Chapter 21: Mini Boss

-Reyha Kingdom; Gallo's Outskirts; Goblin's Lair; 5th Floor-

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here... More of the same... Invaders, but quite the cast if I might say so myself... A human, a dark elf, and... a traitor... How nice, it seems Glovnort brought the great pillage earlier this year! Bow to the great chiefess Rakuia or face death!!" The taller goblin, who was more humanoid yelled at the party as he was holding a great sword made of bone and wearing similar bone armor.

His voice resounded in the cave as the other goblins began to get rilled up with their eyes glowing and becoming even more sun-like. Their laughter came from all directions as they smiled confident in who led them.

"No..." Kymani lifted and pointed his bone dagger at the tall goblin, his eyes stable as a smirk formed across his face.

Following the lead of Kymani, Lavenica was ready but a frown could be seen on her face as she focused and locked her magic musket on the tall goblin.

Seeing this Merilyn, moved her face near Lavenica's ear and whispered. "If you need any help, just lift your index finger, thumb, and pinkie as a signal, but know that even if you don't, I'll act the moment any of you is in real danger."

Not saying anything, Lavenica just nodded as she maintained her focus and prepared her shot.

"So be it. I'm Iketica, The Sand Dancing Warrior, and the guardian of this tribe! Today all of you shall die by my and my men's hands." Iketica frowned as he announced and pointed the greatsword at the party, his voice stern.

As soon as he finished speaking, the other goblins began cheering for him.

"5th-degree ice shot!" Lavenica shot at Iketica with a much stronger, and a bright glow blinded almost everyone around as the ice bullet quickly reached the target.

An explosion took place killing various goblins as well as covering them with ice, becoming ice statues.

Unfortunately, it was not as simple as that. The ice began to crack as Iketica burst out of it, killing some of the goblins who were frozen but not dead.

"... That was stronger than your typical adventurer, but far from enough! Archers, fire! Warriors stand your ground!" Iketica commanded before clenching his fist and teeth with an even deeper frown.

Arrows began raining on the party and Kymani blocked and dodged his way through them with relative ease. A bit behind Lavenica used her gun as a pole and began spinning it after covering it on her own mana, then using it as a shield to deflect all the arrows coming at her. While Merilyn just stood there as the arrows bounced off her on their own, posing no threat to her whatsoever.

Crossing to the other side of the arrow rain, Kymani found himself face to face with Iketica, and before he could do much to attack, the enemy spoke.

"Warriors attack!" Iketica ordered the moment Kymani got close enough to be out of the range of the arrow rain.

Immediately Kymani was surrounded by 10 of the 60 bone goblins in the group, while the 40 archers continued their attack on the girls.

Having grown very used to dealing with goblins, Kymani dispatched these enemies with no difficulty as he cut them all down almost instantly, but that did not stop the rest from coming at him, and he continued to mow down the enemies.

[You have killed a level 5 goblin. 5 experience points have been gained.]

[You have killed a level 5 goblin. 5 experience points have been gained.]

....

In the middle of his onslaught, Kymani felt his <Battle Instincts> tingle the most, as he jumped out of the frey by instinct, and was surprised to see all the 15 warrior goblins that were still standing sliced in half by Iketica himself.

"Your reflexes and instincts are superior to what I expected. Anyhow, let us not delay this any longer, duel me, traitor!" Iketica once again had his greatsword branded against Kymani, a serious expression on his face, with tinges of disgust in his eyes.

No words came from Kymani as he just charged at the opponent, after all, not only was he having trouble speaking in his current form, there was simply not much he had to say to this enemy. Whatever he could say, would be done with his blade.

The speed Kymani had outmatched Iketica allowing him to directly attack him, but unlike his other targets, Iketica dodged the neck-targeted attack and was instead hit in the shoulder, then kicked in the stomach sending Kymani away by a bit, however, he was not actually hurt by this attack at all.

'This will be even easier than I thought.' Kymani thought as he once again attacked Iketica.

Using his greatsword Iketica managed to stop Kymani's blade attack, but this left an opening Kymani took advantage of as he punched Iketica with his free hand. This sent the Iketica flying until he hit the wall of the dungeon, before falling back on the ground and coughing out a bit of blood.

'He was talking a lot, and almost made me think this would be dangerous. Kind of disappointing in a way I guess.' Kymani thought to himself as he moved to Iketica to finish the job.

Eyes glowing red, Iketica's body began to swell as he got up and turned to Kymani. "I once again underestimated you, but I have a duty to live up to... And I will not allow you to get past me. Today, you will fall!"

'This guy really doesn't stop setting himself up like that.' Kymani shook his head, ready to end this battle.

[Warning! Named monster Iketica has entered crisis state! A significant increase in their overall power has occurred.]

'What?...' Kymani's eyes opened wide and before he could process the information given to him, Iketica was already in front of him swinging his greatsword.

Hurried to block the attack as it was too late to dodge, Kymani put his bone dagger in the path of the attack and while not directly hit by the blade was sent flying against the wall, and there was an immediate bout of dripping from both his nose and mouth.

'What the fuck?!... Why the hell does he have a rage mode?! Isn't that a boss monster only? Besides, this isn't just a significant increase in power... This man just basically leveled up mid-battle...' Kymani got up and didn't lose sight of Iketica, as he dodged the attack that came his way, as the greatsword goblin had just jumped at him with a horizontal slash, causing the walls to shake with the strength of the attack.

"Fighting to the bitter end, commendable but ultimately pointless. You have already lost this battle, it will be much less painful if you simply accept defeat." Iketica spoke as he pursued Kymani with his now red eyes and easily carried his greatsword with a single hand.

"You... Talk... Too... Much..." Kymani responded while keeping as much distance from Iketica as possible, which was proving to be hard as even his slower speed was pumped up to rival Kymani's.

Various attacks from Iketica were missed as Kymani quickly adapted to his style and was becoming more difficult to hit by the second, something that only made Iketica go in even harder.

"Archers! Support fire, now!" Iketica commanded by yelling with some urgency in his voice.

'He seems to be panicking... So he probably has a time limit for this... Then again a boost like this will definitely be cracked if it's permanent...' Kymani deduced seeing Iketica's intensity.

Unfortunately for Iketica, no response came from his call, which he could only assume was because they had fallen, but now he was far too deep into his fight to have time to confirm that.

{Master! You seem to be facing some difficulty. I and Merilyn are wondering if you require assistance.} Lavenica telepathically asked, using their system connection.

{Honestly, I'm a bit worried, but I think I still have it under control... I want to see something, though you're free to save my ass if it looks bad.} Kymani answered with sincerity.

{Understood... Just do me a favor, and be careful. I completely miscalculated this guy, and have no idea what else he might have under his sleeve.} Lavenica warned with a low voice

{It seems he ran out of tricks. For now, I'll stay wear him down and take whatever good chance I get to finish this.} Kymani responded.

{... Good luck...} Lavenica kept it simple.

"Running... Out... Of... Time?..." Kymani decided to test the waters and smirked as he questioned Iketica.

"Shut up! And die!" Iketica was the most aggressive he had ever been through their whole interaction as he kept attacking, but then he closed his eyes.

'Is he giving up?... Should I attack?... No... Can't let my guard down! This is likely a trap!' Kymani was on full alert and paying attention to each move of this battle.

Then Iketica began to glow red as his footwork and rhythm complexly changed from the crazed warrior he seemed to be falling into and becoming something else entirely. His speed increased again and just like that, he cornered Kymani as he began jumping between four sides very fast, leaving Kymani no room to breathe much less escape.

{Master...} Lavenica insisted.

{I got it... It's still fine...} Kymani stuck to his idea.

Afterimages of sorts came to be as a product of this insane leap in speed, putting Kymani on the highest of alerts, cause whatever happened next was bound to be dangerous.

"Sand Dancing Warrior Technique: Yellow Sun!" Iketica chanted as he continued to flip between the four sides he was using to trap Kymani.

Then he jumped into the air and as he was spinning and turning, Kymani was very wary of his intentions, then Iketica simply disappeared from the air, and reappeared behind Kymani before swinging his now covered-in red aura greatsword at him.

Not being given time to even react Kymani was hit with Iketica's greatsword, but using all his battle honing so far and the skills acquired, Kymani was able to block the attack with his bone dagger that was broken by the strength of the attack while he was sent flying against the wall again, however unlike before this wasn't a simple hit from which he could just get up, and continue fighting Kymani started coughing blood as he felt as if most of his body was broken as he hit the ground.

[Name: Kymani Njeri Marvion

....

Attributes:

Hp: 35/350(52.5/525)]

"... Fuck!... I'm still not good enough... I at least won the real fight…" As Iketica looked at Kymani, he had a frown with an awkward smile and soon his whole body began trembling as he blood began dripping from his facial orifices and he fell to the ground.

[As the individual with the highest contribution in the killing of the 5th floor boss dungeon, Mini boss: Iketica, The Sand Dancing Warrior, Lv.15; 375 experience points have been gained.]

'… Did I just almost die?… what kind of bullshit is that?!… damn it… it's just like I told him… only the strong… no that's not enough… only the overpowered can truly thrive and I have to become that powerful if I want to make my point! I'll prove my words true!' Kymani realizing how crazy the moment just now was, couldn't help but remember something of the past and get lost in that thought.

'Also... Is this everything I get for it?... I guess I can take the greatsword as mine.' Kymani concluded as he saw that no more notifications from the system were coming in.

"Master!... Why would you be so stubborn?! This was very unnecessarily dangerous!" Lavenica immediately began scolding him.

Merilyn on the other hand didn't say anything only shaking her head from the side, sighing upon confirming he was still in a considerably decent state.

{You can say that, but I just learned a new trick that will definitely come in handy later on.} Kymani despite feeling pain all over at the moment smiled as he replied.

"Are you saying you put yourself in such a dangerous position just so you could learn his fighting style?!" Lavenica was livid and her eyes were burning as the most expression she had ever shown so far appeared.

{... When you put it that way it does sound crazy... But I was confident in surviving... And didn't expect his attack to just be that powerful... I was just trying to know all that was in store...} Kymani began to smile awkwardly in reflection.

"Unbelievable... Maybe I'll have to be a bit stricter with you Master... For your own safety, at least in matters regarding dangerous situations." Lavenica crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.