Chapter 28: Chapter 28 First Dungeon Part 05

"I see. Thanks for the information".

"Don't worry, Kid".

Soma bid his farewell to the man. He began to walk further away toward the hollowed wall with stairs that lead down. stopped for a bit to reaffirm his resolve and check his condition.

His mind began to drift back toward the events that transpired earlier. The calm and average guy who was mysterious and the clumsy and easy-flustered girl beside him who, unlike her appearance and trait, was strong enough to make him immobilized.

The old man said they were students from the Hero Academy. Probably, a freshman or maybe higher but there was something that bothered him.

The name that those two had sounded familiar in his ear but when he tried to recall it, it blurred showing nothing. Soma shrugged his shoulder as he began to step forward toward the stair that goes down one at a time.

It was a straight one-way path. The wall was covered in a natural stone and it glowed in a faint light from the moss that absorbed the surrounding Mana to emit a faint glow, lighting up the way for the awakeners to move forward.

"Let's take a look"

With help from the moss, Soma opened the parchment Tanaka Ryuu gave him looked at the content, and found the structure of the labyrinth for the early stage of the dungeon dive.

Dungeon dive was a term that was used by the awakeners to determine how far they dive or climb the floor in the dungeon. It also depends on how many floors the dungeon has and how the environment changes.

For example, if the dungeon had a hundred floors It was divided into a couple of categories. First is the Early stage dive which is, the floor that is covered or wants to explore in the dungeon from floor one to thirty. Second is the Middle stage which considers from floor Thirty-one until seventy. Last is the Final stage Which covers the remaining floor until the last floor.

There is also another method to find out the difference between the stage earlier. They can differentiate it using the environment check. The early stages consist only of a simple cave or maze structure and usually the monster that resides on this floor could only be considered weak in the monster rank. Meanwhile, the middle stage and final stage are where the environment begins to change.

There will be plain forests, oceans, volcanic, or even poles will be the theme of the floor. The thing that differentiated them was the monster rank that inhabited each floor, that's all. They are getting stronger on each floor.

Soma stepped his foot into the second floor and as he saw it from the map. It was the same as the first floor where it starts with a straight path and then another branch will appear before him.

With a straight posture, He raised his foot and let the tapping sound reverberate across the stone wall. With the help of the map with his enhanced brain, he remembered the route on the second floor.

Soma was about to fold the parchment when suddenly a gust of wind just passed his right cheek and he felt some warm liquid flowing on his cheek snapping his mind back to the surroundings.

"Gyaa"

"Gyaa"

Hiding in the shadows were goblins. He saw three that stood 10 meters away from him. One of them was holding a club and the other they were holding a bow. He looked around to watch his surroundings, still wary because he didn't know how much they were hiding from their peers.

After making sure there are no other goblins beside them. Soma hastens his feet and he stored the parchment inside the ring on his neck. a second arrow flew and it was flying straight between his eyebrows. With a swift hand, he grabbed it using his right hand and began to accelerate toward the three goblins.

First, he approached the goblin in the middle; he was raising the club to intercept Soma's advance but his movement felt slow in Soma's eyes. He grabs the goblin's throat before lifting it in the air and using it as a shield to approach the two archer goblins.

Soma took the goblin club before he approached the first goblin archer and slammed it in its head. A cracking sound echoed in the stone hall, bounced across the wall and a brain juice danced in the air for the destroyed head.

Accelerated again, he closed the distance with the other archer goblin and ended its life with the horizontal swing of the club. As for the goblin in his hand, he clenched his hand and broke his neck before it went limp and burst apart becoming a particle of light and dropping a small gray Mana core.

[You gained 6 Exp]

[EXP: 68/120]

After collecting the mana core. Soma began his walk and arrived at his first branch. Without hesitation, he walked toward the right path and increased the speed to speed up his exploration. Thanks to his red eyes he could see clearly in the faint light room with ease.

Soma now stumbles upon a wide dome-shaped room and a multiple presence is already occupying the room. There are three humans, who seem not much older than him. He saw one girl and two boys facing four goblins.

Not wanting to waste his grinding time he bypassed them by circling from their place and soon found the next branch. There are only two of them and now he chooses the left side.

Sprinting through the long passage and the uneven stone road. Soma arrived at the same room with multiple presences, but now there were only goblins before him.

He spotted five goblins, three holding a club and two holding a bow, loitering around without purpose. Swift as lightning he obliterated the five goblins in a single moment with just a punch and kick before resuming his exploration. Not forgetting to collect the mana core.

[You gained 14 Exp]

[Exp: 82/120]

"This is getting addicted".

Seeing the progress he made made his spirit burn. The corner of his mouth lifted as he began to speed up the process while looking at the map if the room he found contained no goblin.

Soma now memorized the whole content of the map he received from Tanaka. He resumed his exploration like a madman.

He swept over the second floor before arriving at the third floor and he didn't encounter any monsters except for goblins, but only their population increased.

[You gained 30 Exp]

[Exp: 112/120]

Onto the fourth floor, he still found the same old maze that had multiple branches to confuse the explorer, but Soma kept repeating the process he ingrained in his mind. "Go for the fastest route and arrive at the five floors faster".

[You gained 32 Exp]

[You level up!]

[Exp: 24/140]

[EP: +5]

Now, in the innermost part of the fourth floor. Soma was sitting around catching his breath. In front of him, stood a massive twin black door that gave the imposing aura. There are also a lot of other awakeners beside him that took their breath, after exploring the floor. He spotted two parties who enjoyed their rest by snacking and livening up the atmosphere in the room.

The first time they saw a lone boy appear this deep in the dungeon, their eyes were opened wide dumbfounded. But after seeing Soma state that gasping for air and resting his body in this safe area. Their gaze turned skeptical and the faint of ridicule could be seen.

They assumed that maybe the kid just got lucky and he probably ran his ass off trying to avoid those monsters that occupied the previous floor.

No one was willing to approach him or even ask about Soma's condition. It was how the awakeners usually operated; they tended to prioritize their own being or comrade before a stranger, or maybe that was how humans were supposed to be. Of course, there are also exceptions, like the previous encounter Soma had with the two students from Hero Academy.

They are a rarity for people who dive in dangerous places such as dungeons.

Soma ignored all of those gazes and fully reorganized himself to rest. He took a bottle of a drink he bought earlier from the convenience store while he was jogging. Gulping the content in one single breath, then regulates his heavy breath trying to calm his racing heart.

After calming his heartbeat and regaining his calm. He checked his status and lifted the corner of his mouth because of his raised level.

[You sure you want to raise Physique stats +5]

[Yes or No] S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Yes".

There was a hot sensation flowing across his veins. Soma's body whose attacked by fatigue, began to rejuvenate himself because of the raised stats he gained after leveling up. His spirit was full of vigor. He turned his attention toward the door and submerged in his thoughts.

The information from the parchment the guy named Tanaka gave to him was really helpful. Because not only shows the whole route from the early stage but also gives him the information for what Boss monsters lay in each every five floors in this dungeon.

Soma contemplated whether he should move forward or go back, and finish his exploring. He took out his phone from his ring and saw the time showing that the sun almost submerged to the west.

Resolving himself, puffing his chest out and exhaling. He stored the phone inside the ring and stood up. He looked toward the nearby party that was still conversing with each other before opening his mouth.

"..Hey! Mind if I enter first?".

""""Huh?"""".

The party that consisted of four people mentioned just stared blankly at the bravado of a kid before him. They stare at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"Ahahaha, this Kid was seeking death".

"..Ahaha.. Yeah, Go ahead, Kid".

""Kekekek"".

Soma finished with his business. Turned his gaze sideways and began to walk away approaching the door. With every step he took, his heart began to beat louder per second. Once he stood before the huge black door. He put his hands on both of them before tensing his muscles to push it.

A low creaking rang upon the faint lightroom. As soon as Soma pushed the door until it left a crack enough for his body to enter, he stepped in.

Inside was a vast space that had the same dome shape but it was a bit wider, a stone pillar that supported the ceiling and the room was radiant because of the fire torch that attached itself to the rocky wall in every corner of the room surrounding it, making the place much more bright.

Soma tensed his body because of the presence he saw before his eyes. More than thirty regular goblins were lined up guarding the small door that attaches itself in the innermost part of the room.

However, there is also one being that stands tall among the others with a ferocious face holding a big club on its shoulder looking at the intruder.

Soma gulped his saliva before muttering.

".. Hobgoblins".