59 Seconds Remaining.
"Shit, this is really bad."
In Goblinstein, besides its absurd level 10, there was something that scared Jonas even more. Something that sent a great chill down his spine:
HP: 700/700.
How on earth was Jonas supposed to defeat that monster with only 200 of that attribute? Well, that was his problem.
"Hey, idiot. I think your HP will probably eventually reach 0, right?"
His mouth said.
"Shut up. I don't need you for anything!"
"Hehe, just saying. You know, it's not your call at the end."
Goblinstein's enormous and destructive iron arm flew toward Jonas, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
But before the smoke could dissipate, Jonas was already running to the top of that very arm.
55 Seconds Remaining.
"Damn it! How am I supposed to damage this thing!?"
With each step he took, Jonas could feel the terrifying hardness of that limb. It was like walking on top of the most armored car in the world. How could anyone possibly break through that with just a dagger?!
"Maybe there." Jonas glanced at the robot's half-wolf, half-goblin face, and it shot back. Its head was protected by a glass capsule, similar to an astronaut's.
"Maybe if I can hit the head of this thing, I can deal critical damage—WOAH!"
Jonas saw the other hand pointed at him in the air. The sound of metal creaking and turning slightly yellowish, as the creature's palm opened, like an airplane turbine.
A Slime was fired at Jonas's position, but this time not just any slime: it was green.
It had no eyes, no mouth, no nose; it just swayed in the air, trying to annihilate Jonas. He, with little time to dodge, tried to cut the Slime. He had done this before; it shouldn't be a problem.
But it was green.
"WHAT THE—HMMMF!"
The Slime simply passed over the dagger as if it didn't exist, or was made of the cheapest plastic. In fact, yes, it was indeed cut, but it quickly came back together after passing through the dagger, just like a child playing with playdough, until it encircled Jonas's face.
Jonas's entire head was green. Covered in an unbearable green glue that completely robbed him of his ability to breathe, all of his respiratory, visual, and auditory organs blocked.
Jonas moved his hands to his face, fearing for his life, trying to rip out the thing that was penetrating his eyes.
But he wasn't the one in control of that situation. In fact, quite the opposite. Starting with the most obvious thing: where his feet were.
Goblinstein simply moved his right arm away.
"Augh!"
Jonas groaned in pain after landing on his back from a height more than enough to end the life of any human being. His body jumped on impact after falling from such a height.
But it wasn't over yet.
Taking advantage of the brutal fall, Goblinstein slapped Jonas's entire body, sending him crashing to the ground.
50 Seconds Remaining.
Jonas's HP: 150/200
A crater appeared from the impact of the slap. Jonas was somewhat disoriented, taking deep breaths. The green glue had been ripped off by that blow.
He didn't move, nor did he try. He just stayed still, all the cells motionless, waiting.
"Hehehe, you've already given up?!"
"Me?... I'm waiting."
45 Seconds Remaining.
Goblinstein looked down, seeing the deplorable state his opponent was in. For an irrational being, born of war and blood, this was the greatest pleasure a being like it could feel: the pleasure of victory and humiliation.
He stretched out an arm at the top, breaking off some pieces of wood from the top of the church.
"Kid, you know, he is cooooooooming..." He did not say. "But it seems, that's what you really want."
"How many times am I supposed to say this? I'm waiting."
His hand slowly moved to grasp the dagger that lay close to him.
BAM
Goblinstein slammed his arm down.
40 Seconds Remaining.
Goblinstein's unthinking mind felt extremely good. He had defeated the invader quickly and effectively.
Just to hear the sounds of the enemy's bones cracking, Goblinstein pressed his hand and twisted it from side to side, as if squeezing a lemon.
But he heard nothing.
There were no cries for help, no signs of pain or suffering. Absolutely nothing.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Goblinstein immediately withdrew his hand, revealing that there wasn't a single drop of blood mixed with stone.
"IT WORKED!!!"
35 Seconds Remaining.
Jonas was once again running along Goblinstein's right arm.
The monster took a while to notice. Jonas's steps were very light relative to his body, barely tickling him.
And then Jonas was already on Goblinstein's shoulder.
"MY VITALITY IS 100, YOU FUCKWADS! I HAVE ALL THE ENERGY IN THE WORLD!!"
Pretending to be tired, taking a detour, and climbing. A simple but functional plan.
Goblinstein felt small feet on his right shoulder; 15 Agility was not something to be underestimated.
For the first time, the monster felt fear. His smirk disappeared, replaced by more noticeable sweat and panic.
30 Seconds Remaining.
In an irrational impulse, Goblinstein simply raised his arm 180 degrees.
Gravity was something minimally perceived by animals. In the same way that a cat tried to stand up when falling, Goblinstein tried to turn gravity against Jonas, using it as a weapon, and making him land in yet another supposedly fatal fall.
"I AM NOT GOING DOWN!!!"
Jonas's dagger furiously scratched Goblinstein's tough skin. Holding on with only one hand, his entire body depended on his right palm.
But it slid downwards. Even with the knife causing yellow blood to gush from beneath the armor, it still slipped downwards, as if gravity had won.
Until it reached the end of the half-bent elbow; one more centimeter below and Jonas would fall due to the bend.
For the first time, Goblinstein's HP finally dropped, even if only by single digits, and the target itself didn't even notice.
25 Seconds Remaining.
Goblinstein threw his left arm toward his other elbow as if trying to catch a fly.
Another slap, this time to his own limb, bending his head to get a better view.
When he withdrew his hand, Jonas was no longer there. He then looked at the ground, but to his dismay, there were no human beings falling to the ground.
"I'M HERE, YOU MORON!!"
The voice came from his hand, which he had just withdrawn, his left hand.
On the opposite side from his hand, a boy with a bloody forehead had a smirk from ear to ear.
20 Seconds Remaining.
Goblinstein's trembling, anger, and especially fury were visible as he let out a great roar upon seeing Jonas still alive and unharmed.
In a crude and unexpected movement, Goblinstein simply swung his left arm euphorically, without any real purpose, like a child throwing a tantrum, with the goal of making Jonas fall.
And it worked.
Jonas didn't try to resist; he simply accepted his fate as he fell into the middle of both of Goblinstein's arms.
His body felt light, content, and utterly satisfied, as if he were in paradise itself, crafted by the best of gods.
"Hey, HeraCrox."
In a moment less than a fraction of a second, he communicated with his inner demon. These weren't words that came from his vocal cords; in fact, perhaps he didn't even choose to say them, simply speaking telepathically with the Beetle demon.
"Uh? What? Are you gonna beg for my help now—"
"Muscle memory, right? I imagine you taught me this too."
"...What are you talking about?"
"I guess I would love to die doing this."
Then, closer to the ground than its hand, Jonas spun in the air. His eyes turned to Goblinstein's head, and he shot his dagger toward it.
15 Seconds Remaining.
Jonas's HP: 100/200
Goblinstein's HP: 613/700
Crash
The glass protecting Goblinstein's brain shattered. Shards of glass scattered everywhere, even into the user's own eyes.
With a cry of pain and temporarily blinded, Goblinstein sat on the hard floor of the cathedral. Blood gushed from his aching eyes as he tried to clean the deep glass shards with both hands. But these careless and unprepared hands only caused him more suffering.
"Now!"
Taking advantage of the opening, Jonas ran. This time straight ahead, trying to get directly into the demon's face, even if unarmed.
"No matter what kind of creature it is, ripping off its head is the same as removing 100% of its HP!"
10 Seconds Remaining.
Still, it was an extremely difficult task. As soon as his potion ran out, his Stamina would drop to almost 0, and he'd be practically immobile. And the creature was only temporarily blind; that wasn't enough to help him win.
But Jonas didn't back down; no other idea crossed his mind but: Total victory.
With a leap, Jonas was already on Goblinstein's left, outstretched foot.
After falling to the ground, the dagger had remained embedded in the rock in front of Goblinstein. But Jonas believed he didn't need that.
He had a brick in his hand.
"You must be quite proud of me, right?" he mocked.
"Hehe, who do you think you are to beat a demon like that to death?"
"Don't you get it? There’s no time to grab the dagger!"
5 Seconds Remaining.
With both feet on Goblinstein's shoulders, Jonas jumped and grabbed his pointed ears. Unlike almost his entire body, they weren't made of hard iron, but rather of pure cartilage, just like you, me, and a wolf.
He crawled quickly up it; he knew those last seconds could be the countdown of his life.
But when he climbed, Goblinstein stopped screaming as well.
3 Seconds Remaining.
They stared at each other for a fleeting moment, but there was no time to lose.
Jonas jumped down, or rather, he just let his body fall, leaving everything to the mercy of gravity, while holding a brick in his hand.
But Goblinstein sent in another hand to finish Jonas off for good.
0 Seconds Remaining.
The time was over.
Jonas was standing directly in Goblinstein's face, the eyes of wolf, goblin, and human locked together. In his hair, Jonas could already feel the robotic fingertips of his target.
In less than a millisecond of a second, Jonas exchanged a few short messages with HeraCrox.
"Hey, I wanted to thank you."
"Hm? I don't think that guy is going to show up to save you again—"
"That's not it. The muscle memory. Hey, Do you know what to do with such stupidity? It's quite simple."
"...Oh boy."
Jonas threw the brick right at Goblinstein's nose.
"MANA EXPLOSION!!!"
Kaboom!!!
An explosion occurred. Six eyes flew in all directions; yellow, green, and even red blood was splattered on the ceiling.
Pink pieces of brain matter shattered, reaching other rooms as well.
Mana Explosion: The power worked in a very simple way. The user applied and sent their Mana in order to cause a specific target to explode. The target could be anything, and the quantity could be any value.
In this case, Jonas used his total of 45 Mana Points.
That was not much, extremely far from even being the minimum needed to take down a fully leveled 10 target.
Note, "fully leveled." Jonas had first removed the shield and shot at the most vital organ.
Goblinstein's body, however, still emitted weak breaths. Even with his entire brain visible and half destroyed, it was still slowly regenerating—
Tchin!
A dagger came flying and pierced his brain.
Now yes, Goblinstein had lost his light.
His body slowly began to turn to black ashes, which slowly disappeared into the sky.
Goblinstein's HP: 0/700
Below, a young boy watched it all unfold. His clothes were torn to shreds, and he could barely stand.
But he had enough strength to smile.
"H-Hehe... h-hehehe..." Despite the familiar words, it was ultimately Jonas Solberg who said them.
He turned his back, but the first time he tried to walk, he fell to the ground.
After all, his STAMINA was at 0 out of 30. And his HP was at 6 out of 200.
Yet, he couldn't stop laughing.
"I WON!!!"
He crawled across the ground, leaving trails of blood wherever he went. And at one point, he even spat the red liquid.
"You see that? I said I don't need you for anything!"
"You will thank me later."
"INVENTORY."
Upon opening the blue screen, Jonas saw that he had a pop-up of a reward for defeating the mini-boss:
MONEY.
XP.
POTIONS.
"I guess that’s all I need."
Still lying on the floor, he closed the pop-up, but instantly another one appeared:
CONGRATULATIONS ON DEFEATING A MINI-BOSS!
YOU LEVELED UP!
"I'll see that later..."
So, he decided to check his items.
There, among the potions, he had few, about 5 in total counting the welcome potions from the association.
The only one that could be useful in any way was one that gave him 30 HP points.
"Well, at least this way you don't take control, right?"
He clicked. Immediately, it appeared in his hand, and he drank thirstily.
Jonas's HP: 36/200.
"Wahhhh..."
He wiped his mouth with his arm as he threw the bottle away.
"Jeez, I can't walk out of here... I better get out."
Looking at his inventory, he saw the teleportation potion.
"Ah, yes, from recruitment. I think it should work here too."
He clicked it. It appeared on his hand.
"Wait, but I will be teleported to that waiting room?... Whatever."
He went for a gulp and—
Crunch!
Sounds traveled to Jonas's ear.
"U-Uh? What is that?"
Crunch Crunch!
The second time, he was more attentive. He noticed that they were coming from below, muffled and distant, metal rubbing against metal.
"What the heck is that? Something waiting for me?"
Crunch!
"No... It's someone fighting? But I'm alone here!!"
With tremendous difficulty, he forced himself to stand, leaning his back against a wall.
Then, with effort, he pulled the Mana Compass out of his pocket.
"It says south? Before was east? So I must be close... Agh, I can't do anything, but taking a peek won't hurt... I have the teleportation potion with me anyway. Just be careful."
So he tried to walk. His steps were extremely slow and deliberate, a consequence of having 0 Stamina.
It took him three whole minutes to get through a small room, but he finally made it. What lay ahead was a huge staircase.
Tchin
"So this must be where the boss is."
The staircase seemed almost endless, a black fog blocking his view of more.
"O-Ok... Prepare the potion for anything, take small steps and—WOAH!"
He fell.
Like a complete idiot, his body bounced down the immense staircase. Luckily, none of the stairs hit his head; otherwise, he would have looked like Goblinstein.
Jonas's HP: 30/200
"Jesus! What even was my idea?!"
After a long moment, he stood up, his back against the wall.
But soon, his hand searched for a potion in his pockets.
"You know? Screw this. I was stupid. I'm just getting out of here and—"
TCHIN!
The sound was louder than ever.
And then, in a solo dungeon, Jonas came across something that completely defied his logic:
Another man fighting a dragon.
