The Goblin Pulverizer
Is this enough?
Nexkia's spacesuit.
And the Ring of Vampirism.
I had been advised by the Association to gear up with some basic items.
But armor is always so suffocating...
I had looked over the starter items that other hunters usually bought, but none of them caught my eye.
Sure, they would increase my defense. But I absolutely loathed the sluggish feeling that came with wearing them.
The only things I had actually bought were basic boots and gloves. I skipped the rest because I didn't see the point.
Nexkia's spacesuit was more than enough anyway. Besides, wasn't it just a matter of stabbing the enemy before they could hit me?
Even if I do get hurt, I can just recover my health with the Ring of Vampirism.
Plus, I had plenty of potions from the reward boxes I'd opened. And most importantly, the Resurrection Herb!
If worst came to worst, I could just revive myself with the Resurrection Herb. Though I highly doubted I'd ever actually need to use it.
That aside, I never imagined my luck with items would be this atrocious.
Other hunters seemed to pull weapons and armor out of reward boxes left and right, yet I hadn't obtained a single weapon so far.
Even though I had earned high-grade reward boxes thanks to setting record-clear times, opening them only yielded Resurrection Herbs or Auto-Clear Tickets. I currently had three Auto-Clear Tickets. Three of them.
Of course, Auto-Clear Tickets were excellent items. They cleared the floors for you without you having to climb them yourself.
But there was a catch. They could only be used on floors you had already cleared, and the clear was only treated as an A-rank.
When you used an Auto-Clear Ticket, the reward box only gave gold at best. Furthermore, since my current floor level wasn't very high, the types of rewards I could get were also limited.
In other words, I either had to sell them or save them for the higher floors.
Naturally, if I listed them on the shop, buyers would flock to them. But I wasn't exactly strapped for cash right now... So for the time being, I planned to hold onto them.
It would be amazing if a weapon dropped to celebrate clearing the 10th floor...
I wasn't even hoping for special abilities anymore. If only a decent weapon would drop! I would cherish it and use it forever!
I wouldn't care if it was a dagger, a sword, a hammer, an axe, a spear, or a morning star!
"Sigh..."
Why was my luck with reward boxes so terrible?
I let out a deep sigh and entered the tower as usual.
Whoosh!
The 10th floor didn't seem particularly different.
At least, that's how it looked to me.
The tutorial up to the 9th floor was literally the 'beginner' zone. The maps were highly randomized, and things were frequently added or deleted as if it were a test server. But from the 10th floor onward, the story changed.
Goblins!
Goblins ruled the 10th-floor range. Up to the 13th floor, ordinary goblin soldiers appeared. From the 15th floor, goblin warriors. From the 17th floor, goblin wolf riders. And finally, on the 19th floor, the goblin shaman would show its face.
The goblin shaman was so tricky to deal with that even so-called 'rookie' hunters struggled against it. It was the main culprit behind the 19th floor being dubbed the 'Floor of Wailing.' You could call it a rite of passage.
Whether one could defeat the goblin shaman or not was practically the dividing line between a low-level hunter and a Mid-Level Hunter.
Well, the 19th floor was still a long way off.
Whoosh...
A lukewarm breeze carried the scent of something burning.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The sound of drums echoed from afar. I quickly hid in a crevice between the rocks.
Looking toward the source of the sound, I saw goblins dancing around a roaring fire.
"Keeheehee!"
"Keeheek!"
Covered in blood, the goblins danced in a trance. And in their midst, a red goblin adorned with a necklace of small skulls and various bone ornaments stood with closed eyes, muttering something.
Is that... a shaman?
Didn't only goblin soldiers appear on the 10th floor? The moment that thought crossed my mind, the red goblin stopped chanting. Then, a red glow shimmered above the heads of the dancing goblins.
...A buff!
Blessed by the shaman, the goblins shrieked and raised their weapons. The goblin shaman smirked at the sight and turned around.
Ah, I get it now. The shaman's role was just to apply the buff and leave. It was true that only goblin soldiers fought on the 10th floor!
"Keeheeheek!"
Leaving the goblin soldiers to dance frantically in the flames, the goblin shaman walked into the darkness. Was the real battle going to start once that guy disappeared? The moment I swallowed hard in anticipation and tension—
Are you going to let him leave alive?
A single voice echoed in my head. My brain jolted as if shocked by electricity, and before I knew it, my hand was already gripping the elf's sword.
It was that again. An urge to slaughter so intense it made my head throb.
Is this right?
Instinct pumped my heart to the bursting point, while reason tried to block it. The 10th floor is just an annihilation match where I only need to kill the goblin soldiers, right?
I knew that. Does it make sense to go out of my way to kill the goblin shaman, the boss of the 19th floor? I knew, but...
"Ah..."
I wanted to kill him. Like withdrawal symptoms, the hand holding my sword trembled violently.
Slide.
And before I could even make up my mind, dash! My body lunged forward on its own.
"Keehit?!"
I felt the gazes of dozens of goblins lock onto me, but I didn't care.
"Human!"
"It's a human!"
Fueled by the shaman's buff, their fighting spirit flared. Of course, that didn't matter either.
Slash!
I rushed forward, carelessly hacking at the goblins that lunged at me. Because I swung my sword so haphazardly—
"Kill him!"
"Keeeeeek!"
The goblins only had their limbs severed. They didn't die, so Killing Time didn't even trigger. That was how rushed I was.
Kill him. Don't let him leave alive!
My head throbbed painfully once more. Swallowing the breath that had risen to the back of my throat—
Whoosh!
I thrust the elf's sword forward, aiming precisely for the goblin shaman's neck.
"Pant, pant..."
When I snapped out of it, I was already drenched in blood from head to toe. The fire the goblins had lit was still roaring, but the goblins that had been dancing around it with menacing momentum were gone.
Or rather, to be precise, most of them were sprawled on the ground with their heads split in half.
There are so many of them...
There were far more dead goblins than the ones I had initially seen. The moment the goblin shaman spotted me, he had summoned other goblins.
Goblin warriors. Goblin wolf riders. Even after the goblin shaman died, they kept pouring out like links of a sausage. In a trance, I had...
Stabbed them. Slashed them. Split them. Crushed them. Well, after doing all that, it was suddenly over.
Along with a new achievement. Quite a few hunters had unlocked the Goblin Pulverizer achievement. However, wasn't it supposed to be obtained only after killing all the goblins from the 10th to the 19th floor?
"Ah...!"
Had I technically met the conditions? Since I had killed not only the goblin soldiers, but also the goblin warriors, goblin wolf riders, and even the final boss, the goblin shaman, that the shaman had summoned... It was true that I killed them all.
"Phew..."
No wonder I felt a bit tired. I cleared away the pile of goblin corpses and sat down in front of the crackling campfire.
Ah, the blood was making me feel sticky and uncomfortable. If Nairin were here, I could have had her summon a water spirit or whatever to wash my face.
I wiped my face roughly with my hand, then pulled a potion out of my inventory and drank it.
You are already at maximum health.
Yeah, I know. I didn't drink it because I needed healing. I just drank it because I was thirsty.
Anyway, since I got the Goblin Pulverizer achievement right here on the 10th floor, the remaining nine floors would be a breeze, just like when I got the Undead Slayer achievement. Oh! I could even carry my party members. Maybe we should run the 11th floor together to level up. I should contact them once I return.
*Gulp, gulp.*
You are already at maximum health.
Ignoring the message, I popped open another potion. Suddenly, a bright light flashed before my eyes.
Quest Cleared!
Rewards are being distributed.
Mmh. Time to open a box. When I cleared the Undead Slayer achievement, I got a Diamond Box. Will it be diamond this time too?
*Thud!*
I caught the falling box, but it wasn't diamond. "What, it's platinum?" Maybe it was because I wasn't the first to get the Goblin Pulverizer achievement. Well, still not bad. There were plenty of hunters who had never even seen a Platinum Box in their entire lives, so this was decent.
However...
"Isn't it about time a weapon dropped?"
I stared at the box for a long moment before carefully clicking it open.
◈ Stealth Increase
◈ Certain probability to automatically evade the first attack
It wasn't a weapon this time either. Still, looking at the description, it seemed like a pretty good piece of armor. The only catch was... Armor?
No matter how much it boosted my defense, I absolutely hated anything that restricted my movement.
Item will be destroyed if equipping is refused.
It looked like a bound item that couldn't be resold. As I reached my hand into the box, a literal 'shadow' seeped out of it.
And then, slide... The 'shadow' flowed out like black mist and merged directly with my own shadow.
Huh? It was called armor, but I didn't actually wear it?
The shadow of the cursed blood fiend protects you.
Oh! So that's how it worked. This was actually better! It wouldn't get in the way at all. It was perfect for me! For something from a Platinum Box, I liked it a lot!
If the blood supply is cut off, the owner's own blood will be consumed.
Ah. So that condition was why it had the 'Cursed' title.
"Don't worry," I smirked, looking down at my elongated shadow. "I can feed you as much blood as you want."
It wasn't a bluff. Even now, the blood of the goblins was soaking the ground wet.
Wow. What kind of day is this? I even get a skill? What should I choose this time?
Last time, Flawless Sovereign was quite tempting. If something similar pops up, should I choose that? People say status ailments are no joke from the 30th floor onward.
Re-evaluating abilities...
Trait-exclusive special skill unlocked.
You have acquired the special skill: Death Slash.
Huh? A trait-exclusive special skill? What is this?
Death Slash
Instantly kills any target whose remaining health is below 30%.
Reading the description closely, it was an area-of-effect skill. This meant I wouldn't have to manually slit every single enemy's throat anymore. It would be perfect for sweeping away small fry all at once.
Especially since goblins always roamed around in hordes.
I got the perfect skill at just the right time.
I'd have to try it out to know for sure, but I had a good feeling about this.
I should contact my party members as soon as I return.
Grinning from ear to ear, I closed the skill window.