"Phew..."
I picked up the magic stones dropped by the Thief and Warrior, tucked them into my backpack, and let out a long, heavy sigh.
I'd done it.
And I’d managed to defeat them without taking a single hit.
Consuming 4 HP with Fighting Spirit wasn't great for my grinding efficiency, but it would recover over time, so I figured it was within an acceptable range.
Once I’d calmed down, I brought up my status to check my experience points.
The experience points I'd earned from that single battle were a whopping 200.
You can calculate the experience points gained from monsters with this formula:
Racial Experience Points × Level × Class Modifier = Experience Points Earned
The racial experience points are 10 for a goblin and 5 for a slime. For a normal goblin, you just multiply that by its level. However, monsters with specific classes like Thieves or Warriors have an additional class modifier.
The Thief and Warrior from just now were likely both Level 4. Therefore, the calculations went like this:
For the Thief: 10 × 4 × 2 = 80 For the Warrior: 10 × 4 × 3 = 120
On the 2nd floor, facing three goblins at once would net me 70 experience points at best. On the 3rd floor, I got this much from just two. The leveling efficiency was on a whole different level.
Well, the goblins were that much stronger, too... but more than that, this was a result of me becoming even stronger than them.
According to the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki, the recommended level for the 3rd floor was 7 or 8. However, that was assuming a party of equal or greater numbers than the enemy.
I didn't know what the recommended level for a solo explorer was, but I seemed to be well above it for a group of two. Probably. Not that I knew for sure.
"I’m a little worried about what'll happen when I actually take a hit... but I should be fine."
I mean, I hadn't even taken damage yet, so this was a piece of cake! Gahaha!
With that, I pushed further into the dungeon in search of more experience points.
●◯●
"—That was close!! I seriously almost died...!!"
I scrambled back to the stairs connecting the 2nd and 3rd floors.
Once I reached the safety of that area, I muttered to myself, my shoulders heaving as I tried to catch my breath.
What happened?
Goblins! A whole pack of goblins!!
Shortly after my last fight, I’d encountered a group of three. The lineup was one Thief, one Warrior, and one Swordman.
I managed to win, somehow. But after burning through 8 HP for Fighting Spirit, I ended up taking a direct hit from the Swordman.
When its blade swept across my torso, I panicked for a second, thinking, "I'm dead!" But although it cut through my clothes and skin, the blade didn't seem to reach the muscle.
To be blunt, the strength of a Level 4 Goblin Swordman was on par with a top-tier athlete. On top of that, they actually had the technique of a swordsman. Even with a crude blade, it was an attack powerful enough to spill someone's guts under normal circumstances.
However, the wound on my stomach wasn't that deep.
The only explanation was the combined effect of HP and endurance. As long as you have HP, physical damage is mitigated based on your endurance and spirit values.
The tricky part was that it was mitigation, not total negation. HP didn't act as a perfect substitute for your body.
Just as I’d been doing to the Thieves and Warriors, an attack with overwhelming power could still kill in a single blow. Even if you had HP left, if a vital spot like your neck was cut, you'd die from blood loss like anyone else.
Anyway, this was my current HP.
HP: 16/45
I’d used 12 HP for Fighting Spirit. Subtracting that, my remaining HP should have been 33. The only attack I’d taken was that single hit from the Swordman. That meant the damage was 17.
Since I couldn't defend properly, it might have counted as a critical hit.
The Swordman was likely the monster with the highest attack power on this floor to begin with.
Still, this was bad. Even though my base endurance was low, it had been boosted to 21 by Fighting Spirit.
One more level.
If I could just get one more level, things should get a lot easier.
At low levels or when stats are low, damage-boosting skills provide the most benefit, which is why I’d prioritized putting skill points into Goblin Killer. But now, it seemed like raising the level of Fighting Spirit was the better move.
I had a feeling that if I boosted my agility, I’d actually be able to dodge those attacks.
"Damn it, was soloing really too reckless...!?"
Irritated, I unbuckled my leather breastplate and pulled off my shirt. I disinfected the wound on my side with the antiseptic I’d bought just in case and stopped the bleeding with gauze and bandages.
After putting my gear back on, I sat down on the stairs for a slightly early lunch.
I rested for an hour, washing down six convenience store onigiri with tea. By the time I was done, my HP had recovered significantly.
HP: 39/45
"I'll run from groups of four. And... maybe Berserk is actually unnecessary."
I’d spent my break thinking it over. If I hadn't used Berserk, the damage I took probably would have been lower. Even with just Fighting Spirit, my strength should reach 42.
With my other damage-boosting skills, I should still be able to one-shot them with only Fighting Spirit active...
"Alright... let's try this again."
I pulled myself together and headed back into the 3rd floor.
●◯●
I explored the 3rd floor again, holding my breath and moving with caution.
If I ran into a pack of four, I fled without a fight. Even without using Fighting Spirit, my agility was high enough that not even a Thief could catch me, so escaping was easy.
If the group only had two, it was no problem.
As I’d suspected, I could defeat them without taking damage using only Fighting Spirit, leaving Berserk out of it.
The problem was the groups of three.
The Swordman had the most attack power, but the Warrior was the most annoying. Having my attacks blocked by a shield was a huge hassle. Most importantly, if I got bogged down dealing with a Warrior, the risk of being surrounded and attacked by the other goblins skyrocketed.
To deal with them, I had to do what I did at the start: blow the Warrior away with the first strike and kill the Thief or Swordman while he was reeling.
However, I’d inevitably take a hit from the third one while finishing the second.
There was no point in trying to be careful with my positioning. The goblins on this floor actually understood group tactics; they would always try to flank me or get behind me. As a solo fighter, there was no way to stop every attack.
So, I decided to fight with the resolve to take one hit.
Having been slashed by a Swordman, I’d learned that as long as I had plenty of HP, I was unlikely to suffer a fatal injury unless a vital spot was hit. I could endure it with my HP barrier.
However, the Swordman’s attacks hurt way too much, so if I had to take a hit, it had to be from a Thief or a Warrior.
A group of three always had at least one Warrior. I’d blow the Warrior back with my first hit, then immediately kill the Swordman if there was one.
Right after that, I’d take a hit from the third goblin. If it was a Thief and I avoided my vitals, the maximum damage was 6. Even a Warrior only dealt about 10.
After taking the hit, I’d blow that one away, knock back the Warrior as it closed in again, and kill the second one in the meantime. Then I’d finish off the Warrior last.
By the way, I decided to run if a group of three had two Swordmen.
Using this method, I burned through about 20 HP per battle against a group of three.
The problem was that after every single fight, I had to retreat to the stairs for first aid and HP recovery.
The number of battles I could manage had dropped drastically compared to yesterday. If I could just keep finding groups of two, it would be fine, but a single fight with a group of three forced me to rest for an hour.
I considered just targeting groups of two and running from everything else, but it wasn't that simple.
In a maze-like dungeon, if you keep running away, your chances of getting lost go way up. I found myself unable to stray very far from the stairs.
Yesterday, I was averaging about eight encounters an hour. Today, I was lucky to get one or two (not counting the times I ran away).
Compared to the amount of experience points I was earning, the time efficiency was abysmal.
Even so, I didn't go back to the 2nd floor. Even with the terrible efficiency, the hourly experience gain on the 3rd floor was still slightly higher.
But that didn't make the irritation go away.
The stress was so high that a small amount of experience points didn't feel like a fair trade.
I felt like I was starting to hate the Goblin-sans I used to love so much.
Maybe because I’d been injured so many times, I hit my physical limit by 4 PM. I headed back to the 1st floor to recover my HP before calling it a day.
In the end, I didn't level up today.
Level: 9 Experience points until next level: 7265
I can't feel the pleasure like this...