I opened the door to the Floor 4 Monster Room in the Shinjuku Dungeon and stepped inside.
I tossed the backpack I’d been carrying against the wall of the room—which was roughly the size of a school gymnasium—and drew the longsword hanging from my waist.
The moment sixteen goblins materialized from the Summoning Circle in the center of the room, I activated Fighting Spirit and Sword Aura and kicked off the ground.
Naturally, the effects of Goblin Slayer were already active.
These were my current, buffed stats.
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Strength: 118 (+62)
Constitution: 95 (+50)
Intelligence: 7 (+1)
Spirit: 20 (+2)
Agility: 107 (+56)
Dexterity: 56 (+5)
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My attack power was already overkill; I probably didn’t even need Berserk. Since Hinata-san wasn't here today, Taunt was also unnecessary.
"――That's one!!"
I swung my sword as I closed the distance, unleashing a Flying Blade of Sword Aura.
The attack was aimed at a Goblin Mage, but a Goblin Thief threw itself in the way, acting as a meat shield to block it. That was fine, though. I’d killed the Thief, and my real goal was to use the attack to spike the goblins' caution, forcing the Warriors to raise their shields.
"Oraaa!!"
Boasting an Agility value of over 100, I charged into the goblin pack at a terrifying speed.
A Goblin Warrior at the front of the group anticipated my approach and braced itself behind its shield.
I kicked off the floor and leaped. I aimed a flying kick at the Warrior's shield—or rather, I planted one foot on it. Using my weight and momentum to push down, I tilted the face of the shield upward, then snapped my bent knee to propel myself off it.
I soared high into the air.
As I reached the peak of my jump, I looked down at the scene below.
I quickly slashed my sword, firing off three more Flying Blades.
The slashes took out the Goblin Commander in the center of the pack, along with a Mage and an Archer positioned further back, away from the Thieves.
"What’s wrong? Your reactions are slow, little goblins!!"
With the Commander dead, the buff from Leadership vanished. Their confusion delayed their response to my presence in the air; arrows and magic sailed far above my head as I descended.
I landed.
"Kihihi...!!"
I laughed.
As expected, I had far more room to breathe than in my previous fights.
Part of it was the simple fact that my stats had increased, but it was also because I was getting used to fighting goblin groups led by Commanders.
Riding the high, I threw myself back into the fray.
The key to efficiently soloing this Monster Room was minimizing HP consumption during the fight.
To do that, I had to be mindful of two factors. The first was combat time. If the battle dragged on, I would lose more HP to the drain of Fighting Spirit. The second was the over-reliance on the Flying Blades of Sword Aura.
While the long-range Flying Blades were extremely convenient, simply maintaining Sword Aura cost 1 HP every 10 seconds, and each blade fired required another 1 HP on top of that.
Spamming them would drain my HP in no time.
Therefore, the right move wasn't long-range combat. It was diving into the pack for close-quarters combat and turning it into a chaotic melee.
Someone with mediocre stats would just be surrounded and slaughtered, but with my current power, I could make it work.
The biggest headaches were the shield-bearing Warriors. They’d given me trouble time and time again.
However, I’d already found a way to use my overwhelming power against the Goblin Race to neutralize them.
"Ora, stay down!!"
I charged a Warrior. The moment I stepped into sword range, I dropped my center of gravity.
I lowered my eye level until it was below the rim of the Warrior's shield.
As a result, the Warrior's lower body was exposed right in front of me.
I followed through with a massive horizontal sweep.
Usually, you couldn't pull this off unless there was a massive gap in Agility. Under normal circumstances, they’d just block it with their shields.
But with the current disparity in our stats, it was possible. The Warrior couldn't keep up with my speed.
Regardless—
"Gugyaaaaa!?"
The Warrior was sent flying through the air, both legs severed at the thighs.
It wasn't dead yet, despite the blood geysering from the stumps, but once I’d done that, I could just ignore it.
The only annoying thing about Warriors was their shields. Once they couldn't use those anymore, they were no longer a threat. Besides, if I left them alone, they’d eventually bleed out and die anyway.
Leaving the Warrior behind, I plunged into the heart of the group, slaughtering the goblins at random.
The downside was being exposed to attacks from all directions, but with my Agility being well over double theirs, dodging wasn't difficult. Besides, I usually killed them before they could even swing.
There was another benefit, too.
In the middle of a chaotic melee, the Archers and Mages couldn't fire as often. They were clearly worried about friendly fire.
They’d still shoot if they saw even the smallest opening, though.
These things had the dexterity of top-tier athletes and the skill to match. If they found a trajectory that wouldn't hit an ally even in a melee, they wouldn't hesitate for a second.
That said, dodging individual attacks that lacked the volume of a proper barrage was easy with this much Agility.
To conserve HP, I deactivated the Sword Aura skill after finishing the Commander and the two others, finishing the rest with pure swordsmanship.
I bypassed the Warriors by taking their legs and ran through the other goblins who had lost their protection, cleaving them in two as I passed.
I finished off the entire group in somewhere between 40 and 50 seconds.
The total HP consumed was a mere 24.
Since my HP now exceeded 100, I could run the Monster Room four times in a row without stopping. On top of that, I’d brought four of the Beginner Heal Potions I’d found earlier.
That meant I had a reserve of 120 HP worth of potions.
And wait, there was more!! Since Hinata-san wasn't here today, the experience points weren't being split. That meant one clear of the Monster Room netted me 4,410 Experience Points.
Mm-hmm, wonderful...!!
Efficiency-wise, it was still worse than when Hinata-san was with me, but by spending more time than I did the other day, I could easily earn the same amount of experience. 50,000, 60,000... maybe I could even hit 70,000.
But... well, I noticed something.
"Wait a second... if I max out that skill, maybe I won't even need Fighting Spirit...?"
I pondered the thought as I gathered the Magic Stones scattered across the room.
This fight had been far too easy, even accounting for me getting used to it. I’d walked all over a pack of goblins.
Now—if I used all the Skill Points I’d been saving, I could take a Level 1 skill all the way to its cap. If I did that, I might be able to clear the Monster Room without ever using Fighting Spirit.
Granted, since reaching Level 20, the experience required for the next level had skyrocketed, so I wouldn't be leveling up again anytime soon. I’d intended to save my Skill Points for that reason. I wanted to keep at least one in reserve.
My rational mind told me to stop.
It told me to hold back.
Was I really sane, dumping precious Skill Points into that specific skill?
But what if I could kill the goblins here without Fighting Spirit?
I might still spend a little HP on Sword Aura, but it would be a negligible amount. I wouldn't even need to take breaks; it would just recover naturally through the time spent looping.
Exactly.
If I barely consumed HP in combat, I could run the Monster Room at high speed without resting for as long as my stamina held out.
I was used to the fighting here now, and my focus would likely hold for a long time.
Just how much experience could I rake in then...?
"Haa, haa... N-No! I have to... resist! Hold it back...!!"
Please spend your Skill Points responsibly.
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【SP】 4 → 0
【Skill】 Goblin Slayer Lv.1 → Goblin Slayer Lv.Max
Goblin Slayer Lv.Max — Damage dealt to the Goblin Race is multiplied by 4.0. Additionally, during combat with the Goblin Race, all stats except HP and MP increase by 50%.
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I couldn't help myself...!!