Just like the sword statue guy from before, it began sprinting towards me after its initial slow approach. I prepared myself, ready to use the same strategy I used a couple of seconds ago. However, as I activated the skill <bounce>, the statue unexpectedly hurled the spear in my direction while I was in the air.

Its aim was unnervingly accurate, and I couldn’t help but scream as the spear penetrated my body. Seeing my health depleting from 98 - 48 also added to the sheer terror.

[ALERT: The Host has sustained significant damage. Please be careful!]

‘I know!’

That wasn’t the end. The statue jumped off and proceeded to execute a knee kick on me. I quickly used skill <smash>, and its leg made contact with my body. Luckily the statue was brittle like the sword guy, and its entire leg broke while I landed on the ground safely. The statue fell off and broke into pieces as it was unable to land safely on the ground.

[ Stone Spearman (Artificial) Killed]

[ 200 exp gained]

[Lvl: 5 → 6]

[The Host has ascended to a new level! Congratulations!]

[Reward]

[+1 Stat point gained]

[STATUS]

[Host: Valt]

[Lvl: 6] [Exp: 86/500]

[Health: 340/340]

[Species: Slime] 

[Sections:]

[>STATS]

[>ABILITIES]

[>SKILLS]

[>QUEST]

[Bounce(lvl 3 → 4) - Speed of ascent increased]

[Smash(Lvl: 2 →3) - Speed of descent increased]

‘That was close.’ I was practically sweating right now. Not that I could sweat, but seeing my health nearly at zero gave me a slight heart attack.

‘No, it’s not the time to rest. There is still one more.’ I reminded myself and focused my attention on the last statue.

As expected, its eyes glowed before coming alive, fixing a firm gaze on me.

And last but not least, the archer.

The archer stood quietly, giving me a cold glare. I remained unmoving; just when it began drawing its bow, I started to make my move.

[Dexterity: 1 → 6]

I used the remaining stats points I had to improve my dexterity. I felt that investing some in Constitution Stat might be better, but I decided against it. Even though an improved regeneration rate sounded pretty appealing, it won't do shit If my dodging ability is almost non-existent without the help of my skills. Given the unfair advantage against the archer due to the distance, I needed to get in close to inflict some damage to it. Speed was the key. The problem was that it took notice of my advances and began firing arrows.

One, two, three, and so forth rained down upon me. I tried my best to dodge all of them, combining both my own movement and bounce for enough momentum.

If I got hit once more, I would be dead. So, this was really, really risky on my part.

The archer continued raining down arrows. While I slowly started to close the distance between us.

Man, did it have a bad aim. Most of its shots were predictable to say.  The statue less or so acted like it was pre-programmed to be that bad at aiming. It didn't move from its spot, just simply firing its arrow at me at low accuracy. Like bots, you see in games.

Did the Lich actually handicap this match so much?

Not that I’m complaining. If it paired movement with the attack, I'd be in a rough spot, making it impossible to deal with.

As I finally reached a suitable distance, I used the skill <bounce> and repeated the same tactic as with the other two statues. However, it surprised me as it dodged quickly before I could make a successful hit on it.

'It’s fast' I noted, quickly realizing that the archer was about to use another attack using its leg. I intended to use the skill: bounce again, but to my dismay, a system notification rang out.

[SKILL: Bounce in cooldown 10s]

What?

I was quickly uptake about the situation and firmly used my body movement instead. I bounced off the ground as the statute proceeded to do a low kick on me.  My own body’s bounce wasn't as high as the skill but it did the job

‘I really forgot about the cooldown.’ I mentally punched myself for my stupid memory

I made a retreat and did the opposite from before. I widen the gap between me and the statue bigger.  As expected, it resumed raining arrows on me. Like last time, I proceeded to swiftly dodge the attacks

‘System, how long is the cooldown for both skills bounce and smash?’

[ANSWER: SKILL: Bounce has a 10-second cooldown while the SKILL: Smash has 5-second cooldowns]

Thankful that the cooldowns weren’t unreasonable, I expected something like 20 seconds, or probably more, given the system's usual approach to me.

‘Is it done yet? Both of them, I mean.’

[Yes]

‘Good.’

As the archer continued raining down its arrows, not give me a slight chance to rest. Once again, I was thankful I didn't have stamina. Slowly, once more, I slowly closed the distance.

‘If it could dodge while I was in mid-air, then I need to pin it down. Keep it from moving.’ I glanced at its head. ‘A knockdown on the head should be enough.’

This required getting closer to it, quite literally. I took note of the pace at which it loaded the bow. An idea formed in my head. The main ingredient to pull it off was timing.

So, I did the same thing as before which was dodge, dodge, and dodge. When I thought I was close enough, I started to slow down. Just when it started to load the bow and attempt to shoot more arrows, I leaped in to get the needed momentum until I was on the right trajectory. I used the skill <Bounce> and flew towards its head, successfully knocking it down.

As it fell on the ground, I used skill <smash> to finish it off. It couldn’t react in time as the speed at which I descended was faster.

Crack*

[ Stone Archer (Artificial) Killed]

[ 200 exp gained]

[Bounce(lvl 4 → 5) - Speed of ascent increased, Propel increased]

[Smash(Lvl: 3 →4) - Speed of descent increased, DMG increased]

‘I-It’s done. It’s over. I survive’ 

I couldn’t help but melt my body on top of the statue now turned into crumbles. I was practically relieved, stressed, and happy at the same time. Relieved because I survived. Stressed because of everything that happened. And happy because of the experience points and the level-up I got.

I was wrong about the Lich. He was practically training me with those dummies!

Yeah! Screw you!

I was practically laughing like a maniac in my head, but that all came to a stop when I heard his voice.

“It seems you survived.”

Pssh, technically, they were not that hard. Barely a hassle. I wanted to say that but decided to keep it in, ignoring the fact that I almost died.

“Very well, Slime. You have deemed yourself worthy.”

And that’s when I was sucked in once more by the vacuum.

Yay me.