Thanks to that, I've become accustomed to using Blink.
At least I was able to fly in the sky by using the Glide skill instead of having to flap those wings constantly to fly.
It seems their levels have become too high for the grinding in the Waiting Room to have an effect.
And, with only a short amount of time left for the 2nd Round to finish, I thought of challenging the 4th Floor to test out the newly skills - Blink and Talaria's Wings.
Clearing the floor would be difficult considering the time, so it would mainly be reconnaissance of the beginning area.
[Will you enter the 4th Floor?]
Yeap.
A bright light surrounded my body, with a familiar echoing of the portal.
I quickly scanned the area as I entered the floor.
The only difference was that, the corridor had gotten much wider.
It was about 10m wide.
It was too dark, and there was not a single object I could use to estimate the height.
I guessed it was probably about the same as the ceiling of Inchon airport.
Anyway, the fact that the corridor had become larger was lucky for me.
I wore a new leather chest armour instead of the old one that I'd been using.
Afterwards I wore a pair of leather pants, boots, gloves and a belt.
If it hadn’t been for the Gods and their extra points, making a set would have been difficult.
Of course, there was no bonus for buying them in the same colour.
Its effectiveness would drop in midrange, but it would be useful to create an opening..
It meant that there was probably a target that I must hit out of range.
This time, I may need to fight monsters in combat instead of using the usual machinated traps.
Based on the info from the Community,
In the Normal mode, a goblin.
I guess a monster was coming out.
As the tension was building up, I firmly held onto my sword and shield and checked my equipment again.
His skin was an unusual green.
Giant fangs.
Height of 2m.
Why was this guy my first opponent?
Damn, I could actually tell how different Hell was from other modes of difficulty just by looking at the monster instead of the traps.
The goblin from Normal Difficulty was short - around 100cm in height.
The tip was to use the long reach of the weapon and fight from a distance.
But the monster in front of me was fully equipped.
His helmet, chest armour and boots were all made out of solid steel.
I couldn’t even imagine how much it would weigh.
And he was holding it with one hand.
It would have been a dire situation if he had a long weapon along with long arms.
Haah, what to do?
Was I supposed to charge into him?
I glimpsed at the gladius in my right hand.
Mainly for self harm.
Even a longsword would have be much better.
What the hell do I do now?
Let's think positively.
Instead what she had recommended was to wear armour and have a side-arm.
Me?
The problem was afterwards.
Hm, let's try blocking his attack for now.
I blocked and parried the attacks, and I stabbed whenever there was an opening, slowly wounding him to victory.
Then suddenly, the monster charged forward as it shouted.
[Battle Focus]
Instead of retreating, I lunged towards and stabbed at the monster's neck.
I had previously lunged so aggressively because I have Blink.
The monster didn't even act surprised by my Blink and began closing the distance without any hesitation.
The monster swung its axe, making a menacing sound.
It sounded as if the shield was going to break, but it still held on quite well.
An ache spread from my wrist to the shoulder.
Although it was aimed at the neck,
The sword wouldn't come out.
Bang!
I managed to block the fist from the monster's left arm, but the shield struck me in the face.
I gave up on the sword and used the Blink skill to go backwards and make a gap again.
I succeed again on parrying his axe with my shield.
The monster stepped forward and began to swing his axe the same way as he had before.
Even though I was watching him do so, I wasn’t able to respond to his movement.
As I was forming my stance to parry the strike coming above me, someone tackled me from below, flinging me into the air, despite having managed to block it.
I used my Blink skill to move backwards once more.
he snorted and glanced at me with an arrogant look, then he made a gesture with his hand, asking me to attack first.
Ah, is that so.
Even excluding the Blink skill, I was still much faster.
Even in terms of strength, there wasn't so much difference.
I could say that with certainty, since I've experienced it myself during the self harm sessions.
He was acting as if he was playing, no, teaching a new recruit as an experienced instructor.
My left arm which had been blocking until now wasn't normal.
If I used my Blink skill, no, even without it, I would be able to reach the Waiting Room.
I could improve my skill by repeatedly challenging him again and again.
If I survived and healed in the Waiting Room, I would always try again at another time.
My thoughts were clear, but my legs wouldn't move.
It hurt my pride too much to retreat from this.
I stuck my weakened left arm close to my body and formed a guard.
The monster looked at me with interest at first, before making a stance himself with the axe on the front, realising that I was up to something.
That was not the stance you need.
Not in front of the monster, but beyond where he was standing.
This was my special attack - Tackle.
Bang!
With a noise similar to a cannonball hitting a wall, I lost my consciousness.
I think I hit my head again.
Damn, where is this.
The world spun around me.
I tried to force my arms and legs to move, but they wouldn't move as I had wished.
Despite my effort, it hadn't easy to even sit up.
Some time had passed until my sights slowly came back to me.
But, his red eyes were looking directly at me.
It was as if both sides got hit by the KO punch in a match.
None of them seemed okay.
That monster can't stand too.
If I fell because of rushing, it would take that much longer to stand again.
I supported the weight with my right arm and my knees.
Could I stand from here?
It wasn't so much the pain, but a problem with concentration.
I almost fell over again, but managed to at least get on my feet in a stagger using my right arm.
My head was still spinning, and my vision was shaking.
I could feel an uncomfortable feeling knocking at the roof of my mouth.
Did you know?
I was very experienced with this situation.
"This was the power of pain and stun resistance. You son of a bitch!!"
Shouting needlessly had caused my eyes to roll over again.
the moment my balance recovered so the I can walk.
I put my hand on my knees and stared at the monster who still twitching his arms and legs with the sword stuck in his shoulder.
****
I ended up puking over the body of the monster.
Since the skin and muscle of that monster was much thicker than I had thought, I had to stab repeatedly for a long time before I was able to kill him.
There was blood all over the surroundings and on my body.
Whether I could call a monster someone could wait until later.
I couldn't even kill a rat or an insect back in the day,
Was it because my mind had changed as my body became more and more inhuman?
Had I just become used to death and blood?
I would never find out the reason.
Using a potion at this stage seemed unnecessary, so I decided to rest and move later.
As I was about to rest, the monster's body became see-through, then eventually disappeared.
A drop?
[Goblin Graktus's birthstone]
That huge monster just now was a goblin?