Sora was running along the edge of the cavern which sheltered the monster’s home. His feet were nimble like a mouse as he ran along the ridges. Right now Sora’s speed was the same as the goblins’ speed. This was previously not the case, because Sora was carrying Ai. Although Ai is small and an undead but weight is weight. She had slowed Sora’s speed from anywhere by 10-20%.

After getting rid of Ai, Sora was able to increase the gap considerably between himself and the other monsters. However, Sora ran himself into a dead after a dead end and thus wasted much time. The monsters used smell to chase after Sora so it was not going to be easy to just hide till the matter settles down.

This brought Sora to his current predicament. As Sora had been running on the ledge of the spiralling ravine, he finally hit a dead end. He could try to return from the path he came but he would certainly encounter the monsters on his way back. The ledge he ran on was no more than a meter wide – there was no space to dodge or hide or escape. The only other way left for Sora to escape was jumping off the edge into the darkness.

Given the two options – Sora unhesitatingly chose certain fight to the death than a long jump into the dark void. Arifureta should have made it very clear to everyone – going down is always bad. Who knows how many floor below would Sora fall if he took the jump. There were obvious questions as to whether he would survive height of the fall or not. But also, whether Sora wanted to experience the “Hajime way of dungeon life”. Sora had read enough light novels to know the consequences would be very serious if he jumped down. Just remembering how Hajime lost an eye and an arm gave Sora the shudders. Compared to the unimaginable monsters on the lower floor, Sora was certain he rather face orcs and goblins. Little did Sora know he would back track on that decision very soon.

***

Sora stared into the golden eyes of the Orc. The Orc was wielding a heavy battle axe. Behind the orc, came two goblins. The tiny axe they carried was a joke compared to the orcs. The goblins were angry that they reached after the Orc – they wanted to be the first to reach the skeleton. However, the goblins weren’t stupid enough to do something rash. The Orc was much more powerful than them by many times. One slash of the orc’s axe would end the light of life in their eyes. Their bodies would spring open as if katana cut through a tomato puree can.

The goblins weren’t smart but they certainly weren’t stupid enough to take the Orc’s prey beneath his very eyes. They stood in the side-lines; waiting and watching.

The killer bunnies and kobold’s gave up on the chase long ago. They simply couldn’t keep up with the speed and the distance the skeleton ran. Unlike the weak monsters, the orc and goblin had no difficulty tracking Sora. Thus, Sora found himself in a situation best described with the word, screwed.

“Come here weak skeleton…” The orc growled as he took a heavy step towards Sora. The orc was wearing iron leather boots, which left a deep impression in the ground. “Gara wants to play…”

Sora took a step back – monsters really should brush their teeth. Even if their attacks weren’t devastating their breath’s definitely were.

“I don’t want to play.” Sora retorted back. He was terrified – which idiot would want to play with an eight foot tall, muscular, war loving freak? Also, the standard definition of play for an orc usually involves some form of gut ripping activity. In Sora’s case, complete dismemberment as he lacked physical guts.

*Grrrr* The Orc growled – how dare a skeleton speak back? Amongst all the combat based monsters, skeletons were the weakest. There were some variants which were strong however none of them were on this floor. On this floor only the weakest of weakest skeletons roamed – whose sole purpose in the eyes of the Orcs were Bones Bowling. So how could a skull bowling ball dare to talk back to him?

In an instant the Orc swung his heavy axe down on Sora. The swing was so fast, it split the air between the axe and Sora’s skull and loud swish sound could be heard. Sora was only able to dodge the attack by the breath of a cat’s whisker. It wasn’t luck; Rule One activated. Just mere seconds ago did the cool down for Rule One finish. Should Sora be crying out in happiness or praying for another miracle? The Rule one enhanced Sora’s AGI for the first attack only – it did nothing more than that. So what if he dodged the first attack? The Orc wasn’t going to stop with just one strike.

The Goblins took notice of the dodge – although executed poorly Sora did dodge the attack. The goblins were no longer certain if they could defeat Sora. It wasn’t because Sora dodged the attack but it was because Sora did so while completely avoiding any harm or falling into the abyss. A bit too precise to be mere luck?

The Orc was a little surprised but too dumb to understand what happened. To the orc, it was nothing more than the antics of a skeleton to make him look like a fool.

“GARA WON’T LET YOU GET AWAY!” The orc roared in anger. To make his point the orc swung his monstrous axe sideway while releasing his aura. It was a red thick aura – one strong enough that it was visible to even Sora.

Sora knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge it. The terrifying aura also restricted his fluid movements. Even if he could dodge it, his senses weren’t coherent at the time to do so. Just as the aura constricted Sora’s movement, it also sped up the orc’s furious movement. The orc swung the axe with a single hand.

Given certain death and uncertain painful death, Sora chose uncertain slow death and leapt backwards into the abyss.

Sora prayed like crazy as he fell into the darkness – ""Please grant me a harem like Hajime's less the pain and suffering he endured."