"This really is just like a game! This is actually... pretty cool," Alex thought, just as he heard the clatter of bones and the scraping of metal against stone. Alex knew what this sound meant; it signaled the presence of monsters.
Before continuing down the path, he wanted to find a source of light to take with him. He looked around and, to his great luck, found a torch stuck to the wall, which was situated right behind the waterfall.
Alex grabbed it and waved it around a few times to make sure it wouldn't easily go out.
"Just like in the movies. I never really understood how the flame doesn't go out," Alex thought, recalling movies like Indiana Jones and other adventure films.
"I wonder if I'm the first person ever to come here. If so, I should etch my name in somewhere so that if anyone else ever discovers this place, they would know that I was the first, hahaha," Alex smiled, grabbing his small knife and starting to write his name into the wall beside the waterfall. It read:
"Alex Walker, the great adventurer, the best human, was here."
Proud of his work, he placed the knife back into his back pocket and continued into the new inner cave with the torch in his right hand.
Feeling more confident than before, Alex ventured forward at a faster pace than before with his new source of light. He started to hear crackling sounds, and soon, he met the maker of the sound. His first real encounter in the penalty zone.
Slowly walking from the shadows, a human-sized bone structure appeared. Its eyes were dark red, and armed with a rusty sword and shield. Once he could see more of its features, Alex let out a chuckle.
The Skeleton had a rusty sword that looked like it'd seen better days and a shield that had more dents than surface. Its eye sockets had these spooky red glows - like cheap LED lights trying too hard to be scary. The warrior moved like it had a bone to pick, literally, clattering around as if it was about to fall apart any second. It wore some old armor pieces that looked like they had been borrowed from a low-budget medieval movie set.
Alex, with only a small knife and a torch in his possession, knew he should still be careful when trying to defeat such a 'scary' foe.
As the skeleton lunged at him, he sidestepped swiftly, using his superior agility. Seizing the opportunity, Alex grabbed the skeleton's arm, yanking it forward and off-balance. This was even easier than he expected.
With a powerful twist, he wrenched the sword from its grip and used the skeleton's momentum to drive the sword right through its ribcage. The skeleton collapsed into a heap of bones, and Alex picked up the shield, feeling its weight.
"Guess I've got some new gear," he said, strapping the shield onto his arm. "Once I make it out of here, I'm going to cross that item off my 'Level Up Zombie' plan!"
Alex was in a good mood. Contrary to his initial feelings, he was now having a good time. He was living the true life of a hunter!
After testing his new equipment for a few minutes, he felt more confident. He held the sword and shield in his left hand, holding them awkwardly, and kept the torch in his right hand.
His plan was that whenever he ran into anything, he would place the torch on the floor, and hold the sword in his right hand, and the shield in his left. He felt confident in his one-handed weapon combat skills.
After a few more minutes, the cave was now more like a maze; it weaved left and right, and sometimes there would be two paths, left or right. Generally, Alex had a rule: When in doubt, go left. For some reason, he felt that it was usually the correct choice.
After a few more lefts, he heard something in the distance, and the sound was coming towards him at high speed. Alex ducked, then rolled to the side, and three arrows flew right past him. He stayed in his position for a few more seconds to see if there was anything else. Once he established there was nothing, he needed to understand where this came from.
"Did I step on some sort of trap? But I didn't really feel anything different," Alex looked around, and eventually, he noticed that the floor he stepped on had a marking different than the rest. He was sure that that's what triggered the trap.
"I'll have to be more careful as I continue forward. So far, this has been easy, but there's no reason for me to be risking my life and moving through this quickly."
As he finished this thought, Alex grabbed the equipment he discarded as he rolled and continued forward. Soon, a new source of light appeared in the distance.
"Yes, another clearing!" Alex excitedly shouted internally. But this time, the light source was approaching him quickly!
Once he saw what it was, Alex's mouth gaped open. He was so surprised and shocked that he was too slow to dodge the incoming projectile. He quickly lifted his left hand and used his shield/sword combo to block the incoming fireball!
Boom!! The cave shook from the small explosion. As the dust settled, Alex glanced at his left hand that held the shield.
"That was a f**king fireball!! Holy shit!! I've never seen something like this in real life before!! That was so dangerous I could have been killed right there!" as he looked at his shield, which was now scorched to a crisp.
Luckily, it still held itself together, but he was sure that its durability was much less.
After a few more seconds, he heard something behind him, the same crackling sound he heard earlier; there was a skeleton warrior charging towards him!
This time, Alex threw the torch forward, grabbed his sword in his right hand, and shield in his left hand, and charged towards the skeleton. As the skeleton attacked with its sword, he parried it with his shield, and then thrust his sword right into its skull, killing it on the spot.
There was something strange that occurred this time. As the skeleton's bones fell, they started rumbling, and to Alex's shock, the skeleton rose anew, except it had his sword stuck in its skull!
"What the helllll!!!" Alex shouted as he dodged the attacks from the reborn skeleton. While shocked, Alex was not really scared, because this skeleton was incredibly weak. This time around, Alex dodged the wide swing of the skeleton and shuffled quickly behind it. He grabbed its head and pulled it right off.
Without waiting, he grabbed his torch from the ground, and lit the bones on fire. He stayed there until the bones were nothing left. Alex waited a few minutes to make sure that the skeleton would not magically reappear, and to his happiness, it did not.
"Second skeleton down! But why did the first skeleton not reincarnate like this one? I wonder if there's something that caused this one to come back to life?" Alex thoughtfully inquired.
As he left the ashes and looked forward, a familiar light source appeared and this time again, another fireball was hurling towards him. This time he was ready for it; he simply sidestepped to the side and decided to sprint as fast as he could.
In an instant, he reached the source, he saw another skeletal figure, this time with dark bones, adorned with glowing arcane symbols on its skull. Its eye sockets shone with a subtle magical light. Cloaked in tattered robes, the mage wielded a staff topped with a glowing crystal. Despite its skeletal appearance, the mage exuded an aura of ancient wisdom and mystical power.
But none of that mattered to Alex, and he threw an uppercut with all his might.
Unlike his fight with Lena during the hunters' exam, his uppercut landed in glorious fashion, akin to a professional boxer epic knockout. It landed squarely onto the bony jaw of the Skeletal Mage.
BOOOOOM
The cave shook from the impact of the skull hitting the cave's ceiling. The mage's bones immediately fell.
This time around, Alex immediately grabbed the torch and started to burn the remains to a crisp.
"This is what you get for scaring me with the first fireball, ya punk," Alex said out loud as he watched the bones turn to ash, feeling like a super badass.