[Combat Ended]
[9 goblins defeated. Contribution: 40%]
[Experience acquired.]
[Level increased.]
[You have obtained 1 Level-Up Point.]
“Yes!”
“W-What is it, Char?!”
“My Level went up!”
“Ah. That......? Congratulations, Char!”
For natives, the Level displayed by the System was quite literally their ‘level.’
The stronger someone was, the higher their Level.
But Summoners were a little different.
Like in a game, it was a number raised by killing monsters in the Labyrinth and gaining experience.
And what they gained from that was Level-Up Points.
Natives trained themselves to raise their level along with their Skills.
Summoners gained experience to level up, then used those Level-Up Points to raise Stats or Skills and ‘evolve’ them, increasing their combat ability.
That was why Summoners grew stronger quickly.
‘But at the same Level, natives are usually stronger.’
-Raising Stats with Level-Up Points is idiotic. Always use them on Skills.
-Someone who raised a Skill with the System’s power, and someone who raised it through their own training. Who do you think is stronger?
-With your talent, you should be able to master Common Skills on your own. So......
‘I’ll save them.’
That was why I had to save my Skill Points for now.
There was something else I had realized for certain this time as well.
‘The spirits are even more useful for scouting than I thought. Especially when I send them all in one direction.’
The wind spirit sensed the flow of air, while the earth spirit sensed vibrations through the ground.
The fire spirit perceived contrasts in light and the warmth of enemies, while the water spirit could detect, to some extent, the moisture within living bodies.
Each sense was faint, befitting lowest-grade spirits.
But right now, my consciousness inhabited all four spirits.
With all of those senses combined, I could detect the presence of enemies within fifty meters with remarkable certainty even when they were somewhere I could not see.
‘Good. Very good.’
Everything felt like it was falling perfectly into place.
Ever since I obtained the Goblin Basket, it felt as though this bleak world itself had begun opening a path for me.
“Come on, let’s go again!”
“Again?”
“Yeah. What? Tired?”
“No, I’m not. Fine. Let’s go!”
Drunk on the sense of accomplishment, we tore through the first floor of the Labyrinth like madmen.
In just half a day, we killed several hundred goblins and raised my Level all the way to 5, until goblins stopped giving me experience altogether.
We kept going until Kirk finally tried to stop me with an exhausted expression.
“Char, we’ve already found six exits. Let’s head back.”
“Hey. Don’t you want a Special Class?”
“What? Well, of course I do. But what does that have to do with......”
Kirk had been tilting his head, but at my meaningful expression, he shot upright again.
“Char, do you know something?”
“No. I just heard a rumor.”
“A rumor?”
“Yeah. It isn’t certain, but there’s a good chance. So. Want to go back?”
“No! Then we have to do it!”
Having lured the innocent Kirk into sharing my enthusiasm,
we indiscriminately slaughtered our way through the goblin tribe’s territory.
Until, at some point,
......we were surrounded.
Damn it.
“Run, Char!”
“I am! Running!”
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
“Kyaak! Kak!”
“Kyaruk!”
“Chwiet!”
Behind us, a green tide chased through the dark cave amid countless shrieks.
When had they gotten on our trail?
We had been happily slaughtering them, and before we knew it, hordes of goblins were pouring in from almost every direction.
“I told you! We should! Stop! Before it got this far!”
We had known goblins were highly sensitive to danger threatening their own kind.
But we had gotten so drunk on achievement that we went completely overboard.
“I didn’t! Know this! Would happen either!”
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
‘I thought a few dozen would come at most. I didn’t know there’d be this many!’
The only reason we could still talk while running was Jerik’s hellish training.
It also meant we still had some stamina left.
Which made the solution obvious.
‘We need to settle this somehow before we exhaust ourselves running away.’
The problem was that no matter which direction I looked, there were easily more than a hundred of them.
Had Jerik not emphasized it countless times?
-Once you are surrounded and start getting hit by paralysis needles, it is over. You have to finish things before that happens.
-At your level, hmm...... anything over thirty might become dangerous.
His warning remained vivid in my mind.
But.
“They’re! Herding us! Toward one place!”
“I know!”
It was obvious that letting them lead us around like this would be even more dangerous.
‘Think. Think!’
But no matter how hard I thought, only one plausible option came to mind.
‘The direction with the fewest is......?’
“Left! There are the fewest on the left!”
“What about the paralysis needles!? Should I use my Ability!? The cooldown on that thing is way too! Long!”
“I’ll! Handle it somehow!”
“What?!”
“Trust me!”
It was dangerous, but we had no other choice.
“Fuck! Here we go!”
Thankfully, Kirk trusted me and charged courageously to the left.
‘Here we go!’
FLASH.
Just as before, I burst light in front of Kirk as he charged.
Then I rushed after him.
Up to that point, it was exactly the same as before.
There was just one difference.
My spirits were watching the entire goblin force ahead of us.
‘I can’t miss a single thing. Especially the paralysis needles.’
With five different viewpoints including my own body, I could watch the surroundings without any blind spots and see attacks I normally never would.
In other words, like this, I had no blind spots.
‘Side!’
TAP.
SQUELCH—!
I dodged the crude bone knife coming from the side and thrust my spear.
Two goblins were skewered on the spearhead at once, sending a heavy impact up the shaft.
The problem was that there were a lot more than two goblins for me to deal with.
“Kyaak!”
“Kyaruk!”
“Chwik!”
One leaped over its impaled companions and swung a knife.
Another rolled in from the side and slashed at my ankle.
A third stabbed at my flank from the other side.
And one behind them was already raising a blowpipe.
‘Fuck.’
SWISH.
SLIDE.
I used Advance-Retreat Step to take one large step backward and evade their attacks.
SQUELCH—!
Then I lunged back in with Thrust, piercing one goblin through the torso and bursting open another.
Thrust had already reached Lv.3 even though I had not invested a single Skill Point into it.
Just an hour ago, I had been delighted, thinking I was clearly talented in real combat.
‘Tsk! Quit escaping reality!’
A paralysis needle had been fired from farther away while I was distracted.
WHOOSH.
“Kyaak!”
The spirit burned the blowpipe-wielding goblin’s eyes and stopped it.
The same went for another blowpipe aimed at Kirk, who was whipping up a storm of blood with his long spear right beside me.
‘Yeah. We can do this!’
Watching the entire battlefield, my spirits went after only the goblins preparing to fire paralysis needles, jabbing at their eyes or blocking their blowpipes.
My head began to swim and ache, but I could endure it for now.
“Hyaaah!”
CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!
Kirk swept his spear around and smashed two or three goblins apart at once.
Beside him, I repeatedly used Advance-Retreat Step and Thrust, steadily cutting down one or two goblins at a time.
But.
“More are coming from behind! Break through!”
“Uaaaargh!”
More goblins were entering from other passages than we were killing.
We slaughtered the goblins in one direction like madmen, desperately carving open a path.
SLICE.
“Ugh!”
A burning sensation struck my calf.
When I looked down, I saw a goblin that had stabbed through a gap in my armor with a crude knife.
“Hup!”
WHAM!
I immediately smashed its skull and got my revenge.
Only then did I notice burning pain scattered all over my body.
I thought I had managed to stop every paralysis needle I saw, but I must have taken quite a few shallow wounds without noticing.
‘Damn it. There’d better be an exit in this direction.’
I no longer thought about the Perfect Clear.
Survival came first.
Maybe even that thought distracted me.
Another burning sensation spread through my calf.
‘Damn it!’
SQUELCH—!
I repaid the favor immediately, but both my legs were tingling now.
‘I should’ve gone into debt and bought plate armor. Damn it!’
Maybe Kirk noticed.
“Char! Hold on!”
He looked back and shouted while frantically clearing the path ahead.
“Of! Course! Just! Keep breaking through!”
WHAM!
SQUELCH-SQUELCH!
Once my mind snapped back into focus, I stopped thinking about anything else.
I focused solely on killing the goblins in front of me.
I surveyed every direction through the spirits and intercepted paralysis needles before they could be fired.
Using those multiple viewpoints, I searched for every scrap of open space I could find, darting in and out with Advance-Retreat Step as I reduced the goblins’ numbers.
On top of that,
FLASH.
the occasional burst of light from the fire spirit blinded the goblins and became a lifesaving move that carried us through more than one desperate crisis.
Of course, the biggest factor was Kirk, who was slaughtering goblins like a madman in front of me.
‘Whoa.’
CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!
“Grinding them to pieces” was the only way to describe it.
‘Did this guy get even stronger?’
If my registered Skills were Thrust and Advance-Retreat Step, then Kirk’s Skill might as well have been something like ‘Jerik Secret Spear Art-Kirk Version,’ combining those two and even more.
-Kirk is only evaluated as Level 10 because he has not obtained a Class yet. Once he gets one, he will surge ahead.
There was no chance I could imitate those movements.
Still, I searched for anything I could learn from them as I moved my feet and swung my spear.
I might not have been on Kirk’s level, but I was slaughtering goblins diligently enough myself.
[Thrust’s Level has increased......]
[Advance-Retreat Step’s Level has increa......]
I let the System messages flow in one ear and out the other as I fought without end.
Then, at some point,
there were no more goblins in front of us.
“We broke through!”
Kirk shouted before I could.
It was an exhilarating cry announcing a change in our suffocating situation.
Unfortunately, what stood immediately ahead of us was a solid wall.
‘Damn it.’
Despair hit me too.
Kirk had already lowered his spear with an almost vacant expression.
Even though I could see seven goblins behind him firing paralysis needles his way.
There had never been a moment when we needed a flash more.
But.
I had used the fire spirit just moments earlier, so it was still on delay.
‘Damn it!’
There was no choice.
‘All of you!’
The wind spirit knocked the paralysis needles off course.
The water spirit jabbed at the goblins’ eyes and blocked their noses.
The earth spirit tripped the ones that were thrown off balance.
But the instant all of my spirits exhausted their strength at once,
I could not stop the remaining two goblins behind them from firing more paralysis needles.
‘Damn it. Reach!’
CLANG!
Managing to knock one aside with my spear was practically a miracle at my skill level.
I watched helplessly as the other paralysis needle flew past me.
CLANG.
Only when it struck Kirk’s armor did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
But the price of throwing my stance out of position was heavy.
The goblins that had overcome my spirits’ interference were already swinging their weapons right in front of me.
“Kyaak!”
“Chwiruk!”
SQUELCH. SQUELCH.
“Ghk!”
Crude blades sank into my flank and thigh.
My armor had already been reduced to rags and could no longer stop or deflect even weapons as crude as those.
“Fuck!”
WHAM!
I could not even swing properly.
The shaft of my spear struck the goblins and sent them tumbling away.
“Char!”
Kirk noticed my danger half a beat late and charged back like a madman, swinging his spear.
SQUELCH-SQUELCH-SQUELCH-SQUELCH-SQUELCH!
BANG!
Five thrusts in an instant, followed by a sweeping smash with the shaft.
Every attack struck the goblins precisely, piercing or bursting them apart.
I found myself thinking that Kirk had developed quite a bit during this battle too.
Then I tried to raise my spear.
It felt impossibly heavy.
“Char! Are you okay?!”
“I can...... I can still do this!”
I answered, but the hand holding my spear was trembling.
No.
My entire body was trembling.
‘Damn it.’
Once the wounds shattered the absolute concentration I had been maintaining, every part of my body began aching far worse than before.
I had no idea how many wounds I had anymore, and there was barely any strength going into my arms or legs.
But.
“Hold on, Char!”
I could feel how worried Kirk was about me.
How could I just collapse?
“I can do thiiis!”
I forced out a roar and drew up my mana.
I controlled it to slow the blood flowing from my wounds.
I tightened my muscles, dulled the fatigue, and tried to support my bones.
It was a degree of precise mana control that normally would have been far beyond me.
For some reason,
right now, the mana moved exactly as I wanted.
At the same time,
[Bartus Body Hardening Art’s Level has increased.]
[Bartus Body Hardening Art’s Level has......]
The System messages rang out one after another, and a little strength returned to my body.
‘Good!’
Of course, it was nowhere near a full recovery.
What mattered was that I had gone from feeling ready to collapse at any moment to being capable of fighting again.
My head felt a little clearer too.
“Your side!”
SQUELCH—!
“Char?!”
I killed the goblin aiming for Kirk’s flank, and he whipped around.
“Watch the front, idiot!”
“Yes!”
I could hear the joy in his answer, and a smile naturally appeared on my face as well.
To be honest, Kirk and I had still been somewhat awkward around each other before entering the Labyrinth.
Now he almost felt like a brother.
“Let’s kill every last one!”
“Yes!”
Right.
If there was nowhere left to run,
we just had to kill every enemy that came at us.
My rising mind sank completely into the battle again.
For some reason, the situation was just as hopeless as before, yet I felt like I would not fall no matter what happened.
Even the spirits’ vision seemed clearer somehow.
[Thrust’s Level has increased......]
[Advance-Retreat Step’s Level has increased......]
[Bartus Body Hardening Art......]
At some point, I stopped hearing the System messages that continued one after another.
And by the time the seemingly endless wave of goblins finally began showing signs of running out,
an unfamiliar roar broke me free from the thoughtless state in which I had been fighting.
-RROOOAAAR!
-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
The instant the nearly deafening roar echoed through the cave, the goblins began retreating instead.
Then they came into view.
Dozens of muscular goblins, each a full head taller than the ones we had fought until now.
And ahead of them,
a single red-skinned goblin riding a wolf.
“A Hobgoblin?!”
“A Goblin Lord?!”
We had called it different things, but we meant the same thing.
A variant that appeared once a goblin settlement grew beyond a village and reached the scale of a small town.
It was clearly a monster far above ordinary goblins.
Even the adventurer guidelines said that if a Novice encountered a Hobgoblin on the first floor, they should simply run.
But after enduring that endless goblin rush,
our thoughts were a little different.
-A Hobgoblin’s greatest ability is control over its horde.
-Goblins under a Hobgoblin’s command know no fear and will fight endlessly.
The wave of goblins we had endured until now was that monster’s greatest ability.
‘No wonder they kept coming until the bitter end.’
Put another way,
now that most of the goblins were dead, it was merely a bigger, stronger goblin.
“Looks like they were herding us toward that thing from the start.”
“Then if we kill that, it’s over, right?”
“Right.”
The end of this exhausting fight was finally in sight.
There was no way we would not think that.
Maybe it sensed that we were looking down on it.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
The Hobgoblin roared, and the goblin warriors charged first.
But.
“Let’s finish this!”
“Yes!”
With hope finally in front of us, we charged toward them without the slightest hesitation.
And then.
[Hobgoblin defeated.]
[You have overcome an unprecedented Monster Wave on Floor 1 of the Labyrinth.]
[An Achievement has been created. You will receive a bonus when obtaining a Class.]
[Level increased.]
At last, the battle was over.