Chapter 5:
The Chivalrous Hero in the Dungeon (2)
“Perhaps it’s a manifestation of Berserker blood?”
“Hmm. That might be the case.”
It was a statement that dismissed fifteen years of bone-shattering, flesh-rending pain and effort as mere non-existent bloodline traits. Yet, Raven laughed heartily.
There was no need to correct or explain, nor could such a thing diminish Raven’s essence.
No matter what others thought, Laban simply did what he could.
“Now that we know your skill, we can proceed deeper.”
“Great! The less time wasted, the better.”
In a first real battle, pain and fear usually grow, but Laban was instead just appropriately excited.
He had started life over as a newborn baby who couldn’t even walk on its own, building everything from scratch.
It was quite enjoyable to see what fruit his efforts had borne.
“What do we do with the monster’s corpse? Extract the magic core, right?”
“Exactly as you said. We extract the magic core. If we don’t, it absorbs the dungeon’s magic and is reborn as a new monster.
Sometimes we harvest materials before extracting the core, but an orc’s body has nothing useful, so we extract it right away.”
“Good. I learned that process properly.”
Rayoshi used a dagger to slice open the orc’s chest and pull out a small red stone. Instantly, the orc’s body turned to ash and scattered.
“Seeing it firsthand is fascinating.”
“A monster’s body is sustained by this core. So, extracting it means the body can no longer maintain itself.
Do you know how to harvest necessary materials before a monster turns to ash?”
“Yes. Process them before extracting the core. I also learned the method to fix materials into a stable state.”
“You know well. I don’t know the detailed principles, but I’ve heard it’s similar to golems.”
“Right. As long as the stabilization mechanism works, even far from the core, magic supports the structure.”
“Huh? Have you studied golem magic, young master?”
“Only in theory. I had to learn all the family magic, at least the basics. I know the principles and operation methods.”
Seeing Laban mention it so casually, Rayoshi and Zoltan were newly amazed. Wielding a sword and charging around, he was indeed a Barazulat direct descendant.
Whether he knew it perfectly or not, knowing the theory of golem magic was surprising.
Although called family magic, golem magic wasn’t a secret. All information was public, and the Barazulat family taught it. Yet, the number of golem mages was small.
It was useful, but the required knowledge was vast, and the difficulty high.
“Impressive.”
“There was a lot the textbooks didn’t cover. Please teach me more going forward.”
“Of course. To finish explaining, you can think of monsters as golems created to kill humans.”
“Strictly speaking, weren’t golems modeled after monsters?”
“The founding Duke achieved something remarkable.”
The three moved deeper into the dungeon. Any orcs they encountered were dispatched in an instant.
“A waypoint.”
On the endless expanse of the black plain, a solitary tree grew. As Raven approached, he felt a faint magic that pricked his skin.
Once past the tree, the air grew slightly heavier. Moreover, the tree that should have been behind them, as when they first entered the dungeon, had disappeared.
“Even seeing it again, the dungeon’s structure is fascinating.”
“They say the Black Horizon’s exploration is complete up to the 7th floor. Since dungeons typically have 9 to 13 floors, conquering this one should be soon.”
“Speaking of which, another question: this is a plain, so why use terms like deep, shallow, or floor?”
“Huh? Didn’t you study dungeon ecology?”
“I learned about dungeon origins, but not these practical terms.”
“Field dungeon terminology is unified. Everything is based on the first dungeon, the Demon King’s Castle.”
“Originally, the word ‘dungeon’ itself referred to demonic military facilities.”
“I see. So much to learn.”
“You can learn slowly. More importantly, more orcs.”
This time, it was a group of orcs. Three of them, all armed with swords.
“We can each take one.”
“Be careful. As the magic density increases, the orcs’ strength does too.”
The orcs roared and charged. Laban and an orc swung their swords at each other simultaneously.
Against the orc swinging its sword with enough force to split rock, Laban stopped his sword at about the height of the philtrum.
Swords clashed. The orc’s sword slid down Laban’s blade towards his leg, while Laban’s sword remained firm.
Right after the clash, before the orc could react, Laban pierced the orc’s nape. The orc, spewing black blood from its mouth, collapsed limply.
Clearly, the orc’s raw strength was superior. Its limbs were longer, its weight much heavier. Yet Laban won.
No matter how strong, wielding strength without the skill to control it was useless. They couldn’t maintain their own center of balance or disrupt their opponent’s.
‘Their strength seems a bit greater, but they’re pathetically weak. Even a newly emerged martial artist from the jianghu could handle them without trouble as long as they weren’t excited or panicked.’
The other two also dispatched their orcs without difficulty. Seeing Laban instantly kill the orc, they were surprised again.
“At this level, isn’t it beyond novice? It’s already mid-level adventurer standard.”
“I agree. It seems you possess skill beyond a true 6th-grade adventurer. The mission should proceed smoothly.”
“Perhaps. But what adventurers need isn’t just combat power.”
Adventurers had to explore dungeons. To be called outstanding, one needed not only to track monsters and keenly detect dungeon changes but also map-making skills.
For veteran adventurers entering the deep layers, such practical abilities were as important as combat power.
“That can be learned. No matter what abilities you have, they mean little without the combat power to kill monsters.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course! Let’s not waste time on weaklings and head straight to the 3rd floor?”
“That’s what I hoped for. Even if the goal is skill assessment or training, staying on this floor seems wasteful.”
Thanks to Laban’s skill being better than expected, Zoltan revised the plan on the spot.
With combat power covered, lacking abilities could be learned later. For now, Rayoshi and Zoltan could compensate.
While searching for the waypoint to the next floor, any monsters they encountered were handled by Zoltan.
To be precise, they didn’t even ‘encounter’ them. He detected monsters hundreds of meters away and eliminated them unilaterally.
Small orc groups fell without even knowing what hit them. Laban’s party strolled over leisurely to collect only the magic cores.
Laban walked through the dungeon almost as if on a stroll. If the other two were determined, Laban could reach veteran rank without lifting a finger.
‘Well, they are that capable. No wonder the main family sent only two with confidence.’
Still, he had no intention of leaving everything to them.
While wandering in search of the next waypoint, Laban narrowed his eyes. About a kilometer ahead, a distance where the opponent was still just a wriggling dot.
“Zoltan. That doesn’t look like an orc or a human.”
“Uh, that’s true… but you can see that?”
“My eyes are good. The distance is great, so it’s faint.”
“How good are your eyes…?”
Zoltan exhaled in disbelief. Rayoshi, not immediately understanding Laban’s words, just widened his eyes.
“It’s definitely not an orc. Since we’re here, shall we get a closer look? It’ll take a while, there’s still distance.”
“Sure.”
The party walked for about five more minutes. Even at that proximity, they couldn’t see the target clearly, but they grasped its general outline.
“A small orc?”
“Goblin. Calling it a small orc isn’t entirely wrong, but it’s subtly different.”
“I see.”
“Both orcs and goblins are monsters based on humans, so they have varied types and roles. Even now, after deterioration since the Demon King’s subjugation, that characteristic remains.”
“Orc mages are nearly extinct, but goblin shamans are still produced in considerable numbers, right?”
“Since we’ve encountered them, would you like to experience it?”
“Any experience is good.”
Unlike orcs, which traveled in groups of three or four, there were nine goblins clustered together. They seemed to have spotted Laban’s group and drew their weapons.
“Next time, we should bring bows too.”
“A good idea.”
Nothing was as safe and powerful as attacking from a distance. Matchlock guns, throwing stars, bows—they were all like that.
Some dungeons were tricky for projectile weapons due to environment and characteristics, but the Black Horizon was a region optimized for them.
Every direction was open, with no cover, making it hard to hide.
When the distance closed to nearly 50 meters, Rayoshi deployed a defensive spell. Soon, small pebbles struck the transparent magic shield.
“They use slings?”
“They use spears and blades, so is that surprising?”
“That’s swinging spears and blades, strictly speaking, not ‘using’ them.”
“You’re picky.”
He knew they had the intelligence to wield tools ‘properly.’ But what about martial arts?
The distance closed to 20 meters. The goblins abandoned their ineffective slings and charged with swords leading.
Their height was around 130-140 cm, wielding short swords good for one-handed swings.
For someone used to human-sized opponents, the unfamiliar spacing might have caused some difficulty.
For Laban, it was irrelevant. Laban lightly parried the sword tip coming straight at him and sliced the goblin’s throat.
After killing the first one, before it fell, he kicked out, tripping the two charging behind.
Meanwhile, from the two pouncing from left and right, he severed the wrist of the one on the right, disabling it, then immediately pivoted to stab and kill the one behind.
Pulling the sword from the chest, he swung it forward to silence the goblin screaming from its lost wrist, then dealt with the remaining two trying to get up while pushing aside their companion’s corpse.
While Laban handled five goblins, Rayoshi and Zoltan each dispatched two.
They didn’t need to move as busily as Laban.
Zoltan merely clenched and opened his fist. Magical bolts poured down like rain, riddling the goblins.
Rayoshi just plodded forward, beheading one goblin at a time. The goblins couldn’t even pierce Rayoshi’s constantly active magic barrier, dying in frustration.
“They’re definitely weaker than orcs. More numerous, and their movements seemed a bit quicker than orcs?”
“Even so, they’re quite threatening to novice adventurers. To novices.”
“Perhaps. Their small size probably makes them easy to underestimate. Yet their strength is that of an adult, so one could easily come to grief.”
But they didn’t know martial arts. They swung their swords wildly, and when surrounding, they just swarmed chaotically.
‘Orcs seemed like Mongols, and goblins like Japanese pirates, but they weren’t as swift as Mongols nor as skilled in swordsmanship as pirates, making it simply easy.’
Laban wiped the blood from his sword, comparing the present to his past life.
So far, he had faced opponents he could handle with pure swordsmanship alone, without needing inner energy.
They said deep in dungeons lived monsters that could snap giant trees with a gesture and evil spirits that rained down deadly magic like rain. He wondered how strong those would be.
