The massive creature went over the broken shield and slammed its mace into it repeatedly. Drew watched the spectacle with a clearer vision of why this hulking beast would be the first floor boss of a dungeon. It was completely blind.

The other skeletons never rushed them when they were standing still, only when they were talking or walking. The new boots certainty did not make for a quiet journey and his voice was not the hushed whispers he probably should have been using.

They even seemed to ignore Nurgle, possibly due to his small size and small feet producing little noise. Still, they seemed to have some vision, it just appeared to be incredibly poor. Almost always requiring at least Drew to be within sight to actually attack. Or was it just the boots clicking on the stone that continuously drew their attention?

Now was not think too deeply about it, they had to confirm his theory and that started with him removing his boots immediately. Paying close attention to the monster on the side of the room, he slowly unbuckled the boots just enough to slide them off without jingling the metal loops together.

The creature seemed lost without any new source of noise to attack. Drew threw one of the boots at the other wall, opposite of the hulking creature. It homed in on the spot on the wall the boot hit and swung for a homerun on the motionless stone.

That definitely confirmed it was completely blind. It heard noises and reacted, but if they were not somewhere a person would normally attack from, it would probably miss. Drew had seen it work for Nurgle, but the possibility that it would just smash the ground was still present.

He had to come up with a plan now that the pair were relatively safe from incoming death. He motioned for Nurgle to stop with his hands which the little guy was more than happy to adhere to and thought of ways to win.

They could try to destroy the ankles to restrict its movement then take shots at its arms to turn it into a quadriplegic. That was easier said than done and there had to be other options. Tripping wouldn’t guarantee a kill either and dancing in and out of its range was about as dangerous as it got.

The monster had turned back to where it stood when the fight started, seemingly waiting for something to happen. If Drew combined the two techniques, he just might actually make some progress on defeating it.

The pair quietly walked to the entrance with light foot steps to gain as much distance as possibly. They prepared their coming attack in silence with hand signals and miming gestures. After a few minutes of communication and strategy, Drew kicked off the plan.

He hurled his final boot at the entrance to attract the monster's attention. It perked up and started its progressively faster march right past them. Drew readied a swing with his ax while Nurgle did the same with both of his.

The creature approached with much more speed than at the beginning, shrinking the time of impact. It was at a full sprint by the time the duo swung their deadly strikes. Drew slammed his ax in the right leg of the creature while Nurgle did the same to the left.

The unprepared monster did not fall all the way to the ground with the powerful strikes but rather caught itself on its front hands thanks to its inhuman backward facing legs acting as a pivot point. The strikes had caused significant chips in the shins of the beast but failed to destroy them wholly.

The use of momentum had proven invaluable once again. Without the creature's huge mass to add to their strikes, the hard bone would have bounced the blades off immediately.

It righted itself and swung around in hopes of clipping the crouching pair. Once they were out of the range, Drew approached the first shoe he threw to start the process over again. After all, why give the skeletal behemoth any real chance to fight back? He certainty didn’t think there was one.

The next round of swings went much the same way as the first with the monster missing any strikes it attempted. The legs were covered in cracks and, with the way it kept itself planted on the ground, the next strike guaranteed at least one leg to break.

The predictable beast swiveled its head around, listening for any sound to charge once again, none the wiser at the upcoming attack. The strength increasing ring adorned Drew’s hand, giving him enough strength to hopefully shattered its leg. Once more the shoe was thrown and the creature charged.

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The duo swung at the monster's shins one last time and Drew managed to destroy the clawed appendage. On its fall to the ground, the monster swung its spinal mace in a wild haymaker. The random attack managed to clip Drew’s ax but not damage it in any immediately noticeable way beyond the grip feeling slightly strange.

They retreated once again to see how the beast would handle its singular leg. It attempted to stand up repeatedly before eventually giving up and looking around from its new crouched position. The diminished fighting potential alleviated some of Drew’s worries, but the monster was still very much alive and they had to handle that.

Upon approaching the downed beast, Drew scattered the previously broken bones. The sudden noise brought its deadly ire in his direction. The attack was much less powerful with its newly shortened leverage and was easily dodgeable.

With the fear of near certain death finally out of his mind, Drew began his tedious assault on the monster before him. The earlier cracks caused by his double handed swings were harder to replicate but the combined might of their attacks wore it down.

The monster had lost its armor that adorned its shoulders to the repeated strikes and its other leg was mulched into bone shards. The fight went on for 10s of minutes. The overwhelming durability kept the fight going on longer and longer, tiring them both out. Their movements were becoming more sluggish while the disabled monster kept the same level of fierce strength only diminished by its new stature.

The end of the fight was slowly approaching with Nurgle unable to contribute very often due to his short reach and slow speed. With only Drew left to fight, his hands ached like they had been closed in a car door and the monster was on the verge of shattering.

With one final overhead swing, he cracked the beast's skull in two and watched it crumble to pieces before his eyes.

+435 xp for defeating Skeletal General [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 330/800 xp Level Up! Nurgle matures into an adolescent [Dwarf Cyclops]

Drew collapsed in exhaustion while Nurgle clopped over much louder than during the fight and slapped his sides in excitement.

“You did a great job, little buddy.” He went to pat the slightly bulkier but equally short creature with his left hand only to feel an intense ache come out of the contact. He quickly recoiled and looked at his hand. His pinky finger was hanging limply and pointed way too far to the side.

“Holy shit, I broke my fucking pinky! Oh my god. When did this happen, why didn't I notice it?” He gently felt his finger and didn't feel much pain until he reached the second knuckle. Did that mean it wasn’t as broken as he thought? Was it just dislocated? Why couldn’t he just heal magically? This is a fantasy world after all.

Congratulations on clearing the Dungeon Hidden Behind the Falls floor 1. You rank last out of all participants for clear time. Congratulations You will have your rewards sent directly to your inventory

No inventory found Redirected rewards to nearby surroundings

A single pair of socks, a small bandage, and a glass bottle full of a mysterious liquid fell to the ground two feet in front of Drew. The socks landed gently along with the bandages while the bottle shattered into hundreds of glass shards.

“That better not have been a health potion.” A sickly sweet smell assaulted his nose and the puddle it formed started to leak over to the socks and bandage which Drew scooped up.

“It really gave me socks. Well, I guess that's a good thing, it's just weird.” Nurgle hopped up and down trying to grab the socks from his hands. “No, these are mine.” The little creature gave him the stink eye and plopped down onto the ground in protest.

“Now what do I do about my finger?” A dim light appeared on the ground at the back of the room while a set of stairs faded into reality to the side of them.

Drew cradled his hand as he collected his boots and gave up on scavenging his tattered shield. He proceeded to struggle to put on his new socks thanks to the new injury before he finally succeeded after way too long and looked ahead.

“Let's get the hell out of here Nurgle.”