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Chapter 4

‘It’s a gargoyle’

It was what first came to mind when I saw the stone statues move. A gargoyle is a stone statue in the shape of a winged demon that has been given life. It generally has decent resistance to both physical and magic damage. Only my enchanted weapon might have a chance of piercing its defenses.

I looked at the dagger in my hand, it’s an enchanted weapon with a gem in its hilt, emitting an aura of frost magic.

‘They don’t seem to think of me as enemy, I should stealthily escape to where those adventurers came from.’

When the people came in I had heard the sound of a door opening which for me represented a way out.

“Gillian, Gargoyle!”

“Shit! Hey… what do we do?”

Creeeaaak! Thud!

The door closes behind them automatically Gillian turned to confirm the door was closed before coming to terms with the situation at hand.

“What are we going to fight them with?” ——– No choice! Fight!

“Our weapons won’t even scratch them.”

“Ian! How about your magic?”

“Right now I can’t, the casting time is quite long. Quickly, Gillian! Pirate! Buy me some time!”

Bang!

Ughh!

Gillian let out a grunt as he received the brunt of two gargoyles’ attacks, defending against the greatsword. Pirate, perhaps a thief, attacked one with his dagger but was sent back flying from the impact.

“Pirate!”

They were a group of four, A warrior and thief in the frontline with a magician and priest in the back. When the thief was sent flying, the priest had to focus on healing him so the warrior was soon overwhelmed and retreated, unable to defend from the Gargoyle’s heavy sword.

With the frontline having crumbled, the mage and priest were vulnerable. A gargoyle heads towards the spellcasters, counter attacking never even crossed their minds as they did their best to barely dodge with awkward rolls.

“Lord, grace me with your strength! Bless!”

The Priest quickly cast some emergency healing and buffs but it wasn’t very useful. The warrior was trying to use block to intercept the gargoyle going after his friend Pirate, but it didn’t seem to work as it continued to advance towards the wounded thief.

Clang!

The warrior slashed the gargoyle but the sword bounced off and he is sent flying by the rebound. As he struggles to stand up, the advancing gargoyle tramples him with all its weight.

“Gilian! No!”

Craaack!

The sound of bones breaking could be heard as the warrior that was just stepped on spurts blood out from his mouth.

‘That’s going to be a party wipe, no one will survive.’

I had played many MMORPG’s in the past and encountered similar situations. If the frontline crumbles the squishy backline should immediately retreat, otherwise it would result in them all being wiped out.

Neither the priest or mage seemed willing to abandon their party, but to be truthful with the door having closed behind them there wasn’t anywhere to escape to, the result had already been decided.

“Should we intervene, what if they can help us get out of here?”

Asked Gwyn, but I shook my head. Coming to a dungeon they should have been prepared for such an outcome and besides, it wasn’t certain that they could help me get out. But above all, it’s very likely for them to misunderstand the situation if they see a new monster coming out and I didn’t want to deal with such a nuisance.

“Ian! Melinda! Run Away!”

The thief cries as he struggles to get up and place himself between the

gargoyle and the squishy spellcasters. By how much he was staggering, it was clear that he had not yet recovered. When the gargoyle swung his heavy sword Pirate had no way to defend himself and was sent flying far away, landing with a thud.

‘That’s a fatal blow, he couldn’t have survived that.’

I watched quietly on the side but felt Gwyn who was hiding in my skull get emotional.

“Chompy… please help them out, I’ll find a way to make it up to you later. I am a being which is contracted with spirits, so if I don’t help out in such situations I’ll suffer a penalty.”

Penalty… I didn’t know what that represented but the possibilities were troublesome. I wasn’t so inhuman as to deny my first friend’s request and I was also looking forward to how much experience a gargoyle would give.

I took off my helmet and covered myself completely with a hooded robe, hiding all traces of me being a skeleton. The priest and mage were avoiding the gargoyle’s sword but it was just a matter of time.

Carefully sneaking up behind the other gargoyle I readied my dagger. It noticed me instantly and turned around but there were no signs of hostility in its eyes.

‘Well, it doesn’t seem to consider me as an enemy but I wonder how long that will last.’

Stab!

Using two hands I stabbed deeply into the back of its head. I worried that my dagger wouldn’t do any damage because his head is made of stone but the dagger was sharp enough. Fortune was with me as the gargoyle moved slightly and the dagger got wedged in a crack, it worked perfectly. Is it stuck now? But the bigger problem was that both gargoyles turned to me, I had aggroed both of them!

“Who…who are you? Thanks for your help.”

I heard the priest and mage say but i was only focused on the gaze of these two stone demons.

‘Dammit! Why didn’t you get one shotted!”

“Slow! Slow!”

I began to retreat instantly and casted slow on each gargoyle. Having prioritized me as their enemy they were both chasing me down but thankfully they originally weren’t very fast and with the slow debuff I could easily outpace them.

“Chompy! So cool! When you cast spells you can speak? But, why are you running away now?”

I couldn’t speak so I had no way to answer Gwyn. Contemplating some strategies I realized that the magic in the dagger would surely drain the first gargoyle’s strength and it was likely weakened, the bigger problem was the other one. How should I handle him?

Thud! Thud!

I rested for a while, allowing them to close the distance I could hear their heavy footsteps heading my way.

‘I think I should pull out the dagger and use it on the other one after he collapses.’

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sound of footsteps was getting louder. This floor is very large but it only went in one direction so I had no way to lose them. I decided to lead them them toward the pits where I fell down the first time. Relying on my knowledge of the landscape I could lose them in the complicated cave system. I had been slowly leading the gargoyles towards the hole connecting the two floors.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Finally I arrived before the hole and waited for them to catch up. When they came into sight I jumped in.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

‘Huh? What?’

The footsteps were getting further away, they didn’t follow me into the hole. I then remembered that gargoyles were originally stone statues meant to protect something and it seems that a different floor is outside of their range. This might make hunting them quite easy but first I’ll need to confirm one thing.

I came out of the hole and casted slow on the gargoyles which were heading back towards the priest and mage.

“Slow! Slow! Fireshock! Fireshock!”

Within just 1.2 seconds I casted four spells and regained their aggro. They turned towards me and began their slow running motions, definitely under the effects of my slow. I ran back towards the hole and waited just outside its entrance.

‘Come! If this works you guys are dead meat!’

Thud! Thud! Thud!

I stayed near the hole, giving the gargoyles time to catch up. This time I waited until the very last second so as to confirm my hypothesis.

Swooosh! Swooosh!

Just as the gargoyles swung their heavy stone swords I dodged, leaping into the hole.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As expected they immediately lost interest in me when I left the floor’s perimeter. Shortly after, I jumped back out and casted.

“Fireshock! Fireshock!”

As soon as the two spells hit they turned back towards me, truly such simple minded creatures.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With my idea of escaping down the hole I didn’t need to waste mana using slow so I could be more efficient. I jumped down the hole and just as they turned around I came back out again.

“Fireshock! Fireshock!”

The gargoyles were mindlessly going around in circles, slaves to their aggro range. I repeated the process many times, trying to find the most efficient downtime between spells in order to allow my mana to replenish, but after 10 cycles I had finally run out.

I went down the hole to hide in the pits, slowly recovering my MP. When it was restored I had to run and catch the gargoyles, slowly kiting them back towards the passage, casting fireshock when I had a chance. Finally after the 100th Fireshock the first gargoyle fell.

[+277 experience points]

[Level increased 9 ? 15]

[Acquired knowledge of Tomb Gargoyles]

[You can now learn new magic]

Messages appeared before me as the gargoyle which I had stabbed with my enchanted dagger had finally fallen.

“Hey Chompy, did you finally manage to kill one?”

Gwyn who had been sleeping in my skull the whole time just woke up, evidently bored.

‘I’m going through all this trouble for you but you’re just sleeping!’

I wanted to scream at her but I could just clack my teeth.

“Hehehe ~ good job, keep it up! I’ll just go back to sleep.”

‘Damn!’

Having just acquired some new spells after killing a new monster, I gained some certainty towards my previous hypothesis regarding the acquisition of new magic.

‘So killing different monsters gives me access to new spells, do I also need to level up or just kill a new monster? Regardless this was a great harvest.’

While I was resting in the hole, rejoicing about all my gains the second gargoyle had turned around.

‘I won’t let you escape!’

I went out to catch it while opening my status window.

★

Name: Chompy

Gender: N/A

Status: Normal

Type: Skeleton/ Undead

Class: Wizard

Rank: H+

Level: 15/20

HP: 29/29

MP: 30/170

Attack: 16

Defense: 4

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 34

? Unique Skills

[Resurrection Lv 1] [Night Vision Lv 1] [Falling resistance Lv1] [Magic Chanting Max]

[Fire Shock Max] [Lesser Slow Max]

? Titles

[Rat Trapper] [Hit-and-Run]

? Magic Selection

[Lesser Petrification Lv1] [Intermediate Slow Lv1] [Fireball Lv1]

★

Perhaps because I had killed a gargoyle I was able to learn the new petrification magic. It was an interesting choice but I figured that I already had the slow spell as crowd control and needed to increase my dps. It wouldn’t always be the case that I could kite monster across the rooms or use a trick like I had done with the hole.

[You have learned Fireball Lv1]

As I was running to catch the last gargoyle I picked up my enchanted dagger embedded in its partner’s corpse. When it came within view I used my ability to check its status.

★

Status: (Slowed) Rare

Type: Tomb Gargoyle/ Granted life

Rank: G+

Level: 24/80

HP: 144/484

MP: 1/1

Attack: 100

Defense: 1000

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 10

? Unique Skills

[Physical resistance Lv3] [Magic resistance Lv1]

★

Gargoyles were so strong compared to the slime I had hunted previously. Incredible HP and defense making it a great tank but its attack damage was still enough to one shot me. No wonder it took so long to hunt the first one, my Fireshock only does about 2-3 damage.

I stabbed it in the back with my dagger and ran away chanting my spells

“Slow! Fireshock!”

I brought him back towards the hole and used the same aggro cheat until it eventually collapsed.

[+277 experience points]

[Level increased 15 ? 18]

The rate of increase had slowed down, seems like it required noticeably more experience as the levels got higher. I was slightly disappointed because I was expecting to evolve.

“Wow did you take care of the last one? Good job Chompy!”

‘This guy… such a terrible friend to carry around’

Chomp! Chomp!

I was complaining but only the sound of my teeth could be heard.

Gwyn flew out from my eye socket and hovered before my face with a playful expression.

“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you, repeat it once more!”

‘Ughh I have to endure… just ignore that little rascal. I leveled up and gained a new skill, let’s just focus on that.’

I turned around and headed back towards the main hall.

“Hey there! Thanks for your help!”