Isagi's hand remained on the hilt of the blade at his waist, rubbing it. There was no discernable expression on his plain face; he simply stared at the Goblin before him for a good while before speaking softly.
"We'll come back later."
"Always waiting... Pal believes that you will return very soon."
The small Goblin laughed with a "Kuku" sound and quickly curled back into the corner it had just occupied.
It was also at this moment. The young man and the girls discovered that at the far end of one side of the city wall, between the rock face and the pale wall, there was a tiny crack, appearing just wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.
That place must be the small path mentioned by this Goblin calling itself "Pal".
"Let's go for now."
Isagi intended to continue mapping the area first to verify his conjectures. In any case, just like last time, they had brought enough supplies to stay in the Dungeon for several days, so there was no rush.
However.
As the three turned and walked away, bursts of intense shouting erupted from the arena behind them.
Subsequently, that black human figure wielding a scythe welcomed another opponent— a Lizardman warrior, over two meters tall and walking upright, appearing from who knows where, wielding a blowgun and a strangely shaped long saber.
Very quickly, the two monsters began to slaughter each other again before the eyes of those Goblin spectators.
Isagi turned a completely deaf ear to this.
Together with Lefiya and Tiona, Isagi traveled from the 5th Floor to the 12th Floor.
The journey was unimpeded.
Still, they encountered not even ordinary monsters. Tsk tsk tsk, it seems the Dungeon understands the concept of "concentrating forces to do big things"; it must have spent all the "energy" of these floors on that [Goblin Kingdom].
Through this exploration, Isagi quickly confirmed his guesses while obtaining the following discoveries.
First.
On every floor, at the same location as the [Border Fortress] on the 4th Floor, a massive citadel appeared. However, on most floors, it was just a solid ring of pale stone walls with no entrance to enter.
It seems Lefiya's previous guess was correct; the so-called [Goblin Kingdom] is a massive area formed by digging through and interconnecting Floors 4 through 12.
And inside the previous [Border Fortress], that door that "cannot be opened from this side" must be the entrance to the outermost layer, and also a shortcut of sorts.
As long as it is opened, he could enter the [Goblin Kingdom] directly from the 4th Floor in the future.
But to enter right now.
Besides the 5th Floor just now, there were also the 9th Floor and the 12th Floor.
The entrance on the 9th Floor was still a towering city gate, only visible to the naked eye, the towering city walls were covered in densely packed holes. Without a doubt, it must be the same model as the one he encountered at the [Border Fortress], and judging by the quantity, it should be a power-enhanced Pro Max version!
At the same time, there were some very large holes where large-scale machinery like ballistae could faintly be seen inside.
And outside the wide-open city gate, the Goblins had established layer upon layer of sentry posts and camps. Inside were all Goblin soldiers and knights wearing full body armor, which could not be compared to the small camps encountered on the 3rd Floor.
Just looking at the equipment, these Goblins were a regular army!
Not to mention that inside the city gate, visible to the naked eye, were fully armed Goblin squads on patrol.
Among them, one could even see two "Giant" figures wearing heavy full plate armor and standing over five meters tall (After the 8th Floor, although the terrain was still generally crisscrossing caverns, the ceiling height had increased from about four or five meters to over ten meters.)
This was just what could be seen; Isagi didn't dare to think about how many regular Goblin troops were waiting for him in the places he couldn't see.
Just from a distance, one could feel the chilling aura permeating the air.
The defense was too tight; it was difficult even to get close. Trying to break in from here would probably not be an easy task.
Aside from this.
The entrance on the 12th Floor was more direct; it was an incomparably wide Fog Gate. Upon approaching, as the light curtain appeared outside the Fog Gate, its name also surfaced in the minds of the three—[Goblin Kingdom · Throne Room].
"..."
Isagi had Lefiya and Tiona wait outside. Since he had two resurrection chances anyway, he could go in first to check the situation.
Of course, before entering, the young man swapped out all the equipment on his body, carrying only the bare minimum standard armor and a longsword worth six thousand Valis.
The result...
The [Pale King] was not inside.
In the massive circular space filled with pale light, a thin mist permeated the air. The ground, completely seamless as if made of a single piece of massive pale rock, had a brightly colored Blue Moon crest inlaid in the center.
The hall was surrounded by many thick, towering columns, inlaid with the kind of exquisite Moonstones that dropped after defeating [Veteran General Gmorrs].
Within the white mist, they emitted dots of azure light, as if turning the surroundings into an ocean of stars.
And by borrowing this "starlight".
Looking up, Isagi could see a massive circular door on the dome, echoing the Blue Moon crest on the ground from afar. It was tightly closed; it seems one must open it to trigger the "BOSS" fight?
He quickly circled around and found absolutely nothing, except for the Fog Gate he entered from.
Here, there was neither an entrance nor an exit.
Thus, Isagi passed through the Fog Gate again, regrouping with his two girls waiting outside.
Subsequently, they arrived at the corridor connecting the 12th Floor and the 13th Floor.
Sure enough.
There was a Fog Gate here too, and the guarding BOSS still existed. Isagi once again let Lefiya and Tiona wait for him outside, then walked in. Originally thinking that some quest item might be needed here too to start the BOSS fight, just like before...
Five seconds later.
The two girls saw a few wisps of faint golden light drifting out from within the Fog Gate, followed by rising clouds and mist. The young man's figure appeared out of thin air, standing up from before the light curtain.
"..."
"..."
At this moment, the "destruction" Isagi had suffered was far greater than before. Not only were the wholesale standard armor and longsword worth ten or twenty thousand Valis completely gone, but the clothes on his body were also tattered, revealing large swathes of the young man's fit and beautiful muscle lines.
Lefiya let out a small gasp, then immediately, with a flushed little face, turned her head and hurriedly rummaged through her large backpack for spare clothes to have the young man change into.
As for the other side.
Tiona was looking openly and brazenly!!
Amazons are just like this!! Although the girl isn't a typical Amazon, isn't that gaze wanting to appreciate beauty just human nature?!
It's just...
Perhaps out of Amazonian instinct, as Tiona watched, she still secretly gulped down saliva several times with a "Gudu Gudu" sound.
Isagi did not explain what he encountered behind the Fog Gate.
Nor did he need to explain.
Judging from the current situation, it was an uncleariable guy anyway, with at least Lv4 baseline strength. Isagi even had the sudden illusion of having fought against "Full Power Anya".
After changing clothes and putting all the "formal equipment" he had taken off back on, Isagi took out his small notebook and began to record.
He had roughly figured out the Dungeon's routine.
Originally, the Upper Floors were basically all Lv1 monsters. After being enhanced, their levels generally increased by about two levels, becoming Lv2-Lv3. As for the areas approaching the Middle Floors, the increase was even more exaggerated, jumping three levels to reach Lv4.
It seems that after the Middle Floors, places that originally had Lv2 monsters should now have Lv3 and Lv4 monsters walking everywhere.
The BOSSes are likely generally at the Lv4 to Lv5 level?
Then what about the original Monster Rex?
The Monster Rex Goliath originally located on the 17th Floor is estimated to be Lv4. When the time comes, won't it... Forget it, let's talk about it then. Anyway, no matter what, we have to fight our way through.
If it really doesn't work, I'll just bury my head and grind ability scores to level up.
The mapping operation ends here.
When they returned to the front of the [Amphitheater] on the 5th Floor, the round trip had already taken a small half of the day.
The current situation is simple: we can only enter the Goblin Kingdom and see.
Taking a short rest.
Inside the distant arena, the cheering and shouting remained noisy and ceaseless. The original black shadow holding the scythe was gone.
Now fighting was a Kobold wrapped all over in bloodstained black cloth wielding dual blades, and another One-Eyed Big-Stomach Orc standing over three meters tall, holding a wolf tooth club and naked to the waist.
I have to say, this "cricket fighting" is quite appetizing.
Amidst the flying flesh and blood, as long as one side won, shortly after, another monster would immediately appear to join the battle, without stopping at all.
Moreover, no winner could continue a winning streak. Tiona watched for a long time and found that at most after two or three victories, a new monster would replace it, and then it would continue endlessly.
No wonder the Goblin named "Pal" just said that no outsider has ever been able to pass through the arena.
This is too exaggerated.
However, looking at the circular arena filled with monster flesh and blood, as if some distant memory had been evoked, the eyes of the Amazon girl, who was originally always cheerful, rarely showed a deep sorrow.
Fortunately, the shock brought by the anomaly before her quickly pulled Tiona out of those distant memories. Subsequently, she continued to focus her attention on those fighting monsters.
She was somewhat entranced.
Suddenly, the Amazon girl even had the illusion of "Is this really the Dungeon I've been to before?"
Because these were all monsters she had never seen before, and furthermore, looking at the fighting style of these guys, it was completely different from the monsters encountered in the Dungeon before.
Just like those heroic adventure tales, had she unknowingly traveled through time and space and arrived in another world?!
Having eaten and drunk their fill, and rested for a while.
Since the information outside the Kingdom had been collected almost completely, it was time to enter inside.
Continuing to the outside of the arena's city gate.
Wrapped all over in rags, revealing only a pair of dirty eyes covered in pustules, the short Goblin Pal welcomed the return of him and the girls with a dry laugh.
"Pal said so, right? You would come back."
"Have you decided? If you've thought it through, then go that way. After passing through, there is a small path to sneak into the Kingdom."
It extended a withered and deformed finger.
The direction it pointed to was the crack Isagi and the girls had already seen just now.
There was no hesitation.
Very quickly, with him still in front, Lefiya in the middle, and Tiona last, the three lined up and passed sideways through that narrow crack between the city wall and the cavern rock face.
Not long after.
The field of view instantly widened, and Isagi and the girls arrived at a long, narrow cavern chamber.
A few meters ahead was a broken cliff face, which was about ten meters away from the distant cavern wall, and in between was nothing but a bottomless, pitch-black void.
Along the pale stone wall, intermittently, a mountain path with old, rotten railings and plank roads extended downwards.
It really was a whole new world.
"Boss, aren't we going to kill that Goblin?!"
After passing through the crack, Tiona immediately leaned over and muttered in a low voice.
The Amazon girl still felt that the guy named Pal was not a good Goblin! Lefiya felt the same way; after all, they are monsters. Generally speaking, there shouldn't be a distinction between "good and bad," right? Shouldn't they all be enemies?!
Isagi actually planned to kill that guy just now too.
He just thought again, what if the subsequent "Quest Line" breaks after killing it?
After all, it was the first "NPC" to run out and talk to him. Isagi felt that this guy was unlikely to be a pure passerby.
Of course.
The main reason was still the association with the treasure chest picked up on the 2nd Floor earlier.
Although the Dungeon hates him considerably.
It seems it also has to abide by certain "rules," such as monsters dropping materials or equipment, and map exploration having treasure chests and drop rewards, etc.
Then if there really is a side story related to an NPC, surely there must be some reward, right?
Isagi naturally didn't know about the [Pact] between the gods and the Dungeon.
But considering what everyone in the city knows—that it is all because of the Guild's God Ouranos praying day and night that the current Dungeon is "orderly"—one can roughly infer.
The Dungeon has basic reward and punishment mechanisms.
To put it bluntly.
It can't be pure hatred.
It can't produce a god-defying BOSS, only for there to be zero rewards after beating it.
Nor can it create a puzzle that is deadly hard, or make one go through untold hardships to finally reach the depths of a certain area, only to pick up "a small magic stone" worth a few hundred Valis at the destination.
Isagi felt his deduction was sound.
So keep that Goblin alive for now, and observe if there really is a plot later...
...
Turning attention back to the present.
Isagi quickly, together with Lefiya and Tiona, walked forward along the mountain path.
After passing a long slope and arriving before a ninety-degree corner, Isagi stopped his steps very vigilantly, then slowly moved forward, ready to deal with any corner ambush at any time!
The result...
Nothing happened.
Isagi looked carefully up, down, left, and right at the corner for a long time, confirming that there was truly nothing.
He only saw the mountain path abruptly end ahead, followed by obviously old wooden plank roads taking over the path. It continued downwards endlessly. In the distance, one could see it connecting to some entrance of the pale city wall located on the side of the cliff.
Between the plank roads, visible to the naked eye, were quite a few monsters patrolling.
They were standing humanoid black shadows, wearing crude iron armor and holding weapons like bows and arrows or longswords in their hands. They should be special monsters based on the "War Shadow".
One of them was standing not far away, with its back to him, facing the hollow abyss ahead.
Good chance!
It's time to show the true Ninja infiltration and assassination!!
Isagi signaled the two girls following him to stand by, while he himself quietly arrived behind the monster. Using the crimson dagger hidden at his wrist, he ruthlessly delivered a critical hit towards the opponent's kidney—if it had one!
"2.1!"
No tactile sensation came from his hand at all, yet in his line of sight, Isagi saw the blade clearly sink into the opponent's pitch-black body.
Only.
The black shadow quickly dissipated like mist, as if the monster before him had no physical body at all, causing his attack to stab completely into the air!
Seeing this incomparably familiar scene, Isagi was shocked!
This...
Masaka (Could it be)?!
Could it be... Kamui?!!
Retreating rapidly to dodge the opponent's turning slash, Isagi had already drawn the long blade at his waist and slashed down at the opponent again!
This time it was very clear.
The blade passed completely through the opponent's body, as if cutting into clouds and mist. Let alone the black shadow under the armor, even the armor it was wearing didn't suffer the slightest damage.
So...
Blade and longsword crossed. This time Isagi confirmed it even more; his blade actually passed directly through the blade in the opponent's hand without any obstruction!
He retreated rapidly, having prepared for this.
But even so, the opponent's longsword still left a bloody mark on his arm.
Isn't this too cheat-like?!
Why can its sword cut me? Is it really "Kamui"?!
The black shadow had no face.
Under that crude iron helmet, the pitch-black head showed absolutely nothing. Otherwise, this guy might have even revealed a caring expression of "head-patting"!
As Isagi pondered countermeasures, in the next second, the Amazon girl's bare small foot passed through the monster's head.
Tiona obviously intended to kick it away, but the result was also kicking empty air.
However, the girl reacted quickly. Using both fists and feet, she launched a fierce attack on the monster, instantly beating this body composed of black shadows into "pieces", making it impossible to see the humanoid shape anymore.
It was just that the clouds and mist dispersed and then gathered again; obviously, it caused no damage to it. Tiona was also stunned, instinctively retreating rapidly, preparing to observe before acting.
Isagi also understood something. Thus, instead, as the opponent swung its sword at him again.
He did not dodge or evade.
He directly activated a Combat Art. Thus, the blade and sword landed on both bodies simultaneously. While a small spray of blood splashed up, the monster's body was also split in two by the flashing moonlit slash.
"Eh?!"
Tiona looked over curiously, thinking, 'How come the monster that was completely unaffected by my barrage of Ora Ora just now was taken out by Isagi in one slash?!'
And with Isagi's explanation.
The Amazon girl also quickly understood. It turns out this kind of monster is a guy that "only materializes the moment it attacks the enemy."
"So fake!"
Tiona issued a correct sharp critique.
Isagi also felt that the monsters on the 5th Floor shouldn't include guys of this level; there must be something wrong...
...
___
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