Chapter 9

"Let's get started then!"

Junsung, holding his sword, immediately plunged into the goblin lair.

To clear out the goblins around the tower, he had a sense of how to fight.

Knowing that rushing in recklessly would get him killed, he naturally began to skillfully lure and eliminate the goblins one by one by throwing stones.

'For a sure kill...'

Junsung, who had changed from his underwear back into his original clothes and armor.

He had taken off his clothes earlier to increase his speed in situations with many goblin archers, ambushes, and traps, but now that he could lure and catch them one by one, his regular equipment was sufficient for the fight.

"Go, go-bu!"

"Go-buk! Kieek!"

'If there’s no chance of ambush, there’s no need to strip and run around recklessly. Even when I lean against the trees in the forest, the others except the archers come running to catch me...'

His primary goal was to eliminate them one by one, but sometimes three or four would link up and chase him.

Still, the other goblins around didn't join in, and he could handle them, so Junsung felt relieved.

In fact, if every goblin chased after one that was aggroed, it would make users lose their motivation to play the game.

"Go-bu! Go-bu! Go-bububu!"

'Ah, this is a goblin warrior.'

A goblin warrior, wearing a helmet and holding a wooden shield in one hand, followed each of the raiders, with a goblin archer providing support from behind.

One warrior, two raiders, one archer, a combination of vanguard and rearguard. The formation, with the shield-wielding goblin warrior pushing forward, was tricky to handle alone.

'First, the weak raider!'

"Go-bu!"

'Use Double Slash to reduce the numbers accurately by targeting the weak ones.'

"Kieek!"

Swish! Swish!

After dodging the attack of the goblin warrior approaching from the front and tripping him to break the formation, Junsung targeted the goblin raiders and used Double Slash aggressively.

The skill precisely struck the goblin raider's vital point, causing him to scream and fall to the ground.

"Critical...? A critical hit?"

The critical hit probability associated with the 'Luck' status had kicked in, allowing him to instantly kill the goblin raider.

Thanks to this, Junsung gained some time.

He taunted the returning goblin warrior and immediately targeted another raider, brandishing his sword and charging in.

The frantic hunting in the forest continued.

"Go-buut!"

Thanks to the large number of enemies he had to kill, Junsung quickly leveled up to level 5.

While checking the floating system messages, picking up items, and catching his breath, he felt a sense of accomplishment.

"Phew~ That's it! The feeling of the fight changes just by the enemies' composition. Wow... I'm thirsty. Phew~"

Fighting alone what usually requires a party took a lot of time and was quite tiring.

Moreover, the influence of stamina and health, which were linked to his physical condition, made him sweat and breathe heavily, but Junsung felt a sense of pride.

"I usually don't get this tired. Hooo... gulp gulp. Phew! Nom nom."

Junsung, eating the water and bread from the beginner adventurer support box, felt relieved. Initially, he wondered why these items were in the game, but now he was glad they were there.

'Anyway, since the quest has been updated, I should check the content? This is too fun, I can't stop. The term 'game addiction' isn't just a saying.'

Junsung keenly felt why people become addicted to games.

Moreover, with no clock to keep track of time, he literally lost track of it.

Of course, losing track of time was one factor, but the most important reason was 'fun.'

A world where he, with his crippled legs, could wield a sword and fight to his heart's content, a world where he didn't have to worry about death!

Feeling the highest satisfaction, he quickly checked the updated quest.

He had reduced the number of goblins around the tower. Now he had to enter the tower, rescue the kidnapped person, clear out the goblins' base, and defeat their leader.

Condition: Goblin Tower Dungeon Clear 0/1

*This quest is extremely dangerous. Party play is recommended. Gather your companions.

"Wow, 'extremely dangerous'... So it will be even more fun."

The more intimidating the message, the more Junsung was fired up.

The change of the battlefield to the tower was a new experience.

Excitement built as he wondered what lay inside, and he composed himself and ran towards the tower.

There were regenerating goblins around the tower, but they were old enemies, so avoiding them and approaching the tower was not difficult.

'Hmm? The entrance looks different? What is this? Can I enter?'

The entrance to the tower was not a regular door but a portal emitting a faint blue light.

As a game newbie, Junsung was momentarily scared and hesitated to enter.

Looking more closely, he could faintly see the inside of the tower beyond the blue light portal.

"Oh... It's nothing."

"What, what? Huh? Inst... Instance dungeon? Belonging? What does that mean?"

Junsung, who had been afraid of what might be inside, was puzzled by the sudden system window but, seeing nothing wrong, began to look around inside.

The inside of the tower had a very low ceiling, and looking up, it seemed to be about 3 to 4 stories high.

Suddenly, eerie music and the giggling voices of goblins, which he had heard enough of today, reached his ears, giving him a very creepy feeling.

"Oh... This atmosphere is intense."

Enjoying the eerie atmosphere, Junsung drew his sword and began to explore the dark dungeon inside the tower alone.

***

At the same time.

Level 50 Raid Dungeon, Empire Gargantua Fortress.

"Alright! Let's take a 10-minute break. Everyone seems very tired."

"Phew~"

In the midst of the grueling raid trial, the raid leader finally called for a break, and Minhee collapsed on the ground, sighing heavily.

The raid leader and raid members were in a noisy state.

They were arguing about whether to level up more and try again after the repeated failures.

The raid leader thought it was better to clear the easier early named enemies, farm more items, and then compete for leveling and hunting grounds, so he continued to maintain the trials.

'Really difficult. Anyway, there's a limit to the playtime... I'll manage somehow. I wonder what he's doing right now?'

'...!'

Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Junsung's location and status in the friend list.

She knew he was following the 'Goblin Village' storyline, but she never imagined he would go straight to the 'Dungeon - Goblin Tower' at level 5.

'Entering the Goblin Tower at level 5? It's hard to find a party for that place these days... Did he just barge in without knowing?'

Three months since the service started. The early level-up strategies and efficient routes were already well-known through internet communities, and the early goblin village and Goblin Tower routes had long been abandoned.

'It seems he followed the quest line and entered the Goblin Tower. But that's a place where beginners can't clear alone... Wait, if it's this time?'

Thinking about it, she recalled that Junsung had already progressed through the goblin route to reach this point.

In the 'Newbie Slicer' goblin course, newbies usually die two or three times and return to Borun Village.

However, calculating the time Junsung entered the Goblin Tower, she realized he must have not died even once.

'...What? This guy?'

Unable to believe he was a newbie, she decided to watch how Junsung would handle it.

***

Originally, most MMORPG dungeons were designed to increase the specs of internal monsters to encourage party play.

Thus, each of the dungeon's regular monsters was overwhelmingly stronger than the players.

Because most real-time PC games relied on targeting to exchange skills, adjusting difficulty through specs was the norm.

However, with the advent of virtual reality games, the possibilities for increasing variables through direct physical movement and changes in game structure became endless, making it unnecessary to simply increase monster specs. Difficulty could be adjusted through dungeon design, traps, and other structural changes.

"Kikik, go-bu go-bu!"

"Go-bu..."

Of course, this did not mean the dungeon was easy.

How vicious must it be that in the currently popular 'Another World Archive,' no beginners would dare approach this area and route?

Moreover, Junsung, who had already faced many vicious traps and ambush gimmicks, knew it was no place to be complacent.

'Ugh... There are so many.'

Junsung, not far from the entrance, hid behind a box and watched the goblins giggling in the darkness, eating and drinking.

There were many goblin warriors with axes and shields, goblin raiders, and goblin archers, and now a new goblin shaman with a staff and a skull cap had joined the group.

'The combination has grown. What is it? Three raiders, two warriors, two archers, and one shaman?'

Gradually increasing the difficulty by diversifying enemy combinations to make them harder to handle is a standard game design. Seeing another addition to the goblin series, Junsung began to ponder his strategy.

'A shaman... like a shaman? What is it? A variant of a mage? Ugh...'

Junsung, who was far from the game, only knew 'shaman' in a general sense. He couldn't figure out what it could do and tilted his head.

The shaman held a staff with a skull decoration at the end, a wooden staff much taller than himself, bound with leather. Even by the standards of a swordsman, it didn't seem to have much physical threat.

'I'll take out the raiders and archers first, then deal with the rest.'

Junsung, his eyes gleaming, drew his sword to start the battle.

He carefully moved around the box and bookshelf to prepare to take out the goblin archer first.

Just then, the goblin archer and shaman turned their gaze.

The goblin warriors and raiders, drinking and chatting, were at a distance. Junsung, gathering his strength, used 'Charge' to leap over the box and rush at the goblin archer.

Aiming precisely for the back of the neck, he activated Double Slash!

"Go-buuk!"

'Good. One!'

"Go-bu? Go-buut!"

In the rear, the goblin archer fell with a precise strike to the vital point. At the same time, the other goblins noticed Junsung's presence.

But Junsung's movements were faster. Without hesitation, he moved to take down the remaining goblin archer.

However, at that moment, a new status window appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

'What, what is this?'

A crucial element in games that strive for realism, 'item durability.'

As a game beginner, Junsung was bewildered by this sudden message.