2 Dark and Narrow

The air shook with the impact of the strike. Shin, who had suddenly appeared in a stone corridor illuminated only by the faint, feeble glow of torches, had no time to think about the incredible reaction speed of the green fellow who swung his club at him. It was only after the sudden attack when the details of the goblin's physiognomy caught his attention. Shin jumped to the side and activated [Drain].

It was not the first time that Shin evaded unexpected blows. In perspective, there was a point in his life when he faced much more terrifying adversary. This time, however, he did not manage to avoid the blow completely. Primitive weapon grazed his arm, causing his life to decrease slightly.

The pain was manageable. He didn't even think of it when the spell connected to the creature. With his hand out, he began to back off.

"Three points of life. Motherfucker."

Shin cursed, as he checked the status window. Usually, he was acting like a civilized man. This time, the situation was not a usual one.

"And back to full. So he is already three points down".

Twisting nimbly, Goblin took another swing. Recently appointed warlock pulled back again, this time completely escaping the blow. Creature squeaked. It was relatively short and had to rely on its speed rather than arm's range. Goblin made up for the physical deficiency with ferocity and unbelievable swiftness. Opponents continued the rapid, deadly dance. Heavy, salty drops of sweat started to fall into Shin's eyes.

Balls of light started to float above the goblin's carcass. They looked like stars in the night sky, ethereal yet not as distant. They gathered slowly as if waiting for someone to adore their shine.

Currently, Shin was unable to appreciate their beauty. He was busy. The dinner he ate a couple of hours earlier was abandoning the cozy interior of his guts. But as something was leaving his flesh, something else was about to enter it.

[Gained 10 experience points.]

Starlight flew into his body.

"Ugly thing. Almost cost me a seizure."

He wiped his lips with the back of his hand. Puddle of vomit adorned dried corpse. The skin on goblin's face, shiny from grease just a minute ago, now cracked grotesquely on his skull, dry and withered. Even monster's hair grayed significantly. The ruthlessness in its eyes faded but the long-mawed maw still smelled of rotten meat. Beside the body, splinters and pieces of broken wooden club covered the stone flooring.

"I lived. I'm alive."

Youth breathed heavily, repeating himself. An uncontrolled giggle followed. In the beginning, it was slight, almost meek and delicate. Then, Shin's laughter intensified until it changed to resemble unhealthy hiccup. He kicked the head of the fallen monster. Its neck bent at a strange angle.

"Just a game, huh?"

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Horrid truth becomes bearable if trivialized. It is easier to tolerate the existence of death in the category of gaming. It seemed appropriate, given circumstances.

"What about my status?"

Level 1 | Experience: 10

Life: 100 | Essence: 4 | Mana: 100

Str: 10 | Agi: 10 | Int: 10

Skills: Drain [1] | Animate [1]

"Almost out. Goblins must have about 100 life points, like me. He almost got me, I expected to combat as soon as I transferred, but it is another story for me to appear so close to him."

"I guess the sound of the fight did not attract more of them. Because there are more, that much is certain. Is it a maze? Dungeon? It sure looks like one."

Up to this point, Shin had never visited any dungeon. Warlock based his assumption on the image of a dungeon of his own creation. However, he felt reluctance towards dark, narrow places. The narrow corridor made him uncomfortable.

Boy's eyes fell upon the nearby corpse. It was the time to use his second spell.

"Animate."

The body twitched. It slowly pushed itself up. The meat fell off the moving corpse. Pieces of dried flesh were decaying at high speed, collapsing into dust moments after they hit the ground. Bones began to darken and expanding. Oddly, it seemed that skeleton was growing to the size of a grown man. 50 points of mana disappeared. Deep in skeleton's eyesockets, small orbs of fire ignited.

Shin felt that stomach acid was irritating his throat.

"We seem to share a connection. Somewhat conscious, but no real intelligence. Obedient and able to follow simple commands. And it seems to be permanent summon until I decide to call him off. Can I check its stats? How well does it fight?"

Skeleton | Level 1

Life: 100 | Rage: 0

Str: 10 | Agi: 10 | Int: 0

"Rage seems to be its main resource."

"Let's rest. I need to regenerate my essence."

When there is no one to talk to, people may opt to stay silent or start talking to themselves. If one's work does not include some sort of creative process, in most cases, talking to oneself is a bad omen. In retrospective, necromancer was lucky. He had a moving skeleton as his conversation partner. Not exactly a healthy option, but better than nothing.

"I'm not going to put your skills to test now. I'm exhausted. Need to make sure that I can win against next monster alone. Honestly, dodging is exhausting. I don't know how long I'll be able to fight without food."

Shin moved a couple of steps away from the pool of filth leaning against the cold wall. He paid attention to the sounds, looking at his status window. Essence and mana pools were slowly refilling at a steady rate. One point took about half a minute to regenerate. The boy was thinking of ways to utilize his undead familiar.

"I don't want to risk injury. Therefore, fighting alongside it is out of the question. [Drain] takes up an enormous amount of essence, but if the skeleton is able to reduce opponent's life by about half, I should be able to speed up the process significantly. And experience meter is about one-tenth full. So, nine more goblins to kill."

About 40 minutes later the clatter of bones reverberated in a dim-lighted corridor. The skeleton was walking slowly but confidently. About five feet behind, a young man followed. He was dressed in baggy pants with pockets, heavy boots and a loose t-shirt. He was in an outfit one would rather wear on a pleasant trip to the mountains. Its defensive capabilities were severely lacking to serve as any form of protection inside a monster-infested dungeon. Shin was painfully conscious of this fact.

Goblin ran out from behind the kink of the passage. It stabbed with the sword, but the blade got trapped between summon's ribcage, dealing almost no damage. Skeleton caught surprised goblin with its bony arms. The barrage of headbutts followed. An unnatural smile spread slowly on Shin's face. The monster began to scream as his skull cracked and drops of blood began to splatter on the walls and ceiling.

"Drain."

Warlock's eyes lighted with green specks of the essence. The fight lasted a minute. Blood of the sword-wielding goblin left a gory trail on skeleton's head. Towards the end, Goblin was about to break away but ultimately it failed miserably. [Drain] sapped most of its strength and withered much of vitality. Weakened, it couldn't harm skeletal minion.

[Gained 10 experience points.]

Dazzling, beautiful balls of starlight flew into Shin's body. His smile grew. For the first time in his life, a dark and narrow place seemed pleasant to him.