Welcome to Hammer's Forge, a level 7 dungeon. Objective: Defeat all five guardians.

Brett dismissed the notification as soon as he stepped through the portal. The familiar timer sat in the corner of his vision, telling him how long he had spent on the trail. Below it was a little indicator that read "0/5".

Looking around, this wasn't like any of the dungeons he had been in so far. Every other one was either some rugged cave or arena-like ruin. This one, though, was a beautiful marble stone hallway. Makes sense if Dwarves build it, I guess, Brett thought to himself. Of course, that was only true if they were like the typical Dwarves from fiction. Everything he had heard about them so far suggested that.

With nothing else to do, Brett started down the hallway, swords in hand. He paid close attention to the light ahead. The halls were lit with lanterns every few yards, unlike the ambient light in every other dungeon so far. He figured that if it continued like that, a change in the light would be his first sign of an opening in the hallway. That would likely be where he found the first guardian.

Because he was paying attention to the light, he noticed the shadow of something coming up behind him. Twirling, he crossed his swords in front of himself. This was just in time to block an overhand blow from an ax that sent him skidding backward. 

With a little bit of space between them, he got a glimpse of his attacker. It was a suit of armor. He didn't remember passing any armor like it; the hallway was empty besides the lanterns. He knew it was a suit of armor rather than a figure wearing it because the helmet was missing. There was nothing in its place. 

The armor held a massive Dane ax in a two-handed grip as it advanced, ready to strike again. Brett regained his stance and prepared to meet his foe. Axes were not a great matchup for him as they were hard to block with a sword. Even if he did, they caused them a fair amount of damage. It was best to deflect it or dodge it, but that wasn't always an option. He was just glad that he hadn't brought Shilia in with him.

Fortunately, the downside of the Dane ax was that it was slow. Brett skipped to the side as the armor swung again, allowing the ax to pass him by and slam into the ground. Neither the ground nor the ax seemed to be damaged. Seizing on the ax being out of position, Brett surged forward, slashing with both of his swords. They deflected off the chest plate without even leaving a scratch. That didn't stop him as he continued forward, driving his shoulder into the armor. 

They both went flying. He had always heard that suits of armor were insanely heavy, so much so that knights couldn't get on horses without help. This one couldn't have weighed much more than forty pounds. His hopes that it would shatter on the ground into pieces were dashed as it bounced a few times. Brett got to his feet while the armor was still flailing around, trying to get its legs under it again. Before it could do anything, Brett kicked the ax down the hall, well out of reach of the searching fingers. 

Kicking the side of the armor did nothing but send a ringing sound through the hall. He kicked a few more times, keeping it from getting on its feet. No longer really feeling in danger, he considered how to defeat this opponent that didn't seem to take damage. He kept it on the ground with another kick as he sheathed one of his swords.

Reaching down, he tried to grab one of the plates and pull it off. It moved a little, but some leather straps appeared to be holding it together. The struggling made it a little difficult, but he slipped his other blade in the gap and sliced through the leather. When the shoulder plate came free, he tossed it behind him. Stabbing the blade into the space of the armor did nothing as he felt the tip of the blade hit metal on the other side.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, he had the armor in its component pieces. Each one went still as it was removed. Getting up, Brett looked around at the scattered bits of his defeated foe. How the fuck did this thing get behind me?

Brett walked back down the corridor, and a few dozen feet away, he found an alcove that hadn't been there when he walked past it the first time. Great. Secret compartments. Brett grimaced; I guess I'll need to keep looking over my shoulder. 

Pulling up his notifications, he extinguished the glow coming off his skin. 

Base Dexterity increased. 11 -> 12.

Base Strength increased. 12 -> 13.

Brett flexed his arm. He wasn't sure if there was a visible difference, but he now had an effective strength stat of 15, up from the 12 he started with. He could definitely notice the difference in feeling, at least; he couldn't be sure how that increase translated back to Earth. Would he be able to go win the Olympics with a strength of 15? Probably not, if 20 was the physical cap for base stats without putting points in it. That was probably the absolute peak of the unmodified human body.

Leaving the armor pile behind, he cursed softly. The counter in the corner of his vision still read 0/5. I guess that wasn't a guardian? I hope the rest of them aren't nearly as resistant to swords, or this is gonna be hard for me.