Chapter 27
#27. The Crossroads of Growth
Among the lizardmen I’d fought, the strongest had been a low-ranking warrior with four white bands.
The number of bands signifies a warrior’s career, so even if he was low-ranking, he must’ve been a seasoned soldier with years under his belt.
In fact, while fighting that lizardman, I’d gotten the impression that he was very battle-hardened.
What was the gap in combat strength between a veteran low-ranking warrior and a middle-ranking warrior who wasn’t?
Like a master sergeant and a freshly commissioned second lieutenant, maybe that four-band low-ranking warrior was stronger than I thought.
But the high-ranking lizardman mixed in among them, with his gear and build, looked incredibly strong at a glance.
Damn, what do I do?
The reason I struggled against the low-ranking warrior lizardman was because I’d deliberately equipped bad gear and lowered my stats.
But even if I switched gear now, I didn’t think I could break through all those swarming lizardmen.
I could set up inside the ruins and pick them off one by one, or wait for them to scatter.
The problem is, I’m poisoned right now. If I just sit here and wait, I might just collapse and die.
The paralysis symptoms are already getting worse in real time, and moving is becoming harder.
I don’t know how long I can hold out like this. I’d need to have been poisoned before to get a feel for it.
Do I trust my HP, wait for an opening, and look for a chance, or do I fight my way out before my condition gets any worse?
“Fuck, fuck……”
Cold sweat is pouring down me. I can’t tell if it’s from nerves or the poison. Damn it, my brain isn’t working.
-Clack! Clack!
The armored lizardmen are heading toward the ruins. If I stay like this, they’ll spot me. I need to choose, now.
Fuck it, I don’t know anymore. Whatever else, I refuse to just sit here and die.
I opened my inventory and quickly equipped the gear I’d sealed away.
-Tap!
I charged the lizardman keeping watch at the entrance and kicked off the fight.
**
Lizardmen probably always stay alert to some extent, thanks to all their battle experience.
But the lizardmen who’d swarmed into the ruins seemed especially relaxed, probably because there were so many of them.
The moment I dashed out, I pulled a dagger from my inventory and hurled it at the high-ranking warrior wearing red bands.
I meant to take out the strongest ones first, but they weren’t that easy.
-Ting!
The lizardman knocked away the dagger I threw as if he’d seen it coming.
He couldn’t have actually predicted it, so his reaction speed when battle started must’ve been absurdly sharp.
The ambush failed completely, and I quickly thrust my sword into the nearest lizardman.
-Sshk!
The lizardman raised his guard quickly, but thanks to the attack boost from switching gear, I pierced his throat in one shot.
Seeing the red critical effect burst, I swiftly twisted my body and slashed the lizardman on my left.
-Kraack!
Swinging with all my strength, I punched through the lizardman’s armor and landed a hit. Another critical.
I killed two of them in an instant, but there were still more than a few dozen lizardmen left.
-Keruk! Keruk!
The high-ranking warrior lizardman who seemed to be their commander shouted, and at the same time one lizardman thrust a spear at me.
Their judgment and their speed at switching tactics were, as expected, no joke. The spear lunging at me was just as fast.
-Clang!
I raised my shield to block the spear, stepped forward, and brought my sword down toward the lizardman’s crown.
But the lizardman read the path of my attack and shook his head to dodge. My sword sank into his shoulder.
Damn, the paralysis symptoms were slowing my attack speed more than usual.
Normally, I would’ve split his skull open.
No, it wasn’t just the drop in my physical condition from the poison.
If that had been a white-banded lizardman, he wouldn’t have dodged that sloppy attack.
Middle-ranking warrior lizardmen with blue bands were definitely stronger. Their basic reaction speed was clearly on a different level.
-KWAANG!
A hammer swung by one of the lizardmen slammed into my shield. It wasn’t just reaction speed that was different.
Middle-ranking warriors were also much stronger than low-ranking ones in raw strength. I was starting to get a rough idea of how warrior ranks were divided.
Even if their rank was low, the seasoned ones were basically more experienced and technically skilled.
And the high-ranking ones, apart from skill, just had better physical stats all around.
Of course, that was nothing but bad news. There are seasoned high-ranking ones here too.
“Shit……”
If rank differences were a pure measure of skill, I might’ve been able to manage somehow.
Just like on the first and second floors, I could’ve simply bulldozed through with overwhelming stats.
-Wham!
“Ugh……”
An arrow fired from among the lizardmen struck my shoulder. Shit, why is this arrow so damn strong?
Looking in the direction it came from, I saw a lizardman with three red bands holding a huge longbow.
Speak of the devil, and here comes a high-ranking veteran right away.
Judging by the arrow’s power, his strength must be incredible too, and nailing my shoulder dead-on in this dense crowd of lizardmen is seriously impressive.
-Thwack!
I tried to kick away the nearby middle-ranking warrior lizardmen and push forward, but more and more lizardmen kept coming at me.
With lizardmen over two meters tall trying to block the way with sheer numbers, it’s a mountain and then some.
And the lizardman with the longbow was calmly nocking his next arrow and firing from far away.
-Whizz! Thunk!
“Aagh!”
Another arrow aimed for the gaps in my armor lodged itself in me. That hurts like hell.
At the same time, the poison symptoms kept getting worse, and my vision was narrowing bit by bit.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t see a way to break out of this situation. Am I going to die here?
[Passive Skill: Poison Resistance Lv. 1 has been acquired.]
**
I thought I’d die right away, but was there really such a thing as a crisis-induced awakening?
The fight that should’ve ended quickly under the dogpile of dozens of lizardmen was strangely still going on.
-Krrk, swish!
The lizardman’s neck, which had been trying to deflect my attack with his shield, was severed in one stroke. A critical effect burst.
[Passive Skill: Paralysis Resistance Lv. 2 has been acquired.]
The reason the fight could keep going this long was thanks to the unexpected acquisition of resistance skills.
As I gained Poison Resistance and Paralysis Resistance, the poison symptoms that had only been getting worse began to ease little by little.
Of course, resistance was only resistance; once more time passed, the poison started advancing again and the symptoms worsened.
-Kyaaek!
In the meantime, the number of lizardmen was slowly going down, and my wounds were actually healing.
[+2 Ring of the Vampiric Fiend]
Defense +15
Intelligence +2
20% chance to restore 5% of HP upon defeating an enemy.
Number of enhancement attempts: 0
It was thanks to the effects attached to the unique item [Ring of the Vampiric Fiend], which I got on the first floor.
I didn’t have time to drink a potion, but every time I dropped one of the lizardmen still charging at me, my HP would recover a little here and there.
Apparently the dozens I saw at first weren’t all of them; the lizardmen kept getting reinforced and coming at me.
But any lizardman below a certain level is basically a potion to me now.
-Sshk!
“Ah, shit.”
If only I could do something about that archer lizardman, this would be so much easier.
**
[Passive Skill: Intuition Lv. 3 has been acquired.]
I bounced an arrow aimed at my chest off my shield. That was already the third one.
I was beginning to predict the timing of the arrows flying toward me. Of course, even when I predicted them, more than half still hit me.
But my predictions were getting more and more accurate, and at the same time the Intuition skill was leveling up.
As the Intuition skill leveled up, combat became easier and easier.
By now, I could dodge some of the clumsier attacks from middle-ranking warrior lizardmen without even looking at them. The skill’s growth wasn’t limited to that either.
[Passive Skill: Combat Endurance Lv. 9 has been acquired.]
Maybe because I’d kept fighting while poisoned, the Combat Endurance skill was rising noticeably.
The cold sweat from the poison was still there, and my vision kept fading in and out.
I guess I was gradually learning how to fight while feeling like crap.
At first, the longer the fight dragged on, the more anxious I got, but watching myself grow in the middle of a crisis, I couldn’t help laughing.
[Passive Skill: Paralysis Resistance Lv. 3 has been acquired.]
“Heh.”
It sounded insane, but the pain from the poison tormenting my body was actually starting to feel welcome.
**
The lizardmen in the ruins, which had seemed endless, apparently weren’t truly infinite after all.
I had killed an enormous number of middle-ranking warrior lizardmen, and the high-ranking warrior lizardman who’d been shooting arrows from afar was now right in front of me.
What remained were four high-ranking warriors with red bands, the archer included.
-Keruk, kek! Kek!
They looked furious as they raised heavy-looking weapons and formed up to surround me.
I haven’t fought a high-ranking one head-on yet. Obviously, I’ve never dealt with a pincer attack like this either.
But I don’t feel like I’m going to lose. This isn’t confidence born from high stats.
In the brief crucible of that extreme situation, my skills had improved by leaps and bounds, and the poison that had been tormenting me had now completely lost its effect.
“Hey, hold on a second.”
I let go of the sword in my hand, opened my inventory, and switched my gear again. To a junk set with nothing but durability.
I’ve already grown tremendously, but I still don’t think I’m perfect yet.
When else am I going to get a chance to take on four high-ranking ones at once?
“All right, come at me.”
I want to grow even more.