Chapter 32: Run it down
The blade came for his face fast, but with a single step back, he avoided the blade, leaning back and watching it pass over his face.
The man was stunned. He had never in his wildest dreams thought that a goblin would be that smooth.
’Haha, look at the shock in his eyes. Come on now, this isn’t the best that I can do,’ Kael thought as he slid to the side and immediately threw a punch. His hand moved fast and slammed into the side of the man with explosive force.
BAM!
It sounded like a gunshot, and the man was hurled back a few steps. He looked at his side with fear and disbelief, the pain getting to him as he winced.
The mage and the lady saw what happened, and both reacted. The mage pulled out his wand, and the lady slammed her gauntlets together, ready to go.
’Oh, they wanna three-on-one? Well then, come at me.’
The mage moved first. He swung his wand in the air, and a magical formation appeared, and from it, a blast of lightning ripped out. It was fast and extremely destructive; one hit would surely turn Kael into a puddle of blood on the floor.
"Tch." Kael clicked his tongue and charged in, and at the very right moment, he slid under the lightning, watching it pass over his head like it was in slow motion. He got past the lightning and sprung to his feet, kicking off the ground and spinning into a kick right into the chest of the mage.
BAM!
The mage was hurled back fast. He slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop.
In that time, the lady had already moved. She ran through the flank and attacked when Kael was not looking, or so she thought. Her fist tore through the air with explosive force. He leaned back and dodged it. His eyes met hers, and then he smiled.
She went past him and then landed on the ground—immediately turning to find him. She launched another attack. He weaved to the side fast, then proceeded to launch a clean kidney shot at her. She brought up her free hand and blocked the attack.
’She is good,’ Kael thought. He reversed a few steps and then recalculated. Then he sprung forward again, made a move like he was going to the left, and then feinted to the right, where he got a clean line of attack to her side. He took it.
The impact caused her body to arch. She was thrown back, hitting the floor hard.
"Die, you fucking monster!" the leader roared in rage as he lunged into the air and swung down with everything that he had from behind.
"Now that’s not very nice, is it?" Kael said as he moved to the side. The attack hit the floor, and the ground exploded, debris and dust flying in all directions. And from the dust, he sprung out fast, landing a clean punch on the leader.
Before the leader could react to that, he got behind him again and proceeded to land a kidney shot, fast and clean, sending the leader to the ground, groaning in pain and agony.
"Come on, is this the best your group can do?" he asked.
When the three heard the goblin speak, they were stunned. They all looked at him with confusion in their eyes.
"Tch, when you all get stronger, come back and find me. You guys didn’t even make me feel the hype of fighting." He threw his hands behind his head and began walking past them while Lilith followed.
"Why did you not kill them?" Lilith asked.
"Look, I don’t know what your desire for death is, but can we not just maul humans?" he asked.
"Impossible. I find it impossible to see them as anything worthy of keeping alive. They are roaches in my dungeon, and I’ll remove them."
Kael stopped. He turned and looked at her. "Hey, not your dungeon," he said to her and then kept walking.
"Do all the dungeon bosses feel this way?" he asked.
"Some more than others. Our dungeon was once a powerful place, and the humans that tried to come and take what we had, well, they suffered gruesome fates.
Yet they kept coming, because what we had could make any human a powerhouse, but along the line, they forgot the appeal," she explained.
"Oh, I see, and that’s why new management was called in—me. From what you can see, I’ve managed to get more adventurers to come into the dungeon.
I’ve made peace with the fact that this place is lethal and humans will die when they come here, but can we just ensure that they earn their deaths first? Let the monsters handle it, or let the traps or whatnot do it, not a slight provocation from weak humans," he explained casually.
"Tch, I do not understand how you think, and that’s why I dislike you," she said.
"Well, you don’t have to like me, as long as you don’t try to kill me."
"There is no way to kill you unless we head to the core. No matter the damage you take, you will survive. I wish I could head there now, but that would mean fighting through all the bosses that don’t want me in their territory and then fighting the guardian of the last floor.
She is the strongest of us all, and even on my best day, I would not be able to come close to taking her down," Lilith said. "But if you really are no good, I do not mind taking the risk," she added.
"Chill, it’s not like I plan to run this place into the ground. I need it to survive after all. I want to make it somewhere I can actually be alive in, so I’ll give it my all to make it better," he said calmly.
She listened to him speak and then nodded in silence, but he didn’t notice.
