Chapter-02 · EP-036

Episode 36: The Third Floor

I walked alone through the third floor. The scenery was similar to before, but the atmosphere was different from the quiet first floor or the second floor, which had been bustling with signs of monsters. Perhaps it was just my own tension, but the air felt very charged.

Up until the second floor, I had occasionally seen other explorers, but so far I hadn't encountered any here. Maybe it was an unpopular floor. The goblins appearing on this floor were humanoid monsters. If I did meet another explorer, I had to be careful not to mistake them for a goblin and attack.

Thinking about such things, I turned a corner—and there it was.

As my research had indicated, it was about one meter tall, a small imp with a green body. A goblin. It was unmistakably a goblin. I had just been thinking about not confusing it with a human, but there was no chance of that. It was completely different from a human. Its green body was actually quite unsettling to see.

I gripped the wooden sword in my hand tightly.

Fortunately, the goblin hadn't noticed me. Thinking I could gain a significant advantage with a preemptive strike, I approached quietly, trying not to make any noise.

But try as I might, I couldn't completely silence my footsteps.

At the scuff of my footstep, the goblin turned around.

It noticed me, and its expression changed instantly. It opened its mouth, baring its fangs. The goblin, now aware of an enemy, radiated pure killing intent.

"…Scary. But I have no choice!"

The goblin charged at me.

I quickly raised my wooden sword and swung it down with the momentum.

Thunk! The dry sound of hitting its skull. The impact sent the goblin tumbling forward.

But its eyes were still alive. It put its hands on the ground and, though unsteady, tried to get back up.

I made a split-second decision. I was too close to swing my wooden sword.

"Tch! Then…!"

I kicked up with my right foot.

My explorer boots had steel-reinforced toes. The tip of the boot slammed into the goblin's stomach with a solid thud.

"Gyah!"

The goblin screamed and was sent flying. It rolled on the ground, clutching its stomach and convulsing.

I closed the distance immediately.

The goblin wasn't dead yet.

It wasn't like a game. Just lightly swinging a wooden sword wasn't enough to finish a monster.

As I stood there, wooden sword raised, thinking about where to strike to ensure it was finished, the goblin suddenly tried to get up.

"Tch!"

Before I could think, my body moved.

Before the goblin could stand, I stomped down on its neck with my foot.

Through the boot, I felt the crunch of its neck bones breaking.

In that instant, the goblin's body dissolved like mist, leaving only a Magic Gem on the ground.

I let out a short breath and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

My heart was beating unpleasantly fast. But even so, my hands weren't shaking.

"Phew…"

My first battle on the third floor was over.

I picked up the gem, reflecting on the fight.

I had descended to the third floor, which was recommended for level 3, at level 2. As expected, my offensive power was lacking, and I struggled more than I'd anticipated.

Even though goblins were the weakest, low-level mobs in the world of games, I hadn't expected to struggle so much to defeat one.

It was fortunate this goblin was alone. I'd heard that goblins sometimes formed groups. Given how this fight went, encountering multiple goblins at once would be disastrous.

As for the aversion to killing a humanoid monster, I found I was surprisingly unaffected. For me, monsters were still just monsters. Even if I couldn't do it to a human, I could attack a monster with intent to kill.

Based on this, I needed to decide whether to continue exploring this floor today or head back.

There was something else on my mind. I was currently level 2. If it took defeating 100 monsters on the second floor alone to go from level 2 to 3, how many monsters would I need to defeat on the third floor to reach level 3?

I believed, like in games, that monsters gave experience points. If their experience was ten times higher, wouldn't I be able to reach level 3 by defeating ten goblins?

I decided to aim for that today and continue exploring the third floor.

My exploration of the third floor had only just begun.