Violet was standing on the edge of the crater, watching Erik as he pulled the mana stones out of the lifeless goblins that were scattered all over the place.
Crunch!
Suddenly, a cracking sound of wood breaking echoed behind her, making her turn toward the source of the sound.
Her eyes widened as she found a huge figure in front of her, holding a club aloft.
"Shit!"
With supernatural reaction speed, she managed to quickly create a small ice shield in front of her to block the attack.
boom!
There was a small explosion as the club collided with the small ice shield Violet had managed to form in that short period.
Due to the impact of the sudden attack, Violet was thrown to the bottom of the crater, falling through the ground.
Erik, who was collecting the mana stones, turned quickly upon hearing the explosion and focused on the sound.
"What was that sound..."
He saw Violet spiraling down towards where he was.
At the crater's edge, he found a monster about ten feet tall, holding a club in his hand.
"So this is the boss monster?"
He deduced as he noticed the atmosphere around him that was very different from the others.
Obviously, this monster was much stronger than the ones they had defeated moments ago, but...
'This monster feels different...'
As he watched the monster closely, Erik got the feeling that something didn't add up.
'That this feeling...'
He didn't know exactly what it was, but his instincts were telling him that this was no ordinary monster.
'Let's try this, to see if this I'm feeling is normal.'
Unable to decipher why he felt this way, he focused all his attention on her eyes.
Soon after, his vision went completely black and white. When he fixed his gaze on the monster, Erik's expression crumpled.
"What the hell is this!"
He didn't know what he was seeing. It was the first time he had encountered something like this, not even in the hospital when his eyes first changed.
What he saw now was the "soul" of the monster, an entity that seemed to have multiple mouths and was twisting itself, as if it was trying to devour itself.
"What the hell... It's the..."
Sweat began to trickle down Erik's forehead as he watched the grotesque "soul" of that monster.
With every moment I looked at it, it became more twisted. It was the first time he had experienced something like this and he had no idea what to do.
"Could it be that the dungeon has undergone some kind of change?"
He wondered, contemplating the grotesque 'soul' of the monster at the edge of the crater.
"Why did you freeze?"
Violet asked after getting up from the ground and dusting off her clothes.
She watches as Erik fixes his gaze on the monster at the edge of the crater, emanating a murderous intent.
"...."
Erik, who was engrossed in the monster's 'Soul', hearing Violet's voice, snapped back to reality. Without taking his eyes off the monster, he asked:
"That's the monster boss?"
"Yes, it's the boss of this dungeon, a Hobgoblin,"
Violet replied, also focusing her attention on the monster, whose appearance was now fully revealed.
His skin was red, with veins popping out of his head and arms, and an expression of pure hatred as he gazed at his completely devastated home and his people lying dead all over the place.
"Why is his skin red...?"
Violet muttered in bewilderment, staring at the Hobgoblin, whose appearance was completely different from the one they used to sport, which was green.
"Did you say something?"
"What I said is that this monster is not normal."
Violet said as she prepared to face the Hobgoblin.
"What do you mean 'different'?"
Erik asked, just to make sure his instincts and what he saw with his own eyes were correct.
After all, something didn't add up about this monster, especially when you look at its 'Soul'.
"That's not a normal Hobgoblin, as it has red skin, but the normal skin is green, like the skin of a goblin."
Explained Violet still a bit puzzled, as she looked at the Hobgoblin's appearance.
'So, if there was a change in the dungeon.'
Erik, which seemed pretty obvious to him.
He remembered when the same thing happened to Adam's group, the dungeon seemed normal at first, but when they got to the boss's room, the situation escalated to another level.
"So how do we deal with this monster?"
Violet asked without taking her eyes off the Hobgoblin.
Erik's mind began to devise various strategies and tactics to defeat the monster without suffering mortal wounds.
As difficult as it was to accomplish, his brain was working at full power.
"We should head for the forest, there we can use the environment to our advantage. We could be at a disadvantage in this place."
Erik said after considering several ways to not get hurt as badly as when they faced the huge spider.
"Understood!"
Violet nodded as she prepared to run into the forest, which was a bit far from where they were.
"When I give the signal, run into the forest while I distract the monster."
Erik indicated, and covered the spear blade with End Energy, causing Violet to shudder at the sight of that manifestation of power.
'I've never seen anything like this coming from this energy before...'
Violet mused, feeling a cold sweat break out on her back as she witnessed it.
However, she quickly shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking about the energy Erik was using on her spear.
"Now!"
Erik shouted.
Without thinking, Violet started running out of the crater into the forest. Behind her was Erik, who was much faster, but he was doing it to distract the monster.
"Kiieekekkeeiie!!!"
The Hobgoblin, seeing the intruders who destroyed his home fleeing into the forest, shot out with eyes full of rage to catch up with them, kill them, and eat him.
Boom! Boom!
Feeling the small tremors behind them, Erik looked back to find the hobgoblin inches away, his face full of hatred.
'Wow, that's pretty fast.'
Stopping short to allow Violet to move deeper into the forest, he lunged towards the hobgoblin with a quick lunge, aiming for the chest.
"Keeekkikek!!!"
The hobgoblin quickly stopped at the sight of the attack aimed at his chest, sharply deflecting the spear with a swing of his club, keeping his distance.
"¡!"
Erik was surprised to see how the hobgoblin was able to fend off his attack, he gave the spear a quick twist, trying to disorient the monster.
'Well, let's try these basic spear moves...'
Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, he made a horizontal strike aimed at the hobgoblin's legs.
However, the hobgoblin raised his club to block the blow, showing that he was prepared to defend himself.
"Seriously, you reacted to this!".
Erik was surprised at how quickly the hobgoblin reacted to his attacks.
'An opening...'
But when he raised the club, he saw an opening and took advantage of it to launch a quick upward strike towards the hobgoblin's torso.
"KKiiiEiieeeeKKK!!!"
The hobgoblin let out a piercing cry of pain when the attack made contact with its torso, which was even more devastating for the creature as the spear was infused with End Energy.
But the attack didn't end there...
"Seriously, he's still standing after all this. Well, let's move on."
Erik wore a nervous smile as he saw that the monster was still standing after the impact of his End Energy-impregnated spear.
With a nervous smile, as sweat ran down his forehead, he lunged forward and executed a downward lunge.
"KKeeeeeiikkikee....!!!"
Despite the pain he felt, the hobgoblin managed to react and block the attack with his club imbued with magical energy.
Clang!
"You're kidding me..."
Erik's eyes widened, seeing the hobgoblin's quick reaction. His expression hardened as he saw that his attack was blocked.
With a fluid motion, he spun on himself to change direction. Taking advantage of the turn, he aimed a lunge back towards the hobgoblin.
However, the hobgoblin again intercepted the spear with his club.
Clang!
Erik frowned as his attack was again blocked. He can't believe how the hobgoblin blocked all of his attacks.
"¡!"
But before he could strike again, the hobgoblin suddenly fell to the ground. It seemed that the End Energy had penetrated his body and was wreaking havoc internally, as it was a completely destructive energy to anyone who came in direct contact with it, except Erik.
"Kiieekkieek!!!"
The hobgoblin just a piercing scream that echoed throughout the dungeon.
"I was shocked, seeing his soul and how he reacted to my attacks..."
Tti-ring.
[Boss Monster - Rank D, 1 time: Complete (1/1)]
[You have defeated a D-Rank Hobgoblin].
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
"I leveled up three hit levels by finishing off a boss monster. In addition, I also completed the quest.
Erik with a satisfied expression, walked over to where Violet was standing, who was watching him from afar, sweat running down her forehead from the run she made to enter the forest.
"Did you defeat him so easily?"
Violet asked in surprise as she looked at the hobgoblin's lifeless body.
"Well, it wasn't as easy as you saw, he had an amazing reaction and managed to respond to all my attacks, if he hadn't connected an attack, we would most likely still be in combat."
Answered Erik with total honesty if one of his attacks hadn't connected, they would most likely still be fighting.
Besides, he didn't expect the monster to have such good reflexes.
'But I still feel like I'm missing something, could it be that everything I saw was a false alarm?'
Erik felt that he still wasn't completely done with that monster, but looking at the notification window, he understood that he was done with the hobgoblin.
"Come on, let's go into another dungeon."
Erik said giving the hobgoblin's lifeless body one last look.
The two began heading towards the dungeon exit, ready to embark on another dungeon.
"¡!"
As they walked away, however, they felt a shiver that made them shrug their shoulders.
"What the hell was that?"
They exclaimed in unison.
They turned their faces and watched as the hobgoblin's body began to be covered with a completely black "Something"
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