The door closed behind him with soft finality, as if this was the last time it would open for a long time. Rik set out cautiously, slowly moving forwards through the familiar location. One positive from all of his many runs was that he knew the biomes of the first floor very well. However, due to the fact that he'd had to take many runs on the first floor, meant that he'd learned that just because you knew something didn't mean that it couldn't hurt you.
After passing the stalagmites and glowing mushrooms, Rik saw something new. Small spires of quartz grew out of the ground. They were short little cones, perhaps a foot tall and thick at the base. They reflected the light from the mushrooms, and cast long shadows on the walls and floor and ceiling. He took a few seconds to scan the area. Nothing seemed to be hiding in the shadows, or in any tight corners, but he took precautionary measures all the same.
Rik rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. Danger could be anywhere in the dungeon, and he didn't want to fall victim to it again, like he had so many times before. A familiar tension set about around him and the cave floor, the only sound being dripping water from the stalactites on the ceiling.
He pulled his shortsword from its sheath and held it out in front of him. It was a crude and cold stubby thing, with a rough point and a chipped edge. Despite its rough appearance, it was still very sharp, and very dangerous. Even when swung by someone with strength as pathetic as Rik's, it could still cut through the rock stalagmites on the floor.
Rik had found this out by accident, and had been quite pleased with himself until he saw one of his classmates do the same thing with their index finger. He shook that unpleasant memory from his mind and turned his full focus back to the task at hand.
That being, not dying. As while he could not sense presences like some of his classmates could, he had decent enough hearing, and he was almost certain that something was trying to sneak up behind him.
As if on cue, something hard tapped against the ground, and Rik spun around, to see an ugly monster standing behind him.
It was shot, and its body was stubby and scaly. The creature's head had a long snout like a dog's with round ears on the back of either side. Its eyes were big and round, with yellow irises and black pupils. Thick, needle like teeth poked out of the creature's snout. It stared Rik down, and raised its arms and cracked its knuckles. It's arms were disproportionate to its body, as the creature itself was only four feet tall, but its arms were easily the same size as Rik's, and were way more muscular. The creature's legs were short and stubby, and much more muscular than the average human's.
Without wasting a second, it swung at Rik, who scrambled away from the beefy monster as quickly as he could. Its fist slammed into one of the quartz spires, and shattered it instantly, blasting shards all over the cavern. Rik darted forwards and slashed at the monster with his weapon, who stepped to the left with surprising speed, avoided the strike and then retaliated with another powerful punch.
The air rippled around its fist as it shot towards Rik at superhuman speed, and it was all the young hunter could do to avoid the strike, throwing himself to the right and narrowly avoiding the blow. However, the monster had struck with such speed that a powerful gale of wind knocked Rik off his feet, exploiting his already compromised balance to knock him to the ground entirely.
"What the hell is that?!" Rik thought, panicked at this new monster's terrifying power. It looked like a goblin, but was much too strong and burly to be one. It obviously wasn't a rat or a giant roach, so what could it be?
As the creature threw another punch at the Rik, he quickly decided that he didn't really care what it was, he just wanted to survive this encounter. From what he'd seen from the creature so far, its arms were very heavy and powerful, and while it could punch and move with surprising speed, Rik figured that it had some kind of drawback.
Rik rolled away from its strike, and jumped back to his feet. He flourished his weapon, and swung at the monster again, the same way he had before. A toothy grin spread across the creature's face, and it sidestepped the strike again, once again moving to the left.
However, much to the creature's surprise, Rik smiled right back at it. Amethyst light flashed in his free hand, and a rusted bronze sword appeared in his grip. He thrust the weapon forwards, and it struck the creature in the shoulder. The blade shattered on impact and failed to pierce the skin, but the force of his strike knocked the monster off balance.
This was Rik's ability,
The monster staggered back, confused, but mostly unhurt. Rik capitalized on the creature's confusion, and turned towards it, and thrust his sword into the creature's left shoulder as hard as he could, aiming for the shoulder joint.
It's skin was tough, but not tough enough. The blade pierced through, and the monster screeched in agony as the blade slid through its muscle and bone, until it finally tore through the other side. Rik twisted the blade with as much force as he could muster, effectively shattering the creature's shoulder joint.
Rik's smile widened as he yanked the blade from the creature, only for the smile to disappear as the monster punched him in the side, knocking him off balance and tearing the sword from his grip. It landed on the ground with a loud clatter, and the creature wasted no time in punching it as hard as he could, shattering the blade with ease.
It now turned towards Rik, who was struggling to get up, hatred in its eyes. It stomped towards Rik, intent on killing him.
Rik grunted, and forced himself up, his body screaming in protest with each and every move. His leather armor had been torn beyond repair, and his identification card lay on the ground a few feet away, practically covered in blood. Wait. Blood?
He looked down, to see that the monster's punch had not only torn apart his armor, but it had also torn a short but deep gash in his side. Rik cursed and pressed his hand against the wound, attempting to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. The green vial in his bag would heal him, but Rik knew he didn't have a chance at getting into his bag.
The monster trudged closer, and was almost in striking distance, its now useless left arm swinging freely, a process that was clearly painful, as the creature grunted everytime it moved.
In Rik's free hand, he created another shortsword. This one was in worse shape than the last, with the point having been broken off entirely and the blade being badly chipped. However, this weapon was likely the best he could use right now.
The monster threw a punch with its remaining fist, just as hard and fast as before. Rik avoided it narrowly, ducking under the strike and slashing his blade against its stomach. The blade cut into the creature's gut, but it jumped back before he could do any real damage.
It clutched its stomach, and growled at Rik, who exhaustedly crept closer. He had an advantage for once, and he wasn't going to let it go easily. Rik pulled his hand away from his side, and created another weapon, a small dagger this time. It was chipped and bent, but the point was still intact, and looked extremely sharp.
He inched forwards, clutching both weapons like his life depended on it. And it did, as the creature pulled its hand off of its gut and began to wind up and punch. As its fist and arm rotated, it began to glow bright red, scarlet like a dying star.
This told Rik two things, the first, that the creature had an active
A split second later, the strike came. The Bugbear flew towards him, throwing all his might into the attack, aiming to turn Rik into paste. The air whipped around his fist, creating a vortex of air around the attack that would tear anything caught in it to shreds. Rik threw himself to the left after the bugbear attacked, effectively avoiding it's attack. The whirlwind very nearly dragged him in, but Rik tucked his legs into his body and wrapped his arms around a quartz spire.
The Bugbear's fist hit the ground, which quite literally exploded on impact, blasting shards of rock all over the cavern at ridiculous speeds. The Bugbear began to breathe heavily, exhausted from the attack. It couldn't move, but its keen ears barely managed to pick up the sound of scurrying feet.
It turned its tired head towards the sound, already knowing what was coming. Rik's blades flashed before its eyes, and it felt two sharp pains in its back and chest. It's breathing became ragged, and its vision slowly faded away.
The Bugbear was dead.
Rik sighed exhaustedly, and dismissed his blades, which dissolved into purple sparks. He'd done it. He won. Rik collapsed, breathing heavily, and found the green vial, which by some miracle hadn't broken. He pulled the green vial from his bag, yanked out the stopper, and drank it all. Small orbs of purple and black experience energy floated around his fingers, before slowly sinking into his palms. A second later, then began to glow.
"
And then everything went black.
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Name: Rik Witt
Level: 02
Experience: 100
(To Next Level: 250)
Strength: 13 (E-)
Agility: 15 (E-)
Constitution: 18 (E-)
Stamina: 16 (E-)
Ability: Hill of Defeat/ Effect: Creates failed or defeated equipment. due to the skill's low level, Rik can only create broken or rusty equipment. (E)