Chương 23: Teamfighting

Slinking my way to a halt, my head peeks past the edge of the doorway. [Hobgoblin lv. 12] [Hobgoblin lv. 12] [Hobgoblin lv. 12] Not much to say. The room setup is exactly the same as the last one. Two hobgoblins with an axe-shield combo, and one mage. The only difference is that their levels are a bit higher. Both rooms in every branching hallway have always been the same. So it's expected that both axemen will have a skill to fortify their shields, and the mage will have an easily dodgeable mana attack.

If I ambush the first shieldman as I have before, it should leave an easy fight. My greed for power and progress urges me to start the fight, but my conscience tells me no. After the battle in my mind, I get up and walk back to home base. It'd be a shame to spend my entire stay in the dungeon injured because I can't stop picking fights. As I walk, my mind takes me back to the last time I fought.

Ignoring the stupid mistake I made by letting the goblin hit me with that ball of mana, there's one thing that stumped me. My strength had just gone up by four, but my punches felt the same as the fight before. The command was powering my body both times, so what happened? Logically, the entirety of my fighting prowess comes from the combination of my control skill and my instinct. The only things I do that involve skill are stuff like deciding to ambush, choosing which enemy I go at, or the occasional feint.

Everything else, dodging and blocking in particular, is not part of my skill set. The only limitation I have is not hurting myself when I punch. I facepalm at the realization. I think I'm already at the limit. My strength is outpacing my fortitude and vitality. Every point I put into strength now won't let me punch harder. Granted, I'll still have more explosive attacks and movements. This wouldn't even be a problem if I couldn't control myself so well with my commands.

My punches would be doing far less damage without the skill to micromanage every strand of muscle. Pulling open the wooden door, I walk back into my sanctuary. When the groaning door is shut again, I lie on the bumpy floor. The first thing I'll do when I get back to Earth is lie in my bed. I spend a few minutes staring at the ceiling. And take a shower. … And eat a hamburger. Stretching, I relax on the ground and close my eyes. If I can't fight, I'll at least be well-rested when I do.

"Kevin, sleep for…" Mana. [Mana: 260(56)]"Six and a half hours." Smiling, an unnatural wave of sleepiness washes over me. It faces no resistance as it lulls my eyes closed and puts me to sleep. I sit up and yawn as the day greets me once again. Chime This time, the system prompt opens without having to speak or think to myself. [Bleed Immunity(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)] My mood goes from waking to alert. I pull up my shirt and my pant legs quickly, examining my wounds. None of them are leaking blood.

Breathing in relief, I wonder what could have caused it. There must've been light internal bleeding while I was asleep. As I stand, I notice that the bumps of the cobblestone don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. A soft smile grows as I think of my rising fortitude. Health. [Health: 305(158)] Breathing out heavily, I lie back down on the ground. Just one more round of healing, then I fight. My eyes close, and my mind digs its way into my body.

Once again, I take up my mantle as a janitor, sweeping the water into the drain. A few minutes in, a chime hits my ears, but I continue without checking. My imagination may be running wild, but it feels like the drain for the skill got a little bit bigger. Idly, I wonder why I don't care about moving mana mindlessly for so long. I'm notoriously bad at meditation. This should be essentially the same, but I enjoy it for some reason. It could be that it's being converted to healing, which is beneficial to me.

It could also be that the joy of having control over a mystical energy is too fun and new. But it must be that I'm simply made for it. I won't tell this to other people, and have zero basis for it, but I believe I'm amazing at moving mana. It just feels so… natural. It's possible that I'm completely wrong, but I don't think so. When my mana runs out, I sit up and take a single deep breath. Then the hunger and thirst hit like a truck.

My hands frantically grab the supply of bread and jerky as I stuff my face like a pig. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. After filling my stomach and taking a trip to the water bowl, I marvel at how much better I feel. Baggage leaves me with every use of healing, my body growing to a level of vitality it's never felt before. Every single time vitality has gone up, it was in response to growing injuries.

I'm eager to see what it feels like to have a full 300 health and not be injured. [Health: 305(213)] Once again, the panel appears without a thought. It seems my growing familiarity with the system is becoming high enough to will the holographic screen into existence. Grinning, I make the screen dissipate and expand several times on repeat. I giggle, then wipe my face, trying to clear my mind. 213? The skill's getting more powerful. [Heal Tame(lv. 1) > (lv. 2)] Sweet.

Pushing off the ground, I make my way to the door. With a groan of metal and wood, I'm on my way to the next fight. My eyes stay laser-focused on the ground, constantly scanning for traps that I may have missed at some point. After my small walk, I arrive at the room I last cleared. I pick up my gauntlets lying on the floor next to the mage and exit. At the edge of the doorway, I grab my shield and continue. Only a few steps later, I change my mind.

I drop the shield on the ground and go back, picking up a newer and better-built variant from an axe goblin that I killed. Upgrades, people, upgrades. Chuckling to myself, I make it back to the edge of the doorway, quieting as I get close. Taking a deep breath, I set the shield down against the wall and don both of my gauntlets. The poor things aren't black anymore, they're red. Covered almost completely in dried blood.

"Kevin, focus on the fight, don't feel pain, avoid or block all attacks, and punch as hard as you can…" I smirk nervously as whispers quietly flow out of my mouth.

"Without hurting yourself too badly." Gotta make use of this healing skill somehow. Reaching the gauntlet out, it jerks over, clanging against the metal bars of the cell door. The hobgoblins stop speaking mid-sentence, and the scraping of weapons being picked up replaces it. The rising and lowering of my chest slows as I pull back my arm. The slapping of feet grows closer. My muscles tighten quite a bit more compared to last time. The feeling makes me grin. I was right. The cell door opens.

A flash of green in my vision. My gauntlet shoots forward. The hobgoblin turns just in time to see my fist connect with its face. The spikes sink to the base, and the nose breaks. The force of the blow pushes the hobgoblin's head against the stone doorframe. With the crunch of a carton of eggs breaking, its head is stuck between unmovable stone and unstoppable metal. Its head caves and flattens on both sides. Chime The sound comes before I even pull my fist back.

My heels flip on a swivel, and I rush at the second shieldman. It recovers from its shock quickly and pulls its shield up. I bring both arms up and prepare to bring them down. The hobgoblin raises its arm, shield coming up and locking in place. Smiling, I abandon the movement and pull my arm down, sending a right hook under the shield. Again, all spikes penetrate to the base as the plate of the gauntlet slams into its stomach. The shieldman grunts and coughs, bile splattering out of its mouth.

The shield unlocks and falls. My left arm pushes the weakly held protection out of the way. My right pulls up and slams down sideways on the hobgoblin's head. Its head collapses inwards, and it falls like a puppet with its strings cut. My gaze flicks to the mage. It stands silently with its eyes closed. It builds a mana ball, but it's only the size of a grape. Worn-out sneakers slam against the ground as I rush forward. The mage opens its eyes and panics, throwing the tiny projectile at me.

With grace I didn't know I had, my pelvis twists, and I bend sideways under the ball without losing any momentum. Reacting with wide eyes, the mage attempts to run away. It's far too late for that. My fist crashes into its back, sending it slamming into the ground with three new holes in its back. It weakly puts arms under itself to get up, but my gauntlet comes down and splits its skull like an egg. Chime Sighing, I casually walk over to the unconscious shieldman and finish it off with another chime.

I take a minute to shake out the tension from my muscles and the battle. Damn, that was easy. Flexing my arms, a heavy sense of exertion fills them, like a hundred curls without stopping. I thought it would hurt more, honestly. Oh wait.

"Kevin, start feeling pain again." Regret comes immediately as I feel the handfuls of wounds covering my body blossom with fresh pain.

"Ughhh…" I groan as I fall to one knee.

"Kevin, don't feel pain" As fast as it comes, it disappears. My shirt comes up and reveals a few of my wounds dribbling blood from in between the scabbed cracks. I gotta remember that I'm still only two-thirds from full health. During the brief moment, the pain in my arms was clear. Right on the edge between good pain from working out and bad pain from tearing giant strands of muscle apart. Acceptable. Looking up, an expected screen expands into existence in front of me. [Health: 305(211)]"Hah!

It barely even went down." Remembering my location, I prowl around the room for the box that surely hides. Once I find it, I don't even pick it up. I just kick it open. [You have discovered a reward] [Accept(14) / Bank / Consolidate] I press consolidate, but greed practically drools down my chin as I imagine the reward I'll get. For a small moment, my imagination is filled with wondrous, magical things. A chestplate made of a magical metal. Boots that let me walk on air. Gauntlets that can bend metal with blows.

An amulet that creates a magical barrier. So many possibilities. I suppose it's also possible for me to get fifty health potions. No. No way. No way that happens, right? Right? I won't jinx myself if I just think it instead of saying it. I hope. Sweeping through the bodies, I begin stealing all the jerky they had hidden away on them. Sadly, there are no upgrades to equipment. They wore the same things as the last room, and none of my armor has been damaged yet. Damn, I really want a chestplate.

I walk out, but I freeze mid-step, turning around at the mage. Walking over, I pull the robe off the dead hobgoblin, leaving it in cloth trousers.

"If you had any dignity as a hobgoblin, I'm sorry" My waist bends as I give a respectful bow to the corpse. After I turn to leave, I giggle to myself.

"Yipee! A blanket!" Wearing the robe in a fight would only get in the way and be a liability, but it can be useful in other ways. Exiting the room, I grab my shield and walk with my hands full. My eyes never leave the floor. Nothing would ruin this day more than being impaled by a seven-foot-long pole weighing a thousand pounds. With both hands crammed with stuff, I make my way through the hallways that are becoming more and more familiar.

Slipping through the open wooden door, my stuff falls to a heap, and I push the door shut. I plop down against the wall before remembering something. My arms pull the robe out of the weapons and fold it. I proudly sit on the makeshift cushion. Enough robes, and I'll be able to make a bed. My expression weakens as I remember my bed at home, probably gone forever now. A screen pops up in front of me as I look forward. [6. 64 cycles until next phase] Still so much time to go. I wish I had someone to talk to.

If I were a mage, I could at least have fun and play with spells. Minutes pass as I imagine myself shooting lances of ice and forming walls of earth.