Sunlight pierced through cracks in the cave’s vaulted ceiling, casting eerie shafts of light into the thick, humid air. The cavern reeked of death, its crevices lined with cages housing terrified creatures, their pitiful eyes refleg the grim se.
Along the walls were heaps of bones and half-devoured carcasses, filling the space with the stench of decay. In one er, a throne-like chair, roughly chiseled from stone, domihe area, its presence amplified by the grim backdrop of polished skulls stacked high. Beside the throood a woodeal, and atop it, within a small cage, the tiny primate y unmoving.
There you are, Daisuke thought as he slipped into the cave. His movements were ghost-like uhe cealment of the Shadow Veil skill, which muted his steps and cloaked both him and Zephyr in darkness. The skill didn’t specify if it masked st, but I really hope it does—and that I’m just overthinking it.
As he cautiously approached the pedestal, Zephyr peeked out from beh his shirt, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Midnight lounging on Daisuke’s shoulder, looking far too self-satisfied. Before he could eveely sider making a fuss, the disturbing sounds of the Goblins gnawing on their meal caught his attention, the siing ch of bones and flesh filling the atmosphere.
The moment Daisuke opehe cage that imprisohe curious primate, the potbellied fiends halted their feasting, their heads snapping up as they she air, alert to the sudden shift in the room.
“Keh?!”
Gahgehk?!”
“Nhahh?!”
Daisuke’s expressioled into a poker face. “Great,” he grunted, “so the skill doesn’t mask st after all. Well, that’s good to know… assuming that I survive the shitshow that’s about to unfold.”
Unfortunately for him, his intuition was more on point than he knew. In an instant, the primate’s eyes snapped open and there owerful explosion that sent him and several approag Goblins flying. As dust and debris swirled around them, Daisuke and Zephyr sprang to their feet, ready for battle. But they weren’t the only ones prepared to fight.
WHOOSH!
A massive arm, fingers spyed, cut through the dust like a colossal fan. Daisuke’s eyes widened as the haze parted, revealing a monstrous creature—a hybrid with the bulging head of a toad and the muscur, t body of a goril, easily twice the size of any great ape. It sat casually on its glorious throne while Goblins scrambled to fit its oversized frame into the mismatched armor pieces sged from people they had sin.
DING!
[Gothor | Lvl 27 | Field Boss | HP: 1051753/1051753]
Daisuke’s heart sank as he g the creature’s absurdly high health bar that was essentially twice the amount of the troll’s. “You ungrateful catfish!” he murmured. “I came here to send you to hell in the most painless ossible, and this is how you repay me?”
Zephyr leaped to the ground and growled, his gaze darting among the horde of Goblins slowly closing in ohe creatures flexed their ons threateningly, some standing before their burly god with blood-smeared faces twisted intrins.
“Why does this feel so familiar?” Daisuke muttered to himself as a sudden memory fshed—the Goblin Shaman and the bandits. The image of the worthless on the shaman had dropped only fueled his annoyance. But allowing even a sliver of his attention to drift was a mistake.
Heaving a fierce roar, a single Goblin charged forward, its jagged mace raised high. Daisuke’s body dipped low, his hair h as he braced for a terstrike. But instead of driving the on down, the fiend dodged to the side.
Daisuke’s eyes narrowed. A feint?
Before he could catch a clear view of the Field Boss, the hulki tilted its massive head back, then whipped it forward like a meical slingshot. In a split sed, a thick pink tongue shot out with the force of a ballista, striking his chest like a spear.
“Guah!”
The impaocked the wind from Daisuke’s lungs, his body curling as his feet lifted off the ground. But instead of puncturing his chest, the toched onto him like glue, dragging him in like a fish on a line.
With a deafening roar, the hulki csped its hands together and brought them down on Daisuke’s back with the force of a sledgehammer. Before his face could meet the hard ground, a savage uppercut sent him rocketing into the air.
“Kagh!”
Daisuke’s body twisted in agony as the toill adhered to him, yanked him back mid-flight, snapping his momentum. The moment, he was met with a relentless barrage of punches, each blow like a piston firing from a Gatling gun. The final crushing right hook unched him through the air, his vision blurring as his eyes rolled back from the brutal impact.
Time slowed to a crawl. Daisuke could faintly hear the muffled warning bells ringing in his mind as his HP plummeted well below ten pert. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t move; he was on the verge of losing sciousness.
Zephyr watched in horror as his rade, battered and bruised, was flung through the air like a rag doll, crashing motionlessly to the ground. Slowly—oic eyes wide, hackles raised—the e pivoted his head around, a fierce heartbeat jerking its tiny frame as adrenaline, mana, and a plethora of emotions coursed through his veins.
A crimson aura enveloped his body as the Berserk skill ignited, infusing the ragiy with raw power. A menag snarl escaped his throat, followed by the cacophony of snapping boearing flesh, anguished screams, and the crag of r fmes.
While Zephyr unleashed mayhem, Midnight stealthily emerged from Daisuke’s shadow, clutg several vials of Medium HP Recovery Potion. With urgency, the Djinn began feeding the brew to its tractee. Within moments, Daisuke’s eyes snapped open, and he jolted upright, his chest heaving, his face pale.
…If I hadn’t arranged for Midnight to admihese potions in case of emergencies, I’d likely be a corpse right now. That was defioo close for fort.
Without uttering a word, Daisuke pushed to his feet, golden eyes bzing with disdain as he locked onto the Field Boss’s sinister gaze. “So, this is how you want to py it, huh?” he challenged, brandishing the Samander’s Cw.
“Keh-kehkehkeh~”
The Goblin whose feint had allowed Gothor’s attack to out a smug chuckle. It must have been tagious, because the other pot-bellied gremlins began cag as well. Their ughter died abruptly, however, when a gleaming golden whipped through the air and ed around the feint-Goblin’s head, binding it tightly like a trussed pieeat.
The Goblin squealed and thrashed as the s stricted, but its fate was sealed. Blood spttered across the faces of its kin as its head burst like an overripe melon. The surrounding Goblins, seething with rage, barely had time to raise their ons. In a blur, Daisuke blew past them like a gust of wind, rendering them to ks of flesh.
[Name: Haxks
Species: Human
Level: 34 | EXP: 120,084/180,625 (66.48%)
Daisuke held his post-attack posture, blood dripping from the d fang still thirsting for more age. His golden eyes flickered open with cold indifference as they bore intothor’s.
I may have seven levels on this thing, but just like Zephyr, boss monsters’ stats are on steroids. If it had followed through with that assault, I’d be nothing more than a glit the System’s recycle bin right about now.
Stirred by the sughter of their kin, the Goblied with enraged battle cries, surging forward like a raging tide to overwhelm the loathsome human. But a single gnce from Daisuke set Zephyr into a. Tilting his head back, the e let loose a howl imbued with the Antagonize skill.
Instantly, the Goblins’ heads whipped toward him, their bloodlust now redirected. Those foolish enough to recklessly charge forth were met by a searing wave of fmes, their bodies melting away like wax under Zephyr’s scorg wrath.
Like with every other monster I’ve faced, I’ll stay true to my build and quer them with speed aerity. It might be a drawn-out fight, but a battle of attrition is the best way to secure victory while ensuring my own safety.
Daisuke crouched low, his muscles bulging as Stat Reset blessed him with the power he o succeed. In the blink of an eye, he was directly in front of the beast, his eyes stern, his daggers poised to taint and devour.
With a deep grunt, the creature swung its massive arm in a vicious arc. Daisuke ducked effortlessly, time seeming to slow as the bad ected instead with an unfortunate Goblin, sendih, blood, and an eyeball flying in a grotesque dispy of raw power.
Ign the grisly se, Daisuke retaliated by returning the creature’s assault a hundred-fold, his hands moving like the blurred bdes of a windmill as the Samander’s d Lipanthyer’s Fang tore into the fiend’s side.
The beast let out a bloodcurdling roar, swinging wildly in a desperate attempt to crush the infuriating fly. But each swing only found his own Goblins, redug them to mangled corpses as Daisuke danced around the chaos with cold efficy.
STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB!
SLICE-SLICE-SLICE-SLICE!
Daisuke was reckless, relentless, and ruthless. His strikes were shallow, barely grazing the surface, but it was the sheer speed and volume of his attacks that made them devastating. Each cut stacked debuffs upon debuffs, weakening Gothor’s defenses and stamina with arming efficy.
