Firstly, I'd like to show my source code.

-----Source Begin
class MonsterBattleExample
{
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        int monsterHealth, toHit, swordDamage;
        monsterHealth = 25;
        toHit = DummiesRandom.getInt();
        swordDamage = DummiesRandom.getInt();
        {
            System.out.print("A monster stands before you with a current health
of ");
            System.out.print(monsterHealth);
            System.out.println(".");
            System.out.print("Your attack roll is ");
            System.out.print(toHit); //Reveals random to-hit
            System.out.println(".");
        if (toHit <= 8)
            {System.out.print("Your attack is successful! Your sword does ");
            System.out.print(swordDamage); //Reveals random damage
            System.out.println(" damage to the monster!");
            System.out.print("The monster's health is now ");
            System.out.print(monsterHealth - swordDamage);
            System.out.println(".");
            System.out.println();}
        else
            {System.out.println("Your attack failed! The monster laughs!");
            System.out.print("The monster's current health is still ");
            System.out.print(monsterHealth);
            System.out.println(".");
            System.out.println();}
        }
    }
}
-----Source End

This compiles and runs just fine (with, of course, the proper get
method). My problem is, adding more code to continue the battle. Note:
I am not concerned what happens if the monster reaches zero health, I
just want to get there with the current set of coding.

As you can see, I start with the value of 25 for the monster's health.
After the first attack, lets say I do 5 damage to the monster (damage
ranges from 1 to 10). So now the monster is at 20 health. But when I
try an add coding to attack the monster in its current 20 health, I end
up with damage still subtracting from the original value of 25 (rather
then saving a new value in the variable). How am I able to tell the JVM
that I want to truely continue damaging the monster from each
succeeding attack?

Before I continue with the rest of my lessons, I wanted to learn how to
send the same variable through a chain of events that would change the
value. Thanks for the help!