Jack's POV

  I knew I might have to fight the others to protect my dungeon lord title eventually. But in my head, I would have been trained and would be on a whole other level when I would be put in this situation. Hell, I was just level one right now.

  It wasn’t like we were careless. The main street was packed. So we had taken another route to exit the safe zone bubble. I even had my face covered, and my head kept low. As long as they didn't have an inspection skill in their party. They wouldn't have known about my title. It even took mom, dad and Karaa a good minute to see my dungeon lord title without that skill. So, taking them as a baseline. Jensen had made me move quickly but not too quickly as to draw suspicion.

  But now that I thought about it. My family and Tuma's had walked ahead of us, and there were no goodbyes at the barrier either. They had just walked away into the tunnel. I had found it odd. But now it all made sense as to why they limited their interaction with me. And why others were staring at us as we exited the safe zone a few minutes later.

  A ball of light identical to the one Jensen had floated some ten feet in illuminating the tunnel.

  And then they showed up.

  "Found him," exclaimed a bald man about six feet tall, and covered in steel armor. He raised his sword and clanged it with his shield. He had a short mage women behind him, and a fighter by her side, covered in leather armor.

  I swallowed in empty.

  "It's true…" said the blond lady, gasping. "The system does say that he is the dungeon lord if you look at him just long enough."

  My heart picked up a pace.

  But Jensen remained seated. His back on the dungeon wall, arms behind his head, and his one leg rested on top of the other.

  "Are you not going to fight?" I asked him over my shoulder.

  "Nah," he said, like I had asked him out for drinks. "I think this one is on you for not being careful." He smiled. "Moreover, it's time for you to know what it really means to be a dungeon lord," he said.

  "Jensen—"

  He buffed me to shut me up and shooed me away.

  He who could have ended that trio in a heartbeat even with those restrictions on him. Instead, he decided to close his eyes and yawn. So I turned to face those adventurers on my own, and the mage by then had lit up a few flames, making the whole place go brighter.

  "Boss," said the fighter, a pale white dude, to the man in steel armor. "What do we do now?"

  "He is just level one. We will kill him," said the boss. "You create an opening," he ordered the fighter. "And you," he eyed the mage behind his back. "You cover me with fire."

  "Understood…" they both said in unison, getting ready.

  "On the count of three…" said the boss from some fifteen feet away. "Three…" he yelled, without even counting up to it, and the fighter charged at me. The mage raised her staff above her head and began mumbling a chant. The red crystal, the size of my thumb, embedded in the wooden staff began pulsing. And the boss man, with his clunky armor, smirked at me.

  Before I knew what I was supposed to do, or how I was supposed to react. The fighter was within striking distance. It was one thing to face a goblin and kill him. But this was a human being.

  In the brief moment in which I hesitated. The punch of the fighter connected, and I was pushed back a few feet. But I managed to regain my balance and didn't fall on my butt.

  "We don't have to do this…" I said, while using my forearms to cover my face. But the fighter went at it. He punched me in the gut and then at any opening he could find. He managed to push me a couple of feet back with his momentum alone. Screaming and cursing at me.

  I didn't even have to step out of that room where the pain radiated through my body. I stayed in it. Because the pain that the fighter was causing me was abysmal compared to what I was enduring in that moment.

  So when he came at my chin from underneath my forearms. I craned my neck back, avoiding his punch by the hair of my skin, and then headbutted him. The boss man wasn't far behind either. He was charging at me and was about to reach me in a heartbeat or two, and the mage was still chanting up her spell. The flames that she had lit up earlier had merged into one fireball and was growing in size.

  I didn't want to kill any of them.

  But the way they all looked at me. The way they were okay with gutting me alive to get my title. I had no choice. With the buff still coursing through me. I moved to the side when the fighter came at me again. But this time I attacked. The dagger that I had been holding onto this entire time. I used it and sliced right through the side of his neck. Using the same technique I had used to kill the goblins earlier.

  The fighter jumped back, clutching the side of his neck. He hadn't anticipated for my very first attack to connect. Because he looked taken aback when the blood gushed out of the cut and through his fingers. More than my attack. It was his own quick pulse that was bleeding him dry. All that moving around had made his heart pump the blood faster than normal.

  He took a step towards me. But before he could do anything. He fell face first onto the dungeon floor. He was still alive. But had lost a great deal of blood in seconds. There was no time to mourn his eventual death or question what I had just done. Because the armor clad monster had drawn his sword and was bringing it down on my head to slice me in two.

  I crossed my forearms over my head, with the dagger in the middle still clutched in my right hand in reverse grip. The plan was to block that sword as there was no time to dodge. But just when I thought everything was over, the sword hit the dagger, cracking it.

  "Fire nova…" The mage yelled out, and the one who screamed at the top of his lungs wasn't me.

  It was the boss man.

  Hot fire roared past me on both sides while the tank of a man was hit from the back by the mage from his own party. My eyes stared in horror as the flesh from that man's face melted into his armor. The sword clatter down on the floor along with the shield, and armor with bones and flesh charred into it.

  "Jensen…" I called out when I saw that mage smiling at me. Somehow, with a single spell, she had gone from a timid teenager to a cunning psychopath.

  "I was tired of playing the babe," she shrugged, with that tiny gem still powered up and ready to shoot the flames the second time around. "What, aren't you going to beg for your life?" she asked me with a sly smile.

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  "You killed one of your own," I said, hoping that if I stalled, Jensen would step in.

  "Well, there are more from where he came from," she said, eyeing the armor.

  "Look…" I said. "Killing me won't get you anything—"

  "Liar…" Croaked up the fighter whom I thought I had killed. He stood up, holding the side of his neck with his hand. "Killing you will get us the title," he said, and eyed the mage behind his back.

  "True," she said, walking in with her staff still charged up, and stood right next to the fighter. They were now just some ten feet away from me. A distance so small that if I blinked a heartbeat too long, then that fighter would be upon me with his dash skill.

  "Jensen…" I called out louder, realizing just how shitty a situation I was in that moment. But when I looked over my shoulder. He was long gone, and so was the bonfire.

  What the hell? I screamed inside. He bailed on me? I asked myself.

  I eyed those two and took a stance with the dagger held in my hand firm. The fighter smiled at the mage, and the moment they exchanged a nod. The fighter moved. He ran along the side of the dungeon wall, and when my eyes were on him. The mage fired her spell at me. But it wasn't a stream of inferno like last time. Instead, dozens of fireballs came at me much faster than the fighter, and they left me no room to escape.

  So I did the only thing I could do in that moment.

  I stood my ground and took as many fireballs head on as I could while clamping up with my arms held in front of me. They hit me with all their might, sizzling my skin, but they weren't anywhere close to what Benzo had hit me with. But these were just distractions because the real damage was going to be dealt by the fighter.

  He moved in just as the fireballs stopped raining on me and went for my ribs. I definitely felt something break. But had no time to think about it, as he kept hitting me.

  "Why isn't he dying?" asked out the fighter to the mage. "He is a bloody level one," he said.

  That's when what Jensen had said hit me. If I were inducted, my health pool right now would be around ten points, and those fireballs were more than enough to have ended me. Hell, his initial barrage would have been more than enough to kill me. But truth be told, I was burned in places, and my ribs were hurting. But other than that.

  I was solid.

  I stopped embracing for impacts in that moment, and hit back. If my natural health wasn't restricted by the system. Then the same held true for my strength. Having taken over three dozen punches from that fighter. I had to pay him back in full. My dagger had long since fallen when the fireballs had hit me. But I didn't need that to deal with this adventurer.

  For the first time since this battle began. I pushed that fighter back with my punches. The mage was busy chanting up her spell again. But I had seen Jensen run out of mana before, and I bet she didn't have much left in her tank after casting that first spell on the boss. I had no spell on me. Or a skill. So I channeled the only thing I knew.

  I channeled my inner Jensen.

  "Ha-Ha-Ha…" I laughed as I went on the offensive.

  The fighters' every punch was met with mine. It hurt more than I thought it would. But I masked my pain with the laughter.

  This is wrong. This is not me… I thought, as that laugh rang in that tunnel. But I would be lying if I claimed that I wasn't enjoying this. This thrill of being inflicted with pain, and inflicting it back. I never knew that this could be so addicting.

  I fought, and fought, and fought. Taking more punches than landing them. But the thing is, this adventurer had a finite pool of health. I, on the other hand. If I just keep beating the crap out of him. If I could just take and keep giving back. If I just keep going. Then…

  Ping!

  You have killed an adventurer!

  Exp awarded: 50xp

  Credits awarded: One Hundred Credits

  There was no flashy move on his part or mine. It was just a plain fist fight with both of us going at each other, everything we had. One second, he was going for my ribs, and I was going after his chin. The moment I connected. He blanked out, and the system just declared the guy dead. His body just fell sideways, giving me a clear path to the mage.

  But something primal had taken over her face when she saw the man fall. I saw it in her eyes. I saw the pain, the disbelief, and the rage. I saw it all as she released her spell mid chant with a cry.

  I screamed back and dashed at her with everything I had in me. The fireballs hit me on my face and body, but the power behind them was a joke compared to what she had before. But I raced towards her with a glee nonetheless. She had killed her own boss in cold blood. She had even used her spell twice with the intention of doing the same with me.

  So I asked the moral side of me to shut the hell up, as I charged at her to end the threat to my life. But just as I was about to reach her. She closed her eyes. Bracing for whatever I was about to do to her. And in a heartbeat, doubt clouded over my resolve. At least the fighter was going toe to toe with me. She, on the other hand, was unarmed and had no mana left as her gem had died down.

  A part of me knew I was being foolish. But I stopped. I stopped with my fist pulled back. If I had connected with all the momentum behind me. I would have caused her some serious damage. But I couldn't do it. I just froze, while grinding my teeth

  She opened her eyes and found me an inch from her face. My fist pulled back, and my jaws jammed.

  "Oi," I said to her through my teeth. "Who else knows that I'm here?" I asked her.

  "I…I…" she muttered.

  "If you say, you don't know…" I said. "I will start with your fingers. Each time you don't answer. I will break one…"

  I recalled the words from one of the books I had read in the library's banned section. I hadn't slept for several nights after reading what had happened to the main character of that book. But that thing came in handy here.

  "I…" her voice broke. "I will tell you everything I know. Please don't kill me."

  "Begging for your life, I see…" I grinned, making her recoil from me. I lowered my fist and stood straight just to grab her by her blond hair. "Speak," I said, while yanking on them.

  "There is another member of our team," she said, with her neck craned up. "He was the one who pointed you out. He was sent by the boss to inform our superior who is a dungeon council member. The head of the fifth floor," she said. "He is here for the dungeon council meeting. He is a silver rank adventurer."

  "What level is he?" I asked next.

  "Forty nine," she said.

  I let go of her hair.

  "Go," I said to her.

  She blinked at me.

  "You won't kill me when I have my back towards you?" she asked, radiating fear.

  "Cowards do that, and that ain't me," I said. "Now go," I said.

  She didn't turn and show me her back. She instead walked away while facing me. Retreating into the darkness, and a moment later. Just as I had thought. Her scream rang in the tunnel. A goblin that had spawned because of my penalty had caught her. I may have been a target of the system penalty. But goblin's instincts were always to attack the adventurers first and not me.

  How do I know that?

  Because thirty seconds after her dying screams rang in that tunnel. The goblin ran at me with her wand with the intent to kill me. He was nothing compared to the two I had just fought. I let him come close, and then I choked the life out of him while it hit me with that staff.

  I had this rage, and I had to let it out. So I used my strength to choke that goblin who weighed less than twenty pounds and had no strength so to speak. Once that goblin stopped struggling. I tossed him aside as if the concept of taking someone's life meant nothing to me anymore.

  The System prompt followed about the goblin killing, xp and credits, etc. But I didn't pay any attention to them. Because when I turned to look for Jensen. He was towering right behind me.

  "So much for breaking the restrictions to save my life," I glared up at him, as he was a foot taller.

  "I would have done it," he said, as if he were swearing on his life. "I just had to take a leak, and by the time I came back. You had dealt with the threat." He looked around, astonished.

  "Yeah, like I would believe that," I said to him. "How did I do?" I asked him.

  He brought forth the couple of herbal weeds that I had sold him not so long ago.

  "On a scale of one to ten," he said, pressing a herbal weed on my forearm. "I would give it three," he said.

  I hissed at the sudden jolt of pain. But that didn't stop him from pressing on with some more herbal weeds, and continuing with his assessment.

  "The only reason I had no need to step in was because of the backstabbing which took place," he said, eyeing my wounds. "They got greedy, seeing that level one of yours with their own eyes, and decided to take matters into their own hands." He paused. "Things would have been much different if their tank wasn't killed by them."

  "I know that," I admitted. "But how do I get better?" I asked him.

  "You got me," he said, brushing my hair with his gloved hand.

  I pushed it away. The adrenaline of the fight was still coursing through me.

  "I want to get stronger now," I demanded.

  The System answered my call like it were a prayer. Unlike so far, the System didn't spawn one or two goblins near me. Instead, it over delivered on its promise to torture me and spawned six goblins. It did that just to kick me when I was already down.

  "What did I say?" asked Jensen with a chuckle while looking around.

  "The System is one cruel mistress," I mumbled.

  *****