Next day when I logged in, Pauli wasn't there yet and Shirley was sleeping.

Having nothing to do, I challenged the boss. There were multiple reasons for that actually and not just because no one else was here yet(or they were sleeping). In fact this is also one the reasons that even if they were here and ready, I wouldn't have let them fight the boss. They couldn't manage to kill a single while skeleton, so the boss was most definitely a far cry. I'll probably let them fight against those skeletons 2 vs 1 more to let them gain some experience. Second reason was..... I was just too excited to wait. Though I was hungry since I just came back, my excitement was higher(though I already had taken out a bread from my inventory and was munching on it). The third reason was that this would be my first kill of the day and you know what that means right? The best item a boss could drop! That was the main reason for my excitement! Also, I didn't want to let anyone know of this ability. I wasn't particularly against telling them, but the explainations that come after were annoying. They'll probably find out someday anyway, so let's let it be for now.

Munching on the bread reminded me of the old days when I first entered the game. It was my only source of food for a while before gathering fruits and finally meeting Shirley.

While still muching, I opened the door to the boss room. At first it was dark but right as I took the first step in, it brightened up and just like the rest of the dungeon, there was no light source here either.

(How the hell do they do that!?)

While I was wondering whether dungeons and physics are not the best of buddies, I finally saw the boss. It was just waiting in the center of the room.

White Skeleton Knight LVL 60

(Ohhh!!! A knight!!)

It was just like any other white skeleton but this one had armor on and was holding a broadsword, which made it completely different from any other skeleton knight, contrary to my previous statement.

The wooden shields were going to be useless here so I took out a shortsword and a dagger in my right and left hand respectively. This dagger was something you may remember.

Silver Dagger.

Effects:

STR+5

AGI+5

STR+10 when fighting undead

Its strengthening effects were wasted on me but I expected something else from it. Most weak swords would break when they come in contact with something as hard as a bone, but maybe this dagger, which was made specially for fighting the undead, wouldn't break so easily.

The reason I chose a shortswort in my dominant hand was for parrying. It would just be stupid to block a sword as heavy as my opponent's with my shortsword. Also, if I chose a longer reaching sword, it might hinder me due to the disparity between its own length and that of the dagger.

Having chosen my equipment, I got ready for battle and so did my opponent.

We rushed at each other at the same time but I was clearly faster even though I wasn't at even half my full speed.

I let my opponent strike first. The skeleton warrior brought down the large swords on me from above. The skrike had a lot of power, but as a result, its user was full of openings. I carefully dodged to the side at the last moment, and used my dagger at the enemy's right arm. With the downward motion of the skeleton warrior and the upward motion of my strike, its right arm shattered easily.

(Hmm. This dagger is good.)

The skeleton warrior looking unfazed, picked up its sword with a single arm and rushed at me again. It did a similar attack, but its power and speed were considerably less than the previous attack. I used the same trick and dodged at the last moment, this time claiming its left arm.

*thump*

The broadsword fell down as it lost all support. The victory was clearly mine at this point, but the skeleton warrior charged again, without any weapon, trying to use something like a headbutt or a body slam. I used similar movement for the third time(it was good against enemies like this) and this time, I was confirmed of my victory as I saw the skull of the skeleton warrior fall to the ground.

Due to the momentum, its body kept going forward for about 20 metres before finally coming to a halt and disappearing. I went over and found my best item of the day.

Spike Shield

Crafted by a master dark elf, this shield has seen countless battles but has never suffered a scratch.

Effects:

STR+10

Skill:

Spike Out MP 10/second

Cause the surface of the shield to change into sharp protrusions.

(This is awesome!)

This shield had a skill of its own! It was my first time seeing something like this.

I immediately tried it out and about an inch long protrusions came out of it. It was was great for bash attacks against live enemies. Even for undead opponents, this thing was WAY better than my wooden shields.

Delighted at my equipment upgrade, I made my way around the boss room just for the heck of it. There was nothing mentionable in particular other than the 2 doors on either end of the room, one where I came from and the other most probably leading to the next floor. I decided to return but I found no one was here yet either.

(Well, my fight only took about 5 minutes, so I guess that's alright.)

As I had exited the boss room, the door had closed by itself so I decided to head in again.

The boss was there again.

It was right as I had hoped. The boss respawns every time you enter its chambers irrespective of the intervals of battle.

I fought the boss again with the same equipment for practice(and time pass). This time the drop was a normal iron sword but I obtained something else.

Dual Wielding LVL 1

Increased damage and speed when attacking with weopens in both hands.

(Ah. Finally.)

This skill was the main reason I had been using 2 weopens at the same time. In the end, I felt that dual wielding had both advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages being greater number of attacks. With a single weapon, once you attacked, you had to pull back for a bit to attack again. This was also a disadvantage though. For enemies like the skeletons, you didn't need more number of attacks but powerful ones which can be delivered more easily with a single weapon. Doing a large number of attacks to 'wound' the skeleton and wear it down bit by bit is useless. Another advantage is what I used just now, 2 different weapons in each hand. This gave diversity. In my case, I could't use the sword to attack as it would break and couldn't use the dagger to parry since it was too small, so if I had used one of them, there would have been something lacking always. But using dual-wielding, I was able to overcome that. Though, this is only suited to me since I can use my left hand almost as well as my right hand.

Delighted at having gotten a new item and a skill in two consecutive fights, I made my way back again. This time, there was someone there.