The forest was unlike any dungeon I’d entered thus far. For one, it wasn’t inside some cave system. At least, that’s what I thought at first before I looked around more closely. Once I did, I realized it wasn’t all that different after all. Sunlight streamed through the canopy overhead and trees surrounded me, but the reality was the same as the crab caves and every other portal I’d entered, excluding the one I made. Whether the walls were wood or stone, it was still a dungeon of limited size.
The bigger issue was how much cover there was. I could make out a dense forest wall behind the portal, but even excluding that the trees were bunched together and frequent as hell. If ambush predators were hiding in the branches like the man had suggested, then I’d be having a bad time here. Not to mention how hard it would be to find my way forward, let alone back in the event I needed to retreat. Honestly, as much as I appreciated the variety, I’d really rather avoid all these complications. If I wanted a scenic forest, I’d just wander to the south. The main reason I was here was for the dungeon experience multiplier.
Come to think of it, did that even apply to kills? Excluding the people and sharks from earlier, all of my experience grinding had been done in dungeons so I didn’t really know. What made things more complicated was that I didn’t know how strong these things were. Without knowing an experience value for each kill or each level, I wouldn’t be able to prove or disprove anything. Whatever, it was safe to assume that if stat growth increased in dungeons then class experience would follow the same pattern.
I slowly made my way forward through the trees, keeping an eye open for any movement. It was difficult to say the least. I had no idea if the monsters would attack from the branches, the brush, or just swoop down from the sky, so it quickly began to fray my nerves. Worse still, I managed to sweep the entire first area without finding anything.
Despite superficially being a forest, the structure of this dungeon was basically a cave with a paint job. I was in a big dome with a tunnel leading out, but this time there was a lot more foliage and greenery than usual. Following the winding path, I kept my eyes peeled for any movement.
I got to the next large opening without incident and walked through there as well, hoping that something would jump out at me. Another disappointing survey later, I was beginning to unconsciously lower my guard as I walked through yet another tunnel of trees. That’s when they made their move.
I barely noticed something in time to throw myself to the side, slamming shoulder first into the unforgiving trunk to my side. Despite the wall of trees seeming impenetrable to me, the large hunter leapt from behind them, catching me entirely by surprise. Of course now that I was looking for it, I could see that the trees tapered off as they got taller, meaning that there was room to maneuver up in the branches. Just because it was a wall at ground level didn’t mean the same was true near the canopy.
My enemy this time was a little hard to describe, but it was definitely some kind of large cat. The lion-like animal had a shorter head than usual with massive buck teeth along with just generally being bigger than the ones I’d ever seen on TV or at the zoo. Where those big cats would reach just past my waist at most, this creature was nearly up to my shoulder in height while gaining a proportional amount of length. The monster was closer to a bear in size and weight despite having the lithe agility of an ambush predator. That seemed more than a little unfair.
The coloring was also odd, following the mottled brown of tree bark almost like a forest snake, more skin than fur. If I was a betting man, this creature probably had a toughness in the double digits. A slap from me would kill it, assuming I could get that close without dying.
It stood a distance away from me where it had landed, waiting for my next move. That, or it was stalling until backup arrived. Knowing that I’d be screwed if they surrounded me, I got to my feet quickly and charged the monster.
My time with the crabs had definitely made me a little paranoid. Whatever the level of these tree cats, they definitely didn’t have stats on par with even the weakest of the crustaceans. The lion creature attempted to leap back into the tree line, but I proved to be too fast, catching up to it while it was mid jump. It was definitely fast and had good eyes, noticing my movement before it had even really started, but I was just too quick for that to matter. A short hop allowed me to close the vertical distance enough to catch the leaping monster.
“Uppercut.”
My fist connected with the creature's belly, proving my earlier theory to be correct. My arm blasted through the animal like a falling steel beam, tearing it in two as blood sprayed all over me and my nice fur outfit. This was why I usually did this naked but whatever. Once my other set dried I’d still have a set of clean clothes for going out in public. Until then, I’d just treat these as my work furs and wear them whenever I had monsters to kill.
Now that I’d metaphorically buried one of the creatures here, I could get a feel for how they stacked up to my latest excursions. So far, nothing had felt like it gave as much experience as those people I killed the other day, which actually suggested that dungeons might not have a multiplier for getting class levels. That or those would-be assassins were just really high level. Regardless, the second biggest haul had been the sharks, followed by the crabs, and lastly the lion before me. Granted, I was a fair bit higher leveled than when I’d last killed a crab, but not by that much. Probably. Meaning that the crab caves were most likely a DL6 rather than a 5, unless that guy at the ticket booth gave me bad intel. Alternatively, this place is just as dangerous as the crab caves, just not when you bait the monsters into single combat.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
That could be it. Ambush predators would have a field day with anyone lacking the necessary awareness to foil their opening move. If the pattern from the crab caves held true here as well, then that’d also mean there were other lions here with even better stats and maybe even magic. If that was the case, fighting them even one on one might not go too well. With those big heads and giant teeth, it could probably punch straight through my skull if it got the drop on me, killing me instantly. This was definitely a high risk location for leveling.
Still, I had limited options. So long as I saw the lions before they reached me, I could kill them without taking much damage. Even throwing myself into the tree with all my strength had only done single digit damage, and I’d healed that up by now. The bigger threat was engaging a mini boss without realizing it, but that could happen anywhere.
It seemed like most everything had three good stats. If you were a crab then you were tanky, strong, and fast in that order. These lions seemed to prioritize awareness for ambushing, followed by speed and strength. That being the case, I’d probably never fight anything that would be truly easy to kill unless I hopelessly out-leveled it. At that point, it wouldn’t give any experience anyways. Most anything worth killing would either be tough, fast, or sneaky. The crabs taught me how bad it was to fight something more resilient than me, not to mention their speed in a straight line. If they had been a creature capable of circle strapping, like a regular crab instead of a horseshoe crab, then I’d have died in that first encounter. Ultimately, it was my speed that allowed me to survive until now.
These creatures were slower than me but too sneaky for me to see first. That meant that they could help me train my only lagging attribute that could still be raised: awareness. So, as dangerous as this would be, it was also the best thing I could be doing. I wouldn’t be gaining a lot of class levels at this rate, but I’d be gaining experience in a more practical sense. I’d just need to be more careful moving forward.
Stepping over the two halves of the lion, I walked further into the forest. Now I was looking up almost exclusively, trusting my peripheral vision to help me navigate the tangle of roots and vines stretching out across the floor. If I tripped, then I’d definitely get jumped.
Once again, I only saw the creature after it was descending towards me, aiming to puncture my skull with its massive teeth. Trusting my skills, I took a small step backwards and unleashed an uppercut, attempting to catch it as it fell. Surprisingly, the monster was able to move midair, twisting out of the way as my fist hit nothing. Fortunately, I knew how weak these creatures were and, active skill or not, they couldn’t survive any of my attacks. This time, I gave a simple kick as it landed just out of reach from my arms. It saw the attack coming as usual, but there was little it could do. After it leapt back into the air to avoid my kick, I took a step forward and used a jab to crush its skull. The speed of my fastest attack was far too much for it to keep up with, ensuring my victory.
That felt better. This time, I was able to take care of my assailant before it could do anything, staying on my feet the entire time. Emboldened by my success, I pressed forward. My third encounter started the exact same way as the second, all the way to my kick. Sadly, that was when things got complicated. As the third lion jumped into the air to avoid my foot, a fourth sprang at me from the side, forcing me to fall over to dodge its fangs.
Normally, being on your back against two lions would be a dangerous predicament. Indeed, I wasn’t all that thrilled about it either. Unfortunately for them, I was a wrestler. The ground was my domain.
After circling me slowly for a good while, they lunged at me at the same time.
Welcome to the octagon, you damn animals!
One lunged at my legs while the other went for my head, giving me the perfect opportunity to try the full extent of my passive skill. Wrestling didn’t just help with suplexes and mounting, it was a skill that fundamentally improved my ground work and ability to force an opponent into submission. My legs wrapped around the head of one charging lion as I rolled to avoid the other. The maneuver dragged the former with me as it growled in pain. Still, my legs were too strong for it to resist, and its claws weren’t powerful enough to do anything meaningful to my staggering defense. Without those massive incisors and strong jaws to power them, all it could achieve was a little chip damage before my legs crushed its windpipe, leaving it to slowly suffocate.
The second lion hadn’t been idle this whole time, but it simply wasn’t used to the rolling movements I was employing. Whatever prey it had hunted in the past clearly didn’t have the impressive skills that I did.
While I’d lost a little bit of health here and there due to stray scratches from either monster, they couldn’t reach me with their teeth. And now that it was down to a one on one, the fight was as good as over. The lion sprang at me, but nothing stopped me from kicking on the ground. A swift turn allowed me to face the creature legs first, giving me the perfect position to thrust my heel directly into its bottom jaw. The blow rattled the lion, causing it to collapse to the ground before my follow up kick crushed its skull into the dirt floor.
Now that was a good fight, and still my health was circling full. Invigorated by my success, I got back to scouting. I couldn’t wait to get even more levels.