‘You can use the same way of attacking, but make sure to stun the monsters in the head by hitting them with the handle of the knife. You can use the other to blind them if the chance comes.’
‘If you increase the strength a bit more, that won’t be necessary. They don’t seem like the type of monster us at level ten should even be fighting.’
‘You are getting ahead of yourself when they are supposed to fight in groups.’
He understood my explanation and decided to stick to the plan. Perhaps I should start the fight with some throws and then leave him to deal with the aftermath. That seemed like the most efficient option, after all.
When he found the next enemy, he used his sneak tactics and then followed the plan. Attacking the nape of the monster with the handle of one knife truly stunned the monster… it gave him enough time to move to the side and then stab the monster in both eyes.
-10, -37!, -37!
‘It looks like the 37 is the critical damage caused, while the natural defenses of the monster, like its hairy head and thick skin, nullified some of the attack caused by the handle. In any case, the monster lost sight of the other guy and soon swung its arms in all directions violently… The other guy had the chance to stab the wrists of the monster and then stop the beast from further attacking before approaching from behind and then stabbing the skull of the monster repeatedly.
You received 04 EXP.
You received 03 Origin Coins
‘This is a lot more bloody than I had expected…’
‘This is great… if I couldn’t smell the blood or feel the danger, it wouldn’t be fun.’
The other guy was truly a mess… then again, perhaps I was in the wrong. If I had a problem with the smell of blood, I should have picked the archer or mage class. Perhaps even the priest class was a good option… I still would be able to heal myself and use other weapons, but all the skills would be for support. It wasn’t much different from what I was doing already.
‘Are you using Backstab?’
‘No, should I try it now?’
‘Yeah, let’s see if it can pierce the defenses of the monster. That should be the whole point of this set of skills in the first place.’
The other guy looked for the next target and soon charged when he found it… the beast was close to a honeycomb, so I imagined that the other two four armed bears came from here, while the remaining one was defending their treasure.
The creature felt his presence when he was five meters away, but once again, his jump combined with double handed strikes still caught the monster by surprise… both knives pierced the neck of the monster deeply.
-57!, -37!
The monster shook in pain, but soon the other guy twisted the knives and more damage was caused… a few seconds later, the beast fell dead on the ground.
-17, -17
You received 04 EXP.
You received 03 Origin Coins
He used Backstab with both knives, but only one caused critical damage for some reason. I could tell that based on the stamina that was spent.
‘It seems that the base defense of the monster is twenty… in this case, it should be its toughness. The skill worked as expected, combining the values of strength and dexterity, and the critical damage was equal to its defense nullified. Still, the math is wrong… why would its defense be added to the total value?’
‘Who cares about that? Can I eat the honeycomb?’
‘I care, and don’t eat it.’
After thinking for a while, I assumed that the extra value of damage came from somewhere else, but I didn’t have any parameter with that value. Perhaps it was the limit of damage I could cause in a single strike without aiming for the brain or heart of the monster.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
‘For now, that isn’t necessary. Using bigger weapons will take longer to get used to.’
‘I want to try fighting them directly.’
‘Hell no. What would be the point of fighting them directly after getting into the rogue class? Are you stupid?’
‘To gain time, this will take too long to level up.’
‘I am still analyzing information about the fights. That can wait until we get some levels.’
‘Dude, do you only want easy fights?’
‘Hell yeah. Why would I need challenges so soon when I don’t have healing potions and one week ago I was just an ordinary handyman? Do you think that I was born to become a secret agent or something?’
‘I might have the talent.’
‘Shut up. My body, my rules.’
‘Sure boss.’
‘I will take charge for now.’
‘Aww… come on! I promise to behave!’
‘I need to get combat experience before leveling up, since that would make things easier.’
While I wished for all the fights to be easy, I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that reality would make things that convenient. This world wasn’t kind, and battles weren’t designed for my convenience. I understood that growth often came through hardship, through hard fights that pushed me to the brink and forced me to surpass my own limits. In truth, I welcomed those challenges.
But there was a fine line between a challenge that inspired growth and one that invited catastrophe. I wasn’t reckless enough to gamble with my life or my body in a way that could leave me crippled or dead. Losing a limb, or worse, wasn’t the kind of lesson I wanted to learn. Survival wasn’t just about strength; it was about knowing which risks to take and when to step back.
So while I welcomed the fights that tested my resolve and skills, I also made it a point to keep the odds in my favor. A challenge should teach me, not break me beyond repair. There was no glory in surviving a fight so broken that I couldn’t face the next one. Besides, who knew the limits of the healing potions around?
‘I need to ask Lain later if healing potions can restore lost limbs… if it is possible, taking some risks might be a good thing.’
I copied the movements of that moron and then managed to approach the beasts just fine without being noticed… Perhaps he was right and I was just worrying too much about the situation. If the plane lands were some sort of training grounds, the other areas wouldn’t be insanely more difficult. Still, I decided to let those thoughts die… the moron thinking alongside those lines was enough for both of us.
After fighting some of the monsters like that, it wasn’t much of a fight really… I decided to try the throws on them. Naturally, I still would slowly approach them from behind. For now, I just wanted to test how much damage they could cause.
I took out all the knives from my inventory and then got ready to throw them in the final moment… Still, it seemed that the beast sensed my intention somehow and then slowly turned around. In a hurry, I threw my knives… the first one hit and pierced the back of the monster and made the creature groan in pain. The second and the others hit the left side of the monster.
-19, -19, -19, -19,
This one was a lot easier to calculate… my strength with the attack or the knives. It seemed that dexterity only affected my aim, not the attack damage. Still, there was a lot of damage… while the beast was in pain, I threw one of my main knives at the chest of the monster and the creature didn’t have the chance to block it.
You received 04 EXP.
You received 03 Origin Coins
‘Heh, this isn’t half bad…’
‘It is pretty boring, actually.’
‘I was able to defeat the monster way faster than you. Results are everything.’
‘Ugh… all right, you are on!’
I couldn’t deny that my way of fighting was boring, but I didn’t care. I had other goals aside from having fun hunting monsters. I had to gain power as fast as possible to look for the people that I cared about. Having a lot of power and not having anyone to use to protect them was a tale as humanity itself.
He had asked me to fight for a while, saying it would help him improve his fighting style. Normally, I’d have set some ground rules or limitations, but his request came with a specific goal: he wanted to beat my record of defeating the four-armed bears in just two seconds. That wasn’t a small feat, and it wasn’t something he could achieve by holding back. If he was aiming that high, I couldn’t make some restrictions that would limit his goal, at least not that many.
Still, I wasn’t about to let things get reckless. I made it clear that the moment he got hurt, the turn was over. It was a line I wouldn’t let him cross. Pushing his limits was fine, but breaking my body in the process wasn’t part of the deal.
‘Don’t be stingy, we can recover by using the honeycombs.’
‘The fight will only be acceptable for the competition if neither of us get hurt. I didn’t get hurt before, after all.’
‘Fine…’
I should have bought more knives, but I only have five slots of them in my belt. I decided to practice a bit, taking them from my belt instead of my inventory.
In any case, I was able to finish the monsters after hurting them enough with the throws, so it hadn’t been a problem. When I failed to hurt them enough, a bit of caution did the trick to finish the job.
Despite the time it took to find the monsters, I was able to level up mid-afternoon. We could gain more experience hunting just the fire rats, but we couldn’t obtain the honeycombs fighting them. After mapping an area of ten kilometers in the spots that they were found, I had to decide what would be my next step.
‘I have over fifty honeycombs. Should I retreat and get more?’