Chapter 14
“I finally won this long, long battle...!”
“Bleegh—“
A deep wave of nausea rose up from my stomach.
Not just one glass, but eight.
I'd finished every last drop of that disgusting smoothie.
[Congratulations. Agility stat increased by 8.]
“Congratulations, my ass—ugh!”
It was good that my stats had increased.
But I think I'd drunk way too much.
I could still feel that revolting smell rising in my mouth.
And the lingering sweetness had reached the point where my tongue was going numb.
“Phewww...”
I exhaled as much as I could and calmed myself down.
My upper belly was so distended that I wondered if it was possible to get a stomach full of water.
But it was all liquid, so it would go down if I waited a little.
“Agh—I'm finally starting to feel alive.”
After calming my stomach for a while, I finally came back to my senses.
I couldn't tell if I'd gotten used to that damned smoothie smell or if it had really gone away, but I couldn't smell it anymore.
“Well then, should I keep going and do a little more experimenting?”
Now that my stomach had settled down somewhat, I was thinking about climbing the remaining floors.
My goal today was to reach at least the Floor 5 boss.
Since I'd gotten a rough idea of my strength on Floor 2, I figured I could make it to the boss.
The Floor 3 entry prompt I'd put on hold was still floating in the air.
I looked straight at it and said,
“Tower, Floor 3.”
[Would you like to enter Floor 3?]
[Y/N]
As if responding to my words, the blue window floating in the air drifted toward me.
I pressed Y without hesitation.
Then the scenery changed again.
Floor 3 was some unknown forest.
The monsters were nothing special, just three slimes and ten goblins.
I used my increased Agility to cut the goblins' throats in an instant,
and simply burned the slimes with my skills.
“Phew. Next floor.”
All of that took just two minutes.
It wouldn't be wrong to call it an incredible amount of growth.
Then came Floor 4.
Floor 4 was a path through some unknown forest.
The types of monsters and how I dealt with them weren't much different from Floor 3.
Except goblin shamans had been added.
The only real difference was that there were more of them.
I immediately cut off their heads,
and finished off the goblin shamans, who were at least somewhat noteworthy, by burning them with my skills.
And then.
[Entering the Floor 5 Boss Room.]
The long-awaited Floor 5 of the Tower.
I was able to enter the boss room, known as the wailing wall for newbies.
“Phew—should I just beat the boss and head back?”
Maybe because I'd gotten here without much trouble, I was brimming with confidence.
Of course, every strategy guide and the Association warned people not to let their guard down until the very end,
but none of that registered with me in my current MAX-confidence state.
“So, what is it this time...?”
The boss room.
I had no idea what kind of monster would show up,
but I wanted to take care of it quickly, find the hidden room, and hurry home.
What I could see around me was the forest and path I'd seen on Floors 3 and 4.
They were connected to each other.
I tilted my head in confusion,
and right on cue, the Tower's message appeared before my eyes.
[Eliminate the Goblin Settlement.]
[Goblin forces remaining: 42]
[Goblin Chieftain (Tribal Chief): 1]
“Oh... so I just have to take them all out?”
It was a pretty straightforward clear condition.
I gripped my kitchen knife and immediately followed the path in front of me.
I was certain there'd be a settlement at the end of it.
And my guess was right.
Kreuk?
“There it is...”
A little farther along the path, the entrance to a settlement came into view.
Judging by its size,
it didn't seem to be a very large settlement.
It was just big enough to hold the number of goblins listed in the Tower's message.
‘Should I charge in head-on, or sneak in and wipe them all out in one go? That is the question...’
Before entering the settlement, I hid in the surrounding bushes and surveyed the situation.
The first option would let me charge in without thinking,
but would take unnecessary effort, while the second required more thought but was efficient—and, above all, easier.
But when I thought about it...
‘Wouldn't I have to wipe them all out either way?’
Come to think of it, the clear condition for this floor was to ‘eliminate’ the settlement.
Which meant I'd have to beat them all up anyway.
In that case, charging straight in seemed faster.
It'd be easy to draw their aggro, and they were goblins to begin with.
‘Wait, why am I thinking so hard about this? They're just goblins.’
I shook my head and immediately stood up.
And then.
Dash—
Kreuk?!
Slash—
“Smoothie cut—“
In an instant, I began turning the peaceful settlement into a scene of slaughter.
I cut down the warriors who tried to stop me,
and burned the archers shooting through the gaps the warriors had made, along with their bows.
It was when I had cut off the head of the last remaining goblin warrior.
BOOM—!
Kreureuk...
“Oh, are you the chieftain?”
A monster that looked every bit a chieftain landed right in front of me.
It was bigger and bulkier than an ordinary goblin.
And the bone club in its right hand looked distinctly different from the crude stone axes the ordinary goblins carried.
Kreuk—!
As I examined it from head to toe, the chieftain seemed to notice my gaze,
and started charging at me with an angry shout.
But...
“...Is that your top speed?”
To me, with my Agility stat already over 10, it just looked far too slow.
I immediately moved behind the charging chieftain.
Kreuk?!
The chieftain seemed to sense my movement and swung the club in its right hand, but
it was already too late.
I easily dodged the chieftain's club and plunged my knife into its neck in an instant.
Kreuk....
Slash—
Ignoring the chieftain as it made a bubbling sound, I cut through its neck.
[You have defeated the ???-difficulty Floor 5 boss.]
[Bonus rewards have been applied.]
[You have acquired 200 g of Mana Stones and 10 Free Stat Points.]
“Yeah, I know, so just get rid of that for now.”
I dismissed the reward window that appeared as soon as I dealt with the chieftain.
It wasn't much different from the rewards I'd received on Floors 3 and 4.
Of course, getting 10 Free Stat Points was a bit—no, a lot—more than usual...
Anyway, I was looking for something important right now.
What was that, you ask?
“Damn it, where the hell is the Hidden Room?”
It was the Floor 5 Hidden Room I'd seen in the strategy guide.
No matter how much I searched around the settlement, I couldn't find even a trace of the Hidden Room, and it was driving me crazy.
The guide had definitely said there was one.
The problem was that the Tower gave everyone a different environment, so the Hidden Room was random, too.
How long had I been searching?
“What's that...?”
Deep inside the settlement,
a statue that was completely out of place in such a filthy place came into view.
A statue of a human wearing a robe, made of gray limestone.
Seeing a statue that no goblins could possibly have made, I had a hunch.
This was the very thing that led to the Hidden Room.
“Let's see what this Hidden Room is all about.”
I immediately reached out toward the statue.
The instant I did, light poured out of it, and the Tower's blue window appeared before my eyes.
[The user's Royal Path has been confirmed. Entering the Hidden Room.]
A message saying I was entering the Hidden Room.
And at the same time, white light began to shimmer around my body.
“Whoa—!”
In an instant, I was teleported to some unknown place.
“W-where am I?”
Startled by the sudden teleportation, I looked around.
It was an unknown space made of pure white marble.
In the center of the space, which had the atmosphere of a temple, stood an unfamiliar statue of a deity.
And then.
BOOM—!
Something dropped in front of the statue with a ground-shaking rumble.
“Uh... long time no see?”
A blue body like jelly, and a crown that drew the eye.
And an enormous size, too.
What had landed in front of me was none other than the King Slime I'd seen on Floor 1.
“Though, is that the hidden boss?”
I couldn't help feeling puzzled.
The thing that had seemed so pathetic when I'd fought it on Floor 1 was the hidden boss?
It was like handing someone a sword and telling them to fight a tiny animal.
I'd come in with high expectations, so I couldn't help feeling a little deflated.
“Still, just in case.”
‘Appraisal.’
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
King Slime Lv. 25
Soft and squishy...?
Skills
(Passive) Soft Body.
Effect: Reduces physical damage by 80% to all parts except the core.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“...Something's different.”
I used Appraisal to check the King Slime's information,
but it was somehow different from what I remembered.
What exactly was different?
I thought it over carefully.
Then a memory suddenly struck me.
“Oh, the Weakened message is gone.”
The text saying Weakened had been there when I'd fought it on Floor 1.
It wasn't there now.
And its level had gone up a little, too.
This must be its real form.
BOOM—!
“...”
While I was using Appraisal, the King Slime made a move.
Only after realizing the Weakened message was gone did I start to feel a little tense.
Gulp—
‘No, it's still the same guy with the simple attack pattern.’
I immediately suppressed the tension rising inside me and watched its movements.
Sure enough, it didn't seem like the way it moved had changed much,
so I immediately charged at the King Slime the same way I had before.
Just as I was about to get close to it.
[The user's capabilities are insufficient! Skill power has been reduced by 50%.]
“What?”
Along with the message that my power had been halved,
the knife I'd swung bounced off the King Slime's soft body,
and I saw it.
Something in the shape of a tentacle, made of blue jelly, flying toward me.