Hobgoblin Lair (2)

Walking through a single uneven passage with an irregular width in the cave, and while receiving instructions from his sister on hand-to-hand combat. Ellis fought off small groups of hobgoblins, tried to gain the poison resistance skill, and left some for her to handle.

But then, seeing how she quickly obtained a return stone, while despite his increased luck from his mother's blessing, nothing dropped for him except the occasional magic stones found inside the hobgoblins, Ellis couldn't help but think that maybe nothing would drop for him. As everything here seemed connected to the Twilight Codex system, making it less about luck and more about something else.

Holding the return stone his sister had obtained and inspecting it carefully, Ellis noticed no difference from an ordinary stone, except for the word 'return' inscribed on it.

'Aurora'

[Yest, Host]

'Can you sense anything from the stone?'

[I don't have the ability to sense anything outside of your body, other than the shards of ****]

'Should I try to swallow it then?' While this stupid thought briefly crossed his mind, he immediately dismissed it, knowing that he was in the area of influence of the Twilight Codex and not wanting any variables to happen, shortening his life.

"Can the same person drop more than one return stone?" Being the only option he has, Ellis asked, hoping that at least his sister might be able to get one for him.

"Yes, but they will disappear when we exist the dungeon."

Relieved by his sister's answer, he simply replied, "That's good," and continued deeper into the dungeon, fighting hobgoblins along the way while starting to wonder why this dungeon was ranked B.

[You have learned the skill Basic Poison Resistance Lv.1]

[Basic Poison Resistance (Passive) Lv.1]

You have a slight resistance to poison.

But finally obtaining the skill he wanted, Ellis was happy, despite the shabby description and his body still being riddled with poison, not improving much.

Not wanting to get distracted too much by the skill, Ellis checked himself a briefly, then continued walking with his sister. Finally coming upon a large clearing-like room filled with about fifty normal hobgoblins and one that stood out as clearly different. Looking at the scene in front him Ellis felt a surge of excitement, thinking that maybe good things really come together, as a thrilling battle was clearly waiting ahead.

"Should we first try to draw out some small groups of hobgoblins and then challenge the one at the back?"

"Of course not." Hearing what his sister said, Ellis felt it was absurd. He had finally found a battle to look forward to, so how could he spoil his fun?

"I'll take them head-on, you handle the archers," after instructing, he immediately charged forward. while The hobgoblins noticed him and began to encircle him, but Ellis didn't care.

"I'll take them head-on; you handle the archers." After giving the instruction, he immediately charged forward. The hobgoblins noticed him and began to encircle him, but Ellis didn't care.

Going after the closest hobgoblin he came across, Ellis killed it with a punch and continued battling the others. He noticed that the mini-boss didn't seem to want to interfere, merely watching to see how long he would hold on, which made Ellis scoff inwardly.

Fighting off dozens of hobgoblins while dodging arrows and being surrounded from all sides proved challenging, but Ellis didn't care about the small injuries and scratches, and continued fighting with his bare-hands.

Maybe he had changed after entering the gray gate. Even though he had just walked there, he felt much greater pressure there than in the battles here. The small injuries he'd sustained didn't even faze him anymore.

Even though there were a lot of hobgoblins, the one-hit kill pattern and an opponent who didn't care about injuries caused their numbers to decrease quickly.

After some time and breathing somewhat erratically, Ellis finally took a look around and saw that all the normal hobgoblins were dead. His sister had killed most of the archers, and only the mini-boss hobgoblin the main dish remained.

Running toward him and punching, Ellis thought that the difference couldn't be big, but he was wrong. The mini-boss hobgoblin, despite being a head taller than others and having a bulky body that seemed to lack agility, was still able to barely dodge and even counterattack.

Seeing the hobgoblin's fist, covered in thorns, coming at his face, Ellis quickly raised his arms to block it. The punch hit with such force that it pushed him back several meters. But it was still acceptable, the real issue was the poison-coated thorns, some of which had embedded themselves in his arms.

He was immediately gripped by a strong wave of nausea, and his hands began to feel numb. Ellis hesitated, debating whether to use one of his healing chance now, but feeling stubborn and determined to finish the fight without any help, he decided to ask Aurora first.

"If a limb becomes unusable or gets torn, after using one chance of the healing ability, everything should return to normal, right?"

[Yes]

Reading Aurora's affirmative answer and pushing through the pain, Ellis felt a surge of excitement and a growing desire to push himself further. But perhaps he was too distracted, as he suddenly saw a massive fist heading straight for his face once again.

Having learned his lesson, he ducked down, narrowly avoiding the punch, with only a thorn scratching him. Then jumping a short distance away, Ellis tested his hands. While his left hand felt quite numb and barely movable, his right hand seemed still usable.

Taking his previous stance, with one foot forward and the other back, Ellis decided to launch himself at the mini-boss.

With a high speed catching the mini-boss off guard, Ellis was finally able to land a punch to his face. Seeing the hobgoblin get thrown some distance away, he quickly followed. As the mini-boss crouched and tried to stand, Ellis, using all the strength he could muster, delivered a powerful kick to his neck. But not being able to put all his strength because of the poison effect, he just got him sent rolling across the ground until he crashed into the wall.

Following him once more, Ellis saw that this time the hobgoblin couldn't get up immediately. Not wanting to face any surprises and seizing the opportunity, Ellis began to barrage him with punches, decisively finishing him off.