9 Deeper Into The Cave
A wider chamber was discovered, and with it, he instantly registered the presence of multiple goblins.
"Up ahead," Edith quietly called out.
"Yeah, time to cement my victory–" Gunter began to say with a smile, wielding his axe.
–However, both of the superhuman familiars were taken by complete surprise of their summoner's next action.
Perhaps it wasn't the most rational approach, but if he wanted to win the friendly competition, he needed to take risks–
'Alright! Let's not die doing this–!' He thought.
"Wind Burst!"
In an instant, he propelled forward, unleashing a shock wave from his position, sending himself across the raggedy section of the cave, aiming himself towards one of the pointy-eared goblins.
He already had his sights set, focusing himself and utilizing his uncontrollable velocity, readying his dagger and swinging its frosty edge before the goblin could even properly react:
"Kra–?!"
Just as it twisted its fingers, Jett soared by, causing the air to whistle from his speed before he dragged the edge of Frostfang across its neck. It was less of an accurate swing and more of positioning his weapon at the right place to hit his target as he swept by.
'Flip!' He thought.
It was a gamble, taken in the last moment before he would've slammed into the rock-solid war at breakneck speeds, but he managed to reset his momentum with a backwards flip.
Roughly eighty-percent luck, fifteen-percent planning, and five-percent skill, he pulled it off.
'Fast!' Gunter thought.
'It's the spell he summoned last night–he thought to use it like this? Maybe I misjudged him…Master is a force to be reckoned with,' Edith gladly thought.
In the span of a second, he traversed over twenty meters, landing on his feet and looking back as the goblin had targeted spewed blood from its cut throat, falling over before frost solidified its body in death.
'...I knew these abilities would work the moment I summoned them! It worked–I doubt it'd work that smoothly if I tried it again, but a win is a win!' He thought.
"--That's one!" He called out with a beaming smile.
[EXP: +5 | 10/10]
[Level Up!]
[Level 2]
With a new level achieved, he could feel his own stats amplifying; not only did his magical abilities improve, but his physical prowess did as well.
[ATK: 3 | DEF: 3 | MAG: 7]
Both Gunter and Edith looked completely shocked by the unorthodox method of attack, but soon looked more fired up than ever, rushing into the cave of goblins to get their own numbers added up.
"You're on–!" Gunter charged in.
From multiple tunnels, goblins began funneling in as all three were now present; Gunter immediately rushed in by cleaving through one of the goblins, which were barely knee high to the towering man.
The silver-haired spellblade had no trouble slashing through one with her flame-enchanted sword, moving with elegance as she did.
It was difficult to tell just how many there were, but Jett only focused on taking out any that happened to come into his path.
'With a proper weapon and decent stats now…Goblins aren't so bad, huh?!' He thought.
Though he wasn't exactly built like an olympic athlete, he wasn't an unhealthy adult male, just average; however, his level two stats made him feel like an olympian as he cut through goblins with his frost-exuding dagger.
It was certainly deserving of its ranking as a [Rare] class weapon; he was able to easily overcome his enemies, slowing them down with quick cuts that froze parts of their bodies. A single point of contact led to a goblin's entire leg becoming frozen solid before shattering upon a fall.
Still, the numbers became overwhelming; he didn't want to rely on his familiars to help him at every moment, especially not amidst their competition.
'Alright…It's time for a tactical summon!' He decided.
He swiftly drew six copper from his pocket, not wasting any time to activate his unique system, "Give me two summons on the Rookie Magic Banner, pronto!"
[Summon x2 Initiated!]
Both Edith and Gunter momentarily stopped butchering the goblins to witness the summoning enacted by Jett, which manifested itself through flashing lights.
"Darn, he went and did it!" Gunter laughed before resuming his battle against the cavern of goblins.
The booze-drinking warrior was able to easily block incoming arrows from those that wielded bows, using his shield before rushing over and cleaving through them, "Raaaaah-!"
[EXP: +3]
Edith's sheer mastery of the blade made it impossible for a goblin to come close to hitting her as she danced around their attacks before unleashing fiery slashes upon their flesh.
Just before Jett was charged at by three goblins, one of which was slightly taller and wearing ragged, leather armor, the summoning finished—
The knowledge of the spells flooded his mind, rushing through him as he felt it activate in the core of his brain.
[New Spell Obtained: (B) Rock Manifest | Special Traits: Solid!]
[New Spell Obtained: (N) Lesser Bolt | Special Traits: Shocking!]
[Pity: +2 | 2/100]
He acquired his new spells just as one of the hissing goblins wildly swung its sword towards him, prompting him to swiftly flip back before pointing his index finger towards the assailant.
'Come on…Lesser Bolt!' He urged.
The spark of electricity could be felt, causing the small hairs on his arms to stand before bright-blue energy coiled around his fingertip before–ZAP.
A small-scale lightning bolt shot from his digit, instantly slamming against the thin, pointy-eared creature as it yelped out. It was obliterated by the spell; a solid hit caused its verdant complexion to burn to a crisp.
To his surprise, the unstable lightning didn't stop there; it connected to the neighboring goblins, shocking them as well, though to a lesser degree.
[EXP: +5 | 30/40]
From his various kills along with those of his familiars, he was already closing in on another level up, though it seemed the experience was lessening from those killed by his companions.
A rush went through him as he pointed both index fingers at the already electrified goblins as they got back up groggily, feeling as though he was dual-wielding elemental pistols.
"Lesser Bolt–!" He cast.
Twin lightning bolts lunged forth, landing on the bodies of the two goblins with lethal direct-hits, bringing two more down.
Using the spell in quick succession led to him swiftly finding out he wasn't limitless in stamina; the drain of mana and casting of spells seemed to tax him somewhat, feeling a dull ache in his arms that subsided moments after.
[EXP: +10]
[Level Up!]
[Level 3]
[ATK: 5 | DEF: 5 | MAG: 9]
It was becoming clearer than ever to him whilst putting down goblins with mystical spells that the Gacha System was something of unfathomable potential.
'I'm actually strong as hell! I'll kick your ass sooner than expected, Reverse King!' He realized.
This was only proven further by the fact that his two familiars had cleared out the rest of the goblins that occupied the musty lair within minutes, leaving a graveyard of goblin corpses.
After those few minutes of battle, his experience was left at: [EXP: 15/60]
"I got eight of 'em!" Gunter proudly announced, lifting his bloody axe.
"Eleven here," Edith claimed.
"I got seven," Jett admitted.
Though it was the least amount, the two looked pleasantly surprised by the number he had eliminated.
"That's my master! A true warrior–nobody else could've summoned me!" Gunter said.
"Truly impressive, Master. Goblins are heavily underestimated by many; the truth is, they're the main cause of deaths for rookie adventurers," Edith complimented.
A small tint to his cheeks came as he bashfully scratched his head, looking around, "...Back on topic: was that all of them?"
Part of the reason he was curious if they handled all of them, and slightly hoping they didn't, is that he was dead last place in their contest.
"Hmm, good question," Gunter scratched his beard.
Though the silver-haired spellblade was quick to find what looked to serve as a "main tunnel" to the back of the putrid cave, "I'm not certain, but by the looks of it…This will lead to whoever their leader is. That is, a group this large should have one."
"True, I didn't think about that," Gunter agreed.
"Alright, then! Let's check it out," he began moving forward.
After getting his own sense of revenge on goblins for his shaky first encounter, confidence filled Jett's veins as he led the way, knowing the power of lesser lightning was at his fingertips.
'If I can get first dibs on whatever is left, I might be able to pull off a win. Or at least, I don't want to come in last!' He planned.
While moving through the scarily silent passage in the cave, with the deathly stench growing stronger, a scraping sound brought his guard up–
"Kraaaa–!"
From the shadows, a goblin wielding a spear lunged at him, though Jett was already prepared, defending himself before either of his two familiars could step in for him.
"...I've got it!" He yelled out.
Ducking beneath the thrust of the unrefined spear, he used his right hand to thrust his frost-enchanted dagger into the stomach of the green-skinned fiend.
'Freeze!' He thought.
While it wasn't an instantaneous point to kill, the effect of the dagger made it so; frost manifested from the blade, spreading throughout the insides of the goblin as it shuddered and convulsed. Within moments, it was left frozen from the inside-out.
[EXP: +5 | 20/60]
Gunter whistled, "That was ice-cold, Jett! Nice kill!"
"Hm, not bad," Edith minimally complemented, seeming invested in the competition with baked goods in mind.
Jett chuckled, rubbed above his lip bashfully at his own efficiency, feeling proud of his quick improvements and adaptation to the world. Though the jumps in stats between levels didn't seem huge when seeing them in his status, if going sheerly by the numbers, going from [1] in attack power to [5] meant he had become five times stronger.
By this point, he could feel the superhuman strength embedded in his muscles, though that seemed to be the minimum needed to thrive as an adventurer in the world of Fantasia.
'Let's not get too big in the head…If I let my guard down, even one goblin could take me out with a well-placed strike,' he thought.
