The First Head-on Fight

Adam proceeded to slaughter the rest of the Goblins. Not one of them could fight back or do anything. As soon as their eyes were open, they were closed again, this time for good.

He got rid of the rest of the 12 Goblins, before going deeper into the tunnel.

"Experience Points and Gold." Adam said out loud.

[ Gold: 1010

Experience Points: 420/500.]

After walking for five minutes, the tunnel was divided into two smaller tunnels.

'Each way will probably lead to one of the two remaining gates that were in the hall right?'

He took the way on the right, for no real reason at all.

He kept going and going. There were no Goblins or enemies at all.

Eventually, he arrived at the entrance of a room.

He stayed at the exit of the tunnel and looked inside the room.

In front of him was a wall with many torches hanging on it. The rest of the room was plonged in darkness.

On the lit wall in front of him, there was a big gate. But before that gate, there was an imposing figure standing there, guarding it.

It was another Hobgoblin. Adam noticed that this one had two longswords hanging on its back.

He looked around the room. There were no other enemies.

'Is this going to be... a frontal fight?' Adam shivered at this thought.

All his enemies except a small number of weak Goblins had all been killed using Sneak Attacks. Either by hiding in the darkness or by coming at them from behind.

Adam looked at the monster in front of him. It stood at about 170centimeters tall, and had a muscular build.

'It's probably a bit stronger than me, even with my 40 Strength Points.' Adam thought.

'Am going to need a distraction if I want to beat it.' After thinking for a bit, he had an idea.

He ran back into the tunnel and came back 5 minutes later. When he came back, he had a Goblin corpse in his left hand.

'Hahahha. This is too weird a plan. Mika would fall to the ground laughing if he saw this.' Adam couldn't help but chuckle.

He entered the room and stayed hidden in the darkness. He put his dagger in his storage and grabbed the Goblin corpse with both hands.

Then, with all his strength, he threw the Goblin corpse towards the Hobgoblin that was standing about 10 meters away.

Right after the corpse left his hands, Adam started sprinting towards the Hobgoblin and whispered "Storage". He took out his Old Assassin's Dagger.

The monster was surprised to see a Goblin flying towards it, coming straight from the darkness. But that surprise only lasted a second, as the Hobgoblin drew both its swords from behind its back and slashed the Goblin corpse vertically using both swords. The Goblin was easily cut in two.

Just as the Goblin was cut in two, the Hobgoblin saw the approaching Adam.

He was about a meter and a half away from the Hobgoblin.

Adam extended his right arm in order to stab the Hobgoblin in the neck. He wanted to finish this in one hit by hitting the creature's weakpoint.

The Hobgoblin couldn't defend against the incoming attack as it had just used both arms to slash the Goblin. But it still managed to move its head, dodging what could've been a fatal hit.

The dagger slashed the Hobgoblin's trapezius, right between its neck and its left shoulder. Green blood flowed from the wound.

'Shit, he dodged it. But I won't back down now.' Adam swung his dagger repeatedly towards the Hobgoblin.

But the Hobgoblin was used to fighting with its swords. It easily deflected all of Adam's attacks.

Adam aimed at the monster's neck, stomach, sides, knees and chest. But not one hit connected.

Many exchanges took place between the two opponents. Adam attacked, while the Hobgoblin defended.

'I knew its swordsmanship would be better than mine, but this is too much! If I wasn't a lot more agile than the Hobgoblin, I wouldn't be the one attacking, and I probably would have hit the ground by now.'Adam gritted his teeth, trying to find an opening.

The Hobgoblin, on the other hand, was annoyed by the weak opponent in front of it. To the green monster, Adam was a weak but quick enemy. It could easily stop Adam's attacks, but because of the difference in speed, it couldn't find a moment to attack.

'Am making no progress at all!' Adam was getting frustrated and annoyed. His breathing was less and less controlled.

The Hobgoblin was waiting for exactly that. Although not a smart creature, Hobgoblins showed great intelligence when fighting.

'If I can't hit a weakpoint, then at least let's make slow progress by hitting somewhere else.' Adam thought.

He aimed his next attack at the creature's left shoulder. Adam extended his right arm that held the dagger.

Just as the Hobgoblin noticed Adam's intentions, it let go of the sword in its left hand.

Adam paid it no mind, as he stabbed the monster's shoulder with all his strength. He immediately tried pulling his right arm back after piercing the monster's body. But it didn't budge. He couldn't step back or move his right arm at all.

The Hobgoblin had used its left hand to grab Adam's elbow, blocking his right arm, even though the dagger was deep inside its shoulder.

It grabbed Adam's elbow tightly and let out an evil smile.

Once the weak opponent cannot jump around anymore, it was as good as dead. That would have been the thought process of the Hobgoblin if it was capable of such a thing.

Adam struggled to pull his arm back, but he couldn't move it at all.

This was the difference in strength, between a Hobgoblin and a kid who swung a sword for a day.

The Hobgoblin raised its other arm up, while tightening its grip on Adam's elbow.

The tip of the monster's sword was aimed at the ceiling. Then, in one smooth motion, it slashed the enemy in front of it.

The vertical slash was extremely powerful.

The Hobgoblin wanted to finish the enemy quickly, but,

The next instant, the enemy wasn't there anymore. Only a purple dagger dyed with green blood remained on the ground. The Hobgoblin was confused.

It looked at its sword. It was bloody. Red blood was dripping from it. But the Hobgoblin didn't feel any resistance once it swung the longsword. Surely, the opponent wasn't so weak that it could be split in two like air? The Hobgoblin stayed on guard as it was sure the enemy was hiding in the darkness.

It raised its left arm, but the Hobgoblin's confusion only grew.

It had lost its hand, wrist and forearm.

It wasn't bleeding, but part of its arm had disappeared.

The Hobgoblin looked at its left arm for a second, before taking a fighting stance as it thought the enemy could attack at any moment.

Meanwhile, Adam was running inside the tunnel. His upper body was bleeding.

'What the hell was that?? That Hobgoblin...That was crazy! Aren't those monsters supposed to be stupid?' He thought while greeting his teeth.

" System! How smart is a Hobgoblin??" Adam asked angrily.

[It is commonly said that Goblins are as smart as five-year-old Human Children. By that standard, Hobgoblins would be as smart as 10 year olds. Although during battle, they can show higher intellect.]

'Well tell me that sooner!!' Adam was pissed off by his blunder.

["The Old Wolf" is gladdened by the sight of your blood.]

["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" denounces your cowardice, while kind of understading your actions.]

'If you understand then shut up!' Adam thought as he continued running.

[A Certain Evil chuckles at your misfortune.]

[ The Hero Who Survived By Sleeping For a Century says that you should probably sleep.]

'How is it so strong? My 40 Strength Points felt like nothing compared to that monster's strength. Just its grip strength was enough to stop my whole body from moving. And that swordsmanship, the monster managed to stop every single one of my attacks. It also came up with a strategy to deal with my speed. What the hell? What the hell? That was kind of....That was...too cool!' Adam was trembling. He felt a mix of fear and excitement.

Adam ran for about 10minutes, thinking about the events that just happened.

Once the Hobgoblin started raising its right arm, Adam desperately used his left hand to undo the monster's grip, but he couldn't. Only when the monster's blade was aimed at the ceiling, did Adam think of using "Crumbling Touch". He got rid of the hand that grabbed his right arm and stepped back rapidly, but he still got cut deeply.

The Hobgoblin's slash had cut Adam's upper body from his left shoulder all the way to his right hip. The military vest must have dampened the damage as it was completely cut from top to bottom. The cut was deep, but not life-threatening.

'Shit, I've never bled this much in my life. That was way too dangerous. I shouldn't have been so impatient. If I had stepped into the darkness, it might have followed me. I should've led the battle towards where I was strongest. Towards where I would have the advantage.' He arrived back at the hall where he had fought the Goblin Chief.

He felt a newfound respect for the strong monsters he had previously easily slain.

'I got really lucky. I've already killed a Hobgoblin, but who would have thought that facing one head-on would be this hard? What about the Goblin Chief that's supposed to be even stronger?? There's a reason why this is an E-rank Hidden Location! How can I fight them?'

Adam went into the room where he had found the Wooden Chest and closed the gates behind him. He took out two Medium Healing Potions and drank them on the spot.

He lied down on the floor.

Only when he pressed his right hand on the ground, did he notice that it was broken.

The whole part of his arm that was held down by the Hobgoblin was broken.

'What kind of grip strength is this? Without the System, this kind of damage would take months and months to heal... No wonder I left my dagger there.....'

"Health Points... ? Endurance...?" Adam said weakly.

[ HP: 130/450.

Endurance 2/150.]

'So I lost all my HP because of his sword slash. Even after drinking Medium Health Potions, my Health Points are only at 130. He did break my elbow too. And for the endurance, yeah no wonder. After all this running, using "Crumbling Touch" and desperately fighting for my life of course it would be this low.'

Without noticing, Adam started referring to the Hobgoblin as "He" instead of "It".

Adam closed his eyes.

'I should've done this, this way, and done that, that way...' He thought about what he did wrong and how he should have dealt with the situation until he fell asleep.