Levi stared down the goblin mage, his pulse speeding up in anticipation. The mage stood a bit taller than Levi’s waist, hunched and pale green. It wore a draped black robe over one shoulder like a toga, tied with a crude rope across its chest, and carried a twisted black staff that it leaned on with both hands. It grinned nastily when it saw them enter, and its eyes began to glow a sickly orange.
“Two, circle behind and stab when you can. I’m going in front. If we get it down below 5%, let me try taming it before finishing it off.” He’d concluded that + type monsters probably couldn’t be tamed, but the hypothesis needed further testing before he’d be willing to give up completely.
The goblin began charging a spell, the glow transferring from its eyes to the hands holding the staff, power flowing down the black curves like liquid filling up an alembic.
Levi drew heavily on stamina, dashing forward with haste nearly sufficient to rival his former base speed, closing the distance. Gordon held his sword in front of him with both hands, while Gremlin Two crouched and rushed around to attack the back of the boss’s legs.
Levi channeled mana into his sword and the beastly aura sprang into existence around the weapon in the instant before it connected with the goblin’s staff.
Mana rushed into the attack as the sword’s aura clamped down on the staff. Brown power clashed with the goblin’s orange in a haze of static.
Levi didn’t slow. He twisted his sword without releasing the jaws, yanking the weapon from the goblin’s hands.
The staff went flying, spinning away half charged.
Levi used his momentum to twist and slam a foot straight into the goblin’s face.
Power continued to gather in its hands, and it thrust them forward at Levi without waiting for the spell to fully charge. The half-strength attack failed to injure him, but it burned a hole through the back of his remaining jackets.
Levi continued to move with the flow of his attack, slashing his sword deep into the goblin’s arm in a rapid sweep. The slice didn’t shear off the arm completely, coming up against the bone and sliding down, but it still gouged out a huge chunk of goblin flesh.
The boss screamed in rage.
Level 1+
(Goblin Mage)
Health 84%
The damage potential of a fully charged manablade couldn’t be compared to that of a plain inactive weapon.
Levi took another spell to the side, this one dropping his health only by 4, but it burned another large hole in his protective layers. The repeated damage rendered the sturdy jackets all but useless, but they’d served their purpose.
He ducked and stabbed out, driving his sword into the goblin's chest. The beastly maw clamped down. Levi's mana drained faster as he shoved power into the weapon.
The goblin mage howled and kicked him as hard as it could, but Levi was larger, stronger, better trained, and better protected. The goblin's clawed feet made only a hollow thud against Levi’s greaves.
Levi slashed the sword upward in retaliation without releasing the jaws. Blood and goblin hide went flying as he tore a gaping wound into the monster’s front.
Level 1+
(Goblin Mage)
Health 45%
Gremlin Two stabbed the back of the mage’s legs repeatedly; the goblin snarled and began charging an attack, power concentrating in its throat. The glow of the building spell could be seen even through the sticky brown of its blood. Energy flowed up its chest and gathered, forming a bright orange patch within the flesh of its neck.
Levi swung the sword again as the goblin raised its arms. He struck the same arm he'd injured previously, the bone snapping as his blade's aura clamped down.
Level 1+
(Goblin Mage)
Health 32%
Then Levi’s mana ran out, his meager pool expended entirely by the sequential attacks.
“Not soon enough to save you, though... ” he grunted, twisting aside as the goblin breathed out a gout of corrosive flame.
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The goblin was already bleeding copiously, Levi's beast-inflicted wounds dealing constant damage. Compared to the enhanced dire turkey he'd faced in the Beast dungeon, this goblin mage was easy pickings. He could have stood back and let it bleed out, except he had Gordon here. One of the goblin's stray spells might end up hurting his ally if he prolonged the fight needlessly. Besides, Levi wasn't the sort to stand back and wait.
In close combat, he was nearly untouchable. The goblin only got in any hits in at all because Levi’s level 4 body had seen less than a week of strenuous action. The muscle strength simply wasn’t there.
System Stamina could be used to enhance and push beyond human limits, amplifying whatever he had to work with, but it would still take time for his body to catch up to his skill. It felt almost like wading through water, every movement sluggish and unresponsive compared to the immediacy he had been used to, but he was getting better at pushing his human limits without draining his stamina so extremely as he had the first day.
Still, it took less than a minute for him to bring the goblin mage down into taming range.
Unfortunately, that very speed worked against him: He’d still not recovered enough mana to use his class ability.
He grappled with the goblin, wrenching its arms into a lock behind it, then tripped it so it slammed to the floor beneath him. “Two, I need you to spot me. If it gets off a trick shot while I’m blind, finish it off.”
The mage gathered power, unleashing another gout of corrosive fire, but Levi had it pinned to the ground, so it only grazed his leg with minimal damage. He could see it starting to degrade his greaves, though. He needed to get some powered armor soon, or he’d constantly have to be replacing pieces as they were damaged in normal combat.
Two took his position by the goblin’s head, ready to stab it if necessary, and Levi drank mana and stamina potions in quick succession. The mana dazzle whited out his vision as his body struggled to integrate the raw power, while his regens dropped to nothing as everything was diverted to refilling stamina.
He half heard a sizzle and a clang through the white noise roaring in his head, but couldn’t tell what was going on. He had to get his regens up. Relying on potions in combat was deadly dangerous.
Then his vision cleared, the world settling back into focus. The goblin had managed to pull one hand out from Levi’s grip, and Gremlin Two had driven his manablade through the hand and pinned it in place. Power oozed from the goblin’s palm, melting a depression into the floor, but unable to reach Levi or Two.
Two had prevented the goblin from getting off a surprise attack and managed to still keep it alive for Levi to practice on.
“Nicely done,” Levi praised. “Good, fast thinking.”
Levi immediately began his attempts to tame the goblin mage.
RESISTED
RESISTED
A destructive spell sheared through Levi's shoulder, shredding his sleeves and leaving him with a nasty corrosive burn; the goblin had twisted its other hand and gotten off a quick shot. Levi took a play from Two’s book and drove his shortsword through the offending hand and into the goblin’s leg, pinning it where it could do no further damage.
“Come on, join me. You know you want to.”
RESISTED
RESISTED
RESISTED
Regardless of the goblin’s desire or lack thereof, every attempt to tame it returned the same result he’d received with every attempt to tame a + creature.
Once he’d fully expended his mana again, he stared down at the bleeding goblin with a sigh. It had finally depleted its mana and struggled helplessly, yet did not succumb to his tame, even with a single sliver of health remaining.
So collecting an army of boss monsters would have to wait until he evolved from Tamer into Summoner and could start binding things regardless of their resistance. In the meantime... next time he found a dungeon with anything but gremlins he would definitely pick some up.
“Plenty of time for that on the way,” he consoled himself. The other two treasure dungeons would provide additional opportunities for collecting minions, and there would be more than a few dungeons along their route. Plus, there was still that way-too-high-level destruction dungeon waiting for him back in Ohio; he could swing by there on the way north between Kentucky and Michigan.
The thought of finally being able to challenge it properly excited him more than he'd have thought possible. Between a proper active manablade and the addition of Gordon to the team, he couldn't wait to get started.
“Sorry, but I did give you every opportunity to join me.”
With one quick slash, he decapitated the helpless goblin.
Congratulations, Levi Morrison!
You have 1 level available.
Applying to default class.
Tamer level increased to 5.
Tamer threshold 1 reached!
+10 health, +10 mana, +10 stamina
Unassigned Stat Points: 1
Unassigned Ability Points: 3 New class ability options are available.
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