Chapter 13: Second Floor (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13: Second Floor (3)
The total number of goblins charging toward me was nine: eight regular goblins and one goblin swordsman. But, although it was called a "swordsman," it was holding a scimitar that was only about two feet long. Compared to carving knives, it was definitely a long blade.
"Grghghgh!"
As a goblin charged out in front of the others, I gripped the end of my hammer and slammed it down on its temple.
Whack—!
One shot, one kill. The goblin turned into a cluster of light and disappeared before even hitting the ground. However, it was too early to be pleased.
I had only killed one.
"Grghghgh!"
Immediately after, two goblins with carving knives in their hands simultaneously flew at me from opposite sides. I lunged to the right and shoved one back with my shield, then turned around and hammered the other.
Whack—!
That made two, but I didn't even have time to catch my breath.
Having already reached my flank, another goblin drove in from behind. It was the goblin swordsman.
"Kyaaah!"
It made a snake-like sound typical of a swordsman. I immediately stopped moving and rolled onto the floor.
Whip—!
A knife passed just above me with a sharp ripping sound. The other goblins saw me roll to the ground and rushed in on cue.
This was why the second floor was several times more dangerous than the first floor. Four normal goblins could be subdued with brute strength, but with this many, it was impossible. There were bound to be injuries.
That is, if I were alone.
An arrow shot from within the bushes drilled through the forehead of one of the goblins. It seemed Erwen had taken up the sniper role once again.
Jump!
I used the resulting momentum from rolling on the ground to quickly stand up. Using the shield, I rushed into the middle of the enemy line. It was only natural for the warrior to be the tank.
"Come at me, you assholes!"
I blocked their attacks with my shield, swung my hammer, dodged, and kicked and head-butted the goblins away. While I was walking a tightrope with my boiling barbarian blood and running rampant in the middle of the goblins' formation, Erwen took position again and fired arrows ruthlessly.
Whip, thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The goblins were panicked by the arrows being fired every two or three seconds.
"G-Grk!"
But, because she was in a rush, the arrows didn't always hit their vitals.
Thunk!
But they always managed to hit either the shoulder, arm, stomach, chest, or thigh. At times, it was clear that she was infusing the power of an elemental into her shots because the arrows were on fire. In order not to be outdone, I bashed the heads of the goblin bastards one by one while they were busy trying to avoid the arrows.
Whack! Whack!
Soon, when the number of goblins had decreased to two, they attempted to run away. I grabbed onto the head of one who was running in earnest, and the other was handled by Erwen, launching an arrow into the back of its head.
[You have defeated the Goblin Swordsman. EXP +1]
When the battle was over, Erwen appeared from behind the bushes where she had been hiding and approached me.
"Are you hurt?"
"No. You?"
"Me neither."
"Good. We'll collect the mana stones, then."
After that, we split into two groups and went around picking up arrows and mana stones. We had managed to defeat the goblin swordsman in the melee, but acquiring the scimitar was impossible. That was because the goblins' clothes and weapons had also turned to light and disappeared, just like on the first floor.
"Here are six."
We had harvested eleven mana stones in total, including two from the goblins that Erwen had killed with a surprise attack. Considering I had only collected forty-four mana stones after an entire day of walking around on day one, I was more than satisfied. That battle had been less than two minutes long.
"Here, take it."
"Two? Thank you!"
I took nine and Erwen took two. This was because even though they were the same tier nine monsters, the stone from the swordsman had slightly more weight to it than that of the ordinary goblin.
"I guess we'll keep proceeding like this?"
"Yes. Was there anything that made you feel uncomfortable or in danger during this battle?"
"No, not really."
After that, I took time to review the battle and identify areas of improvement in our fighting method. I wasn't able to find anything to fix at the moment, but that was proof that we were still new to this.
As the number of battles increased and our experience accumulated, we would naturally get better and better.
"Okay, then let's move on."
"Okay!"
I checked the time one last time.
[01:31]
How much can I expect to earn by the end of day four?
***
We continued to move by expanding our radius around the portal. After increasing the radius by more than two miles, we began encountering groups of goblins about once every five minutes.
And naturally, we ran into a goblin archer.
"Kikikiki!"
The goblin archer, who made a slightly more distinctive sound than 'Grk,' was definitely a menacing opponent. It used a small wooden bow reminiscent of a harp as a weapon, and like other goblin weapons, the arrowheads were poisoned. The archer even knew how to use stealth magic.
However...
[You have defeated the Goblin Archer. EXP +1]
As long as I was paying attention, this barbarian body would react to all flying arrows, making it possible for me to dodge or block them with a shield. Well, I still needed to be careful, though.
"There is one more goblin archer! Get rid of it first!"
"Okay!"
I may have been a barbarian, but an arrow in the head would still mean instant death for me. When we reached the city, I'd get a helmet first.
"Let's rest for a while."
"Ha! Finally!"
After finishing one more battle, we moved to the empty clearing near the portal and rested.
[You have defeated the Goblin Swordsman. EXP +1]
When the battle was over, Erwen appeared from behind the bushes where she had been hiding and approached me.
"Are you hurt?"
"No. You?"
"Me neither."
"Good. We'll collect the mana stones, then."
After that, we split into two groups and went around picking up arrows and mana stones. We had managed to defeat the goblin swordsman in the melee, but acquiring the scimitar was impossible. That was because the goblins' clothes and weapons had also turned to light and disappeared, just like on the first floor.
"Here are six."
We had harvested eleven mana stones in total, including two from the goblins that Erwen had killed with a surprise attack. Considering I had only collected forty-four mana stones after an entire day of walking around on day one, I was more than satisfied. That battle had been less than two minutes long.
"Here, take it."
"Two? Thank you!"
I took nine and Erwen took two. This was because even though they were the same tier nine monsters, the stone from the swordsman had slightly more weight to it than that of the ordinary goblin.
"I guess we'll keep proceeding like this?"
"Yes. Was there anything that made you feel uncomfortable or in danger during this battle?"
"No, not really."
After that, I took time to review the battle and identify areas of improvement in our fighting method. I wasn't able to find anything to fix at the moment, but that was proof that we were still new to this.
As the number of battles increased and our experience accumulated, we would naturally get better and better.
"Okay, then let's move on."
"Okay!"
I checked the time one last time.
[01:31]
How much can I expect to earn by the end of day four?
***
We continued to move by expanding our radius around the portal. After increasing the radius by more than two miles, we began encountering groups of goblins about once every five minutes.
And naturally, we ran into a goblin archer.
"Kikikiki!"
The goblin archer, who made a slightly more distinctive sound than 'Grk,' was definitely a menacing opponent. It used a small wooden bow reminiscent of a harp as a weapon, and like other goblin weapons, the arrowheads were poisoned. The archer even knew how to use stealth magic.
However...
[You have defeated the Goblin Archer. EXP +1]
As long as I was paying attention, this barbarian body would react to all flying arrows, making it possible for me to dodge or block them with a shield. Well, I still needed to be careful, though.
"There is one more goblin archer! Get rid of it first!"
"Okay!"
I may have been a barbarian, but an arrow in the head would still mean instant death for me. When we reached the city, I'd get a helmet first.
"Let's rest for a while."
"Ha! Finally!"
After finishing one more battle, we moved to the empty clearing near the portal and rested.
"You can sleep first if you want."
"Really?"
This woman really didn't know how to turn down an offer. As I nodded my head with a smirk, Erwen dropped down to the ground and glanced at me like an expectant puppy.
"Um, what about the backpack and blanket?"
"...Here."
I set down the bag, which had gotten a lot heavier, and took out the blanket to cover her body. Then, less than a minute later, she began to snore.
Zzz—
Compared to the traditional barbarian style of snoring, it was definitely a small and gentle sound. She must've been really tired—up to now, Erwen hadn't made a sound in her sleep. Well, maybe it was because she felt more psychologically secure now than she had back then.
[18:20]
We hunted around the goblin forest for about fifteen hours.
Although we had to fight more than ten each time, the more we got the hang of it, the less dangerous the battles became and the faster they went. As a result, we were able to turn a profit that would have been unimaginable on the first floor. But there were also moments of high tension.
"Phew..."
As the cleared radius around the portal increased, we began to come across other adventurers. So far, there had been a total of eleven encounters. They had all been groups of three or more people, and sometimes there had been teams with someone of a fantasy race among them. Each time we crossed paths with these groups, we both distanced ourselves and passed by, as was customary, but each time, weariness came along as a companion.
I was more afraid of the adventurers than the goblins. Especially now, because there was a reason to be even more vigilant.
"The problem is that she's too pretty."
I looked at Erwen, who was sound asleep, and sighed. Even though she had been homeless for several days, her silver hair was still shiny, her amber eyes lured people in, and her facial features were those of a beautiful woman.
As a woman, these would be good things... but as an adventurer, I wasn't sure. In fact, in the parties of adventurers we had encountered, there had been some creepy bastards who had licked their lips as soon as they had seen Erwen.
I hoped I didn't have to worry about anything bad happening...
"Am I that pretty?"
What the fuck? You were just snoring.
"Go to sleep."
"Okay."
She seemed to have said that in her sleep, because she answered quickly and immediately started snoring again.
Zzz...
What is up with her?
The elves I had heard of were not like this.
***
Day four, day five, day six...
After entering the Goblin Forest, time flew by quickly, and soon it was the start of the seventh day. The day had finally come to leave the labyrinth.
"When I get back, the first thing I'm going to do is sleep..."
"Same here."
There was only one way to leave the labyrinth and return to the city—waiting for the floor to close.
At a set time, the labyrinth would spit out the adventurers on a certain floor back into the city. It was 168 hours for the first floor and 240 hours for the second floor. The higher the number of floors you climbed, the longer you could be active in the labyrinth. However, we planned to head down to the first floor and leave for the city just before the end of the seventh day.
"You can sleep first if you want."
"Really?"
This woman really didn't know how to turn down an offer. As I nodded my head with a smirk, Erwen dropped down to the ground and glanced at me like an expectant puppy.
"Um, what about the backpack and blanket?"
"...Here."
I set down the bag, which had gotten a lot heavier, and took out the blanket to cover her body. Then, less than a minute later, she began to snore.
Zzz—
Compared to the traditional barbarian style of snoring, it was definitely a small and gentle sound. She must've been really tired—up to now, Erwen hadn't made a sound in her sleep. Well, maybe it was because she felt more psychologically secure now than she had back then.
[18:20]
We hunted around the goblin forest for about fifteen hours.
Although we had to fight more than ten each time, the more we got the hang of it, the less dangerous the battles became and the faster they went. As a result, we were able to turn a profit that would have been unimaginable on the first floor. But there were also moments of high tension.
"Phew..."
As the cleared radius around the portal increased, we began to come across other adventurers. So far, there had been a total of eleven encounters. They had all been groups of three or more people, and sometimes there had been teams with someone of a fantasy race among them. Each time we crossed paths with these groups, we both distanced ourselves and passed by, as was customary, but each time, weariness came along as a companion.
I was more afraid of the adventurers than the goblins. Especially now, because there was a reason to be even more vigilant.
"The problem is that she's too pretty."
I looked at Erwen, who was sound asleep, and sighed. Even though she had been homeless for several days, her silver hair was still shiny, her amber eyes lured people in, and her facial features were those of a beautiful woman.
As a woman, these would be good things... but as an adventurer, I wasn't sure. In fact, in the parties of adventurers we had encountered, there had been some creepy bastards who had licked their lips as soon as they had seen Erwen.
I hoped I didn't have to worry about anything bad happening...
"Am I that pretty?"
What the fuck? You were just snoring.
"Go to sleep."
"Okay."
She seemed to have said that in her sleep, because she answered quickly and immediately started snoring again.
Zzz...
What is up with her?
The elves I had heard of were not like this.
***
Day four, day five, day six...
After entering the Goblin Forest, time flew by quickly, and soon it was the start of the seventh day. The day had finally come to leave the labyrinth.
"When I get back, the first thing I'm going to do is sleep..."
"Same here."
There was only one way to leave the labyrinth and return to the city—waiting for the floor to close.
At a set time, the labyrinth would spit out the adventurers on a certain floor back into the city. It was 168 hours for the first floor and 240 hours for the second floor. The higher the number of floors you climbed, the longer you could be active in the labyrinth. However, we planned to head down to the first floor and leave for the city just before the end of the seventh day.
"Today, we won't go as far as yesterday, and only move in the area."
"Okay!"
There were several good reasons to leave early.
For one, when the first floor closed, the portal would also disappear. That meant that there would be no way for us to retreat in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Food was also slowly running low. We had the option of buying food in exchange for mana stones from the adventurers we occasionally came across, but...
There is no need to overdo it.
Above all, we had no more than ten usable arrows left. No matter how sturdily the arrows were crafted, they were consumable items and therefore, losing them was inevitable. If they had been regular arrows made of wood back on Earth, they would not have been reusable in the first place. I was once again reminded that I was inside a different world.
[22:27]
After that, we continued hunting for a while before I checked the time and paused.
"Let's return now, just in case."
"Okay!"
We were now about two and a half miles away from the portal. At most, it would take forty minutes for us to reach the portal.
Of course, that would leave us some time to spare, but... it would set me more at ease if we headed down early rather than late.
I also had something to discuss with Erwen before we parted.
"Look out. Another trap has been set."
We were going back the way we came, but at some point, a trap had been planted in the forest again.
That meant the goblins had respawned.
Well, just because it was a respawn, that didn't mean they suddenly appeared out of thin air like in the game. In the forest, you often saw things that looked like rabbit holes. The goblins always crawled out of those.
Once, I tried waiting in front of one and even used Erwen's skill to start a fire, but nothing happened. I couldn't check what lay at the bottom either because the whole thing collapsed soon after I started digging.
Erwen was walking in front of me when she suddenly stopped.
"A group of goblins at one o'clock, about seventy yards away. Eight ordinary ones, two swordsmen, and two archers."
Now that she was used to it, she provided a perfect report without being asked.
"Are we going to fight?"
"Yes."
Long conversations were not necessary. When I nodded, as usual, Erwen took the lead and cleared our way through the bushes. Then she stopped me with a hand gesture, moved about ten yards closer on her own, took a seat, and pulled back the bowstring.
Wheeesh!
The arrow flew forward.
Thunk!
It was probably the goblin archer who had been hit. After all, I had told her to make them her top priority whenever possible.
"Mister!"
"Okay, you move back now."
Erwen shot one more arrow at the rushing goblins and then fell back. This maneuver was incredibly familiar to us by now. I ran forward and smashed the swordsman standing among the ordinary goblins with my hammer.
Whack—!
From the feedback I received from my hand, I knew there was no need to whack it twice.
"Today, we won't go as far as yesterday, and only move in the area."
"Okay!"
There were several good reasons to leave early.
For one, when the first floor closed, the portal would also disappear. That meant that there would be no way for us to retreat in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Food was also slowly running low. We had the option of buying food in exchange for mana stones from the adventurers we occasionally came across, but...
There is no need to overdo it.
Above all, we had no more than ten usable arrows left. No matter how sturdily the arrows were crafted, they were consumable items and therefore, losing them was inevitable. If they had been regular arrows made of wood back on Earth, they would not have been reusable in the first place. I was once again reminded that I was inside a different world.
[22:27]
After that, we continued hunting for a while before I checked the time and paused.
"Let's return now, just in case."
"Okay!"
We were now about two and a half miles away from the portal. At most, it would take forty minutes for us to reach the portal.
Of course, that would leave us some time to spare, but... it would set me more at ease if we headed down early rather than late.
I also had something to discuss with Erwen before we parted.
"Look out. Another trap has been set."
We were going back the way we came, but at some point, a trap had been planted in the forest again.
That meant the goblins had respawned.
Well, just because it was a respawn, that didn't mean they suddenly appeared out of thin air like in the game. In the forest, you often saw things that looked like rabbit holes. The goblins always crawled out of those.
Once, I tried waiting in front of one and even used Erwen's skill to start a fire, but nothing happened. I couldn't check what lay at the bottom either because the whole thing collapsed soon after I started digging.
Erwen was walking in front of me when she suddenly stopped.
"A group of goblins at one o'clock, about seventy yards away. Eight ordinary ones, two swordsmen, and two archers."
Now that she was used to it, she provided a perfect report without being asked.
"Are we going to fight?"
"Yes."
Long conversations were not necessary. When I nodded, as usual, Erwen took the lead and cleared our way through the bushes. Then she stopped me with a hand gesture, moved about ten yards closer on her own, took a seat, and pulled back the bowstring.
Wheeesh!
The arrow flew forward.
Thunk!
It was probably the goblin archer who had been hit. After all, I had told her to make them her top priority whenever possible.
"Mister!"
"Okay, you move back now."
Erwen shot one more arrow at the rushing goblins and then fell back. This maneuver was incredibly familiar to us by now. I ran forward and smashed the swordsman standing among the ordinary goblins with my hammer.
Whack—!
From the feedback I received from my hand, I knew there was no need to whack it twice.
"AHH!"
As I roared from the center of their formation, the goblins faltered.
Scared?
Whack—!
The moment the goblins hesitated, I dashed forward and shattered the other swordsman's skull.
"Grghghgh!"
I had now mastered these kinds of dogfights after numerous battles. The same was true for Erwen.
Whiz! Thunk!
She had already taken position and had officially started raining down arrows. There had been times when our attacks overlapped, and I almost got hit by an arrow, but those incidents had gradually disappeared. I had started to roughly predict who Erwen would prioritize and what to expect.
Well, the same went for her.
Whack—!
After less than a minute, the battle ended as I crushed the head of a goblin trying to escape. Earlier, I had heard that there were two goblin archers, but no arrows had flown toward me during the battle. It seemed Erwen's first two surprise attacks had taken down the archers.
"Good job, Erwen."
"Hehe."
"But if you take care of all the archers, tell me. It's annoying to keep worrying about them."
"I wasn't sure if the last arrow hit it or not."
Hmm, that made sense. Inaccurate information could, in turn, be dangerous. She really had grown a lot.
I was pleased for some reason.
"Hurry, let's take what we need and go."
"Okay!"
After that, I was walking around to pick up mana stones when Erwen urgently called out to me.
"Mister! There is something strange here!"
I quickly headed over and saw a ball of light the size of a fist floating in the air. I knew what this was. It was the first time I was actually seeing it in real life, though...
"...It's an essence. It's definitely from that goblin archer."
To be honest, there was a sour taste in my mouth as soon as I saw it.
Could we really be this lucky?
"E-E-Essence? This thing?"
"Yes. I'm certain."
"Uh, uh, uh, what should we do?"
As you could tell by this reaction, essences were worth more than gold to an adventurer. This essence was similar to the one found in the skill system of Dungeon and Stone.
"I-If you eat this, do you turn into a goblin?"
"Unlikely. You only gain a fraction of the abilities that goblins possess."
For example, the guy who tracked us down by our scent on the first floor had perhaps absorbed the Essence of a Blade Wolf.
"What do we do...?"
How many times are you going to ask the same question?
Although the ratio was 9:1, she seemed to covet this as well.
"Do you want it?" I asked.
"No, it's not that. But... if you want me to have it, then, well..."
I had no reason not to let her have it, but why did it feel like she was getting more and more thick-skinned?
I smirked and spoke up.
"If you promise me one thing, I will give you the essence."
The Essence of a Goblin Archer was not very attractive to me as a barbarian. It could potentially be of some use right now, but the total amount of essence that a character could absorb was fixed. If I wanted to get rid of it in the future, I'd end up spending a lot of money.
"...Really?"
"Yes."
As I took in her wide eyes, a laugh slipped out. It was strange, though, even when I thought about it now.
The odds of an essence being dropped while hunting a monster were very low. But the Essence of a Goblin Archer appearing instead of that of a regular goblin? It would be wrong to call this beginner's luck.
Is this how my bad luck turns around?
"I was planning on saying this when we were back on the first floor, but I'll say it now. Erwen—"
"Hey, you guys! What are you doing?"
Damn it, right as I was feeling lucky.
Just as I was about to get Erwen to promise me something, we heard a shout in the distance.
"Don't move!"
It was a team of four human adventurers. They had spotted us from afar and were now quickly closing the distance between us with hard expressions on their faces. To be honest, I knew this would happen.
"Mister?"
This was an appropriate development. Me? Lucky? No way. Ever since I was young, I had always been different. For me, luck had always been something you could only have when you earned it yourself.
"Erwen, prepare to fight."
Just like now.
"AHH!"
As I roared from the center of their formation, the goblins faltered.
Scared?
Whack—!
The moment the goblins hesitated, I dashed forward and shattered the other swordsman's skull.
"Grghghgh!"
I had now mastered these kinds of dogfights after numerous battles. The same was true for Erwen.
Whiz! Thunk!
She had already taken position and had officially started raining down arrows. There had been times when our attacks overlapped, and I almost got hit by an arrow, but those incidents had gradually disappeared. I had started to roughly predict who Erwen would prioritize and what to expect.
Well, the same went for her.
Whack—!
After less than a minute, the battle ended as I crushed the head of a goblin trying to escape. Earlier, I had heard that there were two goblin archers, but no arrows had flown toward me during the battle. It seemed Erwen's first two surprise attacks had taken down the archers.
"Good job, Erwen."
"Hehe."
"But if you take care of all the archers, tell me. It's annoying to keep worrying about them."
"I wasn't sure if the last arrow hit it or not."
Hmm, that made sense. Inaccurate information could, in turn, be dangerous. She really had grown a lot.
I was pleased for some reason.
"Hurry, let's take what we need and go."
"Okay!"
After that, I was walking around to pick up mana stones when Erwen urgently called out to me.
"Mister! There is something strange here!"
I quickly headed over and saw a ball of light the size of a fist floating in the air. I knew what this was. It was the first time I was actually seeing it in real life, though...
"...It's an essence. It's definitely from that goblin archer."
To be honest, there was a sour taste in my mouth as soon as I saw it.
Could we really be this lucky?
"E-E-Essence? This thing?"
"Yes. I'm certain."
"Uh, uh, uh, what should we do?"
As you could tell by this reaction, essences were worth more than gold to an adventurer. This essence was similar to the one found in the skill system of Dungeon and Stone.
"I-If you eat this, do you turn into a goblin?"
"Unlikely. You only gain a fraction of the abilities that goblins possess."
For example, the guy who tracked us down by our scent on the first floor had perhaps absorbed the Essence of a Blade Wolf.
"What do we do...?"
How many times are you going to ask the same question?
Although the ratio was 9:1, she seemed to covet this as well.
"Do you want it?" I asked.
"No, it's not that. But... if you want me to have it, then, well..."
I had no reason not to let her have it, but why did it feel like she was getting more and more thick-skinned?
I smirked and spoke up.
"If you promise me one thing, I will give you the essence."
The Essence of a Goblin Archer was not very attractive to me as a barbarian. It could potentially be of some use right now, but the total amount of essence that a character could absorb was fixed. If I wanted to get rid of it in the future, I'd end up spending a lot of money.
"...Really?"
"Yes."
As I took in her wide eyes, a laugh slipped out. It was strange, though, even when I thought about it now.
The odds of an essence being dropped while hunting a monster were very low. But the Essence of a Goblin Archer appearing instead of that of a regular goblin? It would be wrong to call this beginner's luck.
Is this how my bad luck turns around?
"I was planning on saying this when we were back on the first floor, but I'll say it now. Erwen—"
"Hey, you guys! What are you doing?"
Damn it, right as I was feeling lucky.
Just as I was about to get Erwen to promise me something, we heard a shout in the distance.
"Don't move!"
It was a team of four human adventurers. They had spotted us from afar and were now quickly closing the distance between us with hard expressions on their faces. To be honest, I knew this would happen.
"Mister?"
This was an appropriate development. Me? Lucky? No way. Ever since I was young, I had always been different. For me, luck had always been something you could only have when you earned it yourself.
"Erwen, prepare to fight."
Just like now.