Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 38: The Terrifying Goblin Sword Level 5
In his grip, a dense and elongated cluster of bright white code structure began to solidify, spinning with such intensity that it blurred into a solid mass. When the blinding light finally receded, a physical object remained. It was a short sword, no longer than fifty centimetres from hilt to tip, glinting with a cold, unpolished white lustre.
"It’s not that long, and it’s not that heavy, but it’s my first ever weapon!" John held it up, testing the balance. He swung it through the air—left, right, a quick downward thrust.
The blade moved with a whistling hum, feeling incredibly light and responsive, almost like an extension of his own arm. "With this, I’ve gained an additional 12.5 points to my Strength. I don’t need to worry about the monsters in the next hall at all!"
In his excitement, John had actually underestimated the impact of his creation. He was thinking in terms of raw additive math, but the world didn’t just add Strength; it added another thing to the equation. He would realise the true potential of his new blade the moment he engaged the first enemy in the third stage.
He stepped through the gateway, his grip tightening on the leather-wrapped hilt.
[Goblin Bug Monster: Level 3]
[HP: 40 | Str: 20 | Defense: 20 | Speed: 10]
John wasn’t surprised by the jump in Level 3 stats. He had already mentally mapped the dungeon’s progression. These goblins were now as fast and strong as he had been just a short while ago. However, the confidence radiating from his new weapon was absolute.
He approached the first dormant goblin, circling to its rear. He didn’t even consider using Object Lockdown to stop the assault of the triggered Goblin. With a smooth motion, he brought the white blade down in a diagonal slash across the creature’s back.
[-30]
"What?!" John’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He stared at the massive red number hovering in the air. He had expected to deal maybe twelve or fifteen damage points, but thirty?
To confirm it wasn’t a fluke, he delivered a second quick horizontal slash. The blade bit into the goblin’s side with a sickening crunch. Another [-30] flashed, and the monster shattered in thin air before it could even finish its waking roar.
In just two slashes, a monster that would have previously required a gruelling, multi-hit boxing match was erased. Not to mention how much safer it felt; he didn’t need to perform high-risk, close-quarters manoeuvres to land a punch or a kick.
He could stand at a distance, using the sword’s reach to wave the blade through the air while simply walking around the target’s clumsy swings.
[Ding! The reason for the high output is the sword’s Sharpness parameter.]
[The ’Sharpness’ value adds a damage bonus and leaves behind wounds, causing progressive Bleeding damage over time!]
The system’s explanation cleared the mystery. It wasn’t just raw Strength as he had mistaken; the Sharpness added extra damage, and even caused a Bleeding effect.
"Damn! It’s like I’m playing at a whole new level," John whispered, looking at the white blade as if it were a legendary artefact. "Even if they double their stats during Frenzy, I can still take them down in three slashes. And that Bleeding effect... I can hit and run, leaving a trail of monsters to bleed to death while they try to chase me!"
The dark clouds of worry that had been hanging over him since he entered the dungeon finally vanished. He moved through the third hall like a whirlwind.
After killing fifty-two monsters, his Mental Point cap grew by another twenty-six points, and his four stats continued their steady climb. Then, the inevitable happened: the Frenzy came.
[Warning! Frenzy State Activated!]
This time, the experience was night and day compared to the previous stage. Because he no longer needed to get within arm’s reach to use Object Lockdown, he adopted a far more aggressive skirmisher style. He danced on the edge of the goblins’ reach, his blade flashing in wide arcs.
In the last hall, his punches had felt like hitting a brick wall, dealing pathetic damage. But now, every slash bit deep, dealing sixteen points of damage even against their doubled Defence.
As he observed the Bleeding effect the system mentioned, he watched in fascination as the goblins slowly bled away their HP—one or two points every second—as they tried to sprint toward him.
"Their Speed is decreasing, and even their reflexes and Defense are dropping!"
He noticed that once a goblin was slashed and left enough to bleed, its movements became sluggish. The Bleeding effect was slowly and steadily weakening them, biting down on their stats. When he circled back to finish them, the damage numbers jumped from sixteen to a staggering twenty-four, and even higher.
The difference in his clearance condition between the two halls was staggering. At the end of Stage 2, he had been an exhausted, broken kid lying on the ground. Now, at the end of Stage 3, he stood calmly in the centre of the hall. He was a little winded from the footwork and swinging, but his muscles didn’t ache, and his mind was sharp.
His HP, which had plummeted to 7 in the previous stage due to his brawler tactics, had only lost six points during the entire stage. He hadn’t even reached the threshold to trigger his HP Regeneration passive.
"I can definitely clear this," John said, his voice brimming with a new, dangerous level of confidence. He spent a few minutes scanning the floor, collecting five more pieces of Goblin Iron Code from the remains. He looked toward the gateway leading to Stage 4 with zero worry at all.
[Goblin Bug Monster: Level 4]
[HP: 50 – Str: 25 – Defence: 25 – Speed: 12]
The fourth hall had a smooth start at first. John moved steadily and fast, his white blade whistling through the air. He killed the fifty-two monsters without breaking a sweat, his movements refined and his confidence absolute. Everything was heading down the path he had anticipated.
Yet, by the time the monsters entered the Frenzy State, something entirely new—and terrifying—happened!
[Goblin Bug Monster: Level 5 – Frenzy State]
[HP: 120 – Str: 60 – Defence: 60 – Speed: 30]
