Fighting the Hobgoblin Boss

First came the right hand. The monster almost fell with the strength of its own movement. Alex deflected it with his pickaxe's blade, making it go up.

Showing determination, Tina went for a swing of her weapon but found the bone-weapon of the creature halting her movement. She grunted while pulling her weapon stuck between the monster's grip.

Seeing her in need, Alex rushed towards the creature. As the monster swung his opposite hand towards Tina, the young man descended his pickaxe. The blade hit the back of the monster's hand with force, carving it to the ground. The hobgoblin screamed to the skies, a howling sound that made Alex wish to cover his ears, but he had no time to lose.

He aimed for a punch on the creature's jaw but missed as the monster lowered its head. Taking advantage of the position, the hobgoblin struck his head against Alex's. The young man heard a crackling sound but didn't know if it was his head or one of the monster's horns on the brow breaking.

He fell back four or five steps but didn't hit the ground. His vision blurred, but he could see Tina ducking a grapple from the monster and retrieving her pickaxe. She ran away, leaving her yellow rock on the ground and holding her weapon with two hands.

She was running away from Val'Tar. 'Smart move, Tina.' Alex thought as he shook his head and sprinted towards the creature with its back against him, totally preoccupied with the girl running from it.

Alex swung his pickaxe towards the monster's belly and felt it connecting. The creature turned to him, already swinging its arm. Alex prepared to dodge, but the hobgoblin stopped in the middle of the way. Trying to hit Tina on the other side. Alex could now see the woman had hit him on the other side of its belly.

'A perfect opportunity,' He thought while swinging again, aiming for the chest. The hit missed the target with the point of the blade but still struck the monster with a significant impact, making it fall face to the ground. Tina brought down her pickaxe, but the monster was too fast. Rolling on the ground and pushing her feet. She fell, hitting the back of her head and instantly getting unconscious.

Anger built inside Alex, the same anger he had felt when the orc tried to kill him just a couple of hours ago. He needed to fix this situation and fix it now. The monster was already drooling while descending his mouth towards Tina's defenseless body.

Alex jumped over it, aiming for the beast's neck. Still, as if expecting the movement, the monster thrust its bone weapon into Alex's right shoulder, lifting him up and making him drop his pickaxe as the pain grew.

Trying to rationalize the situation, Alex saw a smirk on the creature's green face. The hobgoblin was satisfied with the outcome. God knew what the monster wished to do with them, but Alex wouldn't discover. As the monster faced the young man while raising his other bone weapon, Alex bit his giant nose with all the force his jaw could muster, and it wasn't little.

The scream the creature released echoed through the cave, and as he trashed, trying to release Alex's grip, the young man managed to free himself and fell to the ground. The hobgoblin replied with a kick, hurling Alex away. He crashed against the wooden door and fell beside an awakening Val'Tar.

She looked confused, trying to understand the situation. Alex couldn't give her attention now. He looked at the monster, thinking about how to defeat it while feeling the rusty flavor of his blood in his mouth and aching pain in his shoulder.

"I need to surprise it," Alex muttered while standing up again. He involuntarily gulped part of the monster's blood and felt a rush of power through him. He instantly saw the mist glowing red and green, power gathering inside him. Somehow, it was fueled by the monster's blood. "I need something different that he can't be expecting."

As the words left his mouth and Alex concentrated on his right hand, he saw a bone erupting from his right hand's knuckles, not as big as the monster's but big enough to hurt. It hurt a lot. He glanced upon his other hand and saw the yellow ore inside it. An idea blossomed in his mind.

The creature rushed towards him quickly, and Alex felt he could match the monster's dexterity. As the creature lunged toward him, he dodged to the side in the blink of an eye, punching the monster in the torso. His newly born bone entered the thick green skin of it. This time, the creature didn't scream and repeated the swing of its arm, aiming for Alex's shoulder.

Alex removed his fist from the monster's body and ducked the blow, hitting now on the chest. This time, the monster screamed, and in that second, Alex shoved the ore inside its mouth and followed up with a punch on it. He heard the point of the bone crackling the ore as the monster involuntary gulped the ore. Alex fell back, running as fast as possible.

When he turned his neck, he saw the hobgoblin's head explode into a million pieces. Brains and blood all around the place. He gasped for air, holding his knees with both hands and watching the small bone retreating to inside his knuckles.

The red mist was again there, leaving the monster's body and crawling towards Alex as a baby, running to their mother. He slowly sidestepped to a darker corner. He didn't want Val'Tar or anyone to see him healing himself.

After a few seconds, he felt better, with no wounds on his shoulder or sores on his legs. Ready for the next challenge.

"I can get accustomed to this," he muttered, still high on adrenaline. He thought about the creature's bone on the knuckles, concentrated on it, and felt his bones changing inside his hand. The pain was tolerable, but now he knew… he could change his body according to what he was fighting. 'But do I need to ingest the blood of the enemy?' He thought while hoping not to be the case.

He waited a couple more seconds before walking towards Tina, who was already sitting on the ground with a tired expression. Alex kept trying to make the bone rise again in his hand. Still, it was becoming more challenging every second, as if he needed to be close to the killing and the violence to fuel the magic.

The Devil's Hand. It seems an appropriate name, He thought while walking towards Tina. He helped her get up, and a gigantic smile born on her face,

"That was amazing, Valther! We did just like the heroes of old! Just like in my dreams!" She said, not containing her happiness. Alex had known the girl for only two hours, but he was happy for her, and deep down, he knew Valther would be satisfied, too. Maybe he was since the afterlife was actually a thing.

"Yeah, we nailed it." He replied, turning and walking to the door, now opening slowly again.

"Hey," Tina held his hand, "Did you heal yourself again?" She asked in a whisper.

"It seems like it," he replied, putting one hand to his mouth, "not a word of it to her, okay?" She nodded, and they walked towards Val'Tar, now standing on the open dungeon door.

"I'm…" The dungeon manager started to say but found herself at a loss of words. She continued only after half a minute, "I'm impressed and grateful. I'll ensure the dungeon administration pays you for everything you did today, especially for saving my life. Your friendship is quite outstanding, and I didn't know you had a warrior inside you. Honestly, I didn't know a white elf could be good…" She stopped, putting a hand on her mouth, and Alex knew she was embarrassed not for what she had said but for saying it out loud. 

This kind of behavior was no news for him. Alex caught a grimace on Tina's face. Just as he feared, he realized that white elves were outcasts. But at least they weren't brother and sister. That would be strange.

"How much they will pay?" He asked, trying to break the ice. If this world did not play nice with him, he would need money for a good life.

"Four goblins and a boss dungeon?" Val'Tar said, whistling to the ceiling. "You two are above all our dungeon payments now. Unless you want to stick around, I'll probably have to find two new miners." Alex thought for one second, not that he doubted what he wished, but wanted to see Tina's expression. She wasn't interested in continuing to be a miner, nor was he.

"Hell no," he replied promptly, seeing a smile on Tina's face. "Killing monsters seems a better deal from now on."