Yokota stood up, but he was unsteady on his feet. I thought I had held back quite a bit, but it seemed he still took significant damage.
His eyes were blazing with murderous intent toward me. He glared at me as if I were the killer of his parents.
“You bastard, die!” Yokota, consumed by rage, lunged at me recklessly.
Yokota’s nail bat came down from above, aimed straight at my head. He was clearly intent on killing me.
“Here, parry,” I said casually, as if it were nothing, and deftly drew my sword. Of course, my timing was perfect. Yokota’s nail bat was deflected, and his body staggered.
“Did you know that if you stagger like this, I can counter with three hits? Huh, did you know?” My left fist flew toward Yokota’s jaw.
“Ugh!” Yokota groaned, spitting saliva and snot.
Without missing a beat, I struck his face with the hilt of the sword I held in my right hand.
Crunch! I felt something break. Probably his nose.
“Gyah!” Yokota let out a scream.
The third strike was a punch to Yokota’s side with my left fist. A perfect hit to the liver. Even a trained professional boxer wouldn’t be able to withstand a blow to this spot. It’s excruciatingly painful.
“Ughwaa!” Yokota let out a wordless cry and crumpled to the ground.
“Maybe I should just kill you now…” I said, theatrically raising my sword as if to show off.
Yokota had completely lost the will to fight.
“Hyah… stop…” Yokota’s face was pale with pathetic fear.
“Yokota, are you gonna die? Huh, are you gonna die here? But you know, if I kill you inside the dungeon, it’ll just be written off as an accident. You were the one who taught me that, remember? Thanks for the lesson. Ahaha…” I looked down at Yokota.
Just then, multiple footsteps approached from deeper within the dungeon.
I turned around to see a party of three—a man and two women, all around college age—running toward us from the back passage.
“Hey, run!” The man at the front of the party kindly shouted at us as they passed by.
Yokota was dumbfounded, staring blankly as the trio ran past.
“Yokota, did you see that? Do you have any idea what’s going on?” I grinned, addressing Yokota, who looked utterly clueless.
“What are you talking about?” Yokota’s face was half in tears. He always acts so tough in the classroom, but when push comes to shove, this is what he’s like? Pathetic. He’s such a small-time loser.
“Ignorance really is hopeless… You’re such an idiot. Ahaha…”
“So, what’s the big deal?” Yokota’s tear-streaked face scrunched up as he looked back at me. Snot was dripping from his nose. Are you a kid or something?
After the trio ran past, seven goblins emerged from the depths of the cave.
“See, that’s your answer. If those guys are running away, it means there’s something chasing them. Those three were running from monsters they knew they couldn’t beat. It’s called a ‘train.’ You didn’t even know that? You’re so clueless. Ahahaha…”
The goblins that had been “trained” now headed toward us—the closest targets. Four came at me, and three went for Yokota.
Right now, four goblins are no match for me. It wouldn’t even take ten seconds to take them all down.
After glancing at the four goblin corpses on the ground, I turned to see Yokota struggling against the three goblins.
It was a pitiful fight. Yokota, with snot dripping from his nose, was crying as he desperately swung his nail bat at the goblins, who were hitting him repeatedly with their clubs. Both sides had such low attack power that neither could land a decisive blow.
Normal goblins are among the weakest monsters, just above blue slimes. And here was Yokota, fighting for his life against them. It was a battle between two low-level opponents.
But I couldn’t help but laugh as Yokota’s face swelled up more and more from the goblins’ blows.
Even with the blessing of the [Nail Bat], this is all he’s got? He might act tough in front of the other students, but when it comes to life-or-death battles against monsters, he’s only slightly stronger than an average person.
“Ahahaha… Hey, hey, the recovery time after a normal goblin’s strong attack is 42 frames. You can’t even take advantage of such a huge opening? You’ve got no sense at all.” Yokota’s movements were so comical that I doubled over laughing. “Gyaha! My stomach hurts! I get it now, Yokota. You said you were gonna kill me earlier, right? You were trying to make me die laughing, weren’t you? Ah, I can’t take it! Stop! My stomach hurts! I’m dying! Gyahaha!”
