Five minutes. Minus the respawn time, that meant that he had one minute to kill the three humanoid golems standing in the back end of the room.

Lock strode forward and drew his fang-like short sword while analysing his opponents. They all looked the same, brown due to them being composed out of animated earth, stubby legs, normal torso, two arms that ended in swords rather than hands -the only part of them that wasn't made out of earth, but rather stone-, and a head that split apart almost comically in a sharp toothed scream as they finally turned in his direction and charged.

Well more like jogged.

55 seconds.

Their jogging formation was disorganized, therefore Lock was able to simply step diagonally to the right with an outstretched left hand, pushing the one in the middle of the pack into the one on the left, while dodging the sword-arms of the one on the right.

He only evaded for a short second, until he'd entirely retracted his left hand, then, once it was usable again he smashed it down on another stab in his direction, his gauntleted fist breaking the sword-arm at its base to the grating shrieking on the golem.

Snorting and dropping his own sword, Lock grasped the monster by the shoulder and the elbow that still had a sword attached to it, spun it around roughly, and shoved it sword first into the golem behind it that had just gotten up.

50 seconds.

Lock watched as the one-armed golem he'd used as an improvisational weapon easily slid shoulder-deep into the golem it had been flung against. The swords were sharp. Something to keep in mind.

Deciding that the two were too busy with each other to offer any kind of resistance, Lock strode past them towards the last golem, which had also gotten up and was swinging both his arms in Lock's direction in a move that vaguely reminded him of a hug.

Rather than do the instinctual thing when confronted with a hug and step backwards, Lock stepped into the hug, almost gently grasped the golem’s neck in two hands and acquainting its face with his own helmeted one, pulverizing its head.

The golem quickly dissolved, the only thing remaining being the stone swords that clanged loudly as the fell to the ground before they too started dissolving. Turning around Lock ducked under a swing and then a haymaker of the golem that was coming at him, a sword arm still sticking out of its gut, the one-armed golem being forcibly dragged around behind it.

The arm was stuck in an interesting position, so that if he were to step in and grasp the joint, which he did, he could simply shove the blade part upwards, cutting in half the face of the golem the arm was stuck in, and thus he did.

The golem dissolved, the one-armed remaining one being freed of its bondage.

45 seconds.

Lock stepped towards the seemingly disoriented golem, put a hand on its chest and deliberately walked past it, one leg lashing out backwards hitting the thing calf to calf. It went flying downwards onto its back, loudly impacted the ground, the magic holding it together seemingly starting to destabilize. It was bleeding earth everywhere.

Unwilling to wait until it reached the logical conclusion of a golem with a disturbed magic formula, namely death, Lock lightly hopped, raised his right leg, and brought his steel encased foot down onto the golems head. Suffice to say there wasn't much of a head left afterwards, the body joining it in the afterlife soon after.

Lock went back to the position where he'd dropped his sword once he'd realised he wouldn't be needing it, picked it up, and slid it carefully back into its sheath.

40 seconds.

The confrontation had taken him close to the exit of the room, so he opened it without any fanfare, and upon noticing that he wasn't hearing any steps coming to approach him, turned around to see a stunned Mia staring at him with wide eyes, seemingly frozen in her spot by the entrance.

“Are you coming?” He asked. At which Mia slowly nodded and woodenly joined him in exiting the room.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The structure they found themselves in after closing the door was about what he'd expected. A dirt tunnel lined with some stones to give it structure, the glowing blue teleportation crystal hanging off the ceiling in front of them.

They walked around it as they quietly made their way towards the other end.

“I wonder if the doors are actually locked when there is a red cross on them, I know that the ones leading backwards are not.” Lock mused while looking downwards to make sure he didn't trip over anything. The ground was slightly uneven.

Mia pointed forwards silently, causing Lock to break out of his musings and to look up at the wooden door leading to the next room that they had reached. There was a red cross glowing on its surface.

“I guess I can just find out. Can't I?” Lock asked himself, rhetorically, as he was already stretching out his hand towards the door handle. Grasping it he cautiously turned it and opened it a miniscule amount, just to make sure he could, before he closed it again.

“I guess you can.” Mia said.

Lock nodded and leaned against the wall, preparing himself for a wait of about ten minutes. Well, if they were just waiting here and relaxing, might as well talk strategy he thought.

“We should use this opportunity to talk about our strategy going forward. I think one important mission that we need to complete today is to familiarize ourselves with working in a team. The dungeon offers a great opportunity for that, since no matter how we fail, the risk of death is nigh zero.” Lock said eventually.

“What do you propose?” Mia asked, seeming to immediately agree.

Lock tapped a finger to his chi. The helmet emitting a clunking sound at the gesture. “Well, nothing too complicated. You saw earlier how easy the golems were to destabilize. So I'd say...,” Lock trailed off and stared into the air for a few seconds, “I just run at them and become the centre of attention while you act like the Ninja you are and pick them off around me.”

“It sounds very simple.” Mia said cautiously, causing Lock to shrug.

“This will be our first team-up, anything overly complicated would just muddle it up, need to get a feel first ya get me.” He answered in a jovial tone.

Mia looked like there was something bothering her about the plan, but that she couldn't really put her finger on it. Lock could guess what exactly it was that she was thinking, even if it was a misunderstanding, and therefore supplied her the answer to her inner conundrum.

“What you're probably bothered by is the fact that the plan doesn't directly mention either of us using any skills.” He said, and watched as she gave a small nod and give him an expectant look.

She probably wanted him to elaborate. “Well it's nothing special really, I just consider the insight an enemy can gain into my fighting style and the resources expended more dangerous to my survival than having a fight last few seconds longer. Naturally, I won't hesitate to use skills when it's necessary, but fighting these earth golems is hardly a challenge.” Lock said.

“It's not like there will be anyone spying on us while we're fighting here though.” Mia said, apparently not understanding the implication that she was one of the people he was hiding his skills from, and then continued with an actually good point, “and stamina is also a resource.”

Looking at her lithe build, he had to concede to that she didn't look like she had much stamina. Although… as he’d mentioned earlier, a misunderstanding had occurred. He hadn’t directly told her not to use skills. He’d said ‘act like a Ninja’, what she took from that was her own problem, but he could continue with the current flow of the conversation. Dig for some information.

“I can see how the stamina might be an issue, and I apologize for not having considered your probable lack thereof. If I may ask, how high is your Endurance?”

The question caused Mia to eye Lock warily. Revealing statistics was after all, a rather personal matter. Lock failed to see the issue, since she had already shared her skills with him earlier, even if would act like he’d forgotten by now, but he could certainly understand her reluctance. Stats were... a summation of a person's being to a certain extent. It was hard to bare them to the world and offer one's self defence-lessly to its cruel judgement.

“If it makes you feel any better, my Endurance currently rests at 34.” Lock said, lying, seemingly extending an olive branch. Only to receive an incredulous look in return.

Thankfully Mia decided to tell him her statistic before the silence had the chance of becoming too awkward. A soft, “13”, managing to find its way through the air to his ears.

Ah, this was indeed not very much, especially considering that the number 13 had a slightly different meaning when attached to a woman rather than a man. Sexual dimorphism and all that.

Lock hadn't considered the fact that he could have three times Mia's Endurance, but now that he knew he could definitely sympathise with her worries over needlessly prolonging fights. She was a Ninja, a hybrid class very similar to a Spellsword, but more stealth oriented. Thinking that he had told her that she should avoid using skills, in her case magical ones… It basically closed off half her avenue of attack, if not more. This in addition to her low Endurance...

Ninjas used mana, and mana regenerated. It would be foolish not to use skills at least once in the beginning. If one didn’t, one would entirely miss out on mana’s regenerative potential.

“Under concern of the new information forwarded I completely agree that it would be rather unwise for you to refrain from using skills. Can you please name them again so we can have an earnest discussion about their potential in the current scenario, I seem to have forgotten.” Lock said, acting slightly embarrassed to sell the lie.

“Wall Rush, lets me walk up walls for a certain period of time if I take a running start; Energize Weapon lets me magically sharpen my weapons by at least a factor of two; Stealth which you should know; Hidden Mist, which lets me condense water in a thick mist laced with my mana, disrupting magic sensing and letting me feel through it; and Groundeating Stride which shortens the space between and enemy and I.” Mia rattled off effortlessly.

Just as many skills as she’d given him last time, the same ones as well. The ploy hadn’t worked then. He’d been hoping that she’d reveal more the second time, maybe give him some insight into how to attain the Ninja Class. Not that he wanted it, but alas, twas not to be apparently. It would be suspicious if he asked a third time so he decided to drop the line of inquiry. He would simply have to carefully analyze her fighting style to see if it gave any hints.

A problem occurred to him while he was considering her skills though. None of them sounded like they would be particularly useful here. Maybe he just didn't know how to apply them to the current scenario?

Well whatever, he simply nodded at her expectant gaze, turned to the door that suddenly wasn't crossed out anymore and deciding to drop the idea of discussing her skills. He said the only thing he could really say. “Use your skills at your own discretion, just avoid the Hidden Mist, it would blind me as well.”