Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 6
[Combat Ended]
[9 Goblins Defeated. Contribution Rate 40%]
[Experience Points Acquired.]
[Level Increased.]
[Obtained 1 Level Up Point.]
“Yes!”
“Why, why are you like that? Brother!?”
“My level went up!”
“Ah. That……? Congratulations, brother!”
For the natives, the level the system shows them is literally a “standard”—a measure of strength.
The stronger you are, the higher your level.
But for Summoned Beings, it’s different.
Like a game, you gain Experience Points by defeating monsters in the Labyrinth, which accumulate into a number.
Those Level Up Points are what you earn.
Natives train themselves and raise both their Skills and their standard together.
Summoned Beings gain Experience Points to level up, then use those Level Up Points to raise their stats or Skills, and evolve them to increase their combat ability.
That’s why Summoned Beings grow stronger quickly.
But at equal levels, natives are usually stronger.
-Using Level Up Points to raise stats is foolish. Always Skills.
-Who’s stronger—someone who raised their Skills through the system’s power, or someone who trained themselves?
-With your talent, you’d be able to master ordinary Skills on your own. So…….
‘I need to be careful.’
That’s why I need to conserve my Skill Points now.
And there was something else I’d clearly learned from this battle.
‘Spirits are more useful for reconnaissance than I thought. Especially when sending them in one direction.’
The Wind Spirit reads the flow of air, and the Earth Spirit reads the vibrations of the ground.
The Fire Spirit reads the contrast of light and the warmth of enemies, and the Water Spirit can sense the moisture present in a living creature’s body to some degree.
Each sense is faint, as befits the lowest-class Spirits, but now all four Spirits have my consciousness dwelling within them.
When all those senses merge together, I can read the presence of enemies far too clearly, even in places where my vision can’t reach within fifty meters.
‘Good. Very good.’
Everything feels like it’s falling into place.
Ever since I obtained the Goblin Basket, it feels like this grim world has been opening a path toward me.
“Come on, let’s go again!”
“Again?”
“Yeah. What, are you tired?”
“No, it’s not that. Fine. Let’s go!”
Drunk on the rush of accomplishment, we tore through Labyrinth Floor 1 like madmen.
In barely half a day, we’d defeated hundreds of Goblins, pushed my level all the way to five, until Experience Points from Goblins stopped coming in.
“Brother, we’ve already found six exits. Shouldn’t we head back?”
It wasn’t until Kirk stopped me with an exhausted look that I finally paused.
“Hey. Don’t you want to get a Special Class?”
“Huh? Of course I do. But what does that have to do with right now…….”
He tilted his head in confusion, but when he saw the meaningful look on my face, he shot back to his feet.
“Brother, you know something, don’t you?”
“Well, I heard a rumor about it.”
“A rumor?”
“Yeah. Not certain, but the odds are good. So, want to keep going?”
“No way! Then we have to do it!”
I’d manipulated the naive Kirk into catching my fever,
and we proceeded to indiscriminately slaughter that Goblin tribe in their territory until
at some point
……we were surrounded.
Damn it.
“Run, brother!”
“I’m running!”
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
“Kyek! Kyek!”
“Kyaruk!”
“Chweeet!”
Behind us as we race through the darkness, a green tide surges forward, accompanied by countless savage cries.
Where did things go wrong?
In the throes of slaughter, goblins had begun pouring toward us in swarms from nearly every direction.
“That’s! Why! I! Said! We should be careful!”
I knew goblins were sensitive to their kin being in danger.
But the intoxication of achievement had made me reckless.
“I! Didn’t! Expect this either!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
‘I thought maybe a few dozen would swarm us. Not this many!’
The fact that I could even speak while running was thanks to Jelik’s hellish training.
It also meant we still had stamina to spare.
So the path forward was clear.
‘Before fleeing leaves us completely exhausted, we have to end this one way or another.’
The trouble was that whichever direction I looked, easily over a hundred goblins were visible.
Jelik had emphasized it more times than I could count.
-Once you’re surrounded and take a Paralysis Projectile, it’s over. You have to finish before that happens.
-At that scale… if you’re at your level, beyond thirty could get dangerous.
That warning was vivid in my mind.
But.
“We’re! Gathering! Them! In one spot!”
“I know!”
Being dragged around like this would only make things worse—that much was obvious.
‘Think. Think!’
No matter how hard I thought, only one halfway plausible option came to mind.
‘The side with the fewest numbers is…?’
“Left! There’s the least on the left!”
“What about Paralysis Projectiles!? Can I use my ability!? The cooldown’s too long!”
“Just leave it to me! I’ll handle it!”
“What!?”
“Trust me!”
It was risky, but we had no other choice.
“Let’s go!”
Fortunately, Kirk heard me and charged boldly toward the left.
‘Here we go!’
Flash.
Just as before, I burst forth with light ahead of Kirk’s charge.
Then I follow, striking.
Everything so far mirrors what we’ve done before, except for one crucial difference.
My Spirits are now keeping watch over the entire goblin force ahead of me.
‘I can’t miss a single one. Especially the Paralysis Projectiles.’
With five different perspectives beyond my own—my main body and my Spirits—I see every angle without blind spots. Attacks that would normally be invisible become visible.
In other words, right now I have no blind spots.
‘To the side!’
Clang.
Whoosh.
I slip past a crude bone blade coming from the side and thrust my spear forward, piercing two goblins at once through their bodies—a solid, weighty sensation runs down the shaft.
The problem is I only have to deal with two goblins.
“Shriek!”
“Screech!”
“Hiss!”
One leaps over its wounded ally and swings a sword.
Another rolls in from the side, raking at my ankle.
A third stabs at my ribs from another angle, while a fourth draws a hollow tube from behind.
‘Damn.’
Whoosh.
Slice.
I use the Advance-Retreat Step, taking a large step backward to evade the onslaught.
Whoosh.
Then I thrust forward again, impaling one goblin’s torso and tearing through another’s.
The Thrusting Strike, already at Level 3 without investing any Skill Points, shows its formidable power.
Just an hour ago, I’d been pleased with myself, thinking I thrived in real combat.
‘Stop it! No more escapism!’
In that moment, a Paralysis Projectile came whistling from a distance.
Splat.
“Shriek!”
The Spirit blinded the creature holding the blowgun, deflecting the projectile.
The same fate befell the blowgun aimed at Kirk, who was right beside me unleashing a crimson storm with his spear.
‘That’s it. I can do this!’
Watching the entire battlefield, the Spirit gouged out the eyes of any Goblin reaching for a blowgun, or simply knocked the projectiles aside.
My head spun and a dull ache throbbed behind my eyes, but it was still bearable.
“Hah!”
Crunch-crack-crack-crack.
Kirk swept his spear in a wide arc, pulverizing two or three Goblins in a single motion.
Beside him, I chained together Advance-Retreat Steps and Thrusting Strikes, methodically thinning the Goblin ranks one or two at a time.
But then.
“More coming from behind. Push through!”
“Ungh!”
Goblins were pouring in from other passages faster than we could kill them.
We slaughtered our way forward in a frenzied push, hacking through Goblins in one direction to carve out our path.
Slash.
“Ugh!”
A burning sensation shot through my shin; glancing down, I saw a crude-bladed Goblin had stabbed through a gap in my armor.
“Hah!”
Crack-splash.
I crushed its skull in retaliation, but only then did I notice the sharp stings across my body.
I’d managed to stop most of the visible Paralysis Projectiles, but I’d accumulated a host of shallow cuts along the way.
‘Damn it. The exit has to be down this way.’
I stopped thinking about a perfect clear.
Survival came first.
Was even that kind of thinking a distraction?
Another burning sensation bloomed across my other shin.
‘Damn!’
Whoosh.
I retaliated instantly, but both legs now tingled and ached.
‘Should’ve borrowed money for Plate Armor. Curse it!’
Perhaps he saw it.
“Hold on!” Kirk called out, not breaking his manic charge forward.
He glanced back with a shout.
“Of course! Just—keep—pushing!”
Crack-splash.
Thud-thud.
From the moment my mind cleared, I abandoned all distracting thoughts.
I focused solely on killing the Goblins in front of me.
[Your Thrusting Strike has increased in Level…….]
[Your Advance-Retreat Step has increased in Level…….]
Even as the System’s voice faded, I kept my consciousness locked on combat, sweeping my spear in an endless blur.
Using the Spirit to survey all directions, I intercepted Paralysis Projectiles before they could reach me.
With those multiple vantage points, I searched for gaps in the Goblin formation, using the Advance-Retreat Step to strike and withdraw, gradually whittling down their numbers.
And then.
Flash.
Occasionally, brilliant flares from the Fire Spirit would blind the Goblins—a lifeline that pulled me through moment after desperate moment.
But the real reason for our survival was Kirk, who fought with feral brilliance just ahead of me, methodically slaughtering everything in his path.
‘Wow.’
Crunch-crack-crack-crack.
He moved as if grinding the Goblins to dust.
‘Has this guy actually gotten stronger?’
If my registered Skills were Thrusting Strike and Advance-Retreat Step, then Kirk’s technique resembled the Jelik Secret Spear Art merged with something beyond—a Kirk variant that transcended them both.
-Kirk hasn’t obtained a Class yet, so he’s rated at Level 10. Once he gets one, he’ll surge ahead.
His movements were far beyond my capacity to replicate, but I caught fragments of his form in the dance of spear and footwork, adapting as best I could.
I wasn’t Kirk, but I was doing my part—efficiently culling the Goblins alongside him.
[Thrusting Strike’s Level has increased…….]
[Advance-Retreat Step’s Level has increased…….]
I let the system’s voice flow in one ear and out the other, and after endless fighting, I suddenly realized there were no more Goblins in front of us.
“We broke through!”
Kirk shouted before I did—a triumphant cry announcing the end of our suffocating situation. But unfortunately, what stood directly ahead was a solid wall.
‘Damn it.’
I found myself equally despairing.
Kirk had lowered his spear, his expression vacant.
Seven Goblins were firing Paralysis Projectiles at him from behind.
This was a moment that demanded everything I had.
But I’d just used the Fire Spirit, and the cooldown was kicking in.
‘Damn.’
With no choice left.
‘Full deployment!’
The Wind Spirit scattered the Paralysis Projectiles.
The Water Spirit stabbed at the Goblins’ eyes and blocked their noses, and
the Earth Spirit tripped them up at the ankles.
But the moment all three Spirits poured their strength out at once,
the two Goblins lingering in the rear launched fresh Paralysis Projectiles that I couldn’t intercept.
‘Damn. Intercept!’
Clang.
Barely managing to sweep one aside with my spear was nothing short of a miracle given my skill level.
I watched with dismay as the one I’d failed to deflect sailed through the air.
Clang.
Only when I saw it strike Kirk’s armor could I breathe a sigh of relief.
But the price of breaking my stance was steep.
The Goblins that had slipped past my Spirits’ interference were already swinging their weapons before me.
“Kaaaagh!”
“Rragh!”
Thud. Thud.
“Ugh!”
Crude blades lodging themselves in my ribs and thighs.
My armor, already in tatters, couldn’t block or deflect even these crude weapons.
“Tch!”
Whoosh.
Goblins tumbled backward from the haft of my spear, which I’d swung without proper form.
“Brother!”
Half a beat late in noticing my predicament, Kirk charged in desperately and began wielding his spear.
Thrust-thrust-thrust-thrust-thrust.
Bang!
Five precise strikes in succession, sweeping movements, and a final whipping strike with the haft.
Every blow found its mark, piercing and shattering the Goblins.
I thought he’d come a long way in this battle as I reached for my spear again.
It felt impossibly heavy in my grip.
“Brother! Are you all right!?”
“I can—I can do this!”
I answered, but my hand trembled as I raised the weapon.
No—my entire body was shaking.
‘Damn it.’
The moment my unwavering focus shattered against the tide of pain, every nerve in my body screamed far worse than before.
I’d lost count of the wounds; strength wouldn’t flow properly into my legs and arms.
But.
“Hold on, brother!”
Kirk’s worry struck me so viscerally that I couldn’t simply collapse.
“I can—I can doooo this!”
I forced a shout and pulled Mana to the surface.
I channeled the Mana to stanch the bleeding from my wounds.
I tensed my muscles and tried to rid myself of fatigue, fighting to keep my bones upright.
In normal circumstances, such precise Mana manipulation would have been impossible.
But for some reason, my Mana flowed smoothly, bending to my will.
At the same moment,
[The Bartus Hardening Technique has leveled up.]
[The Bartus Hardening Technique has…….]
As the system’s voice rang out in succession, strength began to return to my body—if only slightly.
‘Excellent!’
It wasn’t complete recovery, of course, but what mattered was that I’d shifted from a state where I might collapse at any moment to one where I could fight.
My mind felt clearer too.
“Your left!”
Whoosh.
“Brother!?”
I snatched the goblin that had been aiming for Kirk’s side, and he spun around sharply.
“Keep your eyes forward, you fool!”
“Yes, sir!”
Hearing the joy in his reply, I found myself smiling naturally in return.
Honestly, Kirk had seemed a bit distant before we entered the Labyrinth, but now he felt almost like a brother.
“Let’s kill them all!”
“Yes!”
Right. If there’s nowhere to run, then we simply kill everything that comes at us.
My spirit, rising anew, sank into battle without reserve.
The desperation was much the same as before, yet somehow I felt I wouldn’t fall so easily now.
Even the spirits’ vision seemed to sharpen.
[The Thrusting Strike has leveled up…….]
[The Advance-Retreat Step has leveled up…….]
[The Bartus Hardening Technique…….]
The system’s voice, which had continued without pause, fell silent at some point.
Just as the endless wave of goblins finally seemed to be ending,
my mind, deep in thoughtless combat, was jolted awake by an unfamiliar roar.
-KRAAAAAAAHHHHH!
-Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
The moment that thunderous cry echoed, the goblins began falling back instead.
And soon in my vision appeared dozens of muscular goblins, each a head taller than any we’d faced before, and one goblin with crimson skin riding a wolf at their forefront.
“A Hobgoblin!?”
“A Goblin Lord!?”
We’d named it differently, but meant the same thing.
A variant that emerges when goblins grow from a tribe to the scale of a small city.
It was unmistakably a superior monster to the ordinary goblins.
The Adventurer’s Guide even stated that if a Novice encounters a Hobgoblin on Floor 1, they should simply flee.
But after enduring the endless goblin onslaught we’d suffered, our thinking had shifted.
-The Hobgoblin’s greatest ability is Pack Domination.
-Goblins under a Hobgoblin’s control know no fear and fight endlessly.
The very goblin wave we’d been forced to endure all this time was that monster’s greatest ability.
‘No wonder they kept throwing themselves at us without end.’
In other words, now that most of the goblins were dead, it was nothing more than a larger, stronger goblin.
“So they were herding us toward these things from the start.”
“Then if we finish these, it’s over?”
“That’s right.”
This exhausting fight finally had an end in sight.
That thought was inescapable.
Perhaps the creature sensed we’d begun to underestimate it.
“KYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
The Hobgoblin roared, and the goblin warriors began charging forward.
But.
“Let’s end this!”
“Yes!”
Having glimpsed hope, we charged at them without hesitation.
And.
[You have defeated the Hobgoblin.]
[You have overcome an unprecedented Monster Wave on Labyrinth Floor 1.]
[An Achievement has been created. You will receive a bonus upon Class acquisition.]
[You have leveled up.]
At last, we were able to bring the battle to an end.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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