The third floor; it was populated with goblin groups a lot more organised than on the previous two floors. The monsters didn’t attack one by one here; it was almost always a party of two and sometimes three. To Liam, before meeting Melissa, this would have been an impossible task. Now he was managing. Her healing was most definitely the deciding factor, especially when facing the trios. He still wasn’t showing any care about the hits he was taking, just gritting through the pain through sheer stubbornness, though it was clear on his face that he was feeling them.
A rib cracked there, cuts here. Didn’t matter. He knew she had his back; he knew his saint of a healer would patch him up. Truth be told, he was looking forward to perhaps heading back to her place to get healed ‘properly’ again.
Slowly, the groups were taken care of, corpses littering the surrounding area. The duo gathered the cores as fast as they could; for the first time, Melissa was helping with the gathering too. Despite cutting out the cores, somehow her clothes, and well, everything on her remained pristine. It was as if blood itself wouldn’t make contact with her, and neither would dirt.
She is so graceful; even when picking up cores from goblins, she maintains her clothes and skin. Not a stain nor a hair out of place.
Liam took the last core while glancing at her; nothing about her signalled she was out of mana. Still, he wanted to make sure.
“Are you still good to go? The boss will eat through mana like crazy; unlike these, almost every hit will probably do significant damage.”
She nodded eagerly. The same encouraging smile on her face again.
She really must want me to get the promotion for returning the boss core.
Liam couldn’t help himself from smiling. He started walking towards the door that separated the boss-room from the rest of the dungeon.
Odd structures: the dungeons. We have no idea how they exactly work or even what made them. They are awfully convenient, though. You get magicores, the backbone of our society, and you slowly get stronger when inside from the residual mana as you kill the monsters it makes for you.
The creation of dungeons was a rather important question in academic fields; Liam had seen quite a few academy professors debate why and how they were made. While he agreed it’d probably be good to know, he couldn’t say he was interested in theorising instead of exploring. Nobody had ever made it to the theoretical bottom of one; he would like to be first. However, he knew that was a pipe dream. At least that was the case before her. Now he wasn’t so sure it was impossible. If the two just got stronger together, no matter how long it took, perhaps they’d be the ones to do it. The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
He placed his hand on the door and pushed it open. None of his dreams mattered for now, unless he could beat the challenge ahead; there was no point in dreaming any further. He looked around, trying to make sure there were no other adventurers lurking around. Some people were nasty enough to rush into a boss-room after a kill to murder the winning humans to claim the loot for themselves. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t share that unfortunate fate. As sure as he possibly could be, that is. There wasn’t any way to ensure nobody came inside unless you had a large enough party to post guards, and gods knew that didn’t apply to his current party.
Once he was sure, he took slow but steady steps inside. He was nervous, yet the dread he should have been feeling was nowhere to be found. Soon enough, Melissa’s comforting presence was beside him.
“Ready?”
He asked one last time. He didn’t wait for her answer.
Much like the rest of the dungeon, this place was also magically illuminated by the strange magic of the dungeon. The door closed behind the two, and the boss growled. The large hobgoblin started to walk towards Liam and Melissa; the creature was three times the size of a goblin and almost twice the size of Liam. Unlike the goblins, its approach was slow, more calculated.
Liam barely managed to dodge away from the large club that was swung at him. He hadn’t calculated the reach advantage the creature held properly compared to him. The ground that he had been standing on just a moment ago caved in under the heavy thunk of the large club.
Fuck. I can’t afford to be careless.
He saw the second swing, just barely. There was no time to dodge properly, so he held his shortsword up. Bracing the flat of the blade to try to put as much power as he could into the block. The club landed. He felt his bones crack as he was flung to the wall. His back hit the cold stone, making him spit out blood. His face twisted in agony. His sword clattered to the ground next to him.
The hobgoblin started to approach Liam, completely ignoring Melissa. It had decided that something that hadn’t attacked it or held a weapon was not a threat. Once the hobgoblin had crossed over the halfway line, Liam felt her healing magic fix his bones and internal bleeding. There was a definite difference between the personal healing with her touch and this. While this was highly effective and felt nice, it was not euphoric and addictive like the other.
Not the time to be thinking about her touch, you idiot!
He mentally screamed and cursed himself as he stood up, grabbing his sword. The healing spell had made the thing reconsider threat levels and turn around to try to get to Melissa. He wouldn’t let that ugly thing even dirty her clothes. Get faster updates on novelping . com.
He charged at the creature; his speed was a surprise even to himself. His shortsword made a clean, medium-depth cut behind the creature's knee. The monster roared in pain. Liam smiled. It tried to quickly turn around and swing; this time Liam was ready, and the cut had made it smaller. A larger frame meant the leg had to carry more weight; it was simply harder for it to keep up with a wounded leg. He managed to dodge the strike cleanly. His training screamed at him to try to run or roll between its legs. He needed to make more cuts there. Before, his body never felt like it’d follow his mind. Not anymore.
He dodged another strike; this time he managed to go through the hobgoblin’s legs. His sword gave the monster another cut, again on the left leg. Another pained roar. His confidence was growing. For a few more minutes, he danced around the creature, ensuring he avoided the club and giving cuts whenever he could, no matter how small or shallow they were.
The monster’s legs could no longer support its frame comfortably. It went down on its knees. Liam rushed in. He knew this was his shot; his moment of glory. He abandoned the caution he’d been holding on to for the last few minutes. The creature flashed its teeth in a triumphant expression that was eerily similar to a smile. He didn’t know they were capable of that.
Liam instinctively glanced at its right arm to watch for the club’s swing. He hadn’t accounted for the punch that landed on his chest. A sickening cracking sound echoed in the room. That had definitely broken or shattered a few ribs, perhaps more. It didn’t matter now. Melissa would take care of it later. He held on to his consciousness, gritting through the pain. Much like the goblin encounter he had on day one, he was hanging on through sheer adrenaline, pride, and stubbornness. His sword dug into the creature’s face. Sliding through the eye socket and right through the brain. Blood spurted out from the wound as he withdrew the sword and fell backwards onto his back. He felt himself hit the ground, and then the blood from his now-slain foe hit his face. It was the second most satisfying thing he felt.
He could feel his vision fading into black, which was a familiar thing for him. He heard Melissa's footsteps approach. He didn’t know how much mana she had in reserve. He wasn’t worried. Somehow he knew she’d make everything all right.
“You did great, Liam. I have enough to stabilise you. Do not worry, I will not let you die.”
He thought her words would be the last thing he’d hear before he no longer could process information. He wasn’t correct in that assumption, much to his regret. The creaking of the heavy boss-room opening echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls into his ears. His heart sank as he heard the man who spoke. The voice was familiar; it was entirely unpleasant.
“Look what we have here boys, the hotshot who broke my arm the other day and didn’t even apologise.”
His world faded to black; his stubbornness alone wasn’t enough to hold him. The adrenaline that had let his stubbornness keep him going had finally run out. The last thing he heard was the drawing of swords.