Chapter 15 - Trial of Competition (4) (1/2)

Chapter 15: Trial of Competition (4)

The battle began as soon as we stopped speaking.

A group of 10 or so goblins swarmed towards us.

KIEAAAK!

A goblin with glowing yellow eyes leaped at me with a shriek.

Its body was small, but it had a bunch of things dangling from his body.

A poison dart, leather armor, arm guard, backup knife, etc…

Crude… but still useful in battle.

These goblins were completely different from the norm.

They even made the weakest goblin suitable for the hard difficulty.

Swoosh!

The rusted dagger in the goblin’s hand swung like the crescent moon.

Much more refined swordsmanship than what I saw on the last floor.

This was also not found normally in goblins.

Except…

‘They have better techniques but still the same stats as a worker orc.’

Without even needing to concentrate, I read the path of the swing.

Clang!

I bounced its attack effortlessly with my shield.

No fancy skill or technique involved.

Just an absolute difference in stats.

Maybe that’s why—

Puaat!

The goblin couldn’t even react until my dagger pierced its heart.

What was the point of all the equipment he was hoarding?

‘Well, I don’t have to worry about it now.’

Lee Sunghoon in the back didn’t seem to agree though.

“What kind of goblins move this systematically…!”

He was barely blocking the attacks that I saw through.

Tu-tu-tung!

He was struggling to block the poison darts using his greatsword.

His body barely fit behind the sword and his armor was taking the brunt of it.

The first thought that popped up in my head was… curiosity.

‘Is he trying to play with the goblins…?’

Of course, he would be idiotic to do something so inefficient.

But that was the only explanation for what was happening in front of my eyes.

This boastful bastard was struggling to deal with two goblins?

My doubt turned into certainty at the sound of his screaming.

“What are you looking at? Go fight you degenerate!”

Hearing him yell without even looking up, I could only sigh at his incompetence.

He was genuinely having a hard time with the goblins.

I expected all of us to have a similar strength level.

My innate ability was growth-based and I did get a lot of bonus rewards…

But we all cleared the same trials at the same difficulty, so I assumed that they had something similar.

Yet reality wasn’t all like it seemed.

Lee Sunghoon wasn’t even at my level, let alone stronger than me.

‘I know they’re fully armed, but they’re still just goblins…’

I wasn’t even sure how they made it up all the way here.

At this point, Lee Hayeon let out a strained squeak.

“If you can last a little longer, my spell will be…”

“Shut up and use a buff or something! Right now!”

He must have felt frustrated that he was just hiding behind his sword.

I didn’t think any buff was going to be enough to make him useful.

“…”

I was flabbergasted but I knew the solution to this.

In the end, I’d have to be the one to handle these goblins.

Of course, I could just stay put and let Lee Hayeon handle it in a bit.

‘That would be the safest option.’

Protect her cast while she casts buffs on Lee Sunghoon.

Upholding this system should be enough to take all these goblins out…

But this trial had a time limit.

‘And since we have competition, the faster the better.’

We could all end up dying if we got held up for too long in the beginning.

We would essentially be asking for them to kill us.

Then there was only one problem left.

‘Can I take care of them before they touch Lee Hayeon?’

I considered it for a bit but came to a swift conclusion.

“Excuse me.”

Even being generous, these goblins were barely as strong as the hunter orcs.

I was at least pretty confident that I could take the attention off of Lee Hayeon.

“Huh? What are you…”

She had a confused look on her face but I decided to ignore it.

I had no intention of explaining myself to her anyway.

Kwong!

More importantly, I pushed off the ground and hurled myself where the goblins were concentrated.

The distance between myself and the goblins closed quickly and.

Shuat!

The frontmost goblin’s head flew in the air, spraying blood everywhere.

The agility stat I’d been absorbing was finally starting to shine.

Goblins that noticed me started to shoot their darts at me in a panic.

Needless to say, they were all blocked by my shield.

The constant darts were annoying but it wasn’t much to deal with.

I just had to see the trajectory of the dart and put my shield up.

It wasn’t even that hard.

Anyone could do it if they had high enough stats.

Tu-tu-tung!

I slapped away more darts as I swung my sword.