"Pixieeeee~ Punch!" This time, Hequ doesn't forget to activate her skill. Her hand starts glowing purple, and when she hits the giant meat monster, the impact releases star-shaped particles. "Please, be useful…!"

Hequ prays for good luck, and I pray with her, hoping for a good effect.

Fay Touch (Active skill) Cost: 100 MP Your next basic attack deals extra (20 + SPI) arcane damage and inflicts a random negative status effect for 10 seconds. This skill has a 1-minute cooldown.

Although Fray Touch is usually used by archers for the extra range, Hequ insists on punching her enemies up close. She says she likes to see their surprised faces when the light effects explode near their face.

I still remember that time Hequ used Fay Touch against a boss, and the status effect applied was Madness… Since there were no adds around, it continued to attack us, only that it was dealing even more damage than before. Right now, there are no monsters around us other than the golem... our support monsters are who knows where or dead, and the small meat monsters are nowhere in sight.

I hope we don't have to repeat that awful experience today…

The meat golem shakes its head. Then, it turns around and starts punching the empty air. It must have been blinded.

"Yeees! It worked!" Hequ starts spinning in mid-air. "Haha, it worked! Gumiyu, it's your turn now!"

"Yes, yes…"

Shaking my head, I approach the golem, who's trying to find its target without success, its fists hitting the empty ground.

I extend my greatsword forward as soon as I get close enough. Then, I start spinning around, continuously slashing the meat giant.

"Whirlwind!"

"Go, Gumiyu, go! Haha!"

As she giggles, Hequ sends a few waves of Magic Missiles towards the giant in front of me. The giant turns towards me, feeling the attacks even if it can see us, and starts punching in my general direction. But knowing the monster was going to do this, I continuously move around, not letting him land a single strike on me.

The extra range from wielding a greatsword or halberd makes Whirlwind a lot more dangerous. It's a waste that most players who take this skill use shortswords or longswords. They're wasting so much potential.

I lose track of everything else, watching the golem's HP bar fall. An unexpectedly accurate fist comes my way, surprising me.

Ah, ten seconds have already passed…

*Hisss~!*

My snake hair hisses and, with no way to avoid my skill, the fist stops right before my face. The golem has turned into a statue.

Petrification on demand is pretty useful, right? Hehe.

By the time the meat golem gets free of my petrification, its HP bar has fallen below half. But now that it has survived our two most powerful control skills, the fight becomes serious.

Since Hequ is a very small target, she can fly, and her aggro is redirected towards me, the golem tries to attack her just two times before immediately switching back to me.

Giant fists come at me like a barrage. The monster disregards all defense and recklessly attacks, forcing me to defend. When those attacks I can't avoid land on my body, I hear a disgusting crunch, and my health takes a significant hit. But thanks to this, Hequ is free to attack it as she pleases. After another 'Pixie Punch' and the following lucky stun, I can join the offense, and we kill the golem.

With a loud thump, the meat monster's body falls to the ground. Immediately, Hequ celebrates our victory.

"Haha! We won! It was so ugly and big, but it posed no trouble for us!"

"No trouble…?" I look around and pay close attention to the sounds around us. Other than a few corpses, there are no signs of any of our support mobs. "I wouldn't put it that way…"

"Haha, don't worry!" Hequ pats my shoulder. "Everything's fine as long as we're alive, right?" Then, her eyes start glowing with excitement once more. "Now, to investigate, haha!"

With those words, Hequ flies away. I watch her tiny wings beat furiously to speed up, her figure vanishing on the other side of the hill, where I landed after the fall.

"Sigh…"

I sigh and chase after her.

"Uooo– Humph!"

As soon as my feet touch the ground, I bend my knees to absorb the impact. My body slides down the slimy hill a short distance to absorb the remaining force, until I stop, having taken almost no damage.

"Huh, huh, huh! My muscles are itching! They're tingling with excitement!"

I flex and kiss my biceps, completing the preparations.

"Today, it's my victory! Did you think I wouldn't know you prepared a new area just to set me off, Evil Mastermind!? To make me die and lose my honor? Not today!"

After discovering a third card slot next to the door leading to the dungeon core, I almost lost my sanity. For a moment, I thought I was going to die yet again, but then, when I tried putting the two cards I had on me, it turned out the door opened as normal.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Now that I've had some time to read the forums, I've learned everything I need to know about this place, so it isn't dangerous anymore! The trick is simple: just let others suffer first, and reap the rewards!

"I'm too smart to fall for your petty tricks, Evil Mastermind! Huh, huh, huh!"

I stride forward with confidence, waiting for the monsters to show up. According to the other players, the monsters are hidden inside the meat hill. There's no need to search for them, they'll naturally appear as soon as I get close to their hiding place.

*Whieep, whieep!*

Two four-legged meat sacks come running at me from opposite directions, whimpering along the way. Their skinless bodies look wet, reflecting the light from the enormous fireplace nearby. They look exactly like the teleporting bastards in the tunnels, and for a moment, my whole body becomes paralyzed.

But then, I recall the other player's explanations and calm down. These aren't dangerous, just annoying!

I watch the two monsters approach me as they continue to make those annoying noises. They have no heads… do they produce them by farting? This must be why they have a stinky yellow cloud around them.

Right then, another monster pops up from the ground right behind me.

"I was waiting for this!" My instincts warn me, so I just swing my axe, slamming the monster mid-leap with the flat side of my weapon, stopping the attack. "Did you think I'd fall for your tricks!? Haa!"

With a shout, I swing my battleaxe and activate a skill. Mighty Blow reduces the monster's HP to almost nothing.

The other two monsters see this as an opportunity and jump at me. But I already predicted their actions. I jump away and, at the same time, throw a Phantasmal Weapon flying their way, killing the wounded one, and wounding the other two.

"Huh, huh. Pathetic! Is this all you have!? This doesn't even serve as a warm-up!"

The meat sacks turn towards me, having missed the attack, and start whimpering, calling for help. It sounds more aggressive than before, but to me, it's just the pathetic cries of worthless opponents.

"Yeah, call your boss. You aren't worth my time. Huh, huh, huh!"

As I wait, more meat sacks appear from all around the meat hill. As if they were moles, they come out of the meat mountain and join the cacophony of whimpers and cries. The air turns yellow as the stink spreads in all directions.

I glare at them. "I said call your boss–"

*Booom!*

As if in response, the top of the hill explodes, and a large figure emerges, sending meat chunks flying everywhere.

"Huh, at last!"

It's a giant humanoid, about four meters tall. Although its proportions are similar to a human, it has a wider trunk and extremely developed muscles, making it look like a hulking mass of flesh and bone.

*Roaaaar!* The monster roars and glares at me.

"Now that's a roar, and not the pathetic whimpers of the meat sacks!" I extend my hand forward, palm up, and bend it two times in the 'come at me' fashion. "Let's fight! Let's see who's stronger! A fight to the death! Huh, huh, huh!"

I can feel all my muscles twitch in excitement. A monster like that surely is strong. I'm going to enjoy this fight! The giant monster and I. An epic duel of pure strength. No strategy or disruptions, just pure skill and power.

With ground-shattering steps, the meat golem runs towards me. Its already large body grows even more as it comes closer. Then, it raises its massive fist and throws it at me.

Large amounts of meat are launched into the air when the fist hits the ground after I avoid it, creating a crater.

"That's more like it. Let's pretend those meat sacks aren't here and fully enjoy our fight!"

Before the monster can attack again, I slash with my axe. As soon as my weapon touches its skin, black blood erupts and covers me. I start taking damage.

"Huh, huh, this is nothing I can't deal with. It'll even help me trigger Bloodlust!"

At the same time, the meat golem starts to regenerate its HP. But it seems it's just for a part of the damage it took.

Our fight continues. I avoid the monster's massive fists and retaliate with my axe. Every time one of the weak meat sacks tries to intervene, I or the meat golem sends it flying, killing it on the spot. When the golem does the finishing blow, it heals a bit, but it isn't relevant. It'll eventually run out of meat sacks to kill and won't be able to heal anymore.

From the constant damage I'm taking and the eventual fist I can't avoid, Bloodlust finally triggers, and both my attack speed and damage increase. At this point, I activate Frenzy. My whole body turns red, and my speed and damage increase even further.

The combo of the two skills is always impressive! I can feel the power running through my muscles!

I slam my battleaxe on the golem's back and send a Phantasmal Weapon to finish a meat sack.

"I. Am. Unstoppable! Huh, huh, huh!"

The following unstoppable steel barrage quickly sends the golem's HP below half. It's then that I notice the golem's sudden increase in attack speed. Although I avoid all the attacks thanks to the increased speed, the increased number of attacks is noticeable.

What a beautiful creation! Strong, resilient, and it even has the most honorable of skills, the orc's innate: Bloodlust! The Evil Mastermind, that dishonorable bastard, must have awakened to the truth of the world! What a happy surprise!

"Huh, huh, huh! This is it! This is the best!"

I can feel my blood boiling with enthusiasm. Soon, I'll have to deactivate Frenzy, and then the battle will be an equal match. A pure skill match of Bloodlust vs Bloodlust…

Suddenly, the meat golem roars and rushes forward. It takes me by surprise because instead of running away or going around me, it goes over my Champion, briefly stunning me.

"What the heck…!?"

My movement completely stops, incapable of turning around towards the monster, now at my back. Incapable of dodging, I can only watch as the shadow of a giant fist approaches from behind.

"Bah, that isn't enough to kill me–"

*Crunch!*

You have d–

"Noooooooooooooo! My honor…! My glory!"

Damn Evil Mastermind! He had everything prepared to humiliate me in the worst possible manner!

How is this a fair fight!? It's impossible it could kill me with a single strike! There must be a nasty skill at hand! Possibly one that relies on luck!

A fair fight doesn't rely on luck!

"Evil Mastermind! How do you dare sully a perfect monster like this one with such an awful ability!? Damn you and all your stupid creations!"

"...

Not everything should be black or white. It's better when you use the whole gray scale.

When you create a monster to make your invaders cry, there's no need to make it nasty. At least, not all the time. What you should aim for is to satisfy your invaders with what they crave, and then… Fufufu! And then, you shatter their hopes with what they never expected! Hahaha!

Sure, you can simply make an extremely annoying monster, one that's impossible to fight head-on and torments the invaders all the time. But if all your monsters are like that, where's the fun?

The best part is when you make the invaders think 'oh, this monster is different'... until it isn't.

…"

- Fragment from 'Pain in Variety', one part of 'The Dark Teachings' series.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.