My attack wasn't able to instantly kill the goblin king, which was to be expected. The boss was always way stronger than the normal enemies of a dungeon.
Before the king could regain his balance, I attacked again,
*Bonk!*
And again,
*Bonk!*
And again...
Honestly, I felt quite conflicted at the sight of this king not being able to even block my attacks. I looked at the pitiful king as he tried his best not fall to the ground. There was blood- green blood- on his head, and one of his eyes were swollen.
"Kah..." The king panted after he had finally regained his balance. He looked at me with eyes full of confusion, as if he didn't expect me to be this strong. Then, the confusion in his eyes disappeared, and turned into something else, something entirely different- Fury.
"CRIIIIK!" The king let out a blood-curdling shout, and its body started glowing red, all of his muscles bulging out as if they were going to explode.
The king started growing in size, his clothes tearing apart. The king, who was previously only half a head taller than me, was now 2 to 3 heads taller. His eyes were now red in color, and veins were protruding everywhere. He let go of his now rather small sword, and took a weird stance, all of his limbs on the ground. He looked like an animal ready to pounce on its prey.
I wasn't afraid of this monstrosity in front of me, rather, I was kind of cheerful. The king wouldn't be able to kill me as long as I am careful, and, well, I really wanted this skill.
---
The king shot forward like a bull towards me, his speed extraordinary. The moment he approached me, he send out a fist at incredible speed that one could even hear the whistling of the air. Suddenly, I heard a ringing sound in my head;
[Danger Sense]
This was the effect of the danger sense. I could sense the killing intent in the king's attack, and the ringing sound clearly told me that this attack could kill me if it made impact.
However, I just smiled, and looked at the king in pity. Then, the moment the fist came close to me, I casually moved my body, and dodged the attack effortlessly despite its new speed. The king then send out a kick towards me, but just like before, I dodged with minimal movements.
This was the power of being a hunter for 8 years.
Despite the king's newfound speed, it didn't really matter that much. The disparity in speed wasn't so great that I couldn't follow his movements.
I dodged another attack, and with swift movements and, I attacked the King's head with my club.
*Bonk!*
Even when the king was enraged, it didn't give enough of a boost to counter all of my skills, more specifically, The King of Clubs and War Cry. I was far faster than him in terms of attack speed, even when he was enraged.
*Bonk!* *Bonk!* *Bonk!*
Three consecutive strikes, I managed to hit the king in the head three times before he could even send out an attack.
"KHAAAA!" The king let out another roar, and threw a punch much faster than before. But it didn't matter, for this king was quite predictable.
*Swish!*
The fist fizzled past me, not even touching my hair. The King had an expression of shock, his fury dying down a bit. I suppose it was a mystery for him about how I dodged all of his attacks.
It was simple, really. It was not due to sheer speed like some would believe, it's not like I was faster than the king in terms of movement speed, I was just faster in attack speed. No, it wasn't because of speed, but because of how predictable the king seemed to me.
Gaze, muscles, rhythms, attack patterns, timing, habits, and everything. I read all of these variables of my opponents, memorize them, and then act accordingly. It's because of this I am able to easily dodge all the attacks of the king. I recall one time hearing my trainer-when I was still at the gym- saying to one of people there;
"He's like a computer. When he fights anyone, he gather all of the variables of that person, accumulating and downloading that info into his mind just like a computer does. In a single round, he is able to accumulates the info on his opponent and memorizes them. Their habits, muscles, gaze, rhythms, attack patterns, anything you could think of, he would memorize it."
Ah, I should visit that gym some time later. I wonder how that old geezer would react when I show him that I awakened.
"KHAAA!" The king threw another punch at me, but its speed was slower than usual. I clicked my tongue, and dodged again.
"Well, time to end this." I muttered under my breath, and, with astounding speed, I hit the king's head with all my might.
*Bonk!*
The king staggered backward due to the sheer might of this attack, but I didn't let him regain his balance. I rushed forward, and sent out a plethora of attacks all over the king's body.
*Bonk!* *Bonk!* *Bonk!*
After this shower of attacks which lasted a few seconds, the king staggered and fell to the ground, heavily breathing. Then, its body began to turn smaller and smaller, and his muscles were no longer bulging out. Finally, after a few seconds, the king was returned to his original stature.
"Cri..." The king muttered, his entire body bruised. There was blood dripping from his mouth and nose, and he looked like he was on the brink of death.
I paid no attention to whatever the king said, since I couldn't understand it, and I took out my sword. Although the attack speed buff was great, I just couldn't get a feel for the club. The sword felt way more comfortable for me.
"Crik..." The king muttered again as he saw me approaching him, my sword in hand.
"Cr-" Before it could utter another word, I swung my sword at a high speed, cutting off his head. I saw the head of the king roll to the ground, his eyes still open.
How pitiful, I thought. I don't know how the dungeon works exactly, no one does, but I do know that these creatures would regenerate. Everyone I killed here would regenerate eventually, and repeat the same actions they always did. It was as if they had their memories erased. Due to this, my guilt for killing these creatures wasn't that high.
*Zzzzrt!"
The moment I killed the king, a fissure, a rip in time and space appeared just a few meters away from me. It was a portal, and it showed me the outside. This means that I have successfully finished this dungeon.
Of course, I didn't go straight away to the portal. Instead, I touched the bodies of the goblin guards I killed;
[Gained
That was the only new skill I got from these 5 goblins, everything else was simply a replica of what I had, and turned into experience. Honestly, this kind of surprised me. Each goblin here had a different weapon; A spear, a club, an axe, a sword, and a longsword. I had expected to get skills similar to Novice of Clubs for each of these weapons, but alas, I only got the spears variant. I had a theory that maybe, there's a chance to what I could get. Sometimes I could get 2 skills, sometimes I could get none. I remember I killed a goblin before that clearly had a skill that boosted his speed, but I didn't get the skill after I killed him.
"Ah, whatever. It's still really good." I said to myself, and took out the cores of the goblins. Then, I turned my attention to the corpse of the goblin king.
"Now, time for the main dish." I rubbed my hands together as I approached the goblin king. Then, I touched his shoulder, clearly expecting to get the skill that made the king enrage;
[Gained
[Gained
My eyes immediately shined at the interface, and I felt my body twitch a bit. F+ rank! This skill is higher ranked than everything else I have! Not only that, but I got 2 skills!
The Novice of Swords alone is amazing, as I mostly used a sword. Now I no longer needed to use a club. As for the next skill I got...
I immediately checked its description;
[Name: Unbridled Fury
Rank: F+
Description: Let fury and rage fill your heart, and lose your mind to pure anger. Your strength and speed would rise by up to 100% when in this state. You can adjust the level of anger, the higher your rage is, the higher would your speed and strength rise]
I read the description, and felt extremely excited. Of course, there are limits to this ability. For one, although my stats could potentially rise to a 100%, I would probably be blinded by anger and not able to focus, just simply unleashing attacks randomly. That's bad for me, of course, since I relied heavily on my combat skills. I didn't want to abandon my combat skills and prediction abilities just because I got many skills.
What I could do, though, Is adjust the level of my anger. As long as it doesn't hinder the way I fight greatly, then it would be really great.
I swung my sword a few times to check the attack speed difference, and it was easily noticeable. Feeling satisfied, I turned my attention towards the portal, and entered it.