Surviving as a Broken Hero

Chapter 17 – A New Journey (3)

Before I could react, Velle had already effectively stopped the arrow with a pressurized water stream.

Bernard tossed his Light Stone towards where the arrow had come from, already running to reach the attacker.

I stuck by Velle as more goblins emerged from the darkness as if they had been waiting just out of sight in the murky shadows.

The goblins were a bit sturdier and better organized than the ones that I had first encountered on the road. While the ones on the road had worn little more than loincloths and wielded jagged, makeshift weapons, the goblins in the dungeon even had makeshift armor covering vital areas, their weapons were sharp and well-shaped, and their movements were better organized as well.

Even still, the goblins were easy enough to take on.

At first, I fought them while worrying about Velle’s safety, never straying too far from her and letting the goblins poke at me while I redirected their attacks with the earthen armor.

Strained grunts, clashing metal, and cries of pain echoed through the cave from where Bernard fought against another group of goblins by himself in the illumination of the Light stone he had thrown at the start of the fight, sticking near the stone and kicking it around for illumination as he closed in on his attackers.

Velle seemed to catch onto the fact that I was trying to protect her pretty quickly.

“Aizen, what are you doing?!”

A surge of water erupted from her hands and knocked away a goblin that had been rushing at her.

I then understood that, though she was a mage, she didn’t need someone to protect her.

Throwing those kinds of thoughts aside, I pursued the goblins more aggressively.

I thought that their combat method was chaotic and disorganized versus what I had imagined fighting in a party would be like. Weren’t we supposed to support each other and take things carefully until the enemies were defeated?

Fighting on my own, without worrying about Velle, I was able to make quick work of the goblins attacking me, even with their improved tactics and equipment.

…I didn’t even have to use any mana to defeat them, the stone gauntlet being enough to crush them. Their thin armor, more suitable for slashes, was useless and crumpled like paper underneath my strikes.

I exhaled a deep breath when the last of them was dealt with, looking around with my Light Stone to see if I could spot any more while also glancing over to see how Velle and Bernard were doing.

Both had already dealt with their share of enemies. While I only counted three goblin bodies at my feet, Velle was surrounded by at least four bodies, and Bernard even more.

[[+25 XP]]

[[+25 XP]]

[[+25 XP]]

[[Current XP: 3825/4000]]

I would be at level 4 with seven more goblin kills.

We regrouped again before going forward and made sure that nobody had been hurt. I also took a moment to bring up a question that the fight had raised in my mind.

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“The way you guys fight…”

Velle perked up at my statement. Her red hair bounced, free from her hood.

“We’re a small party. It’s more advantageous for us to split up and deal with weaker attackers while staying close enough to help each other if needed. None of us were in any real danger from some dungeon goblins.”

I was glad that she had so much confidence in me.

I hadn’t had experience in a party before, so I had always imagined it as something similar to an MMO that I had played back on earth, with designated compositions of healers, tanks, etc.

In reality, healers were few and far between, and most parties made do with what they could get. A party only ended up being as strong as its weakest member.

Strategy and awareness were still important in looking out for enemies that might not be possible to solo, but it wasn’t the cohesive unit I had originally imagined.

“Have you two been doing this for a long time?”

I continued the conversation as we walked farther down the cave, headed to what I assumed was the boss monster.

“We’ve been partied up for a bit, with others coming and going along the way. We each have our reasons, but this’ll be our first journey out into the unknown areas. We mostly stuck with Association quests and dungeons within the explored human territory.”

It didn’t sound like he wanted to delve too far into their reasons at that moment. It was probably a conversation that would best be broached at another time.

We were able to continue through the tunnel unaccosted until we reached a pair of rough stone doors standing in the way of our progress.

“Well, this is it. The boss should be behind this door.”

It seemed to me that we had just barely entered the dungeon. Was a dungeon supposed to be so easy to clear?

Velle caught on to my surprise while Bernard looked at the door.

“This is only a low-difficulty goblin dungeon. We weren’t really expecting to be here long, it’s a good teamwork exercise.”

That made sense, but I was worried about if just the three of us could take down a dungeon boss, albeit a low-difficulty dungeon boss.

While most parties consisted of 3-4 people for general travel, parties usually banded together in groups of 6-8 for dungeon raids, or so my observations during those long years in the Association had told me.

“There should be either an ogre, a goblin war chief, or a shaman behind this door.”

It sounded like they had previous experience with similar dungeons.

Bernard turned around from the door, clapping his hands.

“I’ll be taking point for this one. Aizen, follow my lead and deal with any additional enemies if there are any, and Velle will provide support.”

The instructions were simple enough to remember in the midst of battle without being overly convoluted with plans or formations.

After making sure we were ready, Bernard pushed the doors open.

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Krrrrrrr

The doors rumbled as they swung open, revealing a circular arena-like room inside, faintly lit by torches spaced at roughly equal distances around the place. The arena’s ceiling extended far upwards, out of the range of the torchlight.

Waiting for our arrival in the center of the arena stood what I could only assume to be the ogre that Velle had mentioned.

The thing was easily twice my size and what could best be described as a thin club in one of its stubby hands. The smell was horrific, a pungent sickly-sweet smell like that of fresh manure and rotten pus.

Its body was stout and thick with muscle, and the only sort of equipment it wore was a cloth tied around its waist. It was something straight out of a fantasy movie or video game, but it was very real as it roared at us and charged forward, its footsteps reverberating through the arena and sending bits of debris falling from the high ceiling.

Bernard rushed to meet it, and I half-ran after him, slightly hesitant at facing a creature so large. One blow from that club would probably have been enough to break my bones and shatter any form of protection I tried to conjure.

Boom!

The ogre swung its club down at Bernard, who used some sort of skill to parry the blow, his large sword swinging up and smoothly sending the club crashing into the ground with supernatural ease that couldn’t have come from anything but a system-assisted movement.

Before the ogre could recover, Bernard rushed towards its legs and cut a deep gash across the thigh of its leading left leg, causing the ogre to bellow in pain and swing back with its club.

Right as the club hit him, a barrier of water slowed it, but it still had enough power to send Bernard flying back.

The ogre fully turned toward Bernard and moved to finish him off as he slammed into one of the arena walls and picked himself back up.

It had almost seemed to me like he would have been able to take care of it by himself, but I was snapped out of my bland-minded staring when Velle shouted my name.

“Aizen!”

I renewed my speed and kicked off of the ground with a «Strike» to launch myself at the ogre before it could reach Bernard.

[[Mana: 75/100]]

[[«Strike»]]

I aimed a strike at the side of the knee on the leg that Bernard had cut, the earth forming a gauntlet that shifted forward slightly with my hit to send a bigger impact.

CRACK!

The Ogre’s leg buckled and it let out another roar of pain, shaking my eardrums.

Before I could fully react, it swung its other arm at me in a backhand.

Swoosh.

As I braced myself for the impact, its hand hit another wall of water and slowed enough so that I could absorb the impact without it completely smashing me.

I was sent tumbling away head over heels, the view swirling and mixing in a kaleidoscope of colors before I hit the floor and the air was knocked out of me as I slid a few feet farther into the wall.

Stomp, Stomp.

The ogre, frustrated at two of its kills being stolen from it, turned around and started a limp across the arena to Velle, who frantically backed away as Bernard was still trying to stand and I was seeing stars.

She planted herself in place after backing into the wall and threw her hands up in front of her.

Water swirled around and out of her, increasing in speed and density until it formed an expanding dome that converged in front of her hands and shot forward in a beam just as the ogre got into range.

SKSHHHHHH!

The torrent of water caused the ogre to stumble backward onto one knee and sent droplets of water spraying over the rest of the arena, sizzling in the flames and leaving dark spots behind on the dirt floor.

I stood again and moved as fast as I was able to towards the ogre, fighting off the dizziness in my head.

The ogre’s breathing was strained and it dragged itself back up, glaring single-mindedly at Velle.

I reached its leg again just as it seemed to notice me and started to shift its gaze my way.

[[«Strike»]]

{{«Piercing Eruption»}}

[[Mana: 50/100]]

I used both skills at the same time, channeling my mana and stamina into one blow on its leg and utilizing the piercing option of the Eruption skill to localize the damage as much as I could.

CRUNCH! SPKSHH!

My blow impacted solidly against the same point on its injured knee, boring a hole through the ogre’s flesh in a flash of intense white light and sending a reverberation up my arm.

The ogre fully collapsed as its leg became completely useless, hanging on from strips of flesh and completely limp and twisted.

“AAAAAAAAAGGGGHH!!!!”

The ogre let out another reverberating roar and gripped the useless part of its leg below the knee with its free hand, ripping it away from the rest of the flesh and sending blood scattering across my face, the warm droplets interfering briefly with my vision.

It flailed its leg-club at me in an attempt to ward me off as I leapt away, a wave of magical water assisting with my movements and increasing my distance just enough to completely avoid the earth-shaking blow.

Then, as it raised its other arm to bring down its regular club on me, a flash of light streaked across its elbow and the limb was split in two as Bernard skidded past it, having learned better than to stay in one place.

Before the ogre could properly counter, Bernard had already swung back around and used his sword as a sort of pole to redirect his momentum and send himself flying at the ogre’s eyes. His sword pierced the center of the ogre’s head and stopped, the ogre still alive, the sword stopping against its thick skull.

Bernard looked at me and we both had the same idea…

I rushed forward into the opening he had created and used «Strike» on the pommel of the sword, driving it through the ogre’s skull.

[[Mana: 25/100]]