After thinking for a while, Zenis had an idea for a decent finishing move. He decided to call it Lethal Charged Strike… the name could use some work, but Zenis was fine with that. In any case, the trick behind the skill was the follows: to show the agility and speed as he unleashed a series of lightning-fast and potent strikes upon his target. The skill was divided into several phases.

  Once he envisioned the skill, Zenis readied himself, adopting a focused stance with his spear held firmly in his grasp. He gathered his strength and focused his energy, preparing to execute the Lethal Charged Strike.

  With a burst of intensity, Zenis propelled himself forward, utilizing his speed and agility. He channeled his energy into the spear, empowering it for the subsequent strikes. As he charged, he leaves behind faint traces of energy or swirling motion in his wake, showing the impending assault.

  Zenis’ spear darted forward like a streak of lightning, aiming to pierce the target swiftly and forcefully. The speed of this initial strike is astounding, catching his imaginary opponent off guard. The spearhead finds its mark, delivering a powerful blow with piercing precision.

  Without losing momentum, Zenis followed up with the second strike in rapid succession. The spear whips through the air, slashing and thrusting with incredible speed and accuracy. This strike aims to exploit any opening left by the first attack, ensuring that the onslaught remains relentless.

  The climax of the Lethal Charged Strike arrives with the final strike. Zenis delivered a decisive blow, combining his skill, strength, and the momentum generated by the preceding strikes. This strike can involve a sweeping motion, a spinning thrust, or an overhead strike, depending on the target’s technique and style. The impact of this strike is particularly potent, delivering a resounding attack to the target.

  “Sounds good enough. It needs some improvements in my head, but I guess three insanely fast thrust attacks are the best option in this scenario,” Zenis thought when he opened his eyes. “Let’s see if I can pull it off.”

  Zenis tried a bunch of postures and then decided to stick to where his body was a bit inclined, and the spear was pointed forward and downward. That way, he would be able to build more momentum and strike the target with an upward thrust. After that, he practiced the three strikes in slow motion and eventually increased the speed while he adjusted his moves.

  Eventually, Zenis decided to test the skill for real, but when he tried, the first strike alone made him feel like the muscles of right leg and arm were about to be ripped apart. He forced his body too much…

  “Am I too weak and this body too small for this?” Zenis muttered while checking his hands and confirmed that the skin of his hands had been peeled off in several parts. “I guess my toughness is too low.”

  That was a small obstacle for him, so Zenis decided to keep up. Pushing himself hard even when his stamina had dropped to zero made Zenis level up his Stamina Plus again, and he used that fact to try something.

  Zenis sat down to meditate again and began to think of ways to use his energy to boost his parameters in order to make his body stronger. Using stamina to activate skills was something that he stopped doing a long time ago, that was why he could use Heavy Throw freely. What would really consume his stamina was fighting in his best condition nonstop.

  “I am pretty sure that I know some techniques like that, but without much more knowledge, it will be hard to think of this.” Zenis rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “The round just started, so I guess I can take my time with this kind of training.”

  Zenis could only use spear related skills to defeat his opponents, but that didn’t mean that he can’t use skills that will improve his power with a spear. After thinking for a while, nothing came to mind… Zenis needed to learn and experience more. Regardless, the sun was setting, and he already knew what he should do.

  “You should wait and rest here, Xantus, I will come back later,” Zenis said and then gave some apples to his horse.

  Zenis took two spears with him and tried to move as silent as possible toward the dungeon. Half an hour later, he could see the entrance and the same two guards there… he already had a plan to knock them out, but he decided to wait for a while if some guards would come to take their places, his guess was correct and that happened two hours later.

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  After waiting for more than half an hour for the guards to relax, Zenis silently approached while carrying the spears in both hands. When he was thirty meters away, he prepared to use Heavy Throw while he was holding the spear with the reverse stance. He threw it with the butt while pointing to the target. The weapon hit the helmet of the first guard, and the impact immediately knocked him out.

  The second guard turned around, only to see Zenis running toward him. His sword was already unsheathed and prepared to receive and fight Zenis. However, he suddenly changed his stance and then threw the spear as well.

  The guard raised his sword to block the weapon that flew toward his face and then, while he succeeded, he lost sight of Zenis for a while and when lowered the weapon, Zenis was nowhere to be seen. The guard felt a powerful impact on his crotch and he lowered his head. In the next moment, Zenis hit his head with the butt of the spear and knocked him out as well.

  “I suppose they will be safe here… there are no signs of people, animals or monsters,” Zenis said and then made the guards sit down with their backs against the entrance of the dungeon.

  As Zenis stepped into the dungeon, he was immediately greeted by the eerie atmosphere that permeated the air. The interior was dimly lit, with the only source of light coming from the sporadically placed torches along the rocky walls. The flickering flames cast long shadows that dance and twist, creating a sense of foreboding in the environment.

  The walls themselves were rugged and uneven, composed of jagged rocks and stones. They form a maze-like structure, with narrow passages and interconnected chambers. The surfaces are uneven and worn, displaying the passage of time.

  “The interior is totally different from the exterior. This looks like a creation of one of the gods of this world,” Zenis muttered.

  Hanging from the ceiling and stretching across the walls are numerous spider webs, their intricate patterns glistening in the flickering torchlight. The webs sway gently in the still air, adding to the sense of desolation and abandonment.

  The floor beneath Zenis feet was rough and uneven, covered in a layer of dust and debris. Small pebbles crunch under your weight as you navigate through the labyrinthine corridors. The occasional damp patch or puddle indicates the presence of moisture seeping through the rocky walls, adding to the overall sense of dampness and decay.

  Before long, Zenis heard some noises ahead. It seemed like a mix of grunts and squeaks… at the same time, Zenis noticed that the walls were getting covered by vegetation, the ceiling and the floor eventually became like that as well.

  All of a sudden, Zenis saw two creatures dashing him. Their powerful legs propel them forward in a synchronized motion, bounding across the rough dungeon floor with astonishing speed. Each stride sends reverberations through the ground, shaking loose debris and dust from the ancient stone.

  Their muscular frames are covered in dense, velvety fur, which shimmers with a mixture of deep browns and hints of silver or midnight blue. The fur provides both protection and an aura of mystique as they move swiftly through the darkness.

  “I spent too much time with Herneus… even without him here, I can only describe the monsters in the same weird way as him,” Zenis said while readying his spear.

  The monsters had quite some charging power and since they were coming at the same time, Zenis couldn’t mess up. In the end, when the beasts were five meters away from him, he jumped while spinning in the air, he almost hit the ceiling of the dungeon, but he still managed to swing down the spear toward the back of the head of one of the creatures and sliced the back of its neck.

  The creature's white fur began to get red, but not that much. The wound hadn’t been that deep because of the fur. When Zenis landed, he just shrugged while seeing the beasts turning around. He should have known that giving up on his stance would make him lose piercing power.

  Still, Zenis lowered his stance when the monsters charged at him again… he wasn’t going to escape now. He moved his spear to the side and then swung it on a sweep when they got close enough. The weapon cut the eyes of the monsters and they began to groan in agony as they passed by Zenis. While they were in pain, he finished them off with ease.

  (You obtained 50 experience points.)

  (You obtained 50 experience points.)

  “This won’t be so bad… if I can find hundreds of these here,” Zenis said.

  Zenis cleaned the blood from the weapon and proceeded with his journey. The monsters always kept coming in pairs and they were stupid enough to fall for the same trick again and again. Taking their eyes was the easiest way to get rid of them. Zenis wasn’t expecting much from them, and he was only there to study how the dungeon worked, so it was fine.

  “The temperature is rising, and the path is slowly going downward,” Zenis said while looking around. “It is barely noticeable, but I am going downward on a spiral path.”

  Zenis felt that he had seen a dungeon like that and how it worked before. His magic, spirit, and wisdom were low, so he couldn’t analyze the density of the mana in the dungeon well, but he was pretty sure that the dungeon had that shape for a reason. His first thought was because it would drain the mana from the outside and let it be absorbed by something inside. That something could be used to strengthen the dungeon and the creatures in it, but the interior was old enough and the monsters were not that strong, so something didn’t make sense.

  In any case, Zenis fought the enemies several times. At determined intervals, thanks to that, he managed to get two levels, and he decided to increase his toughness to be able to use the Lethal Charge Strike. If the dungeon had a boss or a guardian, then he would need that kind of trump card.