Chapter 32 Progress (4)

The creature grunted in pain since its face was one of the few unprotected parts. That being said, a single basic attack hadn't been enough to finish the creature off. Jake had to attack again, which gave the monsters time to recover.

The scorpions fired Poison Bullet again, and this time, Louise completely nullified one, and Jake dodged the other. It was quite impressive that she could absorb a full spell like that, but maybe it was the power-up she gained after obtaining a new class. With the extra mana, Louise fired another Ice Arrow and froze one of the monsters. Meanwhile, Jake swung his sword downward to cut the monster in two, but the creature blocked the attack with four of its claws.

Jake decided to retreat and then attack again with Bash, but the creature began to tremble and then suddenly exploded. The blood spread around the area, and some fell on Jake's arms. At first, he didn't feel anything, but then he noticed that his arms were getting itchy, and he was feeling a bit dizzy. When those symptoms disappeared, his health began to decrease.

"Hey, hey… a suicide attack, really?" Jake asked.

"Jake!" Lana shouted, and then Jake noticed that the last enemy was freeing itself from the freezing status.

,m Before the last monster could do the same, Jake pierced its face with his sword. Now that he thought about it, it was a lot easier to use thrust attacks with a katana. This time, Jake didn't mess up and used Bash, thus killing the beast.

You obtained 07 coins.

"Are you all right?" Louise asked.

"Yeah… it just stings a little bit," Jake replied while looking at his arms. "Let's check for how long this poison will last."

Much to Jake's surprise, the poison lasted for twenty seconds, and he lost two points of health per second. He didn't know if the Poison Bullets would have the same power as the suicidal attack, but he was sure that he wouldn't let himself be hit again. At least he will try to avoid that outcome. Even if Lana could heal him, it was too dangerous.

They didn't gain any drop in their first battle as one would expect. So, they began to climb one of the tallest dunes around to see their surroundings. Jake didn't find anything after reaching the top and looking around several times.

"This will be hard…" Jake muttered while furrowing his eyebrows.

"This area is probably more than forty kilometers wide and long… that is the only explanation why we can't see anything aside from dunes," Louise said.

"In this situation, the dungeon entrance must be buried in some dune, only the entrance will be invisible, but…" Lana said while looking troubled as well.

It was weird how the game kept surprising them with these kinds of things. Still, despite his words and his frown, Jake looked excited. Nothing worth accomplishing was supposed to be easy.

"For the time being, just walk in a straight line while we hunt the monsters, our primary goal here is to get stronger, after all," Jake said.

As if they had heard him, a group of four scorpions left the sand and began to crawl toward the group. Louise hit and slowed down one with her Ice Arrow. Meanwhile, Lana hit nothing but the sand. At that point in time, Jake couldn't help but think that the girl needed glasses or she was absolutely helpless when it came to attacking.

While going down the dune, Jake dodged the Poison Bullets fired at him, and then when he got close enough, he stunned one of the enemies with a strike of his scabbard and then in the next moment, he used Bash and Mana Blade to destroy the head of the creature. While he shouldn't use his mana that often against ordinary monsters, Jake had no option until he learned more about the patterns of the creatures.

Two scorpions approached Jake, and he focused on the one in front of him. When the creature tried to block his swing, he stopped at the last minute and then thrust his sword toward the monster's face after using Bash. He pulled back his sword and then changed its position to horizontal before using Mana Blade. The creature died, but the other one attacked Jake's legs with its numerous claws. Jake lost twenty percent of his health and frowned, surprised.

The fourth enemy tried to use Poison Bullet in the next moment, but Louise stopped the attack by draining the mana. She sent back the energy by enhancing her Ice Arrow and then froze the face of the creature. Soon after, she used a Wind Ball and shattered the monster's head, killing it.

During that time, Jake attacked the third monster again and again, but his attacks had been blocked by the monster's claws. That being said, despite blocking, each strike caused some damage to the monster's claws. At some moment, the creature was unable to keep up, and Jake found the creature preparing a Poison Bullet. At that moment, Jake dashed with all his might and then pierced the monster's face with the tip of his sword.

You obtained 10 coins.

"Argggghhhhhh!" Lana shouted.

Jake turned around in a hurry because he thought she was being attacked. Still, he only saw Lana kicking the ground in frustration.

"Why can't I hit anything?" Lana asked. "Damn!"

"Maybe you shouldn't focus too much on that, Lana," Louise said. "You should focus on doing what you are good at."

"You have so little faith in me, Louise?" Lana asked with a dejected expression on her face.

"It is not about that… you see, we choose to do certain things and we have these weird skills that help us do that," Louise explained. "My guess is that we obtained those skills for a reason and that we made the right choice in becoming novices or mages. With that in mind, I believe you would truly shine if you decide to become a priest through and through."