Second Dungeon Raid

Maybe it's the excitement about the newly acquired skills, but today, the mana depletion didn't seem to affect me as much.

Of course, there was the possibility of my mana pool increasing, but it would be unrealistic to expect that in such a short amount of time.

Still, it would be a total lie to say I wasn't feeling its effects. Even though I could do most tasks, it was better to take it easy for a while before going to the dungeon.

A few hours went by as I tidied things up around, nothing much, but just enough so that I could maintain a clean living space.

And so, seeing as there was no reason not to, I once again head out, my destination being the beginner dungeon close to where I live.

It didn't take much time to reach it, and having contacted Roy and Sam beforehand, we met before the Gate of the dungeon.

Neither of them seemed to have bought better equipment, which with the pay from yesterday is totally comprehensive. Let alone buy weapons, it would be a miracle to rely on it to survive.

They did exude an air of confidence though, and the reason why was pretty obvious. Since the results from yesterday's dungeon raid were quite good, and every one of us leveled up, I think it's normal for us to be a bit more confident, even though we're now just slightly stronger.

Even though dungeons tend to be dangerous at all times, for the first floor of this one, taking into consideration our performance from yesterday and the fact that today we are stronger, it's reasonable to think that this dungeon raid will go smoothly once again, by all means, it should even be easier than yesterday.

Yet, this kind of thinking also scares me a bit. After all, what separates dead beginners from veterans is the notion of always keeping up your guard.

Even if humanity has somewhat adapted to the changes in the world we find ourselves in, there's a lot we don't know about.

Phenomenons we can't explain or comprehend at all, or things that shouldn't happen, yet, even if logic-defying,  just end up happening are common now. It's as if the world is trying to spite any kind of understanding we have about the inner workings of the blessing Catherine gave us.

I had no wish to dampen the good mood we were in though, so, after greeting Roy and Sam, we entered the dungeon for our second raid, with high hopes for progress once again.

During this expedition, the difference between level two and level one became apparent.

Before, most of the enemies in the dungeon would be able to put up a fight. It would be unlikely for them to win, but one mistake and we could have our lives forfeited.

The wiggle room this time became bigger, being able to overpower enemies easier than before, and also being able to answer to surprising situations with a clearer head.

Since Roy had recovered from the injury he received yesterday early on in the raid, had a level-up, and also got a bit of combat experience, it looked like he was a different person from the day before, most enemies didn't even faze him.

Sam had also improved a bit, she was already pretty capable before, but it seems like the gap between us has actually increased, and she easily occupies the position of strongest in our party right now.

I probably could overpower her for five seconds with [Physical Prowess], but then I'd instantly lose anyway since I'm not confident in defeating her in that time frame and after five seconds mana depletion would kick in, making me become a walking punch bag for her.

Thankfully she's an ally we can count on, so I don't really have to worry about my prospects against her.

That being said, it would take a long time for us to level up again by just hunting in this area.

Since yesterday, we have been sticking to a place close to the gate, just far away enough from the settlements of this floor for hunting, but still close enough to run for help if need be.

There would be more and stronger monsters the deeper we went, but we decided to do so. It was a bit risky since the probability of higher leveled monsters goes up as one dives deeper, but we still hadn't covered the amount of ground we did yesterday, so just rushing that much should be alright, after that, we'd once again put the most focus possible so as to not endanger ourselves without reason.

This is somewhat of a greedy move, basically, we were actively looking for stronger monsters so that we could get more experience from them and speed up to our next level.

Another strategy that was doable for us would be challenging the boss of this first floor. It would be even more dangerous but would reward us better, by hunting a bit and killing the boss we were practically guaranteed to level up.

For this dungeon, it is said that challenging the boss at level one without a party would guarantee death.

At level one, at least five people would be necessary, but even then, they would probably be wiped, since the boss is at level 3 himself, and there are four goblins inside the room alongside it, two of them being level 2 themselves.

Of course, a strong enough gift or skill can always change that, which is why I believe our party right now could defeat the boss.

Even though we are all level 2, each one of us has a good combat skill or gift, it should allow us to have an advantage against everything in the boss room except the boss himself.

If we were to fight it right now, we could have Sam distract the boss while Roy and I took two goblins on, we would get badly injured, but as long as Sam manages to survive the boss encounter we should be able to deal with the goblins and then overpower the boss together.

Not even one of us suggested entering a boss room even though we just went past one though. It should be pretty obvious, but there is no need to rush it.

Inside a dungeon, your maximum level is capped by the floor you are in, and your skills also can't be above the boss level, meaning even if you had a level 5 skill, it would be reduced to level 3 while inside this floor, and even if you had the status of a higher level, they would also be reduced back to the cap of the floor.

Due to that, it's impossible for us to raise our level beyond 3 without defeating the floor boss. But it also means that there is no reason for us to challenge him before reaching the cap, it's simply the safer option, and at level 3 we would be almost guaranteed to win.

And so, we simply went past the floor boss room. It should also be noted that we keep our guard up when around it, as a Boss Rush could happen.

The conditions for a Boss Rush are not yet known, being mostly attributed to chance.

It's quite rare, but its nature is dreadful. When a Boss Rush happens, the boss from the floor is able to leave his room and roam around the dungeon freely, which often causes casualties even among veterans.

Even rarer, a boss from a higher floor may descend, although his level gets capped, he would usually be a lot stronger than what you'd expect on the floor you're exploring.

Against something like that, there's usually nothing to be done, the best option is to run and then notify everyone.

Normally after that, a subjugation request is issued, and teams are formed with the sole purpose of killing the boss.

Usually, adventurers with a higher level are called, because even though their level gets capped, with their skills they should be able to put up a good enough fight, even more so if in high numbers.

For lower floors of beginner dungeons such as this one, it's also possible for the army or the police to deal with the situation since firearms work well on weaker monsters.

Thankfully we didn't have to face anything of the sort this time around, and could simply pass by without a boss rush happening.

After getting deeper than ever inside this dungeon, we started finding stronger monsters, and after our 13th goblin kill in this region, it was noticeable that no slimes were roaming around anymore, only goblins could be found in this depth.

They tend to be stronger than slimes and sometimes group up, which can lead to difficult situations, such as the one we find ourselves facing right now, where there are three goblins standing right in front of us.

One of them is carrying a club, reminiscent of the goblin I killed yesterday. The other two seem to be unarmed, and the only thing to note is the robe that one of them is using.

Roy: "Do you guys wanna do this three on three or would you prefer to isolate them in three different one on one battles?"

Miwen: "Isolating the battles would be better I think, a group battle tends to be chaotic, and in such an environment we could easily get hurt, by fighting one on one it gets easier to manage each fight and should reduce the chances of any accident."

Sam: "I can probably take one really quickly and then help you guys, if you ask nicely~"

Roy: "I see, I'll facilitate your job then, I'll get the shady one with the robe, Miwen should get the one with the club since he already has experience dealing with that."

impressive argumentation, I'll give him that. But something tells me he just wants to show off by dealing with the most mysterious one.

Sam: "Fine by me."

Miwen: "Be careful."

Given the situation, it's a sound strategy, although it would be better for Sam to deal with the most suspicious one, but since Roy seems eager to do it there's no helping it.

Sam was the first to jump at her designated enemy, Roy followed close behind, and the last one to face their opponent was me.

Since this goblin was carrying a club it was the slowest of the bunch, so I didn't have to rush in as much as the others.

The plan for this fight is pretty simple, wait for it to swing the club, either smash his head in or cut his neck, if the opportunity window is too narrow, create a bit of distance and wait for it to rush in again.

Goblins are not very smart, but they are capable of thinking, if I give him too many chances to repeat the pattern and notice my actions, he should be able to counteract me.

Thus, a fast battle decided by a quick and unexpected response should be my focus right now.

Although this goblin seemed on the stronger side, he swung his club with much more ease than the last one I faced, so for now I kept maximum attention, in order to not get hit by it.

By the time of his third full-force swing, I couldn't help but notice that he wasn't as tired as the goblin I previously faced, which confirmed that he was stronger by a margin.

Even if he was stronger, his body shouldn't be able to keep it up forever. And even though he is a monster, his mind should instinctively be thinking about how to kill his opponent, since his current method is clearly not working.

But that by itself was also useful to me, it meant that his concentration was divided.

He was focused on fighting while also wondering how to win.

The human mind is much greater than that of this monster, so at all times, my thinking capability should be higher, meaning my brain can think and fight much more efficiently than his.

Add to that the fact that I don't even need to think too much, since I've come to this battle with a strategy already in mind, and you can see how the winner was decided before the match even began.

His next strike came at my left side, I could feel he wasn't capable of mustering all his strength into this one, his mind was definitely wandering and he did this just to keep pressure on his opponent. Big mistake though.

With just some side steps I was able to break his meager attempt. It seems he also tried to exert more force at the end, which ended up hurting his balance.

There was a clear opportunity for me now. By using all my speed I was able to get near him before he could completely gain his balance back, and so, with a slash, blood came out gushing from his neck, and only a moment later he was dead.

Sam: "Roy!"

I suddenly heard Sam shouting for Roy.

Due to being somewhat immersed in the fight, it took me a moment to even look at my right side, where Roy should be.

When I did though, I saw him on the ground, wrestling with the goblin he was supposed to be dealing with.

Sam, who seemed to be done with her opponent quickly rushed in to help Roy. I followed after her to also lend a hand.

By punching the goblin with all her might, she managed to get it off Roy, and as it fell next to me, squirming on the ground, with not so much as a second thought, I stabbed him multiple times.

I don't know what happened to Roy, but from what I see of him, there's no way he'd have a problem dealing with even a level-three goblin, so I wasn't about to take any chances with this one.

Even though it was gruesome, I didn't give it a fighting chance.

Sam: "You okay? There's a cut in your leg, you're bleeding, you-"

Roy: "Y-yeah I'm fine-ish... It had a Gift, it also knew a spell and launched a wind blade against me, I tried to react but it was too fast, and so it hit my leg."

Sam: "We're calling today off, we need to take you out of here."

Roy: "Sure. Sorry."

Sam: "Don't worry. You coming Miwen?"

Miwen: "Yeah just a second."

Two of these goblins dropped stones, although the one with the robe dropped a green orb, while the one with the club dropped the usual monster core, so I grabbed both and gave a shoulder to Roy so that we could get out of the dungeon without exerting him too much.

Right now Sam was going ahead of me, trying to clear the way to the best of her ability.

We found some monsters on the way, but since we didn't find any in groups it was fairly easy for Sam to deal with them while I helped Roy out.

By the time we got to the establishments close to the gate, we were out of breath and out of energy.

I don't think the cut on Roy's leg is too much of a problem, but it's still worse than the injury he had yesterday, so he probably needs healing magic, a potion, or to go to a hospital.

Of those, the one that tends to be cheaper is actually the hospital, so I suggested it.

Roy claimed he has a neighbor who's good at healing magic though, so he should be able to deal with it. At least enough so that he can come to the dungeon tomorrow.

Of course, I felt relieved that he was going to be okay, and after just a bit of first aid, we came out of the dungeon.

Today's loot was 3 monster cores and this green orb. I don't hide the orb from the group, and since everyone had a shot at the goblin we decide to simply sell it and share the profits.

At the Dungeon Office today, Sam and I both got $2 each for the monster cores we got from the goblins, and Roy got $1 from his. I kinda feel bad about it but there wasn't much to discuss since everyone just sold the monster core from the monster they defeated.

The green orb though was surprising. It seems to be a wind mana orb. At level two it sells for $12 so each of us gets $4 for it.

And so after saying goodbye to Sam and Roy my second day as an adventurer came to an end.

Although not completely happy due to Roy's situation, I'm feeling great about the sudden rise in pay, if it keeps going like this I should be able to make a living out of raiding dungeons soon enough.

With such thoughts in mind I head straight home, I've yet to roll today after all.