Chapter 5: Dungeon Challenge (3)
He slowly crept forwards until he stood close behind the left goblin which he had chosen as his first target.
With his experience from the first time, he managed to get even closer. When he reached the minimal distance, he thought he could manage, he stabbed forward viciously with his knife. But this time his luck wasn't great. Just when he stabbed the goblin made a sudden movement, which brought his neck out of the path of his stab.
Having missed his stab, he pulled back his knife hurriedly, trying to use this movement to inflict some damage. Otherwise, he would have wasted a great opportunity and would most likely have an extremely hard time defeating these two goblins.
Somehow, he got lucky. While pulling back his knife it managed to slide through part of the goblin's neck. Although the wound wasn't that deep and it also didn't bleed much, it was still a plus, considering he had missed the stab.
Now that he had made his presence known, the two goblins turned around to face him, the intruder. This was where something unexpected happened. While one of the goblins turned around as intended, the other seems to have problems doing so. The goblin he had just wounded seemed to be unable to move his left arm and leg, something that resulted in him falling when trying to use his leg to turn.
"Could it be that I destroyed some nerves?", this question shot through Ivan's mind, when he saw that happened. But he didn't have the time to think further about it since the other goblin started to attack him wildly.
He slowly moved backward, while blocking its enraged attacks. This also increased the distance between him and the fallen goblin. A goblin that was still trying to attack him, even if it had to use his one working arm and leg to crawl along.
Basically, the fight was just like the one before. With the only added difficulty being, that he had to constantly hold the distance towards the crawling goblin.
With his experience from the last fight, he was now more capable of blocking the goblin's vicious strikes. But he was still not skilled nor experienced enough to counterattack. Thus, the only strategy suitable for him was to once again exhaust the attacking goblin.
And just as before he managed to do so. This time he didn't even get wounded and wasn't as exhausted.
When the goblin fell under his knife, it once again vanished in light particles, leaving only him and the goblin, still crawling towards him, behind in the room.
Making use of its inability to move swiftly he managed to dispose of him in a short time since there was no other goblin stopping him from doing so. This goblin vanished as well, leaving nothing behind.
Seeing that the two goblins didn't leave behind any loot, he was disappointed.
"The drop rate is so bad.", he murmured while carefully searching the room.
But this time he was fated to be out of luck. There was nothing to be found in the room. Disappointed he could only continue after taking a short rest. Although he didn't feel as refreshed as after eating the 'Goblin Steak' it was enough to make him feel fit for combat again.
When he arrived in the next room, he found himself face to face with a goblin that looked just like the one in the second room. The only difference was the short rusty metal rod in its right hand.
As soon as he saw it, the goblin lifted the rod and with a screech rushed towards him.
He hurriedly jumped aside. Even though the goblins didn't have much strength, the metal rod was sure to hurt.
Luckily for him, the goblin had just as much combat skill as him, when he had just entered the dungeon. It just wildly swung around its iron rod, trying to hit him.
Unlike before, Ivan was unwilling to just let the goblin hit him. And he wasn't good enough to constantly dodge the iron rod and tire the goblin out either. So the only way was to go on the attack.
Once again dodging one of the goblins wide swings, by sidestepping, he stabbed forwards with his knife. Although targeting a vital point could disable the goblin instantly, this wasn't what he went for. All the vital points of the goblin were small and he didn't think he would be able to hit them well.
Instead, he went for the body. A cut there wouldn't do that much damage on itself but it would add up fast and maybe he could get lucky and damage something important.
Without much resistance, the knife sliced through the side of the goblin. They didn't have very hard skin or flesh., allowing even his knife to slice through easily.
His knife stab left a bleeding wound at the goblins side.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.", the goblin growled enraged. It then tried to hit Ivan with even more drive. Still the attacks were simple and wide, allowing him to dodge them.
Each time he dodged a swing, he would try to retaliate with a stab of his knife. Although he didn't manage to do so every time, he managed to get the goblin to bleed heavily.
Then suddenly, when he stabbed the knife into the chest of the goblin, it somehow got stuck. He tried to free it, temporarily forgetting about the iron rod he had just dodged.
Because of his lack of training, he wasn't prepared for a situation like this and didn't to the wise thing, which was to let go of the knife to dodge the next swing. Thus he was hit by the iron rod.
"Fuck. That hurts.", he thought. Although he wanted to scream out, he didn't have the breath for it. The iron rod hitting his side took all of it out of him.
He even had the feeling that he had just heard a crunch sound from his lower ribs. The iron rod had hit a lot harder than he had expected.
He instinctively let go of the knife and stumbled backward.
While gasping for air and trying to ignore the pain, he prepared to dodge the next swing. Another hit like this and he could forget about getting out of this fight alive.
Surprisingly no new attack came. Instead, the goblin slowly fell backward, vanishing before he even hit the floor.
"Huh?", he asked in confusion. How had the goblin suddenly died? The sound of the knife hitting the ground reminded him that he had still held onto it when the iron rod had hit him. Had the force of the hit and his reaction moved the knife somewhere vital?
Unwilling to think further about it, his ribs just hurt way too much, he instead opted for trying to pick up the kife and the drops.
The goblin had dropped the iron rod itself as well as another EC. He first picked up the knife, followed by the iron rod.
"Wait? How come it doesn't hurt that bad anymore?" The pain had been replaced with a numb feeling. As soon as he asked himself that question, the answer appeared in his mind. It was as if he had always known it but only now remembered it.
[[ Item: Rusty Iron Rod
Grade: 1F
Description: A rusty iron rod, which is basically trash. The desperate may use it as a blunt weapon.
Remark: This can be disassembled by a Nanite Assembling Tool to gain the materials it is made of.
]]
He read through the description and decided to keep the rod for now. He only had the knife as his weapon, so having another one might be useful.
Even though he still felt numb, he forced himself to search the room. If he missed something useful just because of the numbness, then he wouldn't forgive himself.
This time the searching paid off since he found something tucked away in a corner.
[[ Material: Green Goblin Leather
Grade: 1F
Description: A piece of goblin skin prepared to be used as leather.
]]
He looked at the description and was instantly disappointed. This seemed quite useless, but he would have to test it before making a final conclusion. Maybe it was something valuable? Maybe it was much better than normal leather?
At least it felt good. It was smooth and comfortable to touch. The dark green color also suited his taste. Although he preferred a dark blue over dark green, one could say that dark green was his second favorite color.
Having finished his search he continued into the tunnel leading out of the room, hoping that it was the end of the dungeon. Even though the pain had been blocked, he didn't think that he was capable of winning another fight. Especially not it the pattern held true and the next enemy was more difficult than the one he had fought just now.
Luckily his prayers were heard, as the tunnel didn't lead to another room but instead to a blue swirling portal. He instinctively knew that this was the end of the dungeon and stepping through the portal would mean the end of the dungeon.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone