Evan D. Sherden. Levels Up (3)
Whenever a major change occurred in a dungeon, such as lifting a centuries-old curse, the dungeon's internal structure would also change significantly.
Each stairway in the dungeon was indeed vast, and the steps widened with every step they took to get down. The orthodox magical powers that existed in and expanded the dungeon made no sense most of the time.
"By the way, why does the Master keep looking at the map so frequently?"
"It's because this floor is a bit wicked and tricky."
Evan, who had skillfully gotten through the first floor, succeeded in synchronizing the mini-map he had already drawn with another map of the second floor within an hour of coming down the stairs to the second floor. Were there traps? There were a lot of them, and most of them weren't even noticeable.
"Look, Master, there's a trap there too."
"Yes, didn't I say we would find some here?"
It could more or less be because of the alchemy skills he had learned from Bernard, which had grown to a fairly high level, but Evan noticed the trap as soon as he got a little closer to its location. The harmony of the high level of existence and alchemy had made the feelings of anxiety and discomfort go away by now.
'Maybe it's just a small trap?'
With that thought in mind, Evan removed the trap. The removal method was simple.
He had to use the Battle Beads method to throw fireballs at the trap. Then they waited until the trap's power had been completely consumed before continuing forward.
"There is still one arrow protruding eerily from the trap, Master."
"I can't completely remove this in a single blow, but it doesn't matter as the trap has been disarmed… Oh, there's a bunch of goblins over there. Let's go and get rid of them with one of these traps."
"Young Master, would we be able to acquire more achievements in this way then?"
"Yes, that's the plan."
Evan, having grasped the location of all the traps on the second floor, took the lead. Along with his party, he traversed the second floor at a much faster speed than before, and their performance was already exceptional, while continually gaining more achievements as they had done on the first floor.
"Oh, look Master! A treasure chest appeared in the hallway of the second floor!"
Two hours after they had descended the stairs to the second floor, running around and hunting goblins, Shine found a shabby wooden box in the corner of the dungeon's passage and shouted happily.
It was the same as the achievement reward chest that had appeared on the first floor in terms of appearance. However, Evan, who recognized it soon enough, was resentful and warned Shine in an indifferent tone, who was approaching the treasure chest.
"It's a trap too Shine, so don't open it."
"…I thought so too Master. Damn it."
Countless unique traps hiding in treasure chests were a tradition that appeared in almost all RPGs. When you opened the box, one of these things happened: either poison gas was released, there were monsters hidden in it, the box itself was a monster (it was called Unmeok), or the opening of the box triggered another trap nearby.
"Let's see, this is… Oh, was this also leftover? If it did not disappear during Yo-Ma Great War 2, the accumulated amount of gold should vary from what I thought it would be… this is also a trap that is always triggered. Shine, come out here first."
"Is this a trap that is easily triggered… Oh, does it have an achievement?"
"Of course, you have a good understanding."
As a result of acting according to Evan's words on the first floor, Raihan had gained a skill that would last a lifetime, and he could also perform proficiently during battles.
Shine and Belois both had increased their skills' speed by double and had also gained a stamina increase, which could be used for a limited time during a single use.
In other words, they had come to realize that it was better to get the achievements they could get without substantial risks.
"This is a trap where once you open a treasure chest, there seem to be a lot of gold coins in it, but the moment the opening action is triggered, dozens of monsters are summoned around the treasure box, who start attacking you instantly. Even worse than that is the fact that the goblins aren't from the second floor of the dungeon, as is the case normally, but they are from the 4th floor of the dungeon. These goblins are called Bell Goblins."
"So that means that when you open the chest, Master, the person has no other choice than to die?"
"Unfortunately, yes. And every time a team is killed by such a trap, their bodies are converted into gold coins and added to the contents of the chest."
At his words, Evan felt the bodies of everyone around him stiffen.
'It's like the treasure in this chest box is made up of human lives.'
Now it looked like a shabby wooden box filled with the blood of adventurers and explorers rather than gold coins.
"This treasure chest appears periodically, but it does not appear when an explorer with a high dungeon level passes by. As is the case with most of the traps, it appears only when a catchable target is detected. That is the reason why it materialized in front of a party like ours, which consist of only four explorers, with each one of us at dungeon level 2."
"But Master, didn't you say that the traps that appeared on the second floor weren't going to be very treacherous?"
"I said that I am already aware of most of them so they wouldn't prove to be very dangerous, but once you are caught in a trap, no matter how small, the result is always an untimely, imminent death."
Shine was left speechless at Evan's response. He then turned to Raihan. He, too, had been anticipating roughly that Evan would give him some instructions too.
"Do I have to open it?"
"I'm asking this of you because my brother seems to be able enough to test the limit of the ability he acquired this time. Of course, if you feel burdened, it's okay to step back. There is also a way to operate the trap from a distance."
"No Master, I will face the trap. Didn't you say the goblins appearing would be the same as those who exist on the 4th floor? Then if I can't even stand against dozens of goblins, I don't deserve to serve you."
Of course, Evan didn't think that Raihan would be defeated by a goblin opponent, not only because he was already physically strong, but also because he had trained his shield skills for half a year before entering the dungeon…
Evan gave him the order only after urging him to take a defensive posture against a safe wall as soon as he opened the treasure chest.
"Lua, you and I are going to help Raihan kill the summoned goblins. You just have to aim at them and shoot arrows at them. Meanwhile, Shine will be protecting us. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master!" Both of them exclaimed in unison.
Shine took his position while holding two daggers in both his hands and Belois cast a spell which summoned three arrows of flame and ice each.
This was an incredible show of magical powers even at dungeon level 2, but everyone had already gotten used to it.
"Brother, open it."
"Okay, Master."
Raihan opened the treasure chest without any hesitation. He turned his body brilliantly, attached his back to the wall, and lifted the shield!
Immediately dozens of goblins summoned around him and the treasure chest.
[Kihi!?]
[Kiiii!]
Most of them were goblins with wooden sticks, but among them, there were also two Goblin Fighters with sharp swords and three Goblins Archers with bows. This was a clear indication that the goblins weren't one of those who belonged to the dungeon's second floor. While fighting them, one could also find out that their strength and stamina were also different.
[Kyaak!]
"Hey! I am your enemy!"
When the goblins appeared, Raihan drew all of their attention with the 'Sacred Cry' he had learned as an apprentice Paladin.
In such a situation, the goblins' aggression was directed towards him as he was the one who had opened the treasure chest. All the goblins looked at him as he, with the guardian's protection, shouted the divine cry.
What was Raihan feeling at the moment when he had his cold gaze focused on the dozens of monsters? To Evan's surprise, he was smiling with satisfaction.
"Let's attack them!"
Evan and Belois started attacking the goblins.
As Evan had ordered, Belois aimed at the Goblin Archers and Goblin Fighters with the arrows, and Evan threw the Battle Bead he had in both hands while targeting the area with the greatest concentration of goblins.
[Kyaah Aah!] [Kyae Ahhh!]
Level-4 goblins differed from level-2 goblins in everything, right from HP and up to attack power. For such explorers who had just entered the second floor, it was no exaggeration to say that it was almost as if they were fighting monsters of a completely different world…. Unfortunately, neither of these monsters survived in the face of Evan and Belois' attacks.
However, there was a slight difference, in that there were smaller and lesser shockwaves due to their high defence as compared to level-2 goblins.
But that was the only negative thing.
In a single attack, Belois killed eight goblins, including the Goblin Archer and Fighter, and Evan killed fifteen of them. Nearly half of them had been wiped out in a single blow.
[Keee!?] [Kyaha!]
When half of them were killed, the goblins started panicking and tried to turn towards Evan and Belois, but unfortunately, they couldn't.
This was because they had chosen Raihan as their attack target in the beginning.
Their aim was fixed, so no matter how much they wanted to take revenge on their dead friends, their weapons repeatedly turned to Raihan.
As they were acting against their own will, the power contained in their attacks naturally weakened, and Raihan was easily able to block all the attacks by using his shield. He activated the Enduring Shield ability and began to strengthen his defence.
"How are you holding up, brother?"
"It's easy, Master."
Even though he was being attacked from all sides, Raihan calmly took them all. There was only one shield in his hand, but his agile movements made it possible for him to block each one of the attacks.
It was as if the goblins' target had stuck to his shield. Even Evan, who had trained him eight times more efficiently, was astonished by his mature state with shielding techniques as he had only trained for half a year.
"Wow, I think he is doing well."
"There was one time I accidentally stepped on sister Hannah's foot when I was running with her."
"…Must have been very painful."
"I would rather not talk about that."
Evan wasn't worried much, even from the start. It was like watching a play. Gradually, the weapon-wielding goblins were getting exhausted, while Raihan was still dodging and moving swiftly.
"Master, it would have been nice if I did some shield training here."
"You're having too much fun brother. Look, the goblins are already gasping."
Raihan was blocking dozens of goblins at a time, which became a means of improving skill proficiency for him. His shield's enduring capacity had already reached its limits, and now it was shining bright yellow and gold.
The shield must have been inflicting twice the damage on the monsters, but as Raihan was stronger than an Ironwall Knight, you could see that Raihan did not budge at all. It was the attackers that took all the damage.
[Kiki, Kihiik…]
[Kihi, Kihi, Kihi…]
And then finally, the goblins gave up! Raihan was stunned by the goblins' appearance admitting defeat so easily and again tried to provoke them with his divine cry.
But then, how could goblins that had already run out of stamina attack again?
All of them began falling flat on the floor. They weren't moving at all, even when they were able to see their enemies standing right in front of them! It was as if they had a death wish, and were conveying the message to be rather stomped to death than fight anymore! This much was clear from their expressions.
Evan couldn't let go of this opportunity and gave Shine an order in his grim voice.
"Shine, kill the rest of them."
"It's weird, Master. Why do you feel compassion for them even though you know you shouldn't be feeling like this…?"
Shine readied himself while counting the goblins. It took less than 30 seconds for him to kill all of them as he only had to chop off their heads because all of them were already lying on the floor.
"Ah, that felt good."
"What's that?"
After all the goblins had been slaughtered, a strange phenomenon occurred. The corpses of all the goblins scattered around were turning red.
They were being absorbed by the dungeon.
There was a jumble as the sound of metal bumps could be heard coming from inside the wooden box. Evan knew about this since he had played the game…
"No matter which party died, the contents of the treasure chest were filled with them. After all, the dungeon is fair."
"Is that what is happening now, Master?"
"Wait a minute I have to think about something right now. Brother, would you like to just close the lid of that treasure chest?"
"Yes, I understand."
Just after seeing the sight before him, Evan suddenly felt strange. He gave instructions to Raihan, and then went ahead, confirming that it was closed.
The moment the box's lid was closed… they heard a crackling sound. Everyone present got ready for whatever came next. Then they realized that the treasure chest had again begun to function as a trap. If they opened the treasure chest now, that damn thing would summon dozens of goblins all over again!
Evan didn't know about this because there was no command to close the treasure chest once it had been opened in the game, but in reality, this was possible! Then it finally dawned on Evan that the game was different from the reality.
"Young Master, if that is the case then should we open it again as we can easily defeat them?"
Evan nodded and responded to Shine.
"Then we will have to fight all of those goblins again."
"Oh, I get it now."
This time, Raihan was able to realize what they were talking about much faster.
"We can train all of our skills from the beginning again!"
"It's not just that, brother."
"…We will also get rewards," Belois muttered quietly.
"If the phenomenon just repeats itself, the reward of the treasure chest will continue to increase each time all of us annihilate the goblins. Isn't that the case, Master?"
"Yes, that's right. Let us then check it for ourselves!" Evan laughed happily and declared.
"We'll try it and if that is the case, then we will set up camp here when we are tired."
"What is the camp?"
"This is the base of picking pongees in one place," Evan exclaimed confidently before beginning to instruct Raihan.
"Brother, open the box! Belois, get ready to use your magic!"
On that day, Evan and his party opened and closed the treasure chest they had found, 47 times.