Chapter 44 – Floor 7. A Thief Is Called That Because He’s Still Alive

Flash!

A bright flash that felt like it would burn through the optic nerves drove away the darkness, bringing momentary brightness like morning.

Then, as if having completed its task, the fading light gathered around a dimly glowing blue slime.

“KYAAAH!!! M-my eyes!!! I can’t see anything!!!”

“How do you like the Flying Slime flash bomb?!”

Even though I closed my eyes, my vision was still hazy from the light that penetrated through my eyelids.

Still, my situation was better than that of the Thief Goblin, who was directly hit by the light and now writhed in pain with his hands covering his eyes.

“ARGHHHH!!! The sun!!! The sun has come down!!!”

“We must inform the shaman!!! But where’s the path!!!”

From behind came the shouting of orcs who seemed to have been hit by the eye blast as well, making a commotion, but I paid no attention. What mattered most now was killing the Thief Goblin right away.

Without delay, I summoned the Wanderer, charged forward, and brought down my axe.

Crack!

I felt the satisfying sensation of ripping through cloth and muscle as dirty blood sprayed from the goblin’s shoulder where my axe embedded itself.

After days of cutting only plants, the feeling of cutting meat was quite unfamiliar.

When the creature emitted a thin, unpleasant scream, I pulled the axe blade out.

With his arm nearly dangling off, the goblin clutched his shoulder, screaming and staggering backward.

And behind him, the Wanderer’s huge, blunt greatsword smashed into the goblin’s back, sending him flying like a water balloon hit by a baseball bat.

Thud—!

“Keeee…!”

The Thief Goblin rolled on the ground, covered in blood.

‘Good thing I was prepared.’

At the start of a sub-quest, the player is typically ambushed by the Thief Goblin. An event where you can only watch blankly as he steals items from your backpack and runs away.

But now, without such restrictions, I can beat him up without hesitation.

Slurp!

The slime, having absorbed all the light from Sanctify, stuck to the fallen Thief Goblin’s face.

The goblin’s head, being sucked into the soft body, writhed with a pained expression as he expelled bubbles of air.

Though his nails were sharp enough to tear through thick cloth, they were useless against the slime’s surface, only scratching his own face.

‘Though both their FUEL gauges are getting low, I think I can kill him.’

I won’t let him escape now. With that single thought, I raised my axe high.

With this, I could crush his skull, smash his brain, and end his life. It was a pretty pathetic end for a mini-boss representing an entire tier.

But he rose.

Bubble-bubble-bubble-bubble–

Despite the air bubbles furiously expelling from his mouth, the ferocity in his eyes didn’t diminish.

But to leave no room for chance, the “Crescent Slash” and a heavily weighted axe strike aimed precisely at the goblin were launched simultaneously.

CLANG—

With a tremendous impact transmitted to my arm, my axe flew off with sparks, and the greatsword’s slash, unable to overcome its inertia, continued forward. I hastily fell backward to avoid the blade strike.

The massive blade strike passed by, slightly cutting through my armor with paper-thin clearance.

My arm ached from partially receiving the shock, but I had no time to worry about it as I looked for the goblin.

“Oh shit..!”

What he pulled out during the attack was a scroll.

And it was a position swap scroll.

A magic scroll that swaps the positions of the target and the user—not particularly useful, but occasionally you wish you had one when the situation calls for it.

That scroll tore, and our positions were swapped.

“Ugh… damn. How can something that doesn’t even eat be so strong… Oh, I guess he does eat.”

“…”

He does eat a white, viscous liquid called magic power. In reality, it’s probably just that the Wanderer has high Strength stats, but there’s something more important.

When I hurriedly turned my head, the goblin, who had apparently just removed the slime, was coughing, but as if he were far from death, he pulled a potion from his backpack.

The most difficult aspect of dealing with him isn’t his specs or strange magical effects.

It’s the fact that he uses items.

The Thief Goblin, who fully utilizes consumables like potions and scrolls that players are reluctant to use, can seem more vicious than other mini-bosses, depending on the person.

Gulp – Gulp – Gulp–

The healing potion disappeared into his mouth.

Watching his wounds begin to disappear, I couldn’t help but make a troubled expression.

Now he would escape.

“Keek..! Human, prepare yourself!”

I throw the axe in my hand at the goblin who declares war on me with an angry face. The axe handle, spinning a full circle, lodges between the goblin’s eyes.

Whack–

“Keh!”

“Ah, it didn’t stick in.”

I hoped this would prevent him from escaping, but unfortunately, he already had another scroll in his hand.

A scroll with familiar markings.

“Please delete teleportation scrolls!”

Tear—

***

Fortunately, since I knew about this in advance, I had placed my bag between my legs to prevent it from being stolen, but sadly, the damage to the Orc Search Party was severe.

“We missed him again! And he stole our weapons too!”

The Orc Search Party, who had lost their weapons that were practically extensions of their self-confidence, fumed with rage, unable to contain their temper, stomping the ground and exhaling sharply.

The sight of them uniting over their shared grudge against the goblin wasn’t particularly pleasant to watch, so I looked away.

The Wanderer stood there blankly.

When my gaze fell on her, despite wearing a blindfold, she seemed to sense it and came close, gently grabbing and rubbing my arm that was aching from the collision with the greatsword.

Grip—

“Ouch..! What are you doing suddenly?”

“…”

I couldn’t help but furrow my brow as the Wanderer gripped my arm tightly. Seeing the throbbing pain in my head, I thought it might be cracked.

The Wanderer hesitated momentarily at my reaction and released her hand, then began to massage my arm again, as if trying to gauge how hard to hold it.

Gradually softer, but not too soft.

As I watched, I wondered if she might want to hold hands.

“…”

When I interlaced my fingers with hers, the Wanderer wiggled her fingers and then, as if satisfied, held my hand and quietly stared at me, as if waiting for the next command.

Though I couldn’t see her eyes because of the blindfold.

“Anyway, you said you would help me, but how do you plan to help if you’re going to freak out just because you got robbed? It might be easier if I just do it alone.”

“Are you mocking us warriors, human!”

“…Sigh.”

Leaving the orcs, who seemed to have their pride hurt, to throw their tantrum, I fell into contemplation about how to catch the goblin now.

In D.D., the items he possessed were random.

Moreover, since he uses items he picks up from the ground or steals, players need to kill him as quickly as possible before he acquires items from the floor to strengthen their position on this level.

The problem is that many of these consumables are good for escaping specific situations, and if you’re unlucky, you risk being ejected back to Floor 1 by being countered by consumables.

That’s why I tried to put as much attack pressure on him as soon as he appeared…

‘Even after holding him with the slime and sandwiching him from both sides, he still escaped…’

Although he consumed two scrolls and one potion in that short time, if I can’t find him, it will all become meaningless as time passes.

“By the way, do you guys know a safe place on this floor? I think I need to rest for today.”

“Hmm. We’ll camp here! Take turns standing watch.”

The Orc Search Party mentioned camping as if it were obvious. Well, taking turns standing watch is normal, and I’m the abnormal one for wandering alone.

I could sleep with the orcs, but given my position of having to deal with the Thief Goblin, I need to prepare to use my onaholes.

And I’m not thick-skinned enough to use my onaholes next to those blockheaded macho orcs.

“I guess I have no choice… Let’s meet here again in the morning.”

“It would be safer to stay together, human. This place is dangerous even for tribal warriors to wander alone!”

Ignoring the orcs who proudly spoke of living in a dangerous place, I left the bonfire to find a place to spend the night.

After finding an empty clearing not far away, I carefully checked to make sure no predatory plants were pretending to be plants, and only after confirming there were none did I put down my backpack, set up a spot, and lit a bonfire.

Flare—

After briefly basking in the heat of the bonfire that had driven away some of the darkness, I looked at the entrance I had come through.

I stroked my chin, looking at the passage that wasn’t wide but wasn’t so narrow that it couldn’t be found.

“It would be troublesome if that goblin bastard finds me… Is there a way to block it?”

In the underground waterway, there were rooms with doors to begin with, and on Floor 6, safety wasn’t secured, but I was just lucky not to be ambushed.

There’s no guarantee of that on Floor 7 either.

Especially since the added danger factor of the Thief Goblin made it much more dangerous.

“It’s already pretty dense, so if I cover it a bit more, he might not notice… It’s better than doing nothing, so I’ll do it.”

I cut long vines that formed the wall and, when stretched out, they were about 30 meters long, like the rope we used for tug-of-war in the old days.

If I hooked them appropriately to branches and hung them, then bent and attached more branches, it would make a decent camouflage.

Once the thought occurred, action followed without hesitation.

Like decorating for a birthday party, I wove vines together and mixed in broken branches to fill the gaps so the inside wouldn’t be visible.

After working for about 30 minutes, the wall was decently camouflaged so that it couldn’t be seen from the inside and would likely be missed unless examined carefully. I smiled with satisfaction.

Maybe I had a talent for this sort of thing?

I couldn’t stop the pleased smile from forming and enjoyed the rising sense of accomplishment as I stared at the camouflage wall for a while.

“Let’s see… All the FUEL gauges are at 0…”

Looks like it’s going to be a tough night.