The Savior of Menil

All my stats had reached E+.

Before entering, I had spent the points earned from selling steel swords to purchase and consume four elixirs.

I had achieved D-rank stats, which in Easy difficulty were only reached in the middle floors. As these stats were the threshold separating the lower and middle floors, I was overflowing with power that couldn't be compared to before. At this point, my physical specs had far transcended those of a human.

-Kek!

-Thwack!

-Kerek-kerek!

As soon as I entered, I crushed the skull of a goblin that attacked me, then widened my eyes to scan the surroundings. There were no enemies in sight, but there were many presences nearby. It seemed they were rushing toward me, drawn by the cries of the goblin I’d just killed.

The theme was the same forest as the 1st and 2nd floors. When I kicked a goblin that burst through the bushes, its body folded in half, and it flew over 10 meters before slamming into a tree and dying instantly.

-Ting!

Feeling something strike the back of my armor and bounce off, I swung my weapon behind me and checked the rear. Beside a tree a short distance away, I saw a goblin shoving something into a blowpipe.

-Crunch!

I lunged forward and blew its brains out.

Checking the blowpipe and the leather pouch the goblin was wearing, I found a small pouch containing an unknown liquid and some sharp metal shards. Was this some kind of poison?

It was definitely something I couldn't afford to be hit by.

Anyway, even on the 3rd floor, with my items and stats, they were at the level where a single tap would kill them.

They weren't weaker than the goblins on the 2nd floor. Besides daggers, they used swords, broken spears, and even ranged attacks, which was quite troublesome.

It was just that I was crushing them with overwhelming specs, even on Hell difficulty.

As I continued to advance, crushing the skulls of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠goblins that kept appearing, I saw an NPC being attacked by goblins in a clearing without trees in the distance.

It was a girl, slightly taller than my waist, holding a basket in one hand and a staff in the other. Maybe an upper-grade elementary student?

"Mary!"

In front of the girl, I saw a black dog dying with several goblin daggers stuck in it. I also saw a few dead goblins. Judging by the fact that the dead goblins were charred black and there was fire burning around them, she seemed to be a mage.

The dog looked like it had suffered a fatal wound, and the girl's face was pale, suggesting she had likely exhausted her mana.

To think an NPC would appear in the forest like this—it felt like a scripted event where I was supposed to save them.

I reached the clearing in an instant and shoulder-charged the goblin aiming its blowpipe at the girl. The goblin died instantly, spraying blood from every hole in its body.

"Eek!"

The girl screamed in surprise at the goblin flying past her.

While the other goblins hesitated, I didn't miss the opening and took out the goblins near the girl first. It didn't even take a few minutes to finish off the rest. The difference in base stats was that significant.

The loot I could expect from goblins would just be rusty, blood-stained weapons, paralysis-inducing liquids, iron scraps, or inedible food, so I put off gathering them. I wiped the blood off my weapon and approached the girl.

"Hiiik!"

Maybe I looked a bit scary, covered in blood like this. But saving the dog that clearly belonged to the girl was more important. NPC rewards often increased that way.

[Mary]

So the dog's name was Mary.

The dog wasn't dead yet, but its eyes were rolling around, perhaps because it had no strength left. I pulled out the daggers stuck in it and poured a potion onto the wounds. After applying the external potion evenly, I poured a little of the internal potion into my hand and held it to its mouth; it stuck out its tongue and licked it up.

The girl, Emily, hugged the dog as its wounds began to heal, stroking it while bowing her head.

"U-um, I don't know who you are, but thank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you so much for saving Mary and me. I'm Emily."

[Emily]

The girl smiled as if relieved while stroking the dog.

I knew that encountering NPCs starting from the 3rd floor was an event that usually didn't happen until at least the 10th floor, even on Hard difficulty. But I had met one right on the 3rd floor.

As expected, Hell difficulty easily exceeded all expectations.

"A-adventurer? I'm an apprentice mage living in that village over there."

I had heard that NPCs had different names and appearances for every person who entered, regardless of the difficulty. The floors and locations where they appeared were all different, too.

It was the kind of event where people either praised or cursed it because the rewards were random if you reached the final stage after the encounter.

"A-adventurer? Please, say something..."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes! Yes! Thanks to you!"

It wasn't the mechanical response of a typical NPC; it was a living reaction. It wasn't just that she seemed human—the way she hugged the black dog and bowed her head repeatedly felt too realistic.

This was strange. I knew that even important NPCs in the Hard difficulty story didn't have reactions this human-like.

There were no characteristic mechanical responses or set lines. It was a raw, unfiltered reaction.

It felt like I was just talking to a real person...

"Goblins only come out from deep in the forest... I usually come with my mom, but today, of all days, I came out alone to pick herbs and this happened..."

"That's fortunate. By any chance, which way is the village? I've been traveling for a long time, so I need to restock supplies and get some rest."

"Traveling...?"

Confusion flickered in the girl's tilted head, but she soon opened her mouth.

"The village is this way. I'll be sure to reward you when we get back."

Emily cast some kind of magic on Mary and lifted her up in a flash. She carried the large dog, which was as big as she was, with ease and trotted ahead.

"It's a lightness spell. You treated her wounds, but she lost a lot of blood, so I want to keep her stable..."

When she saw me staring in wonder, she explained with a shy smile.

While moving toward the village, goblins attacked several times.

"I'll cast a support spell for you."

"This is strange. There are too many of them near the village, far from the goblins' habitat."

"Are there usually no goblins here?"

"The village guard handles the monsters, so goblins don't usually come down this far."

They were clever monsters with the ability to learn.

As I was harvesting goblin skulls, Emily narrowed her brows as if something were off, while roasting a goblin that tried to ambush her.

We had already dealt with dozens of goblins so far.

This wasn't a normal situation.

BOOM!

"If we go up that hill, you'll see the village!"

Hearing the explosion in the distance, I hurried my steps and climbed the hill. As soon as I followed her up, I saw hundreds of goblins clinging to the barricades of the village located on the high ground.

Arrows were raining down on the goblins from the barricades, and occasionally, fireballs blew away groups of them. Goblins were falling, but it looked like they were being overwhelmed by numbers. A section of the barricade had even collapsed.

The girl, who had been observing the situation, bit her lip, then suddenly straightened her posture, lifted the hem of her skirt slightly, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bowed her head.

"Emily de Menil offers her gratitude to the adventurer."

Was she a noble? Well, the era of the NPCs inside the Tower was around the Middle Ages, and although her clothes looked plain, I could see they were made of high-quality fabric.

She said that although the village was in crisis, it had nothing to do with me, an adventurer, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so I could leave. She said she would go to the village herself, and started rummaging through her pocket. At the same time, a notification window appeared before my eyes.

Scanning the gear of the goblins hacking at the barricades, they were all daggers and swords. I didn't see any high-tier ones like shamans.

Well, that explained why they couldn't even cross the wooden barricades with those numbers. As long as I didn't get crushed by the sheer volume, there didn't seem to be any danger.

"Adventurer...?"

"Put that away. You said you needed to restock supplies."

I waved my hand at the girl, who was holding out a red orb in her palms, telling her to put it away and hide in a safe place. There were too many of them; even if she was a mage, I couldn't guarantee her safety if she got surrounded.

"Thank you so much. If it gets dangerous, please run away."

I watched Emily nod, wipe away her tears, and head back the way we came, then started approaching the goblins at a brisk pace.

-Kek!

-Kireuk-kireuk!

Seeing the clear condition for the 3rd floor finally appear, I approached the goblins, and those who spotted me began to shout.

I switched from a brisk pace to a run and dove into the center of the goblin horde. Getting crushed by their mass could fix me in place and be dangerous, but the difference in gear and stats was so vast that I intended to sweep through them all at once.

Bam!

Thwack!

As I started sweeping through their rear, blowing off goblin skulls with one-shot kills, the goblins' focus shifted, and the pressure on the village began to subside.

"It's reinforcements!"

The morale of the people defending the village rose, and a fiercer rain of arrows began to fall upon the goblins.

"Burn!"

-BOOM!

With a high-toned shout, an explosion occurred that felt hot even from far away.

Was that Emily's mother?

Looks like a family of fire mages.

I mechanically thrashed the goblins, focusing on stirring them up without even checking if they were dead. Since it took too long to kill them one by one, I decided that it was strategically sound for me to draw their aggro and strike the dangerous spots directly, while the villagers and the mage suppressed them.

"Don't worry about me, keep attacking! Magic is fine as long as it's not a direct hit!"

I shouted while leading the goblins around. They had been hesitant to attack in my direction for fear of hitting me, but when I yelled loudly, a fireball flew behind me and exploded.

Seeing that I barely took any damage, arrows and magic poured down every time a large number of goblins gathered behind me.

After sweeping through the battlefield for a long time, the goblins were almost annihilated. The village gates opened, and people wielding spears rushed out, pairing up in threes to start killing the remaining goblins.

A few escaped, but we succeeded in killing most of the goblins without suffering any damage.

I didn't return immediately. People started to crowd around me. I saw a mage with red hair reaching her waist, a large pointed hat, a black robe, and a staff reaching her chest held in both hands. Was that Emily's mother?

Among them, a handsome, blonde man of considerable build, carrying a massive greatsword, stepped to the front.