I declared that I would defeat the Guardian of the First Floor, but of course, that doesn’t mean I’m doing it right now.
In the first place, I’m clearly lacking in absolute specs, so it’s obvious that I can’t even meet the minimum contribution level.
Right now, what’s important is getting stronger. And the fastest way to get stronger is…
“Gacha?”
“Huh? What did you just say, Jonah?”
The next day. Armed properly this time, Lydia, who was leading the way in the labyrinth, turned to look back.
Her vividly glowing red eyes stared at me intently. I didn’t look away and asked in a serious voice.
“Lydia, could you lend me about 100 gold?”
“…What are you planning to do with that much money?”
Let’s see, to put it simply about gacha…
“Is it gambling?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not! I can just win and pay you back!”
“Stop spouting nonsense. Just focus on preparing for battle. There’s a goblin ahead.”
“I know that too. I’ll be right back.”
I quickly brushed past Lydia. The place that felt off was a thick tree about 5 meters ahead.
Waiting up there, the plan was likely to jump down and break my neck if someone fell into their hidden trap.
The trap was thinly covered with dirt, and the goblin was hidden among the branches, so they seemed to think it was a thorough disguise…
But like a goblin, their game was a bit sloppy.
If you look closely, you can see the outline of the trap on the dirt, and although the goblin is hiding, it can’t stay still and keeps rustling.
It was a threat that could be easily detected with just a little attention. Definitely a difficulty level befitting a first-floor monster.
Pretending not to notice, I walked carelessly until I got close to the tree and suddenly screamed as if caught in the trap.
“Ahhh!”
“Grobb!!! Silly little human! Become my husband!”
The goblin, instantly fooled, fell from the tree with a goofy expression. It seemed like it was going to swing at me using the momentum of the fall, but…
There was no reason for me to take a hit since I already knew its position and it wasn’t really caught in a trap.
“I don’t get why a goblin would be riled up over someone of a different race.”
Grumbling, I kicked off the ground and jumped up. One jump wasn’t enough, so I angled toward the tree.
Swoosh!
I planted my foot on the trunk and made a triangular jump again. In an instant, I closed the distance.
The goblin had only raised its club over its head and wasn’t ready to swing yet. I caught it by hugging it with both arms wide open.
My springy arms squeezed between the goblin’s joints, binding it tightly.
“Grobb?!”
The goblin seemed surprised that it was being put in a hold in mid-air. Its strength was greater than mine, so given time, it could definitely escape… but it had no time for that.
I tightened my waist to flip my body. Then I quickly released my hold and slammed the goblin’s body to the ground.
The recoil helped me stabilize in mid-air and safely land. In contrast, the goblin completely flipped over and fell headfirst.
“Grobb…”
Thud.
In the end, it snapped its neck and died alone. Without even needing to pull out my dagger, I turned my back to its slain body and lowered my voice.
“Hmph. I’ve cut down another useless one.”
“No, you didn’t cut anything at all.”
I let Lydia’s bewildered remark go in one ear and out the other as I started to disassemble the goblin’s remains.
I sliced off its wrist bones since they sell as alchemy materials and tossed them into my backpack, then split open its heart to retrieve the inner magic stone.
That’s it. Goblins are easy to catch, but their value is pretty low.
Sighing deeply, I returned my dagger to its sheath, and after a while, the goblin’s corpse began to fade in color.
Half of its remains, turning to dust, flew away in the wind, and the other half soaked into the ground. It took about 10 seconds for all traces of the goblin’s existence to vanish.
Once the core that tethered the monster to this time and space disappeared, it could no longer maintain its form.
So, if I need any parts, I should cut them off before pulling out the magic stone.
Well, even if it disappears, it doesn’t completely vanish; it will eventually regroup somewhere as a new goblin… but no one knows what time frame that goblin will come from.
It could appear in the labyrinth a thousand years ago, pop up somewhere in the Great Forest right now, or even fly into the future a few hundred years later.
Naturally, the goblin we’re dealing with could have originally been from a completely different time frame.
The time and space of the labyrinth are fundamentally twisted, and the layer we are exploring is just made suitable for human habitation by untangling it as much as possible.
It’s a bit complicated, but it’s just added detail for the setting where monsters and resources continuously emerge from the labyrinth.
However, the core at the center of the layers, the remains of the dead god, is an exception… Since that’s the very cornerstone of the layers, nobody can disrupt it except for the Goddess of Love, who constructed the structure of the labyrinth.
For example, the World Tree you can see from any point on the first floor. It’s basically no different from a colossal illusion.
The remains observable from inside the layers can be considered like shadows cast from specific times and spaces.
Even if you manage to reach the World Tree through increasingly ferocious monsters, touching or damaging it is impossible.
You’ll just pass through as if there’s nothing there.
I glanced briefly at the World Tree and then turned my gaze back to Lydia.
“By the way, Lydia, it seems goblins are no longer a challenge for me. Should we start tackling other monsters soon?”
“Yeah. I bought you a dagger, but I didn’t expect you’d use it for storage.”
“Ah… This time it feels like drawing a weapon might be a hassle. I mean, why should I pull out the dagger when the time in the air is limited? It feels like it wouldn’t even have enough power to kill with a single blow, right?”
“What do you mean? That was good judgment.”
With a faint smile, Lydia patted my head. For some reason, it seemed like she thought I liked being patted.
She started patting my head, seemingly just to give me praise for trivial things. It’s not that I dislike it… but I wouldn’t say I was wildly excited about it, either.
Right now, I’m in a labyrinth, and thanks to the armor, the bust morphing isn’t visible either.
I was looking at Lydia with a complicated expression for a moment. Maybe she felt my gaze. Lydia awkwardly cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Let’s start heading deeper now. With your skills, Jonah, it should be enough.”
“Ohhh…!”
“But before that, come here for a second.”
Lydia squatted down and patted the ground beside her. Curious, I squatted next to her, where there was the goblin’s shoddy trap.
“I’m going to dismantle this.”
“If we know it’s a trap, we can just avoid it, right? Why bother?”
“Even if you know it’s a trap, there are times when you can’t avoid it. Do you know the difference between a roaming goblin on the outskirts and a hobgoblin in the center?”
“Pretty much civilization.”
Overall, hobgoblins are bigger, stronger, and occasionally have shamans among them, so there is certainly a racial difference.
But even so, they’re still goblins. The disparity in specs isn’t on a massive level.
Thus, the greatest difference lies in their lifestyle.
Roaming goblins always move alone, at most in groups of three, living a barbaric life.
In contrast, hobgoblins form tribes with dozens of them, cultivating their own civilization and living systematically.
They may be primitive, but hobgoblins have huts and fences surrounding them, use a greater variety of tools, and have a clear hierarchy.
Hence, they despise roaming goblins as savages… but they’re equally strong in libido, so they make exceptions for males, welcoming any that come.
It’s said that male goblins never even go outside, don’t work, and just spend their entire lives mating, hence the term breeding class.
I feel a bit jealous, but considering that they’re all goblins, it quickly cools down.
…Wait a second. Is that why roaming goblins get riled up when they see me?
The males must have all gone to the hobgoblins, and only females are left. If they’re male, they’ll definitely get excited, regardless of race.
As I trembled at the thought of the goblin that couldn’t take its eyes off my lower half until death, Lydia started patting my head again.
Really, I wish she’d only do that when I was out of my armor…
“You nailed it. If Jonah goes deeper, engagements with hobgoblins are inevitable. They may not be the strongest monsters, but they are the most numerous.”
“So knowing how to disarm traps is essential, then?”
“Exactly. Hobgoblins don’t just leave traps lying around hoping someone falls into them; they set them up in ways that guarantee catches. So, it’s crucial to study in advance. If you can’t avoid a trap, you should know how to dismantle it, or if caught, how to escape.”
Lydia nodded and began demonstrating on the abandoned trap.
“Professional trap dismantling is tough and complex, so not many scouts master it, but goblin traps are flimsy. Anyone who’s an adventurer should know how to deal with them. See? Easy, right?”
“Wow….”
From there, as we gradually moved toward the center, we encountered several traps. But as Lydia had said, they were all simple structures, and dismantling them was straightforward.
However, after confronting or dismantling those traps several times, I suddenly had a thought.
“If the goblins fight sneakily, is there really any reason for me, who’s weaker than them, to fight fairly with just my dagger and crossbow?”
It’s not bad to set traps like they do, but there must be various other methods.
So I decided to unleash a bit of imagination. How could I make it one-sided? A sinister kind of imagination.
Surely, it would be useful someday.
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