The Summoner: Rise Of The Night Vanguard

CHAPTER 6: THE TYRANT OF THE DUNGEON

Silence fell over the huge room as sweat rolled down Adrian's face despite the cold temperature. Standing before the Goblin King made the other goblins they had fought feel like children holding wooden swords.

The Goblin King's eyes glowed as a smile appeared on his face, as if already anticipating the battle to be a glorious one.

The stone floor beneath his feet cracked as he charged at them with a burst of speed. Despite the King's huge size, he was fast. In a few strides, he appeared before them, much to Adrian's surprise, but Noir was ready and used his broadsword to block the axe that almost crashed on Adrian.

The floor cracked under Noir's boots as the knight held his ground for several tense seconds, his muscles straining, before he managed to push back, making the Goblin King take a few steps backward.

The King didn't stop attacking. He pressed forward aggressively, swinging his axe in powerful attacks that forced Noir into a defensive position. Sparks flew wildly in every direction as both weapons clashed. Noir countered with precise strikes, using his swordsmanship to chip away at the King's guard.

Adrian watched intensely as his heart pounded within his chest. The King was strong, and his attacks were heavy, but this suddenly exposed one flaw in the Goblin King's attack pattern.

"Noir, don't just block, dodge and counter!" Adrian shouted, and the Shadow Knight obeyed instantly.

As the next axe swing came crashing down, Noir stepped aside slightly, making the King's axe fall and bury itself deep into the stone floor. Before the King could pull it out, Noir charged and gave him a powerful uppercut that made the King leave his weapon alone and take a few steps backward.

The Goblin King bellowed in fury as he abandoned the axe and lunged forward with his bare hands, throwing a series of brutal punches. Noir met him head on, slamming his broadsword into the ground as he advanced toward the Goblin King, ready to throw hands.

The two titans clashed in raw hand-to-hand combat. Noir's armored fists slammed into the King's ribs while the Goblin King's massive green fists slammed against Noir's armor. Each blow landed with great strength, echoing like thunder through the room, and with a force Adrian couldn't explain.

Noir was soon launched across the room, crashing through two pillars before hitting the ground.

Adrian saw his opening as the King was distracted. He sprinted forward, the Night Vanguard Cloak covering him and hiding his presence as he moved. While the King was focused on Noir, Adrian landed behind him and drove his dagger deep into the back of the Goblin King's knee.

The monster groaned in pain and instinctively swung a backhand. Adrian barely ducked beneath it, rolling away, but the wind from the missed strike knocked him off his feet.

In the next second, Adrian's breathing stopped as he looked up and saw the giant axe of the Goblin King coming down on him with full force.

Was he going to die now? Was there really no other way?

"...Night Step."

He had completely forgotten. The system had shown him that Noir had the skill, but he had never gotten the chance to test or even use it.

His gaze snapped toward Noir, seeing the Knight running at full speed toward his summoner to save him.

"NOIR!"

"USE NIGHT STEP!!" Adrian shouted out loud in real panic.

For the first time since the battle began, Noir moved differently as the crimson glow inside his helmet intensified and dark shadows gathered around his body.

The Goblin King's axe connected with the ground like a falling mountain and hit nothing.

Adrian released the breath he had been holding in relief, standing inches away from where he would have died.

The Goblin King looked back, sensing Noir's presence behind him. Noir emerged from the King's shadow, his sword raised high for a decisive attack, and pierced straight through the King's back and out through his chest.

The Goblin King's expression twisted from confidence to pure rage. He let out a deafening bellow that shook the chamber violently, clearly refusing to die even though he was losing a lot of blood from the deep injury in his chest.

His muscles visibly swelled, veins bulging beneath his green skin as the pressure in the room intensified dramatically.

"It just got stronger. Was it unleashing its berserker state?" Adrian muttered, breathing hard.

The King's attention split between them now. He grabbed his axe again and began unleashing a storm of attacks, wide horizontal sweeps mixed with sudden thrusting strikes. He had clearly lost all sense of reason now. All he wanted was to kill both the human and the summon.

Noir weaved between the King's attacks, summoned his broadsword back, and landed cuts whenever the King extended his weapon too much. One of his attacks created a clean slash deep across the King's shoulder.

The King charged again, and this time his movements were faster and more aggressive. He followed up immediately with a brutal knee strike that caught Noir in the midsection, lifting the knight off the ground momentarily.

Adrian refused to stay on the sidelines. He used the distraction to circle around and attack the King's blind spots, slashing at his legs and joints with quick, precise strikes.

The King bellowed and tried to swat him away like an insect, but Adrian continued moving, using the pillars for cover and darting in whenever an opening appeared. The Cloak was really helping boost his movement while concealing his presence.

Noir recovered and rejoined the fray, and the two of them worked in perfect harmony. Noir drew the King's attention with powerful sword strikes while Adrian targeted weak points with his dagger. They landed several more hits, making dark blood flow freely from multiple wounds across the Goblin King's body.

But the monster refused to fall.

Desperately, he even grabbed one of the massive stone pillars and ripped it free with raw strength, swinging the entire thing like a club. Noir barely dodged the improvised weapon, making the pillar shatter against the far wall and sending debris flying in different directions.

Adrian's mana was draining rapidly, and Noir's armor was heavily damaged, cracks visibly showing across the armor plates. Yet the knight fought on without hesitation, exchanging heavy blows in close quarters.

At one point, Noir managed to grapple the King, locking arms with the monster in a contest of pure strength. For several intense seconds, neither gave an inch.

Adrian saw the opportunity once again and sprinted forward, leaping onto the King's neck and stabbing his dagger repeatedly into the narrow gaps in its neck.

The Goblin King bellowed in rage, clearly pissed at this little human, and tried to shake him off. He slammed backward into a pillar, crushing Adrian against the stone as the pillar shattered into pieces.

He was sent hurtling across the chamber, tumbling violently before smashing into the ground as pain exploded through his body. The Cloak had saved his life once again.

Noir seized the moment. He broke the grapple and delivered a devastating uppercut, catching the King under the chin. The force lifted the monster slightly off his feet.

His hard breathing was now visible, blood leaked out from numerous wounds, yet his eyes still burned with murderous fury.

"NOW!" Adrian shouted again as Noir vanished, leaving another afterimage behind.

The Goblin King turned frantically, trying to predict the knight's movement, but he was too slow.

The Shadow Knight appeared directly behind the monster, both hands wrapped firmly around the broadsword.

Every remaining ounce of mana Adrian possessed surged into Noir as the blade became coated in dense black shadows.

The world seemed to freeze as the Goblin King's eyes widened in shock, unable to dodge or block the massive glowing blade aiming for his neck.

A thin crimson line appeared across his thick neck, and for several silent seconds...

Nothing happened.

Then the massive head slowly slid from his shoulders and hit the stone floor with a deafening thud.

The green gigantic body remained standing for one final moment before collapsing like a destroyed mountain.

A fist-sized crystal pulsing with emerald light floated upward from the Goblin King's dead body and drifted gently into Adrian's hand. The moment he touched it, it was automatically absorbed into his body, but he didn't have enough time to dwell on the strange, comforting sensation.

The dungeon began collapsing around them almost immediately as cracks spread rapidly across every surface.

"Time to go," Adrian said as he recalled Noir back into his soul space.

Forcing himself forward, he sprinted toward the glowing portal that had appeared at the far end of the chamber and leaped through it just as the dungeon completely caved in behind him.

As the white light swallowed him, Adrian's thoughts drifted back to the battle that had just ended.

His first dungeon.

His first boss.

His first true victory.

He had come close to dying multiple times, but he had made it through.

He felt very satisfied, and as soon as Adrian's body made contact with the rough ground outside the factory, the last thing he saw before finally passing out was the system notification.

[Mission Completed]

Dungeon Boss Defeated