Jake already knew that things could end up like that, but he couldn't hide his displeasure while being covered in dirt, blood, and sweat. Fortunately, that helped him to strengthen his flames. Perhaps that was the perfect mission to turn him into a better soldier since he would need to strenghen his resolve, he was also soft in some aspects and now that he couldn't count on anyone to watch his back, something had to be done.
Although they couldn't see or hear him, the beehives still tried to hit him behind the dust and smoke curtain. However, they hit nothing, and in fact, he wasn't even there anymore. Since the beehives were pretty tall, Jake was crawling while using the corpses that he killed to keep himself hidden and approach the others. They only noticed what he did when he got up and dashed toward them as well.
Dozens of poisonous arrows were fired toward him, but he blocked them with his shield, and those that he failed to block with his shield, he repelled with his sword while making it spin in front of himself as fast as he could. He suddenly had an idea to make that kind of attack useless in front of him, but it would take a while before he could do something of that level.
"I wish that I were fast enough to completely stop all of them and fire them back… urgh," Jake thought when some poison splashed on his face.
Still, the monsters didn't have many chances to keep attacking like that. Like a beast that has found its prey, Jake got close to them and began to slice them apart with extreme ferocity. When some others surrounded him and used Poison Arrows, Jake used the body of fallen monsters to block the attacks while he caught his breath. After that, he kicked the body, making the enemies surprised and look at it before he dashed toward the remaining creatures.
Jake used Shield Smash on the first target and then made the body collide against several others, granting him a few extra seconds. When those enemies recovered from the surprise, Jake was already above them, swinging his sword. He split them from head to toe before he used his flames as arrows to pierce the other three of them nearly instantly.
After that, things got a lot easier for Jake, the monsters couldn't regroup, and he was far too close for them to have any other option of reaction. They were slow ranged fighters, so once one gets close and attacks faster than them, they might as well be obedient and accept their deaths…
Congratulations! The class Gladiator has leveled up.
Congratulations! The class Squire has leveled up.
Congratulations! The class Swordsman has leveled up.
…
After half an hour, Jake finally had the chance to rest… some monsters left the dungeon to join the fight, and others that were nearby also joined the fight, so things didn't go as he had planned… Nevertheless, he succeeded in his task. Although he fell with his butt on the ground due to the exhaustion, he quickly got up to use the dungeon shop. The monsters would keep coming, so he might as well make the spells level up as soon as possible.
Congratulations! You have learned Thor's Blessing.
Congratulations! You have learned Odin's Blessing.
Congratulations! You have learned Hermes' Blessing.
Congratulations! You have learned Artemis' Blessing.
Congratulations! You have learned Ares' Blessing.
In the blink of an eye, Jake spent 150.000 coins on rings that would grant them those skills, and while there were others that jecould buy, he wouldn't be able to use more than those five at the same time. For the time being, they were the most important ones. It was on his plans to learn the others since he was also planning on increasing his recovery as much as possible.
"All right…" Jake said and then sighed. "My wounds are healing since fighting them one at a time is pretty easy and because of Lesser Vampirism… Still, other monsters are coming. Should I ignore them and defeat the boss once and for all?"
It was the first time that Jake was going to try to solo a boss, so it probably wasn't an idea to rush. It was his first experience, so he had to make most of it. Leveling up the buffs that he learned and resting his body for the rest of the night was probably the best thing that he could do. He needed to improve his foundations and obtain the status points of leveling the early stages of those skills as much as possible. There was no better place than doing that on a dungeon that had no army of monsters at its disposal. So, Jake made his choice.
In the end, those skills could level up just by staying active, so Jake had the chance to sit down a little and rest his tired body, only forcing him to get up when the monsters crossed the dungeon. It wasn't much of a rest, but it was better than nothing.
"I should stock some potions now that I am here… stamina potions will keep me wide awake, but the mana potions will rest my mind," Jake thought. "I should use them too often, though."
It was quite the weird place to rest… in his right side, Jake could see a dark tunnel, which was the dungeon, and on his left side, he could see the night of a world completely devoid of civilization. Thus, only some stars could illuminate the place. Jake wasn't the type to do that, but the situation making feel quite somber and to ponder about his situation. He didn't regret his choice, but he wondered how those three would manage by themselves. They had the skills and the brains, but they were too gullible. That being said, while Jake didn't like Frederic and Luke, they also didn't pass negative vibes to him…