Gin's knife goes through the side of the goblin's head and ends its life instantly.
Leaving it there, he reaches for two other knives and sends them flying through the air, both piercing their respective targets and adding two other dead goblins to his kill count.
Shrieks and howls from the distance prompt him to look at the direction.
Another wave of fresh goblins and kobolds heads towards him, eliciting an almost bored sigh as he begins to pick up pebbles from the ground.
Weaklings at that distance aren't even worth fighting seriously at this point.
They are met with showers of pebbles heading for their heads as they advance, and in the end, none of them manage to even step within five meters of him.
'Hmm… Upper floors chumps don't even make me break a sweat anymore.'
He won't get any worthwhile excelia here.
Monsters that could give him a challenge would be those from floor 10th downward. Well, even monsters like silverback, hard armored or orc won't be a challenge if he fights with his bow at a distance.
[Archer] development abilities has been a boon. It is definitely the highlight of his level up.
The improvement in his senses, particularly his eyesight, the strengthening of his arm muscles, [Archer] has turned him into a veritable killing machine at far range.
He could see a faraway silverback nostril clearly even through the misty environment of floor 12th.
Heck, he could shoot his arrow and be confident they will enter said nostril ten times out of ten.
Right now, he is sure that he could land a shoot from Helheim, all the way to the Babel Tower with 100% accuracy.
He is quite literally a monster at far range even now at Level 2.
What would happen if he manages to level up again? Would he be able to land a shot from Orario to Melen?
Another pebble is launched from his hand as he thinks these idle thoughts.
It lands on a goblin side, stunning it as his sole party member raises her staff high and brings it down on the poor goblin's head.
"Ca-captain, I did it!" Elise cheers as the goblin lay dead on her feet. "I defeated my first monster!"
Yeah, Elise finally gets her first kill.
It only take her the time it took for him to clean up thirteen other monsters… She's not that strong, is she?
"Yeah nice job, Elise. You really showed that goblin who's boss."
"Ahem!" She huffs smugly, her hand akimbo. "Just you wait, Gin. I'll reach Str rank S in no time! These muscles will roar throughout the world!"
Gin will be surprised if her muscle could growl, let alone roar.
Unsurprisingly, Elise is weak.
From what he could tell, she is a real rearguard through and through.
Low Str and End, high mag, and midground Agi and Dex. She definitely can't be left alone in the frontline.
In an ideal world, Elise would awaken a new attack spell soon, but he doubts the world would be that kind to his familia.
"Sure, sure. Let's focus on dismantling these guys first, okay?" He gestures to the dead monsters around him.
"Aye, aye, captain!"
Dragging the nearest goblin corpse, he opens it up and harvests the magic stone inside it.
Elise watches him, silently taking note of how he does things.
"See, goblins magic stones is located on their chest." He picks the small crystal and drops it into Elise's hand. Handing her the knife, he drags the other corpses closer to make things easier for her.
"Now try to process these ones. Take your time. We are in no rush anyway." He says as he begins the harvest of another goblin corpse.
"Whoa, captain. Your knife skill is as good as the maids' back home." Elise watches him in awe even as she opens up another goblin beside him.
"You might even rank on top of the palace maid, even."
"…Your world definitely had some issues, Elise."
....
Gin traverses the now familiar misty ground of floor 10th.
Elise is already heading back to Helheim. Having a healer as he tests out a defensive spell might be nice, but he doesn't want to risk bringing her along when she still struggles against a goblin.
He stops at the far end of the floor.
There are no other adventurers near him. The closest one is still around 30 meters away.
They shouldn't be able to see him through the mist.
"Hmm?" He looks around and notices some monsters have already drawn closer to him.
Two orcs walk slowly towards him while a group of imps maneuver around to surround him.
"Well, you guys should suffice for practice." He takes out his knives again, determined to test out fighting at melee with his new spell.
He breathes out slowly and reaches into his mind, coaxing the new spell to manifest as the imps charge at him.
"I descend to the end. Overtaking the galloping horse, across the loud stream, over the high walls. Walking through the feast of the dead. My feet step into the innermost chamber of the beloved goddess. My body is the curtain that foretold disaster ! For I am beloved by Hel! Blikjandabol!"
A weird sensation passes through his body as the spell takes effect.
He feels… weightless? Is that the correct word? He barely registers the weight of his equipment.
His body feels like floating or maybe falling. He doesn't know which. It's weird.
The first imp has reached him while he ponders on the weird sensation from Blikjandaböl.
It tries to stab him with a landform spear. He readies his knife to parry the stab.
And it stabs through his knife and body.
"What the hell!?" He gasps in horror as the small spear pierces through his stomach.
Shit! Shit! How could he let that thing land a hit!? He should have parried it, right!?
The imp cackles madly as it pulls back the spear. Gin flinches, expecting a spurt of blood to come out as the spear leaves his body.
…Nothing comes out.
"What?" He blinks dumbly as he stares at his woundless body.
Okay, now that he thinks about it, it is pretty weird to feel nothing even with a stab wound through his stomach.
The imp looks confused as well.
It tilts its head at him and prepares to stab again. And so It stabs again, and again, and again.
The other imps join in on the stabbing.
The orcs rush and smash his body with a landform club. One imp tries to jump at him.
None of them hit.
No, all of them hit but not one hit affects him. All of the strikes, stabs, punches, bites, slams go through him as if he is just another mist from the 10th floor.
"Are you for real?" He chuckles and cradles his head. He lays down and watches as the monsters try to dogpile him to no avail.
"Muda muda."
None of them are ever going to wound him.
He is basically invincible as long as Blikjandaböl is active!
He grins as the monsters attack him in frustration. "You stupid monkeys."
Blikjandaböl is the ultimate defensive spell.
That is the single conclusion he arrives at as he leisurely lays down among the multiple monsters' relentless attacks.
"Come on try harder guys." He picks his nose as the monsters' attacks go through his body futilely.
'Hmm… Physical attack clearly doesn't work.'
He doesn't know about magic attacks, but he has a feeling it won't change things either.
He closes his eyes and concentrates on his mind usage.
Interesting, none of his Mind is being used to sustain the spell.
It isn't being drained as he sustains hits from the enemy. His mind was only drained during the invocation.
Theoretically, he can maintain the spell indefinitely.
It may have a time limit, so he still needs to watch out for that.
Other than that though, it doesn't feel like Blikjandaböl would suddenly fail him.
Well, it's time to test out some things.
He tightens the grip on his knife and slashes at one of the imps.
It passes through.
So he can't attack as well while Blikjandaböl is active.
How about attacking them with a projectile? He unslings his bow and nocks an arrow, aiming at the orc.
The arrow passes through as well.
No, they fly past even the wall of the dungeon.
He just wasted an arrow!
'Okay, even projectiles don't work.'
How about the nearby stones? He tries to grab one and sees his hand pass through the rock.
'… Okay, so attacks of any kind aren't possible.'
He walks toward an orc, wanting to test if he could walk past it. Ignoring the strike of the club aimed at him, he steps inside the orc's body and walks past it.
Not stopping there, he walks toward a nearby tree and walks through it as well.
He looks down at his feet, wondering why he isn't free falling through the dungeon floor.
As he thinks that, he notices his feet are slowly sinking through the ground.
"Nope! Nope!" He jumps on the spot and heaves a relieved sigh as his feet land on solid ground again.
'Okay, so i could pass through the floor if i really wanted to.'
He turns his attention to the monsters again.
They are still trying to attack him even now. How relentless. If physical attacks won't work, then how about magic?
"O evil descend-" He chants Ginnungagap and aims it at the enemy. "Ginnungagap!"
As chains made from black smoke entwine around the monsters, he takes note that his magic still works even when he is in this "ghost form".
Then the next one to check is…
"Sing my blood. The time of awakening has come." He feels Niflheim flare up to life at his call.
Even skills are still okay.
Well, enough checking.
It's time to clean these guys up. He runs and distances himself away from the monsters.
As he finally makes some distance, he wills Blikjandaböl to fade.
As soon as the feeling of weightlessness disappears, he takes out his arrows and nocks them into his bow.
"Thanks for cooperating with the test guys." He lets his arrows fly one by one, taking down each monster with one arrow each.
After testing things out he can confidently make his conclusion.
As far as defensive spells go, Blikjandaböl is the ultimate spell.
It completely nulls any kind of attack that targets him, whether he perceives the attack or not.
If he wants to nitpick at its weakness, then the most obvious one is the fact that he can't attack while it's active too.
Not only that, after another test, he realizes that Blikjandaböl stays stubbornly active when he is in contact with the enemy or when he passes through stuff.
Maybe it's an instinctive function to make sure that he stays safe while using it? He imagines the spell turning off suddenly when he walks through walls.
Yup, that's a recipe for disaster.
The other weakness is how it could only work for himself.
...
Once he was back at Helheim he had tried to activate it with Elise, but it only activated on him.
He had then tried to activate it while both of them were holding Elise's staff, thinking of the potential use of the spell to disarm the enemy, but it didn't work.
Perhaps the only parts that got affected were the parts he recognized as his? What a weird spell.
As for the mind usage, Blikjandaböl is a hungry beast of a spell.
If he wants to make a comparison, if Ginnungagap costs 5 Mind, then Blikjandaböl's cost is close to a 100 Mind.
Right now, it would be a waste to use it in day to day fights.
Blikjandaböl would be a trump card that he keeps close to his heart.
Against a powerful enemy that overwhelms him, using it could be the difference between life and death.
...
The sound of the front door being knocked reverberates inside Helheim.
Gin looks up from the book he was reading and exchanges glances with Elise.
She shrugs at him, showing that she also doesn't have any idea about the mysterious guest.
"Hello is anyone home?"
His eyebrows raise higher at the voice.
A female voice that he doesn't recognize.
"Yes! Wait a minute, I am coming there." He calls out and opens the front door. Some goddess that he doesn't know along with a group of people he doesn't recognize.
"Uhh, can I help you, Lady?"
"My name is Dia. I am the leader of Dia Familia." The goddess introduces herself with a smile.
"This is Hel Familia home correct? I am here to talk about this." She lifts a familiar parchment. Gin checks it out for a bit.
Yup, it's his handcrafted recruitment notice.
He remembers leaving them at restaurants he frequents.
"…Uh, yeah. That's ours. We are Hel Familia." He points to himself and Elise behind him. "So, how could we help you with that?"
"They are people searching for a familia to serve while you are a familia searching for people to fight with." Dia says as she motions to the people behind her. "We could help each other, I believe."
...
Elise pours tea to both Hel and Dia before taking her place beside Gin.
The both of them stand behind Hel as she sits across Dia on the sofa.
"You have come a long way to my hall, O Goddess of Youth." Hel speaks up first. "It is a shame, but Helheim could not fully accommodate the hospitality needed for your group."
"Please pay it no mind. The fact that you welcome us on such a short notice is already helpful." Dia shakes her head. "I am relieved that you turn out to be a gentle goddess, Hel-san. You were quite a recluse back in heaven after all. Visiting your familia is nothing short of a leap of faith for me."
'Hoo… This is a rare gossip about Hel's time in heaven.'
'Now that's an interesting topic!'
"Leaving that aside, am I correct to think that you are offering your followers to enter my hall?"
"Offering is a strong word. My familia doesn't work like normal familias. I am travelling the world with my followers. Only some of them are loyal to me, most of them are tagging along in hope of finding a better home." Dia explains.
"The ones that follow me here are the ones who after learning about how your familia works, decided that they wish to join your familia."
So Dia familia works like a temporary familia? The members are free to go as soon as they find a good familia to convert to.
Well, even saying that, none of those people look remotely strong though.
So he shouldn't get his hopes up.
Not only that…
"Pardon me, my goddess, but for now I don't think we could accept all of them to our familia." Gin says to Hel and Dia before the conversation goes any further.
"We only have one free room left. Not only that, currently I am not good enough to lead a large party. Accepting all the people outside to our familia is a bit…"
Hel looks at him and nods. "Then how many people could you accept for now, my champion?"
"Three people would be our limit." He answers. "Any more than that and the upkeep and risk would be too much to bear. I can't risk the newbies' livelihood."
"Umu, I shall defer to your judgement, my champion." Hel turns to Dia. "As you have heard, Travelling Goddess, our familia could accept naught but three people. Even with that, will you extend the same offer?"
"Of course. None of my followers will complain if they were not chosen." Dia nods. "Then, Mister Captain, what kind of people are you willing to take?"
"I don't care about their genders. As long as they are willing to act as a vanguard that would be cool."
....
That was his answer to Dia and so, his familia gains four new additions to its rank!
One male, the rest are female.
Thankfully, he isn't the sole masculine creature in Hel familia anymore.
"…I really need to recruit more dudes next time." He mutters as he gulps down another mug of beer.
"Haha, I thought men are supposed to be happy about getting lots of girls around." Remilia Bloodedge laughs wryly as she pours him another glass.
For someone with such a bombastic name, she sure is pretty normal.
"Captain, you should treasure these times you know? There will come a time when our familia is filled to the brim with burly men."
"Thanks for the image. I hate it." Gin groans. "Still, it won't hurt to get more men on the familia soon. Don't you agree with me Pock, my bro?"
"You want more dudes? What are you, gay?" Pock Pontoffel, the male pallum, snorts as he hears Gin's woes.
"If you ask me, we need to add more females. Some redhead pallums, some amazons and some far easterns."
"How about elf girls?"
"You dig elves, captain? Not me. Those long eared fellas are way too conceited. They look down on us Pallums too much."
"Really? Most elves I met are pretty cool, though."
"You met with kind ones then, captain." Potamia Pontoffel, Pock's female twin, adds to the conversation from the side.
"Elves are… well, they are a majestic race, right? While we pallums are famed for our weakness. It's natural that they treat us roughly."
"You think so? Pallums are pretty strong though." Gin muses. "You guys get good vision by default, right? Just pick some bows and arrows and you will be a force to reckon with."
"Hah? Bows? Hell no. They are lame as shit."
"…Get up, let's take this outside." Gin gets ready to throw hands and sear the fear of archers into the newbie's mind.
"Calm down, Gin!" Elise appears in front of him and holds him back. "Mou, Pock, don't talk bad about bows in front of captain. He's very sensitive about that."
"He is sensitive about bows? What a weirdo." Pock sniffs. "Well at least he knows not to mess with us Pallums. That's a pass in my book, cap."
"Hard to look down on you when I know someone like Sir Finn exists just an hour walk from here." Gin shrugs and leaves the topic alone. Instead, he turns to his last recruit.
"Elily, come on drink with me. You are a dwarf right? Dwarfs like to drink, right?"
Elily Crusten frowns at him. "That's racist and no, drinking at this hour will damage my skin. Besides I need to do my beauty exercise soon."
"Exercise? You want to build more muscle?" Gin looks at Elily up and down.
Typical of dwarfs, she has powerful muscles fitted for a frontline tank.
The fact that even with that she would still push herself to grow stronger is something else.
"Why would I build more muscle!? Of course it's to thin out my body! Stupid captain!" Elily cries out and leaves the table in tears.
"Huh?" Gin is stunned in shock at her response. "Did I do something wrong?"
"You did, but who cares." Pock shrugs.
"Haha… Elily is sensitive about that, captain. You shouldn't point out her muscles." Remilia adds.
"Why would she exercise to thin her body? Having muscles is better, right?" Elise also voices her confusion.
"Elise, do you like muscles?" Pott asks.
"Yes! I want to be friends with muscles!"
"Uwaa, if Elily heard this she would be devastated." Pott groans. "One wants muscles, another wants a thin body. Both get nothings."
"Pfft! A swole Elise! I can't wait to see that." Pock stifles his laughs and hits the table.
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Glossary has been updated, do check it out