boom!* A loud bang, followed by a shriek, and then a small thud was heard. Wizard opened her eyes and found the goblin who leaped at her, was now laying on his back, stiff as a rock. The other two goblins staggered back, alarm. Wizard then heard the sound of a lever being pulled, followed by what sounded like a pin being dropped. She turned and found that the noise had come from Stoss' rifle, a small amount of smoke streaming out of it.

Stoss, noticing this, walked past Wizard and stepped in front of her. The goblins began to step back a little, wondering how to deal with this new threat. Working the rifle's lever and placing a new bullet inside, before cocking his rifle and aiming it towards the short, green monsters. "Looks like I was right about underestimating these guys.." Stoss said, with slight amusement. "Let's take care of them..I'll cover and you cast your firebolts at them.." He directed, looking back at Wizard.

Still, in shocked, she immediately snapped back to the present and fixed herself "Let's do this!" She stated, preparing another spell.

"Priestess, call for the others! Try to heal us if one of us goes down, okay?" Stoss asserted, getting into a protective stance, bayonet pointing at the creatures. Priestess, still frightened, soon agreed and began crying out for the duo, who already were hurrying down towards them, as soon as they heard the gunshot.

Shortly, more goblins began to appear from the darkness in front of Stoss, beaming at him with spiteful eyes. Adrenaline pumping, and eyes open, he beamed back. Gott mit uns.

Note: Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed this new update. Future updates will become more frequent after next week: Final's week. Also, answering to Stosstruppen's character and whether or not he's from the World Wars. He is indeed based off the Imperial German Stormtroopers, but with slight changes here and there. So no, he isn't from OTL, he just looks similar to the real StormTroopers. That being said, thank you all for reading! Remember to like/favorite for future updates. Leave your thoughts on the story, it is very appreciated. As always, have a good one!