“Ren! The big one is getting loose again.” Dren shouted while parrying two of the wide bladed crude swords at once. Twisting his daggers as they slid down the length of the blade he slashed down the wrist and forearms of both attacking goblins. Then kicked a third that charged between the two with a club raised in a two-handed overhead strike. His kick caught the four-foot dark purple humanoid in the chest and Dren felt bones break as it was sent back. The moment both feet touched the ground again he poured mana into his boots. With a faint pop he vanished and appeared behind a much larger goblin. This one was neon yellow and covered in so many necklaces of animal parts they almost formed a robe. Bones, feathers, claws, and even shrunken heads clattered loudly as it brought its staff down. The impact of it sent a shockwave that pushed Dren back.
Another roar told him the hulking three meter tall goblin beserker was ripping free of Ren’s threads again. Already. All those steel strong threads cut deep wounds into it every time it tore free. The only problem was that it seemed to get tougher and stronger the more damage it took. That alone wouldn’t have been an issue but the goblin shaman KEPT CHEATING AND HEALING IT. Then there were all the damn add goblins that rushed out of various tents endlessly. Or spawned in the little platforms on the wooden wall.
As his skidding feet came to a stop Dren flung out a dagger enchanted with just bleed and empower. The shaman moved its staff, all the bones dangling from it clacking musically, to block it. At the last second Dren dumped nearly half of his mana into his throwing skill. Not as expensive as duplicating an explosive dagger it was still a hundred mana per copy. While they blocked the real dagger. Ten copies slammed into its body. It shrieked and snarled at him. This caused spittle to fly from its mouth filled with so many large tusk-like teeth that it couldn’t close properly. All ten copied daggers vanished leaving behind ten bleeding wounds.
Drawing his armor piercing dagger as he caught two goblins on the points of his two daggers as they tackled him. It was the two whose arms he had slashed earlier, he had left them with nasty bleeding wounds. This time he knew what they were doing. It wasn’t the first time they had used suicide tactics just to weigh him down long enough to buy time for the shaman to do his healing. Or for another to try and attack. Or as in this case, both. Yet, when not caught off guard his raw strength was beyond that of the individual fodder goblins. Dren grunted as he lifted both of the dying goblins off the ground as they squirmed while impaled on his weapons. Trying their best to get their hands on him. Twisting he started to hurl them at the Shaman but was forced to change his plan. Rocks thudded against his squirming shields as the sling goblins were back again.
Dren hurled the battered corpses at the Shaman interrupting its next heal. It had already gotten half of the bleeding wounds closed. “Ren. The ranged troops are back again. Tag out!” Dren gave one last angry glance at the Shaman. Before turning to deal with the Berserker while Ren took care of the ranged attackers. They were once again on the platforms mounted on the inside of the village's wooden walls. Ren could deal with them faster than he could so each time they respawned she took them while he dealt with both bosses. By dealt with. He meant he managed not to die while trying to keep the shaman from doing too much healing.
To his surprise, he turned to see the Berserker topple forward. It started dragging itself towards him while bloody froth foamed at its mouth. Two blood trails followed it from the stumps of its legs, both severed at the knee. Dren saw its legs still webbed in the place where it had been standing last. Ren went past him as a blur as she headed for the ranged attackers. Turning back to the shaman he locked eyes with the monster. Its own bloodshot yellow orbs stared into his with pure rage and hatred. Dren just smiled beneath his mask and reactivated his battle focus while refreshing his Assassin’s Eyes. Even as he rushed towards the shaman he swallowed a mouth full of mana potion. It was time to end this fight.
It seemed the shaman agreed. That or it was out of mana as it wasn’t healing anymore. Instead, it charged in swinging that bone decorated staff. Ducking under it he still took whip-like lashes from the dangling decorations. But it wasn’t nearly enough to stop his assault. Both daggers angled towards the throat of the goblin. Then Dren’s face bounced off the hard packed dirt ground. A filthy goblin's foot slammed into his face kicking him while he was down. Rolling away to the sound of the system letting him know he had resisted being stunned. Dren blinked as a bolt of dark yellow energy smashed into the ground right where he had been. ‘Since when could it do that?’ Dren thought with annoyance.
Nearby the goblin shaman made a tsk sound of its own annoyance. Right before another bolt of that same dense yellow energy shot from the staff towards Dren. Rolling again to avoid another bolt, he let out a yelp as two powerful hands grabbed onto him. One gripping his leg with the other one gripping one of his arms. Without hesitating he rolled towards the beserker that had managed to crawl within reach of him. He lashed out intent on burying his dagger into the side of its head. But the thing yanked hard on him, dragging him closer to it. His blade sank into its shoulder instead as he was jerked close enough for it to close its mouth down on his arm. Oversized tusk teeth bit down on his leather encased arm. While the teeth weren’t nearly sharp enough to pierce his enchanted armor. The pressure of the bite was enough to bruise his arm instantly.
A sense of danger had him yank the dagger out of the monster's shoulder and fling it toward the shaman. Or more specifically the bolt of energy coming towards him. Dren didn’t wait to see if his attack deflected it. It would or it wouldn’t. Turning back he intended to finish off the beserker. Only for Ren to be standing on its back. Two of her spider legs were digging into the berserker’s back for more support. While her arms and the other two spider limbs all held onto threads that were looped around the thick muscular neck of the berserker. Straining with all eight limbs she was pulling back as the hair thin threads cut into the brutes neck.
Had the stupid thing stopped trying to chew Dren’s arm off he might have broken free. But instead, it gnashed on his arm while keeping his death grip. Dren yanked with all his might. Pulling the arm gripped and being bitten by the goblin towards him while Ren pulled back. With a sickening sound, the head was removed from its body. Rolling over he used the head still clamped to his arm as a shield against another bolt of energy. Kicking free of the dead goblin’s grips he shook the mostly blasted apart head off his arm. Glancing around he found the dagger he had thrown imbedded blade down and smoking in the ground.
“Oh. That had better not be broken.” He said in a soft dangerous tone as he laid eyes on his Life Bane dagger. The goblin shaman snickered and Dren dived for his dagger as another bolt was fired. He had expected it to be aimed at him. Instead, it blasted into his dagger. Ignoring the smoke he yanked it out of the small crater and stared at the bent dagger. His flesh felt like it shrank to two sizes too small as his blood boiled.
Again the goblin shaman snickered yet it stopped sharply. Dren had turned his gaze back on it and under that glare, it took a half step back. With a howl, he released a blast of flaming breath toward the goblin. It swayed its staff creating a barrier between it and the flames. Then let out a gurk sound as a dagger impaled it from behind. Dren appearing out of thin air. Then the slender bladed dagger was yanked back out before a barrage of thrusts turned it into a pin cushion. It tried to swing around and bash the invader. To blast it with another bolt of destructive mana. Yet, it couldn’t see… or hear… or feel. Part of it was relieved that all the pain faded away. Yet, it knew that was as good as death’s embrace. It slammed its staff down intent on releasing a blast of force to push the attacker back.
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But no mana flowed. The spell didn’t work. Filled with panic it tried to use the ability over and over.
Dren was panting and wheezing. The rapid flurry of attacks consumed a huge amount of his stamina and left his arm burning from the effort. He was watching as the goblin lay on the ground flailing its arm around. He had broken its wrist to disarm it. But it seemed like it didn’t notice. It just lay there flailing that broken arm heedless of the pain it must be causing itself. Blood wept from all the wounds on its back while dark veins spread along its body. Flesh rotting in their wake. A handful of seconds later and its body went still. Glancing around to make sure there weren’t any more adds or another set of bosses spawning. Dren flopped down to activate his restoration abilities.
“Ren. This dungeon was stupid.” He muttered while checking to confirm that the dungeon was cleared. Sure enough, he found his competency notices. This entire level sixteen dungeon had involved one single fight. A long continuous fight. But only a single one. He and Ren had scaled the outer walls of the village before silently clearing all the sling goblins from the walls. Then making their way thru the camp clearing all the goblins one at a time. It had been great, netting him level five in stealth even. Yet, upon killing the last goblin they heard a gong ring. A goblin that surely hadn’t been there before just appeared. To bang the gong mounted on a platform near the center of the walled encampment. Then the first of many waves of goblins had rushed out of previously empty tents or just appeared in their raised platforms.
They had at least not rushed right at the hidden duo. But after a few kills Dren was spotted and the fight was fully engaged. After nine waves like that the shaman and beserker duo had spawned. Them alone would have been trouble, but three melee fodder goblins and four ranged ones continuously spawned. With the shaman healing and the rest keeping them busy. It had taken them several waves of fodder before they got a pattern down. Even then, Ren’s webbing only held until the Berserker took enough damage to power up. It had turned into a long slough of a fight.
Laying in the dirt with his eyes closed he felt a small hand patting his forehead. Dren smiled. “Ren you are a lifesaver. Without you. I don’t know that I could have done this all alone. Definitely not if I had to deal with the berserker and the shaman at the same time. Let alone all the adds.”
Opening his eyes he sat up as Ren moved back to give him room. He eyed her and smiled. “Nice you got level nine already. And I…” He checked his system messages before grinning again. “Am level twenty four. Very nice! Ok, let's see what loot we got. They owe me a dagger.”
Touching the chest that appeared he looked at the familiar screen and wasn’t surprised at all when it noted it was providing his bonus competency loot. The moment he opened the chest he jumped up and shouted with excitement. Then snatched up the dagger.
Butchering Knife
Dren started swearing the moment he identified it even before reading the description. Including the part where it mentioned it wasn’t usable in combat. Well, in theory. He could stab with it. But it wouldn’t get any of the system bonuses and couldn’t be enchanted. Meaning he was probably just as well off punching a monster as using it. Dren calmed down and handed the knife to Ren who took it before eyeing the beserker, her silent question clear.
“Um… no I don’t think we eat goblins. Right?” Dren asked not sounding sure. They weren’t exactly humans but a bit too close. It would be like eating a smart monkey… Dren hummed in thought. “People don’t eat monkeys right?” He muttered. Then shook his head. “No, no we won’t do that.” He finally nodded his resolve. It wasn’t like they lacked meat. They weren’t even eating mountains of it now that Ren’s cooking skill was advanced rank. Her food just seemed more filling. Plus tasty. Oh and gave buffs.
Reaching in he picked up a little wooden carved cylinder. It looked like several strange almost animalistic heads stacked on top of one another.
Prime Reward: Goblin Totem
Summons a goblin totem that alternates between destructive bolts of mana and healing waves. Activating once every ten seconds for five minutes. Effective range ten meters. Cooldown on use, twenty hours.
Dren sighed. It would have been a great tool for this fight. Especially during the boss phase. Five minutes wouldn’t have been enough for all the waves but if that did the same damage as the shaman’s mana attack. It seemed quite potent.
Dren frowned. That had been the bonus reward and a prime reward. There should have been something else in there. Looking in the chest again he finally spotted it. It looked like something drawn on the bottom of the box. It took him a few tries to pick it up as it was a transparent incredibly thin sheet of paper. When he pulled it up he could see thru the paper except for the inked markings on it. Identifying it he wasn’t sure if he liked it.
Face Tattoo: Blood-Drenched Aura.
Marks the user with the face tattoo Blood Drenched Aura. This gives the marked person the ability Blood Drenched Aura. Feeding it mana produces an aura that affects the minds of those within range. It fills them with fear, doubt, and weakens their will. Feeding it with stamina produces a physical force that impedes the enemy’s movement within range. Reduces attack and movement speed. Feeding it with health allows it to do direct physical damage to all enemies within range. Targets afflicted are those the user considers his enemy. Power and range are affected by the user’s kill value. Please note that monster kills provide less value than system-integrated entities.
Looking at it he realized it would be a rather savage-looking tattoo if applied to the face. Markings across the brow and curving down around the eyes. Dren moved the clear sheet to be in front of his face, where he thought it would appear. Then looked through it at Ren. “What do you think?” Ren tilted her head one way and then the other. “Yeah, I don’t know either. Not sure I like the idea of a face tattoo. But it isn’t that big. Right?” He sighed. “But the ability sounds strong. It would have made this fight much easier depending on how well it worked.” Dren debated then shrugged. “Think it will be ok on me?”
Ren looked at him intently for a bit, eyeing the translucent sheet before his face that showed the design. Then slowly she nodded. “Not a very reassuring response.” Dren said then chuckled at her almost apologetic look. “But power is power.” With that, he activated the tattoo.
*****
Character Status
Name: Dren Race: Human (I) Class: Assassin (24) Profession: Enchanter (20) Health: 2650/2650 Stamina: 2650/2650 Mana: 2050/2050 Credits: 6,970 Agility 78 Dexterity 78 Endurance 98 Intelligence 74 Spirit 74 Strength 98 Toughness 98 Vitality 98 Dungeon Competency 60% Solo Dungeon Competency 50%