Floor 1, Tutorial (5)

Ha Heijeong's first regression. Floor 94.

Dead climbers have no bodies. The system's voice reached them as souls alone, and to Ha Heijeong, that voice sounded strange. It was nothing like the flat, toneless voice she had heard all the way up the Tower.

A voice steeped in grief. A voice on the verge of despair.

Within it, Ha Heijeong could feel the Tower's emotions.

The Tower was grieving.

Earth's climb was over.

Feeling the Tower's sorrow, Ha Heijeong — bodiless as she was — wept.

But the voice of the message had not finished.

A voice crystal-clear amid her silent weeping.

In that instant, Ha Heijeong's vision flipped.

Ah...

So this bastard was the 'paladin.' That damned paladin.

Clank— At the scrape of the goblin paladin's shifting plate armor, I barely hauled my uncooperative body upright.

"Ugh!"

The shallow gash along my side from the thrust screamed in protest. The muscles around my waist refused to obey.

Maybe it was the heat radiating off the lava that surrounded me, but it felt like the blood was draining right out of me. My whole body burned. My vision swayed, and dizziness washed over me.

I clamped my left hand over my side and tightened my grip on the dagger.

The radiance that had glowed from the goblin paladin's collarbone was gone.

The paladin cocked its head from side to side.

Could I really take it on again in this state?

That last blow had been my desperate, all-or-nothing strike. Every ounce of strength I had, spent in one instant.

"Kkiik! Human, impressive! If not for the god! Kkiik, goblin would have died!"

The goblin paladin bent down and retrieved its sword and shield from the ground.

"Kkiik! But human. Now, you are a dead one."

"Fuck off, you asshole."

"Kikiik! Kikiik!"

The goblin paladin laughed — an ear-grating, cackling sound. That mocking laughter, so obviously laughing at me, sent fury surging up from my gut.

I'm going to kill this bastard. I swear it.

Sword and shield in hand, the creature advanced on me slowly.

As if I were already prey caught in its trap.

Thud!

...Huh?

The goblin paladin, which had been taking measured steps toward me, suddenly wobbled — and toppled over sideways.

What? Why did it fall?

Then, unbidden, the dagger's description surfaced in my mind.

Poison! That's it — poison!

This grimy black dagger had been smeared with the goblin's homemade poison.

I'd already healed that wound with a healing spell.

But that healing spell couldn't cure poison, apparently?

"K-Kiik. Hu-man. Poi... son......"

The thing writhed where it had fallen, pawing at the ground in a bid to rise, only to crumple again and again.

Whew. Now I could finally relax. The tension drained out of me all at once.

"Kki... iik. Kyuu... uh......"

Huh? It has a detox spell too?

I kicked off from where I stood and bolted. Pain tore through my side like it was splitting me in two, but I forced myself to ignore it and ran with everything I had.

Had I always been able to run this fast?

The goblin paladin's head filled my vision. I kicked it like a soccer ball.

Thwack!

"Po... i, krghk!"

"AAAGH!"

A jolting, electric sensation shot up from my toes and raced through my whole body.

In my panic, I'd smashed it with the top of my foot.

Damn it. I should've used the sole of my boot.

The moment I put weight on the foot I'd kicked with, an unbearable agony surged up through it. In the end I couldn't take it, and I crumpled to the floor.

"Kkiik. Kyuu......"

The goblin paladin tried to speak again.

Damn it. No time for this. Sprawled on the ground, I shot my fist out fast. Thwack!

"Eopo, khk!"

"AAAGH!"

A searing pain flared at the tips of my left hand's fingers. It felt like the bones had shattered. That hand was done for.

Gritting my teeth against pain that threatened to knock me unconscious, I pressed down on the creature's helmet with my forearm instead of my ruined hand. As its throat compressed, a gap opened, revealing green flesh beneath.

This is really the end. I have to kill it so thoroughly it can't even open its mouth.

Thk— I drove the dagger through the gap.

Thk—thk— Three stabs in all, and then I left the dagger buried in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its collarbone and let go.

I should have stripped off the helmet, but my left hand was useless. Pressing its chest down with my left forearm, I twisted the helmet up off with my right — and it slid free easily.

The goblin lay with its eyes closed, mouth hanging open.

Had it passed out from the poison?

I pulled the dagger back out of its collarbone and brought it down hard onto the creature's skull.

Crunch! The blade sank deep, splitting through bone.

Through the crack, green blood and brains oozed out, thick and glistening.

"Haah... haah."

Ragged breaths. Hot air panted out of my mouth.

Twitch— The goblin paladin shuddered once, briefly, and then went still.

I loosened my grip on the dagger and collapsed onto my side.

It was over. Truly over.

I had finally cleared this godforsaken Floor 1.

Right foot, left hand, side. Nothing on my body was in working order.

My head swam, and my vision kept blurring at the edges.

...Then why isn't it ending?

I clearly killed them all.Eliminate all enemies?

Don't tell me... Dobby?

"Kkiik! Human! Amazing! Revenge!"

Dobby, whom I'd completely forgotten in the heat of battle, had crept up right beside me without my noticing.

What — revenge? Oh, for fuck's sake.

Little bastard. Doesn't even know the debt he owes. This is why you never take in a bald one. Should've killed him when I had the chance.

"Kkiik!"

Dobby stretched both hands out toward me.

I had no strength to move, no strength to speak.

That's it, then. Go on. Kill me.

"Wound Healing!"

...Huh? Wound Healing?

A soft glow settled over my side and my hand and foot. The pain dulled, and strength flowed back into the wounded areas.

Ha... thank god. Dobby wasn't an enemy.

Sorry for calling you baldy. With the tension gone, my body went slack. It felt... comfortable.

Hold on. Wait just a second, Dobby, you little shit.

If you knew how to cast a healing spell, why were you just standing there watching the whole time?

"Dobby, why didn't you use that earlier, when I was fighting?"

Swallowing my anger, I asked as kindly as I could manage. He might have a change of heart and betray me, after all.

"Kkiik! Human! Didn't ask!"

"...Yeah. Right. Whatever."

Was Dobby just hopelessly oblivious, or was it simply because he was young?

Hmm. Young or not, if we're on the same side, shouldn't you just cast it?

Or... was he planning to crawl back to the goblins' side if I died?

"Then why didn't you tell me before any of this that you could use a healing spell?"

"Kkiik! Human! Didn't ask goblin!"

"...Fair enough."

He had a point. No — honestly, it had been beyond imagining. A goblin, casting a healing spell? And Dobby was just a goblin child.

The glow suffusing my body slowly faded.

Feeling strength return normally to my wounded areas, I pushed myself up off the ground.

Even after my wounds ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been treated, the notification window sat there unchanged.

I felt genuinely terrible about it, since Dobby had just patched me up — but something told me the reason that message wouldn't update was Dobby himself.

The circular arena floating amid the lava — the boss room offered no way out. Everything around us was an ocean of molten rock.

"I killed them all, so why won't it end? Dobby, could it be... you...?"

I fixed Dobby with a stare, apology buried in my eyes.

Reading something in my look, Dobby leapt straight up off the spot.

"Kkiik! Human! No! Dobby! Not! Enemy!"

He was so rattled that Dobby — who'd been calling himself "goblin" all this time — was now insisting on his own name.

Could I have missed one in the darkness before I reached the boss room?

No. If that were the case, I never would have made it here at all.

There was no path back, and the trial wouldn't have been sloppy enough to let something like that slip.

"Then why won't it end? It's just you and me in here."

"Kkiik! Dobby! Doesn't know!"

"Now that I think about it, you said something about revenge earlier. You mean you wanted revenge on me for killing your own kind? Is that why you turned on me?"

"Kkiik! No! Paladin! Dobby's enemy! Human! Avenged!"

Ah. Now I get it. Of course. No creature would treat my wounds out of genuine goodwill after I'd slaughtered its kind.

But even knowing Dobby bore me no malice, the message stayed unchanged. There was nothing to be done about it.

By the Tower's own definition, Dobby was an enemy.

I'm sorry, Dobby.

"Kkiik! Human! No!"

As I walked over to pick up the goblin paladin's fallen sword, Dobby backed away two steps, shaking his head frantically.

And as I bent to retrieve the sword, I saw it — something glowing on Dobby's chest.

A vivid purple light bleeding through his ragged clothes. Brighter than before.

...No way.

It had been strange. That necklace that wouldn't come off no matter how I tried to pull it free.

Dobby — a goblin absurdly young, out of place even in the Tower.

Was that necklace some kind of hidden piece?

I picked up the goblin paladin's sword.

"Hey, Dobby. Give me that necklace."

"Kkiik! Necklace! Doesn't come off!"

"Then just come here a second."

"K-Kiik!"

At the words come here, Dobby shuffled backward.

Come on, Dobby. It's not you I want — it's the necklace.

"Ugh, c'mon. I said come here."

"Kkiik!"

Dobby turned and started to run. Idiot.

There was nowhere to flee in this circular arena anyway.

"Hurry up. I'll be gentle."

"Kkiik! No!"

Thanks to Dobby's healing spell, my body was at least functional again, and I closed the distance fast.

I grabbed the nape of Dobby's neck, cornered against the wall, in one firm grip.

"Kkiiik! Kkiiiik!"

"Hey! I'm not killing you! I just want to take a look at that necklace!"

"Kkieeek! Kkiiiiiik!"

Apparently the not killing you part hadn't gotten through. Dobby thrashed and flailed in my grip.

Whew. Talking him down looked like a lost cause.

My body, already worn to rags from the blood feud with the goblin paladin, felt like it might give out at any moment.

No help for it. If I want to finish this while I can still stand, force is the only option.

I clamped my palm firmly over Dobby's mouth. The scream he couldn't release gurgled helplessly inside it.

Dobby's eyes trembled.

"Dobby, I'm so tired I could die here. If you don't want a beating, lie down on your side for a second."

Whether that finally reached him or not, Dobby's eyes found their focus again, if only barely.

Leaving those trembling eyes behind, I forced Dobby over onto his side.

When I drew the necklace out from under his clothes, the purple light flared even brighter.

I pulled the chain out long and laid it flat on the ground.

Be careful. Don't hurt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dobby. I raised the sword — then brought it down in one swift stroke.

Crack—! With the sound of splitting stone, a tremendous gale burst forth from the necklace itself.

"Uwagh!"

"Kkiiik!"

[Kkiaaaaaaaaak!]

A blood-curdling scream rose from the necklace and faded, little by little, into the distance.

The gale sent Dobby tumbling over and over sideways, and I lost my own footing against the wind and went down hard on my back.

The dust kicked up by the wind slowly settled.

Through the drifting haze, Dobby's figure emerged, little by little.

"...A golden... goblin?"

Dobby, once green, had turned a gleaming gold.

The jewel hanging from Dobby's necklace was glowing red.

Unlike before, Dobby regarded me with a calm, dignified gaze.

"The goblin, Fenrike, extends his deepest gratitude to the human whose name he does not know."

The golden goblin — no, Dobby? Fenrike? — bowed deeply at the waist.

Dobby's mouth moved as if he were saying something more, but no sound reached my ears.

Instead, the message updated. What could Dobby be saying right now?

So the necklace was the problem after all.

Wait. Hold on. Entering the Waiting Room?

No! I still haven't grabbed the goblin paladin's shield!

I broke into a sprint toward the shield.

I snatched up the shield looming in front of me.

Whew. Thank god. Got it in time.

Wow. I'd have been absolutely sick if I'd missed this.

A shield with a healing spell woven into it? That was a steal.

A hidden mission? Dobby's joining me? So he'll be climbing the Tower with me, then?

Even as the thought formed, a floating sensation rose through me, and my vision went white.