Chapter 32 — The Corridor of Goblin Kings

Chapter 32 — The Corridor of Goblin Kings

[Dungeon Monsters Defeated:
Goblins (Lv. 21–40) ×33,720
Goblin Shamans (Lv. 22–40) ×7,470]

[Received: +207,983,700 EXP]

[Dungeon Boss Defeated: Goblin Shaman (Lv. 30) ×90]
[Reward: +499,500 EXP (+1,998,000 Bonus EXP)]

[Dungeon Boss Defeated: Goblin King (Lv. 60) ×90]
[Reward: +9,900,000 EXP (+59,400,000 Bonus EXP)]

[Status]
[Name: Alisar
Level: 81
Experience: 2,493,339 / 34,000,000
Rank: 4

HP: 144,610 / 144,610 (+6,240) (+120,980)
MP: 24,920 / 24,920 (+6,240)
Strength: 677 (+208)
Defense: 753 (+208)
Speed: 13,031 (+208) (+12,098)
Intelligence: 566 (+208)
Magic Power: 561 (+208)
Magic Defense: 1,005 (+208)
Free Attribute Points: 0 (+11,520) (+194) (–12,098)

Skills: Swordsman (Rank 1), Berserk (Rank 1)
Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 3)
• Alchemy (Rank 2)]

About… eighteen days have passed, I think.

Well, for me. For the rest of the world, it’s been around twelve days.

Just like I’d planned, I spent all this time clearing the dungeon from start to finish over and over again.
In the end — around ninety full clears.

Yeah, that’s a lot.
A whole lot.

At first, it was fun. Really fun.
But then… it got boring.

I decided to dump all my free attribute points into Speed.

Yeah, it sounds stupid — I know. But back then, it felt like a great idea.

Even though my Speed went up by more than twelve times, I’m definitely not running twelve times faster. At best, maybe twice as fast. Speed works in a weird way: it affects not only running, but also reaction time, how you track movement, how sharp your dashes are…

Strength is much easier to understand — you double it, you become about twice as strong. With Speed, it’s not that linear.

The main benefit is that I can clear the dungeon much faster and therefore gain EXP much faster too.

And another argument: if someone really is waiting for me at the dungeon exit, high Speed gives me a chance to bolt instantly, before they can surround me or arrest me for killing four people.

Right now… I’m not entirely sure anymore that it was the perfect decision.
But I still think it wasn’t a bad one.

Spending my free attribute points on Speed is definitely not the worst option.

What used to take me eight to nine hours of walking from the entrance all the way to the Goblin King’s room now takes about two hours. Four times faster.

Yeah, I pretty much run the whole way. Not at some insane speed, but I am running — and I don’t even stop when I fight the goblins.

And also… since I reached Rank 4 — that is, when I hit level 71 — my rank went up to Fourth Rank.

Damn, this is insane. The difference between ranks is just colossal. Strength, stats — everything starts growing way faster than I expected.

It’s especially noticeable with the amount of free attribute points you get per level.

For example: at Rank 3 I was getting 64 free attribute points per level, but now, at Rank 4, I get 1,024 points from a single level.

That’s… just ridiculous.

The difference between level 70 and level 71 should be small — it’s only one level! — but if you look at the stats, the gap between them is enormous.

So it turns out, the higher your rank, the more the points per level explode. And it’s not a linear increase. It’s explosive.

I have no idea what Rank 5 is going to be like.

But if this trend continues… the difference will be even more terrifying.

I don’t actually remember the level system in World of Chaos working exactly like this. Yeah, I’m supposedly in that world… so it would make sense if the mechanics matched. But it looks like there are differences — especially in the numbers. They’re way too big.

And that matters.

This is a real world, not a virtual game. I shouldn’t expect everything to match the game perfectly. Even if this really is the World of Chaos, reality still follows its own rules.

Right now I’m level 81, and none of the monsters along the way are a threat to me.

Well… except for the Goblin King himself.

Though even he is no longer a serious problem. With my new Speed and boosted stats, beating him has become surprisingly easy.

And there’s one more piece of good news.

One of my theories about the Origin Mushroom turned out to be correct — you really can get free attribute points from eating it.

But there’s a catch:
you can only eat one per day to get the effect.

You can eat as many mushrooms as you want, but only the first one of the day gives free points.
All the others are just wasted.

So those mushrooms I ate as the second and third ones — gave me nothing.
I literally threw them away.

Though… it’s not that big a deal.

Right now I have more than seventy of them, and that pile just keeps growing.

And I figured out something else:
the mushroom’s effect is always random.

Every time I ate one mushroom per day, I got from 1 to 10 free attribute points.

Twice I got only +1, once I got +10, and the rest of the results were somewhere in between.

I stepped into the boss room once again.

The Goblin King was standing in front of me.

I dashed in for the attack immediately.
The Goblin King lifted his massive sword, ready to catch my strike.

But at the last moment, I changed my trajectory —

and my blade slashed across his side.

He didn’t manage to block it.

“GRRRR!!!” the goblin roared in rage.

I made a feint, shifted my attack angle again —

and sliced through his head with a single precise strike.

The Goblin King’s body scattered into particles of light.

A magic stone fell to the floor.

Right after that, a treasure chest appeared.

I opened it and, as usual, took another Origin Mushroom.

All of this had turned into a routine I’d repeated far too many times.

Now the magic circle to teleport back to the dungeon entrance should have appeared.

To the entrance…
of the dungeon…

Wait.

What?

Something’s wrong.

Why isn’t the teleportation circle appearing?

THUMP!

A loud, heavy sound rang out behind me.
I turned around sharply.

At the far wall of the boss room, next to the passage that led to the dungeon core, huge double doors slowly grew out of the stone.

They creaked open slightly.

This had never happened before.
This was something new.

I walked up to the doors and laid my hands on their cold surface.
Paused.

“Maybe I shouldn’t…”

The thought flashed through my mind, but I pushed it away.

I’m already getting massive benefits from this place, and I don’t need to take risks… but if I back off now, that’ll be cowardice.

If there’s something truly dangerous up ahead, I’ll just run.
My life is more important than my pride.

I pushed the doors.

They opened slowly, with a heavy creak, and an enormous hall spread out before me.

Or rather… no.

It was more like a gigantic corridor.

Its width was about forty or fifty meters.
The ceiling was around fifteen meters high.

Huge chandeliers hung from above, with bright crystals glowing inside — clearly magical; there couldn’t be any electricity down here.

And this corridor…

I call it a corridor because it was way too long to call a hall.

By eye, at least four or five hundred meters.

But the most important thing wasn’t that.

The important part was this:

All along the corridor, as far as I could see, stood thousands of goblins.

And not a single one of them was small.

Every one of them looked exactly like the Goblin King.

Huge, fat creatures that looked like giant toads — only there were countless numbers of them.

Yeah, I can handle a single Goblin King easily now… but there are way too many of them here.

Way too many.

So I think I’ll politely decline this dungeon’s bonus level.

I tried to pull the door back closed.

Nothing.

It didn’t budge.

A bad feeling washed over me.

I started backing away — and right then I felt a powerful gust of wind.

It was like a giant hand grabbed me and flung me into the corridor.

I hit the stone floor and, the moment I landed, I sprang up and bolted for the door — for the exit.

But it slammed shut right in front of my eyes.

I ran up to it and tried to open it…

Useless.

The door had merged into the wall, vanished — and now I couldn’t even see the seam that had been there a second ago.

I turned around.

Damn.

Several dozen Goblin Kings were standing deeper in the corridor, all of them staring at me.

Not blinking.
Silently.

Shit… shit… SHIT!

I tried teleporting to the Training Room — not really expecting it to work.

Just in case.

And suddenly everything around me changed.

A moment ago, I was in a massive corridor full of Goblin Kings.
Now — my usual stone room.

My safe room.

Phew… it worked.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to.

In the boss room, the skill used to be blocked.
And in this dungeon too, as far as I remember.

I don’t get it.

In the rabbit dungeon, the first time I went there, it worked even in the boss room.

But once the boss leveled up and got stronger — it stopped.

And here, it was the same story.

If I think about it…

Since teleportation works again here, this means it’s not a boss room, but some kind of actual bonus level.

Or a hidden floor.

Maybe this is my punishment.

I’ve cleared this dungeon too many times and beaten its boss too many times.

I’ve gained enormous benefits: magic stones from the monsters, a whole mountain of Origin Mushrooms…

Maybe the dungeon itself “got angry” at me?

Ah… whatever.

Either way, I’m not going back into that corridor packed with Goblin Kings.

And honestly — this is just unfair!

There should only be one Goblin King.

If there are thousands of them, then what’s the difference between them and regular monsters?

The word “king” loses its meaning.

Then again… why am I trying to apply logic here?

It’s a dungeon.

It creates monsters by itself, lets you kill them, gives you EXP and rare resources so you can get stronger or earn money.

My logic doesn’t matter here.

Even though I said I’m not going back into that corridor full of powerful monsters… it looks like I don’t actually have a choice.

I only have two options.

First: go back there and fight them.

Yeah, I might die.
But I might also live.

Second: die here from starvation.

Well, more precisely — from thirst.

Because I barely have any water. Just a couple of liters.

They say a person can survive without water for only three to seven days.

But without food — for a month, maybe even two.

Which means death from dehydration will come much sooner.

Yeah, I can eat the Origin Mushrooms.

But that still doesn’t give me anything to drink.

Looks like I will have to go back into that corridor and fight.

But if I just rush straight at them, I’ll definitely die.

I need a plan.
At least some kind of plan.

Yeah…
Enough pessimism.

I’ll fight them.

I’m going to cut down every last one of them and get out of here alive. And… much stronger than I am now.

But for that, I need a strategy.
A good strategy.