Flain vs Lizards

Flain looked at Itai; he was unconscious. Flain knew that if Itai were dead, he would be too. It was lucky that the part of the cave they had fallen into had muddy ground—if they had landed just a little further away, they would have hit solid stone, and they definitely wouldn't have survived.

Flain walked over to Itai and pulled him out of the mud. There were no visible wounds, but he could have internal injuries. The sacks and Flain's swords had landed nearby. Flain retrieved his weapons and slung Itai over his back.

Flain wondered if his HP would regenerate and how long it would take, as he only had 5 HP left, which was far from ideal for combat. He could barely walk.

[Tip: 1 HP regenerates every 30 seconds. Lost limbs cannot be regenerated.]

When checking his HP, he noticed he still had 2 unused bonus points. He didn't even need to think about which stat to invest them in.

[Vitality increased by 2]

Now he had 25 HP out of 140—not optimal, but certainly better than 5.

Flain thought as if he had only one life and that death was the absolute end. He reasoned this way because if he did things that would kill him, it might be considered an intentional death. He still didn't know what a curse was, but he wasn't going to risk finding out.

Flain carried Itai to the cave wall, where he planned to wait until his HP fully regenerated. If a monster on his level or higher attacked him now, he would surely be dead within moments.

He sat there waiting for almost an hour—exactly 57 minutes.

Then, he stood up. His HP was fully restored. Itai still hadn't died, which meant he likely wasn't seriously injured.

Flain was deciding where to go next—deeper into the cave or toward the valley. The valley looked strange. It was enormous, and above it, instead of a sky, there was a stone ceiling. Yet, somehow, it was still illuminated. A mist hung over it, and the ground was quite marshy.

He decided to go deeper into the cave. He walked and walked. There was no more light, yet he could still see. That meant he had night vision, which was great.

As he continued forward, he suddenly heard a strange sound—a soft pattering. Flain stepped around a corner and saw a skeleton. It looked just like him without armor, except it held a regular rusty sword in its hand.

Flain felt like he shouldn't attack it. He didn't know why, but that's how he felt. And when the skeleton noticed him, it didn't attack either—it simply kept walking.

Flain smirked. If it wasn't going to attack him, that meant free EXP.

He aimed one of his swords at its head and sliced it off. The head fell to the ground, the sound of its impact echoing through the cave.

[+120 EXP]

[+Evolution Dusk]

120 EXP? That was the least he had gained so far. But if it was as strong as he had been at the beginning, that made sense. And the Evolution Dusk was useful—Flain was actually quite eager to evolve.

As Flain looked at the pile of lifeless bones left behind by the skeleton, it occurred to him that Itai might be able to revive it. But that wouldn't be possible while Itai was unconscious on his back.

Flain continued through the corridors. Along the way, he encountered two more skeletons. They didn't attack him, so he easily killed them, gaining 270 EXP.

Flain then moved forward. He saw a light and once again found himself near the beginning of the cave. The area was vast, and in the center, he spotted three figures.

They looked like humanoid lizards. They were about 130 cm tall, hunched over, with slimy purple-green skin, and each carried a weapon. Two of them held large daggers that, given their size, were probably meant to be swords, while the third one carried a strange rod that didn't look like a weapon at all.

Flain placed Itai against the wall for safety—having him on his back would weaken him too much.

Flain moved toward them. When they noticed him, they started making strange noises.

"One of those from above! Kill!" Flain understood their words thanks to Body Rotten With Darkness.

He didn't know why they called him "one of those from above," but in the end, he didn't care.

Flain charged at them. Each of them spat out a toxic liquid from their mouths. He dodged two of the attacks, but one hit him in the shoulder.

[-40 HP]

Flain looked at the spot where he was hit. His armor had a dent, and his cloak had a small hole. The fact that their attacks dealt HP damage was bad enough, but the fact that they could destroy his armor, which granted him 70 HP, was even worse.

Flain reached them and slashed with his swords, but they dodged. One slid under his legs and stabbed him in the groin.

[-45 HP]

Flain jumped back. This was something far more interesting than skeletons.

Two of the lizards charged at Flain. The one with the rod stayed back, placed a stone into the rod, blew into it, and the stone shot toward Flain at high speed.

'So he's the ranged attacker. He has to die first.' Flain thought.

He dodged around the two melee fighters and rushed toward the shooter. When he got close, he quickly slashed him twice across the chest.

The shooter staggered and stepped back. But then, he suddenly threw the rod aside, sprayed the toxic liquid onto his hands, and aggressively charged at Flain.

By then, the two sword-wielding lizards had also reached him. Flain dodged the shooter and swiftly finished him off with his sword.

[+270 EXP]

"No, no, no!" The remaining lizards made strange noises, but Flain understood them.

Neither of them attacked immediately. Flain blocked them both. He swept one's legs out from under him and jumped onto him while still keeping his swords locked against the other lizard's.

He then pulled one sword away from the clash and drove it into the head of the lizard beneath him as it tried to get back up.

[+280 EXP]

RRRREEGG

Upon seeing this, the remaining lizard let out a growl of rage, and its eyes turned red...