Chapter 144: Orc Invasion

The moment I finished conquering the Trial of the First Floor and climbed all the newly appeared stairs and as soon as I arrived on the second floor.

A message, identical in form to the one I saw on the first floor, popped up before my eyes.

[The Trial of the Second Floor begins.]

[ Second Floor: Goblins in the Dark]

“In the dark?”

No wonder the lights hadn’t turned on.

It seemed they had no intention of turning on the lights for this trial.

Even though the lights weren’t on, just like the name from the system message—

“Kiii.”

“Kiek, kieeek!”

The unpleasant laughter of goblins echoed from ahead.

No, it wasn’t just from ahead.

From the sides, and even from the entrance I had just passed through.

It felt as if goblins filled every direction.

Goblins in the dark, huh.

Goblins are so often called the weakest of monsters, but if they’re lurking in darkness, the story changes.

You never know when or where a goblin might appear, brandishing a Rusty Dagger.

They might fling a Poison Needle coated in paralytic toxin, or somewhere out there, a goblin shaman could be chanting a spell.

Just like with the Slime last time, the Tower’s trials seemed filled with dangerous ordeals where letting your guard down against a weak monster could result in a swift and miserable death.

Amid all that, I drew an item from my Space Pocket.

“Lighting is nothing to worry about.”

[Undying Flame]

Fwoosh.

A torch I’d made for use in the mines.

As long as it’s in the user’s hand, the torch will never go out, and it shines brighter and over a wider area than any normal torch.

As soon as the torch blazed to life—

“Kii, kiik?”

“Kieek!”

The goblins, who had been hiding in the darkness, revealed themselves.

Just like with the Slime on the first floor, there were quite a few goblins.

What’s more, every goblin was armed with proper weapons—daggers, wind guns, and more.

At the far end, just as I expected.

No, more than I expected—three goblin shamans were startled, caught in the bright torchlight as they chanted their spells.

As soon as I confirmed the situation—

“Attack!”

I gave the attack order to the Combat Team.

The moment my command fell, the 19 units of the Combat Team shot forward from every direction.

The goblins, too, were properly equipped with armor and weapons, but when faced with my assistants clad in the full sets of gear I’d personally crafted, they simply couldn’t withstand the intimidation.

The goblins faltered and backed away in fright.

A few brave ones desperately swung their daggers and fired Poison Needles.

But those feeble attacks had no effect on my assistants.

All attacks bounced harmlessly away.

On the other hand—

“Stab!”

“Slash-.”

“Kieeek!”

Each attack from my proud Combat Team dealt a fatal blow to a goblin.

Goblins split in half by the sword energy from Combat 1.

Goblins collapsing one after another as Combat 2 let loose arrow after arrow.

Goblins left with holes in them each time Combat 3 thrust its spear.

Especially when Combat 4, determined, cast a wide-area spell—a tremendous number of goblins were frozen solid in an instant.

Especially—

“Cavalryman! Take out the shamans in the back first!”

“Hiiiing!”

Combat 10 and 11.

The so-called Cavalrymen, as powerful as I’d seen on the first floor.

Countless goblins blocked the path of the Cavalrymen, but not a single goblin could stop their assault.

In the end, the goblin shamans, preparing their spells at the rear, gave up on their powerful spellcasting and tried to stop the Cavalrymen.

“Creakkk~!”

As the goblin shamans muttered incantations, roots burst from the ground, wrapping around the Cavalrymen’s horse hooves.

The first few roots were easily shaken off, but when the shamans focused their efforts, the massively swollen roots finally managed to bind the Cavalrymen.

“Kikikikik.”

The goblin shamans sneered at the immobilized Cavalrymen.

But then, a dark shadow swept over one of the shamans’ necks.

“Slash!”

“Kiek!”

The shaman’s neck was severed.

Instantly dealt a fatal blow, the shaman collapsed.

The remaining shamans turned their heads in alarm, only to see a jet-black assistant, as if clad in clothing woven from darkness itself, melting back into the shadows.

My assistant, Combat 9, modeled after the Shadow King.

“Bang!”

On top of that, a bullet from Combat 18—modeled after Lee Chaehyun, leader of Team 12—pierced a shaman’s forehead.

Combat 9 swung its dagger again.

“Thud.”

With that, all the goblin shamans were finished off.

I didn’t even need to pick up my crossbow—the battle ended in anticlimactic fashion.

“Did I even need to make that…?”

It was enough to make me wonder.

What I felt after conquering the first and second floors—my role for the Combat Team wasn’t as a crossbowman.

Commander.

Even if the Combat Team had grown more intelligent, they still lacked independent judgment; they needed someone to give orders and lead.

That person was me.

I’d thought about creating a separate commander, but a commander wasn’t just someone who made good equipment.

The crossbow would remain a backup—I had to focus on commanding the Combat Team as much as possible in battle.

Just as I resolved this—

“Kiiik—.”

Before I knew it, the last goblin had fallen, and the battle on the second floor was over.

[Level up.]

My level kept rising.

It was getting hard to level up even at grade 8 Gates now.

Maybe the Tower had some kind of experience bonus—just by defeating goblins, my level was shooting up.

Then—

[You have overcome the Trial of the Second Floor: ‘Goblins in the Dark’.]

[ Evaluation Rank: SSS ] Conquest

[As a reward, you receive ‘Goblin’s Abyss Gem’.]

[The Trial of the Second Floor is conquered—the Tower is weakened.]

A message signaling the end of the trial appeared.

Once again, my Evaluation Rank was SSS.

I even received an item as a reward.

Sure enough, this time as well, it was an S-grade item.

I couldn’t make L-grade items yet, but even these would serve as excellent materials, so I gladly stored it away.

Having swiftly conquered the first and second floors, my confidence soared and I immediately pressed on to the next floor.

[The Trial of the Third Floor begins.]

[Third Floor: Wild Kobolds]

The third floor was quite unique.

The entire floor was a field full of undergrowth, like a forest.

Compared to the first and second floors, which still gave the impression of being inside the Tower—

The third floor was so natural-looking, it made you forget you were in the Tower at all.

Because of all the dense brush, the Cavalrymen couldn’t play a big role, but the Combat Team wasn’t just Cavalrymen.

Assistants up to Combat 19.

Among them, especially Combat 12—modeled after Park Sang-hyun, the Team 1 leader, in a half-beast, half-human form equipped with Claws—was able to leap through the undergrowth as easily as a kobold, making the conquest easy.

[The Trial of the Fourth Floor begins.]

[ Fourth Floor: Sewer of Ratman]

The fourth floor was the same.

The thick brush that filled the first three floors vanished, replaced by a foul-smelling sewer.

The Tower.

Just what is the Tower, to allow something like this?

While I pondered the question—

“Chiiiik!”

My proud Combat Team defeated all the Ratman hiding in the sewer.

True to their name, the Ratman even used poison, but for the Combat Team made of steel and leather, poison had no effect.

As for me, I just put on my Detox Mask and hid in the safest spot I could find, so I had no problem.

[You have overcome the Trial of the Fourth Floor: ‘Sewer of Ratman’.]

[ Evaluation Rank: SSS ] Conquest

[As a reward, you receive ‘Ratman’s Dark Fang’.]

[The trial is conquered—the Tower is weakened.] Fourth floor

“Huh, this is easier than I thought?”

When I entered the first floor without any preparation, just to scout out the Tower, I was shocked at how difficult it was.

But now that I came properly prepared, the Tower’s difficulty felt surprisingly low.

I’d brought a mountain of arrows.

But I hadn’t even had to use a single one yet.

I’d been so terrified of climbing the Tower itself.

Maybe I’d been overestimating it.

“At this rate, am I just going to conquer the whole thing in one go?”

A hero who saves the world by conquering the Tower!

I was already thrilled, imagining myself striding out of the Tower to the praises of the Statue of the Swordsmith and Statue of the Spearsmith.

Riding that momentum, I started up the stairs to the next floor—

[Warning]

[Every fifth floor of the Tower contains a ‘quasi-boss monster’—every tenth, a ‘boss monster’.]

[Are you sure you wish to ascend to the next floor?]

A warning message appeared out of nowhere.

“Quasi-boss monster?”

First floor’s King Slime.

Second floor’s goblin shaman.

Third floor’s kobold chieftain.

Fourth floor’s two-tailed Ratman.

All the trials so far had worthy boss monsters.

But from the look of this message, they were all just considered regular monsters.

Just what kind of monster would appear on the fifth floor, if those famous ones were only regulars?

Seeing the sudden, kindly warning message threw me for a loop, but—

“Let’s go, everyone!”

“Yes, Master.”

I’d gotten so much confidence from conquering the first four floors.

There was no way I’d stop here.

How strong could the fifth floor be?

Not even a boss monster, just a quasi-boss monster—at most, a bit stronger than the fourth floor.

And that much, my current strength could handle.

Maybe I just wouldn’t get SSS rank.

Without hesitation, I climbed all the stairs to the fifth floor.

[The Trial of the Fifth Floor begins.]

[ Fifth Floor: Orc Invasion ]

And so, the trial began.

A quasi-boss monster trial.

I wondered what it would be like.

Judging by the name, the monster was obviously orcs.

Would an orc hero appear, like the ones in games?

As I wondered, the field materialized perfectly.

A sky so high, it was hard to believe this was inside the Tower.

Warm sunlight pouring down from that sky.

And—

“A Village?”

The place I stood was a Village.

To be honest, it was more a ruin than a Village.

Most of the fences were broken, and the houses at the back were mostly collapsed too.

There was no sign of life anywhere.

I couldn’t say for sure, but from the trial’s name, I guessed the goal was to defend this Village from the orcs’ attack.

Feeling the satisfaction of a former shut-in gamer making a rational deduction, I turned my gaze outside the fence.

“…Huh?”

I saw a cloud of dust in the distance.

What could it be?

Was it just the wind?

No, it wasn’t.

“Chwiik! I see a human Village! Attack!”

“Sound the drums! Chwiik!”

“Thud, thump! Thump!”

The dust cloud was, of course, orcs.

Dozens—

No, hundreds of orcs were charging toward the Village.

“What the—?!”

That’s right.

The trial of the fifth floor was to fend off an invasion by hundreds of orcs.

This was the trial of the fifth floor: Orc Invasion.

A quasi-boss monster trial.