In the middle of the night, Dragonire walked down the hallway, holding a torch, on his way to find the throne hall.

His goal was to get stronger while battling the Goblin King, ensuring that by tomorrow, he would possess the strength required to protect his teammates against the Goblin King. In short, he just wanted to prepare ahead of time, just in case— you know, better safe than sorry.

‘Seriously, just how big is this castle?’

An hour later…

RAARRRR!!!

KRAARRRR!!!

GRAARRRR!!!

‘Tsk! How annoying! There’s simply no end to these guys.’

Dragonire was feeling rather annoyed having to deal with these Goblin Soldiers. He had killed so many of them in the past hour, yet they just kept coming.

A few hours later…

Standing in front of a gigantic door, it was the entrance to the throne room.

‘It looks like this is the throne room, and inside the Goblin King must be waiting for me.’

Nervousness gripped Dragonire as he took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down.

‘Alright, let’s do this.’

Once he was prepared, he gently pushed open the gigantic door.

CREEEAAAK!!!

The sound of the door opening resonated. As he stepped inside and walked along the red carpet, Dragonire could see a massive Goblin wearing a crown seated on the throne, awaiting his arrival.

‘Holy shit! This guy is huge! He looks to be as big as the blue guy from the Avatar movie.’

Upon Dragonire's arrival, the 15-foot-tall Goblin King smiled and stood up, almost as if he already knew Dragonire was coming.

It has been a long time since the Goblin King last fought a player, and he was rather bored, looking for someone to fight to ease his boredom.

“Welcome, player! I’ve been waiting!” the Goblin King said.

From the tone of the Goblin King’s voice, Dragonire could tell the Goblin King was excited.

“Interesting. I didn’t know Goblins could talk.”

Dragonire was impressed by the Goblin King's ability to speak like a human, though he had anticipated it. Boss monsters typically exhibit more traits and capabilities compared to regular monsters.

“Of course! I have the title “King” for a reason, that’s why I’m special. Hahaha!” the Goblin King said.

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Noticing that Dragonire was alone, the Goblin King grew curious and asked, “Hmm, so just you alone? Where are the other players?”

“Oh, they’re sleeping, so it’s just me for now.”

"Ha! Is this a joke? You came here alone? You do realize you stand a better chance of winning if you fight as a team, right?"

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Idiot! If you know, then go bring your teammates here right now!”

Suddenly, the Goblin King became furious as he disliked Dragonire underestimating him. He yearned to face all five players at once, finding it more enjoyable and challenging compared to battling just one.

"Relax, they are still sleeping right now, so I don’t feel like disturbing them. How about we spar for a bit first to pass the time?"

"Do you realize that if you die now, it's game over for everyone? Despite knowing that, you still want to fight me?"

"Well, I did say we're going to spar, not fight. However, if you want to kill me while sparring, you may, and I won't stop you."

"I refuse! If you're up for a fight, bring your teammates first. I don't enjoy sparring because an accidental kill means it's game over. It's not fun if the game ends too quickly."

"Ah, so that's what you're worried about. Well, don't worry. What if I told you that no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to kill me?"

"Enough joking around! I won't repeat myself. If you want to fight me, bring your teammates here first. Now, leave and don't disturb me!"

With that, the Goblin King returned to his throne, settling into the ornate chair with an air of authority.

‘What’s up with this guy? I’ve never seen a monster behave like this. Weird, most monsters would gladly kill a player at first sight, but this guy… What a unique personality.’

"Well... if you won't spar with me, then I'll just have to help myself!" With determination, Dragonire charged into battle, and just like that, the sparring session started.

Lately, Dragonire has been struggling to hurt himself. He observed that as he grew stronger, his defense stats increased to the point where normal Goblin Soldiers no longer inflicted enough damage to hurt him. Consequently, he needs to face someone stronger or, at the very least, someone capable of penetrating his defense.

You might ask, why doesn’t he intentionally torture himself to grow stronger? Well, he dislikes such methods because he believes that getting hurt in actual combat with monsters offers more benefits.

So, what are these benefits he's talking about?

The first benefit involves improving his fighting skills through actual combat. Clearly, harming himself won't enhance his combat abilities in any way. The second benefit is that each time he becomes stronger, he must become accustomed to controlling his newly gained power. To achieve this, he obviously has to engage in combat and practice.

Due to these two benefits, he prefers not to intentionally torture himself unless absolutely necessary, depending on the situation.

***

By morning, Dragonire had grown so strong to the point that the Goblin King could no longer challenge him anymore.

“Y-You monster!!!” The Goblin King said.

“Me monster? Hehe. Well, you’re not wrong about that.”

Initially, the Goblin King had the upper hand, but as the fight went on, Dragonire became stronger and stronger and eventually overpowered the Goblin King.

Currently, Dragonire was pinning the Goblin King down on the ground by stepping on the Goblin King’s face.

“What are you doing?! Kill me now! I’ve already lost! There’s no point for me to live anymore!” The Goblin King felt so humiliated to the point he wanted to die, and just get over it.

“No, it’s not your time to die yet.” Dragonire said.

“Huh?! What do you mean it’s not my time?!”

“Wait here. I’ll go bring my teammates first, and after that, you can die in peace.”

With this, Dragonire released his right foot, setting the Goblin King free.

“Huh..? I don’t understand, why do you have to bring your teammates?”

“It’s a long story… Well, anyway, I’ll be back, so see you later.”

Like that, Dragonire walked out of the throne room and headed back to the room where his teammates were still sleeping.