Chapter 7

Chapter 7

[You have selected Trait: One More!]

[Maximum Blink uses increase by 1.]

[Remaining Blink Uses: ■■■□]

***

Drip, drip… plop-

My eyes opened.

Because of the irritating sound of water droplets.

‘Where am I?’

When I opened my eyes, it was a place I had never seen in my life.

I had been confident that, if this were the game, I knew everything from A to Z by heart, so this was quite a shock.

Well, putting minor details aside.

Clank-

I got up and shook the iron bars in front of me.

Sure enough, they were locked.

I had been imprisoned.

In a space that would be packed full with just two people inside.

If there was any silver lining, it was that even though I had been locked up, my arms and legs were free.

I didn’t know who had locked me up, but they were unbelievably sloppy.

They put me behind iron bars, yet they didn’t bind me.

Were they stupid, or just half-assed?

Maybe both.

‘For now, should I get out and see?’

It wouldn’t be too late to think about minor worries after escaping.

When I shook it earlier, it had been a fairly thick iron door, but a mere iron door like this wasn’t a problem at all.

“Blink.”

[Remaining Blink Uses: ■■■□]

I just had to pass through it.

Tap. After lightly landing from above, I looked around.

‘Looks like this is the facility I found on the second floor.’

I had vaguely realized it from the moment I was locked behind the bars.

It looked similar to the interior of the facility I had seen right before I was hit by sleep poison and lost consciousness.

While I was under the sleep poison, someone had imprisoned me.

“This must be it.”

Judging by the circumstances alone, that was the most plausible assumption.

Though it was strange that they had kept me alive instead of killing me right away, that was something I could figure out step by step.

Tap, tap, tap.

I sensed someone beyond the corridor.

The moment I heard the sound, I hid myself reflexively.

Right now, it was time to calmly gather information.

“In this war, we must seize victory from the Slime bastards.”

“The reason we were given authority over the underground prison by the priest was also to capture enemy prisoners, so we must live up to expectations.”

“The Slime Prince’s person, captured in this battle. We must not lose him. If we let him escape by mistake, the priest will kill us. So keep watch properly.”

The pronunciation I heard was unusually clear for a Goblin.

Immediately afterward, the Goblin’s characteristic slurred voice, like phlegm boiling in its throat, followed.

“Krk, Captain. Understood, krrrk.”

Two Goblins appeared from around the corner.

One of them had a body so scrawny it looked as if it might collapse from malnutrition.

The other had a plump, well-fed build.

And I wasn’t talking about simple size alone.

The Goblin fattened with flesh not only had darker skin, but also exuded the aura of the strong.

‘A higher species?’

It might even be on par with the Goblin Warrior I had faced on the second floor.

“So, what is the Slime Princess doing?”

“Krk, she resisted at first, but, krk… now she’s collapsed as still as a dead mouse. Krk.”

“To think something like that is a princess. A spineless bitch, isn’t she? Well, she is trash that lost in battle. It suits her perfectly.”

“Krk.”

“By the way, where is the human we captured for food?”

“Krrrk, captured… krk, and kept. By now, krk… he should be, krk… asleep.”

Ha, ha.

As I listened to the bastards talk, I was dumbfounded.

They had locked me up because they were planning to use me as food?

If you had any sense at all, it was easy to tell that the “human captured for food” was me.

I was the only human imprisoned behind the bars. It was obvious.

‘Who do they think is getting eaten?’

That was when I tried to quietly slip away.

The moment I turned, my eyes met those of a green living creature in one corner.

Three seconds of awkward silence.

FWEEEEEEEEET-

What broke the silence was an ear-piercing shriek.

Thanks to that, the gloomy underground prison became noisy.

[2nd floor (Unexplored Area)- Defeat the boss and overcome the situation.]

***

Each floor of the Tower had its own conditions for climbing.

There were cases like the first and second floors where the climbing conditions appeared right away, and there were also cases where the climbing conditions only manifested after a certain situation was reached.

Apparently, in this place, being discovered by the bastards had been the trigger for the climbing condition.

[Defeat the boss and overcome the situation.]

Overcome the situation, huh….

The former was one thing, but the latter was far too vague.

It didn’t even specify what situation I was supposed to overcome.

I hadn’t expected much.

Expecting kindness from the Tower would be ridiculous.

The scene that unfolded right after I was discovered by the bastards reminded me of a beehive.

Why a beehive, specifically?

Simple.

Because Goblins kept pouring out endlessly, and I had no idea where they were even coming from.

Just the ones I had seen so far easily exceeded several dozen.

This is absurd.

On the first and second floors, everything was solved after taking down only a few Goblins.

The difficulty had skyrocketed.

“Krk! Jailbreak!! The food has escaped!!”

Who are you calling food?

I had only taken a few steps to avoid the Goblins pouring in like a flood, but I was already out of breath.

‘Damn it, this body’s stamina was trash.’

Maybe because I wasn’t used to it, I kept forgetting.

Tch. Did I have no choice but to fight?

I had used up all the spells stored in my Wands.

The remaining number of Blinks was two.

I was counting the cards left in my hand when it happened.

“What are you all doing? Hurry and capture him!”

From behind me, I heard the higher species giving orders to its subordinates.

I narrowed my eyes.

I had already guessed this before, but that bastard was the leader of the Goblins.

Goblins were naturally cunning beings, and at the same time, weak.

That was why they tended all the more to gather tightly under the command of the strong.

‘If I defeat the leader, the rest will collapse on their own.’

To do that, I had to show an overwhelming difference against the higher-species Goblin.

So that the other small fry wouldn’t even think of rushing at me.

Let’s be honest.

With my muscle strength weakened to the limit by all kinds of curses, piercing the hide of a higher species was almost impossible.

As it happened, I was fairly good at objective self-assessment.

However.

A mage had methods unique to a mage.

I took several steps forward and operated the Wand.

“Krrrk!”

Perhaps sensing something strange from me, the Goblins charged while their red eyes gleamed.

There were an incredible number of them.

So many that I couldn’t even count how many there were.

I didn’t need to deal with each of them one by one.

Holding up the dagger I had prepared beforehand toward the front, I parted my lips.

“Blink.”

[Remaining Blink Uses: □□□□]

A golden flash flickered, and my vision shifted again and again.

A continuous use of Blink, now increased to 3.7 meters.

CRUNCH!

The moment I reached Blink’s final destination, I heard the sound of flesh being pierced.

The dagger in my hand pierced through the higher species’ thick hide and drove through its chest.

“Cough, h-how….”

With its chest pierced in the blink of an eye, the higher species vomited up blood and sank to its knees.

Its eyes were filled with utter confusion.

‘It makes sense.’

From the bastard’s perspective, it must have looked as though I had leaped across space and plunged a dagger into its heart.

And that was actually true.

It was a technique using Blink.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

In order to use Blink to drive a dagger into an enemy’s chest, I had to be able to measure my range and the exact distance to the enemy.

If I made even a slight calculation mistake, there could be a catastrophe where my own body was blown apart instead.

The higher species’ eyes rolled back, and it died standing upright.

[You have defeated the Goblin Jailer.]

The moment the bastard died, a cold silence settled over the area.

All of the Goblins wore bewildered expressions.

Their eyes said they had no idea what to do.

-Their leader had been taken down in one blow.

That was why confusion had broken out.

Because their survival instinct and the order they had just received were clashing.

So I decided to help them make a judgment.

Tap.

BOOM!

When I lightly tapped the higher species that had died standing upright with my finger, its heavy body slammed straight into the ground.

What now? If you still want to fight me, I’ll take you on.

When I raised the Wand with that meaning, agitation rippled through the Goblins.

“⎯.”

To briefly explain what happened after that- it ended quickly.

When they were gathered together, they had to be guarded against, but Goblins that had lost their leader were no different from a rabble.

Like a sandcastle on a beach being swept away by a wave, once one of them fled, the rest followed one after another without exception.

[The alias Little-Demon Slayer has spread among some Goblins.]

[You have earned the Goblins’ faint hostility.]

[You can fight a little more easily when facing Goblins.]

Soon after, system windows appeared.

“Little-Demon Slayer….”

It was a fairly decent alias.

Compared to a name like Pingkkyu Gyongdyu, wouldn’t anything you brought over look decent?

After I struggled for some time with both hands to pull out the dagger lodged in the Goblin’s chest, a firmly closed iron door entered my field of view as I looked around.

More precisely, something beyond it that shone with a five-colored radiance did.

“…A Slime?”

A single Slime was staring fixedly at me.

So much that it felt burdensome.

After a moment, something flashed through my mind.

‘Could that be the Slime Princess the Goblins were talking about earlier?’

It was a plausible hypothesis.

At a glance, it looked different from an ordinary Slime.

A rainbow-colored Slime. It looked special no matter how you looked at it.

Anyway….

I had been feeling it since a moment ago, but the way it looked at me was burdensome.

‘Is it asking me to save it?’

If I left it inside, it would either starve to death or die of thirst.

Strictly speaking, that thing was a monster too.

Well, would it matter?

A Slime would be a one-punch matter even if it attacked.

Finding the key to the iron door wasn’t particularly difficult.

When I searched the higher species’ body, a ring of keys soon popped out.

Clank!

When I opened the iron door, the Slime bounced out.

The Slime stretched its body up long, then bent itself into an L shape.

“Are you actually thanking me?”

Boing, boing!

At my low mutter, the Slime shook its body up and down.

It looked as though it was nodding.

At that sight, a faint laugh slipped out of me without me realizing it.

It took me a moment to understand because it was a movement I had never seen even once in the game.

I had only ever knocked monsters down. I never thought I would receive thanks from one.

I was staring blankly at this first-ever experience when it happened.

[You have acquired Command.]

“Is this… a skill?”

At the sudden appearance of the system window, my mouth fell open.

I could learn things other than Blink?

Thinking about it, it wasn’t strange.

Blink was only a custom ability I had received as a benefit, so in theory, there was no problem with learning other skills.

But why now of all times, after staying quiet until this moment?

My worries were brief.

If I was curious, I could just try using it.

There was also a perfect target to test it on right in front of me.

[Using Command.]

[Servant Slime has entered your command.]

Huh?

This actually worked?

I wondered if it would resist because I had used the skill on my own, but the Slime only looked at me with bright, clear eyes as if nothing was wrong.

I felt awkward for no reason.

‘Ahem, was I the only one being sensitive about it?’

[You have cleared the Unexplored Area.]

[Clear reward is being calculated. Please wait.]

Just then, text appeared saying that I had cleared the Unexplored Area.

At the same time, it also asked if I wanted to climb to the third floor.

In my heart, I wanted to go all the way to the third floor, but now was not the time.

In a single climb, I had cleared the first floor, the second floor, and even the Unexplored Area.

That alone was an achievement more than sufficient to brag about anywhere.

Besides, climbing was one thing, but reorganizing was important too.

The longer this became, the more essential it was to rest, just as much as climbing the Tower.

‘Should I head out now?’

I felt sorry for the Slime staring fixedly at me, but it was about time to go home.

[Exiting the Tower.]

***

Immediately after leaving the Tower, what greeted Sung Ha-jin was a cramped studio apartment with barely enough room to step.

After he washed off the accumulated grime and came out, exhaustion surged over him like a tide.

“Why am I so tired?”

Did he have reason to be tired?

Considering his constitution made him pant after running around only a little, it was impressive he hadn’t collapsed until now.

As if the timing were perfect, the sun seemed to have set already, and it was dark outside too.

When he checked the wall clock, the hour hand was pointing to eleven.

“Should I sleep for now?”

Settling the accounts from his trip to the Tower could wait until later.

It wasn’t particularly urgent, so he would put it off.

After all, the things one was supposed to do today were usually handled by tomorrow’s self.

When he threw himself onto the bed, his eyes slowly closed, and drowsiness poured over him.

Around the time Sung Ha-jin had fallen deep into dreamland, Ding, ding!

His phone vibrated in the middle of the dark room.

[Exclusive News] 'Pingkkyu Gyongdyu', the veiled hidden powerhouse… turns out to be a newbie who just started climbing the Tower?!

[Disaster Alert]

A Dungeon Synchronization phenomenon has occurred across the Gangseo-gu area, causing mass casualties. Residents of Gangseo-gu, please move to a shelter immediately and refrain from outdoor activities.

And so, while Sung Ha-jin was fast asleep, the Republic of Korea was turned upside down.

By two separate issues.