Augustus moved through the next rooms swiftly, easily dispatching the goblins that crossed his path. They were no match for him.
But his progress came to a halt as he reached the tenth room. It was markedly different from the previous rooms, and an eerie atmosphere permeated the air.
Before him stood a massive gate made of dark and imposing stone. Intricate carvings covered the gate, the symbols carved on the gate resembles ancient language that he was unfamiliar with.
As he observed the symbols, the System offered Augustus a prompt.
[Do you want a translation?]
[Cost: 500 Points]
Curious, Augustus agreed to the translation. It only cost 500 points, after all.
-----
His skin is tough, his eyes gleam with malice,
His breath is poison, his voice a hiss,
He knows the secrets of ancient lore, A
nd magic spells that mortals abhor.
The Goblin King Jahrakal, his reign is almost done,
His twisted heart aching, his power on the run,
With each blow of the sword, each arrow that flies,
His rage grows stronger, his fury reaching the skies.
-----
The translation revealed a mysterious poem written on the gate. Could it be a hint for the boss lurking behind the chamber? Augustus couldn't help but wonder.
Leaving the poem aside, After clearing nine dungeon rooms, Augustus had gathered a full set of equipment related to the Goblin Chief, including armor, a helm, sandals, greaves, gauntlets, a belt, and a necklace.
As he donned the full set of Goblin Chief's equipment, an extra skill activated as a set effect: "The Goblin Rally."
[The Goblin Rally]
Summon a group of goblins under your command. The strength of the goblins is proportional to the user's magic.
[Cooldown: 2 Hours]
In addition to the Goblin Chief's equipment, Augustus also obtained rare material drops and various weapons such as a magic staff, a bow, a sword, and a dagger during his journey.
'I could sell the useless equipment or give it to someone needed on earth.'
The sword was the only item that proved useful, but currently Augustus was using the sword that Ian had bought for him, and it had better stats. Now that he had reached the boss chamber, Augustus felt it was time to use his Dawn Blade. It was a much better sword despite being Grade-1 equipment.
'I'll have to give the sword back to Ian...'
As he wielded the Dawn Blade, Augustus could feel the difference in its weight and grip, and all his stats increased by 5. Looking at his status, Augustus tried to convert his extra Qi into elemental Qi, and he succeeded. This resulted in an increase of both his Water Qi and Ice Qi by ten.
[Augustus Gray]
[Cultivation Realm: Nascent Soul Realm]
[Mana Rating: Three-Star Mage]
[Aura Rating: One-Star Aura]
[Passive Skills: Pain Resistance Lvl 2, Frost Domain Palace Lvl 1, Energy Fusion Technique Lvl 3]
[Active Skills: Elemental Trap Lvl 10, Ichimonji's Strike Lvl 8, Stealth Rat Summoning Lvl 1, Slime Summoning Lvl 1]
STR: 50 (+18) CONS: 21 (+6)
AGI: 38 (+9) DEF: 10 (+18)
INT: 24 (+5) MAG: 43 (+5)
Unique Stats:
Qi: 0
Water Qi: 40 (+15)
Ice Qi: 40 (+15)
Augustus feels surprisingly comfortable despite the unsettling hint given by the system.
He takes note of the warnings in the poem, "The poisons, his voice, his magic, and the more it's injured the stronger it is," but decides that the Goblin King doesn't sound too bad after all.
With determination in his heart, he pushes open the door to the chamber and steps inside.
As he enters the vast chamber, Augustus is immediately struck by a chill in the air.
The torches flickering on the walls cast a dim glow, and the smooth stone floor echoes with each step he takes.
But as he moves further into the chamber, everything suddenly brightens up as if in anticipation of his arrival.
Augustus thinks to himself, "These goblins are nocturnal, so they can see well in the dark. They must have brightened up the chambers on purpose, as if they are mocking their enemy."
At the center of the chamber, Augustus sees the Goblin King sitting on his throne, surrounded by his underlings who are feasting on the human meat they have caught.
The feeding ground is littered with dried bloodstains, and there are even caged humans right beside the throne.
"You came in alone? Are you crazy?" one of the captive humans exclaims, but before Augustus can respond, one of the goblin chiefs guarding the king slams the human's head into mush.
The goblins erupt into laughter, their strange language filling the chamber.
Jahrakal, the Goblin King, speaks up with a mocking tone, "Kwek kwek kwek."
Augustus is curious about what the Goblin King is saying, but he's not willing to spend another 500 points just to hear one sentence.
He assumes Jahrakal is taunting him, but he doesn't let it bother him.
With a determined expression, he rushes towards the goblins that are feasting on the human meat.
In a flash, ten goblins fall to his sword. The rest of the goblins become aware of Augustus' strength and try to grab their weapons, but his abnormally fast speed leaves them no chance.
One by one, Augustus takes them down. The four Goblin Chiefs guarding the Goblin King finally decide to join the fight, but they are no match for Augustus.
They try to block his path, but he easily overwhelms them with his speed and power.
The Goblin King watches as his subordinates fall one by one, but he remains seated on his throne, seemingly unconcerned. Augustus approaches him, his sword at the ready.
Augustus surveyed the boss chamber, taking in the sight of the goblin corpses strewn across the floor.
Unlike in the previous rooms, their bodies did not vanish into thin air.
Blood and gore coated everything, including Augustus' own clothes, leaving a putrid stench in the air.
"Why don't they just disappear like before?" he grumbled, displeased with the mess.
Meanwhile, a human captive watched in awe as Augustus ruthlessly dispatched the goblins. The sheer power he possessed left the man in shock. "Since when does Exonia have someone this strong?" he muttered to himself.
The Goblin King rose from his throne, his massive size causing Augustus to take a step back in surprise. Jahrakal was almost as large as the gate he had come through.
"How could such a small creature grow to such a monstrous size?"
"Kwekkkkkkk!" The Goblin King let out a deafening shriek, causing Augustus to cover his ears in pain.
"My ears!" he cried out, struggling to endure the pain.
As he shielded his ears, Jahrakal hurled one of his giant axes at Augustus.
Reacting quickly, Augustus dodged the attack, narrowly avoiding a grisly demise.
"That's dangerous. I can't afford to drag this fight on," he thought, recognizing the need to finish the battle quickly.
With that in mind, Augustus decided to go all out. He activated the Dawn Blade skill, Blinding Light, which is twice as effective when blinding Nocturnal enemies.
He caught Jahrakal off-guard, bathing him in a blinding light that left him writhing in pain.
While the Goblin King was disoriented, Augustus landed several blows, focusing on his legs.
The skin was tough, but he refused to back down. He channeled his sword aura and put all his strength into it, cutting deep into the flesh.
However, much to his surprise, Jahrakal's wounds healed almost instantly.
Undeterred, Augustus continued his onslaught, targeting the same spot over and over again.
Eventually, he began to see cracks in the Goblin King's regeneration, a sign that he was making progress.
'Its generation abilty is not perfect, I can see that his skin is softening.'
Suddenly, Jahrakal called the other axe back to his hand, seemingly pulling it with an invisible thread.
He let out another piercing shriek, hoping to stun Augustus into submission.
But Augustus was ready this time. He used his Qi to block out the sound, leaving him unfazed.
Jahrakal, who could now see again, swung his axe at Augustus with a destructive and relentless assault. Augustus focused on dodging the barrage of attacks, waiting for an opportunity to strike back.
Finally, when the Goblin King grew tired, Augustus could finally launch his counter-attack.
He executed Ichinmonji's Strike, the most powerful version of the technique by mixing Mana and Aura, as Jahrakal tried to recover his stamina.
Augustus's sword was raised high above his head, and he wondered what the puny human was doing with his tiny sword from afar.
Then Augustus launched Ichimonji's Strike towards Jahrakal, cutting his hand and leaving him shrieking in pain over the attack just now.
"Kwek!!!"
"You deserve that," Augustus said, coldly.
Jahrakal grabbed the arm that was lying on the ground and tried to reattach it, but Augustus did not let this opportunity go to waste.
He launched more attacks on the same spots on Jahrakal's leg.
After continuous attacks, Augustus could evidently see that the damage was stacking up, and it was getting easier to pierce the Goblin King's skin.
As he felt that his skin had softened, Augustus knew he could try to sever one of its limbs again, this time it will be his right leg.
Launching his sword aura, he sliced through Jahrakal's leg, leaving him tumbled on the ground. At this moment, one of the caged humans yelled, "Don't stop, keep attacking. He's not done yet, not even close to dying."
Jahrakal's body began to become smaller and smaller, and its skin turned red. There were runes embedded on its skin, which he had thought were normal tattoos, but now they were shining brightly.
The leg that was previously cut had reattached itself as if nothing had happened. This time, Jahrakal had shrunk down to the size of a normal goblin, but Augustus could sense that the Goblin King was now even more powerful than before.