[Congratulations, Skill Unlocked]

[Player has gained the skill: Power Strike Lv1]

[Power Strike Lv 1: The user’s next attack will possess triple the power of the original attack.

MP Cost: 10]

“This is the first skill that uses MP, let’s test it out”

I looked forward, and instead of seeing an elevator that should’ve been there, the area looked much bigger than what appeared on the outside. I walked forward aimlessly while mentally mapping my surroundings using my skill. It was now much easier after the skill levelled up, I could now even find when enemies were nearby. Speaking of….

“Three enemies up ahead”

Three red dots showed up on my mental map. Luckily, they weren’t moving towards me so it looked like they hadn't sensed my presence yet. I activated my stealth skill as a precaution before going in for the attack. Luckily it was just a group of stray zombies. I readied up my new skill and grabbed my bat tightly. I sneak up to a spot where I could strike all three zombies and time it just right.

Bullseye

[3 Zombies Eliminated]

[Experience Gained]

That….was….Awesome. I got virtually no resistance when I swung that bat against them. It gave the illusion of cutting them with a sword as the upper halves of all three zombies split from their legs. I couldn’t believe that this was just a common skill, I may have been lucky, but I couldn’t take my mind away from the possibilities of the other rarities…

✶✶✶

After walking for about half an hour to 60 minutes I was now face to face with a giant ancient looking door after walking for ages around this floor. I tried to activate analysis…

[Analysis Activated]

{Dungeon Door: A part of the dungeon that acts as an entrance to the dungeon boss’ room.}

“So there’s a boss here after all…”

This dungeon really was like those RPG games I used to play, if I wanted to grow stronger then I would have to be able to beat the boss.

I opened the dungeon door and entered the room. The place was very spacious, definitely enough room to freely fight. I struck the wall beside the door with a decent amount of power. Not even a crack, this place was sturdy enough too, I didn’t have to fear the walls collapsing.

I wasn’t able to see the boss anywhere, all I noticed were large bones strewn about in the centre of the room. I tried to approach the bones, but all of a sudden-

RUMBLE

The bones started floating and assembling themselves into a skeletal figure. I ran as fast as I could before the figure was fully formed and activated Stealth. As soon as the figure finished forming, a shiver ran down my spine. That was when I truly learned what it meant to be outmatched.

[Analysis Activated]

{Undead King’s Avatar Lv 20:

Base Status

Strength: 15

Stamina: 8

Agility: 19

Endurance: 6

Intelligence: 24

Weakness: ???

The king of the undead, the strongest among them and their leader, he is currently sealed in this dungeon with this being his avatar, meaning it is much weaker than the original.}

Luckily, this was only an avatar, not the real thing. However, if a cheap copy was this strong….how powerful was the real one? I shouldn’t think about that yet and focus on surviving this encounter. Three of its stats were higher than mine, but its stamina and endurance were surprisingly low, I should capitalise on that.

Just as I thought the situation was looking up, the skeletal giant turned its soulless eye sockets towards me, even with my stealth on. I thought that I was a safe distance away from harm, but yet again, my expectations were betrayed.

The giant skeleton moved its bony arms towards my direction, and what I can only describe as a large ball of fire formed in front of its palm. My instincts moved my body before I could think and the next thing I knew, I was lying down a few metres away from an explosion.

“THIS THING CAN USE MAGIC?!?!”

That was truly the last scenario that came to me, but huh, so magic does exist. If a weirdo that looked like he came from a biology classroom could do it, then why can’t I? Although I should probably focus on the second ball of flames forming and try to dodge it.

This time wasn’t as easy, the ball grazed my back as I escaped. It was almost as if that boss could predict where I was going. I couldn’t let my guard down around him. I don’t know what other skill he may have, but he wasn’t the only one with tricks up their sleeve. I pulled a bow and quiver full of arrows from my inventory and got ready to fire. I only had a few moments before he readied up another fireball so I used that time gap to fire an arrow at him. I aimed for the skull in hopes of getting some damage in.

Shaaaaaaa

Thud

The arrow flew straight to the skull, luckily those few days of training worked wonders on my accuracy (apologies to the generation of straw dummies and punching bags I destroyed ). The arrow penetrated slightly through the skull, but not all the way because the surprisingly dexterous hands of the skeleton grabbed it.

“Dang it”

I did learn something though, while it may have prediction abilities, they weren’t perfect, I could still trick it if I was fast enough. I finally created a plan in my head, but it looked like the hand of fate had other ideas.

Clack Clack Clack

Graughaughagah

Zombies and Skeletons started popping out from the ground. This battle turned from a 1 v 1 to 1 v 20 very quickly. I didn't know what to do, whenever I tried to activate my stealth fireballs got launched at me. I couldn’t charge the boss because the masses of undead were blocking the way. I was rapidly losing health

[WARNING! HP BELOW 50%]

…….

[WARNING! HP BELOW 40%]

…….

[WARNING! HP BELOW 30%]

…...

“Is this…..the end…..”

….

….

…

….

no

I can survive

I WILL SURVIVE

No more weakness

My brain went into overdrive and all of a sudden time appeared as if it had slowed around me. I now know how those anime characters felt in the heat of the moment. 1 second was getting stretched out into tens of seconds for me.

[Skills Unlocked]

[Parallel Thinking Lv1]

[Speed Processing Lv1]

“Just in the nick of time!”

I used my two new skills to the best of my ability to somehow think of a solution out of this. Finally, I arrived at one. I opened my inventory and took out the gift box, it was time to find out what existed inside this tiny white box. This might’ve been the largest gamble I’ve taken up to now. What did it mean to live without taking risks every now and then am I right? If something useless comes out, I die, but if a useful skill or item shows up, I might possibly have a miniscule chance .

“Open Gift Box”

[Gift Box Has Been Opened!]

[Congratulations: Player has unlocked the uncommon skill: Berserk Lv1]

[Berserk Lv 1: Doubles all of the user’s status for 5 min, at the end of the duration user’s mana is drained and stats are halved for 10 minutes]

The perfect type of skill for this situation, a final gamble.

“AHHHHHHH”

Surprisingly, that roar originated from me. After activating the skill, my vision went red, a huge amount of power surged through me like adrenaline. I had to get my thoughts in order. I only got one shot at this, and I would use it to the fullest.

I charged through the mob of undead standing between me and that avatar of death. I used my increased strength to challenge the boss directly to a close range fight. My fists and the boney hands clashed against each other repeatedly at speeds faster than the eye could see. Each strike was like two cars crashing at high speeds causing a rumble across the room. Eventually I noticed that the bones were cracking and that gave me confidence. 3 minutes left.

If that thing had skin there would be sweat beading on it right about now. My chance had arrived, I struck the boss on its skull and finally it was smashed into dust….