Ascension Through Skills

The Second Floor(3)

TL: handCream

PR: Kasaix

Tae-san turned off his private chat, setting off for his journey.

The structure of the second floor was similar to that of the first floor. There was no significant difference till the 10th floor as after that a new cycle would begin.

He could see the mossy bricks along the floor, and thought the interior was quite similar to the first floor.

But, Tae-san learned from Lee Tae-yeon that the first floor of Solo Mode was actually a half-tutorial. The second floor was the real beginning.

It meant, inside this floor, the source would be limited as the Fountain of Life didn’t exist. 

Tae-san already knew what was going to happen here.

Tae-san walked through the passage where a door appeared. Passing through the aisle where he could only see a room. Reaching the door, he took a sneak-peek inside it. He opened the door enough to check inside the room. 

“Keeek.”

“Karuk! Karuk!”

Green monsters were seen everywhere. Though they were small, their appearance was similar to humans. But their height reached only up to Tae-san’s chest. Each of them were either holding a sword, shield, bow etc. And they were chatting away with their hideously sticking out molars.

“Karruk.”

“Kiek! Kiek!”

When one said something, the other monsters chimed in. They seemed to have heard a funny joke.

[A goblin with a bow has appeared.]

[A goblin with a short sword has appeared.]

[A goblin with a short sword has appeared.]

[A goblin with a shield has appeared.]

 ‘Goblin.’

Green monsters. They were distributed throughout the middle floors and the most common monster found throughout the labyrinth.

They were the main monsters on the second floor.

The goblins were playing pranks on each other. One was tapping on the shield while the other shook their heads. They looked very close.

“Kruuk!”

“Kekek!”

Tae-san was watching them silently without any expression on his face.

If he were to only deal with a single goblin as his target, there shouldn’t be a problem.

In the Easy Mode, there were normal monsters till the 10th floor, who were quite weak.

In terms of strength, Giant Rat, the boss of the first floor, was undeniably much stronger.

But there was a difference between the goblins and the other monsters. It was that they had higher intelligence when compared to other monsters, albeit still a little shallow.

Their strength lied when they were gathered to form a group to work together. Whether it may be digging traps, hunting etc. 

Thanks to those advantages, they were found not only in the middle but also the upper floors of the labyrinth. 

There were already four goblins in the room. Seeing that number of Goblins together meant that a player had to cross the 20th floor on the Easy Mode. And this was still the second floor of the Solo Mode.

In addition to that Easy Mode the players could form a group and handle the monsters. They usually followed the person in charge. 

But Tae-san was here alone, all by himself.

Tae-san was aware of that factor so he had prepared enough countermeasures. He examined the goblin’s armament.

Two of the four were wearing longswords. As the goblins were the one wearing them, they looked like a longsword. But Tae-san knew those were definitely short swords.

The other one was wearing a shield and a dagger. The size of the shield was small and barely covered the upper and lower body.

And the last goblin was holding a bow.

He was the one keeping things in order. Their clothes were made of thin leather that barely covered anything. And its defense seemed to be about 1 or 2. 

Tae-san, after checking the armament, decided the order of which he would hunt them. He drew a picture of the processing in advance in his head. After finalizing everything, he kicked down the door. 

Thud.

“Kiek!”

“Keeeek!”

The goblins were bewildered by his sudden appearance. But in a flash, their eyes were filled with murder. Their jolly chattiness disappeared. Now they were the monsters ready to kill their enemies.  

Tae-san immediately pulled out his bow, stuck a paralyzing arrow on it. Pulling the bowstring, he shot. 

Whoosh.

“Kie-ek-kie.”

[10 damage was dealt to the goblin holding a bow]

[The target is paralyzed. He can’t move for 30 seconds or until your next attack]

Unlike the Giant Rat, the paralysis time was longer because it was a regular monster.

Tae-san took out another paralyzing arrow.

The goblins screamed and ran towards him.

In this chaos, he could fail if he got impatient. But Tae-san didn’t budge. 

[Coolheaded proficiency increased by 1%]

The arrow was shot, piercing the goblin’s arm who was running with a sword.

“Kik! Kik!”

The goblin trembled and suddenly stopped. Only his eyes were rolling back and forth. Two of four were shot paralyzed, leaving the other two with the sword and the shield. 

The goblins had shortened the distance already. Now he can’t shoot arrows. The goblin with the shield slashed Tae-san with the dagger.

Tae-san quickly retracted the bow and took out the tower shield. Dodging the dagger and pushing the goblin with the tower shield. 

Thuk!

“Kaak!”

The goblin with the shield was thrown off. The difference in the size of their shield was overwhelming and also their strength. So obviously facing a head to head battle, it was an easy victory for Tae-san. 

[8 damage was dealt to the goblin with a shield]

However, the opponent blocking the attack with their shield got very little damage. If his memory was correct, a goblin’s strength was about 40 to 50. It was virtually impossible to kill them with just a single throw.

“Karreuk!”

The goblin, who wields the short sword, swung his sword.

“Kacha!”.

The tower shield broke. But the damage done was still bearable. He shrugged his body and then explosively hit the goblin.

[8 damage was dealt to the goblin wielding a short sword]

“Kaak!”

Attacks after attacks kept on flying towards the goblin. To defend, the monster swung his sword back and forth. But he tripped causing it to fall. Tae-san, not missing the opportunity, stood on top of the goblin. 

“Kaak! Kaak!”

The crushed goblin struggled, trying to escape somehow. But he was already overpowered. There was no way for an opponent who lacked strength to escape. Tae-san used his tower shield to stomp on the monster. The goblin’s head shook violently.

The goblin wielding the short sword was killed. It had taken in greater damage.

[15 damage was dealt to the goblin wielding a short sword]

[14 damage was dealt to the goblin wielding a short sword]

“Ka-kagak.”

The goblin’s pupils lost focus. Just one more to kill. Tae-san again raised his tower shield. 

“Kaak”

The goblin with the shield rushed in as if to stop. Tae-san pushed him to his sitting position without getting up. The goblin with the shield retreated helplessly again.

[14 damage was dealt to the goblin wielding a short sword]

[You have defeated the goblin wielding a short sword]

The system window didn’t appear. It was because Tae-san, who was too lazy to close the window during the battle, had set it to appear after the fight 

Another one was dealt with. If there was a problem, the effect of the paralyzing arrow would take care of it 

“Kaaak!”

“Keeek!”

The three goblins who lost their colleagues were angry. The goblin with a bow pulled his bowstring roughly. The arrow hit the tower shield.．

[2 damage was dealt to you]

 “Keeek!”

The goblin with a short sword aimed at his side, which was not protected by the tower shield. Tae-san threw it off with his shield. Then the goblin with the shield intervened through the gap created by the push. The monster forcibly tried to get hold of the tower shield and throw it off.

“Ahhh!”

“Tsk”.

Tae-san clicked his tongue and shook his tower shield roughly. The goblin with the shield bounced off. However, that opened a gap, and the goblin with the short sword did not miss.

“Keeek!”

The sword aimed at Tae-san’s neck, but he quickly twisted his head to avoid it. However, the sharp blade still grazed his skin.

[7 damage was dealt to you]

As Tae-san was trying to push the goblin, with the short sword, who was holding onto the tower shield. An arrow was shot. Eventually, Tae-san had no choice but to retreat.

‘As expected, they are very tricky.’

The team of goblins were in sync. Each of them covered the other’s gaps. So each of them could attack the opponent one after the other. Their teamwork was so perfect that Tae-san didn’t have the time to attack. 

At Least he got rid of one in advance. Otherwise, it would have been quite dangerous.

In order for him to win, he had to break their coordination. Tae-san caught his breath.

[You have activated [Slowed Breathing Attack]. For the next 10 seconds you don’t have to take a breath without any consequence]

Tae-san pushed the tower shield toward the running goblin.

“Kak! Kaaak!”

Instantly, the attack was so much faster than before that the shocked goblin stepped back.

The goblin with the short sword rushed in to help. However, their link had already been broken.

Tae-san roughly shoved his tower shield. The Goblin was bounced off with force.

The other two goblins moved further away from Tae-san, they had time to spare. Tae-san put his shield back and pulled out his Wand of Flames 

[You have used the skill [Fire-Ball]]

Flames were shot at the goblin who was trying to shoot arrows. The goblin stupidity stared at the flying fireball.

“Kaak!”

Smash!

[15 damage was dealt to the goblin with the bow]

[No judgement required! The goblin with the bow is burning.]

“Kiek!”

The goblin with its whole body on fire screamed and ran wildly. Looking at him, it seemed he didn’t have the spirit to shoot him anymore.

Meanwhile, the two goblins were running towards Tae-san again. Tae-san changed his wand and pulled out his tower shield again.

“Kaak! Kaak!”

The two goblins vigorously beat the tower shield, but unlike before, there was no support from the archer goblin. Their coordination was already broken. All this gap was covered.

Kwoong!

[9 damage was dealt to goblin holding a short sword]

“Keek!”

The goblin was again thrown off, Tae-san quickly put the tower shield into his inventory. He took out his rusty sword and rushed towards goblin with a shield.

The goblin tried to cover his body with his shield and hold out until his teammate returned. 

But Tae-san had no intention of letting that happen.