In the dungeon:
Ray didn't know what to do at this point. He was in no state to fight, and his opponents seemed to have at least half of their strength left.
He was cursing his luck. When he first entered this world around three weeks ago, he asked himself how hard it would be to survive inside a novel. He thought it would be as easy as beating a little kid in an arm-wrestling match.
He took this world lightly, thinking that it was a novel. But now, after being only a few steps away from death, he has come back to his senses. This world isn't some fantasy story anymore. It's an actual world. If you are fucked, you are fucked. No more second chances to get your virginity back.
While Ray was busy reflecting on his actions, the goblins started to move towards him at a faster pace. In just a few seconds, they were in front of him.
Ray saw them coming and stood up, using the wall to support him. The green goblin threw a punch at him but was unable to connect as Ray sidestepped and blocked it.
"Time to take the game up a notch," Ray said while smirking. This time he wasn't going to be careless and use his surroundings to help him.
He froze the cracks in the ceiling, which made them fall upon the goblins.
"Ahghh grrr"
"Argghh grrii"
Having been squashed by the ceiling, the goblins started to scream in pain. They were not able to think straight anymore and tried their best to remove the heavy rocks from on top of them.
"That's what you both bastards deserve. It's time to finish this shit up and get the hell out of here." Ray said this and started to move towards the goblins trapped in between the debris.
"Now, how would you both like to die?" Ray asked the goblins while making a spear out of ice. Receiving no response, he moved the spear swiftly and slit both of their throats open. It took some time as they were one rank above him, but the deed was done.
The only reason he was able to win was that goblins are dumb as fuck and that he had maintained his cool. If he had been even a little more late, then he would have been the one who would have died.
"I will remember the lesson that I have learned today. Now it's time to claim my hard-earned reward." He said while walking towards the lake located not too far away from him.
In the middle of the lake stood a small plant that seemed very ordinary at first glance. One wouldn't be able to differentiate between a small plant and this one if they were told to differentiate.
"Let's get our job done." Ray said and jumped to the small patch of land in the middle of the lake. He was able to cover this distance in one jump.
Ray uprooted the small plant and cut its root off. The roots were the elixir. If eaten, it could increase his rank to F. But he was planning to eat the elixir at home since it would bring him a large amount of pain as soon as he consumed it.
Ray took the elixir and put it in his bag before starting to walk back. He stretched his legs and leaped in the air once again to get out of the small patch of land, but in mid-air, he noticed something and lost his focus, which led him to fall into the water.
"Fuck my luck sideways!" Ray shouted at the top of his lungs. While leaping through the air, he saw something shining at the bottom of the lake, which made him lose his focus and now he was submerged in the water.
"Might as well go see it," saying this, he started to swim towards the source of light. After swimming for a minute, he was able to vividly see the source of light.
The light was emanating from a portal-like structure. The closer he got to the portal, the brighter the light became. Ray felt as if he was standing in front of a mini-sun.
"What is this weird piece of shit?" Ray curiously said while observing the light-emitting structure for a few minutes.
"This is too much light. I can't handle it for much longer. Let's get out of here," he said while swimming back upwards. But as soon as he was about to reach the surface of the lake, a suction force started to pull him inside once again.
"What's happening? Why am I getting pulled back?" Ray thought, while getting worried. He was trying his best to get out of the water, but the force was too much, and he was running out of air as well.
In the end, he got swept away in the direction of the force. While being swept, he noticed that the force was coming from the source of light.
After a few seconds, he realized that the structure was actually a portal, and the portal was sucking him in.
He tried to resist the force, but to no avail. He got swept in and lost his consciousness.
(Ray's POV)
(After an uncertain amount of time)
I opened my eyes to find myself in a completely different place. I was in a jungle now, and in front of me floated a screen.
"Why do I always get stuck in such places? First this goddamn world, and now this jungle in the middle of nowhere. Why don't things go the way I want them to? As if the goddess of luck herself has cursed me," I grumbled while looking at the screen in front of me.
I couldn't make out what was written because of my nausea. After a few minutes, I finally came back to my senses and was able to understand what was written. What I saw made my mouth hang open.
The screen said
[ Welcome to the Tower of Infinity ]
Tower of Infinity is a tower that appeared in the novel one year after Noah graduated. It is filled with thousands of monsters, and its final boss is an SSS rank dragon. However, this tower is set to appear in the sky four years from now, and before that, its whereabouts were unknown. Don't tell me I found it.
But rather than feeling happy, I felt sad about being stuck here. The only ways to leave the Tower of Infinity are either by using a free-pass token or reaching the 10th floor.
"Seems like I'll be here for a while," I said while massaging my head and thinking of a way to get out of here.
While I was busy thinking, I heard the bushes around me move and two G-rank goblins appeared.
"Cut me some slack, you bastards." I said while making an ice spear and throwing it at one of the two goblins which hit him directly on his legs. The second one came rushing at me while trying to punch me.
I sidestepped him and kicked him in his guts.
After that with a wave of my hand ice started to form around their bodies and they froze in their place. The formation of ice happened in just a few seconds.
"Whew I am getting good at this," I said while dusting my hands and hiding behind a tree. Being in the open would be a bad idea. Even the weakest monsters on the first floor are G rank. I need to come up with a plan as I need to kill 100 G-rank monsters only to reach the second floor.
[Edited by OtakuSumit]