"Ha!"
Swish.
"Haah!"
Slash.
I wildly hacked at the goblins with my sword.
It was a grotesque scene, but rather than being repulsed, it was oddly satisfying.
It felt like playing a slightly violent video game.
Having witnessed human last moments several times, I was mentally prepared for this.
If we're talking about something disgusting, killing with a punch is more so.
"Huff... Huff..."
As the sun was about to set, I felt the need to rest and moved towards the open ground with my sword.
It was time to change my blade, as it had become completely dull.
I've killed more goblins today than ever before. It would be strange if the blade were still sharp.
If I become an expert like Choi Ji-won, can I kill goblins without dulling the blade? Or maybe I can do more, like splitting the sky and earth.
While I was lost in these pleasant thoughts and returning to the clearing, I found water and food placed at the entrance where I had started cutting the grass.
"...Oh..."
When I looked at Choi Ji-won, she was silently swinging her sword with her back to me.
As expected, she is kind-hearted.
Taking care of everyone in the clearing wasn't enough for her; she also provided for the madman who spent all day cutting grass.
I wet a cloth with the water and wiped off the sweat and blood on my face.
Ah, what a refreshing feeling.
'Thank you, Choi Ji-won. I'll repay your kindness.'
After expressing my gratitude silently, I quickly ate and fell into a deep sleep.
That night, I had a pleasant dream, though I couldn't remember its details.
Repetition. Repetition. And more repetition.
In the midst of the tedious work, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"... Status window."
[Name: Junho] [LV: 2]
[Traits]
- Regression [EX]
There were no changes, except for the fact that my level had increased to 2.
Given the number of goblins I've killed this time, I don't know if the level carries over or is just for this round.
The important thing is that I've killed dozens of goblins in this round alone.
The average person quietly heads out of the grass, unlike me.
I've attracted much more attention due to loudly cutting the grass, making my encounters with goblins much more frequent.
Conservatively estimating, I've killed at least 20... and my level has only increased by 1?
Is it just me? Or is it the same for others? Nowadays, the trend in games is to gain levels rapidly.
And secondly,
"... It seems that I shouldn't expect any bonuses from leveling up."
Although my level increased, I wasn't even aware of it.
What does this mean?
There's no automatic healing or return to peak condition upon leveling up.
Since I'm a regressor, I thought of controlling the timing of leveling up, but it seems impossible.
I didn't even see a message like [You have leveled up!].
There might be exceptions. If I need to sleep to level up, I might not even know I've done so.
But either way, I can't utilize leveling up in battles...
I should just forget about leveraging level-ups.
"... Sigh."
I clenched and unclenched my fists a few times, but I didn't feel any stronger or more energetic.
Although there's a status window, I can't see my stats, so I don't know how much stronger I've become.
If my level increases a lot more, I might feel a difference.
While cutting the grass, lost in my thoughts,
"Whoa!"
I lost my balance because of a missed sword strike.
I barely managed not to fall... That was close.
But why did the sword miss?
I slowly looked up and saw the ground.
The ground that I hadn't seen for a while because of the dense grass. Earth. Terra. Mother Earth.
Finally... I escaped the grassy hell.
Even though I had broken free from the suffocating prison, there were no dramatic changes.
The grass was much shorter, only reaching my ankles, and there were more trees.
Surprisingly, there were no monsters in sight.
Actually, there seemed to be more monsters inside the dense grass.
"... Is this even logical?"
But upon reflection, it wouldn't make sense for there to be many monsters here. "Hmm, I went through a very abnormal growth process to escape this grassland...
But from another person's perspective, I've only just cleared the tutorial of all tutorials.
But right after leaving the grassland, I get ambushed by a powerful monster?
Unless you're an overpowered individual like Choi Ji-won, you wouldn't survive.
After taking a moment, I looked back to see the prison I had just escaped from.
It looked even stranger from the outside.
The grass grew densely in a circle... It wasn't a safe zone for no reason.
Even if I were a monster, I wouldn't want to pass through that grass.
Well, anyway...
I scratched my head.
Now, what to do...?
My main goal was to escape from here, but now that I have, I don't see any clear objectives.
There's talk of finding a golden orb, but I don't know where it is. There are no monsters in sight.
I feel like I've lost my purpose.
Should I go look for water like that firefighter did before? Or should I climb a tree and get a better view of the surroundings?
While I was contemplating,
"Kyaaaah!"
A woman's terrified scream rang out, quite close by.
My next destination had just been decided.
If there's a typical monster in a tutorial, what would it be?
The first things that come to mind are goblins and slimes.
Both represent the weakest entities in fantasy worlds and are widely recognized.
But that's just for ordinary goblins.
When you add an adjective in front of 'goblin', its perceived weakness disappears.
A 'goblin' sounds weak, but a 'warrior goblin' or an 'elite goblin' exudes a formidable aura.
"Kyaaaah! Please help! Kyaaaah!"
The scene that unfolded before me was just like that.
Two men were on the ground, bleeding from their entire body, and a terrified woman was screaming in horror.
"Ker ruk... Ker ruk..."
About six goblins with wooden spears surrounded the woman, while three other goblins were rummaging through the belongings of the fallen men.
The two men had wounds on the backs of their thighs.
Being attacked from behind implies an ambush. The fact that the wounds looked punctured, not slashed, meant they were inflicted by wooden spears, not claws or teeth.
The goblins first immobilized their prey by targeting their mobility and then attacked from a distance.
It's a smart hunting strategy, similar to how humans hunt wild animals.
These goblins seemed different from the ones in the grassland. If the former were beasts, these seemed to have primate-level intelligence.
"Someone... Someone..."
The woman cried out weakly.
"Ker ruk... Kik... Kik..."
The drooling goblins approached.
I wanted to help, but... I had reservations.
I had invested a lot to get out of there, having spent almost three days just cutting grass to escape from the grassland.
The opportunity cost was high, and I hesitated to invest it in saving strangers.
Another problem was the goblins' weapon of choice: spears.
The sword is the king of all weapons, but in a close combat, reach is everything.
Their spears might not have been 2-3 meters long, but they had a slightly longer reach than my sword.
If I get even slightly scratched by one of those spears, I'd instantly regress. Until now, my opponents had been goblins using claws and Choi Ji-won.
I have no experience facing a spear.
Without a single injury, victory seems nearly impossible.
"… No..."
While I hesitated, the woman was seized by the goblins.
"Kik... Ker ruk..."
One of the goblins, with a sinister smile, reached into his belt.
Could he...?
Is he going to turn this into an adult-rated scenario?
"Kek!"
No. What he pulled out from his belt was not a grotesque organ, but a sharp stone knife.
Still adult-rated, but a different genre.
Very different.
Still, I can't just stand by and watch this happen to a fellow human. I'm going to regress someday anyway; I should save her sooner rather than later.
Just as I was about to make a move,
Whooosh!
"Huh?"
A sharp gust of wind passed by, accompanying an unexpected event. "Kek?"
In the blink of an eye, all the goblins' heads vanished.
It felt like I was watching a poor special effect from a B-grade movie.
Were they slashed at an unseeable speed?
All ten goblin necks in a single moment?
Among the people I know, there's only one capable of such a feat.
And from her perspective, this situation seems ripe for misunderstandings.
"No, it's not that I deliberately didn't help..."
I hurriedly tried to explain myself, but...
"You pervert. Die."
Whack!
Choi Ji-won swung her sword at the back of my head.
Unfortunately, Choi Ji-won, a crazy woman, tends to act first and talk later, so I wasn't given a chance to explain.
[You have taken damage.]
[You will regress to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]