Elder Oak Passage (pt2)

"Can you define that title?" I ask after unlocking an achievement for landing one hundred critical hits once the next wave of six goblins were dealt with. I had taken several hits against the wave of five and this time I had taken just a couple more. "First-Aid," I add as a notification pops up in response.

[A Crit Learner: Rare: Passive: Improves the odds of critical damage in normal attacks by 3% for intentionally landing one hundred critical hits. +10 Sierra Reputation]

I barely even had time to finish reading the title description before my vision flashed and I reflexively stepped toward the massive tunnel under the tree. Seven goblins were already coming into view near the surface and all of them looked excited to be free. I simply threw my nearly broken Bokuto at the lead goblin before drawing my trench knife from a pocket in my free hand.

The Bokuto broke after striking the goblin across the face with its flat side, still landing a critical hit.

[x2 critical: vital strike]

[Acquired Skill: Throw]

"Please stop showing combat notifications unless it's a new skill or achievement," I ask while rushing forward, knowing I was going to be filling up my point of view once the fighting started. As expected, the goblins tried to herd around me and attack from my exposed sides but it became me drawing them in behind my sword to be slashed with my dagger.

Killing any single goblin in that situation was nearly impossible. I had to stay moving at all times to keep as few as possible from being able to attack me at once at any given time while doing my best to place damage as best as I could. Most of my sword thrusts were glancing cuts and my dagger slashes amounted to shallow gashed, but their bars still emptied and their bodies continued bleeding.

"First-Aid," I say somewhat tiredly, replenishing of my missing health once the last goblin fades away. In that fight I ended up losing almost half of my health and before my healing skill had even cooled down the next alert came. "First-Aid," I say once again as a large group of eight goblins appears inside the tunnel, raising my HP to just over seventy percent before taking out a piece of meat and chewing the entire thing.

Unlike before the goblins came out slowly, almost casually, as if they had the confidence that they had all the time in the world to escape. Thanks to this, I was able to bring myself up to ninety percent health and stuff another piece of meat in my mouth to hold onto. After that, I sheathed my dagger to focus on my sword before rushing in.

The first goblin leaped into the air like a ferecat while two others crowded in from the sides. I simply ignored the airborne goblin and turned on the next closest to the left, turning forward into a thrust of my sword that punches into their shoulder. Stepping forward as they backpedal from the sword in their body, I step out of the path of the first goblin's falling club before turning away from the second goblin and backhand slashing at the third.

I did not even have time to attack the first goblin as they got up before I had to get moving, jumping back and to the side away from a fourth and then a fifth before I could finally slash at the sixth. Number seven who had been circling around from a distance closed in behind me, slamming its club into the back of one knee to snatch twenty points of my health away. I was even forced to a kneel.

Swallowed the chewed up meat that had been flavoring my mouth to recover half of the health I just lost, I simply thrust forward into the eighth goblin's stomach. Then I just kept pushing forward while climbing to my feet until the goblin was pushed to the ground. However, as soon as I got back to my feet another club slammed down on my ribs and kept me from finishing the eighth with a crit.

Turning on the goblin that just hit me as they try to run passed like a hyena nipping at a lion I easily catch them with a slash that rose up from one hip to the opposite shoulder across their back. The disks of their spine were visible under flowing black blood and the loss of over half their health meant I had dealt a critical blow. Still, they did not die and the next goblin in line managed to match my slash with a smash, landing over ten damage while taking over thirty.

"First-Aid!" I cry out after taking a particularly painful smash to my wrist, almost losing my grip on the sword with one hand after dropping close to half health myself. Then I once again traded blows with another goblin before whipping blindly around with a wide swing of my sword that catches two goblins by surprise.

After actually landing an attack like that I started acting out, simply standing my ground while swinging wide and fast in every direction. Most of the time when I hit a goblin line this it would catch us both by surprise, but after a few of these I managed to accidentally kill one goblin and then intentionally stab another in the center of its chest. It died.

With their numbers suddenly dropped down to a more manageable level I went back to picking my attacks while defending against their blows before another goblin died and I received a notification.

[Acquired Skill: Parrying]

[+10XP]

For a moment I actually expected Parrying and Swordplay to combine into Swordsmanship but then I was caught by surprise in the leg again and almost went down while waiting. I should have known beforehand that I would not be so lucky, but at least it was something. Maybe with another sword-type skill I could fuse Swordsmanship but I wanted to raise it.

The normal Swordsmanship you get from a class increases a player's effectiveness with swords by ten percent and rises as you level it where as Swordplay never increases more than five percent. However, one of the current leading players in Europe was a classless player and had upgraded to a starting fifteen-percent Swordsmanship buff. That was what I wanted.

Returning my attention to the matter currently at hand, I turn into an outstretched side kick to catch a leaping goblin in midair before staggering away. "First-Aid." Feeling slightly refreshed from the slight healing as I catch my balance, I take several steps forward to try and gain distance before whipping around in another blind swing.

After almost bisecting a goblin with that low blind swing and claiming another kill I just went on the full offensive, attacking wildly and without care while healing myself only once. In the space of five seconds I was struck three times for less that forty HP and in those five seconds I finished five goblins. Then I ran for the tunnel.

Instead of waiting in front of the tunnel like an idiot I finally realize standing between the top of the hole and the root wall would make it harder for the goblins to reach me with numbers. Almost as soon as I was in position I received the next combat warning for the next wave. Ten goblins appeared in the entrance to the tunnel shortly afterward.

Hurrying up and around t where I waited while healing and chewing, I greeted the first goblin as if I were using a Bokuto and mercilessly chopped three swift times down on them. They tried to block with their root club but it just got shoved down under the force of my sword so the blade repeatedly struck about their head and shoulders. They died as I took my first hit in this wave but even that goblin was not far behind.

After letting the club glance off of my arm for seven damage I immediately tucked my elbows to my body to bring the sword in and then swung with my body. The goblin whose club kept swinging to the ground caught my sideways cleaving sword with its face and was thrown into the tunnel. Somehow it did not get back up.

Another goblin ran up but got kicked in the face like a Spartan as soon as it raised its club in both hands, falling into the legs of the next in line who fell at my feet. I simply stomped down on their head to pin them down while once again chopping wildly at two goblins before me. The chops were swift but controlled with a vague rotation from my elbows, allowing the blade to cleave down and slide in before pushing forward, up, and back out for the next attack.

Fighting in this fashion where only one or two could approach me at once, I could continually heal myself to keep nudging my stamina up and never stop swinging. After overwhelming several goblins with the sheer speed of my basic attacks, I soon found myself left alone beside the tunnel with a small but thick cloud of fading body dust in front of me.

One second later my vision flashed and immediately afterward there was a jarring thud that swept through the soft soil surrounding the tunnel.

Then another and when the third FOOTSTEP sounded a head appeared standing upright from the back top of the tunnel entrance by the tree trunk. It was some ungodly seven-foot tool behemoth with a large fatty body that jiggled with every step. Despite this jiggle, though, the fat simply emphasized the larger muscles like its pecs and biceps under the fat.

Suddenly there came a loud yell, a blur of motion passing by me, and suddenly the giant goblin creature was a fountain of dark blood spraying up into the air. Everything from the top of its chest up that had been exposed with its next step was suddenly missing and even its arms were still in the process of falling to the ground.

"That's enough for now," Sir Beryl says, suddenly standing in front of me as if he had been there the entire time, holding onto the hilt of his giant sword planted in the ground between us. "That was some mighty fine fighting, my boy! Do you have any idea what you even did? You're so dog tired and you were so damn busy I bet you can't even imagine."

Now that he mentioned it, my sword had been slowly lowering to the ground until the faintly chipped and dulling point was in the dirt.

My arms and chest and back ached like I had spent and entire day lying on a weight bench holding up my own body weight. My ribs and the inside of my chest felt like they were on fire from how quickly and rapidly they were expanding and contracting. Even my legs were trembling, not from the ease of tension or even fear of the giant goblin but instead because of all the adrenaline still pumping through my avatar.

"No, sir, I can't… even think… of your name… right now," I reply with a shaky smile, suddenly collapsing to my knees.

Nodding his head as if this were understandable, Sir Beryl says, "That's fine, I'm quite a bite shocked about this myself. I figured you might be able to handle five but one or two more would be the limit but you kept going til a goblin warrior showed up! Now, you ready for the big news?"

Having a little bit of an easier time breathing, I say, "By all means, please say."

"You don't seem excited enough yet," Sir Beryl seems to muse, rubbing his stubbly chin thoughtfully. "Let's see how you'll react if you realize it. Alright, here's something of a riddle for you. One, three, six, ten, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-six, forty-five, and fifty-five are what?"

For a moment, all I could do was sit there and stare at the old knight with a confused expression on my face while simply trying to remember the numbers. So I started talking to myself, "One, three, six, ten… one to three is two and three to six is three and six ten is four… one is start and the growth is the count, but what is it… forty-five fifty-five is ten… onw, two, three, four, five, fix… I KILLED FIFTY-FIVE GOBLINS?!"

I could not help it, I was suddenly on my feet and shouting as soon as the numbers just magically clicked in my mind. As soon as I actually asked myself why he would ask me about numbers to begin with, I realized he was counting the goblins scaling by waves! Somehow I never even realized it but I had collected eleven-hundred experience in this event.

"Yes, lad, you killed over half a hundred goblins in about fifteen minutes," he informs me with a very serious face despite an odd look of pride in his eyes. "It honestly reminded me of, well, me back when I was your age. That was before I got so strong that all I needed was a big heavy sword to break everything in my way. And the different weapons…"

After trailing off for a moment while looking up into the trees, Sir Beryl looks back at me with an odd expression and asks, "Son, do you not have a class yet?"

Shaking my head with a small smile, I decide to be completely honest and say, "No, sir, I decided to practice everything and master nothing. I use all the extra weapons and stuff so that I grow faster. Some people might have better stats or smarter strategies, but as long as I can grow stronger faster than most people then I'm satisfied."

Frowning in a humorous manner, the old knight shrugs and says, "I don't have a class, either. But, here I am, old enough to retire and guarding a tree ten times as old as I am on top of one of hell's gates. What's your name, son?"

Reaching out my hand, I simply say, "Life Hack, but my people just call me Hack. Feel free to call me Hack."

Grasping my hand and shaking it one firm time, Sir Beryl lets go and says, "Well met, Hack, and interesting name for an interesting fellow. I'll tell you what, I'll be here for the next two months or so until the next batch of recruits are out of the camp. If you ever want to come on by and see how long you can really last, just drop on by day or night. Keep an old man company and he just might teach you a thing or two."

[Congratulations, Life Hack, for discovering and unlocking the Elder Oak Passage Challenge. As well as developing a relationship with the dungeon guardian, as the first person to discover this dungeon you can choose whether or not to announce the discovery. Even should you choose to remain silent, the first clear announcement will go out by default one Earth week after the clear. Now, please enjoy your full loot benefits as the Elder Oak pioneer]

[Acquired Elder Oak Root x55]

[Acquired Goblin Ear x55]

[Acquired Goblin Skin x55]

[Acquired Goblin Claw x55]

[Acquired Goblin Fang x55]

[Acquired Goblin Tendon x55]

[Acquired Goblin Core x55]

[Acquired Gold x165]

[Elder Oak Passage Unlock Challenge Clear Rating: S]

[Elder Oak Passage Unlock Challenge Clear Reward: +100XP]

[Elder Oak Passage Unlock Challenge Rating Reward: Recipe: Goblin Hunter's Bow. Title: Goblin Hunter]

Once I was done reading the pile of notifications the once frozen world set back in motion and Sir Beryl says, "The goblins are already pretty excitable tonight, so we'll have to do it again in the morning or at night again. Once every twelve hours sounds like a good frame, yeah?"

Nodding my head excitedly, I say. "Absolutely, I can work on my achievements in hunting goblins just by coming here. I will definitely be back, Sir Beryl, but I'm currently working on meeting up with my friends who are scattered around the region. Would I be allowed to bring them as well?"

"I don't see why not," the old knight replies with a pensive look on his face. "With more food it'll just attract more goblins at once, but the principle remains the same. As long as I'm here everything should be fine, certainly! When can I expect to see you lads? I might have cleaned up the place a bit by then."

"It depends, some of them are nearby but a few of them might be outside the region," I reply with a shrug. "I know a few will be meeting me in the city to the north of us so I'll probably bring them here in a couple days or nights? Would it be okay if we used this area to set up our hunting camp or should we just be neighbors?"

Looking out toward the grass, Sir beryl replies, "As long as it's toward the edge of the tree it should be fine, but even with me here it would be dangerous to sleep in the area if I happen to be asleep. They can't even hurt me a dozen at a time, so they focus on sneaking, but they'll sneak right up to you kids while you sleep."

Then, something seemed to click in my mind and I could not help but smile. "My good man, I think we might be able to help each other again tonight. It will still be a few hours yet before I have to get back to the carriage and then another hour or so before we leave. Would you like to take a nap while I have fun with the sneaking goblins? It might help make them hesitant to try sneaking out next time."

Giving me a knowing smile before looking toward the pile of goblin skins by the campfire the man used for a bed, Sir Beryl says, "I knew I'd like you as soon as you said you already had the ears. Since my scent is close their numbers will stay small so it shouldn't be an issue. Good night and good luck, Hack, because once I close my eyes they won't open again for at least six hours."