Tense sweat poured down Kashi and Leila’s necks as they stared down at the giant spriggan. The beast’s hands crackled and pulsed with electricity as its eyes narrowed in on its prey.

"Careful," Kashi warned as he nocked an arrow onto his bow. He slowly sidestepped to his left while keeping his eyes trained on the beast for the slightest sign of movement. Once the daeben had formed a straight line between the Lord Spriggan, him and Leila, he let an arrow fly.

Whoosh! The whistling arrow broke the deadlock.

Lord Spriggan, in a display of frightening agility, swiftly ducked to the side, dodging the arrow then lunged at the daeben. It brought down its flaming sword to cut Kashi, but he quickly dove out of the way. The daeben’s gaze hardened as he watched the sword melt the gold it hit.

‘I'm done for if he lands a direct hit with that thing!’

Chi! Chi!

Two arrows stabbed into the beast's back, breaking its concentration. However, there didn’t seem to be much damage as Lord Spriggan only snarled as he whirled around and launched a ball of electricity at the culprit, Leila.

Leila ducked behind a pillar which the electric ball struck to no avail, then hopped out of cover and shot off another hail of arrows.

Lord Spriggan ignored the onslaught and returned his attention to the daeben. He relentlessly pursued Kashi and relentlessly hacked at him with its sword. Kashi’s excellent instincts and superior agility served him well. He repeatedly peppered the enraged beasts with steel arrows while sidestepping the beast’s blows, and waiting for the perfect opportunity. Most importantly, he remained within melee range of Lord Spriggan, so it never had a chance to charge up any magic attacks.

This also freed up Leila to continue taking potshots from a safe distance without fear of retaliation.

Kashi’s opportunity finally arrived when Lord Spriggan in his rage, used too much force and stabbed the sword into the ground. Kashi utilized the brief moment of confusion to jump onto its arm.

Enraged by the daeben’s audacity, Lord Spriggan released the sword and flung its arm upwards, launching Kashi towards the ceiling. In retaliation, the daeben twisted mid-air and used [Rapid Shot] to fire six shots in quick succession right into the beasts head.

CRITICAL HIT!

Lord Spriggan cried out in pain as a chunk of its head was split open by the attack. Eyes burning with fury, it jumped into the air to finish off the annoying daeben who remained airborne. However, just as it raised its sword hand, Kira dashed towards it, jumped, and savagely bit down on its arm, delaying his attack by a few seconds.

Those seconds proved precious. With the added time, Kashi righted himself in mid-air, spun in place, and delivered a crunching kick to the beast’s face. Lord Spriggan crashed to the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust.

Kashi and Kira softly landed a few meters away from the dust cloud. "Thanks for the help,” Kashi said as he patted Kira, who still had her sights trained on the dusty smoke. Kashi considered his options as he observed the smoke clouds.

Judging by the power of Lord Spriggan’s magic, if both Kashi and Leila were to fight it from long-range, then eventually one of its lightning bolts would get them. Even if it didn’t one-shot kill them, it would certainly put them at death’s door. The only solution he could think of was to do what he had been doing. Keep the beast occupied at close range. ‘Here I go again.’

"I'm going to need your help," Kashi whispered to Kira as he slung his bow over his shoulders and put on a pair of gauntlets. He pulled out a set of arrows from his quiver and held them in his hands like daggers.

Leila saw his weird stance and immediately understood his intent. "There really are crazy people all around the world."

Boom!

An angry gust of wind scattered the dust cloud, and Lord Spriggan emerged, angry and vindictive, flaming eyes burning even fiercer. It issued a loud roar and irritatedly shot several arcs of electricity at the trio. Kashi and Kira split up and dodged the attacks while Leila once again took cover behind a pillar.

Kashi bid his time while Leila teased the monster with arrows from behind cover. One shot finally pierced through its defenses and penetrated deep into its chest.

Lord Spriggan roared with rage and immediately dashed toward Leila’s position. The beast punched the pillar, but Leila rolled away just as the pillar crumbled to dust behind her. Lord Spriggan snarled as it hacked down at the exposed archer.

“Hey, Idiot!” Kashi shouted as he dashed to the beast’s exposed back.

Lord Spriggan noticed his charge and diverted its blade at the last moment to cleave the daeben in half. Unfortunately for it, it seemed the daeben had anticipated that move.

Kashi slid on his knees and bent backward, wincing as the heat from the sword singed his hair, and drained his health points. Kashi stabbed his arrows into its calves as he slid beneath its feet. Lord Spriggan roared in pain, and Leila used that opportunity to retaliate with several shots to its exposed back.

Kashi held onto the arrows embedded in the beast’s calves and them as a lever to propel him upwards. While upside down in the air, he pulled two arrows from his quiver and stabbed the beast in its back.

Roaring in rage, Lord Spriggan spun around and punched at the daeben, but Kira, with her impeccable timing, appeared at that moment and bit down at its legs, forcing it to miss its timing.

Kashi grinned as Lord Spriggan’s blow brushed by his body, missing by only a few inches. In a battle of life and death, an inch could mean the difference between life and death. The daeben pushed against the arrows on its back and increased his elevation above the blow.

Now face to face with the ugly beast, Kashi revealed an arrogant grin as he stabbed two more arrows into its gaping eyes sockets. He then pulled down his body weight, so he swung down and two-footed the monster right in its abdomen.

The kick’s force launched Lord Spriggan clean off the floor, and he crashed into his throne.

Kashi kicked off immediately his feet hit the floor, determined not to give the beast a chance to recuperate. The slightest opportunity given to an enemy could prove fatal. Just as he reached the monster, instinct honed from several years of fighting experience caused him to pause. His instinctual reaction proved to be the right one as Lord Spriggan suddenly let out a bloodcurdling roar as its immediate surrounding was engulfed in flames and electricity.

Kashi’s gaze narrowed as he watched all the arrows on Lord Spriggan’s body grow hot and melt, dripping to the floor in a molten mess. From its spot, it dashed to Kashi at blinding speed, and though the daeben could see the attack coming, his body which had just stopped, could not react quick enough to get out of the way. 'Shit! Is this the end?!"

Though certain death approached him in the form of a flaming sword, the daeben chose not to look away and resolutely placed his gauntlets in front of him to parry the strike. Just before the sword hit him, a translucent wall appeared in front of him. This only softened the blow as the sword smashed the wall to bits and shattered the daeben’s gauntlets, then launched the daeben with the force of a mad rhino into the wall.

Kashi coughed up blood as he crashed against the wall and his health points dropped to three. He would have surely perished from the impact if it were not for Kira who dove between him and the wall and bore the brunt of the force.

Weakened beyond measure, both Kashi and Kira collapsed to the earth. Kashi fought to maintain his consciousness as he felt his body grow increasingly weaker with each passing moment. Just when he was on the verge of passing out, a green mist enveloped Kashi and Kira and began to slowly restore their Health Points.

Kashi glanced at Leila, who had baited Lord Spriggan into attacking her, with a questioning gaze. It was rare to find a Hunter class who could not only heal but also provide protection using magic. The effectiveness of her healing spell was only slightly worse than an actual healer class, causing Kashi to wonder how she could both be effective with the bow and double as a healer.

Leila’s subsequent attacks made even less sense to the daeben.

Like any true archer, Leila darted around the room, keeping a distance from Lord Spriggan while turning him into a pin cushion with her arrows. However, Kashi could see the damage from each individual shot wasn’t high. However, she made up for that with several, accurate Critical Shots that multiplied the overall damage. These also caused debilitating statuses like Bloodletting, which caused the afflicted to lose blood (and therefore HP) over a specified period.

What was most shocking though, was her speed. Bright petal-shaped lights swirled around Leila as she managed to keep even with the monster's attacks, dodging them before they could hit her. And in the brief moments when Lord Spriggan burst forward in speeds higher than she could evade, Leila erected several shields made from light petals in front of her, breaking the momentum of his attack. She would then swiftly retreat several steps back and resume her onslaught.

As someone who had fallen to the beast's attacks, Kashi knew there was no way she should have been able to so flawlessly evade its attacks. And this was all under the assumption she also prioritized agility like he did. If she had put more into Dexterity or Wisdom, then her speed made even less sense.

'Come on. Heal!' Kashi urged his slowly growing health points. One thing he was sure of was that her rapid increase in speed and defense had something to do with those light petals surrounding her, which were no doubt fuelled by mana. Kashi shuddered to think of the consequences should she run out of mana.

Once Kashi’s HP passed 30, he was able to move his hands. The daeben immediately took out two red potions from his inventory. These low-level potions restored 200HP and cost 1 gold each. The daeben had spent 20 gold to buy 20 HP potions. He downed the first one and issued a sigh of relief as his HP sharply rose, then helped Kira drink the second. The direwolf stumbled as she stood up, eyes burning with rage.

"You and me both," Kashi whispered through bated breath as he drank several more potions to return to full health and gave the same to Kira. Then he removed a few blue potions from his inventory and placed them in a pouch which he gave to Kira with a set of instructions.

Finally, Kashi brandished his bow and replaced the damaged gauntlets with a set of spares. Notching an arrow into his bow, he used [Keen Sense] to focus on Lord Spriggan. Black ki pulsed around the arrowhead as the daeben pulled the bowstring taut.

Boom!

A portion of Lord Spri’s head exploded as the ki-enhanced arrow stabbed through its skill.

CRITICAL HIT!

Lord Spriggan let out a pained roar and hatefully turned toward the daeben, allowing Leila whose mana was at dangerous lows to swiftly retreat and recover.

Kashi glared at Lord Spriggan as he took a step forward toward it, then another. He broke into a light jog, then issued a battle cry as he tore into a full sprint. Lord Spriggan mimicked the daeben’s movements, and he swung its sword down as they met at the room’s center.

‘I've already seen that once.’ Kashi knew he did not possess the speed required to dodge the attack, so he parried the strike with his bow, forming a slope that guided the sword right into the ground. Before Lord Spri could raise it, the daeben stomped down on the sword with all of his might and dug it even deeper into the earth.

Kashi nocked several arrows onto his bow while the Spriggan lord struggled to lift its weapon, and fired them into its arm at point blank range. There was no need for the [Multi-Shot] skill since his target was only inches away. This allowed him to string another attack as the monster let go of its weapon in pain.

This time, Kashi fired an arrow into Lord’s Spriggan’s chin, and as it whirled back in pain, he shot another three into its stomach. Kashi sensed danger and swiftly retreated as Lord Spriggan roared with frustration. Once again, Kashi’s instinct proved correct as the beast suddenly released a dome of fire from its body that spread across the room.

Just before the flames hit Kashi, a shield made of light-petals shielded him from the fire. Kashi turned around and sent a grateful nod to Leila who had regained her mana by drinking the mana potions he had given to Kira. The direwolf trotted over to his side, eager to fight as they watched Lord Spriggan picked up its sword.

Both the sword and its master had lost its fire cloak, having used all its mana in the final attack. Lord Spriggan let out a deep, enraged cry, and secret walls around the dungeon suddenly slid open. Dozens of spriggans of different sizes stepped out from these walls. Some of the biggest were as tall as an average human while others were quite tiny. They all wore dirty brass armor and carried enchanted swords with various elements on them.

"How typical. Calling for help when you are about to fall." Kashi's eyes burned with anger as he readied his bow. "Kira, Leila! Keep the small fry busy. I'll finish this coward soon enough."

"Why is someone who was about to die acting like a big-shot now?" Leila teased as she shook her head.

Kashi glared at her with playful resentment. "Oh, come on! I was having a moment here."

"Yes, yes. I just need to keep them off of you right?" Leila nocked her bow and launched an arrow right through the closest one. It crumpled to the floor in an instant kill. "Lend me a hand, Kira."

Kira’s head hung in disappointment as she wanted to defeat the Spriggan Lord, but in the end, she could only direct her frustrations at the Spriggans. With a sinister growl, she dove at the closest spriggan, who sidestepped her and tried to stab her with its sword.

Kira’s days hunting in the plains had honed her instincts and agility to heights unheard of for her kind. This showed as she quickly switched directions and lunged at the spriggan and clamped her teeth around its throat. She ripped its throat off and fed off of it, drinking in its life energy. With bloodied teeth, she turned to the other spriggans, her powerful fighting spirit causing them to waver.

Meanwhile, at the center of the room, Kashi squared off against Lord Spriggan who was less than pleased at the rapid demise of its underlings. With a knowing smirk, he teased, "It's just you and me now. Let's end this."

Lord Spriggan was only too happy to comply.

Kashi and the Spriggan Lord clashed at the center, sword against bow as they parried each other attacks with sharp reflexes. Both fighters, by this point, had acquainted themselves with the other’s fighting style. There were no sliding or fire buffs; just the sparks as the two weapons collided in an unconventional battle.

Kashi used his bow as both a shield and a weapon. He parried Lord Spriggan’s then launched arrows which were blocked by its sword. The beast then swiftly retaliated with a sword strike which the daeben parried, and the cycle continued.

Every now and then, Kashi would fail to parry an attack, and it would result in a loss of a chunk of his health. But the same went for Lord Spriggan, though, when compared to Kashi, the amount of health it lost was significantly lower. They seemed to be locked in a battle in which the winner seemed clear.

Determined to break free of the losing battle, Kashi took a huge gamble. He faked an attack with his bow, and in that split second when Lord Spri stopped his attack to block, the daeben charged forward. The daeben slung his bow over his shoulder and punched Lord Spriggan’s stomach.

Stunned by the sudden attack, Lord Spriggan kept its sword in place to block the attack. However, that punch turned out to be a double feint by Kashi, who taking advantage of the sword’s position, jumped, spun around, then delivered a punishing kick to the beast’s undefended chin. The force lifted the Spriggan Lord a few inches off the ground.

The unexpected blow caused Lord Spriggan to instinctively raise its guard to cover its face, and Kashi did not miss that opportunity. Once he righted himself, the daeben punched the Spriggan Lord’s belly, revealing a sardonic grin as he felt ribs crack under his fists.

Kashi followed up with a relentless barrage of punches, not allowing Lord Spriggan any time to regain its senses. Finally, Kashi finished with a roundhouse kick to its belly, launching it clean off the floor and into the wall above its throne.

Lord Spriggan fell forward, but Kashi was not through with it. The daeben ran to its throne and launched himself off it, poised in the air with two arrows nocked into his bow. The Spriggan Lord saw him coming and raised its hand to block the attack, but Kashi kicked its arms apart, then loosed [Multi Shot] into both its hands.

Kashi used the skill despite being so close because of the extra force gained. The arrows forcefully dragged the beast down and pinned its arms to its throne. It struggled to free itself, but Kashi loosed [Rapid Shot] next, nailing its feet to the ground and reinforcing the arrows already pinning its hand to the throne.

Roaring in pain and anger, Lord Spriggan surprised the daeben and spat out three fireballs from its mouth at him. The first fireball struck the daeben dead center, but ki-infused arrows pierced through the second and third and dispersed them.

Kashi landed on the Spriggans body and kicked its jaws shut before it could spit out another fireball. He held its jaw in place as he nocked an arrow into his bow and trained it at his forehead. From point-blank range, he repeatedly launched several bolts into its skull, grinning at the endless Critical Hit prompts. Once Lord Spriggan became too weak to continue resisting, he relaxed his bowstring and jumped off the throne.

"Kira!" Kashi called to the direwolf who was ripping the smaller spriggans to shreds. "He's all yours."

Kira turned to look at Kashi with a nasty look in her eyes. She snorted, then ran past him. She jumped onto the weakened Spriggan Lord and gazed into its empty eye sockets. 'Become my strength.'

Lord Spriggan let out one last helpless cry filled with pain, rage, and anguish, until Kira ripped out his throat, shutting it up for eternity.

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

You Have Leveled Up!

Kashi grinned at the prompts. Seven levels gained for beating one monster was definitely a win. He turned to Kira and paused with his mouth agape. What in holy hells did she eat!?

Kira had nearly doubled in size, so much so, she was only a few inches shorter than the daeben. She seemed to notice his gaze as she turned to him and matched his gaze with a glare of her own. Matching thoughts ran through their minds.

‘I wonder if I can take him on.’

‘I wonder if I can still take her on.’

Luckily, their attention was pulled elsewhere as the gold that had surrounded the room suddenly turned to smoke and dissipated. It appeared to have been an illusion created by the Spriggan Lord to lure in prey, leaving only three chests in front of the throne. Seeing their lord dead, the remaining spriggans retreated into the holes.

Kashi and Leila weren’t here on an extermination mission, so they ignored the monsters.

Leila and Kashi split the loot obtained from the remaining chests. She specifically wanted a cultivation manual and two spell tomes. Cultivation manuals were the method by which Residents leveled up. The books contained a set of meditation and combat skills, which when practiced, allowed Residents to level up similarly to Summoned. Cultivation manuals were especially important, as just like classes, rarer cultivation manuals had more potential to increase its practitioner's strength.

Spell tomes, on the other hand, were basically Skill-Books for mages. Summoned and Residents could either choose to study these books to understand the intricacies of the spells held within, or they could instantly ‘absorb’ the skill book and immediately gain a rough understanding of the skill.

Kashi handed both books to Leila as she required them to complete her quest, while he took a book on weapon enchantments for himself. The rest were generic loot comprised of coins, armor, and weapons - most of which he could not use.

The trio exited the cave via a secret door at the entrance. Once they were finally outside, underneath the starless skies, the sound of clapping hands caught their attention.

"Nice one." Blade, the warrior who had confronted Kashi earlier stood with several of his teammates. "Now, drop everything you have..." His eyes narrowed as he brandished his weapon. "...Or die."