Chapter 13

A total of nine goblins are now attacking me.

Eight regular goblins, with one goblin swordsman mixed among them.

As for the swordsman, he’s only holding a scimitar about 60 cm tall, but…

Compared to the others’ carving knives, it can really be called a magnificent sword.

“Grurururuck!”

I hit the goblin rushing at the forefront in the temple with my hammer.

Bang –!

One hit, one kill. The goblin dissolves into motes of light and disappears before it can even fall to the ground.

It’s too early to be happy, though.

I’ve only killed one.

“Grurururuck!!!”

Scared of attacking on their lonesome, two goblins co-ordinate their attacks from both my sides.

Each one with a carving knife in hand.

I dash to the right and push one back with my shield, which lets me pivot and hammer the other.

Thud –!

This is the second.

But I don’t have the time to even catch my breath.

Because someone has already reached my rear, and jumps in from behind.

The goblin swordsman.

“Kyaahaahaa!”

It makes a screeching hiss like a snake.

I immediately hit the floor with a roll.

Whiz –!

A blade passes above me with a sharp sound.

The goblins, seeing me rolling on the ground, rush in.

This is why the second floor is several times more dangerous than the first.

It’s impossible to deal with four normal goblins from this position, no matter how superior you are physically.

I have no choice but to suffer a few injuries –

Had I been alone, that is.

Hwooooooosh!

Another arrow, shot from the bushes, pierces a goblin’s forehead.

Seems Erwen’s gotten back to sniping.

Thud!

I quickly bounce back up from where I’d been rolling on the floor. With shield in hand, I rush into the middle of the enemy lines.

It’s natural for a warrior to draw aggro, isn’t it?

“You little fuckers! All of you, come on!”

Blocking with the shield, swinging the hammer, dodging, kicking with my feet, head-butting, etc.

While I run rampant in the middle of the goblin formation, teetering on the edge of the seething madness within my barbarian blood, Erwen, who’s re-established his position, fires arrows like crazy.

Hwooooooosh! Hwooooooosh! Hwooooooosh!

The arrows, fired every 2 to 3 seconds, are a great distraction for the goblins.

“Gr, gruck!!”

Maybe because she’s in a bit of a hurry, but not every arrow hit a critical point…

Hwooooooosh!

Shoulders, arms, stomach, chest, thighs, etc. It always hit somewhere.

Some of the arrows were even infused with spirits, and the arrowheads burst into flame on impact.

So as to not lose to her, I keep smashing the goblin bastards’ heads with my hammer one by one, keeping my distance because I’m wary of the arrows.

Bang! Thud!

It takes little time for the number of goblins to be reduced to two, and they begin to run away.

I handle the one jumping like crazy, and Erwen puts an arrow on the back of the head of the other.

「You have defeated the goblin swordsman. EXP +1」

Seeing the battle was over, Erwen, who’d been hiding in the bushes, appears and approaches me.

“Uncle, are you injured?”

“Fine. How about you?”

“Me too.”

“Good. Then let’s collect the mana stones.”

After that, we split into two and walk around picking up the arrows and the mana stones.

I did defeat the goblin swordsman in the melee, but getting his scimitar is impossible.

Because all their clothes and weapons have disappeared into motes of light, same as the first floor.

“Here’s six in total.”

We manage to harvest a total of eleven mana stones, including the two that Erwen killed first from ambush.

Considering the fact that I made only forty-four by walking around all day on the first day, I am more than satisfied.

This battle took less than two minutes, in contrast.

“Come on, take them.”

“Two? thank you!”

I take nine, and Erwen gets two.

Although they’re all 9th grade, the swordsman has a bit more weight than the general goblins, so I took that into consideration while distributing the loot.

“Can we just keep doing this?”

“Yeah. Was there anything that made you feel uncomfortable or dangerous during this battle?”

“No, there really wasn’t.”

After that, it’s time to review the battle and find possible improvements in the fighting tactics.

We haven’t been able to find anything to fix right now, but that’s just proof that we’re still immature.

As the number of battles increases and experience accumulates, our tactics will naturally get better and more refined.

“Okay, then let’s finish up here and move on.”

“Yes!”

I check the time one last time.

[01: 31]

How much income can I earn by the end of the fourth day, I wonder?

We circled around the portal, slowly expanding the radius.

And after increasing the radius by more than 3km, we actually started encountering a group of goblins about once every 5 minutes.

And naturally, I met a goblin archer.

“Kikikiki!”

The goblin archer, who had a slightly more distinctive sound than ‘gruck’, was definitely a menacing opponent.

It wielded a small shortbow that resembled a harp, and unlike the other goblins, the arrowheads were poisoned.

It even knew how to use stealth magic.

But…

「You have defeated a goblin archer. EXP +1」

As long as I concentrated, this barbarian body could react to flying arrows, and it was possible to dodge them or block with a shield.

Well, I did still have to be careful.

“There’s one more goblin archer! Take it out first!”

“Yes!”

No matter how much of barbarian you are, an arrow to the head is still an instakill.

When I got back to the city, I’d have to buy a helmet first.

“Let’s rest for a while.”

“Haa! At last!”

After finishing one more battle, we moved to the empty area near the portal for some rest.

“You can sleep first if you want.”

“Really?”

She really didn’t stand on courtesy.

As I smiled and nodded my head, she sat down on the bare floor and glanced at me like a tired puppy.

“What about, the backpack and blanket?”

“… Here you go.”

I put down the heavier bag and took out a blanket.

And less than a minute later, I could hear snoring.

Sssss, sssss –.

Compared to the traditional barbarian style, it sounded infinitely small and gentle…

She really was tired.

Up until now, she always slept without making a sound.

Well, maybe it was because she was now feeling psychologically safer.

[18:20]

We hunted around the Goblin Forest for about 15 hours.

We had to fight more than ten enemies each time, but the more we got used to it, the less dangerous it got, and the faster we went.

As a result, the income was rising at a rate that would’ve been unimaginable on the first floor.

But there were some moments of tension.

“Haa…”

As our patrol radius expanded, we started to meet other adventurers.

So far, we’d met others a total of eleven times.

They were all groups of three or more, and sometimes there were teams consisting of different races.

Each time, we passed each other by from a distance, as was customary, but it was exhausting every time.

I was more afraid of those adventurer bastards than the goblins.

And now, there was a reason to be especially vigilant.

“The problem is that she’s too pretty.”

I looked at Erwen and sighed.

Despite being a homeless wanderer for several days, she still had shiny silver hair, amber eyes that seemed to pull you in, and facial features that met all criteria to be called beautiful.

As a woman, she was lucky…

But as an adventurer, well, who knows.

Among the groups of adventurers we encountered, there were some bastards who licked their lips as soon as they saw Erwen.

Let’s hope nothing worrisome happens…

“… Am I that pretty?”

What the fuck, weren’t you just snoring?

“Go to sleep.”

“Yes.”

As if she’d been talking in her sleep, Erwen roughly answered and immediately started snoring again.

Zzzzzz, zzzzzz.

Really, who are you?

The fairies I knew hadn’t been like this.

Day 4, Day 5, Day 6…

After entering the Goblin Forest, time flew by quickly, and the 7th day is now about to start soon.

The day has finally come to leave the labyrinth.

“When I get back, I’ll sleep first…”

“I feel you.”

There is only one way to leave the labyrinth and return to the city.

Wait for the floor to close.

At the set time, the labyrinth spits out the adventurers on the floor back to the city.

168 hours for the first floor, 240 hours for the second floor, and so on.

The higher the floor, the longer you can be active in the labyrinth.

However, we plan to go down to the first floor and leave for the city just before the end of the 7th day.

“Today, we won’t go as far as yesterday, and only move in the vicinity.”

“Yes!”

There are several reasons to leave early.

When the first floor is closed, the portal also disappears.

Meaning there’s no way to retreat if an unexpected situation occurs.

The food, too, is running a bit low.

There’s also the option of buying food in exchange for mana stones from the adventurers you meet occasionally, but…

‘There’s no need to overdo it.’

Above all, we only have no more than 10 intact arrows left.

No matter how sturdy the arrow may be, this is inevitable because it’s a consumable item.

Had these been the wooden arrows from Earth, they wouldn’t have even lasted beyond one use.

It really feels like a different world.

[22:27]

Checking the time, we pause our hunt.

“Just in case, let’s go back.”

“Yes!”

Currently, we are at a point about 4km away from the portal.

It should take 40 minutes to reach it at most.

Of course, we can take some more time, but…

It would be better to go early than to be late and not be able to go down.

Before we part, I have something to share with her as well.

“Be careful. Another trap has been set.”

We’re going back the way we came, but at some point, a trap has been planted in the forest again.

This means that the goblins have respawned.

Well, just because they’ve respawned doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly appear out of thin air like in the game.

You often see what look like rabbit holes inside the forest, and goblins always crawl out of those.

So one time I tried waiting in front of one, and had Erwen start a fire, but there was no response.

I couldn’t even check the bottom of the hole because the whole thing collapsed instantly after breaking the ground.

Step.

Erwen, walking in the front, stops suddenly.

“A group of goblins about 70m away at 1 o’clock. There are eight regulars, two swordsmen and two archers.”

She’s now so used to giving a perfect briefing that I don’t need to ask anything.

“Are we going to fight?”

“Fight.”

Long conversations are not necessary.

At my nod, Erwen takes the lead as usual and clears her way through the bushes.

Then she stops me with a hand gesture, moves about 10 meters further by himself, takes position, and draws an arrow.

Hwooooooosh!

The arrow flies.

Thunk!

It’s probably the goblin archer who she hit.

Because I’d told her to make them her top priority if possible.

“Uncle!”

“Alright, you go back.”

Erwen shoots one more arrow at the goblins rushing in, and falls back.

Passing the baton to me, a process that’s become so familiar by now.

I rush forward, smashing the swordsman mixed among the regular goblins with my hammer.

Thud –!

It’s a good feel, so no need to hit twice.

“Waaaaaaaaargh!”

As I roar from the centre of their formation, the goblins falter.

Yeah, you better be scared, you bastards.

Bang –!

The moment the goblins pause, I dash to explode the head of the other swordsman.

“Grurururururuck!!”

I’ve been fighting them over and over again, and I’ve become a master of dogfights like this.

Erwen’s the same.

Hwooooooosh! Thunk!

The arrows start to fly in earnest, she must’ve already taken her position.

There’d been times in the past when our targets overlapped, or I almost got hit by an arrow when our movements we counter to each other, but such mistakes have gradually disappeared.

I’ve started to be able to roughly predict which enemies Erwen would prioritize, and aim where in which circumstances.

I don’t think this is normal, either.

Puff –!

After less than a minute.

The battle ends when I hit the back of the head of the last goblin trying to escape.

I’d heard that there were two goblin archers, but no arrows flew at me during battle.

Looks like the first two surprise shots had taken them out.

“Well done, Erwen.”

“Heh heh.”

“But if you’ve already got all the archers, tell me. It’s annoying to keep worrying about it.”

“I’m not sure if the last one was right.”

Well, that makes sense.

Inaccurate information can really be dangerous.

She’s really grown up now.

I’m somehow feeling a bit happy.

“Hurry up, take what you need, and go.”

“Yes!”

Afterwards, while I’m busy collecting the mana stones, Erwen calls me urgently.

“Uncle! There’s something strange!”

Looking around, I see a ball of light the size of a fist floating in the air.

I know what it is.

It’s the first time I’ve actually seen it…

“… Essence. It’s definitely from the goblin archer.”

To be honest, I was blown away as soon as I saw it.

How lucky do you have to be to get this?

“I, me, is this essence? This, this, this?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

“Uh, uh, uh, what should I do?”

As one can tell just by looking at her reaction, essences are more valuable than treasures to an adventurer.

Essences are the cornerstones of the skill system of [Dungeon & Stone].

“Hey, will you become a goblin if you eat this?”

“No way. You’ll only get a fraction of the abilities that goblins possess.”

For example, the guy who’d tracked us down by smell on the first floor. He might’ve absorbed the essence of the ‘blade wolf’.

“What should I do…?”

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

Although the ratio is 9:1, she seems to be greedy for this.

“Do you want it?”

“No, it’s not like that, but… What if…”

There’s no particular reason not to give it to her, but is it an illusion that she somehow seems to be getting more impudent day by day?

I answer her, smiling.

“If you promise me one thing, I will give you the essence.”

‘Goblin Archer Essence’ is not very attractive to me as a barbarian.

It might be of some help right now, but the total number of essences one can absorb is fixed.

If you want to remove it later, you’ll have to spend a ton of money.

“… Really?”

“Yeah.”

See those wide round eyes, a smile leaks out.

It’s strange to even think about it.

Essence drops with a very low chance when hunting monsters. By the way, did the essence of a goblin archer drop rather than that of a normal goblin?

It’s lucky enough to be called beginner’s luck.

Is my bad luck finally turning around?

“At first, I was going to tell you after we went down to the first floor, but I’ll just tell you now. Erwen –”

“Hey, you! What are you doing now?”

Damn my luck.

As I’m about to get Erwen to promise me one thing, a cry is heard from afar.

“Don’t move!”

A party of four human adventurers.

They spot us from afar and quickly close the distance with firm expressions on their faces.

To be honest, I expected this.

“Oh, uncle?”

This is the correct process.

Did I get lucky? No way. I’ve been different from others since I was young.

For me, luck has always been something you have to seize for yourself, not something that drops down from the sky.

“Erwen, prepare to fight.”

Just like this.

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.