LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 8
The party began to move towards the escape portal.
Derik and Bernard took the lead, looking at the map to clear the path.
Rustle.
After a while, they spotted a shabby wooden barricade and a goblin village surrounded by a fence not too far away.
As they got closer to their destination, they occasionally spotted grass cleverly intertwined underfoot or rudimentary traps set up along the way.
Clack.
Fortunately, thanks to Bernard’s cautious scouting and trap disarming, and my sharp eyes, no one got hurt along the way.
‘I’ve been feeling for a few days since joining the party, but there is no unimportant job, no matter what it is.’
Bernard stood out more in situations other than combat, and even Hans, who initially looked weak, was now quietly fulfilling his role as a porter.
Aside from his personality, if that guy hadn’t been around, things would have been a bit rough.
“Stop. Just a little further, and we’ll reach the entrance. Everyone remembers what I said, right?”
About the types of monsters coming from the village, their characteristics, combat positions, and how to handle emergencies.
Seeing my party members nodding, Derik said.
“Alright. Let’s go!”
The goal was the center of the village.
As soon as we advanced quickly and reached the entrance, a goblin that looked like a scout began to alert others about our intrusion.
“Keruk! Keruk!”
Slash!
Before other goblins could swarm in at the noise it made, I dashed forward and sliced its throat.
“Gek, gkh.”
The goblin collapsed, clutching its spurting throat.
“It’s too late. They’ve already heard us and are on their way. From now on, we’ll do this quickly.”
“Yeriell, buff! Keep renewing it when it runs out! Bernard, while protecting Yeriell, occasionally check if you’re going the right way!”
“Yes! Let the light that punishes evil be with us!”
[The effect of Divine Weapon increases strength by one level for 10 minutes.]
After receiving Yeriell’s buff, I also activated my magic body.
[Magic body activated.]
[Each physical stat increases by one level.]
My blood boiled.
────
[Aren]
[Strength: D] [Agility: E+] [Durability: E+]
[Health: D-] [Magic: EX] [Luck: E-]
[Special Trait] (Heat)
────
This is my ability with Yeriell’s buff added.
Thanks to my core, my magic replenishes from my heart as it decreases, making it possible to maintain the magic body continuously as long as I can endure the overall increase.
[Chaos wishes you not to get hurt.]
‘Of course! I won’t get hurt, and I’ll definitely take the portal to the city safely.’
“Let’s go, Aren! I trust you!”
With Derik’s shout, the battle began.
“Keruk!”
A goblin charged at me.
Swish.
I twisted my body to dodge the familiar slow-down and struck at its torso.
“Keheuk.”
‘No, this isn’t what Derik meant by the main DPS position.’
Since falling to the third level, I had mostly fought by dodging attacks and countering while relying on Chaos, but that was only when I was desperate or had a powerful mage in front who could deal a heavy blow.
How could we reach the center by just waiting for their attacks? Time was not on our side.
Now that my stats had increased with magic body, it was time to fight differently against goblins.
I’ll take the lead from now on.
“Arghhh!”
I lunged forward, launching strikes at the goblins.
Slash!
Surprised by my rapid movements and fierce blows, I cleaved through them wildly.
Scrape. Crack!
As I attacked, if an incoming attack seemed dangerous, I skillfully dodged using Chaos.
Crack.
If the trajectories overlapped too much for me to avoid fully, I’d just sacrifice a part of my leather armor to minimize damage.
“Damn these puny green bastards, if you don’t want to die, step aside—!”
A chilling silver arc crossed paths with the green monsters.
As I passed, their screams echoed along with fountains of fresh red blood.
“Aren! We need to turn right!”
Suddenly, I got excited as I advanced, but Bernard’s voice snapped me back into focus, and I turned.
‘Is it because I keep seeing blood? I’m too hyped up.’
Ping, ping, zing—
Cough! Arrows from archers. It seemed like they all came together and flew from every direction, making me brace for impact wherever I tried to dodge.
But…
“Holy light, protect us!”
[Divine Shield]
Ting. Clang!
Just as expected! Our party members weren’t ones to just stand and watch.
Yeriell’s temporarily manifested shield blocked all the goblin arrows.
Bernard took the chance to take out the goblin archers one by one.
Derik steadily defended against incoming attacks, taking one step at a time, and I swung my sword fiercely to stake our claim in the space.
“Over there! I see the portal! Just a bit further!”
Hans shouted urgently, his voice filled with emotion.
While constantly moving, I turned to look, and indeed, there was a portal.
Wait, there’s not just one portal?
“Why are there two portals?! I don’t recall hearing this! Which colored portal do we go through?!”
Since I heard nothing, I thought we should choose to either descend or escape through one portal!
Yellow and blue. Which one is the escape portal?
Derik made an “uh-oh” face.
“Sorry, Aren, I didn’t think of it since it’s basic knowledge for adventurers! We need to go through the yellow one! The blue one is the portal to the next floor!”
Better late than never.
Damn it, once I get out of here, I’m going to cram every single piece of basic adventurer knowledge into my head.
Before long, the goblin’s onslaught had nearly diminished, and the portal became clearer, only a few hundred meters away.
“Good! Just a bit further! Great job, everyone! Let’s meet at the entrance of the Great Labyrinth! I’m heading first!”
Derik glanced back and cheered as he sped up.
Then it happened.
Crackle, crackle—
‘What’s that sound?’
—Boom!
“Gahk!”
“Derik?! No!”
A sudden purple lightning bolt descended from the sky.
Running forward, Derik was struck down, twitching on the ground.
‘What the hell? What is going on right now?’
Regardless, I couldn’t leave Derik behind. Just as I approached to help him, something appeared in front of the portal, waving its hand.
Crackle—
The world slowed down… My feet? The ground beneath me!
Seeing the giant circle appear right under me in slow motion, I threw my body out of the circle without a second thought.
Boom!
I dodged the lightning that struck down again.
‘There were signs of the lightning before Derik dropped, just like it did before.’
‘Since it’s lightning, it comes too fast for the slow-down to keep up. I have to dodge the moment I see its trajectory, or I’ll just die! No time for slow motion!’
As I looked to see the source of the lightning, my eyes caught sight of it.
[Named Entity Detected.]
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1Zk1Bamt2bEVERjVVWnhONjdsUHkyekkwQzlYNjR4ZkVKamNVYWpwdHJKdg
[Loading Limited Information.]
────
[Purple Kikero]
A rare mutant hobgoblin said to appear on the third floor of the Great Labyrinth.
He has purple skin and wields lightning to match that color.
It won’t be easy to survive his devastating attacks.
[Special Trait] (Locked)
Purple Lightning
Lightning Resistance
────
…Crazy. Falling to the third floor wasn’t just bad luck after all.
I couldn’t see the details of the traits due to the locked status.
So that’s why. I wondered why only goblin warriors and archers filled the place until we were almost at the portal, but I never expected a shaman-like mutant hobgoblin to show up. Not to mention one that wields special lightning.
Can I defeat something like that and escape?
No. It’s not can I, it’s that I must.
How could I come this far? Losing 2 billion and people dying, and I’m supposed to die to a goblin?
‘Damn it. If I die here, I’ll have to apologize to Scarlet. Let’s try to take it on!’
I steadied my resolve and raised my sword as it stood in front of me, mocking me.
“Keruk. Klazak.”
Oh, yeah, laugh it up.
“While I fight with it, if the lightning focuses on me, Bernard and Hans, get Derik out of here far away!”
“Yeriell, stay back and renew my buff. If I need you or if it seems necessary, block with the shield! You come first, so don’t get close!”
As soon as I finished speaking, the monster chuckled, as if asking if I was done with my speech.
Crackle—
It’s coming! Where will it strike this time?
From the monster’s body, I saw a cross-shaped trajectory of lightning spreading out.
I rolled away to escape the range.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sequential lightning strikes fell, starting near the monster and moving further away, but thankfully none reached me.
However, I felt damage accumulating as the lightning struck nearby, even from just being in proximity.
“Urgh!”
Was it delayed because it was manipulating lightning and couldn’t follow up right after? I charged at the standing monster and swung my sword.
Zing.
Damn it. Its body turned to lightning and scattered.
Yet, I felt a satisfactory impact as if I’d hit something.
[Chaos attribute attack partially ignores the opponent’s derived technique of electrification.]
Of course! That must be the effect of the ability attached to magic body!
─When utilized, an additional weak attribute damage is applied to the attack.
After all, all the goblins I had fought until now died in one hit, so I was questioning whether the additional damage applied at all.
Who would have thought it would be resolved this way… The attribute description mentioned weak additional damage, but it seems to be valid since it contains the attribute.
As the monster transformed into lightning, my attack still landed, cutting into its chest and causing it to bleed, taking off its playful demeanor.
“Kerukk. Kisha!”
It raised both arms and let out a frantic howl.
Everything slowed down again. Where will it strike next? …Damn. There are too many circles forming under my feet.
While I struggled to figure out where to dodge, the circles began to vanish one by one.
The smallest one? There!
“Yeriell, shield over my head!”
Crackle—
Ping!
Since it filled my surroundings with smaller strikes, I matched my movements and dodged into the smallest circle.
Fortunately, Yeriell’s shield absorbed the small lightning, shattering and causing only a slight tingling.
Now’s my chance!
Slash!
With a quick dash, I positioned myself and struck the monster’s neck.
This time, my attack felt deeper as I aimed carefully. The moment it connected, the monster transformed into lightning and fell limp, clutching its neck while blood poured out.
“Ggh, crack.”
It felt like the moment of victory! Just as I lunged to deliver the final blow to its heart…
Thwack!
“What?”
Without using electrification, it grabbed the blade with its opposite hand, the one not clutching its neck.
Then, glaring at me, it screeched with a terrifying howl.
“Kerak—!”
Feeling something was off in this slow world, I tried to let go of my sword, but… it was already too late.
By the time I loosened my grip and the blade fell completely, the world flickered before my eyes.
Crackle—!
“■■■■■■■■!”
Roll thunder.
“Guhk…”
[Chaos is yelling at you to snap out of it!]
The purple lightning coursed through my sword and burned my body from the inside out.
It felt as if my insides were popping like popcorn.
“───.”
My mind grew hazy, a ringing sound buzzing in my ears.
Thankfully, my magic body’s weak magical resistance and core seemed to have held, but…
I barely managed to open my blurry eyes to see the monster.
It lay sprawled on the ground, exhaling shallow breaths as it fatigued, its arm still clutching its neck had dropped.
Looks like you’re having a tough time as well.
With dry lips, I forced my mouth open to speak.
“I… I won. You… bastard.”
As I groped for the sword that had fallen to the ground, I barely managed to grab it.
No. I grasped it, and yet…
With my burned right hand, gripping it felt impossible; as I tried to hold on, my grip faltered.
‘Ha. I’m totally helpless now. Damn it, I should be able to heal myself with a spell.’
I had no choice but to hold my sword reverse-handed with my left hand and pressed the pommel with my right palm.
“Puhuh, you bastard. Smirking with such ease, look at you now.”
Hearing my mockery, the monster gritted its teeth and revealed its murderous intent even as it faded.
Looking into its glistening eyes, I thrust the sword into its heart.
Thwack.
“Gahk.”
“Until the end, you’re a pain. Farewell.”
As the light faded from its eyes, gray began to seep from its torso.
“Ha. Hah.”
With my whole body exhausted, I sprawled flat on the ground, but I felt as if I could fly away.
‘Wow, what a windfall. Helping me out even after I overcame the odds!’
[Chaos wipes away a small tear, feeling anxious.]
“Aren─!”
Yeriell dashed over and, seeing my state, she sank to her knees. Tears began streaming down her face.
“How could, how could this happen… sniff, sob, how much it must have hurt… I’m sorry for not being able to help…”
I raised my arm and gently wiped the tears from her face.
“You helped plenty, so don’t blame yourself. Can you heal my right hand?”
“Y-yes! May they rise above their pain!”
Whoosh!
The skin on my right hand began to regenerate and heal. After a moment, I felt strength returning to my right hand.
‘Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness. It’s still a bit stiff, but it should get better gradually. Now, shall we go farming!’
I placed my hand on the glowing gray part of Kikero’s core.
[The ability has activated.]
[You have absorbed the trait: Purple Lightning.]
This is insane. There were only two traits, the lightning and resistance, and I got the lightning one!
Wow… to think I could now use the same ability that it wielded. I could hardly believe it.
Then, suddenly…
The corpse of Kikero began to glow brightly, forming into a mass of purple light that enveloped my body.
“What… what is this?”
I panicked, worried it might be some sort of self-destruct mechanism activating after death, just as Hans’s shocked voice reached my ears.
“A unique item! A unique item is dropping on the third floor?! This is insane!”
…What?