Chapter 15: Trial of Competition (4)

Chapter 15: Trial of Competition (4)

The battle began as soon as we stopped speaking.

A group of 10 or so goblins swarmed towards us.

KIEAAAK!

A goblin with glowing yellow eyes leaped at me with a shriek.

Its body was small, but it had a bunch of things dangling from his body.

A poison dart, leather armor, arm guard, backup knife, etc...

Crude... but still useful in battle.

These goblins were completely different from the norm.

They even made the weakest goblin suitable for the hard difficulty.

Swoosh!

The rusted dagger in the goblin’s hand swung like the crescent moon.

Much more refined swordsmanship than what I saw on the last floor.

This was also not found normally in goblins.

Except...

‘They have better techniques but still the same stats as a worker orc.’

Without even needing to concentrate, I read the path of the swing.

Clang!

I bounced its attack effortlessly with my shield.

No fancy skill or technique involved.

Just an absolute difference in stats.

Maybe that’s why—

Puaat!

The goblin couldn’t even react until my dagger pierced its heart.

What was the point of all the equipment he was hoarding?

‘Well, I don’t have to worry about it now.’

Lee Sunghoon in the back didn’t seem to agree though.

“What kind of goblins move this systematically...!”

He was barely blocking the attacks that I saw through.

Tu-tu-tung!

He was struggling to block the poison darts using his greatsword.

His body barely fit behind the sword and his armor was taking the brunt of it.

The first thought that popped up in my head was... curiosity.

‘Is he trying to play with the goblins...?’

Of course, he would be idiotic to do something so inefficient.

But that was the only explanation for what was happening in front of my eyes.

This boastful bastard was struggling to deal with two goblins?Điscover new chapters at novelhall.com

My doubt turned into certainty at the sound of his screaming.

“What are you looking at? Go fight you degenerate!”

Hearing him yell without even looking up, I could only sigh at his incompetence.

He was genuinely having a hard time with the goblins.

I expected all of us to have a similar strength level.

My innate ability was growth-based and I did get a lot of bonus rewards...

But we all cleared the same trials at the same difficulty, so I assumed that they had something similar.

Yet reality wasn’t all like it seemed.

Lee Sunghoon wasn’t even at my level, let alone stronger than me.

‘I know they’re fully armed, but they’re still just goblins...’

I wasn’t even sure how they made it up all the way here.

At this point, Lee Hayeon let out a strained squeak.

“If you can last a little longer, my spell will be...”

“Shut up and use a buff or something! Right now!”

He must have felt frustrated that he was just hiding behind his sword.

I didn’t think any buff was going to be enough to make him useful.

“...”

I was flabbergasted but I knew the solution to this.

In the end, I’d have to be the one to handle these goblins.

Of course, I could just stay put and let Lee Hayeon handle it in a bit.

‘That would be the safest option.’

After about 8 goblins, they stopped coming at me.

The battle was over.

‘This should be the end of the wave.’

I caught my breath and observed my surroundings.

I don’t know when, but Lee Sunghoon also took care of two goblins.

Of course, that was with the help of Lee Hayeon’s buffs.

Something was off about the mood.

Lee Sunghoon’s face was frozen solid and Lee Hayeon was staring at me with wide eyes.

Snapping awake, Lee Sunghoon spoke first.

“N-not bad for a trainee. You must have gotten lucky, only facing the weak goblins.”

I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he was saying for a second.

Standing behind him, Lee Hayeon scowled.

“...That doesn’t seem right. It wasn’t just luck.”

Lee Hayeon reluctantly spoke up but Lee Sunghoon didn’t back down.

“It’s not my fault he picked out the weaker one to fight.”

“It was clearly all skill. I don’t think you should talk about him like that.”

Lee Sunghoon eyed me from the side before opening his mouth again.

“What do you mean skill? It was just beginner’s luck.”

‘Beginner’s luck’ huh.

Now I knew why he was staring at me so weirdly.

Unlike him, who could barely fend off two, I killed eight.

His pride must have been hurt.

These kinds of people always act like this when they get hit in the face with reality.

All the ‘talented’ trainees reacted like this when they became hunters.

They tried to bring down others to preserve their worth.

I would have shrugged it off if this was the outside world.

A 7-year trainee like me had no right to speak up...

But not anymore.

“Stop with all this luck and weak bullshit.”

If he was acting like this even after seeing the difference in our skill, I’d give him exactly what he wanted.

If he wants a hierarchy, he’d get a hierarchy.

“W-what did you sa—!”

He tried to respond with a red face but I was faster.

“Whatever you were blubbering about, shut the fuck up.”

“Blubbering, when did I ever...”

“Telling me to be a meat shield because I was a trainee, getting lucky and facing weak goblins.”

“...”

“I think I’ve been patient enough with you.”

Honestly, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Isn’t it laughable that we’re in a life or death trial and here you are arguing with me?”

“We barely have a day left and our competition is probably making their way to the boss as we speak.”

Lee Sunghoon’s face darken when I mentioned the wasted time.

He must have felt at least a little guilty about it.

“If you plan on being a dead weight, the least you can do is shut up.”

I stomped towards him.

“We don’t fail if at least one person in the team stays alive.”

In other words, I was willing to kill him if he got in my way.

Of course, I didn’t really plan on killing anyone, so it was more of a bluff.

The threat seemed to work wonders on Lee Sunghoon.

“W-wha...”

“Voice your complaints now if you have any.”

He flinched and stumbled back.

“I’m glad you don’t have any problems.”

I might’ve been going too far, but at least now he wouldn’t look down on me.

I looked him straight in the eye and made my final remarks.

“Hopefully we can work well together for the rest of the trial.”

It wasn’t like he had a choice though.