"Oh fu*k."
Looking at the creature standing at a distance away from him, this is what Adam said. Glancing at it's Message box floating above it's head, he had seen...
[Goblin Mage]Lv. 10
Boss
Using [ The Gamer's Observation] he sought more information.
Goblin Mage(Goblin Chief) Lv : 10 Condition :Super Powered(Supported by Dungeon) . HP :600/600 SP:400/400 MP :700/700 STR:30+10(40)AGI :17+10(27) VIT:30+10(40)DEX :14+10(24) INT:50+20(70)WIS :40+20(60) CHA:6+10(16)LUK :10+10(20) Perks: none
Skills Blessing of the Dungeon
Blessing of the Goblin Totem
Roar
Charge
Mana bolt
Fire magic
Mana shield
[ Goblin Mage ]
A rare variant of the goblin race, these monsters are known to be strong beings which have broken the shackles of Idiocy which limits them. Having both pen and sword in hand, they are not to be underestimated.
[ Goblin Chief ]
Leader of the Goblin Village
Grants +5 CHA.
[Blessing of the Dungeon]
As the protector of the crystal which supplies the dungeon, the Boss is in turn rewarded by support from the dungeon in executing it's responsibilities. Extent of support depends on grade of dungeon.
Grants +10 to all stats.
[Blessing of the Goblin Totem]
As the shaman who leads the worship of their God, they are rewarded for their faith and devotion by being blessed with great ability and leadership.
Grants +10 INT, +10 WIS, +5 CHA .
'With those INT values, if I get hit with his magic just once I'm dead.' Adam thought, and he was right.
Just like how Physical attacks depended on the STR value( 1 STR = 10 ATK) +Bonuses from any skill being used, MATK or Magic Attacks, depended on INT values ( 1 INT= 10 MATK ) + Bonuses from the magic being cast.Thus with Adams' STR, as long as he could make a clean hit on a fatal area, he could one hit kill all the monsters in the dungeon.That was a fantasy though, as was proved by the fighter and elite goblins. Looking at the skills the boss had in it's arsenal, Adam didn't doubt for a second that A single fire ball or mana bolt would enough to kill him or at least put on the brink of death. And if that wasn't enough...
'If that mana shield skill is what I think it is, then I'm in trouble.'
Observing the skill, he saw...
.
[Mana Shield]
A magic spell which foiled many an assassination plan, this spell serves as a guardian of mages who would be otherwise killed by warriors in a few moments.
Creates an omni-directional shield around the user. Endures a certain amount of damage before breaking.
Endurance of mana shield = 25% of Max MP(fixed)
Cost: 50 SP (- 1 per 4 levels)
Cool-down of 3 seconds after first shield is broken.
Looking at these humongous stats,and that ridiculous skill, Adam almost fainted from jealousy. Who says not having Perks puts monsters at a disadvantage? Looking at the bonuses this monster had, it was even more than what his perks gave. The only advantage was these blessings seemed to mostly be for the leader, or at least, that's what he'd seen so far. Looking at it's CHA stat, he noticed it was quite high, higher than his in fact.
' Wait, isn't charisma supposed to be a measure of one's attractiveness? Does this mean that this goblin is more handsome than me ?' Adam thought. Conjuring up images of this monster being surrounded by fan girls, shrieking in high pitched tones and fainting as it bares a smile at them.
Shaking this horrific image out of his head, he looked at the system's answer.
[CHA is a measure of the influence one has over an Individual or a group, thus it can also be a measure of one's leadership abilities.]
'Ohhh, now that makes a lot more sense. Now I see why those goblins seemed to be using strategies to try and catch me.' Understanding after the system's explanation,Adam mentally nodded his head, the pieces falling together.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
'But how and why did the boss appear here though?, Did it hear me and the redcap fighting and come to help? Well I'll never know, what I do know is that I need to concentrate.'
Getting his head back into the issue at hand; mainly the matter of him about to get brutally killed if he doesn't figure a way out of this,Adam did what he was best at, make a strategy on how to kill the boss . It seemed like the situation was bleak; however, thinking about it, this was the best chance he had to get out of here. Right now all the goblin villagers were not around, just him and the boss. Granted he had lost some HP and SP fighting the Redcap, but he would die from a single Magic attack anyways, and he still had quite a lot of SP remaining.Checking the 2 values, he found
.
[HP: 450/785]
[SP: 390/490]
His health was almost down to half, but it wasn't like it being full would make the situation any less dangerous. Seeing that he had almost 400 SP to use, he grew more confident. Standing up, his determined face showed his conviction in facing this foe to the death..Gauging the distance, Adam took off running, speeding towards the mage, the only way he could beat it would be to punch it into oblivion.
.
.
.
Seeing Adam running towards it, the goblin mage raised it's lips into a semblance of a grin, possibly amused by the antics of the prey which it had finally caught. After chasing and searching for it for a whole day, sacrificing so many of the villages warriors and even the sole Elite goblin they had in the process, the prey had finally been caught. Not wanting to lose anymore villagers, the boss of the dungeon had personally come when it had received the news from it's subordinates that the Intruder into the dungeon had been found, It raced off to deal with the problem personally. Getting there just in time to see it's most competent subordinate defeated with dirty tricks, it had no qualms about retaliating in kind. Unfortunately, the attack seemed to have failed, however the boss didn't mind. It was going to enjoy this fight.
.
.
.
(Back to Adam's POV)
Running towards the monster, Adam jumped to the side just in time as a bolt of energy flew past where he was standing just moments earlier. Not minding this he resumed running, only to find his opponent retreating,it's AGI boosted by the dungeons blessing causing it to be on par with Adam's. Continuing this chase for a while, occasionally dodging the mana bolt or two which came his way; staying cautious and learning to evade them better and better, slowly he drew closer, until they were separated by just a few feet of distance.
Suddenly his speed increased, [Sprint]-ing the last few feet with as much speed as he could muster. Startled by the sudden change in speed, the playful goblin mage suddenly became serious . Casting a mana shield around itself, it raised it's hand with scorn on it's face, fire blooming from it's fingertips and flaring into a ball which shot off towards Adam as a spell was cast.
Seeing the fire ball come towards him, Adam stopped advancing and jumped back, widening the distance again as the mage also retreated ,barely leaving the fireball's range as an ominous feeling swept through him. A short moment after this decision two mana bolts flew past on either side of the fire ball, having been cast just few moments after the fire ball spell.
Feeling a cold shiver run down his spine, Adam knew he had just avoided death by following an instinct and not exploiting the opening in the mages attack, and thus ultimately falling for it's trap and dooming himself.Now they were back to square one, with a big distance between them. Cautiously observing the goblin, Adam knew he was facing a foe just as cunning as he is. He would have to either tread carefully, or brute force his way to victory; and as it stood right now, he was leaning more towards the latter. Getting all this experience fighting mages, albeit one that was playing with him, Adam knew the best way a physical- oriented attacker could win was through overwhelming AGI to not only catch up to beat senseless these annoyingly relentless magic users, but also to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit by the magic.
Right now, Adam had neither, so he had to use the former tactic, although it was a lot more dangerous. Slowly but surely losing SP, he would at some point be unable to dodge these attacks,which he somehow felt was the goal of the goblin looking at him like some kind of play toy.
Growing angry at being treated like an object for amusement, Adam, now fed up, decided to end things. Preparing himself, with a crazy plan in mind, he looked at the boss and said..
"You made me angry, you're not gonna like me now that I'm angry."
After saying this he began to run at a moderate pace, going towards his foe in a determined fashion. Waiting for the inevitable spell which was thrown his way again, he faced it on this time, upping his speed to the max and adding [Sprint] to the mix. Instantly accelerating abnormally, he sidestepped to the right, narrowly passing by and continuing to run instead of diving to the ground and waiting to be shot down there. Looking at the second spell following quickly on the firsts heels, Adam reinforced his legs with [Aura strike] as he bent his legs together, pushed hard from his heels, then jumped,focusing on only going up as his momentum carried him forward. He watched as the second attack flew under his bent feet, then landed and continued running safely behind it, [Sprint] still active and boosting him ever closer. Within a few feet of distance again , this time Adam did not relent, using his agility to just reach the edge of the fireball approaching him, spinning on his heel to avoid it, although it didn't go perfectly.
[-100 HP]
' And that's just for it brushing me as I dodged it.'
Not thinking about it he faced the mage goblin again as It cast the second magic, stepping forward with [Aura Strike] reinforcing his foot, he stepped hard on the ground, shifting horizontally in the opposite direction from the powerful force of him kicking the ground. Once again the magic spell flew by him, and this time he didn't give the mage a chance to repeat it's actions. Stepping hard again on the ground, this time he flew out in the forward direction, [Strongarm] and [Aura strike] already loaded on his arm. Swinging his arm with his fist clenched with all his might, Adam yelled out...
"H*lk Sm*shhhhh."
Crashing into the translucent blue mana shield surrounding the mage in a sphere, a sound of something breaking was heard. With an effective ATK of 590 increased by 75% by skills, the mana shield was not able to block even a single blow.Breaking through the shield, the residual energy in the punch struck the boss of the dungeon, sending it flying.Lying on the ground, it didn't seem to be disappearing and giving out loot, which showed that it was alive.
Walking towards it to finish it off, Adam saw it twitch slightly, then lay still again. Getting a bad feeling, he stopped approaching, thinking it probably had some trick up it's sleeve, being the cunning creature that it is. Deciding to finish it off from a distance, Adam finally took out the one weapon he had not used or even touched since he entered the dungeon, the gun.
With only 2 bullets left in the gun, Adam had felt it simply a waste to use it to shoot a normal or rare monster. Fighting the Redcap, he had been able to cheat his way to victory and thus didn't need it, and against the boss, the bullets would've been stopped with the mana shield. But now, with the shield gone, the gun could finally prove it's use.
Taking the gun out of storage and holding it in his right hand, Adam aimed it at the goblin mage and shot, hitting it right in the side of the head. Instantly a huge ball of fire burst out of the goblin mage's hand, heading upwards extremely quickly. This final cheap trick angered Adam, and thus getting a bit closer, he shot the second and final bullet into It's head, bursting it open and spilling brain over the forest bed. To further confirm the goblins death, Adam watched as it's corpse disappeared, replaced by the normal loot as well as An old book and the head of the goblin mage.
Taking all these into his status, Adam finally sat down to relax and catch his breath. Calming down a bit, he finally checked the new messages he'd gotten from the system.
" Oh, my ,goodness, what the.... ?"