Chapter 20: Dangerous situation (2)

Chapter 20: Dangerous situation (2) When all the commotion died down, the dust began to settle gently and slowly—like waters that had been turbulent before but were now returning to a state of absolute tranquility. The dark cave now bore only faint traces of the battle that had just been fought in it, humming with a calm, lingering tremor. The beasts let out what sounded like collective sighs as they realized that their enemy was no longer attacking. It meant that they had won. Some of them then returned to their usual work. But as that happened, two extremely fast shadows darted across the edges of these strange spiders. Then, in a flash, a knife plunged deep into the neck of one of the goblins while sharp, rat-like claws tore firmly into the body of a spider. The attack was so fast that before any of them could react, another blade was already slicing into a second neck. Three beasts died in an instant. After killing the first one, the rat went into a strange frenzy. It began to lash out furiously at everything nearby, its long nails slashed like daggers through flesh and stabbed several bodies in succession. Although it was also attacked and ended up injured, it managed to take several more in a fit of raw, furious energy. It was angry—perhaps because its master had been wounded. That rage, once contained, was now burning freely. Elliot was grateful that it turned out like this. The rat's fury meant the fight would end quickly. 'As fast as I can...' Elliot held his knife firmly. After taking out the first two, he lunged forward ferociously, striking down the rest. Working together, they overwhelmed the remaining beasts easily, mostly because they were both trying their hardest and trying to be as effective as possible, while the rat was simply seeking revenge. In what had seemed like a desperate situation, Elliot managed to deal the final blow to the last spider. He plunged his knife deep into the large, glistening eyes of the last spider. The rat landed on it at the same time, their attack combining with enough force to send the blade through the eye and into the stone beneath. Elliot finally allowed himself to breathe freely. He staggered back and dropped to his knee, the pain in his body that was not being registered thanks to the adrenaline now caught up with him. He hadn't emerged unscathed from the previous attack. That corrosive venom had done great damage. If he hadn't quickly taken off his venom-soaked clothes, he might have lost a leg long ago. Fortunately, the attack had left nothing more than annoying burns—painful, but it wasn't something he needed to worry about; he could move all right. Even so, in that moment, he realized something. He needed a real weapon. This knife, while slightly special, wasn't a tool crafted by an Awakened Blacksmith. It wasn't a system-grade item either, therefore, it was less effective to even be adequately surrounded by attribute energy. 'I'll need to buy one. The probability of a dungeon yielding a weapon-type item at this level is way too low,' he thought. Even so, the truth was that he was satisfied. Earlier, he had assigned 1 stat point to agility and 1 point to strength, intending to enhance the stats of his summon—but upon finishing the kill, those points were replenished in the exact same distribution. He had lost nothing—and also gained a powerful ally. 'I didn't expect the rat to be so powerful. These goblins and spiders should have around 15 stat points in strength, but the rat still tore through several of them in succession like it was nothing,' Elliot thought, smiling as he gazed at the bloodied rat standing proudly before him. If he were just a normal Awakened, Elliot would have likely died here. So, in a way, he should feel grateful for the decision to make a rat his summon. Still, doubt had begun to creep in. 'Should I raise my stats now? I haven't even seen the boss yet... but I'm afraid I should be nearing the level of an Awakened Rank.' He thought it over. He was injured at the moment and didn't have any healing potions on hand. Even the most basic ones cost $1,000 each, and he didn't have enough money to buy them. For now, recovery wasn't an option for him—at least not through conventional means. However, if he allocated his stat points, he would gain a small amount of recovery thanks to attribute energy. While the effect wouldn't be much—just a bit of muscle relaxation and some mental recovery—even that would be an improvement over his current state. The real issue was that he didn't know what kind of creature the dungeon's boss was. It was supposed to be a wizard-type boss, but since it was a chimera, there was no telling what kind of attacks it could use. It might have several types of powerful attacks. He would be at a disadvantage if he were to spend all his points on raising just one of his stats, and there was a possibility that it would turn out to be inefficient against the kind of beast the dungeon boss was. He didn't have enough stats to make himself a dominant presence in battle—not yet. This is one of the reasons why dungeons were meant to be cleared by a group of awakened ones. Each person in the team would play a role—one could be an assassin, and the other could be a tank, which would lead them to fulfill two different roles when fighting. That way, both could focus on their respective important stats, and nothing harm would fall on them. With teamwork, they would easily cover each other's weaknesses. But Elliot was alone. Well, not entirely—he had his summoned rat, which could fulfill the role of assassin, thanks to its stealth and quick attacks. But he wasn't a tank, and the points he currently had were not enough to transform himself into one, especially not one who was capable of standing up against a powerful mage-type boss. What's more, if he became a tank himself, then who would be the damage dealer? The rat wasn't a specialist in that area, and it also wasn't very intelligent; it could not fulfill that role properly. Looks like I will have to make a new summon... I need a tank for my team.' This was why he had held off from using his points before—even when he had nearly died in that last wave attack. He knew that the real difficulty awaited in the final room. He glanced at the goblins scattered around the cavern, sizing them up, considering the idea of creating a tank. 'Too small... but I think it might work.' Although he had doubts about several things, in the end, he made up his mind. He would continue farming stat points since he still had a long way to go before reaching the boss room. "If I had healing potions, this would have been a different story," he muttered to himself. "But that's fine as well. I just have to be a little more careful... and more assertive. This is a valuable experience. Let's do it." He encouraged himself and immediately began to venture deeper into the dungeon. This time, he entered a corridor that continued to get narrower as he went deeper but was packed with beasts waiting to be fought.