My Fenrir System: Heir To The End-Chapter 25: Go to dungeons to increase rank [3]

Violet stood at the edge of the crater, watching Erik as he pulled the mana stones from the lifeless goblins that were scattered all over the place.

Crunch!

Suddenly, a cracking sound of wood breaking echoed behind her, making her turn toward the source of the sound. Her eyes widened as she encountered a huge figure in front of her, holding a club aloft.

"Shit!"

With supernatural reaction speed, Violet managed to quickly create a small ice shield in front of her to block the attack.

Boom!

There was a small explosion as the club collided with the small ice shield Violet had managed to form in that short period.

Due to the impact of the sudden attack, Violet was thrown to the bottom of the crater, tumbling across the ground.

Erik, who recognized the mana stones, turned quickly upon hearing the explosion and turned his attention to the sound. He saw Violet spiraling down toward where he was. At the edge of the crater, he found a monster about ten feet tall, holding a club in his hand.

"So this is the boss monster," Erik deduced as he noticed the pressure emanating from it. It was evident that this monster was much more formidable than the ones they had defeated moments ago, but...

'This monster feels different...'

As he watched the monster closely, Erik got the feeling that something didn't add up. He didn't know exactly what it was, but his instincts were clearly telling him that this was no ordinary monster. Unable to decipher why he felt this way, he focused all his attention on its eyes...

Soon after, his vision turned completely black and white. When he locked his gaze on the monster, Erik's expression completely changed...

"What the hell is this!"

Erik failed to understand what he was seeing. It was the first time he had encountered something like this, not even in the hospital when his eyes first changed.

What he was seeing was the 'soul' of the monster, an entity that seemed to have multiple mouths and was twisting in on itself, as if it was trying to devour itself.

Sweat began to bead on Erik's forehead as he watched the grotesque 'soul' of that monster. With every moment he looked at it, it became more twisted. It was the first time he had experienced something like this and he had no idea what to do.

"Could it be that the dungeon has undergone some kind of change?" wondered Erik, contemplating the grotesque 'soul' of the monstrous creature at the edge of the crater.

"Why did you freeze?" Violet asked after getting up from the ground.

Observing how Erik was fixing his gaze on the monster at the edge of the crater, emanating a clearly murderous intent.

Erik, who was engrossed in the monster, upon hearing Violet's voice, snapped back to reality. Without taking his eyes off the monster, he asked:

"Is that the boss of the monsters?"

"Yes, it is the boss of this dungeon, a Hobgoblin," Violet replied, also focusing her attention on the monster, whose appearance was now fully revealed.

It had red skin, with veins protruding from its head and arms, and an expression of pure hatred as it beheld its home completely devastated and its people lying dead everywhere.

"Why is his skin red...?" muttered Violet, staring at the Hobgoblin, whose appearance was completely different from what they used to look like, which was green.

"Did you say something?"

"What I said is that this monster is not normal," Violet said as she prepared to face the Hobgoblin.

"What do you mean 'different'?" asked Erik, making sure his instincts and what he saw with his own eyes were right. After all, something didn't add up about this monster, especially when looking at its 'Soul'.

"That's not a normal Hobgoblin, as they have red skin, but the normal skin is green, like goblin skin," Violet explained.

'So if there was a change in the dungeon,' Erik thought, which seemed pretty obvious to him. He remembered that when the same thing happened to Adam's group, the dungeon looked normal at first, but when they reached the boss's room, the situation escalated to another level.

"So how do we deal with this monster?" asked Violet without taking her eyes off the hobgoblin.

Erik's mind began to scheme various strategies and tactics to defeat the monster without sustaining mortal wounds. As difficult as it would be to accomplish, his brain was working at full power.

"We should head for the forest, there we can use the environment to our advantage. We might be at a disadvantage in this place," Erik said after considering various ways of not getting hurt as badly as when they faced the huge spider.

"Understood!" Violet nodded as she prepared to run into the forest, which was a little ways away from where they were.

"When I give the signal, run into the forest while I distract the monster," Erik indicated, and his spear began to charge with End Energy, making Violet flinch at the sight of that manifestation of power.

'I've never seen anything like this from this energy before...', Violet mused, feeling a cold sweat break out on her back as she witnessed it. However, she quickly shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking about the energy Erik was using on her spear.

"Now!" said Erik.

Without thinking, Violet started running out of the crater and into the forest. Behind her was Erik, who was much faster, but he was doing it to distract the monster.

"Kiieekekkeeiie!!!"

The hobgoblin, seeing how the intruders who destroyed his home were fleeing into the forest, shot out with eyes full of rage to catch up with them, kill them, and eat them.

boom! boom!

Feeling the small tremors behind them, Erik looked back to find the hobgoblin inches away, his face full of hatred.

'Wow, that's pretty fast.'

Stopping short to allow Violet to move deeper into the forest, Erik lunged towards the hobgoblin with a quick lunge, aiming for the chest.

"Keeekkikek!!!"

The hobgoblin quickly parried as he saw the attack aimed at his chest, sharply deflecting the spear with a swing of his club, keeping his distance.

"Wow!"

Erik exclaimed in surprise as he saw how the hobgoblin was able to fend off his attack, he gave the spear a quick twirl, trying to disorient the monster.

'Well, let's try these combos I have in my head...'

[Glacial Dance]

Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Erik performed a horizontal strike aimed at the hobgoblin's legs.

However, the hobgoblin raised his club to block the blow, showing that he was prepared to defend himself.

'Seriously, you reacted to this.'

Erik was surprised to see how quickly the hobgoblin reacted to his attacks. But as he raised the club, it left an opening and Erik took advantage of the moment to launch a quick upward jab towards the hobgoblin's torso.

"KKEEEEeeKKk!!!"

The hobgoblin let out a piercing cry of pain as the attack made contact with its torso, which was all the more devastating for the creature as the spear was infused with End Energy, but the attack didn't end there...

"Seriously, he's still standing after all this. Well, let's keep going."

Erik wore a huge grin as he saw that the monster was still standing after the impact of his End Energy-impregnated spear.

[Ice Whirlwind]

Erik, with a big grin, lunged forward and executed a downward lunge.

Despite the pain he felt, the hobgoblin managed to react and block the attack with his magic power-imbued club, flashing a grin as he parried Erik's attack.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~~"

Erik started laughing as he saw the hobgoblin's expression as he blocked his attack. With a fluid motion, he spun on himself to change direction.

Taking advantage of the turn, Erik aimed a return lunge towards the hobgoblin. However, the hobgoblin intercepted the spear again with his club.

Erik frowned as his attack was again blocked. He did not understand how the hobgoblin was blocking all his attacks.

But before he could attack again, the hobgoblin suddenly fell to the ground. It seemed that the End Energy had penetrated his body and was wreaking havoc internally, as it was a completely destructive energy to anyone who came in direct contact with it, other than Erik.

"Kiieekkieek!!!"

"I was shocked for a moment, seeing his soul and how it reacted to my attacks..."

[Boss Monster - Rank D, 1 time: Complete (1/1)]

Tti-ring

[You have defeated a Rank D monster]

[You have gained experience]

[Your level has increased by one]

[Your stats have increased]

"Well, now all that's left is to get out of the dungeon to complete the mission."

Erik headed towards where Violet was standing, who was watching him from afar, sweat pouring down her forehead due to the run she made to enter the forest.

"You really defeated him so easily?", Violet spoke as she looked at the hobgoblin's lifeless body.

"Well, it wasn't as easy as you saw, he had an incredible reaction, and he managed to respond to all of my attacks if he hadn't connected an attack, we would most likely still be in combat," said Erik, still surprised at how the hobgoblin had reacted to each of his onslaughts.

'But I still can't believe it was that easy. Could it be that everything I saw was a false alarm?'

Erik felt that he still wasn't completely done with that monster, but looking at the notification window, he understood that he was done with the hobgoblin.

'Well, whatever.'

"Let's go, to enter another dungeon," Erik said giving the hobgoblin's lifeless body one last look.

The two headed towards the exit of the dungeon, ready to embark on another dungeon. However, as they walked away, they felt a shudder that made them shrug their shoulders.

"What the hell was that?" they exclaimed in unison.

Violet and Erik quickly turned their faces and watched as the hobgoblin's body began to cover itself with a completely black 'Something'.

....