Enter the Dungeon - Getting Schooled and the Art of Running Away

'So, it's 5 of them this time.'

Looking over at his latest prey; who were squabbling over some minor issue, unaware of the imminent danger that approached, Adam said.

After killing his first batch of goblin monsters, Adam had set out to hunt even more, gaining more and more experience.He was planning on eliminating all the normal monsters this way, then moving on to the boss, with enough levels and skills. However, it seemed the monsters weren't so stupid, as all the lone monsters had seemingly disappeared, leaving only the groups, who also started to be in groups of 4 or 5, making the difficulty of Adam's mission to stay hidden while eliminating as many goblins as he could increase significantly. Deciding to revise his plans, he changed his strategy to

Hit and Run tactics, getting in and out as quickly as he could (( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)). This would be his first hunt using that strategy.

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Preparing himself, Adam took out his club(his fourth one so far ), then gauged the group to see which ones he could take out the fastest. Two of the goblins seemed unarmed, seemingly unarmed fighters by the looks of their sharper- than- usual nails, while one of them was holding a bow, with a quiver of arrows strapped to it's back, looking vigilantly around. The final two seemed to be the usual kind, having a normal club in hand. A group of this diversity was a first for Adam, who was used to facing just the club user's, but he didn't think it posed too much of a problem.

'Looks like these monsters don't just use clubs. That could be a problem. For now I should take out the archer, it'll cause trouble if left alone. Then I'll handle the normal goblins, seeing as the fighter goblins will be annoying to kill, before confronting the final two. It looks like it won't be an easy fight, but thankfully I've got a lot more SP now.'

Looking at his Status and contemplating, Adam said.

[Status]

Name : Adam "Kweku" Greene

Age : 18

Lv : 5 ( 300/380 )

Condition : Normal

Title : None

HP : 740/740

SP: 460/460

MP : 460/460

STR : 21+35(56) AGI : 12+10(22)

VIT : 21+25(46) DEX : 15

INT : 21+25(46) WIS : 21+35(56)

CHA: 9+10(19) LUK : 10

STATUS POINTS : 0

PERKS

[ Iron Body ] ( New)

Iron Body

With body's twice as strong and as tough as Iron, these hard to beat warriors would normally be defenders. Using their body as their greatest defense , they can and will fight to their last breath without moving giving an inch to any who want to harm the ones they protect.

VIT+ 25

STR+ 10

Grants skill [ Physical Attack Resistance]

SKILLS

[Sprint](Active)[ Lv. 5 Exp. 65/100] (Level Up)

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[Aura Strike](Active)[Lv. 4 Exp. 75/80] (Level Up)

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[Sneak](Active) [Lv. 5 Exp. 15/100] (Level Up)

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[ Strongarm ](Active)[Lv. 3 25/40] (Level Up)

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[ Physical Attack Resistance]( Passive ) [Lv. 1 Exp. 0/10] ( NEW ! )

A fundamental skill needed in the arsenal of any true warrior, this skill has been known to save the lives of many. It is usually extensively trained and and used by warriors that fight with their bodies, cultivating the skill by forging their bodies in harsh battle.

Passively resists any physical attack or skill released with SP by 10%( +0.5% per level).

Looking at his new and improved status, Adam smiled and felt relieved at his new strength. He had hunted two more groups of goblins, killing 6 of them in the process, gaining enough experience to level up twice and gaining more skill exp. The three birds with one stone project was going quite well.

With his new strength, Adam now had confidence to face this latest enemy, however he didn't have the confidence that the monster's wouldn't notify the rest before he had the chance to take them all out. Realizing this he changed his strategy from blitzing and collecting the spoils, to hitting as hard as he could, collecting the spoils as quickly he could, then running away before the other goblin groups showed up and swarmed him. Finishing his preparations, Adam stalked the archer goblin, slowly getting in range. Then, he checked out it's status.

[Goblin( Archer)] ( Rare )

Lv. 5

Condition: Starving

HP : 250/250

SP: 180/180

MP : 50/50

STR : 14 AGI : 18

VIT : 18 DEX : 15

INT : 5 WIS :5

CHA: 4 LUK : 10

PERKS

none

SKILLS

Archery Lv. 3

'Wha? a rare monster ?, then that means.... '

Realizing he might have made a mistake, he checked the goblins that looked like they had sharp nails as their weapon. Observation revealed...

[Goblin( Fighter)] ( Rare )

Lv. 5

Condition: Starving

HP : 350/350

SP: 180/180

MP : 50/50

STR : 20 AGI : 15

VIT : 25 DEX : 17

INT : 5 WIS :5

CHA: 4 LUK : 10

PERKS

none

SKILLS

Unarmed fighting Lv. 4

Realizing the difficulty was a bit higher than he expected, Adam still chose to attack. Even though there were three Rare monsters in the group, he assumed they would respond to attacks just like the normal goblins, and a good hit to the head would be able to take care of all of them quickly. With confidence in himself and his unbeaten record, as well as his new skills, Adam prepared for battle.

.

Watching the archer turn opposite to where he was hiding, Adam prepped his combat skills ( [ Aura strike ] and [ Strongarm ] ), then charged out with [ Sprint ]. Barely 2 seconds after revealing himself, the archer immediately sensed him, turning around and yelling out as soon as it saw him. It's comrades turned around, seeing him as well. Not minding his cover being blown and focusing only on completing the objective as quickly possible, he headed straight for the archer. Seeing him coming towards itself, the archer retreated hastily, taking out an arrow and attempting to kite Adam; however, it didn't account for how fast a [Sprint]-ing Adam was. Fast approaching, Adam tensed himself, watching the arrow nocked and ready in the bow. Shifting to the side the instant he saw the finger release the arrow, he dodged the arrow by barely a margin.

'Man that was close.' He thought.

With no arrow in the bow now, Adam fearlessly charged forward towards the archer, swinging the club with all his strength at its head, killing it in. After dealing with the archer, he now turned towards the remaining 4 goblins, to see them all running towards him together.

.

'Ok, let's do this.'

Taking out another club, he held one in each hand. Gauging the timing correctly, Adam rushed forward, jumped forward with [Strongarm] reinforcing each arm, then swung them at each of the fighter goblins. The momentum of the powerful blows hit the crossed arms of the 2 goblins, sending them flying, and splitting them away from the normal goblins in the process. With only the 2 normal goblins remaining,Adam took them out with ease, using just [Aura strike] on each hand, using it as a chance to train the skill in the process. Now all that was left was the two fighter goblins.

'I might actually be able to do this silently.' Adam thought silently, then immediately regretted it.

Suddenly, the 2 fighters started yelling out, screaming at such a high volume it was basically impossible for the other goblin groups to not have heard them, running towards Adam with their dangerous-looking sharpened claws. Reading himself, he raised his weapon to defend against the first fighter which came at him. It jumped into the air and swung a claw at Adam with full force.

The attack was blocked however, by the club which was raised horizontally by it's opponent.

.

Blocking the first strike, Adam retaliated. Pushing the goblin back using the advantage of his high STR and it's small stature, he countered by slamming his second club straight into the side of the monsters head,saving SP by not using any skills, stunning it in the process. After all, help would be coming to aid the monsters any minute, and he would need any and all SP he could have to run from there. Using the chance, Adam rushed towards the second monster.

[Sprint]-ing towards the monster, he jumped and slammed a club towards it. Unfortunately, his streak of one hit kills seemed to be over; as the fighter goblin, anticipating an attack, rolled out of the way and dodging the attack. Getting back on it's feet, it counterattacked by rushing forward and swiping his thigh.

[-180 HP]

Taking quite the chunk of HP from him and possibly incapacitating him were it not for [The Gamer's Body] skill,the monster then backed off, remaining ever vigilant of it's opponent and the club he was holding. Seeing these actions, Adam realized these fighter goblins were very different from the normal goblin monsters. They knew tactics, and weren't brainless idiots ( like the club wielding goblins ), waiting to be hit before reacting like some they were in an RPG or something. They'd obviously learnt how dangerous he was, and were avoiding his attacks or defending against them like they did in the beginning by crossing their arms to bear a hit, and also calling for help, knowing they couldn't win against him.

Meanwhile he, Adam, had learnt nothing. Gaining a bigger and bigger ego after succeeding in attacking a few small groups of weak and stupid monsters, he'd assumed the rest of the monsters would be this easy and breezed through fights while relying solely on skills he'd gotten from the game, not putting in any effort at all to actually gain some fighting experience, he now found himself in trouble facing 2 monsters that weren't even rare. His lack of growth was also shown by the lack of an increase in any manual increase in stats whatsoever, despite the great environment for doing so.His crude attacks with a weapon he hadn't gained a skill for, showing his complete lack of knowledge on how to actually use it, was completely useless against a monster that had full control over it's body and abilities, utilizing its stats to its full potential. This rude awakening helped bring Adam back down to earth and humbling him, opening his eyes to the fact that was not a game but reality, and any mistakes on his part could be fatal.

'Sh*t, how can rare monsters be so strong? I could be in trouble here if I'm not careful. If this is how strong rare monsters are, then what about elite ones, or the strongest in this dungeon, the boss ? Seems I became quite arrogant there, I actually forgot it takes a team of awakened to clear a dungeon. Did I really think I could do it so easily? I better learn to never underestimate a monster or even a human just because my stats are higher than theirs. For now there's not really anything I can do to solve this issue, so I'll clear the dungeon with skills for now, then learn to fight properly later.'

Realizing his errors and vowing to change them, Adam turned to face the goblin again, his presence changed now. His guard up and vigilance in his eyes, he rushed towards the monster again, trying to dispose of it before it was joined by the other goblin, currently still stunned.

.

Reaching the goblin, this time Adam held nothing back. Feinting with his arm, swept the goblin's feet from under it with his foot. the goblin, which had been guarding an attack from above and never experienced a dirty trick like this, fell prey to this trap. Falling to the ground, it had no way of dodging the [Aura strike] and [Strongarm] empowered attack which fell upon it's head, killing it instantly.

After crushing the head of the fighter goblin, Adam rose up, ready to go finish off the last one, when suddenly...

[ -180 HP]

He felt a sting from his back. Realizing the other goblin must have gotten free from the stun, he turned around, only to see nothing there.Confused, he suddenly felt another sting from his back .

[-180 HP ]

'Damn it, it must be behind me. Discovering this, Adam made a split second decision, jumped up, then fell on his back. Feeling something cushion his fall, he rolled away quickly, finally finding the culprit also rolling away from him. Eyeing it carefully, Adam then checked how much HP and SP he had left

.

[HP: 200/740]

[SP: 260/460]

'That was waay to close for comfort. A few more hits and I would've been done for. These monsters are seriously cunning. I gotta finish this as fast as possible and go hide and recover, cause if I'm in this much danger with just 2 of these guys now , I don't even wanna think about what will happen when 10 more show up.'

'Deciding to end it as soon as possible, Adam rushed the fighter, determined to finish things. Using [Strongarm] on his arm, he threw out one of the clubs in his hands with all his strength. Not expecting this, the unsuspecting goblin was hit in the temple by this attack, dazing it in the process. Not stopping for a second, Adam used this chance to rush up to the goblin, grabbing it by the throat and lifting it up with his free arm. Then activating his skills for the last time, he bashed it in the head, crushing its skull and thus finally killing the last of the 5 monster group. Emotionally exhausted, he finally sat down to rest, waiting for the systems messages.

[Exp. +50] (x5)

[Level Up]

'Hmm, I guess the archer and fighter goblins also give the same amount of Exp. huh ?' Looking at the message from the system, Adam concluded.

'My HP and SP didn't fill back up after I leveled up. Damn, that would've been super convenient. Let's take my loot and get out of here as quickly as possible then.'

After finishing his rest and checking his growth, Adam stood up and went around collecting his loot, which was the same as usual: Nails , teeth, coins and some cash.Done with that, he prepared to leave when he heard the sound of bushes rustling and the sounds of lots of different footsteps crunching the dead grass growing louder by the second.

Suddenly a goblin archer burst through the vegetation, instantly spotting their quarry. Yelling out to attract it's companions, the monster positioned itself well and began to prepare to shoot at Adam.

Seeing its actions, Adam knew he was merely seconds away from being surrounded and killed by them. Putting in 101% effort, he started running away yet again, utilizing as much of the boost that [Sprint] could give as possible, and not a moment too soon, since more and more monster groups started appearing out of the dark vegetation, all roaring towards him. One prominent figure which drew his eye rather, was a larger than usual goblin, about 5 feet tall instead of the normal 3 he'd seen in the goblins he'd faced so far. It also seemed to be wearing a red hat, instead of the usual green, like their skin.

'Oh no, please don't tell me...'

Seeing all these clues, Adam was convinced he knew what it was. Using [The Gamer's Observation ], his suspicion was confirmed.

[Redcap] ( Elite )

Lv. 9

Condition: Normal

HP : 550/550

SP: 300/300

MP : 50/50

STR : 40 +10(50) AGI : 21

VIT : 30 DEX : 16

INT : 5 WIS :5

CHA: 5 LUK : 10

PERKS

none

SKILLS

Berserk Strength

Roar

Charge

Power bash

'God**mn it. Why does this keep happening to me.'

Seeing this status page, Adam knew he was screwed.