The Rematch
Adam woke up 8 hours later. It was the first time he slept for so long since he entered the dungeon. He was used to sleeping anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.
He felt refreshed and full of energy.
He rubbed his eyes and stood up.
"Time left in the dungeon, Health Points and Endurance." He said out loud.
[ 3hours and 4minutes before forced expulsion.
HP: 400/450.
Endurance 150/150]
Adam got up and stretched.
'Oh. My arm is already healed.'
He could move his right arm perfectly now.
He noticed the front side of his military vest was ruined. He took it off for a moment.
Adam raised his clothes up to look at his upper body.
The wound had become a scar. It looked old even though he had just gotten it hours earlier. It was a long scar that stretched from his left shoulder all the way to his right hip bone.
"Will the scar go away once my Health Points have regenerated?" Adam asked while looking at the scar.
[Not all scars disappear. It depends on the wound inflicted. But, your Sleeping Beauty Skill can count a scar as an imperfection. If you want it to, the Skill will make scars fade over time until they disappear.]
"That's perfect." Adam said with a smile.
'Mom always hated scars...' He thought.
["The Hero Who Survived By Sleeping For a Century " is proudly puffing his chest out.]
'Right, haha. I have you to thank for this I guess.' Adam chuckled.
He started speaking out loud.
"Mmm. Wonder what I should do now? Fight the Hobgoblin head-on? Backstabbing it by coming from the gate? Or just leave the dungeon?"
["The Laziest of God's Archangels" says you should never take more steps than necessary.]
"True... Taking unnecessary risks wouldn't be good." Adam acted like he had a big decision to take.
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" says you should have a head-on fight, for that is the way of the warrior.]
"Yes! Yes! That's also true! Although it hurt a lot, looking back, fighting head-on was fun!!" Adam said excitedly while looking at the ceiling. He imagined that was probably where he was being watched from.
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" is excited by your words.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" is happy that you understand the way of the warrior!]
"But I could really die though? Should I really risk it just for that?" Adam rubbed his chin.
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" says that the fighting is the reward!]
'Oh. He understood that I was fishing for extra rewards...' Adam looked down, disappointed.
[A Certain Evil laughs out loud at your shameless begging.]
[A Certain Evil has offered you a Reward.]
[The condition to obtain the Reward is: Beat the Hobgoblin head-on.]
"Yes! Alright! Now I'm motivated!".
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" is sneering at A Certain Evil.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" says that a duel should not be motivated by ulterior means!]
Adam thought for a bit. 'I don't have my Old Assassin's Dagger. And the military knife will obviously be useless against it. That only leaves the greatsword. Since there's an extra reward, I'm gonna have to beat it for sure.'
Adam chuckled.
He had already made his plans before sleeping. He had already thought of a way to win.
'If everything goes well, it will be an easy victory for me' Adam thought.
Adam slowly made his way back towards the Hobgoblin.
He got to the entrance of the room and stayed in the darkness as he looked at his enemy.
He got a bit scared.
The Hobgoblin was looking as sturdy as it did before, despite losing one arm.
It had its longsword in its remaining arm.
Although it looked relaxed and composed, it wasn't cocky enough to keep its weapon in its sheath after losing an arm due to a surprise attack.
The Old Assassin's Dagger was on the ground, a couple of steps away from the Hobgoblin.
Adam shook his head. 'Alright. Let's do it. This is a foolproof plan.'
Adam whispered in the darkness "Storage."
He took out the Goblin Chief's Greatsword.
After holding it in his two hands, he started sprinting towards the Hobgoblin.
Just when Adam's foot emerged out of the darkness, the Hobgoblin noticed it straight away and raised its weapon in a fighting stance.
Adam used that foot to propel himself upwards.
He jumped up towards the Hobgoblin, with his greatsword above his head, held with both hands.
The Hobgoblin, seeing that its opponent was wielding a huge weapon capable of shattering its skull, raised its weapon defensively, by holding it horizontally.
Adam swung his greatsword down towards the Hobgoblin's skull as hard as he could, hoping to destroy its skull.
But the Hobgoblin was strong enough to stop the blow.
Even though it only had one arm, it stopped the blow.
Still, although the Hobgoblin was struggling with the force that came with the attack, it was not enough to break its guard.
'As expected. This guy, is too strong! But I got this one from you. This is my victory!'
Just as Adam's greatsword struck the Hobgoblin's longsword, he let go of his greatsword and landed on the ground, a meter away from the Hobgoblin.
The Hobgoblin, dealing with the recoil from the blow, could only follow Adam with its eyes. The difference in speed was too much for it to handle.
Just like a cat, Adam fell to the ground on all fours, and propelled himself forward with all the leg strength he had. It was an attack that combined both his Strength and his Agility.
In truth, Adam looked like a frog jumping forwards, but he didn't let that disrupt his concentration.
He dived towards the Hobgoblin's body with his hands extended in front of him.
The Hobgoblin was too slow to react. Its arm was still raised defensively.
Both the Hobgoblin and Adam flew towards the gate that the green monster was protecting.
The only difference was that, part of the Hobgoblin's body was turning into dust.
Once Adam's body hit the wooden gate, he quickly jumped backwards multiple times, picked up his dagger, and took steps back cautiously, until he was back in the darkness.
He whispered "Endurance...".
[ Endurance: 25/150.]
'That much was consumed? Wonder how much of its body is gone.' Adam thought, waiting for the Hobgoblin to get up. The place he had fallen on was covered in dirt and dust.
5 seconds quickly became 10 seconds, then twenty.
The Hobgoblin was never going to get up.
As Adam got closer, he saw what had happened.
The Hobgoblin was still there, moving its arm around. But it had lost its whole lower body.
Only the monster's upper body, from the chest up, remained.
'This really is a scary Skill.'
"Crumbling Touch" was not your average Skill. The Skill didn't do any damage. Although the Hobgoblin had lost its left arm, and now its lower body, its Health Points were still full.
That Skill either completely turned the enemy into dust to kill it, or crippled it by getting rid of parts of its body.
In the Hobgiblin's case, it was the latter.
Not only did it lose its whole lower body, it had also lost its left arm previously.
Adam looked at his opponent with pity.
'Am sorry. This wasn't how I wanted your death to look like'. He thought.
He picked up his greatsword and slammed it towards what remained of the Hobgoblin.
As the Hobgoblin was at full HP, Adam had to slam his weapon twice on it before
[1 Hobgoblin has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 40Gold and 80 Experience Points.]
[ You have leveled up!]
[ You have beaten the Hobgoblin Head on. You will now receive your reward.]
[ Many Angels say that your skill "Crumbling Touch" is too ominous.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" says that you do not know the way of the warrior.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" is disappointed in your actions.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" dislikes you.]
'Oh shut up. You're not even the one with my reward.' Adam thought.
He too didn't like how he won the duel, but he was too weak to do it any other way.
["The Laziest of God's Archangels" appreciates how you handled the fight.]
'Are you calling me lazy?'
[Congratulations! You have been awarded 5 Gold coins.]
"What? This is a joke right?" Adam asked out loud.
[A Certain Evil says that it doesn't like beggars.]
"You're so disappointing." Adam said.
He thought he would receive a Skill such as "Crumbling Touch" or even "Sleeping Beauty".
His hopes were high since the reward came from A Certain Evil, the one that gave him the skill "Crumbling Touch".
'I guess it's cool enough that I know of this feature. Gods can reward us for doing certain actions.'
Adam opened the gate.
He was back in the big hall.
'One gate left.'
"Time?" Adam asked out loud.
[2 hours and 15 minutes before expulsion.]
"Let's continue then. Should I get rid of every Goblin in this Dungeon before closing time?" Adam said out loud.
["The Laziest of God's Archangels" doesn't understand why you are doing so much.]
["The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin" likes challenges, but he still dislikes you.]
[A Certain Evil doesn't care much.]
'I don't feel like doing it either. So if am not getting extra rewards let's just chill a bit for now.'
Adam sat on the wooden throne.
["The One Who Sits On The Golden Throne" is happy to see you back on your throne.]
"Status."
The screen appeared.
[ Name: Adam
Age: 12years old
Species & level : Human Lv7(0/750xp)
Gold: 1055
HP: 440/460
Endurance: 40/155
Stats: Strength: 41(+1)
Agility: 25(+1)
Sense: 36(+1)
Vigor & Endurance: 26(+1)
Magic Affinity: 8(+1)
Stealth: 9(+1)
Unused stat points: 3(+3)
Skill(s): Sleeping Beauty
Crumbling Touch
Title(s): The First Pioneer
Righteous to Evil Points: 760 to 40
S####o#: (None) ]
"760 to 40? Did I do anything that could be considered Evil?" Adam asked.
[You do not need to worry about Righteous to Evil Points.]
'I guess it doesn't really matter. Oh, 3 unused stat points? Mmm how should I use them?'
"What's the Stealth stat?" Adam asked, even though it was pretty clear what the effect of it was.
[The higher the Stealth Stat is, the less likely it is that you will be noticed by enemies. Your presence will be harder to notice by your opponents.]
'Yeah, that makes sense.' Adam thought.
'I could pour them into Stealth since that's mostly how I plan on fighting. But Agility is what kept me alive against the Hobgoblin. It's also true that if I had more strength it could've been a fair fight. On the other hand, I run out of Endurance often. But it's mostly because of "Crumbling Touch". If Magic Affinity goes up, I'll be able to control that Magic Skill better. Sense obviously is still extremely important. Umm. I guess I'll leave it alone for now.'
Adam wasn't sure what to do.
'Should I get out of the dungeon? Wonder if Mina, Mika and mom are looking at me from somewhere right now. If they are it'd have to be heaven. Wonder what they're thinking about my actions. Am sure Mika would be excited whenever I get a weapon out. Mina would close her eyes whenever an enemy appears. What about mom? What would she think.....' Adam started thinking about his family.
He didn't feel the time pass at all.
[ 5 minutes left before expulsion from the Dungeon. Please express your desire to leave at any time.]
'What? Already?' Adam was extremely surprised.
"Alright, I'll leave."
[You have expressed your desire to leave the Dungeon "The Forest of Goblins".]
[You are inside a Hidden Location.]
[Please leave the Hidden Location in the time remaining.]
[Go to the Hidden Location's entrance.]
[There, you will find a Gate that will lead you outside of the Dungeon.]
"What? You're joking, right? This is a maze! How am I going to make it out in 5 minutes?"
[ You only have 4 minutes and 40 seconds left.]
'Oh shit.' He didn't waste one more second.
He ran into the room with the treasure chest. Went right below the hole in the ceiling he had fallen down from previously and jumped up.
He easily grabbed a part of the broken ceiling even though it was pretty high.
He pulled himself up and started crawling in the narrow hole he had made when coming here.
'5 minutes. Who are they kidding? And what's this dumb thing about leaving the Hidden Location. It's not a different location from the dungeon, it's a Hidden Location. Meaning hidden INSIDE the dungeon.' Adam was fuming.
But he kept crawling towards the entrance of the Hidden Location.
Very quickly, he arrived at a much larger tunnel. He could walk in there without crawling, but he had to choose which way he was going to take, right or left.
He had no idea which one was the right way.
He went left and started running.
He stopped abruptly after running for about 15 seconds.
'That presence? Goblins? Alright, wrong way. Let's head back.' He turned back and ran even faster than before.
After running for a minute, the ceiling got lower. He bent his back and kept moving.
He saw some light at the end of the tunnel.
He got out of it.
He noticed that the hole was the place where the wall crumbled when he had touched it previously.
It was the first secret passage.
'Wait, am already here? Didn't this take me like an hour before? Sure I was walking then, and scared but...'
He had no sense of time.
[ 3 minutes before expulsion from the dungeon. Please leave the Hidden Location.]
He remembered that the entrance of the cave was dark.
So he ran into the darkness.
He arrived outside the cave.
[ You have left the Hidden Location "The Goblin Chief's Domain".]
Next to the small lake outside the cave was a Gate emitting blue light.
[Please take the Gate to go outside the dungeon.]
"Time left?"
[2 minutes and 30 seconds.]
Adam got closer to the gate.
He drank water from the lake and washed his face.
Thinking about going outside, he felt anxious.
At the same time, his stomach started growling.
'Yeah, I guess it is time to go out.'
He went into the gate with a bit of time to spare.
[You have left the Dungeon.]
[The Gods welcome you back to your world.]
The next instant, he was all alone on a plain.
It was raining a tiny bit.
The sky was still dark, but the sun was rising.
He looked behind him, there was the blue gate.
And behind that gate was a forest.
He looked to his left. There was a military base maybe one kilometer away.
'Yep, am back.'
'I expected there would be people here.'
[You have cleared the Dungeon "The Forest of Goblins".]
[Rewards are being calculated.]
[Achievements:
You have survived for 5days.
You have killed 5 Goblins in the Forest of Goblins.
You have discovered the Hidden Location "The Goblin Chief's Domain".
You found the Hidden Artefacts inside the Hidden Location.
You have forcefully acquired the Storage Option during your first Dungeon.
You have defeated the Hidden Location's Boss Monster.
You have defeated 2 Hobgoblins inside the Hidden Location.
You have defeated 34 Goblins inside the Hidden Location.]
[ Reward per achievement:
Surviving for 5 days: 100Gold + 300Experience Points.
Discovering a Hidden Location inside an [F] Rank Dungeon: 200Gold.
Finding Hidden Artefacts: (None).
Forcefully acquiring the Storage Option : 100 Gold + 5 Medium Healing Potions.
Defeating the Goblin Chief: 1100 Experience Points.
Defeating 2 Hobgoblins and 39 Goblins: 900 Experience Points + Title "Goblin Hunter". ]
[You have received 400 Gold Coins, 2000 Experience Points, 5 Medium Healing Potions and the Title "Goblin Hunter".]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[The Gods are happy to see you rewarded for your hard work.]
'What the hell? I was happy with what I got in the Dungeon. But turns out you also get rewarded for every achievement? This is crazy! The minimal reward was 100Gold and 300 Experience Points. Jackpot!' Adam was super excited. He shouted "Status!"
The window appeared.
[ Name: Adam
Age: 12years old
Species & level : Human Lv9 (0/1750 Experience Points)
Gold: 1455
HP: 455/460
Endurance: 80/155
Stats: Strength: 43(+2)
Agility: 27(+2)
Sense: 38(+2)
Vigor & Endurance: 28(+2)
Magic Affinity: 10(+2)
Stealth: 11(+2)
Unused stat points: 9(+6)
Skill(s): Sleeping Beauty
Crumbling Touch
Title(s): The First Pioneer
Goblin Hunter
Righteous to Evil Points: 760 to 40
S####o#: (None) ]
'All right. This is good. This is great. 9 stat points to use however I want. 2 level ups. A new title. This is amazing.' He was very excited.
'This is great and all but... right now, right now there's one thing I really want.'
His stomach growled ferociously.
"Yeah. Some food would be great right now."