Chapter: 21
About 200 of them?
Red Goblins, their eyes blazing with murderous intent, charged straight at Eugene.
To avenge their fallen kin.
Without exaggeration, not a single player currently on the First Floor could stop a Red Goblin stampede.
Among the NPCs, probably only the Five Lords could.
But as he watched them foam at the mouth and rush toward him, Eugene smiled.
To him, they were nothing more than piles of experience points.
One hundred.
One thousand.
It didn’t matter.
Red Goblins simply weren’t opponents worthy of him.
The black blade of Black Wing [A] flashed like a streak of light as it sliced through the air.
Slash!
The goblin leading the charge split cleanly in half.
Through the gap between its severed body, more Red Goblins stared in shock.
A moment’s hesitation.
Eugene didn’t let the opening go to waste.
He kicked off the ground and threw himself between the corpse.
Breaking through the curtain of blood, the world around him was instantly dyed crimson.
His entire body was drenched in blood.
But Eugene didn’t care.
If anything, he looked refreshed.
His smile only deepened as he stretched out his arm toward the stunned Red Goblins.
Papapapapapapap!
Outer and Inner as One [E].
His body moved at terrifying speed, perfectly synchronized with his accelerated thoughts.
Before the first goblin’s corpse had even hit the ground, Black Wing [A] had already swung dozens of times.
Bodies fell apart.
Five Red Goblins were diced into dozens of pieces as though they’d been fed into a butcher’s slicer.
A rain of blood poured down.
Eugene made no attempt to avoid it.
Instead, as if he’d been waiting for it, he stepped forward, allowing the blood and chunks of flesh to splash all over him.
Ecstasy.
The emotion on Eugene’s face was unmistakable.
A euphoric blend of excitement and madness.
‘It’s coming in… It’s pouring in!’
Every Red Goblin cut down by Black Wing [A] caused the amount of accumulated experience to skyrocket.
‘This is what makes mob farming so addictive!’
One monster?
Nothing special.
Red Goblins weren’t worth that much experience individually.
But once it became ten…
One hundred…
That was a different story.
On the First Floor, there was only one way to gain this much experience in such a short time.
Mass hunting.
And Red Goblins were the perfect monsters for it.
Baring his bloodstained teeth, Eugene swung his sword like a madman.
Predator and prey.
There was no need to analyze who was hunting whom.
The answer was obvious.
“Kiiieeeekk!”
Only after nearly half of them had been torn apart did the Red Goblins finally realize something was wrong.
To them, Eugene was supposed to be the one screaming in fear and fleeing.
The one who should be chopped into pieces by their blades for daring to kill their brethren.
But reality was completely different.
Even from a monster’s perspective, the scene before them was absurd.
Watching their comrades get slaughtered with such ease, they instinctively stopped advancing.
“Trying to run?”
Noticing their hesitation, Eugene’s eyes gleamed.
“We’re only just getting started. Where do you think you’re going?”
Mana erupted from his body.
It wasn’t overwhelming.
After all, Eugene was only Level 10.
Thanks to the Blessing [C] wrapped around his arm, his mana had increased somewhat, but compared to Tailrun or Cupiditas, it was still insignificant.
Against the eighty or so remaining Red Goblins, it shouldn’t have been enough to intimidate them.
And yet…
The mana surging from Eugene terrified them.
Not because of its quantityā
But because of the will contained within it.
The Red Goblins understood instinctively.
This wasn’t an ordinary human.
They had to run.
Now.
Every instinct they possessed screamed the same warning.
“You’re not getting away.”
Eugene released the mana he had gathered.
KWAOOOOOOOM!
A storm of blades erupted.
The Red Goblins were shredded like tomatoes thrown into a blender.
There weren’t even any screams.
Everything happened far too quickly.
With only an instant of pain…
Their very existence disappeared from the world.
ā You have defeated the normal monster, Red Goblin.
ā Level Up ā Level Up ā Level Up
“This is it!”
Now completely stained red, Eugene let out a triumphant shout.
Three levels.
One mass hunt had earned him three levels.
By simple calculation, repeating this ten times would mean thirty levels.
Of course, the higher his level became, the more experience each level required, increasing exponentially.
Realistically, even gaining fifteen more levels would be pushing it.
‘Still… that’s enough.’
That would be sufficient to stand against Tailrun or Cupiditas.
In other words…
There would no longer be anyone on the First Floor that Eugene couldn’t handle.
“Good.”
Once he passed Level 20, there was only one thing left for him to do in Terra.
After finishing that…
He would head straight for the Second Floor.
“Now then… where are the next Red Goblins?”
Standing in the middle of the grassland transformed into a scene from hell, Eugene extended his senses.
He needed to find another tribe besides the one he’d just annihilatedā
“Hm?”
He felt something.
Too weak to be monsters.
Yet possessing mana unlike ordinary beasts.
That left only NPCs…
Or players.
Eugene turned toward the source.
He needed to see with his own eyes.
To his surprise, several people were lying among the tall grass, trembling violently.
They held crude beginner equipment but seemed too terrified to even think about running.
“Players?”
There were players out in the field already?
Shock spread across Eugene’s face.
As far as he remembered, ninety-nine percent of all players should still be hiding inside Terra at this point.
Unless they possessed extraordinary talent…
Or had completely lost their fear.
“Ah!”
Then he recognized a familiar woman’s face.
That alone answered every question.
A young woman with short black hair.
Holding a shabby reddish weapon.
Her large eyes were opened wide in shock.
‘The Sword Queen.’
He hadn’t expected to meet her again so soon.
‘Well… someone of the Sword Queen’s caliber would naturally be bold enough to leave Terra this early.’
Judging by the nearby corpses of Sulfur Deer, she’d already hunted monsters.
‘Perfect!’
He’d been wondering how to approach her naturally and recruit her.
But fortune had delivered the perfect opportunity.
‘She must’ve seen what I can do.’
Red Goblins weren’t monsters that these nobodiesā
Or even the current Sword Queenā
Could hunt.
Yet Eugene had just slaughtered well over a hundred of them.
‘Looks like she came out hunting.’
What was the fastest and safest way to level up?
Partner with someone strong.
Form a party.
Hunt together.
By that standard, Eugene was the ideal companion.
‘I’ll recruit her this time.’
He’d already proven his strength.
Now all he had to do was make a good impression.
He refused to repeat the mistake he’d made during their first meeting.
Determined, Eugene put on the friendliest smile imaginable.
He swore that, across both his first and second lives, he’d never once worn such an expression.
That was how highly he valued the Sword Queen’s talent.
Still smiling, Eugene raised the hand holding Black Wing [A] high into the air and greeted her.
“What a coincidence, meeting you here again. I guess we’re meant to cross paths, aren’t we?”
Perfect.
Surely no greeting could sound friendlier or more harmless than that.
Eugene was completely confident.
But…
“Run! That lunatic’s a freaking psycho!”
Instead of returning the greeting…
The Sword Queen chose to flee.
While hurling a colorful insult.
She and the other players turned and sprinted in panic.
Farther.
Faster.
Desperately trying to get away from Eugene.
“…Why?”
Isia trembled in terror.
Not just her.
Everyone did.
Hunting?
No.
What they had witnessed wasn’t hunting.
It was slaughter.
Even over a hundred monsters had desperately tried to escape that madman.
Yet not a single one had survived.
Every last one had been carved into chunks of meat.
Then…
Isia’s eyes met his.
Flinch.
She’d never imagined he would notice her.
Her body shrank instinctively.
‘What do I do?’
It felt as though he’d charge over at any second, swinging that sword in his hand.
But she couldn’t move.
The horrifying, brutal spectacle she’d witnessed had frozen her body completely.
Her mind screamed for her to run…
Yet she couldn’t even take a single step.
Like someone trapped in sleep paralysis.
‘Move… please, move!’
She desperately wiggled her fingers and toes, trying to force life back into her numb body.
Perhaps her efforts worked.
‘I’m moving!’
At last, feeling slowly returned to her stiff limbs.
‘Just a little more!’
Fortunately, that insane psychopath didn’t seem to be approaching yet.
If she could just regain full control of her body…
She could escape.
Just thenā
The madman suddenly raised the sword in his hand and shouted.
“What a coincidence, meeting you here again. I guess we’re meant to cross paths, aren’t we?”
A chill shot through her entire body.
He was smiling.
Covered head to toe in blood.
Even his teeth, which should have been white, were stained crimson with monster blood.
Terrifying.
Far too terrifying.
It looked as though he was about to swing that sword and butcher them all.
As her survival instinct exploded, mana surged instinctively through her body, completely breaking the paralysis gripping her.
The moment she felt it, Isia spun around and started running.
“Run! That lunatic’s a freaking psycho!”
She didn’t forget to warn her companions.
They had apparently felt exactly the same fear she had.
Without hesitation, they chased after her at full speed.
‘If he catches us, we’re dead!’
He wasn’t someone they could possibly fight.
Sulfur Deer?
Monsters?
Didaskalia?
None of those were the greatest danger in this tower.
The most dangerous thing here…
Was that man.
Terrified beyond reason, Isia sprinted toward the city.
‘There was some distance between us. We should be okay!’
They had been close enough to recognize each other’s faces.
But if they ran with everything they had, surely he wouldn’t catch up.
‘Just get inside the city!’
There were plenty of players there.
More importantly…
Guards protected the city gates.
Surely they could stop that terrifying man.
At the very least, he wouldn’t dare act recklessly in front of them.
Isia prayed that was true.
Then, noticing she couldn’t hear anyone pursuing them, she cautiously looked back.
She regretted it instantly.
Behind herā
Eyes glowing blood-red like his gore-covered bodyā
The madman was charging after her with terrifying speed.
“Hiiiiiiiiik!”
