It was with a great deal of satisfaction that Levi felt his fist impact the goblin shaman’s face, sending it flying into the far wall before it slumped to the floor, never to rise again. He almost lost his balance from the force of his blow. He had been expecting resistance, and instead he felt his fist pass through the shaman’s face. With a quick step forward he recovered, settling back into a brawling stance, courtesy of his skill. There were still more goblins to fight.

They came at him in a roaring wave, not the least bit intimidated by their fallen leader. There were twelve in total, with the shaman having made thirteen, an auspicious number. Levi didn’t care about their numbers. He could feel the power coursing through him, making each movement so much more. Giving him the strength he needed to punt their large goblin heads from their tiny goblin bodies. With the shaman down, he felt he could let loose, and that’s exactly what he did.

The first goblin received a fist to the face, blowing him backwards into two of his fellows, knocking them off their feet. The second goblin he tripped, sidestepping its charge before landing a hit on the third, his punch penetrating its solar plexus before it slumped to the floor, dead.

The other goblins received much the same fare. It was laughably easy, how he pulled them apart and knocked them down. If before when he fought the goblins it was a middle schooler fighting a gang of elementary schoolers, now it was an adult, punting small bodies left and right. They never stood a chance.

With a swift kick Levi launched the final goblin into the wall, its neck snapping with a loud crack. The whole battle was over in less than a minute, with only a single well-placed blow needed to take the goblins out. Levi could feel the bloodthirsty grin that adorned his face. It felt good to kill things. Finally, he was fighting back, taking revenge against the dungeon that had already taken so much from him. It was time it learned he could not only take punches, but also throw his own.

After a last glance around making sure he hadn’t missed any enemies, Levi slowly let his Aecylic Energy drain away. He almost visibly deflated, the stress of the battle catching back up to him. Unlike before, after witnessing the exchange in the other room he could confidently say these monsters had at least a certain degree of sentience. They had language, at least of a primitive kind, and some sort of leaders and factions. And he had just killed thirteen of them in cold blood, ambushing them as they came to look for their kin, whom he had also killed.

It was a little much to take in, so Levi did his best not to, moving away from the majority of the corpses to find a wall to sit down against, taking his time to process what it all meant.

He didn’t regret his actions, not for a moment. He held no reservations about what the goblins would do to him. What they tried to do to him. It was either him or them, and Levi wasn’t some pacifist to pretend he wouldn’t fight for himself and those he loved. But it was a little different actually doing so.

He had never killed before. Susan…didn’t count. He didn’t kill her, he released her from her suffering. She was going to die anyway. He just took away the pain. He definitely didn’t kill her. The dungeon killed her, and it would pay for its crimes. And if that meant he had to kill some goblins, he would just have to suck it up and deal with it. They probably deserved death anyway, conspiring with the dungeon to kill innocent explorers.

“Fuck this dungeon and fuck the goblins too. And fuck anything that gets in my way.”

On some level, Levi knew that his thoughts probably weren’t healthy. He didn’t care though. He had lost enough. It was time to start taking something back for himself. He would worry about his mental state later.

Focusing back on the present, Levi still had something very important left to do after the battle: check his stats. Which he did, a broad grin adorning his face as he looked over his bounty.

The first thing he noticed was he gained an entire two levels. He also had some skill gains too, with Aecylic Empowerment skipping over level twenty-five to reach twenty-six and his Brawling skill gaining four levels at once. Concentrated Will had also gained a level, finally reaching thirty-five. Levi decided to distribute one stat point each to Agility and Dexterity, leaving Charisma as his only stat with a single stat point. Perhaps the stat was useful for something, but he didn’t think that something was surviving in a dungeon, making it mostly useless for him.

After fiddling with his status, it was time to figure out what his next plan of action was. Levi had a choice. Not in where to go, as that was obviously forward, but in how to go about it. He knew there were a large number of goblins in the next cave, he estimated he saw at least forty or fifty of them, and he would have to fight them eventually. The question was, did he go for an all-out assault, or wait here and try and lure another group in to ambush them?

Before this battle he would have said ambush. It was the objectively correct move, barring a time crunch. But he was out of food, and he didn’t want to eat goblin meat if he could help it, and after this battle he could feel how powerful he was. He had severely underestimated how much power Aecylic Empowerment was giving him. It felt like the goblins were moving in slow motion, and combined with his new levels in Brawling, Levi felt confident in taking on a large group of enemies. He had also done a lot of sitting around and waiting. It was time for action.

Before that though, he decided to make a quick trip back down to the lake. He was a little thirsty, and he wanted to wash off his gore coated hands. Goblin brain matter also didn’t make for the best smell, especially with Improved Awareness boosting his senses a small degree.

Soon Levi was once again peering around a slight bend in the tunnel, looking at the goblin filled room. There appeared to be a lot less goblins now, or at least they weren’t all gathered where he could see them. There were a few though, mostly lounging about. It looked like some were supposed to be on watch, guarding the entrance to the tunnel. But they didn’t appear to be paying much attention, playing some sort of game with pebbles, possibly similar to marbles. He thought there was a good chance they were stopping other goblins from coming down towards him, based on what he witnessed before, and not actually guarding from enemies.

Activating Aecylic Empowerment, Levi grinned. It was time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he was all out of bubblegum.

Gork was pissed. Stupid goblin shaman thought he knew what was best for goblins. Kept pushing Gork around, blasting him with lightning. Well, Gork would show him. Gork was bestest and most handsomest goblin, so all the female goblins wanted to mate with Gork. Gork would make lots of baby goblins and take over clan from wimpy goblin shaman who only knew how to shoot lightning at Gork.

It was always ancestors this and ancestors that. Gork didn’t see any ancestors, only Gork, and Gork was bestest most smartiest goblin, so obviously Gork should be leader. Shaman said no hunt big cow things. Why, Gork asks? Because ancestors say so. How ancestors even know about cow things, Gork want to know. Shaman say cow things kill previous leader, but Gork know this a lie. It was shaman that killed them. He probably say ancestors made him do it. Soon dumb goblin shaman would get what coming to him. But right now, Gork make baby goblins.

Suddenly, Gork hear noises from above. Goblins were shouting and screaming. They were under attack! Goblin shaman probably show true colors and lead assault on other goblins. But he wouldn’t get away with it, because Gork would stop him. Gork was strongest and bestestest goblin fighter. Gork would fight shaman and lead goblin clan to victory!

Gork scuttled up the tunnels from the warrens to the main chamber above. It took some time, as Gork was biggest goblin, so the tunnels were almost too small for Gork. He could hear the other goblins around him, scampering above, drawn by the sounds of battle. Gork was mad. Those were goblin cries of pain! Gork would punish enemy that attacked goblins. Gork was bestest fighter and biggest goblin, so he needed to lead other goblins.

Gork burst from the tunnel, prepared to take down puny shaman that dared attack fellow goblins. Instead, he saw a human. An enemy he had only heard about in stories when he was a baby goblin. And the human was attacking his kin! The human was fast, much faster than a goblin. And stronger than a goblin, his blows sending goblins flying, their heads or chests caved in. Gork was horrified. Those were his brothers! Gork roared, charging towards the enemy that dared attack his clan. Gork would show he was bestest goblin and fight off the invading human and become leader of tribe.

Gork moved closer and closer, and as soon as the human was distracted attacking one of his brothers, Gork attacked! Gork charged, his claws extended in wicked points. But the human was ready for him, and with a mighty kick launched Gork clear across the room. Gork soared over the heads of his fellow goblins before impacting the wall with a mighty thud.

Gork shook his head, trying to clear it of that annoying pounding. How could this happen? Gork was bestest goblin. The human didn’t shoot Gork with lightning, so there was no way Gork could lose. Gork stood up unsteadily as the human knocked down his kin, one by one. Even the goblin stone throwers were ineffective, there stones not able to hit the human as he dodged around, quickly striking goblins with mighty punches before retreating, only to turn on his pursuers, making the cave run blue with goblin blood.

The human laughed, clearly enjoying slaughtering Gork’s kin. Gork watched in terror as the human seemed to grow more and more powerful, deadly blows felling goblins left and right. As Gork looked on in fear the human started to glow, a pale blue light suffusing his surroundings. Gork had heard stories of the outside world. He knew of the clear blue sky. Now the sky had come underground, and Gork could almost see the human silhouetted against a vast blue sky.

But Gork was strongest goblin, and he would lead his kin to victory. The human would pay! Gork started charging again, screaming bloody murder, revenge for his dead clansman. Responding to Gork’s war cry, the other goblins gathered, taking up cries of their own. The last of the goblins gathered like a wave, rising up and crashing against the human, trying to overwhelm him with numbers.

They failed. The human suddenly turned, and Gork watched, wide eyed, as Gork’s enemy ran straight towards him. The last thing he saw was a fist. A fist, and that vast blue sky, and then the bestest and strongest goblin Gork went to join his ancestors as his head was disconnected from his larger than average body.