Chapter 13: One slash boss kill

As I walked further down the lane I encountered more goblins, sometimes single and other times in a group of 2 or 3. They were all level 1 so far and my accumulated Exp soon reached 1900/2500 with torches 19 and potatoes 38. But then I reached a dead end as if it was the end of the right path and required for me to go back and either continue straight ahead or move to path on the left side from the crossing. I wanted to reach level 3 before encountering any level 2 goblins or the boss of this floor (In case there were more than one floors) or the boss of this dungeon (in case this was just a level 1 dungeon for noobs like me to practice)

On my way back I tried to think of a way of leveling up my skills which were not showing any signs of moving ahead as of now. Before I could come up with any viable solution, I had reached the crossing and started moving towards the path on the left. Similar situation continued this path as I encountered more and more goblins, but they were getting easier to deal with and I was able to get past them with a single slash. By the time I reached the end of the left way, I finally heard the golden notification I had been waiting for and I reached level 3.

Notification

“Killed goblin (level 1) exp 100”

Level up

I decided to take a break here and check my status to see if I had more of those attribute points with this level up. I was hungry and needed something more substantial than the apples I had in my store. I didn’t have the means to cook anything hot and didn’t fancy eating bread on its own, so last resort pastries it was. I ended up finishing all three remaining ones and saved the empty basket, which thankfully didn’t disappear for use later. I was truly starting to become the trash king.

I did have 2 more attribute points with this new level – so I guess I will be getting two of these things per level instead of automatic increase in attributes. I added both points to agility this time bringing it up to 8 from 6 as I felt it wasn’t keeping up with my increased strength. I would have liked all my attributes to be symmetrical, but we can’t always get what we want, can we.

I glanced at the time while closing the screen with a swipe, I realized that I had been in the dungeon for 4 hours already and it was late afternoon. I decided to go a bit further on the straight path and gauge the level of difficulty before deciding whether to continue or go back for the day. Even though the goblins I had encountered were level 1, they have been good practice for my non-existent combat abilities. As I walked back from the left lane on to the straight path, I noticed the area opening further ahead and immediately noticed a group of 7 goblins staring at me as if I was food – it’s quite unsettling.

I haven’t described the goblin’s yet as they are too disgusting looking to fit any description. Florescent green in color with bulbous noses and thick lips, their eyes are a small slit making their facial features disturbing. Their stature is on the petite side and shape uneven with unexpected bulges but it’s hard for me to gauge their height as I don’t know how tall I am yet, having never seen this new self.

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With the 7 of them staring at someone, it is the stuff of the nightmare I tell you. They all started running towards me together, making me want to run away. But I had just leveled up and wanted to test my new agility level, so I decided to run towards the ones on the left which were closest to me, thus avoiding giving them a chance to group up with their attacks. As soon as I was close to the two on the left most side, I slashed out with both my knife and katana. With my, continuous practice of using both hands and increased strength the damage from my attack had gone up substantially and I was able to kill the two in one strike.

By the time I turned around to face the ones in the middle, 2 of the goblins had ganged up on me from the back and hit me with their clubs. One hit landed on my head and one on my shoulder. It was painful but bearable, so I slashed out again and managed to kill one and injure the other one heavily enough to take it out of the fight.

Then I turned around to deal with the ones hitting me and as I slashed towards them, their clubs hit me at the same time. They both died and their hits gave me a headache as I took a hit on the front of my head. The last one was easy and with that I had 700 Exp and 14 potatoes.

In this fight I felt getting the hang of my slash skill deeply. I was finally able to gauge the angle and the strength required to cause maximum possible damage. Maybe there was hope for me yet. I also knew that if these goblins had a knife or a dagger instead of clubs, I would be dead by now.

After I collected the loot, I noticed a wooden shack like structure up ahead – was this the boss room? Is this dungeon poor like me? I wondered if I was strong enough to take on the boss just yet. This is a level 1 dungeon, and I am already level 3 – I should be able to manage – right?

Patting myself on the back to do my best I head towards the shack to check out the boss wondering if it would a level 3 creature or level 5. What I was not ready for a level 2 goblin sitting in the middle of the room happily munching on some kind of meat and not paying attention to me at all.

It’s no exaggeration that one slash was all it took to conquer this floor without giving the boss any time to react. EXP was 150 and the loot was 5 potatoes and 25 copper coins – same as the wooden chest. Instead of a torch I got a small crystal which I will need to apprise once I was back in my room. I stood there for a while unable to process what just happened, feeling mildly disappointed in my heart.

I noticed the stairs going down and knew that this was just a pre-cursor to the horrors awaiting on further floors. Happy with my super easy boss kill, potatoes loot, I headed back to my safe room and decided to continue with further levels the next day. Why jinx the luck while its working in my favor.

By the time I came out of the dungeon (yes, I stole some of the torches – not all, I need them for my next visit in case these things don’t respawn) the sun was heading west. If I wanted to reach safe area before dark, I needed to hurry on. Using my additional agility attributes, I ran all the way until the white border and entered the safe area just as the sun rays were fast disappearing into the abyss.

I had a lot of things to go through and some potatoes to cook.