First Dungeon Part 3

The monster finished changing its form in a couple of seconds, and even if it looked like a pure imitation of a cannon, Mark knew it wasn't so. Instead, he could see a flame inside it, which he could somehow tell that it was unlike typical fires.

He didn't have time to check the energy, as he would need to close his eyes to do so, as he wasn't that used to focusing on using the Skill without doing so. At that moment, he needed to move out of the incoming fire. Fortunately, his choice to increase his had worked to his benefit, as his reflexes were much better than before.

As the other , this one's speed wasn't much, and by the time it released its fire. However, he didn't move back; instead, he went sideways, as he was sure that the attack would be linear, but he didn't know its range. His assumption turned out to be correct as a line of fire was released by the 'mouth' of his enemy and reached at least ten meters. But when the attack started, it didn't change direction to follow him.

That was a sign that, once the attack started, it couldn't change its rotation. Either that or his enemy didn't notice his move, but Mark didn't think it was the case as Slimes didn't have eyes, so they probably detected him through movement or some other ability.

Mark didn't get closer to the monster yet, as he wanted to get a good feeling of its abilities first. Even if it had an opening now for him to use, Mark didn't know how long it would last and how soon it could attack again.

The attack lasted for ten seconds as the line of fire ended. The form changed a bit, as the tip of its cannon had bent slightly, but not in a way to look like it was broken.

'Had the attack taken too much out of it?'

It seemed a bit like a sign of the monster being tired, but Mark wasn't familiar with them, so he didn't want to risk it. So instead, he stayed on guard as he moved around the monster while keeping a distance of over two meters, which should be more than enough for him to react if another attack came.

Seconds kept passing without the acting anymore, but Mark kept his distance. Finally, after a little over half a minute passed, the straightened itself as it turned towards Mark.

Mark stayed still for a moment, and when he noticed his enemy once more being ready to fire, he moved away again. But, again, the attack was identical to the last, with no decrease in its range, heat emitted, or duration.

After it, the was weakened, which Mark once more decided not to take advantage of. If something happened once or twice could be considered a coincidence, but if it happened more times, it was a pattern.

Its weakened state lasted a bit more than the previous one, which Mark kept in his mind, and after it was over, another flamethrower attack followed it. But, once more, there was no change to the power of the attack as far as Mark could tell, and when it ended, the Slime entered a weakened state.

This time Mark didn't stay still but didn't charge at his enemy either. He instead threw one of the small stones he picked up while moving around. Of course, his target was the , and he tried throwing it with as much force as possible.

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You dealt 4 Damage to

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This was the first time he saw this notification. It was either because it wasn't enough to kill his target or because he made the attack, not Truck-kun. Still, Mark didn't expect to do that minor damage.

Even if he didn't know how much HP a , since it was safe to assume that it was more potent than the , he had encountered, and it should have more HP too. He was level 3 and had 65 HP, so his enemy should have more than that, meaning he needed more than a dozen attacks like that to kill it.

But throwing a rock wasn't a good indication of how much damage he could deal with, as it wasn't a proper weapon. Nonetheless, Mark threw three more rocks, dealing 4 more damage with each of the first two attacks, but the third one was different.

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You made a critical attack and dealt 8 Damage to

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Mark didn't notice any difference to his last attack, as it didn't seem to hit any specific spot that seemed different from the rest. But there was a significant change because of his as it wasn't unusual to affect critical attack chance in games he played in the past.

Mark had no more rocks on him and didn't dare to try to gather more in case the weakened state of the lasted less or was affected by his attacks. But, in the end, it lasted almost the same time as last time.

Mark still kept his distance and easily once more avoided the flamethrower attack. This time, Mark moved to reach across the way from where the was making its attack and started his charge at it.

It didn't take him long to reach it as he counted how long the attack lasted, and he should have 5 more seconds. At that point, he threw a punch at his foe, which he regretted, as it felt like hitting a solid stone.

'Why is it so tough? Is it a benefit of its transformation?'

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You dealt 3 Damage to

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Reading the notification, Mark decided not to make another attack for now. He didn't think throwing a rock would be stronger than his fist since there weren't any special techniques behind either of them. But when the rocks hit it, it looked like hitting something of that toughness, as there was a bit of a ripple in its body, similar to when one threw a stone in the water.

Mark waited until the flames were gone and once more attacked, once more with a punch. But, this time, he got a different feeling, as the surface of his foe was much softer than before. It felt like its fist could keep going into the monster like it was made of soft plastic.

Mark pulled his fist back and threw a kick at the same time.

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You dealt 6 Damage to

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You dealt 6 Damage to

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Both of his attacks did the same amount of damage, and he noticed that it was double the damage he dealt with his first punch.

'It seems like its Defence is getting lower at this state since it isn't a Critical.'

He kept making as many attacks as possible but kept his guard up and kept counting down how many seconds had passed since the attacks ended. It was something he had picked up from back to his gaming days, as he had kept counting the duration of the different phases.

The first weakened state lasted ten seconds, while the second and third lasted twelve and thirteen, respectively. The duration increment was strange, so Mark decided to pull back when ten seconds passed just to be safe.

With his current , he could attack maybe twice per second, meaning he could do at most twenty attacks in the time before moving away. But he did a bit less than fifteen attacks in the end, as his timing wasn't perfect.

His foe was still up, which Mark didn't find strange. He barely had dealt triple-digit damage to his enemy in total. Even if he didn't know how much HP the , he considered it to have at least twice his, meaning over 120. If that was the case, another barrage should be enough for him to finish it, but he didn't keep his hopes up just yet.

As Mark pulled back, he was glad to do so, as the moment he did so, the started exiting its weakened state.

'Does taking damage reduces its weakened state duration?'

Mark couldn't be sure of anything and planned to ask Truck-kun later about it. Instead, he focused on keeping his distance as the made threes of its flames upon him again. But he got used to the timing at this point and easily avoided the attack.

Once more, he made his way to the back of his foe, as it needed to turn when it exited its weakened state, giving him more time to retreat. However, this time Mark didn't begin his attacks until it entered its weakened state, as he didn't want to hurt his hands anymore.

As the flames subsided, and his barrage of attacks began once again, not even halfway before the time to retreat passed, a set of notifications that Mark expected finally appeared.

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You killed a and gained 83 EXPS

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You reached level 4

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You earned 1x

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You earned 3x

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