I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 62

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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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62
Night Song flashed through the downpour, cutting a path through sheets of rain.
Shwack—!
The headless lizard collapsed with a wet thud into the mud.
[Basic Quest completed.]
[Calculating rewards.]
“Hah, that went smooth.”
I waved away the message cascade that materialized before me, and the prompt I’d been waiting for finally appeared.
[Proceed to the Trial of Floor 18?]
“About time I saw this blasted thing.”
I’d spent nearly a week grinding through Floor 17 just to catch sight of this single message.
So the answer was obvious.
“Yeah, I’m in.”
[Initiating the Trial of Viewing.]
The Trial of Floor 18 was different from the start—something about Force Restoration Rate and other mechanics I hadn’t seen before.
I was curious what the tower had cooked up this time.
A lizardman army? A pack of wolves? Maybe the two of them would set aside their snarling and come at me together.
‘Doesn’t matter either way.’
Whatever came charging at me to kill me, I’d cut it down.
But what unfolded next was different from what I’d expected.
[Mission Objective: Follow the marker to reach your destination.]
“…That’s it?”
No enemies to eliminate. No time limit.
The only objective was to reach a designated location.
And far above in the sky, an arrow floated and blinked, pointing the way to my destination.
‘Something’s off.’
Whatever the tower was planning, it was being far too helpful—which only made me more uneasy.
“…Well, I’ll find out soon enough.”
I followed the arrow floating in the air.
Rain pattered down steadily.
The smell of wet grass in the forest.
Muddy, squelching ground beneath my feet.
It was a forest like any other.
‘I kept expecting something to jump out of nowhere…’
Rustle!
As if my thought had summoned it, a presence made itself known not far off.
“…!”
My hand reflexively went to my sword hilt, and through the brush emerged familiar green heads.
“Oh, goblins. Hey there.”
Four of them. The moment they spotted me, they froze in place as if on cue.
“Keh, keh ruk…? Keh ru!?”
“What, you scared? Who’s going to eat you?”
“Ki keh ru! Ashakatal!”
“Oh, me?”
One of them began to kneel in the mud.
“Hey, hey. No kneeling. Don’t do that.”
I waved them up, and the one who’d started to kneel sprang to his feet with a face full of emotion, bowing repeatedly.
The others bent at the waist and began chattering excitedly.
The only words I could make out were “Ashakatal” and “Kisharak” scattered throughout their speech.
“Yeah, that’s right. You’re all doing well.”
This was only the beginning. As I continued along the path, I encountered goblins more and more frequently, in greater and greater numbers.
They came from different tribes, each bearing different tribal flags and markings.
A seasoned-looking warrior walked with tribal flag held high, while just behind him came an elderly goblin whose movements were labored, leaning on a walking stick with each shuffling step.
Beside them walked children clinging tightly to their parents’ hands, as if the whole neighborhood had decided to go out for a stroll together.
But the ones that caught my eye most clearly were those bearing the Red Flag mark.
“Oh, Roga’s people are here too?”
“Keh ruk! Ashakatal!”
When I recognized them, the ones with the Red Flag marks tapped their marks once, then beat their chests with those same hands in greeting.
“Yeah, that’s right. You all get along well with Roga.”
So I spent about ten minutes leisurely following the path the system had marked out, watching goblins parade past.
“…what, you’ve grown again?”
At first I figured we were just taking the same path, but every time I glanced back, the number kept increasing, and before long a rather substantial line had formed behind me.
“Look, I get that we’re heading the same way, alright? But why do you keep sticking to my back?”
Naturally, there was no answer.
Only reverential bows, gleaming eyes, and chests thumping rhythmically.
“Enough. Who am I even asking?”
With this long tail trailing behind me, I continued walking through the forest path for a while longer.
As I drew closer to my destination, a low murmur began filtering through the sound of rain.
‘Almost there, then.’
The noise grew increasingly distinct.
The moment I emerged from between the densely packed ancient trees, my vision—previously so cramped and suffocating—suddenly opened wide.
“Oh…!”
A basin so vast I couldn’t believe such a place existed in the heart of this primeval forest.
What filled it below was green.
Beneath dozens of flags fluttering in the rain and wind, goblins had gathered so thickly they packed the entire basin.
Hundreds? Perhaps even close to a thousand.
“Damn, how many are there? Something’s definitely happening today.”
My amazement at that overwhelming scale was brief.
“Ashakatal!”
Suddenly, a thunderous shout erupted from behind me.
“My ears work fine. Call more gently, would you?”
When I turned, it was the one who’d nearly knelt in the mud earlier.
At that cry, the nearby goblins one by one turned their gaze toward me.
“Ashakatal…?!”
“Geuluk! Kisharak! Ashakatal!”
As the commotion spread like wildfire, the chatter that had been passing between them died away like receding waves.
Soon all sound ceased, leaving only the patter of falling rain.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Throughout the basin, countless goblins knelt in the mud one after another.
“…so they kneel even when their knees give out, huh.”
By rough count, roughly one in three. Easily hundreds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The goblins bearing the Red Flag then beat their chests in unison as if by agreement.
“What, you too?”
With hundreds of tiny goblins doing it simultaneously, it sounded as though the whole world was resonating.
Roga, it seemed, had quite the talent for making friends.
Looking at it now, more than half the goblins here appeared to regard me favorably.
“So all that effort helping the goblins wasn’t wasted after all?”
Of course, not everyone was favorable.
Some glared openly, their wariness undisguised.
Their hands fidgeted on their sword hilts as if they might draw and strike at the slightest provocation.
“…well, I can’t expect everyone to like me. So what’s this about? Come on, let’s get to the point.”
My questioning was answered by a system message that rose before my eyes.
[Preliminary objective: You have reached the Green Breath Gathering Ground.]
[Quest updated.]
[Final objective: Unify the goblin forces as one.]
“That was fast.”
Judging by how things had developed, the result was hardly different from what I’d anticipated.
The Tower had handed me another tiresome task.
“Slicing them apart is easy, but unifying them…”
The numbers were substantial, but it might be easier than I thought.
After all, more than half of them here are basically “Ashakatal lovers.”
And one more thing.
“‘Absolute Hierarchy’—isn’t this exactly what that’s for?”
Sure enough, the ring on my finger let out a peculiar hum, resonating with an otherworldly tone.
“So you’re already prepared, are you?”
[You can use the special effect ‘Absolute Hierarchy’ to immediately subjugate the goblin horde.]
“Oh, we understand each other.”
After a week of training those mongrels on Floor 17, it still manages to look out for me somewhat.
Just as I was about to take the easy route, a system message urgently called me to a halt.
[If you induce voluntary Bonding without using Absolute Hierarchy, additional effects that cannot be obtained through Subjugation will occur.]
[※ The integration method you choose will determine the form of the force that is created, and will be permanently reflected in future Trials.]
“Right, that’s why it felt so easy.”
In other words, use the good things you have as much as you like if you want to take the easy path.
‘But if I integrate without using it, there’s something more to gain….’
Then for now, let me try without the Ring’s help!
If it doesn’t look like it will work, I can just press down with the Ring at that point.
‘The problem is figuring out what to do….’
I can’t catch and convince all these goblins one by one.
I needed a place where everyone could see and hear me.
“There happens to be a perfect spot for that.”
Right there in the middle of the basin, a single rock stood prominently. It was like a natural podium.
It reminded me of something from an old children’s movie with a lion in it.
It looked like it was made for this purpose from the start.
“I can go up there and speak.”
As for translation, I just need to call Snig.
The goblins who were already favorably inclined toward me seemed to be quietly hoping I would climb that rock.
“Well then, without further ado….”
Just as I was about to step toward the rock.
“Keeeeraw―!”
“…Hm?”
A piercing cry that cut through the sound of rain.
My ears stung, so I turned around. An old goblin was approaching on a walking stick, face twisted with anger.
“Speak properly. You’re about to burst my eardrums, you wretch.”
He looked like he had plenty of grievances….
“I can tell just by looking. So you’re the one? Something like a boss for this Trial.”
I’m going to have to put this old man in his place. Right now.
* * *
“How dare an unqualified wretch attempt to set foot upon the Rock! Not while there’s still breath in my eye!”
The goblins scattered hastily at the cutting rebuke.
A one-eyed goblin with a patch over one eye emerged from the path they cleared.
“It’s, it’s Elder Geuluk…!”
“The Rock Guardian himself has come forward!”
Geuluk—an elder of the Gray Rock Tribe who had protected Star-Dwelling Rock for generations, and the current Rock Guardian himself.
For Si Hyeon, who had simply seen that sacred rock as a convenient speaking platform, he had truly met his match.
Of course, no matter what Geuluk said, all Si Hyeon heard was that grating kerok sound.
“Snig, come here.”
The moment the summons fell, Snig quickly appeared from a portal that opened in midair.
“Your servant, loyal to his lord! Colonel Snig, at your command!”
“Yeah, come over and translate for me. This elder seems to have a lot he wants to say to me.”
“I shall obey at once!”
Snig stepped forward and faced Geuluk.
“Hear now, forest goblin. My lord, in his boundless magnanimity, deigns to hear your words directly. If you have anything to say, speak it.”
“I have already spoken. A man who cannot plant a Tribal Flag in his name behind his back has no right to stand upon the Rock. That is all.”
Snig’s face contorted immediately.
“This savage forest goblin dares…! What standing do you have to question qualifications! This lord of whom I speak is none other than the legitimate successor of Lord Goldarac, the master of all goblins, and…!”
Geuluk cut him off with a snort of laughter.
“Regardless of who your master is, those lacking qualifications do not gain them from thin air. And for a servant to be so crude as to call others savage… by the conduct of this servant, I can read his master’s character as plainly as fire.”
At this point, Snig’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head.
“Fool! Has the loss of your other eye left you blind as well! That your one remaining eye is surely lost to the same twisted stubbornness! Can you not see that most of your kinfolk show reverence to my lord!”
At that, Geuluk’s remaining eye blazed open.
“You! You can only count the knees that bend, but you cannot count those who still stand!”
Geuluk’s staff swept across the goblins arrayed left and right.
“I know this man is called Ashakatal. I do not deny that beneath that Red Flag, redrawn over the old mark, many of our kinfolk have found salvation. But….”
Geuluk paused, his one eye turning toward Si Hyeon.
“That grace does not give him the right to trample our ancient laws and rule over all of Green Breath.”
“You ignorant fool! If my lord so much as wished it, his power could bring every last one of you to your knees at this very moment…!”
“Perhaps. He has come this far alone, after all. He is no ordinary man. But….”
For a moment, Geuluk’s eye narrowed.
“If he seeks to rule by force, how is he any different from those lizards he serves?”
“That, that is….”
Just as Snig’s voice caught and sweat began to bead on his forehead, Si Hyeon sensed something was amiss and wedged himself between the two.
“Hey, I told you to translate, not debate with the old man. Where’s all this chatter coming from?”
“That contemptible wretch fails to recognize the nobility of his lord…….”
“Hey, be honest with me. You lost that argument too, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“You lost.”
Si Hyeon clicked his tongue and gestured toward Geuluk.
“All right, so what’s this old man saying?”
“He… according to this old man, you lack the qualifications to ascend that rock, sir.”
“Qualifications, huh… Okay, Snig.”
“Yes, sir!”
“From now on, don’t add anything unnecessary—just relay what I say word for word. And translate everything he says without leaving out a single thing. I’m serious about this. This isn’t a joke.”
“I… I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”
With his spirit somewhat dampened, Snig proved himself an excellent interpreter in the conversation that followed, rendering every syllable without addition or subtraction.
“Fair enough, I’ll grant that I lack qualifications. So how do I get them?”
“The qualifications to ascend the rock are not seized by oneself. They are granted by others.”
Geuluk gestured toward the tribal flags raised throughout the Gathering Ground.
“If even one of the tribes gathered here were to place their flag behind your back of their own accord, then—and only then—would you gain the right to ascend that rock.”
“Just one?”
“Yes.”
Si Hyeon slowly scanned the dozens of flags fluttering in the rain and wind.
“Hmm, one will do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I need every single one of those flags.”
“…!”
Every flag. All of them.
Geuluk questioned what he had just heard, asking again in disbelief.
“Human, let me ask you one thing.”
Geuluk’s skeletal finger pointed between those kneeling and those still standing firm.
“Is what you desire a unified Green Breath? Or an army prostrate beneath your feet?”
Si Hyeon let out a quiet laugh, as if to say: why ask something so obvious?
“Both.”
I Copy Skills Just by Stepping on Shadows
Author |
Killing Part
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(주) Samyang C&C
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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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