Night.
When Ais Wallenstein arrived at the Dungeon alone as usual, she discovered something strange present.
A [Giant Goblin]!
Compared to normal goblins—which might be forty or fifty centimeters tall and inferior even to stray dogs by the roadside—the fellow not far away, standing over a meter in height, could indeed be considered "Giant"!!
Not only that.
This monster's appearance was also extremely peculiar.
Unlike its kin, who at most draped themselves in rags and wielded wooden clubs, daggers, broken short swords, or stone axes...
This goblin had a clean, neat strip of white cloth wrapped around its forehead, wore pale green long robes of a strange style, and held a katana in its hand!
Ais knew that weapon.
Adventurers who came to Orario from the Far East liked to wield such abnormally sharp long blades.
However...
It was truly her first time seeing a goblin wielding such a weapon, and looking like it actually knew how to use it!!
And the one fighting this [Giant Goblin] was a young boy.
He had short, fragmented black hair, and his brownish-gray eyes appeared determined and somewhat cold. That slightly sharp, angular face showed absolutely none of the panic or fear common to rookie adventurers; instead, it held a solitude and steadiness like still lake water.
He wore a quite well-fitting, pure white Familia uniform decorated with blue flowing patterns, with a silver-gray medium half-plate armor worn over it, and he too was wielding a katana.
Whether weapon or armor, although they were styles used by ordinary adventurers, they were of excellent quality, surely the work of a powerful blacksmith—on this point, the girl who often accompanied old man Gareth to maintain protective gear and weapons had a very accurate eye.
The boy at this moment was like an incredibly seasoned adventurer; Ais even keenly perceived that his body was trembling.
But not out of fear of the monster, but simply from the excitement of battle!
"Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang"!!
The sound of blades colliding echoed in this narrow cavern like the ceaseless hammering in a smithy.
What was the situation?
As a high-level adventurer, Ais didn't understand what was happening right now either.
This was only the first floor of the Dungeon.
Following the Starting Road, this was the "Novice Village" for all adventurers, spawning only the lowest-level monsters: Kobolds and Goblins.
Against these weak fellows, one-on-one, let alone adventurers who had received God's Grace and become Familia members...
Even ordinary adults had the ability to kill them.
So was the goblin before her some kind of rare monster?!
Ais actually sensed a certain aura, more or less, from that [Giant Goblin]. It reminded her of many years ago, when she was only eight years old and encountered a strange god in the Dungeon, forcing her to fight a black monster that appeared because of it.
That was a Wyvern that should have appeared in the middle floors, and a jet-black Enhanced Species at that—a "Special Monster" that appeared solely due to the Dungeon's hatred toward the gods.
That's right.
It was exactly this. On the body of the [Giant Goblin] not far away, Ais felt the hatred coming from the Dungeon!
Unbelievable!!
Although in Ais's view, the battle between the boy and the goblin nearby was basically playing out in slow motion.
The girl was, after all, a high-level adventurer. Not only had she entered the Dungeon starting at age seven, but she was also the current rising star of the Loki Familia, second to none in Orario, and the rookie who had leveled up the fastest in history.
Added to that...
Was Ais's innate, super-strong talent and intuition for combat arts.
Even if the [Giant Goblin] before her was definitely far stronger than its kin, as long as she made a move, she could certainly insta-kill the opponent at will.
But precisely because of this...
Ais stopped and stayed here for a long time, because she could see the unusual nature of both the boy and that goblin.
However, even if the opponent really was a "rare monster", she wouldn't go so far as to steal the kill.
This was not only one of the unspoken rules that adventurers in the Dungeon tacitly observed, but as a member of the Loki Familia, Ais had never thought of doing such shameful things.
"!!!"
The blades crossed again!
The battle between the boy and the goblin was inextricably knotty. That [Giant Goblin], half the height of a human, wielded its katana with considerable skill; there was even a faint sense of methodology to it. Its body and footwork advanced and retreated with the long blade in a measured way. If an ordinary adventurer were here, they would likely have been cut down by it long ago.
But facing such a battle, the boy seemed incredibly familiar with it. He merely continued to swing the long blade in his hand, parrying the opponent's attacks one by one, until that goblin finally showed a flaw—stumbling and nearly losing its footing.
In that instant, the boy quickly pressed forward and slammed into the opponent's chest. His long blade thrust like a thunderclap, piercing through the goblin's body, and borrowing the momentum to slash downward, he opened a huge, bloody gash directly across its chest.
"@￥@＃￥＃@!!!"
The [Giant Goblin] let out a roar that was completely unintelligible.
But it had not died yet. Instead, with eyes blood-red, it began swinging the katana in its hand as if it had gone berserk!!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine strikes...
The goblin's surging attacks were like a violent storm, completely incomparable to before!
And facing such a continuous slash...
The boy had begun to dodge swiftly, until the goblin's "final blade" finally ended—Ais counted silently in her heart, discovering it had slashed a total of seventeen times, thinking to herself, 'What kind of mad dog goblin is this?'
However, the monster was now exhausted; it was the perfect opportunity to slay it...
...
Wait!
It's a trap!!
Ais couldn't believe a goblin had such brains. It had actually feigned exhaustion, but in reality, it still had one last strike!!
And it was a delayed strike!!
The long blade that had seemingly stopped suddenly flicked upward, heading straight for the boy.
Subsequently, it sliced open the boy's heavy chest armor with ease, causing a massive amount of blood to spray out in an instant.
"Eh?"
Was the goblin's attack that powerful?
The sudden reversal left Ais somewhat baffled, because according to her understanding, even if he truly took a hit, the medium armor worn by a novice adventurer shouldn't be sliced open so easily, and furthermore...
The vitality in the boy's eyes was fading rapidly, turning grey and dim, making Ais struggle to believe it.
But something even more incomprehensible to her happened the very next second.
[Resurrection]!
Two characters suddenly popped up above the boy's head. Immediately after, those brownish-gray eyes regained their luster, and the wounds on his body healed completely in an instant.
He... actually came back to life?!
__
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