Chapter 7: Devastate

"Fucking shit! To think we'd get ditched by a freaking level one newbie!" John stomped the ground in anger.

"I don't get it... Why would he ditch us? He's just a newbie who's never been to a dungeon before. A level one like him won't survive by himself even if this is a Novice-rank dungeon." Jenny said.

And she continued, "What should we do now, Darius?"

"Fortunately, there isn't anything too valuable inside the backpack he stole, only some medicine and food. Let's continue to hunt more monsters. If we come across that little bastard again, we'll take care of him then."

"Alright."

Darius and his team proceeded to traverse the dungeon in search of monsters to hunt.

Meanwhile, half a mile away from their location, a young man in a hospital gown while carrying a large backpack could be seen running in a straight line.

"Haaa... haaa... haaa..."

Lucas suddenly stopped running and began panting when he ran out of stamina.

Lucas dropped the backpack and took a seat on the ground, taking a good moment to catch his breath.

Despite his boosted stats, he hasn't eaten for over a week. It's already a miracle that he could stand, much less run around with such a heavy load on his back.

Once his breathing calmed down, Lucas turned to the backpack he'd stolen and opened it, dumping everything out a moment later.

Many things came out of the backpack. Towels, a large metal box, health kits, food, bottles of water, and even a knife.

Lucas went straight for the food and water and ignored everything else at first, and in just a few minutes, he consumed three large sandwiches and chugged down four water bottles.

Once he was done and fully satisfied, he looked through the other items slowly.

There were three towels, a large metal box, two health kits, and a kitchen knife. The metal box and health kits alone weighed at least 20kg.

Lucas opened the metal box to see what was inside.

"A bunch of tools and camping materials?"

He was disappointed after seeing the contents. However, he then noticed a small stringed pouch neatly placed in a corner.

Lucas took out the pouch and opened it, and to his surprise, there were two small vials inside, both containing some sort of light-blue liquid.

"Mana potions? This is pretty good."

When a Player uses their ability, they will consume some of their mana, and mana can only be recovered naturally with the exception of mana potions, which can either accelerate the speed of their recovery or outright grant them mana.

Lucas closed the pouch and strapped it around his waist before looking at the knife and picking it up, as he intended to use it as a weapon just in case.

Sometime later, Lucas packed the towels and health kits into the backpack before wearing it again, leaving the metal box out, as it was too heavy for him to carry around, not that he needed the tools anyway.

"Now that I am finally inside a dungeon, I can finally start to level up and grow stronger," Lucas mumbled with a smile on his face.

The only reason he agreed to join Darius' team was so that he could enter the dungeon.

Even though he registered at the Guild, that wouldn't guarantee him entrance to a dungeon, and besides public dungeons that can be entered by anyone as long as they were in a part of at least 3 people, he still needed to pay the Guild to enter the private dungeons.

'I may only be level one, but my ability allows me to take care of monsters below level 10. As long as I don't run into any monsters above that level, I'll be fine.' Lucas thought to himself as he began wandering the dungeon while on high alert.

About ten minutes later, Lucas suddenly stopped moving and stood there as still as a statue.

Upon narrowing his eyes, he could see a single small green figure sitting a few dozen meters away from his location.

'A green goblin...' Lucas swallowed nervously.

Even though they were the weakest monsters out there, Lucas was only level one, and this is his first real encounter with a monster.

Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Once he opened them again, a calm and vicious glint appeared within his eyes.

'I am no longer powerless. I am now a Player— a hero!'

Lucas clutched the knife in his hand tightly, but he doesn't plan on using it.

'Devastate... Let's see what kind of power that goddess gave me...'

With that in mind, Lucas began approaching the green goblin while trying to remain unnoticed.

However, Lucas was too focused on the green goblin and didn't notice the tree branches on the ground, accidentally stepping onto some when he was only a few meters away from the goblin.

*Crack*

A crisp noise resounded, alerting the green goblin.

'Shit!' Lucas cried inwardly.

When it heard the noise, the green goblin quickly stood up and turned to look at Lucas with a small dagger in its hands.

However, instead of turning around and running away, Lucas stepped forward and continued to approach the green goblin, even running at it.

Seeing this, the green goblin raised its arm and prepared to strike.

Lucas didn't care and continued to run at it in a seemingly reckless manner.

Once he was close enough, the green goblin attacked.

Lucas didn't flinch even when the dagger was flying at him. Instead, he kept his eyes wide open and focused on the dagger's rusty blade.

[Devastate!]

Lucas suddenly moved his arm, and with precise movement, he slapped the goblin's hand that was holding the dagger without injuring himself, slapping the dagger away.

Pa!

The goblin was surprised by Lucas' strength that broke almost all of the bones in its hand with a single slap, causing it to drop the dagger.

And before it could do anything else, it noticed that all of its strength was quickly leaving its body.

When the goblin looked at the place where Lucas had slapped, it noticed a large black spot on its hand.

This black spot quickly began to spread until it covered the goblin's entire body. Furthermore, as the darkness consumed its body, the areas that had already been affected were beginning to disintegrate into small, sand-like fragments, almost like its body was turning into ashes.

The goblin wanted to scream, but by the time it realized what was happening, half of its body had already turned to ashes.

Once the goblin completely disintegrated, it left behind a small green crystal.

Meanwhile, notifications appeared for Lucas.

[You have leveled up]

[You have acquired 5 Stat Points]

[You have Plundered the ability 'Minor Strength Boost' from your victim]

{Minor Strength Boost(Lv. 1): Permanently increases Strength by 5}

Lucas released a sigh of relief after killing the green goblin, but before he could fully relax, two more green goblins that were nearby and heard the commotion suddenly appeared before him.