rHearing the sound of combat, Sam stepped into view of what was happening. He saw three Frogmen like the one he saw before, but all of them were aware of Janik. One was dead on the forest floor with two deep cuts in his chest as the three others charged Janik with spears.
Sam Force Launched the spear he was carrying at one of the Frogmen, and to his surprise, it was a critical hit!
[ Critical hit, double damage. ]
The spear embedded itself in the gut of the rightmost target, as the frog let out a pained groan he remained standing, but he used a few valuable seconds to pull the spear out of his body.
Janik was readying himself and as there were still a few solid steps between them, Sam pulled all his daggers and with great speed, he sent them swinging towards the target closest to Janik.
Due to his lack of proper aiming, there were a few misses, though less than he expected. Four daggers missed, hitting trees or just straight up missing, one of which was a 10-damage blade. The remaining 16 daggers cut deeply and sliced the frog apart.
This caused severe hesitation in the other two, giving Janik a solid opening to close the distance and deliver two powerful slices at the next in line. Like the one already dead when Sam rounded the tree, the two deep cuts landed properly and the frog fell. The one Sam speared gave a gurgling war cry as he stepped in and thrust his spear towards Janik.
Luck was on their side and the copious amount of slick blood on the forest floor messed with his balance, the frogman slipped slightly giving Janik an easier chance to dodge, having the spear miss completely right before Sam brought in the swarm of blades his way. Some daggers still missed but that was fine, most of them still hit the already wounded target and the [ Lifesteal 1 ] even activated. A powerful pulse of splatting blood left the last target before he fell over.
“Whoo.” Janik got out of his combat stance and stretched his back before swinging his blades a single powerful slice each in the air, causing most of the blood to fly off from the centrifugal force. “That was a good one.”
Sam agreed with a nod. This could have gone smoother, but the result was perfect. No damage to them and complete victory. He dared to hope that the rest of the Dungeon would be the same, but he was afraid of jinxing it.
Finding that his daggers were now covered in frog goop, from the first attack but also the current battle. He had a trick that was harder for normal people. Due to the speed of the cuts, only the blades were coated in frog juice, since his Psyhands couldn’t be cut but could interact with substances and items, he could simply grasp them around the blade and pull down as one would a cloth, this scraped off the blood without effort.
“Oh, how did you do that?” Janik quizzed as he saw the blood just peel off the blades.
“I used my Psyhands, they can’t be cut, so I can scrape it off.” Sam smiled, feeling like he discovered a new trick.
“Oh! Oh! Do that to mine!” He held out his swords for Sam to clean, like his own weapons the blades themselves were the only thing covered.
Using a few hands he pulled them along the blade a few times, scraping it off like a squeegee.
Janik looked happily surprised at how effective this was. “Oh, that’s great, I don’t need to clean my scabbards as deeply if you do this.”
This made a lot of sense, you would wipe off the weapons the best you could, on the clothes of your enemies, nature or bring paper towels or something. But this was fast, safe and reusable, took close to zero effort and just worked. It wasn’t perfect, naturally, so some maintenance would be needed, but it dramatically cut down on fluids shoved into the scabbard.
Only now, after cleaning all the weapons, did Sam remember that his daggers were needed to dig out the cores. Luckily it wasn’t that he had gone through a thorough cleaning regimen, but it felt like a wasted effort nonetheless. He got to work and dug out the four Cores.
[ Experience gained: +400. ]
[ XP to lv.11: 737 / 5120 ░░░░░ ]
[ Dungeon clear conditions:
Kill the Frogman chief. 0/1
Optional: Kill all monsters
Monsters killed: 5/20 ]
Progress was being made, already halfway with the targets felt almost too good to be true. Most of the time so far had been used sneaking around and taking it easy. It was somewhat logical to imagine the main target being either in the centre of the forest or at the opposing end, they were taking it easy and trying to get a jump on them. It didn’t work in this specific instance but it was a safer way than just rushing into the centre and getting swarmed.
They agreed to take their time and continue as they were, this let them find and sneak up on a group of two Frogmen, seemingly discussing something in their croaks and groans.
As they were busy, Janik took a moment to type something on his phone for silent communication. He explained that he could see their HP as 65, meaning that if Sam split up his daggers, 9x 5dmg, 2x 10dmg on one target, and 6x 5dmg, 2x 10dmg and the 1x15dmg on the other target. If all attacks hit he could take them both out at the same time.
This put tremendous pressure on Sam, but he also knew that as long as they remained hidden, he could get another attack or two before they found them, lessening the pressure considerably.
Nodding and willing to give it a go, he moved closer so he was barely within range of his attack, taking a longer time than before to line up his attack before striking. All twenty daggers were in position, he had double and triple-checked as far as he could without showing the floating blades to his targets. Pulling the metaphorical trigger he sent them flying and he was happy to see that only two attacks missed, one 5dmg dagger per target, but everything else landed!
This caused tremendous damage to them both, lost a lot of blood and were covered in cuts, but both were still standing. Widening their stance they grasped their spears, looking around them for an enemy. One frogman looked around and saw only the floating blades, frantically yelling as he started to attack them his stone spearhead contact with the metal blades. The other looked around and managed to spot Sam through the brush.
Letting out a powerful shout he wound up throwing his spear and letting it fly, but it seemed that his wounds were too severe, he couldn’t put enough force behind it and the spear didn’t even make it to Sam, hitting the dirt in front of him. Sam didn’t intend to let the scenario go to waste and keeping the dagger grouping he simply spun them around and pulled them back to him. The first frog managed to parry one of them, but as there were 10 more heading his way and 9 coming in behind the second frog, none of them stood a chance as only one needed to contact.
The two fell. Again there was no damage to the duo and no resources spent so far. Elara didn’t even need to use her venom and all in all, this was successful so far.
Or, so they thought.
Before the Players got to take the next step ahead, there was some stomping and rustling in the distant brush. Choosing to space themselves from the scene of the crime they left the vicinity and gained some distance. It didn't take long before the source of rustling showed itself as more frogmen, three to be exact, came riding in on man-sized lizards.
Janik looked a bit uncertain, he was considering things before he started writing on his phone again, tapping a few times on the dimly lit screen, looking up at the new group before tapping some more. His gaze switched back and forth several times like this, not wanting to lose sight of the target as he did so.
Showing his phone to Sam, he got a moment to read.
The message read that the lizards didn’t have as much health, he read only 45 on them, but they were much stronger, a single bite would kill Sam even without critical hitting. So they needed to be taken out first.
Once Sam had read and pushed the phone back, Janik updated the message over a few seconds. The new information read that they should try to take them out of range, if that failed it might be smart to leave and reset.
Seeing Janik this uncertain and stressed hammered home the point he was making. They could give it a test relatively safely, but with the 10m/30ft range he had, if he wanted to use all 20 daggers was somewhat limited in a strange sense. He needed to get closer.
Using Janik’s phone, he wrote that in return that he needed to get closer to reach, he’d start with the lizards and if it looked like he was going to get attacked, he’d just exit.
Janik read the reply and his brow furrowed, he didn’t seem happy about the danger but after a few seconds of thinking he seemed better about it. Writing a reply on his phone he showed Sam.
Getting the go-ahead with the order of just getting the fuck out if they come for him, Sam started sneaking ahead to get in range of the first lizard mount. All of his daggers were floating and ready.
Just as he was getting in range he noticed that the lizard noticed him in return, sniffing the air and taking a few steps closer. Though this was a fail for his sneaking skills, it was kind of positive as it allowed him to get in range faster. None of the others seemed to have noticed him, so this worked out wondrously.
Slicing forwards towards the head and neck of the lizard, only four of Sam’s attacks failed to land, 1x10dmg and 3x5dmg. The landing hits were plenty to take it out instantly, and as the daggers effortlessly slid through its thick hide due to their speed, it pulsed blood as it fell flat. Not a sound left its body and if one didn’t notice all the blood it could almost look like it was sleeping.
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Two of the three frogmen noticed that something was weird with the lizard, and some croaks and gurgles later, one of them stepped in closer to investigate. Sam panicked a little; should he try to get in range of the lizards or just take out the frogman?
Trying something else, as the frogman was moving in closer to investigate the dead Lizard, the other frogman being focused on him, the two lizards were also somewhat focused on what was going on.
Bringing in six 5dmg daggers and despawning the Psyhands, he used those points to extend the size of his Area, this let him hit one of the other Lizards. Taking advantage of their focus he aimed properly and sliced!
In reality, if he hit perfectly, he could take them out with the four 10dmg daggers and one 5dmg one, but he didn’t dare gamble with the aim. The positive of this was that the lizard was overkilled solidly. The negative thing was that everyone reacted to this happening, but the only thing they saw was the flying daggers.
This started a few seconds of panic, they seemed to wonder what to do with the situation, giving Sam a moment to do something, anything. Pulling the daggers within normal range he cut the Area expanding, returning the 3 points. Dismissing a few more pairs of hands he ended up with three pairs holding daggers and 7 points to spare, using those points he Force Launched the 15dmg, the four 10dmg and one 5dmg dagger at the last Lizard, allowing him to ignore the range, of sorts, and gamble for the best.
One 10dmg and the one 5dmg dagger missed, however since the 15dmg and three 10dmg daggers landed, this was still the needed 45 damage! No critical hits nor Lifesteal activation, but exactly what was needed.
The landing four daggers embedded themselves deep in the body of the lizard as the light of life left its eyes. This caused even more panic in the remaining two Frogs, they looked around frantically and managed to find Sam hiding in the bushes.
One of them threw his spear at Sam, he wasn’t able to move the hands in place fast enough to affect the trajectory so the spear landed solidly.
[ Armour, Defence 10 has lowered the damage. ]
[ HP: 07 / 35 █░░░░░░ ]
Sam was not surprised at the damage, Janik had warned him about that but he was reacting to the damage done by crying out in pain. His mind called for help, wanting to hide and wanted safety.
[ Do you wish to emergency exit the Dungeon? ]
The window popped up, he wanted to accept it but... his items, his dagger. The Vampiric dagger specifically. By the time he had even considered things, Janik had run past him at amazing speed, both blades in his hands found his target, cleaving up the closest frogman, the one who still held his spear.
Sam had an important choice to make, leave the dungeon and risk not finding his dagger again, or waiting until he had to. He was near death but at the same time, he was not the main target right now. Instinctively pulling up all remaining daggers not out of his range, he found himself with 14 of his 5dmg blades in his hands, stepping in closer he sliced them towards the remaining Frogman who was preoccupied with considering what to do.
10 of the blades landed true, not enough to kill him, but did considerable damage. Moving a pair of Psyhands onto the frog’s eyes he used the remaining of his energy to Force Pulse into them. It wasn’t enough to do any damage or lasting effects, but it was more than enough to ruin his eyesight for the two seconds Janik needed to pounce in and finish the job.
As the last frogman fell, so did Sam fall to his ass in relief. “Holyfuck that was stressful...” He expected to get a stern talking-to from Janik for not leaving the dungeon but was surprised when the only thing in his eyes was worry.
“Are you ok? You’re not bleeding, you got shit for HP but, how do you feel?” He sounded a little panicky as his hands were on their way out of his bag with a potion in hand.
“I feel fine-” Sam stopped him from uncorking the potion. “Well... the dark orange health is scary but I’m fine.” He fished out his potions and started shotting them one after another. He used the lower-rank potions for this as you wanted the high-power ones for emergencies.
“Good.” Janik stated before he slapped the back of Sam’s head. “You should have left... I mean... I get why you didn’t, and I guess you wanted to wait for the last minute but... Please don’t do that again.” His voice started stern and angry but ended soft and almost to the point of holding back tears.
“Are... are you ok?” Sam turned the question to Janik’s tone at the end of his rant.
“I’m fine, just reacting to how reckless you are.” Janik took a moment to breathe after his poor attempt to change focus. “But I get it. And I’m glad it worked out. But... you only get one life, don’t squander it on the hope of things going well...”
Sam had to agree. Like Janik mentioned his plan was somewhat to hold back until the last minute, he could see them fighting and if one were to wind up another spear he could just accept leaving then. But, thinking like this gave him another thought, what if someone he didn’t see were to attack him... That would be bad... Perhaps Janik had more points to his rant than he thought.
Having chugged down 8 of his 11 cheap potions, he was back to 100% health, and though it didn’t go perfectly, he was proud of his choices in this fight. He almost took out all of them and if he had been better at sneaking it could have been amazing.
“That said, you did surprisingly well.” Janik complimented, adding to Sam’s pride in the moment. “You almost got them all, not fond of throwing your strongest daggers like that, but I... guess it was a range issue?” He sounded uncertain at the end, though they had discussed Sam’s limitations, considering range is not always perfect when you’re not in the situation.
“Yeah, I had to drop some hands to reach the Lizard over there, but the last one was too far away.” Sam confirmed, wondering if there was a way to properly extend the range of his Area. Though his 10m/30ft gave him a lot of wiggle room, having a permanently larger area would be much better.
“Yeah, thought as much. In that case, I get it, might be smart having some backup daggers for shit like that in the future. Or just use your spikes with Venom on or something.” Janik shrugged.
That comment had Sam feel... dumb... In the heat of the moment, he had completely forgotten that he had Elara with him. She was attentive and looking around like always but wasn’t getting involved as per his earlier orders. She could have proven surprisingly good in this fight, sneaking around and causing distractions, or, as Janik mentioned, just having venom on some of his spikes.
He chose not to mention it.
“Well, it’s good to see your health back to full, but... I get the feeling of wanting to continue, but we can always just restart as many times as we want. Please don’t... Just... don’t hesitate. I’d rather leave after one kill than risk it again.”
“Yeah... I’m sorry. I thought that if I left, my daggers would remain in here, not sure how that works so...” Sam did feel a bit apologetic about this. Janik had been nothing but supportive, and the only thing he was a bit strict on was pure survival. Which was a good thing to be annoying about.
“Yeah, if you emergency leave, everything you leave is lost unless someone else gets it. I could have given it a go but if we left now odds are high that I wouldn’t consider it... But losing thousands on thousands of dollars, or the fuck it’s worth, is always better than dying.”
Again, Sam had to agree. He only considered the value of his dagger. Though it was a pain to get and was amazing and such, it paled compared to the value of his life. He couldn’t use it if he was dead, after all.
He would have to reevaluate this, it was hard to let that thought go but... It was the smarter thing to do. The alternative is that he needed to get powerful enough that this stopped being a danger.
[ Experience gained: +1500. ]
[ XP to lv.11: 2237 / 5120 ██░░░ ]
[ Companion Elara, level up +1! ]
[ Elara XP to lv.9: 707 / 1280 ██░░░ ]
[ Dungeon clear conditions:
Kill the Frogman chief. 0/1
Optional: Kill all monsters
Monsters killed: 13/20 ]
Though this fight was more dangerous than any he had had so far, in its way, it was surprisingly manageable as long as he managed to keep hidden. He was still somewhat surprised that he got 1500 XP, considering this was just his half. They spent some time relaxing after the fight, but also getting the cores. Elara’s level-up point was put in Vitality as normal, now bringing her total Health up to the same as Sam's. Though she didn’t have his Defense rating... yet... This did mean that she wasn’t too far from him in survivability. Cleaning of the blades was done as before so it didn’t take long before they were somewhat ready to continue.
They continued to sneak through the forest for a while until they came to a large clearing. It looked swampish with a bog of sorts, some simple tree-trunk-looking bridges here and there, simple thatch huts and a large area looking like a ritualistic platform where something looking like the exit portal was held.
The remaining 7 Frogmen could be seen around the place, the Chief was easily recognisable. He had the same appearance as the others except being a head taller, much wider and looked like he was on steroids. He used the same stone spear as the others but everything about him just looked worse.
“Well... He has twice the HP of the others...” Janik commented passively, causing strong consideration with Sam before he continued. “I do have an idea, though.”