Shaun hadn’t been far down the tunnel during his time keeping guard of the cavern so he didn’t know if he was going to find anything in the limited time he had to explore. They had walked endless for hours with little changing the day before so he didn’t have a high expectation of finding anything different with only an hour to not only look around but also make it back before it was time to wake everyone. He didn’t let down his guard though, not for even a second. He saw what could happen if you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings, a monster could drop down from right from above you and you would have no hope in making it out alive, especially now that he was alone.

After walking for what he guessed was around 10 minutes nothing had changed, he was starting to lose hope in finding anything and for a moment considered turning around and heading back. As he started turning around another bend he caught a glimpse of movement at the edge of his vision, stopping in his tracks. Shaun didn’t make a move and slowed down his breathing to make sure he was as quiet as possible. Just as he thought he had imagined something he heard soft steps in the tunnel, it wasn’t the noise of a person walking though, it was too soft and was followed by a slight swishing sound. Okay definitely not human, has to be a monster. Doesn’t sound at all like a spider would so I can rule that out. Must be something new. As he stood there listening to the sound of the monster walking further away from him he debated in his head whether he should turn around and get some of the others or try and sneak up and get a better view to see what he was dealing with. If he turned back he might never find it again, if he chose to follow he could be seen and he didn’t know if he would be able to get away, fighting was an option but if he couldn’t use stealth then he didn’t have much hope in being able to face it alone. Making his decision he decided to check and see if he could see what he was dealing with, nothing ventured, nothing gained he thought.

Moving along the wall, focusing on being as quiet as he could, he finally caught a glimpse of what he was dealing with and it was not what he expected. He could see the back half of the monster, it was low to the ground, would have barely reached up to his knees, had a long tail and thick back legs. Moving further forward so he could see the monster in its entirety, it was a dark grey colour all over and couldn’t be more than a metre long from its head to its tail. Every now and again it would flick out its tongue and would move its head side to side as it walked, it’s a….lizard?

*Cave Salamander – Lvl 2*

I stand corrected, it’s a salamander, although he was pretty sure a salamander was a lizard, but if the System wanted to make the distinction he figured that it was doing it for a reason. The lizard, nope salamander he corrected himself, hadn’t noticed his presence in the tunnel and was still moving forward at a decent pace. No where near quick enough for Shaun to lose it but with how strong those legs looked he came to the conclusion that if it decided to attack, it would be able to move pretty damn quickly. He now had another decision in front of him, fight, follow or report on what he found. He quickly ruled out turning back and telling the others, that would defeat the purpose of him coming down here in the first place, it was level 2, a level lower then the spider and he had gained a lot of skill levels since then and a level in his class, if he could get close enough and got the jump on it without it knowing he thought he had a pretty good chance of being able to kill it by himself. Or he could follow it, see where it was going, it might lead him to something that would be useful to him either now or in the future. Weighing up each option, he made the decision to follow it and if after another 10 minutes it didn’t lead him anywhere he figured that he would have another 20 minutes to fight it, loot it and probably clean up a bit, then would use the last 20 minutes to head back.

For the next 5 minutes he could barely hold himself together, with every step he made he was fearful of making a mistake and drawing the attention of the monster, just as they were going around another bend in the tunnel the salamander disappeared from sight. He stopped, fearing he had lost it or worse that it knew he had been following it the entire time and this was some elaborate trap where it would flip the roles they were playing, and rather than him being the hunter he was now the prey. He looked around trying to locate where it had gone, making sure to check the ceiling as he refused to make the same mistake twice. Not seeing anything he sent a burst of his detection skill around him, not feeling anything he then focused it on where he had last seen it, still nothing. With levelling up the skill he could now push it out a few metres on each side, and although he couldn’t locate it he was relieved that it wasn’t somewhere around him and he just couldn’t see it.

Creeping further forward he started to turn the corner making sure to scan everywhere around him as he went, just as he thought that maybe the salamander had gotten too far ahead and he would have to give up on his first solo hunt, he noticed that part of the tunnel wall was darker than the rest. Peering closer, he noticed what was in fact an opening into another room, getting as close as he could he used his skill to get a better idea of what was inside. To his surprise rather than feeling the presence of the one monster he had been following he could make out three distinct beings inside. The room wasn’t large, just big enough to fit the three salamanders with a little space left for them to move around inside, sending in another burst of his detection skill he got the vague impression that two of them were roughly the same size as the one he had been following with the last being only half the size as the others.

Following the Cave Salamander had been the right decision, now instead of only one monster he could kill to gain experience and TE, as well as hopefully another level in his class, he could kill three. Assessing the situation he came to the conclusion that not only could he not fight all three at once but the opening was too small for him to sneak in without alerting them all to his presence. I need to get one of them out at a time, I can back away from the room and make a noise that will hopefully make one of them curious enough to come out and investigate, if I can get it far enough away I would have enough time to kill it before the others come to investigate.

Having made his decision he moved back the way he had came, not to far as he still had to get its attention but far enough away that he could get into a good position before it would be able to come out, also so that he would have some time to see it come his way before he would attack. Moving first 5, then 10 and finally at 20 metres away he stopped and moved against the same wall that had the entrance to the room the salamanders were in, now to make a little bit of noise he thought, I don’t want it coming straight at me so it’s better to make a noise on the other side of the tunnel, looking around he couldn’t see anything on the ground that he could throw at the wall, looking at what he had on him, he could throw one of his daggers but that would leave him without a weapon if he lost the one in his hand during the fight. He could take something out of his inventory but didn’t know if they would make enough noise to get the monsters attention, he then thought about the empty potion vial he still had in the pouch from when he had taken Richard’s to heal him, That should do it, I knew keeping that vial would come in handy!

With a dagger in one hand and the empty glass vial in the other Shaun was as prepared as he could be for the fight. Without hesitation he threw the vial as hard as he could at the wall across from him and the shattering of the glass was loud enough to echo through the tunnel and down to the room the monsters were in. Crouching back down, making himself as small as possible while still ready to launch into attack if needed, he waited, hoping that he didn’t draw out all of the monsters at once. If he did he would either need to run if they saw him or stay as still as possible to make sure that they wouldn’t see him through stealth. He waited and even after 10 seconds there was no sign of one of the salamanders. Did it not work? Were they happy to stay safe in their little room rather than come and see what had caused the noise outside? After thinking for another few seconds, trying to figure out what else he could try, he finally saw a salamander come around the corner from where their room was, it was the same one he had been following and looked to be alone.

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With a silent cheer he watched the monster slowly move forward, flicking its tongue as it went and moving its head in all directions, clearly trying to find what had caused the disturbance, it couldn’t see him though, so far the plan was working perfectly. The salamander continued moving down the tunnel, closer to where he was hiding rather than going for the broken pieces of glass on the ground to the opposite side, eventually when it was only 5 metres away it stopped and focused in on where he had thrown the vial. It continued forward but it didn’t look like it was about to attack, rather it seemed more curious as to what was on the ground, and as it got to the glass directly across from where Shaun hid he got ready to attack. Just like the spider, come up from right behind it, jump on top of it and slam the dagger right into where it was most vulnerable, looking at the monster a final time he searched for the best place to put his dagger, the head, he decided.

Taking his first step towards the salamander was nerve racking, he thought that at any second it was going to swing around and look right at him, but thankfully it didn’t stop its investigation into the glass on the ground. Once he had gotten as close as he could he pounced onto its back, Damn it! He had missed the head with his dagger but had still managed to get it into the shoulder but that was not going to be enough to put this thing down before the other monsters came out to see what had attacked. Clinging onto the thrashing salamander Shaun wrapped his legs around its body and used one arm to put it in a headlock, being careful not to get anywhere close to its mouth. Using his other hand he tried to pull the dagger out of its shoulder but the damn lizard was bucking around like it was a bull. And yes, he had decided to think of it as a lizard because that’s what it was damn it!

Finally having been able to pull the dagger free he almost dropped it as the monster had shaken itself violently just as he had gotten the blade out, he no longer thought he would be able to get enough momentum to hit it on the head and pierce through it skull so he settled for the next best thing, tightening his grip on the monsters neck with his arm, he put all the strength he had into thrusting the dagger into the side of it neck. He couldn’t get the blade all the way into the hilt, but he knew he did some damage when the salamander let out a loud hiss and reared it head back nearly head-butting Shaun in the process.

Adjusting the arm he had around the monster, he tightened the head lock so that he had free access to the underside of its neck, and pulling out the dagger one last time, moved himself further around so he could get his arm around to the opposite side, as if he was going to hug it, and then with a determined swipe sliced cleanly through its neck. He tried not to get any blood on himself, not wanting to explain to the others how he ended up coated in blood when he should have been standing guard for his shift, but it was impossible not to get some of it on the arm still wrapped around its head. He could feel the salamander under him quickly losing energy until, with one final sway, it collapsed to the ground, dead.

I did it! I just killed my first monster solo and I didn’t even get hurt! Unable to stop himself Shaun started laughing, overjoyed at what he accomplished, until he heard an enraged hissing noise from behind him. The other monsters, I am an idiot! How could he have forgotten that the fight was far from over, sure he had taken down one of the salamanders but that still left the two now coming up behind him.

Without a second thought he rolled off of the body of the dead salamander and came to a stand, looking back he could see both of the salamanders now out of their room and coming towards him, the larger one in the lead with the smaller trailing just behind. He didn’t have the benefit of being able to take these ones by surprise so he needed to change tactics, he still had his dagger, having not let it go after defeating the first monster and there was still a few metres between him and the approaching salamanders.

Stealth wouldn’t help him in his current situation, all he had was his daggers and the workings of a plan, a stupid plan, but a plan nonetheless, as he refused to turn away from the fight. Running towards the salamander he lifted his arm and threw the dagger aiming right at its head, he knew it wouldn’t be enough to cause any real damage but he did hope that it would at least cause a distraction. Against all odds, the dagger hit the salamander blade first right in the eye, not hard enough to stick inside as it still bounced off and ended up on the ground right next to it. Not expecting the move the salamander started shaking its head around, making a weird noise between an angry screech and a pained hiss, while pulling out his other dagger he decided to throw himself into a roll that landed him right by the monster’s side and then stabbed down at the creature. The dagger punched into its body but he lost his balance when the salamander slammed its body into Shaun sideways, causing him to fly back and land on his back.

He hadn’t been able to keep a hold of his dagger but the salamander was no longer paying attention to him, rather thrashing around trying to get the dagger out of its side. Before he had a chance to think about what to do next he saw the smaller salamander launch itself at him, having no way to defend himself and not enough time to get off the ground, he put his arm up in front of him hoping to hold off the monster for just a little while so he could come up with something to get him out of this mess. The salamander ended up on top of him, thankful that it was the smallest one as the weight of its body wasn’t overpowering, but he still didn’t have the strength to push it off. Using his forearm he tried to push the salamander away but instead of working like he hoped, his arm was met with its front claws. Slicing through his arm, he couldn’t help himself as he let out a scream, his arm felt like it was on fire, the pain radiating up his entire arm, nearly causing him to pull it back, but if he moved it out of the way it would give the salamander full access to his chest and face, and that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

While defending himself with one arm he used the other to search around him hoping to find something, anything, that would help him survive. One of his daggers was in the salamander which was still letting out screeches as it tried to get the dagger out of its body, the other he had thrown at the monster and he couldn’t see where it ended up.

Out of options he tried to think of anything else he had that might work, the spider fang! It was in his inventory and would take a few seconds to get it out but he didn’t really have any other options. Focusing on bringing the fang out of his inventory and into his hand, he continued using his arm to fend off the salamander on top of him, he received another few slices through his arm from its claws but he could hold it off for a few more seconds. With a soft glow he felt one of the fangs appear in his hand and without hesitation he made sure to get a solid grip on it, nowhere near as comfortable or easy as one of his daggers, and then slammed it into the side of the salamander’s head. Grateful that it was the smallest of the monsters, otherwise he didn’t think he would have survived the attack, the fang pushed far enough into its head for it to stop its attack and drop on top of him.

Having learnt from last time he knew that he wasn’t done, pushing the body off of him, doing so highlighting just how damaged his arm was, he looked around for the dagger he threw. Spotting it he stood up and went to grab it off the ground. Now with a dagger in the hand of his good arm he set his sights on the final salamander. It was no longer jerking around and looked more lethargic than anything. His earlier attacks must have done more damage than he thought. Not wanting to delay, as he was on a timer, he moved up to the side of the monster, careful to make sure that it didn’t swing around and attack, before driving the dagger into the creature’s head, and with that he was finally done. He had won.