Mini-boss Battle!

As he opened the door, James saw two goblins in the room. One of them, standing in front, was similar to the low level goblins that James already had combat experience with. In the back, was another goblin that was wearing leather armor and sitting on a sort of throne.

It was obvious that the one in the back was the stronger one. Even without the obvious visual cues, James could tell from the pressure he felt that the goblin in the back was of the 2nd tier.

The door closed behind him. James was expecting this, so it didn't faze him at all. He set aside the bag of magic stones and gripped his knife tighter.

"Damn. I didn't want to fight against multiple enemies at once."

But, James got a sort of reprieve. When he walked deeper into the room, the first goblin approached him, but the goblin in the back didn't move, and instead waited on its throne. It was vibing. It appeared that they had no intentions of ganging up on him.

Even so, James was fighting an uphill battle. Every time he had killed a goblin before, he had landed a sneak attack on it that killed the goblin before they could strike back. But now, he had no such luxury.

The goblin approaching him was holding a sword, which gave it longer reach than James despite it being shorter than him. It swung the sword at him, and James awkwardly deflected it with his knife. The way he swung his knife would remind other people of Earth of a baseball swing.

James' fighting technique wasn't very developed. After all, before he had been thrown into the dungeon, he had never even been in a fight before. Additionally, the experience that he had gained when he was in the dungeon only reinforced the 'stab enemies until dead' strategy.

James managed to deflect the sword this time, but he was slightly knocked off balance. Then, the goblin swung the sword again. This time, James stepped back and avoided the sword. Then, as the swing missed and the sword went past him, he lunged forward and thrust the knife into the wrist of the goblin.

The knife dug into the wrist of the goblin, and shrieking in pain, it was forced to let go of the sword with one of its hands. Then with an two-handed overhead blow, James knocked the sword out of the goblin's other hand.

"Aha! I've got him now!"

James saw an opportunity and stabbed the goblin in its chest. But, although it certainly did critical damage to the goblin, the thrust didn't kill immediately. While James was digging the knife into its chest, the goblin raised its good hand and attacked James' side with its sharp nails.

"Motherfucking piece of shit!"

James stringed obscenities together as he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked over and immediately understood what was happening. This goblin still used its nails even though it was being stabbed by a knife! What tenacity!

James pulled the knife out of the goblin's chest and attacked the goblin's arm. The goblin was not able to defend, and James pulled the nails out of his side.

"Shit, this better not give me an infection!"

James was rather worried. This wound could easily be infected by a goblin that didn't practice hygiene. It might even be carrying a disease.

But, he looked at the goblin on the ground. It had been stabbed in the chest and had both of its arms sliced up, but it was still alive for the time being. However, it wasn't going to pose a threat to James, and would die eventually. He looked at the armored goblin in the back of the room. It was still on its throne, watching the fight happen.

"This could be a chance. I should take it while I can."

James pulled out a recovery potion and downed it. The taste of mango juice filled his mouth. After drinking the potion, James could feel the puncture wounds in his side slowly healing. He decided to throw the potion vial at the goblin in the back. His aim was a bit off, and instead of smacking the goblin in the face, the vial hit the goblin's knee.

Instead of shattering as he expected, the vial simply bounced off and rolled away. The goblin, however, didn't react in the slightest.

"It just stays there until the other goblin dies, I guess."

James checked that his wounds were fully healed. Then, he walked over the the goblin on the ground and put it out of its misery.

{EIEIEKEKKEKEKEK}

The goblin on the throne let out a hoarse cry. Its eyes became bloodshot and it looked directly at James.

"Shit dude, calm down! I mean, I stabbed your friend right in front of you and you didn't blink an eye. Now he's dead and you're all ballistic now? The fuck, man?"

The goblin did not heed James' words. It reached out a hand, and a spear materialized out of thin air. James gulped. The spear wasn't anything special, but it was really sharp and had long reach. It would be hard to avoid that.

The goblin did a few swings and strikes with the spear at the air. Then, it looked at James and sprinted towards him.

"Fast?!"

What the hell? It was way faster than any of the goblins before, even from the big group! Within a few seconds it was right in front of James, even though it was tens of yards away.

"Shit!"

James ducked and narrowly avoided being turned into a kebab. However, he could feel the wind generated by the strike. Just how fast was this spear?

However, James had little time to think. The spear was now descending from above. The goblin was using it as if it was a staff, intending to bonk James and end his career. James dove to the side to avoid it, but when he got up, the spear was heading towards him again. James attempted to parry this strike with his knife, but was unable to stop the blow entirely. The spear's deflected momentum caused it to shoot by James' face and nick his face.

"I almost lost my ear! What am I supposed to do?"

The goblin pulled back and took up its fighting stance again. James, after the last exchange, decided that he couldn't attempt to block the attacks of the goblin. It was too hard to do accurately with a knife, especially for James who had no combat experience. Thus, James started thinking furiously.

"Alright. That's gotta be my only option at this point."

The goblin was still looking at James with its bloodshot eyes. It roared once again.

"Come on, you little piece of shit."

James made a 'come come' gesture with his hands.

"I'll fuck you up."