Once the melee goblins were dealt with, Ethan approached the archers.
He cast Heal on one of them, and its stats popped up immediately.
Goblin Archer
Level: 2
Attack: 20
Speed: 10
Defense: 10
Skill: Arrow Condensation – Costs 3 MP to create a normal arrow. Cooldown: 3 seconds.
Talent: Arrow Enhancement (E-rank) – Increases arrow attack by 30.(Eat my arrow!)
"They even have talents? Too bad it's such a garbage one."
Ethan's eyes lit up. He'd never expected monsters to have talents—even if this one was completely useless.
Anyone who awakened this talent would have zero future in life.
But this was the newbie dungeon.
50 damage per arrow, plus the element of ambush?
That was half a newbie's HP bar gone in one hit.
And with five archers lying in wait?
This place was a total newbie graveyard.
Countless players must've died here already.
WHOOSH!
WHOOSH!
WHOOSH!
Three arrows shot toward him.
The goblins' aim was absolutely atrocious—all three missed by a mile.
"Tch, ranged enemies are such a hassle. Still putting up a fight even when they're this bad."
Ethan tore off some tree bark from a nearby trunk and twisted it into rope.
Then he tied up the five goblin archers and hung them from the tree branches.
"OOWWW!""AAAGH!"
Under a relentless combo of staff beatings and Heals, the five goblins quickly wilted, their struggles growing weaker and weaker.
Meanwhile, Lilian, Kane, and a young priest they'd dragged into their party entered the dungeon.
"Quit being such a coward," Kane scoffed at the nervous-looking Eric.
"Just hide in the back and heal us. As long as you don't run around like an idiot, I'll guarantee you pass the dungeon."
"S-Sir Kane, this is my first time in a dungeon!
" Eric replied awkwardly, forcing a smile. "
My teacher said the newbie dungeon is really hard—I can't help but be nervous!"
"You shouldn't believe everything your teacher says," Kane said dismissively.
"I've run Level 1 dungeons dozens of times. They're a total joke. How hard could a newbie dungeon possibly be?"
Even though everyone had awakened their classes only three days ago, the gap between ordinary players and nobles' kids was already astronomical. The so-called "difficult" newbie dungeon was only difficult for regular people.
For someone like him, it was child's play.
If it weren't for the level restriction that only Level 1 newbies could enter, he'd be at least Level 10 by now.
"You country bumpkins are so easily scared," Lilian sneered, casting a disdainful glance at Eric.
"We wouldn't even bother bringing a Priest along if your sister hadn't begged us to help you."
Kane waved his giant sword impatiently.
"Let's go. Stop wasting time. The sooner we finish this dungeon, the sooner we can go hunt down that loser Ethan."
"Watch out! Something's coming!" Eric whispered urgently.
As soon as he spoke, three goblins jumped out of the bushes, brandishing clubs and screeching wildly.
"Hmph. Suicide mission."
Kane let out a cold snort.
He swung his giant sword in a single, devastating arc—all three goblins were sliced clean in half.
"Pathetic. These goblins are way too weak," Kane scoffed.
But no sooner had they killed the goblins than the sound of dense footsteps echoed from the bushes in the distance.
"Oh no! More goblins are coming!" Eric cried out in panic.
"Only nine goblins. Big deal."
Kane glanced at them contemptuously, then swung his sword again—cutting all nine goblins in half with one stroke.
"That's it?" He shook the blood off his sword, sneering.
"The monsters in this dungeon are a joke. They're not even worth warming up to."
Lilian giggled.
"These goblins aren't even fit to be Kane's training dummies."
Eric watched Kane effortlessly slaughter the nine goblins, and his nerves calmed a little.
"S-Sir Kane! Ms. Lilian! You're amazing!" he praised sincerely.
The three of them continued up the mountain.
Suddenly, sixty goblin heads popped out from the trees and bushes—dozens of pairs of beady red eyes glinting in the shadows.
The sight was positively terrifying.
"LOOK OUT!"
Eric's warning had barely left his lips when all sixty goblins charged at them, waving clubs madly.
"Sixty goblins?!"
Kane's expression flickered with surprise, but he quickly regained his composure.
He gripped his giant sword tightly, grinning coldly.
"Sixty goblins? Please. They're not even enough to fill my stomach!"
Lilian quickly stood beside Kane, drawing her longsword—its blade glowing with golden Holy Light.
"Eric! Hide in the back and stay out of the way!"
Eric nodded frantically, clutching his staff as he scrambled behind them, ready to cast Heal at a moment's notice.
"Come on! Let's see what you worthless trash are capable of!"
Kane roared, swinging his sword with all his might.
The two goblins at the front of the charge were sliced in half instantly.
But more goblins immediately took their place.
One of them swung its club and hit Kane square on the head—triggering the Stun skill and interrupting his attack.
In that split second of hesitation, five more goblins swarmed him, clubbing him relentlessly on the head.
In the blink of an eye, Kane's HP was already half gone.
Eric panicked and quickly cast Heal, restoring Kane's HP to full.
But then disaster struck on Lilian's side.
A goblin had tackled her to the ground, pinning her down.
Her HP plummeted to the brink of death in an instant.
Eric quickly cast Heal on her, pulling her back from the edge of death.
"GET OFF ME!"
Kane roared furiously.
Flames erupted from his body, engulfing him in a blazing inferno.
The goblins surrounding him were incinerated instantly, turning to piles of charred ash.
But before they could celebrate,fifteen arrows shot toward them from afar,draining Eric's health completely in an instant.
The dungeon protection mechanism triggered, and he was teleported out.
"Damn it!"
Kane's face darkened as he watched Eric vanish.
He couldn't care less about Eric's fate,but he'd just bragged in front ofEric, only to have Eric killed off in the outer dungeon.This was an utter humiliation!
"Kane, save me!"
Lilian was pinned to the ground,as three goblins raised their clubs and swung them at her head.
Kane lifted his greatsword and hacked down,dispatching the three goblins and the distant archers in one fell swoop.
"Eric was such a useless piece of trash! If he hadn't dragged us down, we would've finished off these sixty goblins ages ago!"
Lilian rummaged in her storage pouch, downed a few potions, and said indignantly.
"And don't forget, Kane—we need to hurry up and kill the boss! That loser Ethan must've been killed and teleported out by now. If we're too slow, we'll miss our chance to corner him!"
Lilian urged anxiously.
Sixty goblins ambushing them, plus fifteen goblin archers launching sneak attacks—Ethan, a measly priest, was definitely dead.
"The monk may run, but the temple can't hide. This newbie dungeon is trickier than it looks. We need to be careful."
Arrogant as he was, Kane wasn't a fool.
If the outer dungeon was already this challenging,the inner dungeon would surely be swarming with even deadlier monsters.
Ethan was just a minor nuisance, not worth wasting too much time on.
Clearing this newbie dungeon was his top priority.
The rewards for this dungeon were unusually generous—so tempting that even he coveted them.Upon completion, he would definitely obtain a high-quality skill that matched his class perfectly.
Although his family was wealthy enough to buy ordinary class skills,Kane had awakened a rare class.
Powerful as it was,it was also notoriously difficult to level up.
This class skill was his for the taking—he would not let it slip away!
On the other side,after rounds of relentless torment,the goblins finally yielded their talent.
[Trait 2 activated successfully! You have obtained the talent: Arrow Enhancement (E-rank)!]
"Huh, it actually dropped a talent!"
Ethan stared in surprise at the new addition to his status panel.
He'd only cast Heal about twenty times—apparently, the drop rate for talents wasn't half bad.
Ethan glanced around, then picked up the bows and arrows scattered on the ground.He wasn't a Ranger class, but with a Ranger talent now in his arsenal, a temporary stint as a marksman wouldn't hurt.
He stepped ten meters away,nocked an arrow, drew the bowstring, and aimed for the head—all in one fluid motion.
A clean headshot would've been nice…too bad it hit a different goblin than the one he'd been aiming for.
Ethan fired four more arrows,each one missing the mark by a mile—truly a masterclass in "aiming without hitting".
"A priest should charge into battle head-on with a staff. Sniping from the shadows isn't my style."
Ethan tossed the bow aside, his expression impassive,then casually bashed the four goblins to death with his staff.
Status PanelName: Ethan
Class: Priest
Talents: Grace (SSS), Arrow Enhancement (E-rank)
Skills: Lesser Heal Lv.1
Strength: 211
Constitution: 75
Agility: 40
Spirit: 21
Free Attribute Points: 0 (Gain 5 per level-up)
Attribute Bonuses: HP +10, MP +10, Spell Power +2, Attack +1, Speed +1, Defense +0
Spell Power: 42 (Spirit × Spell Power Bonus)
Attack Power: 211 (Strength × Attack Bonus)
Speed: 40 (Agility × Speed Bonus)
Defense: 0 (Constitution × Defense Bonus)
Even after killing over twenty goblins, his level progress bar hadn't budged an inch—but Ethan wasn't surprised.
Experience points earned in the dungeon were stored temporarily and only added to the status panel after exiting.
"The drop rates for Spirit and Agility are way too low,"Ethan muttered, studying his stats.
But he had a rough guess why: the attributes he gained were probably linked to the monster's own stats.Goblins had high Strength, so that attribute dropped the most often.To grind more Spirit points, he'd need to hunt ghost-type monsters instead.
Ethan took a few dozen more steps forward,and his body passed through an invisible barrier.
The scenery around him shifted dramatically.
"Did I just officially enter the inner dungeon?"
Ethan marveled at the sudden change in his surroundings.
The magic used to construct this dungeon was truly impressive—he hadn't felt the slightest jolt crossing from the outer to the inner area.If the scenery hadn't changed, he never would've noticed the transition.
He now stood in a dark, dense forest, where towering trees blocked out the sky completely.The stench of rot and blood in the air had grown several times stronger, so foul it made Ethan's eyes water.
"What kind of hellhole is this? Did I accidentally teleport into a public latrine?"
Ethan covered his nose and mouth, scanning the area warily.
Suddenly, rustling sounds came from the underbrush,and three goblins—significantly larger than the ones in the outer dungeon—leaped out.
One was a goblin shaman clutching a dark green staff;
the other two were burly, muscular brutes.
"Looks like an elite squad. Nice,"Ethan grinned.
The goblin shaman struck first,launching a beam of green light from the tip of its staff straight at Ethan's chest.
Instead of dodging, Ethan stood his ground, letting the attack hit him square in the chest.
[You have been inflicted with poison damage! 5 HP will be deducted per second for 30 seconds.]