What a lovely fountain. Perfect to watch as a celebration for a double level up.

"L-LEADER!!" - Mob 1

"A-a-a-all hands! Prepare for battle!" - Mob 2

If it wasn't for the irritating background noise made from "Weakened" mobs. And that the fountain water is blood-red.

...okay, I'll be honest. It's real blood. 

"I knew this place was a dungeon! I knew it!" - Mob 3

"Stop panicking and look for the monster that did this!" - Mob 2

Ehm, I'm right here you know. Calling someone a monster, just plain rude. They aren't wrong though. 

But where are they looking at? They are looking above where the head of the mob leader was. That's right, was. As in past tense. 

After I had sneaked close to the mob leader, I tried out my yet unused [Steal] skill. After that, I was planning to use a web to immobilize him, but [Steal] hit the jackpot on the very first try: the Bandit Dagger. 

What an achievement, [Steal]! And on your first try! You will become something great like [Stealth] and [Appraisal] one day. 

Since I had earned my first weapon, I wanted to test it out before trapping the leader, you know. The result was incredible, in lots of different meanings.

The single slash with the dagger beheaded the mob leader like as if his neck was made of butter. I get that Fatal Blow was used, with the black light and all emitting from the blade, but to this extent? [Surprise Attack] must have done something as well. The mob leader looked at least surprised when he saw me holding the dagger that should be at his waist. Didn't he think of [Steal] at all? Even when he can use it himself? What a fool.

"WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS IT?!" - Mob 4

Oh geez. Can't you let someone think to themselves without making noise enough to warn the whole dungeon? Mob nr.2 looks like the sub-leader, but I want to take care of this guy first. He has a helmet on him, so attacks at the head would... be unexpected. Maybe I can recreate the same surprise attack boost from before. The helmet doesn't cover the eyes, so... go, throwing dagger!

*Chuck*

"Gah-!" - Mob 4

"Jacob!" - Mob 5

"Damn, who did that?!" - Mob 2

I did. Not that I'm gonna answer him for real. But now the mobs are thinking it's one of them that killed the leader and that Jacob guy. I have to remember that. It's a good strategy. Then, the next one is, that guy!

*Chuck*

"Urgh-!" - Mob 6

This time I threw the dagger so that it pierced the throat of mob nr.6. Thank you, master [Throw]. I couldn't do this without you. The distance isn't that far, so I thought I could do it. Still, no level up this time? Or was the leader such a big catch that I almost reached 3 levels?

"Damn it! Who did that?!" - Mob 2

"T-there! That slime!" - Mob 1

Uh-oh. They found me. I was daydreaming for too long.

"What are you talking about?! No way a slime would throw daggers!" - Mob 2

Ehm, sorry, he's right. Let's reward him anyway.

"B-but it's holding leaders dagger- argh!" - Mob 1

"WHAT?!" - remaining mobs

Yup, yup, yup. It's surprising when a slime (demon) takes out a self-made morning star from its shadow and smash someone's face.

"Why you!" - Mob 2

And here comes the sub-leader. He looks tough, so a mere dagger would not be enough. In that case, let me borrow that, mob nr.1.

*Swish* *Chuck*

"Mer!!" - Mob 3

The Iron Sword that mob nr.1 had was way better than my throwing daggers. But damn it was heavy. Weight 28 is nothing to sneeze at. Anyway, three more to go.

"Take this! Fireball!!" - Mob 7

Oh here comes the last one. 'I'm gonna die!', or is that what you think? This guy has been chanting some kind of spell all this time since I killed Mob nr.4. I've been secretly working on a counter plan for him.

*Swish*

"Huh? Threads?! Whoah!" - Mob 3

Yup, that's right. During the fight, I've made some new threads and attached them to mob nr.3. Why, are you volunteering to be my human shield? So kind. Well, off you go, dammit!

*BANG!*

"Gahh..." - Mob 3

"Ah, sorry!" - Mob 7

Like sorry's gonna cut it! See what you have done to my human shield! He has burn wounds all over him! Good job! 

Speaking of a good job, this shield is still alive. Tough guy. He must have a tank class. I can't remember the details of the skill this guy has, and frankly speaking, I don't care. None of these guys were any threat to me. 

"Die already!" - Mob 5

Oops. Forgot about this guy. He's readying his spear to swipe at me. Human shield, you're up!

*Swish*

"Khah..." - Mob 3

"Ah, sorry!" - Mob 5

You too?! And now, my human shield died... hey, wait a sec! Doesn't that mean that these guys get the EXP?! Oh, now I'm mad! 

To take out mob nr.5, I jumped in top of nr.3's shoulder and HOT! Hot, hot, hot, hot! Nr.3 is still scorching hot! Just what kind of firepower did that spell have?! Shouldn't Fireball be a beginner spell?! Tch, Morning Star, FIRE!

*BAMM*

"GAH!" - Mob 5

Good, now get off this frying pan! Damn, that was hot. Haven't all the damage I've taken been hazard damage?

"Hi-HIIIEEE!!" - Mob 7

Ah, we have a deserter here! You're not getting-!

"YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY, YOU DAMN SLIME!" - Mob 1

EH?! That guy's still alive? The Morning Star must have been too weak. I guess I need to reevaluate the worth of this one. And- whoah!

*CRAAASHH!*

Oh damn god, that was close! Mob nr.1 swung a bastard sword he found somewhere at me! I dodged of course, but the ground was crushed like someone had blasted dynamite there! Where did that explosive power come *Thud* *Splat*

Ugh. Wh-what was that? 

"Damn monster. ETHAN! Get back here!" - Mob 5

"Y-Yes!!" - Mob 7

The guy with the spear, mob nr.5. He hit me using his spear as a golf club since there wasn't enough room to swing it in the camp. I flew out to a star-shaped intersection. This place is big enough for them to fight without worrying about crashing their attacks into each other.

To make things worse, the spear user is also calling back the magician, nr.7, who tried to desert. The Morning Star is a complete fiasco! It didn't do anything right when it counted! But how did the spear user and bastard sword user recover? And the sword user, isn't he looking a little rabid there?

EEEEHHHH!! What's freaking wrong with that status?! Isn't he stronger than the leader now?! Where did the Weakened condition go to?! And how did he get that Sub Class?! "Berserker", isn't that completely out?!

What do you mean 'automatically acquired'?! That's so unfair! And Berserk-related skills, whats-WHOA!

*CRASH!*

Too close! But I can't fight in the dark anymore! I should have just appraised all their skills before starting to kill them! Why did I get so overconfident from seeing that all of them except the leader had the Weakened status?!

I don't remember [Berserk] or [Monstrous Strength] on this guy. And the [Calm Mind LV12] has become LV-?! And-yikes!

*CRASH* *BANG*

Now the fireballs are coming as well!

"Keep going, Ethan!" - Spear user

"Sure, but won't I hit Try if I continue like this?" - Magician

"The current him can endure that. Just keep firing." - Spear user

Tch, they want to kill me more than they care about the berserker? Fine by me, NOT! The magician is the worst match-up for me. That fire will burn my threads up. I need to *CRASH!*. AGAIN! Damn it. And Morning Stars are out of the question. My throwing daggers don't have the power to take out the magician from this distance. I need something stronger... that's it!

"I got it this time! Fire-" - Magician

As if! 

*Swish* *Stab*

"Gwah!" - Magician

"Ethan!" - Spear user

YES! Just what I needed! Before the next fireball came flying, I took out some of the poison threads I had in my inventory and tied the Bandit Dagger I still held with it. Then I used the [Throw] and [Thread Control] combo from the failed Morning Star strategy and launched the Dagger towards the magician, scoring a perfect headshot!

Now the battle leans to my favor unless the berserker completely recovers instead of blowing away the Weakened status with his skills. How did the spear user recover? *CRASH!* Stop that already!

Hey, the spear user took out something that looks pretty cheating to me. Don't you dare drink that! Don't you-

*Glug, glug, glug*

HE DRANK IT! Oh crap. Now the only one that fights without full health is the berserker. The only one that couldn't care less about that!

*THUMPH*

"Shhhaaaa" - Turtle snake

AND WHY DID YOU HAVE TO COME AT THIS TIMING?!

Due to all the noise like the fireball explosion and the berserk slashes, we had attracted a turtle snake! It's smaller than the first one I saw, probably a juvenile one. Wait. If I can escape while the humans and this guy duke it out with each other-

"GWWAAAHHHHH!!" - Berserker

*CRASH*

then I can... EEEHHHH!!

"...seriously?" - Spear user

That's my line damn it! The berserker crushed the turtle snake with one blow! -! Don't tell me...

He recovered with the level up!!

This is bad. Now all three of us are fully recovered, but they have the numbers and levels on their side, while my best weapon, the Bandit Dagger, is right behind their backs, lodged into the skull of the magician. Morning Starts won't affect, I don't have the time to use the poisoned threads, and there's no way I'm gonna be able to get close enough to bite them.

...aren't I deep in it now?