Soul-type player rules:
Match the monster's rhythm; do not fight the monster for attack opportunities.
Facing an elite goblin that suddenly launched an attack, Ron could only do his best to remain calm. He raised his short sword and assumed a defensive stance.
Yet he had not expected that the monster before him was merely feinting.
The goblin swung the curved blade in its hand, but its movement clearly slowed during the chop. Then, adopting a sweeping motion, it slashed straight toward Ron's abdomen.
"Damn it!"
Ron could not hold back and cursed out loud.
An elite goblin that possessed combat techniques was clearly on an entirely different level of strength. He could only evade by rolling clumsily on the ground and flipping backward.
As for so-called "elegance"—
When one's life was at stake, it was utterly worthless!
At the very least, he needed to grasp the elite goblin's combat methods as much as possible and capture its weaknesses. If it came down to it, using "Revival" and then killing it would still be worth it.
After barely dodging the elite goblin's attack, he scrambled up as quickly as he could, using both hands and feet.
—Although the curved blade in the monster's hand was poorly maintained, judging by the force just now, breaking through his defenses and cutting him open would definitely not be a problem.
"Soul-type dungeon…"
"Couldn't you at least turn on the character's HP bar for me?"
Ron's expression was grim. Before he could steady himself, the elite goblin launched another assault. This time, however, it did not use any feinting techniques.
Blades collided.
Sparks instantly flew.
After barely parrying the monster's attack, he only felt a sharp, continuous pain stabbing through the web of his hand gripping the short sword. This goblin's strength was absolutely comparable to that of an adult man.
However, it was not unbeatable.
The curved blade was becoming increasingly worn. Perhaps disarming it would be his chance!
Ron did not actively seek an opening to attack. Faced with the elite goblin's relentless offensive, he raised his short sword and blocked every single strike.
Until the monster was thoroughly enraged.
The goblin chose to actively widen the distance. It sprinted toward the boy's direction, then leapt up at the last moment, swinging the curved blade and hacking down at Ron with full force.
Bang!
The collision of blade and weapon produced a piercing noise.
The tremendous gravitational momentum made Ron's knees go weak, while the elite goblin—its center of gravity unstable as it staggered backward—fully exposed its opening.
Before even leaving the newbie village, he was already being chased down and beaten by a goblin.
Ron had long been bottling up a bellyful of anger, so he naturally would not let the opportunity slip by.
He grit his teeth and drove his legs forward with explosive force, slamming his shoulder into the monster. The short sword he gripped with both hands stabbed into the goblin's abdomen, and blood instantly sprayed out.
However, the short sword pressed against the monster's bones and did not pierce clean through its body.
"@#￥%!"
The intense pain made the elite goblin let out a howl, its shrill cries constantly assaulting the eardrums.
The horrifying wound in its abdomen, with blood continuously flowing out, did not cause the monster to lose its fighting ability. Instead, it completely stimulated its ferocity.
Realizing that something was wrong, Ron used the momentum of his roll to yank the short sword out of the goblin's abdomen.
He panted heavily and said, "Damn it, even some roadside wild dog has a second phase?"
"&@#￥!"
The elite goblin's eyes were bloodshot and crimson. Not only did it show no sign of falling, it instead launched a full-on pursuit, like a rabid dog.
Relentless slashes followed one after another, the curved blade swung with such force that it left afterimages.
The more critical the moment, the more one had to remain calm and composed.
He could not let himself fall into chaos just because the monster had entered a self-destruct mode. Ron struggled to raise his sword to block; attacks he could not block, he could only evade by retreating.
Until the elite goblin exhausted itself and swung its "final strike."
"Good chance."
Prolonged combat consumed stamina at an enormous rate.
Moreover, the noise of the fight could also attract nearby monsters. Ron clearly realized that this was very likely his last chance to attack.
Seize the monster's post-attack recovery.
In soul-type games, this counted as a standard operation—using the moment of stiffness to finish off the monster.
That was exactly what he did. When the curved blade in the elite goblin's hand was about to chop into the ground, he decisively launched an attack at the monster's neck.
But the development of events still exceeded Ron's expectations.
The curved blade, which had originally already paused, suddenly reversed and lifted upward. In a manner he was completely unable to evade, it directly broke through his defensive armor and easily pierced his abdomen.
"Damn feint timing…"
Blood instantly gushed out from the wound in his abdomen.
The sudden, fatal damage caused Ron's pupils to continuously lose focus. As his vitality completely dissipated, his consciousness gradually blurred.
A gentle light once again enveloped him.
[Revival!]
Ron's lifeless eyes regained their luster once more, and the previously fatal wound to his abdomen completely healed within a short span of time.
Experiencing death in the truest sense made him feel as though an entire lifetime had passed in an instant.
But when he once again clearly saw the elite goblin before him, he immediately grasped the situation. The short sword in his hand swung without the slightest hesitation, hacking straight toward its head.
And the elite goblin that had already swung its "final strike" no longer had any means of resistance.
As its head was severed, this goblin—like a physical standout among its kind—turned into black dust and completely dissipated before Ron's eyes.
Ding!
A dark-purple magic stone fell to the ground, producing a crisp sound as it struck.
Ah.
What a truly evenly matched battle…
"Is this dungeon difficulty really reasonable?"
Ron adjusted to his body while summarizing his fight with the elite goblin. Overall, it came down to one thing: he seriously lacked dungeon combat experience.
"Panicked. Shouldn't have been greedy for an extra hit."
The monster had deliberately exposed an obvious opening as bait.
He had failed to keep his composure.
By the time he truly realized the elite goblin's fast–slow feint, the conditions no longer allowed him to evade.
The result was that he wasted an incomparably precious use of "Revival" on a gatekeeping monster on the first floor—even though he did manage to kill the elite goblin…
But without the support of revival uses.
Should he really continue exploring the dungeon?
Thinking this far, Ron helplessly shook his head. He bent down and picked up the dark-purple, thumb-sized magic stone that had fallen to the ground—today's harvest from his exploration.
Compared to the drops from ordinary monsters.
This magic stone before him was clearly several times larger than the fingernail-sized ones described in the original work!
[Soul Shards +1]
As he examined the magic stone in his hand, the black aura swirling within the crystal flowed along his palm and was absorbed and devoured by his body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Immediately after—
More detailed information surfaced before Ron's eyes.
...
[Revival]
Cost: 1/5 Soul Shards (limited to once per day)
[Random Character Card]
Cost: 1/10 Soul Shards (exchange cost increases based on improvement in one's own strength)
...
"Why does it feel like…"
"The price paid doesn't quite match the exchange cost?"
To increase his number of revivals, he would still need to kill four more elite goblins.
Recalling the details of the fight just now, Ron could not help the corner of his mouth twitch. He had absolutely no desire to linger in the dungeon any longer.
As he prepared to follow the floor stairs back to a safe level, a sudden sense stirred within him. Acting on pure instinct, he turned around to look back, as though the abyss-like dungeon was swallowing the faint illumination cast by the surrounding dim light sources.
Issuing a naked warning!
"Very well…"
"Those that cannot kill me will only make me stronger!"