Chapter 11: Against The Boss

The one who shot the arrow was a goblin, but this goblin was different. He sat mounted on a branch, it's face was painted with strange, almost tribal marks that ran down it's eyes and body, a cloth around it's waist and a bow with a knocked arrow.

The arrow droopped with a purple gooey substance, Zoey already knew that it couldn't be good, probably a deadly poison that would kill her very quickly. Whatever the case was, she didn't want to be hit by it.

Zoey's eyes roamed around her, noticing the many goblins that had surrounded her, all armed with a bow and arrow, grinning menacingly.

'Hmmmm...' Zoey glanced at the arrow she had caught, then at a goblin in the distance. With quick movements Zoey chucked the arrow at the goblin, the arrow travelled fast, cutting through the air as if it was shot by a real bow. 

"Ack!" The goblin was hit right in the throat, the arrow piercing through it's neck and arriving on the other side, coughing a mouthful of blood as it tried desperately to breathe.

Zoey smiled slightly, 'I just noticed, I really am addicted to attacking enemies at their throats. Am I a psychopath?' Zoey questioned herself, before shaking her head.

'Well, doesn't matter honestly.' Zoey thought, returning her gazes to the enemies surrounding her. A notification pierced her mind, informing her of another hundred [Goblin Cores] entering her inventory, but she pushed it aside as she needed to focus on the battle.

The goblins at the top of the trees felt their skin crawl, just by looking at her recent action, they could tell that Zoey was not someone to be messed with. Another goblin, with more marks on it's body than all the others, began to speak in their language.

'What are they saying?' Zoey thought, curiously raising a brow and tilting her head slightly, confused.

The goblins huffed as they nodded in affirmation, as they had received their order to let all hell loose. Immediately, the sounds of bow strings stretching sounded in the air, the goblins knocked their arrows as they all directly aimed at Zoey.

Zoey narrowed her eyes as she started to get serious, grabbing her dagger tighter in her hand. Her ears twitched as she heard the strings bounce with a strong vibrations, the sounds of arrows cutting through the air with small whistless. 

'I have to dodge these!' Zoey instructed herself, utilizing her new aquired agility. She nimbly began to dodge the arrows, leaning and leaping from spot to spot. The arrows hit the ground hard, missing her as she continued to dodge.

'Time to counterattack. I'll take down the ones on the trees first.'

Zoey immediately began to dash at one of the trees while still dodging the constant rain of arrows, with a powerful leap, Zoey jumped high in the air.

The goblin was shocked and terrified at the strength behind Zoey's leap, watching as she neared it with quick speed. Before it could react, Zoey was already infront of it's face, delivering a powerful slash across it's chest and killing it instantly.

She then set her eyes on another tree, leaping toward it before the onslought of arrows had a chance to even hit her. The cries and sound of flesh being ripped apart echoed through the forest, their blood painting the ground red.

'That's all of them.' Zoey thought, jumping down the trees and landing on the ground.

'Now all that remains is them.' Zoey thought, staring at the remaining goblins with a satisfied smirk, an excited grin forming on her lips.

The goblins shrieked as they felt Zoey's intense gaze on their skin, a heavy weight instantly settled on their shoulders, making their knees tremble.

Zoey dashed forward, instantly reaching them before they could knock an arrow on their bows, swinging her dagger as she delivered swift and brutal slashes to their bodies, killing them very quickly.

'I didn't get anything from the rest of them, not a weapon, or a material. Shame.' Zoey thought, a bit dissapointed. She opened her [Inventory] and gazed into it, a small smile forming on her face as she noticed that she had 158 [Goblin Cores] now.

'Atleast I'll still have these to absorb, after I'm done completing my trial inside the Tower Of Hera.' Zoey mused, closing her [Inventory] as she looked into the distance.

In the distance stood a small clearing, surrounded by trees and thick bushes, bearing mysterious fruit. In the middle of the small clearing, sat a goblin wearing long robes.

A crude skull necklace hung around it's neck, a staff with a skull on top of it, radiating an unsettling aura.

'That looks like the dungeon Boss.' Zoey contemplated, her [Heightened Senses] allowing her to see very far and very clearly. As she gauged the Boss's aura, Zoey's eyes widened in suprise and shock at what she saw.

'It's blue....' Zoey thought with a slight tremble of her hands, her eyes glowing with excitement.

'It's blue!!'

Zoey couldn't believe it, although she was very powerful now, she had expected the Boss to pose a challenge to her, even if it was atleast a little. But in this moment, Zoey couldn't control her excitement, an excited smile forming on her face.

'No no, concentrate!' Zoey gently slapped her cheeks, 'That's a goblin shaman, meaning it should have some magical attacks. Even if it's weaker than me in terms of strength, I must never underestimate my enemies.'

With a deep breath, Zoey calmed down her nerves. She then put on a more serious and determined expression, beginning to walk towards the Boss of the dungeon.

'This is it...just this one enemy left, and my first dungeon will be cleared!'

Zoey's mind began to recall back to the time she had read books about Hunters and Dungeons. Bosses inside of dungeons are usually much more powerful than normal enemies, requiring a full party to take down.

The treasures Bosses drop were also much more valuable than normal drops, by rare instances even dropping treasures one rank above the normal dungeon rank.

"But that isn't the end of it." Zoey muttered under her breath.

As this was an F-Rank dungeon, the floors weren't that many, and the monsters weren't very strong. But as the ranks go up, not only do the monsters become much stronger, the floor count increasing, but new threats are introduced that scale above the normal Boss a dungeon boss would normally have.

Zoey reached the small clearing at the end of the forest, standing a few metres from the dungeon Boss. The goblin shaman smiled with it's eyes closed, slowly rising from the ground, and turning to face her with an evil grin.

'Here we go.' Zoey thought, gripping her dagger tighter. Locking eyes with the goblin shaman.

The final battle, was about to begin.