It turns out that Eric was dumb enough to get caught in a situation where he could get overwhelmed.
Fighting one barghest was simple; two would be more complicated, but still something he could accomplish without receiving any major injury. Three barghests is where things started to get complicated, and he would start to consider escaping if things looked too unfavorable for him.
Which is why he was currently running away from what he knew were at least five of them and what he swore was a flying creature that moved from tree to tree, the thick trees preventing him from getting a proper look.
When Eric had started his journey toward the new dungeon, he was walking leisurely, wary of his surroundings, but not actually doing anything to prevent being spotted by any potential enemies.
While he had some knowledge and practice of how to hide and move about unseen, he had never really had any reason to use it. He had grown up in a peaceful place during a peaceful time.
The most dangerous thing to his own well-being was himself, specifically his impulsiveness. So even if he wanted to hide, the most effective thing he could do well was crouch and walk slowly. But that wasn’t Eric; a part of him wanted to come across something.
Shortly after he entered the small forest, he came across something—a sleeping barghest.
Eric crept forward slowly, careful not to step on any twigs or fallen leaves. He crouched down, his left hand quickly shot forward, pressing down on the beast’s snout, preventing it from making any noise. By the time the beast awoke and became aware of what was happening, the axe had already struck its head.
As Eric walked through the forest, he found similar lone and sleeping barghests, killing all of them. The caution that he had slowly faded away with each kill.
He soon came across one that was awake and alert, looking directly at him as if waiting for him. A second after Eric saw it, it started barking, waking anyone or anything that was nearby.
Soon, another barghest came out from behind a tree, followed closely by another. Eric was ready to fight the first barghest, even the second, but as soon as the third appeared, he shifted his body slightly and dashed forward, passing between the three monsters.
As he did so, he received small injuries—grazes from claws or bite attempts—nothing too severe, nothing that would hinder him, and he passed them without having to stop.
The barghests obviously followed after Eric, and it wasn’t long before he saw another one come out from in front of him, forcing him to dodge. The fifth barghest he noticed from the corner of his eye, as it ran and ultimately disappeared from his field of vision, now only following behind him.
The last thing he noticed was how the trees shook every so often, always ahead of him. The light that the moons provided was more than enough to navigate through the small forest, but not enough to see through the shadows.
Endurance +1
Agility +1
That’s something, he thought as he willed the system windows away. With my four free stat points, I could reach twenty in endurance and maybe that would help with how winded and tired I currently feel.
He mentally opened his status window and put all his free stat points into endurance. When he allocated the final point, finally reaching twenty, he felt a slight discomfort throughout every muscle in his whole body. Less than a second later, that discomfort turned into agonizing pain. He felt how every muscle in his body was stretched and compressed simultaneously.
The pain was more than enough to cause him to lose his footing and fall forward, barely managing to turn his body, allowing him to roll, instead of falling face first into the ground.
He tried to get up, but the pain he felt was excruciating. Any strength he tried to muster was immediately met with an even worse pain. He fought through it and after what felt like an eternity; he managed to get on one knee. This is bad, he thought.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!!” Eric screamed as he forced himself to get up.
He looked forward, seeing what looked to be a building through the trees. He wasn’t far off from his destination, but neither were his pursuers.
He pushed his legs to move, taking one step at a time, slowly being able to do more, regardless of the pain. Every step he took was so strained, he felt that he would eventually hear his legs creak.
Then he stopped moving. He could hear his pursuers right behind him. He turned slowly, not due to caution, but because slow was his only speed right at this moment.
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He tried to activate his skill, only to be met by a mute response. He then remembered that it was already active and occupied analyzing something else. Fuck! he exclaimed mentally.
He got into the best ready stance he could, considering his condition. He could clearly make out six barghests and something moving in the trees.
“Maybe two,” he muttered to himself, squinting his eyes toward the trees.
He tried to back away, but as soon as he was about to raise his leg, he was completely certain that if he did so, he would fall. He reached for the small axe in his waist, only to remember that he had been running with it in his hand. Must’ve dropped it. His eyes darting across the ground before him.
Before Eric could continue to ponder his situation any deeper, the first barghest jumped at him. He instinctively tried to dodge, instead, he fell on his back and barely managed to raise his left arm, allowing the beast to bite it.
The pain he felt from the bite was noticeable, but it was not even close to the pain his entire body was already experiencing. Before he could think of what to do next, something within him screamed, telling him to focus on the pain. He tried to listen to whatever was telling him to focus on the pain, but struggled to do so. He felt a second bite, this time on his right leg.
His mind raced; he was soon able to clearly distinguish one pain from the other. When he finally managed to focus on the pain from the bites, the pain his muscles felt became background noise. A wide grin took over his face.
Eric raised his right arm, grabbing the head of the barghest who was biting his left arm, and started to push his thumb into its eye. Its bite grew fiercer, but Eric didn’t stop, even as it shook its head, worsening the wound.
Eventually, Eric couldn’t push any deeper, so he pressed his thumb against its eye socket, his hand firmly grasping it and pushing outward. Another bite, now on his right arm, but he didn’t stop; he continued exerting as much strength as he could.
Strength +1
Constitution +1
He looked through the transparent windows that had appeared. One more bite on his right leg. Without stopping what he was doing with his right hand, he started to kick wildly with both legs, feeling how one of his kicks landed firmly and succeeded at driving them away, if only for a moment.
Strength +1
Constitution +1
You have earned the title: Tireless fighter
Eric felt a rush of strength invade his body; he even felt the pain he was experiencing lessen lightly. Before he could even enjoy this newfound strength, the barghest were back, biting his legs, one more having joined them.
This time, no matter how much he kicked, they wouldn’t let go. But it wasn’t only bad news, as he finally managed to tear through the barghest’s eye socket, causing it to release his arm with a pained whimper.
With his left arm now free, he reached for the whimpering barghest, grabbing it by its throat and dragging it toward his right side. He lifted his right arm, which still had a barghest biting it, and brought it down with all his force onto the face of the still whimpering barghest.
He did so repeatedly, with every motion injuring the captive beast with the protruding chin bones of the other. The one who was biting his right arm tried to let go, but even as it opened its mouth, Eric brought his arm down, dragging its maw down. Soon, the captive barghest stopped struggling, and Eric wasted no time and reached for the other barghest, failing to grasp it as it jumped back.
Eric sat up and punched the barghest that was closest to him repeatedly until it finally let go. The others, surprised by what had just occurred, quickly backed away.
Eric took this opportunity and quickly stood up. He looked at the beasts before him and caught a glimpse of the axe behind one of them.
In that moment, he felt as the mana that was slowly moving toward his head stopped and knew that his skill was once again available. He activated it and took in the entire scene before him, analyzing the best way to move forward. Sadly, he had too little mana left, it only being enough to give him a faint idea of how to proceed.
As the skill ended, Eric darted toward the axe. When he reached it, he only had a few more scratches, as the beasts were being cautious toward him.
“You probably thought I’d be dead now, huh?!” Eric exclaimed as he tightened his grip on the axe.
With an axe in hand and following the vague plan in his head, he lunged toward the groggy one that he had punched repeatedly in the face. It tried to move to the side but was too slow. Two heavy strikes from the axe brought it down. One jumped at him, barely missing his right side.
He turned around and faced all four of the remaining beasts. The light from the moons illuminated them clearly. Eric saw how exhausted they looked as they breathed heavily. Probably from all the running, he thought to himself.
Every time he advanced, they would back away. They were ready to attack, they were just waiting for an opportunity. Fine. Here, he thought as he let his right arm drop.
Two of them finally decided to attack, one after the other. He dodged the first one, and once again offered up his left arm. As soon as the beast bit down on his arm, Eric struck it on its neck. The beast fell down, and it lay there, bleeding out.
He quickly turned to the one he had just dodged, hunched down slightly, and brought the axe down on its head. With his back turned to the other two, one tried to climb onto his back, failing as Eric quickly stood up. The beast fell on its side, and the axe landed on its face repeatedly.
Level up!
Moments later, the last barghest died, with Eric’s foot pressing on its throat and the head of the axe on its skull. The small axe broke as he delivered the final blow. He threw the handle to the side and looked at the trees. There was nothing moving within them anymore.
“Probably thought I was someone else’s meal,” Eric muttered to himself.
Tired and injured, he dragged himself toward the cafeteria building. He could feel himself falling asleep, and without knowing for sure if more monsters would come or not, he went toward the door. As he tried to open it, he was met with a system window.
Would you like to enter the dungeon Building C: Yes/No
He selected yes, feeling the door handle loosen. He entered the dungeon, a bright light enveloping him.
As the light dispersed, Eric was on the ground, having collapsed as soon as he felt he could.
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Somewhere within the dungeon, the darkness within a room began to thicken, coalescing into a heavily viscous substance that dripped from the walls. It slowly but steadily gathered into a single puddle that was promptly eaten by the only monster in the room. Suddenly, an even deeper darkness started to spread from the monster, slowly enveloping the room.