Chapter 35 — Thirst

Chapter 35 — Thirst

What happened was exactly what I expected. No — to be precise, I was almost certain it would turn out this way. I tossed aside the hilt of the broken sword and picked up my real weapon from the floor.

Well then… time to activate Berserk.

I hadn’t turned it on the moment I reappeared in the corridor. No, I waited for the village sword to break. Against a monster like this, a cheap blade would never survive anyway. And if I had activated Berserk beforehand, in that enraged state I definitely wouldn’t have stopped to retrieve my real sword. I would’ve just kept attacking, swinging even with a broken blade — which would’ve been suicidal.

Now, with my main weapon in hand and Berserk activated, I was finally ready.

And so was he.

He stared straight at me — motionless, tense, as if the air itself around him had grown heavier under the weight of his presence. The moment he took the first step toward me, I dashed forward to meet him.

I slashed his side and instantly moved to another angle. He didn’t even raise his sword — too slow. I turned back and struck him from behind, again and again, while he struggled to face me. The battle continued from there.

Yes, now the blows I landed could no longer be called scratches. No, they still weren’t deep wounds… but they were finally real wounds. Actual injuries. Shallow, but meaningful. And that brought me a strange sense of satisfaction. For the first time since fighting this overpowered Goblin King, I felt at least a little accomplished.

Well then, with this speed, he won’t hit me. Although… if I let even one blow through — especially a sword strike — I’m done. One hit is all it would take to crush me like an insect.

And yet… right now I think I’m acting like a lunatic. Because even though I know one mistake means death, I… am enjoying this? Enjoying the fight. Enjoying the risk. Enjoying every strike I land.

A strange feeling.

Then it came again — that familiar flicker of danger. I raised my eyes — and of course, that damned axe materialized above my head again.

I shifted sideways instantly and teleported into the Training Room — and in the next moment reappeared in the dungeon corridor, already behind the overpowered Goblin King. And once again, I started cutting into his back. That pattern continued for some time: every time danger approached, even faintly, I slipped into the Training Room, then reappeared behind him and resumed attacking.

Yes, it was fortunate that he acted the same way every time. Even a monster this strong couldn’t seem to learn mid-battle — it simply repeated the same patterns again and again. And that worked heavily in my favor.

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POV:

In the vast corridor of a third-rank dungeon, a monster of the fourth rank had appeared. A creature like that shouldn’t exist here — but clearly, the dungeon had secrets of its own.

A young man was fighting this enormous, muscular beast.

At first, everything seemed hopelessly in the monster’s favor.

Although the young man was incredibly fast — far faster than the monster — and could avoid every attack with ease, it didn’t matter much.

No matter how hard he struck, every blow left only thin scratches on the beast’s skin.

With such an overwhelming difference in power, victory seemed impossible.

Eventually, the young man did get struck. He blocked the blow, but the monster’s strength was too great. The impact hurled him across the corridor — he hit the wall and dropped his sword.

Just as the monster lifted its weapon to finish him, the young man vanished — teleported — and appeared a short distance away, leaving the monster swinging at nothing. Now he held his spare sword. But the quality of that blade was far inferior. At the very first strike against the monster, it snapped, leaving only the hilt in his hand.

The young man simply tossed the broken hilt aside and grabbed his real sword from the floor — the one he had dropped. From that moment onward, the fight shifted. His strikes could no longer be called scratches. Each swing now carved noticeably deeper wounds into the monster’s flesh. Yes, they still weren’t enough to seriously endanger the creature — but for the first time in the fight, his attacks began to have real effect.

The fight continued, but now everything looked entirely different. The young man moved with confidence, as if he were absolutely certain of his victory. The huge muscular monster could no longer strike him even once — every blow missed, and the young man dodged them as if he already knew the monster’s movements in advance.

Even the monster’s peculiar ability — a sudden attack with a massive stone axe that materialized above the opponent’s head — became useless. The young man always vanished in time, teleporting to the side or behind the monster, appearing with his sword already raised, ready to inflict yet another ruthless series of blows.

Yes, attacking from behind wasn’t honorable. But when your life is at stake, ridiculous rules of honor mean nothing. So every time the monster tried to turn, its back simply met the blade again.

The fight continued until the monster’s body turned into a torn, mangled web of deep cuts. And still it kept fighting, roaring furiously, until at last it released a piercing cry. Its body shuddered, flashed with light, broke apart into countless glowing fragments — and disappeared.

A heavy magic stone fell to the dungeon floor with a dull thud — enormous, nearly eight centimeters wide, glowing with a soft inner radiance.

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[Dungeon Boss Defeated: Goblin King (Lv. 90)]
[Reward: +1,660,000 EXP]

Victory…
Finally, victory!

God, I was exhausted. I wanted water. I wanted to drink so badly I was ready to swallow even the filthiest water… the kind with worms floating in it. Just like in childhood, when instead of school they drove us to the cotton fields, and no one even thought to give us water. We worked under the scorching sun and drank whatever we could find — murky, warm, foul-smelling water with worms. And even that felt better than dying of thirst.

Victory.
Finally, victory.

I was so tired… but there was no time to rest — my throat felt like it was tearing apart from thirst. I hadn’t felt this dehydrated since those school years.

I remembered the days when we, the students, were forced into the cotton fields under the burning sun. The government sent us to harvest cotton, but no one provided even basic drinking water.

We had to look for water wherever we could — puddles, ditches, places crawling with worms and bugs. The teachers screamed that we had to drink only boiled water… but that water was just as dirty, only hot. And in forty-degree heat, no one wanted boiling water. That cloudy water with worms tasted amazing back then… a real salvation.

Yeah… nostalgia.

And right now, after this entire battle, I was ready to drink that same water again.

Alright… time to leave.

Just as I was about to go, something glowed at the end of the corridor. I turned.

In the distance, about two hundred meters away, stood a chest. A massive treasure chest — the same kind that appeared after boss fights.

My throat was burning. I wanted nothing more than to find a fountain and drink until I passed out.

But… leave the chest behind? What if it contained something valuable? Something that could make me stronger — like the sword I once found in the Rabbit Dungeon?

I let out a heavy breath and walked toward the chest.

As I approached, I realized it wasn’t a hallucination.

The chest was truly enormous — probably a bit over a cubic meter in volume.

I lifted the lid… and exhaled in disappointment.

“All this… for this?” I muttered.

Inside the chest were Source Mushrooms.

Many. A ridiculous amount. Judging by the fullness and the size, there were thousands, maybe tens of thousands.

Fine. Yes, they give free attribute points, but the effect is limited — only one mushroom counts per day. I would probably sell most of them.

Alright… I couldn’t carry all this by hand. I needed to move the chest into the Training Room. Even if they eventually spoiled there — it didn’t matter. Even spoiled, they were better than leaving them here.

I grabbed the chest and tried to lift it. Damn, holding something this massive was horribly awkward. But I managed to raise it off the ground — slowly, but I did. The weight wasn’t the problem, even though the chest had to be at least five hundred kilos. Weight didn’t bother me at all. The real issue was its massive shape — lifting such a huge box without proper handles was unbelievably inconvenient.

With the chest in my hands, I teleported into the Training Room. It came with me. Perfect.

I gently set it down on the floor. The moment it touched the stone, it began to emit a soft glow. Yeah, that was definitely not a good sign.

The glow intensified until — flash — the chest shattered into tiny motes of light and vanished.

All of its contents spilled onto the Training Room floor.

In the center formed a small mountain of Source Mushrooms, and the rest scattered across the room.

Alright, damn it… I’d deal with that later. Right now I needed water. I teleported back into the dungeon corridor and prepared to leave when, right near the spot where I appeared, a teleportation circle materialized — the same kind as the one in the room of the frog-like Goblin King.

Oh… thank you.
I had already accepted that I might have to walk several hours to reach the exit.

Relieved, I stepped into the circle. It lit up, and in an instant, I was outside the dungeon.

No — this clearly wasn’t the dungeon anymore. I stood on a small rise. Night sky, stars, moonlight. Trees everywhere.

And then I saw the river.

Water.

Yes… finally, water.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I dashed forward and sprinted down the slope toward the river at full speed.