Chapter 13 - 2nd Floor (Part 3)

 

There were 9 goblins coming at me in total: 8 of them were ordinary goblins, and 1 was a swordsman goblin. But, although he was called a "swordsman", he had a scimitar in his hands only about two feet long.

Compared to carving knives, it was definitely a great blade.

"Grghhhh!"

Watching the goblin attacking from the front, I struck him in the temple with a hammer clutched in my hand.

*Blow!*

One blow, one kill. The goblin turned into a ball of light and disappeared before it even had time to fall to the ground. However, it was too early to rejoice.

I killed only one.

"Grghhhhh!!

Immediately afterward, two goblins with carving knives in their hands simultaneously flew at me from different directions. I rushed to the right and pushed one away with my shield, then turned around and hit the other.

*Blow!*

There were two fewer of them, but I didn't even have time to catch my breath.

Another goblin had already swooped down on my flank. It was a goblin swordsman.

"Kaaaa!"

He let out a snake-like sound that was characteristic of a swordsman. I immediately stopped moving and rolled on the ground.

*Whoosh!*

The knife passed right over me with a sharp tearing sound. The rest of the goblins saw me roll to the ground and rushed after me.

That is why the 2nd floor was several times more dangerous than the 1st. Four ordinary goblins could be suppressed by force, but with so many, it was impossible. There would definitely be injuries.

That is, if I were alone.

*In here!*

An arrow shot from the bushes pierced the goblin's forehead.

It seems that Ervena has taken the sniper position again.

*Jump!*

I took advantage of the bounce off the ground to get up quickly.

Using my shield, I rushed into the middle of the enemy formation. It was natural for a warrior to be an aggressor.

"Come at me!" Assholes!

I blocked attacks with my shield, swung my hammer, dodged, kicked, and knocked off goblin heads. As I walked on the tightrope with the boiling blood of a barbarian and ran in the center of the goblin formation, Ervena took up her position again and shot arrows like crazy.

*Whoop, whoop! Knock! Knock!*

The goblins were in a panic from the arrows fired every 2-3 seconds.

"G-grk!"

But because she was in a hurry, the arrows didn't always hit vital points.

*In here!*

But they always hit either the shoulder, or the arm, or the abdomen, or the chest, or the thigh. At times, it was seen that she was infusing elemental power into her shots, because the arrows were burning with fire. In order not to lose to her, I smashed the heads of the goblin bastards one by one as they were busy trying to avoid the arrows.

*Blow! Blow!*

Soon, when the number of goblins was reduced to two, they tried to escape. I grabbed the head of one, who began to run like crazy, and the other was dealt with by Ervena, who shot an arrow at the back of his head.

[You defeated the Goblin Swordsman. Experience +1].

When the battle was over, Ervena appeared from behind the bushes where she was hiding and came up to me.

"Are you wounded?"

— No, I don't. How about you?

"Me too.

"Good. Then we will collect mana stones.

After that, we split into two groups and went to collect arrows and mana stones. We managed to defeat the goblin swordsman in hand-to-hand combat, but it was impossible to get the scimitar.

This was because the goblins' clothes and weapons also turned into light and disappeared, just like on the 1st floor.

— Here are 6.

A total of 11 mana gems were collected, including from two goblins that Ervena killed in a surprise attack. Considering that on the first day, I collected 44 mana gems by walking around all day, I was more than satisfied. The battle took less than two minutes.

"Here, take it."

— 2? Thank you!

I took 9, and Erven took 2. This was because although they were rank 9 monsters, the swordsman's stone was slightly heavier than that of an ordinary goblin.

"I suppose we continue to act in the same vein?"

"Yes, was there anything that made you feel uncomfortable or in danger during this battle?"

"No, nothing special.

After that, I took the time to analyze the battle and find improvements in the combat method. At this point, I couldn't find anything that could be fixed, but it was proof that we were still immature.

As the number of battles increases and we gain experience, we will naturally get better and better.

"Okay, then let's move on.

"Good!"

I checked the time one last time.

[01 :31]

How much can I expect to earn by the end of Day 4?

***

We kept moving, increasing the radius around the portal.

And after increasing the radius by more than 2 miles (3.2 km), we encountered a group of goblins about once every 5 minutes.

And naturally, we met a goblin archer.

"Kikiki!"

The Goblin Archer, who made a slightly more distinctive sound than "Grk", was definitely a formidable opponent.

He used a small wooden bow resembling a harp as a weapon, and like the other goblins, the arrowheads were poisoned.

The archer even knew how to use invisibility magic.

However...

[You defeated the Goblin Archer. Experience +1]

While I was concentrating, the body of this barbarian reacted to all the flying arrows, and it was possible to dodge or block them with a shield.

However, I have to be careful.

"There's another goblin archer!" Get rid of it first!

"Good!"

I may be a barbarian, but an arrow to the head still means instant death. When I get back to town, I'll need to buy a helmet first.

"Let's rest for a while."

"Ha!" At last!

After finishing another battle, we moved to an empty clearing near the portal and rested.

"You can sleep if you want."

"Really?"

This woman really didn't know how to refuse. When I nodded my head with a grin, Ervena sat down in an empty clearing and looked at me like a waiting puppy.

"Um, what about a backpack and a blanket?"

— ... Here.

I put down my backpack, which was much heavier, and pulled out a blanket to cover her body. Then, in less than a minute, she began to snore.

*Snore*...

Compared to the traditional barbarian style, it was a small and soft sound. She must be very tired.

Until now, Ervena had not made any sounds while sleeping. Perhaps it was because she felt more psychologically secure now than she did then.

[18:20]

We hunted in the goblin forest for about 15 hours.

Although we had to fight more than ten each time, the more we delved into the matter, the less dangerous the situations became and the faster they passed. As a result, we were able to make a profit that would have been unimaginable on the 1st floor. But there were also moments of high tension.

"*Phew*...

As the radius of cleared space around the portal increased, we began to encounter other explorers. So far, there have been a total of 11.

All of them were a group of 3 or more people, and sometimes teams with otherworldly views met. At each meeting, we, as usual, distanced ourselves and passed by, but each time it was very stressful for us.

I was more afraid of explorers than of goblins. Especially now, because there was a reason to be even more vigilant.

I looked at Ervena, who was fast asleep, and sighed.

"The problem is that she is too beautiful.

Even though she had been wandering for days, her silver hair was still shiny, her amber eyes attracted people, and her facial features spoke of a beautiful woman.

For a woman, all this would be luck... But as a researcher, I wasn't sure. In fact, among the group of explorers we met, there were several creepy bastards who licked their lips as soon as they saw Ervena.

I hoped I wouldn't have to worry about something bad happening...

— ... Am I so beautiful?

What the hell? You've just been snoring.

"Sleep."

"Good.

It seemed that she had said it while she was sleeping, because she answered fluently and immediately began to snore again.

*Snoring*...

What's wrong with her?

The elves I saw in the game weren't like that.

***

Day 4, Day 5, Day 6...

After entering the Goblin Forest, time passed quickly, and soon it was the beginning of the 7th day. Finally, the day came to leave the labyrinth.

"When I come back, the first thing I'll do is sleep..."

"Me too.

There was only one way to leave the maze and return to the city.

Wait for the floor to close.

At the appointed time, the labyrinth spat out the researchers from the floor back into the city. 168 hours on the 1st floor, 240 hours on the 2nd. The higher the floors, the longer you could stay in the labyrinth. However, we planned to go down to the 1st floor and leave the city just before the end of the 7th day.

"Today we will not go as far as yesterday, and we will move only in the vicinity.

"Good!"

There were several reasons for leaving early.

When the 1st floor closes, the portal will disappear as well.

This meant that in the event of unforeseen circumstances, there would be no way to retreat.

The food was also gradually running out. There was also the ability to buy food in exchange for mana gems from explorers we occasionally met, but...

Do not overdo it.

First of all, we had no more than ten usable arrows left. No matter how sturdily the arrows were made, they were expendable, and therefore their loss was inevitable. If the arrow had been made of wood back on Earth, it would not have been reusable. I was once again reminded that I was in another world.

[22:27]

After that, we continued hunting for some time when I checked the time and paused.

"Let's go back now, just in case."

"Good!"

We were currently at a point about 2.5 miles from the portal. At best, it will take 40 minutes to reach the portal.

Of course, this left us a little time to spare, but... I would have been calmer if we had descended sooner rather than later.

Before we parted, I had something to discuss with Ervena as well.

"Look out. Another trap.

We returned the same way we came, but at some point a trap was set in the forest again.

This meant that the goblins had reappeared.

Well, just because it was a respawn didn't mean they suddenly appeared out of thin air like in the game. In the forest, you could often see something that looked like a rabbit hole. Goblins always crawled out of them.

I once tried to wait in front of one of them and even used Ervena to light a fire, but there was no response. I also couldn't check what was at the bottom because it all collapsed shortly after I started digging.

*Step*

Ervena was walking in front of me when she stopped.

"A group of goblins about 70 yards away for an hour. 8 regular, 2 swordsmen and 2 archers.

Now that she was used to it, she gave excellent instruction without even being asked.

"Are we going to fight?"

— Yes.

There was no need for long conversations. When I nodded as usual, Ervena took the initiative and cleared a path through the bushes. Then she stopped me with a gesture of her hand, moved 10 meters away, sat down and pulled the bowstring.

*Whoosh!"

The arrow flew forward.

*In here!*

The arrow probably hit the goblin archer. In the end, I told her to make them a priority whenever possible.

"Uncle!"

"Okay, now step back.

Ervena fired another arrow at the hurrying goblins and stepped back. This maneuver was already so familiar to us. I ran forward and smashed the swordsman standing among the ordinary goblins with a blow of my hammer.

*Blow!*

From the sensations that were transmitted to my hand, I realized that there was no need to hit him twice.

"AHH!"

As I roared from the center of the formation, the goblins backed away.

Scared?

*Blow!*

The moment the goblins hesitated, I quickly rushed forward and blew up the head of the other swordsman.

"Grghhhh!"

I have already mastered these types of duels thanks to numerous battles.

It was the same with Ervena.

*Свист! Удар!*

She had already taken up a position and officially began to shower me with arrows. There were times when our movements crossed and I almost got hit by arrows, but these incidents gradually came to naught.

I began to roughly predict whom Ervena would prefer, what circumstances should be expected... It was the same with her.

*Blow!*

Less than a minute passed, and the battle was over when I crushed the head of a goblin who was trying to escape. Earlier, I heard that there were 2 goblin archers there, but during the battle, not a single arrow flew in my direction. It seems that Ervena's first two surprise attacks destroyed the archers.

"Good job, Ervena.

"Hehe.

"But if you can deal with all the archers, tell me." It's frustrating to worry about them all the time.

"I wasn't sure if the last arrow hit him or not.

Hmm, that makes sense. Inaccurate information can be dangerous. She really grew up a lot.

For some reason, I was pleased.

"Hurry up, let's get everything we need and go."

"Good!"

After that, I was walking around collecting mana stones when Ervena urgently called me.

"Uncle!" There's something strange here!

I walked quickly and saw a ball of light the size of a fist floating in the air. I knew what it was.

It was the first time I had seen this in real life...

— ... This is the essence. It's definitely from that goblin archer.

To be honest, as soon as I saw this, I had a sour taste in my mouth.

Are we really that lucky?

"Uh-essence?" That thing?

— Yes. I'm sure.

"Uh, uh, uh, what are we going to do?"

As you can tell from this reaction, the essence was worth more to the researcher than the treasure. Essence was similar to the skill system in Dungeon & Stone.

"If you eat this, will you turn into a goblin?"

— Of course not. You will only gain a fraction of the abilities that the goblin archer possessed.

For example, the guy who tracked us down by smell on the 1st floor. Perhaps this ranger had absorbed the Essence of the Blade Wolf.

"What should we do...?"

How many times are you going to ask the same question?

Although the ratio was 9:1, she seemed to crave that too.

"Do you want that?"

"No, that's not it. But... if you don't want to, then, well...

I had no reason not to give it to her, but why did it seem to me that she was getting thicker and thicker?

I grinned and said.

"If you promise me one thing, I'll give you the essence."

Goblin Archer Essence wasn't very appealing to me as a barbarian. Maybe it would help now, but the total amount of essence that the character can absorb is fixed. If I wanted to get rid of him in the future, I would only spend a lot of money.

— ... Really?

— Yes.

Looking at her round eyes, I laughed. It was strange, even when I think about it now.

The probability of dropping essence while hunting a monster was very small. But the goblin archer essence that appeared instead of an ordinary goblin? It wasn't enough to call it rookie luck.

But how will my evil fate turn out?

"I planned to say it on the 1st floor, but I'll say it now. Erven—...

"Hey, guys! What are you doing?

Damn it, just at the moment when I felt lucky.

As I was about to receive Ervena's promise of something, I heard a scream from afar.

"Don't move!"

It was a group of four human explorers. They had noticed us from afar and were now rapidly closing the distance with a heavy expression on their faces. To be honest, I knew that this would happen.

"Uncle?"

This was the right course of events. I? Lucky? This simply cannot happen. Ever since I was a child, I've always been different. For me, luck has always been something that had to be earned only by winning it myself.

"Ervena, prepare for battle.

Just like now.