Chapter 48 – Floor 8. The Fall

“You waited, human?”

“Hey, you’re not my lover, don’t be shy.”

I won’t give him a chance to use an item.

Thanks to Unicellia’s blessing, Severa appeared with no delay from the summoning cast time, simultaneously gathering magical energy while holding the Staff of Frost.

The magic circle of the Ice Spear, scattering blue light and emitting a cool chill around.

“Hey, guys! He’s appeared! Surround him!”

At my shout, the Orc Search Party finally seemed to grasp the situation, running toward the Thief Goblin with grim faces, the villain who had dared to steal equipment as precious as their souls.

Of course, I was the one who put them in the furnace, but it was to catch the Thief Goblin, so it’s his fault.

The Orc Search Party, each clutching respectable weapons they had picked up while roaming Floor 7, surrounded him to prevent escape.

Me, who had forcibly created a Tier 4 weapon by melting down all equipment.

And Severa, safely aiming her magic while protected by the spell that would fly from behind me.

Despite us having enough force to kill him instantly, the Thief Goblin showed no tension at all, his smile only deepening.

“God, you believe, human?”

The goblin threw a question at me without even glancing at the orcs who had raised their weapons high as if ready to pounce at any moment.

Do I believe in God?

If you ask if I have a religion, the answer is no. However, seeing the power that 113.211 showed and that sent me to this world, I do think there is an entity behind it.

Of course, if I told this to someone else, I could probably get a priority admission ticket to the white house on the hill for free.

“Stop resisting and just die now, disgrace to our tribe!”

“Stupid, tribe. Always discriminated. This my small revenge.”

Four weapons descended toward the goblin.

The arms of the orcs wielding them were filled with power, their muscles insanely swollen.

If hit by those, even a mini-boss like the Thief Goblin wouldn’t escape being critically wounded.

But before the attacks reached his head, a scroll tore.

“Oh, oh no! Severa, cancel!”

“Ungh..!”

I hurriedly canceled Severa’s incantation and reverse-summoned her. If I had waited a bit longer, the Ice Spear would have been launched, but I couldn’t wait for that.

『Shock Wave』

The magic recorded in that scroll inflicts weak magical damage to all targets in the room and pushes them back strongly with a shock wave.

The damage itself isn’t much of a problem, as its main effect is a powerful knockback, but Severa’s Health is only 1.

Even that weak shock wave’s damage would render her incapacitated like a piece of paper, so if I had been a little late, I would have lost Severa as an attack option.

Woooooooosh────

“ARRRGH?!”

“Ugh..!”

The shock wave spreading from the goblin’s point overturned the ground and pushed everything around it away.

The charging Orc Search Party was sent flying, and when the shock wave touched my body, I felt like I’d been hit by a heavy fist as I was pushed back, only stopping after hitting the wall.

It felt like all the air in my lungs was pushed out and escaped through my mouth.

Gah-!

[You received 11 damage.]

“Keh…! You piece of… using such a pathetic scroll? You bastard…”

Fallen to the ground, I quickly got up and glared at the goblin. Well, since he hadn’t appeared until now but showed up on his own, it meant he was prepared to win against someone like me.

As I remained vigilant, wondering what magic would come next, the goblin spoke leisurely.

“Me, small. Was weak! So tribe, bullied me! Painfully! Cruelly!”

“Ha… so what? Do you think I’ll spare you now if you sell me your sob story?”

Just looking at the Search Party, you can clearly see how a goblin born among orcs with a strong macho culture, being small and frail, would have been treated.

They probably made him do menial tasks, and when bored, played with him.

“So ran away. Lived outside village. Dangerous, hungry, lonely! But still better than village!”

The goblin, as if unable to hear my words, began a speech with his arms spread wide.

In that gap, I glanced at the Search Party and saw they were just barely staggering to their feet. Even so, they had lost their weapons too far away to stage an ambush.

‘Tsk. If I bring out the slime and use Sanctify…’

Could I gain the upper hand again if I fought the same way as when I first encountered him?

“But my pain. Didn’t disappear. Hate tribe. So stole. Tormented them equally. But still me not enough!”

Puff—

I dash forward, kicking off the ground. Since the slime would be incapacitated with just one magic scroll, unless I completely catch him off guard, it won’t be like last time.

To begin with, it’s highly likely that he used the Shock Wave scroll not so much to counter Severa as to be wary of the slime he had already seen once.

Madness gleamed in the goblin’s eyes.

His red pupils moved irregularly before finally looking at me.

An ominous magical power I had felt before.

“Prayed! To God! God, gave me, power!”

As I accelerated and ran, I twisted my waist and raised the heavy greatsword, which was too heavy to wield with strength alone, then followed through with a slash, drawing a large circle with the momentum.

Thus, the greatsword rose, receiving the elasticity of the muscles like a primer, followed by centrifugal force and inertia, beginning to rotate and creating kinetic energy to tear apart whatever was in front.

A torrent of enormous power that would tear through armor, if worn.

I knew what the next scene would be without looking. This would split that small failure with its ominous magical power in half and end its life—

“Human, God says to kill you—”

“What…”

『Advanced Excavation Scroll』

The ground split open.

***

Rumble───

The sound of the world shaking, a wildly rotating view, the floating sensation of legs not touching the ground.

But as if saying that this flight wasn’t permitted, the earth’s pulling force strongly yanked me down.

“AAAAAAARGH! I’m falling!!!”

“S-save me!!!”

My vision was dark with wind and dust filling my eyes.

Thud—

[You received 32 damage.]

But even without seeing, I could recognize the voices of the Orc Search Party screaming, and in that moment, a sharp, hot pain entering my abdomen made my eyes snap open.

“Human, die!”

“Ur, gh… AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

A strangely shaped dagger digging into my stomach, penetrating the armor.

I screamed in agony at that unbearable, burning pain and grabbed the goblin’s neck. His body was about the size of a 9-year-old child, so I could wrap one hand around his neck.

Grip—

I applied force to my hand. To prevent him from escaping, I gripped his neck with my other hand as well.

“Keh, kek..!”

“F-uck, let gooooo!!!!!!”

I curled my body and shouted toward his ear.

Blood trickled from the goblin’s ear as he screamed a thin scream of pain, but in the rough wind coming up from below during the free fall, it turned into droplets and stained my cheek.

I could feel the dagger digging in deeper and deeper.

Were my intestines being torn? The excruciating pain that made my eyes roll back squeezed out an even louder scream into the goblin’s ear.

I could feel the goblin’s neck bone. I could feel through my hands the flesh being crushed, the esophagus and trachea being constricted, and the neck bone being pressed as if about to break.

I’ll snap his neck and kill him like this.

That was the plan, but unfortunately, it was in vain.

CRASH! Thud— Flop–

The end of free fall is always a collision with the ground.

It wasn’t long before I met that inevitable result.

With a huge sound, the ground that was hit by dozens of kilograms of meat mass surged greatly, spitting soil into the air.

Splashing soil and weeds. The excruciating pain as if all my vertebrae and spine were shattered. The abdomen that felt as hot as if touched by lava, then suddenly cold.

“Ah.. ugh… aagh…”

Each of these was not a pain within the normal range; it made my senses distant.

‘Fuck… Advanced Excavation Scroll? Is this Floor 8 now? No… Floor 9?’

『Excavation Scroll』

A scroll containing magic that creates a hole in the floor to make you fall to the lower floor or allow you to fall.

Naturally, since falling causes significant damage, it’s mostly used as an attack option only if absolutely necessary, but in any case, if you’re hit by this scroll, you’re forcibly moved one floor down.

Moreover, it was an Advanced Excavation Scroll with enhanced magical effects, so with bad luck, there was a possibility of falling even further down.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Feeling the continued sounds of falling and vibrations, I could only struggle with all my might, writhing my entire body like a worm stepped on by a shoe sole, to avoid losing consciousness.

‘Healing… healing potion..!’

I’m dying. My vision was completely dyed red with no sign of returning to normal.

How serious an injury could I have sustained that strength wouldn’t properly enter my body?

Ignoring such questions and the body’s signals screaming not to move, I crawled toward the backpack rolling in front of me, biting my tongue hard.

Just a little more.

Just a tiny bit more.

As I stretched my hand toward the backpack that had come right up to my nose…

“Need that, human?”

Crunch.

Looking up at the green foot stepping firmly on my outstretched wrist, I saw the goblin looking down at me with a sinister smile, blood streaming from his ears and mouth.

Mocking me as I lay face down, unable to stand, he pulled out another dagger from his backpack.

“Kehit, human strong. But weaker than me. Want to make painful. But God says kill.”

If I were to roughly interpret, it’s like he’s saying he’d like to play with a wounded person, but since that God guy said to kill me, he’ll reluctantly end my life.

Actually, even without interpretation, his voice was thickly coated with contempt and regret to a degree anyone could understand.

“Instead kill painfully. Then kill tribesmen too! Don’t worry, will make more painful than human.”

“You bastard, Shailock! You’ve finally done it!”

Around the time the sharp dagger was slowly approaching my forehead, a hoarse voice was heard.

Following that voice, I saw an orc with a rugged physique that seemed twice as large as the Search Party, glaring at the goblin with bulging eyes.

And seeing that orc, I could understand where this floor was now.

[You have discovered the Thief Goblin’s hidden name.]

‘It’s the Orc Village… it was right below.’

Coincidentally, where I had fallen seemed to be the village of the orcs, the cause of all this hardship.

“Kehihit! Warrior Chief, wait! Kill human first, then kill you soon!”

“Look behind you, idiot.”

The Thief Goblin, Shailock.

A massive red sword, tempered in fresh blood, struck his neck.