Chapter 64 Mutant

After killing the last few goblins, Nial picked up the origin crystals that had dropped before he distanced himself from the crime scene.

Once he reached a certain distance, he slumped to the ground, and took a few deep breaths.

While actively replenishing his mana, Nial simply used an origin crystal to hasten up the process, not bothering about the hefty sum of 30$ he paid for the crystal that was pulverized within seconds.

It didn't take long before he was reinvigorated, and his mana core was filled to the brim, but instead of clashing against dozens of goblin groups, Nial wanted to do something different.

However, on second thought, releasing his pent-up frustration would probably be the best. At least for now.

His body was aching lightly, but by straining his muscles they would be tempered and trained for such rigorous physical activities.

Thus, after gulping down a single stamina replenishing potion, Nial chose to turn the outskirts into a field of massacre with the sole purpose of allowing his body to adjust to strenuous movements and to release his tension.

With such a simple mission at hand, several hours passed, and his entire body was streaked with blood and brain mass as he stood in the middle of a battlefield with more than 50 goblins.

Having fought against several hundred of them, he was now well versed with their combat style that was not too special, to begin with.

As such, he could easily kill a handful of them while evading arrows, spear thrusts and other blades thrust toward him.

Possessing a great perception had always been one of Nial's strongest advantages, but right now, he was also able to absorb large amounts of mana currents passively while walking around.

This was something he didn't expect to be capable of doing while being on a killing spree because there shouldn't be too much time left for him to focus on absorbing mana.

Yet, after having killed hundreds of beasts, his appearance and demeanor coupled with the way he wielded his spear was enough to prevent any of the weaker beasts on the outskirts from attacking him.

Nial knew that he was just at the outskirts of the Melind dungeon's first layer, so he should be able to enter the central area without being ripped apart.

However, he didn't want to enter the central area except for the purpose of leaving the dungeon, which was what he would do soon.

Unfortunately, his plan to keep slaughtering beasts while absorbing some mana to annex it kept getting interrupted by other Originals that hunted the prey he had planned to attack, or he encountered groups of beasts that were already attacking someone else.

As such, without intervening in their hunts he tried searching for other beasts, only for a slightly more problematic intervention to occur.

Facing a small group of 10 goblins, Nial first assumed that he would be able to slaughter them quite easily.

To his misfortune, there were unique goblins amongst them, which was odd to come across in Rookie dungeons.

While the most common forms of goblins were green-colored ones, which Nial perceived as the ones that had little mana, evolved goblins could either turn into Goblin Warriors, Hobgoblins, or Goblins with unique professions that might even allow them to wield elemental affinities.

However, Nial wasn't supposed to encounter such goblins in the Melind dungeon, which was why he presumed the goblins in front of him to have two Mutants amongst them.

Being able to perceive their mana fluctuations, he realized that these two Mutants were much stronger, and one of them even had faint signs of transmuted mana.

This indicated that one of the mutants was likely to have only received a physical enhancement through the mutation, while the other one was likely to have gained an elemental affinity seed.

To say that Nial was not astonished about this would be a lie, but he was able to keep his calm. After all, he had been facing much more powerful existences in the last few weeks.

Because of that, he took a deep breath before he charged toward his opponents like a tornado, swiftly killing the eight goblins that were trying to attack him mindlessly.

They roared out in wrath while trying to intimidate him, only to understand too late that the two truly strong goblins were simply going to spectate their death as they didn't even budge while seeing the eight goblins getting slaughtered.

Nial had perceived this from the beginning, which was why he had acted so quickly, preventing the Mutated goblins from changing their mind.

After the eight goblins were dead, the two mutants made their first move as one of them manifested a water jet in front of his body, and shot it towards Nial without hesitation.

Evading it by a hair's breadth, Nial twisted his body at an uncomfortable angle but that prevented him from evading the attack of the physically stronger goblin that slashed at him with a longsword.

Wielding the Viper spear, Nial deflected the attack in the nick of time.

Lifting his body, and returning it to the stance he had been in a moment earlier, Nial used his strength by circulating a large amount of mana through his arm and back.

This allowed him to move the Viper spear at a rapid pace, making a slight curve with it in order to hit the physically strong goblin's side.

At first, Nial presumed that the attack had hit it, but the goblin was able to use its quick reflexes to block off the attack, while the other goblin shot another water jet at him.

At the same time, the Water attributed goblin advanced toward him, entering close combat while continuing to use its affinity.

This was annoying but far less dangerous than having a long-range attacker.

Two close combatants were still fine, and considering that the Water attributed goblin was just a goblin with an elemental attribute, Nial was able to injure it relatively quickly.

Unfortunately, the moment he attacked it, the physically strong goblin changed the trajectory of his spear thrust, preventing Nial from killing the water-attributed goblin in a single attack.

Nevertheless, Nial didn't back away and the moment his spear pierced into the water attributed to the goblin's arm, he released the blade on the side of the spear tip.

Through this, Nial was able to worsen the injury he had created, and by using some more force, in addition to mana, the seemingly light injury turned into a deep cut that caused enough blood loss to kill the goblin over time.

This was great, which caused him to forcefully tear the Viper spear out of his opponent's injury.

Predictably, the inflicted injury worsened, giving Nial the necessary time to focus solely on the physically enhanced goblin.

Not wanting to give his opponent the time to react, he thrust the Viper spear forward, and his brute force coupled with the sharp blade was enough to break the weapon the goblin used to block Nial's attack.

The goblin ended up in a miserable state as it wanted to twist its body to evade the attack.

Blood gushed out of its wound while the goblin howled in pain as the Viper spear's blade slashed through its abdomen.

More blood trickled out of its mouth, and it began to gasp for air while clutching its stomach, seemingly complaining about the unfairness of life, and the difference in their equipment's grade, but Nial was unmoved.

Instead of feeling pity, he twisted the Viper spear inside the physically enhanced goblin, killing it as he finally tore the weapon out of its body.

Following that, Nial threw himself backward, evading two water jets that flew past him, and it was only then that he was finally able to kill the last opponent before a small origin crystal dropped to the ground.

Taking deep breaths, he ignored the fact that he had no mana left inside his body as he picked up the origin crystal before quickly leaving the place.

The last battle had been more than enough for Nial to loosen up his coiled muscles and release his tension, which was why he decided to leave the Melind dungeon.

He had been inside the dungeon long enough, and without further delay, he focused on reaching the center of the first floor.

This was much easier than he initially presumed and it was only half an hour later that he emerged in Katu, where a few soldiers eyed him weirdly.

Not caring about his current state and his bloody clothes that were subjected to odd gazes, Nial wanted to hail a shuttle, and leave the area of the dungeon portal.

But before he could do anything, one of the soldiers holding a towel in his hands stopped him.

Pushing the towel in Nial's arm, he told him that leaving the dungeon dirty is not necessarily bad. However, on the other hand, it was not acceptable to run around with bits of flesh and intestines sticking to his leather armor, and blood trickling down his clothes.

As such, Nial was forced to clean himself a little bit before he was finally allowed to leave the area.

He quickly accessed the Originals' bracelet and a holographic screen manifested in front of him.

Nial could only perceive it, however, that was more than enough to read the message that popped up in the middle of the screen.

[Hello Nial,

I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Nina Melion, one of the teachers at the Lasia military academy.

We encountered each other a few times in the last weeks, and owing to the information Jack, his team, and the civilians provided, we would like to offer a special opportunity to you!

Would you like to become a soldier?

If you are willing to do so, I can send a word of recommendation about you to the junior training program for newly appointed militants. If you do well, you might be able to finish the primary training, join the military, and within a few years, you should be able to receive a promotion as well.

This means you will get more responsibilities but also receive more resources to become stronger!

Please message me back, once you read this message,

Sincerely Nina]

Nial recalled the teacher of the two military junior troops he had encountered, once inside the Melind dungeon and once more in front of the two-element dungeon.

His impression of her was pretty good because she had defeated the rare boss that would have killed him and Melvin before handing them the ability crystal that had dropped.

As such, his doubts about the possibility of her having a hidden intention disappeared quickly.

However, this didn't help him to understand what exactly she would gain from helping him.

'Maybe she was asked to invite me because of what I did in the two-element dungeon? Or did Jack try to create an opportunity for me?' Nial was not sure about the answer, but what he knew was that he didn't want to join the military like that.

First of all, it restricted his advance severely owing to multiple factors such as an obstructed freedom to do whatever he pleased.

He would have to follow orders and do what others said, and this was not something he wished for.

Thus, becoming an ordinary soldier had never been on his to-do list.

Entering the military was something Nial thought of doing but not as an ordinary soldier.

After all, the military worked for the government, and through this, he would have it much easier to enter Liondra, and reunite with his family.

Unfortunately, being a soldier was not enough, and it would be best to join associations such as the Eclipse Assassins.

But for this, Nial had to attempt to go somewhere to make use of the few connections he had.

With that in mind, he didn't answer Nina's message right away and thought of doing it later when he might be desperate enough to accept her offer.

However, this day would never come!