MrLux

Hey guys, I'm here to say that I might have made this chapter more than double the length I normally do for a chapter, and the fight was a quick one, really. I wonder how much longer the chapter I'll have to make when the fights take longer as the MC encounters someone who actually can put up a fight 😰

The full force of the impact had thrown me back a couple of meters as I fell with my back on the ground. As I opened my eyes and was recovering from the pain, I saw a green mass of muscles appearing above me with his leg sticking out. It took me a moment to realize he was dropping from some meters in the air into a back leg kick in my face, and I narrowly avoided the damage as I quickly moved my head out of the way.

I had avoided his foot by less than five centimeters, and the moment his boot made contact with the ground it created a small hole from the sheer force behind it and I saw electricity exploding outwards from the impact. The electric explosion that followed his foot hitting the ground caught me head on, as I was so close to his boot, but the electricity didn't do any damage whatsoever, instead it spread out through my body before getting sucked into my wings and disappearing.

I knew I couldn't think about it at the moment, as that was like asking to be hit again and again, so I casted [Fireball] and threw it right on the goblin's face as I turned so my paws were on the ground and jumped, flapping my wings to create more momentum and landing a few meters away from him and looking straight at him.

He dismissed the flames with a movement of his arms, but I could see he had several burn marks on his body where the fire hit him. He looked at me and smirked before disappearing and reappearing again right in front of me with his fists already closing in on my face, but at least now I was somewhat prepared for that.

Although I was prepared for expecting him to blink right in my face, it didn't mean I was able to do something about the speed he was showcasing and once again I was punched several meters back, landing next to one of the wooden staffs the mages from both armies had. Before I did anything else, though, I jumped to my side and immediately after the goblin leader came crashing down punching the ground with his fists like a meteor striking the planet.

I casted another [Fireball] and threw at him, but he punched the air and made the flames spread and dissipate before hitting him. Seeing that I looked around looking for help from the kobold leader, but he was nowhere to be seen. I saw the wooden staff near me and picked it up.

The staff, that was half the size of the goblins and kobolds, was so comically small in my paw that if someone mistook it as a toothpick I wouldn't be surprised.

"How cute" he said. "Having to rely on something so frail as a magic staff even though your fire spell is so strong"

"If they don't hit you, then they aren't doing anything" I said as I aimed the staff at the goblin.

If I'm right, then I just need to flood this thing with my magicules for it to cast a spell… I hope I'm right. I thought to myself as I made a thick stream of magicules flow from the place where it gathers near my heart, through my arm and into the staff.

The moment the stream entered the staff and made its way to the tip of it, it exploded into a million splinters and for half a second I saw a small magic circle where the tip of the staff was supposed to be, before collapsing in on itself and forming a ball of ice around five centimeters in diameter  that dropped to the ground. Seeing this the goblin leader began laughing.

"Oh, that was amazing. Please, do it again. Oh the look on your face. Hahahaha" he laughed, and mixed with his distorted voice made it an awful hearing experience.

Well, that was a bust. I wonder what happened, and what was the magic circle I saw. I thought, activating [Knowledge Library] by accident.

[ The Rozemyne Explosion happens whenever a material has magicules quantity or mana charge over its Rozemyne Limits. Both phenomena have been discovered by the royal mage Rozemyne Ehrenfest of the Atlaxia kingdom in the year 5.341 of the common calendar ]

[ [Ice Spear] magic circuit. Downloading circuit diagram… Success ]

Suddenly the small magic circle I saw for a second before collapsing was downloaded right into my mind together with its components. I was now able to cast [Ice Spear] on my own and I now knew what every symbol on that diagram meant. As I saw, magic circles, or circuits as [Knowledge Library] called them, are akin to a computer program doing what it was programed to do, and I was more convinced of that as I quickly analyzed the [Fireball] magic circuit and recognized half the elements on it, the other half being what I assumed is the symbol for the element of fire just as the in the [Ice Spear] circuit there was a symbol representing the element of ice taking around half of the space on the circuit itself.

The small flood of information and I falling into thoughts only lasted for a second, but that second was all it took for the goblin to approach me again and deliver a kick to my face. The kick itself wasn't all that powerful as it only took around 20 HP from me as I quickly looked at my status. The thing that I should have taken more damage, or in this case any damage whatsoever, was the electricity that was packed in the goblins boots. The moment his boot connected to my face, a lot of electricity was discharged right onto my face, but it somehow wrapped around me before going into my wings and disappearing completely. Even though the kick itself wasn’t all that damaging, it still packed a lot of force, and that force was completely transferred to me and I was sent spinning backwards in the air until I hit the floor.

My head was spinning from the impact, but it was stopping at a noticeable rate. I took the opportunity as I was a little further apart from the goblin and began spamming [Fireball] at him, but over half of what I did cast missed their target by a great margin, but only the first ones though as my head cleared and I could aim properly. Still, the goblin leader punched the air at all of the [Fireballs] that were going straight at him, and they all exploded someway away from him.

Judging it was time I saw what the new spell that got pushed into my brain, literally, really did I aimed my hand at the goblin and began casting like I cast [Fireball], but to my dismay the spell didn’t began forming in my mind as the [Fireball] spell does, neither did the actual effect of the spell appearing in the world. A little panic took over and I began spamming [Fireball] again before the goblin could leap at my face for another round as I used [Parallel Processing] to ponder what was happening.

I’m doing literally the same thing as I do with [Fireball], why isn’t it working? Maybe there’s something I’m not considering? Let me check real quick, Status. I thought as I began checking my own status quickly as to not be distracted for too long, even though I’m currently having two focuses using my [Parallel Processing].

Oh wait, that could be useful right now. I thought as I activated [Thought Acceleration] and immediately after the world began to slow down to half the normal speed I was used to. I used the slowed down time to look at my skills more carefully and found what I thought was the cause. The only difference between the things I am doing is the fact that I have a skill called [Fire Magic] and the spell I’m trying to cast is ice based, maybe that’s why it doesn’t let me do the same as I do with my [Fireball] spell. If that’s the case, I’ll need to draw the spell manually, but I don’t have that time available right now… I hope this works.

I stopped casting [Fireball] and before the goblin could jump at me I began casting the [Ice Spear] spell, but instead of just trying to cast it as I knew, I tried to change the portion of the spell that was related to the element, changing ice to fire as I knew both symbols, or at least I thought I knew the fire symbol as I was just assuming based on what information was crammed in my head about the [Ice Spear] spell. The little anxiety that was building up as I changed the symbol turned into relief as the [Fire Magic] skill picked up the thing I wanted to do and began forming the magic circuit.

Before the circuit could have been finished though, the goblin once more appeared right in front of me again.

“My turn, now” He said before beginning a storm of punches and kicks that hit me like trucks, even though they weren’t doing that much in terms of damage.

Every time he kicked, the electricity from his boots wrapped around me and disappeared into my wings, and every time he punched I felt my scales heat up by some hundreds of degrees, and a quick glance where he hit showed a explosion of ultraviolet light in the place, probably the reason why my scales were heating up. That explained the reason I didn’t receive much in terms of damage from the punches, as it was clear that the gauntlets were designed to deliver damage through heat and radiation damage, both of which I had immunity to, but it didn’t explained why the electric boots weren’t doing electrical damage to me at all and where they were going after disappearing into my wings.

The punches and kicks weren’t doing lots of damage alone, but they weren’t alone, they were accompanied by more punches and kicks fast enough that I couldn’t follow them with my eyes without [Thought Acceleration] and even then I could barely follow them as they hit my body, neck and head. Everytime I tried to counter the attacks or attack the goblin directly he avoided my blows and the constant hits to my head were making it begin to spin again and slow the casting of the spell I was in the middle of casting.

By the time I had finished the modified spell, I had lost around 700HP from the combo I received, and each individual punch or kick just dealt around 20HP of damage. But the spell had finally finished, so I placed my open paw right in front of his belly and released the spell.

Fire appeared right on top of my hand and began flying towards the goblin. The fire was shaped like a pole with a sharp end and differently from the [Fireball] spell, where the fire was just meshed together in a ball, this spell the fire was so close together that it looked almost solid.

The goblin noticed the glow of the fire a bit too late and didn’t had the time to properly evade the spell as it hit his torso just below the right chest, leaving a carbonized hole in it the size of the spell in the place where the spell hit and passed through him and only disappearing after hitting the ground a few dozens meters away. The goblin jumped back a few meters after he was hit and placed his left hand over the hole in his torso.

“He… That was a good one, I didn’t even realize you were casting something” He said as he stumbled.

The gauntlets he was wearing lost their glow and the boots stopped crackling with electricity. He noticed it and chuckled.

“To think you would actually target my magicule sack… No, the confusion in your eyes says that this was purely accidental” He said to me, but I had no idea of what he was saying. “But it doesn’t matter, I won’t be much of a challenge now. You’ve won. Go ahead and finish me”

“Wait, can’t we solve this any other way?” I asked him, not looking forward to killing someone who looked like he just gave up.

The goblin, seeing my reaction, laughed before stopping and groaning as he felt the pain from laughing with a hole in his torso.

“I’m sorry, but that’s how it works. Besides, you basically crippled me. I won’t be able to use any skills anymore as you pretty much destroyed my magicule sack” He said.

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

“I’m not the person you should be asking this kind of questions to, I’m just a fighter to stop delvers from progressing. If you won’t finish the job as normal, I’ll just have to do it myself” He said before picking another stick, this one red and white like a candy cane and snapping it in half.

For a moment nothing happened, but before I could have said something the goblin fell down on the ground and began transforming into a rainbow mist that was slowly dispersing. After a few seconds, where once the body of the goblin leader was, there were a few items that remained in place. The pair of boots and gauntlets were two of the items that were left behind, next to them was what looked like a silver medallion that had been broken in half.

As I approached the items on the ground, I heard quick steps on the dirt approaching rapidly. I turned over to where I heard the steps and saw the kobold leader approaching running.

“I’m sorry I’ve taken so long, he used an item that sent me and our armies flying to almost our village” He said, before looking over at the items in the ground. “Oh, so he was defeated… To think he would use all of them at the same time”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I followed the kobold’s gaze on the items on the floor.

The kobold leader looked conflicted for a second before sighing and starting to speak.

“I guess it’s not out of character for me to speak, considering you’re not here as a normal dungeon delver, are you?” He asked me. It took me a moment to understand what he was saying but quickly shook my head. “Thought so… Anyway, this floor technically has two bosses, me and the goblin leader, and we were given sealed items in the form of wood sticks that when broken release said item. This is a way to increase the difficulty of the floor that currently has delvers as the dungeon can’t change things near them as opposed to normal dungeon inhabitants. Those items are what delvers consider as boss loot and are only dropped when we, I mean the goblin leader and I, judge that either the opponent is worthy enough or he is too strong for this floor and we need to… you know, put up a challenge instead of just being swept over the ground by the challengers. But still, to think he would use this two items together”

The kobold leader then looked at me, trying to find any wound the goblin leader may have caused, but didn’t find anything as the only damage I did really suffered was blunt damage and even that was already being healed by [Automatic HP Recovery].

“And yet, didn’t hurt you in the slightest” The kobold walked to the items and picked them up, then pulled another thing from his own clothes, the other part of the silver medallion. “Here, this is yours by right” The kobold said while giving me the gauntlets and boots, to which I simply shook my head.

“You can have them. I don’t know how to use them as well as the goblin leader used them against me, besides I don’t even have where to store them” I said. While they didn’t exactly fit on my normal paws as they are too big for the gauntlets and boots, I could use them while transformed into one of my humanoid forms, but even if I accepted them for me to use while transformed I didn’t had anywhere to place them on me as I don’t have pockets nor bags.

“Are you sure? Normally these kinds of items are really desired” The kobold asked, a little taken back for my lack of desire on them.

“Yeah, I’m sure” I said.

“In this case, here” The kobold leader picked a red crystal and gave it to me.

I picked up the crystal with one of my paws and looked closer at it. It was a blood red crystal that glows faintly with magicules.

“What does it d-...” I was about to ask what the gem does, but the kobold picked up the two parts of the medallion and placed them together.

The moment the parts of the medallion came together, they fused into one and a gush of wind came from a spot 2 meters in front of us. As the wind rushed past me and the kobold, the space where the wind was coming from distorted in a tall and narrow arc. In the middle of the distortion, a stone opening in the shape and size of the medallion appeared right in the middle of it.

The kobold took the medallion and put it in the place that opened up and a stone door began to take shape. As the door finished materializing, the medallion spun by itself and the door began to open to reveal the stairs for the next floor, but the kobold quickly put his hand on the medallion and turned it in the other direction that it had spun, the door closing again.

“Fill the crystal I gave you with your magicules and place it on the door, then push it as if you’re opening it” The kobold explained.

“Like this?” I asked as I began to pour my magicules into the crystal slowly.

“Yes. Once it’s full, place it right on top of the key” He said.

I nodded and kept pouring magicules into it until I felt it pulsing and rejecting any more magicules I tried to feed it. I placed it right on top of the medallion and pushed it slightly, and the moment it got into the right place I heard a click sound. As the crystal got into position, the door began to change shape as red lines began spreading from the crystal into the rest of the door, and a few seconds later the whole door was painted in different shades of red with ornaments and carvings that I couldn’t understand.

I looked over at the kobold, who simply nodded and moved his head to indicate that it was ready and that it only needed me to open it. I placed my right paw over the middle of the door and pushed it, both sides of the door opening together with my hand and revealing a pit so dark I couldn’t see the end. The crystal and medallion kept hovering in the middle of the air, even with both parts of the doors opened.

“This will take you to the deepests floors of the dungeon. But beware, as there are a few trials you must endure to be granted access. Think of this as a shortcut with a test to prove you may enter the floors, as opposed to going and fighting each individual floor from here to down below” He said.

“Oh… Thanks, I appreciate it” I said, meaning it as it would save a lot of time for me to discover who the hell is trying to create a dungeon break.

“You’re welcome. Now, don’t forget to grab the key and crystal as you’re entering. And don’t worry, the fall isn’t deadly. Even if it were, you have wings that can easily stop you” He said, but a look in the pit showed I wouldn’t have enough space to open my wings to decelerate myself.

With a nod I grabbed the crystal and medallion with one paw and jumped down the pit that could barely fit my body on and began to fall to the lowest floors of the dungeon.