Encountering an encirclement by the elite monsters, the "Goblin Knight Squad," he fought with everything he had, completely burning himself out. Even a powerful rookie adventurer like Ron was still unable to achieve victory.
However, the results were not nonexistent.
At the cost of consuming one use of "Revival."
In the end, he achieved a combat record of killing three Goblin Knights. After his body had been pierced through in multiple places, just before his consciousness was about to vanish, he decisively sought outside assistance.
Then—
When he awoke once more, he was met with the concerned gaze of a young girl.
Ron only felt that his expression was somewhat hard to maintain, but he still stiffened his face and said seriously, forcing the words out, "The thing I hate most in this life is having monsters stab me with things."
"And in your previous life?"
"Let me think."
"All those cowardly rats hiding in dark corners and launching sneak attacks deserve to die!"
After undergoing the healing effect of "Revival," all the injuries on his body had been repaired, but the armor that had been pierced through had instead become the most conspicuous sight.
With the girl's support, Ron sat up.
Faced with the encirclement of the Goblin Knight Squad, Ron had long since prepared himself mentally for such an outcome. But recalling the pain of his body being pierced through without dying immediately—
It was inevitable that lingering fear remained.
The good news:
With Mikoto, whose personal strength had reached Lv.2, dealing with the remaining Goblin Knight Squad was not a problem at all, leaving those monsters no chance to guard the corpse.
Moreover, even if they did guard the corpse.
Ron could also expend Soul Shards to exchange for additional uses of "Revival." Going all out to deal with the remaining two monsters was absolutely not a problem.
He sighed with some emotion, "That really was a thoroughly exhilarating battle!"
"…"
The girl hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping herself.
Having just witnessed the occurrence of a "miracle" once again, she realized—
the secrets borne by the boy before her seemed to be even more numerous than she had initially imagined.
By the time Mikoto finished off the other two monsters, she was still agonizing over what to do when Ron—who had been skewered into a hedgehog by halberds—once again regained vital signs within a shroud of gentle light.
'Perhaps this is the reason he is hated by the Dungeon?'
A miracle never before seen.
It made the girl resolve that, no matter what, she would stake her life to protect this secret.
As for Ron, he acted as if nothing had happened. After confirming that there were no monsters nearby preparing a sneak attack, he decisively began the operation of cleaning up the battlefield.
[Soul Shards +9]
To be on the safe side, after converting the Soul Shards into uses of "Revival," he said in a relaxed tone, "Let's first take stock of the battle gains and rest briefly—whether we continue exploring deeper or not, we'll decide based on the situation later."
"Okay."
Mikoto had no objections.
The battle against the Goblin Knight Squad indeed carried a sense of pressure characteristic of the middle layers, mainly because these monsters understood coordination and even possessed combat techniques.
To have such an experience on the first floor—
The girl was full of anticipation. Perhaps the increase in ability values would be minimal, but if all these drops and magic stones were exchanged for Valis, the amount would definitely not be small.
"I'm actually rather worried about you."
"Your set of armor seems to have completely… lost its protective function. If we keep exploring, will that affect your safety?"
"…"
According to the agreement with Hestia, once a use of "Revival" was consumed, they were supposed to leave the Dungeon immediately. However, the ample Soul Shards just happened to resolve the issue of being unable to continue exploring.
Ron smiled and shook his head.
Then, under the girl's puzzled gaze, he added, "I'm actually quite afraid of death. If it turns out it's not suitable to continue exploring the Dungeon, I'll tell you in advance, and withdrawing then won't be a problem."
I'm actually quite afraid of death.
For some reason—
Hearing those words come from the mouth of the guy in front of her made Mikoto feel extremely strange.
If he were truly afraid of death—he would absolutely not have faced so many Goblin Knights alone, still fighting without any hesitation, recklessly risking his life!
After collecting all the drops from killing the Goblin Knight Squad, Ron did not rush to continue exploring. High-intensity combat had taken a considerable toll on physical stamina; only after his body gradually adjusted did he push forward again.
As if it were monster extermination.
They no longer encountered any "Goblin Knights," only scattered elite-looking types and mutated kobolds, symbolically blocking their path.
And monsters of this level simply had no right to stop Ron.
'Could it be that the Dungeon has gone slack?'
Holding such doubts in mind.
He did not let his guard down, staying alert in case a monster suddenly launched a sneak attack at the moment of greatest relaxation. However, when Ron arrived at the area he had reached two days earlier—
The surrounding cave passages all converged here, forming an open chamber, and at the same time, the staircase leading to deeper floors suddenly appeared before them.
"Goblin Guard."
The floor boss he had challenged together with Lefiya that day had been born here, attempting to stop him from continuing his exploration into the deeper regions.
But now, upon returning to the same place—
There was none of that ominous premonition of being "strongly hated by the Dungeon."
Ron swept his gaze across the area. There was no movement at all—everything was unusually quiet, so much so that it involuntarily gave rise to a sense of danger in his mind.
The Dungeon could absolutely not have settled down.
"Let's observe the surroundings first."
"No problem."
Although she did not know why Ron was being so serious, recalling the "Goblin Guard" they had encountered that day, the girl lightly raised her eyebrows and could not help but ask, "The floor boss that caused the disturbance the day before yesterday—did it appear here?"
"That's right."
"I just think it's very abnormal."
After all, if one were to explore deeper, the Dungeon would definitely bristle.
After confirming that there were no safety hazards in the surrounding environment, Ron decided to head toward the staircase connecting to the deeper floors, but he did not rashly step onto it.
He looked toward the stairs.
The pitch-black staircase had no lighting whatsoever. It looked calm on the surface, yet there was no way to tell where it led!
'So you're setting me up, huh?'
'A ridiculously long path straight to the Boss floor—are you serious?!'
Recalling all the various hellish design choices in "Soulslike" games, Ron quickly realized that he seemed to have run into a passage leading directly to a hidden room.
His mood inevitably became complicated.
Based on the inference that this Dungeon was a "living being" and possessed rudimentary thinking ability, he decisively withdrew the step he had just taken and prepared to turn back.
As expected—
Cracks visibly appeared in the walls of the open chamber. Along with chunks of earth collapsing, goblins clad in knightly armor were being born in grotesque postures.
Appearing at the same time—
Were the mutated kobold mounts of the Goblin Knight Squad. The number of monsters was extremely large, even surpassing what they had faced just moments ago.
It was obvious.
The Dungeon intended to use a monster encirclement to force him and Mikoto to proceed along this staircase that led directly to the hidden room, toward a trap that had already been prepared.
His gaze swept over the armor on his body, riddled with damage.
He had already anticipated just how furious Hephaestus would be when he safely returned to Orario and sought her out to repair his equipment.
But what mattered now was how to survive!
Ron turned his head to look at the girl beside him and tugged lightly at the corner of his mouth as he proposed, "I think—"
"The next exploration objective is figuring out how to break out of this monster encirclement, and then return safely and smoothly to Orario."
If he were to rashly go deeper along that passage, he did not dare imagine what might happen!
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