Before I can be asked any more completely reasonable questions, I turn and walk out into the hallway. It stretches on until a staircase in the distance. The walls are occasionally interspersed with barred cell doors, the rooms inside looking simir to the one I left.
Many of the torches down here are unlit, plunging me into darkness more often than not. My strength isn’t high enough to wield the great hammer in a single hand, so I turn to ask one of the other Rankers if they can carry a torch.
They aren’t following me.
Typical.
I’ll just clear a safe path to an escape portal and backtrack to let them know.
This is going to be the st time I’ll help humans. They are just too much hassle.
I make it to the bottom of the stairs with no trouble. Standing guard at the top of the stairs are two orcs, bare chested and in hide pants, measuring over 2 metres high and holding axes at their sides. They face the other direction from me, so I manage to sneak further up without being seen. With two hands on my Lizard King’s Great Hammer, I should be able to hit for 44 damage.
Hopefully that’s enough to take out an orc?
I shift my stance and swing the great hammer at one of the orc’s heads. He falls forward, his axe skittering across the cobblestone floor.
Alright! One down, one to–
No XP message shows up. Instead, the orc stands back up. I guess B-Rank dungeons are no joke.
A foot strikes me in the gut, as the second orc takes advantage of my stunned reaction to boot me down the stairs. I tumble down, painfully bashing the side of my head on the corner of a star, stars jumping across my vision.
[HP: 8/20]
[Chosen Creature Type: Lizardfolk -> Orc]
[Status: Dazed]
[You are slowed by 50% for 10 seconds]
My head throbs as I stand back up. The two orcs charge down the steps, and I turn and slowly run back down the corridor. I pull one of the Minor Healing Potions from my inventory and down it in one swig.
[HP: 20/20]
[You are healed to full HP. All negative status effects have been cleared]
Oh, is that how it works with statuses? I make a mental note as I pivot on one foot and use the additional momentum to drive the great hammer into the side of the closest orc’s knee, snapping it with very little effort.
I hop back as he crashes at my feet. Okay, striking the joints seems to be far more effective than the skull. The one I initially hit jumps over him, fists raised. I duck under the first punch he swings, but my face goes straight into the uppercut with the other hand, cleanly knocking me down.
[HP: 12/20]
His foot comes down with a stomp, and I barely roll out of the way before it cracks the ground beside me.
Fuck.
Did Rank really make that big of a difference? Kataclysm is only a support css, yet she dealt with 2 orcs by herself while also protecting children.
I have no other option. I activate [Berserk] and swing with all my might at the orc’s hip.
With a disgusting CRACK, the orc buckles as his pelvis shatters and spine dislocates, and he flies across the hall into a wall.
[HP: 15/20]
[MP: 4/5]
[Gained 100xp]
I get up off the floor, run to the second orc crawling his way towards me, and bring the great hammer down on his head. Their skulls may be incredibly resilient, but 120 damage is clearly enough to sptter brain and blood everywhere.
[HP: 18/20]
[MP: 3/5]
[Gained 100xp]
I don’t give myself time to think or time to loot. I have 15 seconds of Berserk remaining. I push my right foot into the floor, and with the might of 32 STR, unch myself forward, using my left foot at the bottom of the staircase to alter my trajectory up at an angle.
[MP: 2/5]
High up in the air, almost brushing the ceiling of this tall room, I see reinforcements burst in. I take my great hammer and throw it like a missile at the group of orcs, pulversing one of their torsos.
And promptly throw myself into the wall behind me at very painful speeds. I feel my ribs break and pierce me painfully from the inside.
[HP: 2/20]
[Gained 100xp]
[Status: Bleed]
[Take 1 damage every minute]
Fuck Newton and his stupid 3rd w.
