The rolled up monster accelerated as it rolled towards the Smith. Hurriedly he moved out of the path, just barely succeeding as the ball, taller than James was, whooshed past him close enough for the wind of its passage to blow against James and push him onward.

He continued for several steps to open more distance, then turned and readied his shield. The monster was unrolling itself and finding its footing after its initial charge.

First, the legs unfolded themselves, a dull scale-like texture revealed in the dim light. Then, the head and tail stretched out. The tail was long, at least twice the length of the rest of the monster's body. It seemed somehow stiff, as though it only wanted to bend in one direction, downward to wrap protectively around the monster's underbelly. The head was narrow by proportion, but still larger than any of the mole monsters' heads James had seen thus far. Triangular shaped and somewhat flat, the monster had a long mouth full of sharp little teeth and eyes full of hate, now whipping around to hiss at the Smith.

The Smith was already swinging his hammer.

James, his mother had taught him, if you're going to fight, it's best to be the one who starts the fight. Lots of fights can be won with one decisive blow, and if you win with the first blow, you don't ever take any blows back, see? So if you think a fight is inevitable, its normally best to be the one to strike first.

But that will never be the case for you, because the odds of you winning a fight, or even managing to land the first blow, are basically zero.

The brawler continued, but if someone insists on fighting with you, and you can't yield or get out of it, and they take a swing at you, the next best thing is to go ALL out in response. Maybe they just wanted to pick on you, or show off to someone. Maybe they're not really out for your life. But you can't know that. You need to fight back with maximum force in response to someone insisting on a fight and either hope you get lucky, someone breaks up the fight, or whoever it is decides you're not worth the trouble. But you have to fight like your life is on the line, because without a combat class, for you, James: every fight is a fight with your life on the line.

So never hold back, never fight fair, and try to win every fight with the first blow.

The moment the monster had revealed its head, the Smith had been moving. Shield raised, he advanced. One powerful step, then another. He drew back his Earth War Hammer with a full wind up and channeled all the mana he could into the enchantment.

The head whipped around to hiss at the Smith. The entire world was narrowed down to just that head, and the only thing on the Smith's mind was connecting his hammer with his target.

HISS-

[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

BOOM

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The sound of the collision was tremendous. It was by far the most powerful overhand swing James had ever attempted in his life, using every bit of strength and mana he could muster.

The hammer made solid contact with the creature's armored head, and the armor resisted the blow.

But the monster's neck could not stop the head from bowing down, down into the ground, where the momentum of the strike continued. Caught between the weight of the hammer strike and the hard ground, the monster's armor and skull fractured.

And James, my son, his mother had continued. Once you've got them on the ropes, keep swinging. Don't stop until they'll never be a threat ever again. Don't stop until someone physically pulls you off of them.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

Over and over the Smith struck at the monster's head as hard as he could until it exploded like a watermelon.

[Smith] Class has reached level 5.

[Enchanter] Class has reached level 4.

[Smith] Class Skill [Nerves of Steel] has reached level 3.

Only then, when the thoughts about his class levels increasing intruded, did James stop swinging his hammer.

But he didn't relax yet.

There was still the question of who had closed the door.

He looked around slowly, but the cavern was still. The only movement came from the flames on the distant walls of the room. Looking back up the stairs, the door was closed, but there was nobody nearby.

Why does this feel familiar? James thought. With a discomforting sense of deja vu, he hurried up the stairs and checked the door. There was no handle on this side, but when he gave it a testing push, it opened with no more resistance than its heavy weight.

At first, James propped it up with iron ingots from his magic back, before taking out a pickaxe and mining some stone from the passage wall. Although the wall looked carved, it was only a thin veneer. Beneath, it was normal cavern wall.

James replaced the iron ingots with mined stone, hoping that several hundred pounds of stone would be enough to keep the door open.

Or at least hinder someone trying to close it.

In the worst case scenario, he had most of his supplies in the magic bag with him. But the thought of being trapped away from his campsite was extremely anxiety inducing.

That issue solved, at least for the moment, James went back down the stairs into the cavern. Testing, he stepped onto the floor and whipped around to observe the door.

It remained open.

But then, he'd expected it to stay open this time.

The floor of the room was entirely level, save for the boulders scattered about. The boulders that had been in the path of the monster were shattered and crushed. James chose to walk in that exact path, growing more and more apprehensive as the situation grew more and more familiar.

The fires on the walls weren't torches, as he'd half expected. They were flaming mushrooms, blazing merrily away as if they didn't know mushrooms weren't supposed to burn like torches.

But James felt like they should have been torches.

Finally he approached the far wall, where the monster had been waiting when he entered.

As expected, there was a staircase leading further down, to a lower level.

And there was a wooden chest, knee high and twice as long as it was wide, waiting there to reward adventurers.

"This- this is… it really is…" James stammered, gobsmacked.

"I'm in a Dungeon."

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