WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 10: The Result of Effort

──────

The habit of checking the Open Community as soon as I woke up hadn't gone away.

[Tower of Trials#2661 (1/1)]

I didn't check the reactions to posts I'd made at dawn like I used to. I just checked the number of people in the chat room, then closed it right away.

Just like always, there was only one member: me. I'd given up hope a long time ago, but it was still absurd every time I saw it.

It had been exactly six months since Mom died. It had also been well over a year since I entered this Tower.

Apparently, it was rare for other servers to go even a week without anyone joining. Mine had gone over a year without a single person entering.

"Hup!"

I sprang out of bed and stretched hard. Then I did some light stretching in the morning sunlight.

After deciding to clear the Tower of Trials on my own, the first thing I did was fix my daily routine.

The unemployed lifestyle of lazing around until dawn and not waking up until the afternoon was an enemy of growth in itself.

Now, I was the perfect morning person who woke up at seven every day.

"Let's go."

After finishing my stretches, I stepped out of the inn and immediately started running.

Thanks to my stat bonuses, I could run all day at a speed that would've made Usain Bolt faint.

Waking up my muscles with a little morning exercise noticeably improved my condition in battle afterward.

After jogging once around the outskirts of the village, I stopped in front of the entrance to the Labyrinth Area.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials calls to you.]

Before entering, I carefully checked the items in my inventory. Potions, of course, but also food like White Rolls.

I could afford to buy and stockpile plenty of potions, but my inventory wasn't infinite. If I kept using them without restocking, I'd eventually run out.

There was almost never a reason to use potions in the Floor 1 Labyrinth Zone anymore, but today, I needed to prepare for every possibility.

It had been six months since I started killing monsters every day without fail, raising my level and skill proficiency.

Seo Jinhyeok Lv.39 (Warrior)

My growth had long since surpassed the limits of the first-floor area.

Today, I would defeat the first-floor boss and move on to the next floor.

* * *

Excluding runs carried by Rankers, the smallest group to clear the first-floor boss had been a party of seven with an average level of eighteen.

It consisted of four Warriors like me, two Archers, and one Rogue.

No matter how high my level was or how good my gear was, I couldn't perform the roles of all seven people by myself.

That meant it wouldn't be an easy fight, despite the superior specs I'd built up.

Still, I'd spent all this time preparing to make sure I won. I was confident.

"Phew."

Standing before the boss room, I took a deep breath and checked my equipment one more time.

[+6 Black Leather Armor]

Defense + 85

Agility + 3

Weight: 5

Durability 500/500

Enhancement Attempts Remaining: 0

For armor, I wore leather armor that prioritized mobility. Its Defense was lower than the heavy armor I'd used before, but it had an Agility bonus.

Even if I raised my Defense as high as possible with items available on the first floor, one direct hit from the boss would still finish me.

Depending on the situation, it might mean taking two hits before collapsing instead of one, but that difference didn't matter when I was solo.

Without party members to help me, I wouldn't even get a chance to drink a potion before getting beaten to death anyway.

[+7 Kingdom Knight's Straight Sword]

Attack Power + 77 (Slash)

Critical Damage: x 1.5

Durability 350/350

Enhancement Attempts Remaining: 0

My weapon was a Kingdom Knight's Straight Sword I'd gotten while farming treasure chests. I poured a mountain of materials into it and successfully enhanced it to +7 this time.

Instead of mindlessly putting everything into Attack Power with [Sharp] enhancements, I balanced it out with three [Durability] enhancements and four [Sharp] enhancements.

According to an information post on the Open Community, early first-generation Hunters always split their investment between Durability and Sharp like this.

If your weapon broke during a fight because it ran out of Durability, that was it. For someone like me without party members to back me up, it would be even more fatal.

"Let's go."

After checking my weapon, armor, and finally my shield, I slowly pushed open the boss room door.

[Even among goblins, who lack everything except cruelty, a lord with the bearing of a ruler is bound to be born.]

[BOSS- Goblin Lord Graksar]

The system messages announcing the boss battle appeared. I immediately took a rock from my inventory and got into position.

"Graaahhh-!!"

The moment the Goblin Lord appeared and let out a massive roar, I timed it and hurled the rock with all my strength.

-Bang!

I wasn't aiming at the boss, but at the Goblin Royal Guard it summoned. One of them went down immediately from my perfect prediction shot.

Was that a Crossbowman? Good. I'd taken out a ranged fighter first.

I immediately sprinted at another Goblin Royal Guard and smashed the edge of my shield into the top of its head.

Then I gave the last Goblin charging at me a roundhouse kick.

My current Strength stat was forty-seven.

When it came to blunt force, that was enough to drive tremendous impact through a Goblin's heavy armor.

Before, I hadn't been able to deal with the Goblin Royal Guard right away and had given the boss a chance to strike first. Not anymore.

My Strength and Agility had reached the point where I could take down the Goblin Royal Guard summoned by the boss without giving them a moment to react.

I stabbed one Goblin Royal Guard that hadn't died instantly to make sure it was finished, then readied myself.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

Left alone, the Goblin Lord charged at me at a speed that didn't match its massive body.

Its vicious Bone Greatsword swung with the momentum of its charge, but my Agility stat, which had also surpassed forty, let me react in time.

-Whoosh!

I threw myself to the right and rolled. It was a big movement, but my Agility gave me more than enough time to regain my footing.

Even though its attack had missed, the Goblin Lord wasn't discouraged and swung its Bone Greatsword again.

-Clang!

The greatsword stopped against the shield in my left hand. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the boss's expression seemed to twist.

"What, surprised?"

The [Medium Round Shield] I'd gotten from a Large Treasure Chest wasn't much different in performance from the [World Rabbit Encyclopedia] I'd used before.

But a shield wasn't all about its Defense. Whether a Challenger could actually block an attack depended more on the Challenger's own Strength than their Defense.

I didn't know whether my Strength was higher than that hulking Goblin monster's, but I could block an attack with my shield head-on as long as it didn't have the momentum of a charge behind it.

And once I'd blocked an attack, the next step was obvious.

It was time to counterattack.

* * *

The Tower of Trials was a lot like a game in many ways, so Challengers could fight using a variety of skills.

The only skill a Normal Class Warrior learned upon changing class was [Sword Mastery].

But that single mastery skill had several active skills tied to it, so there were quite a few skills I could actually use.

I got into position before the Goblin Lord, which had left itself completely open. Light gathered around the sword in my hand, and my body moved on its own.

The move I unleashed was the Warrior's basic attack skill, Brandish.

-Slash!

It was the most basic skill, but it had enough power.

The Goblin Lord's thigh was deeply cut, spraying blood everywhere. It let out a "Graaah!" and swung its greatsword.

Just like before, though, I could easily block an ordinary attack without momentum behind it with my shield.

-Clang!

After blocking the wildly swung greatsword, I thrust my sword deep into its shoulder.

Aiming deliberately a little higher, the blade tore through the Goblin Lord's muscles and sank in with a thunk.

Its densely packed muscles gripped the blade. I held the sword's hilt and climbed onto its shoulder like I was climbing a tree.

Then I pulled out the sword I'd buried in it and used a skill to drive it hard into the back of the Goblin Lord's neck.

"Graaahhh-!!"

Its neck muscles were too thick to cut off its windpipe outright, but just hearing it scream was satisfying enough.

Still clinging to the Goblin Lord's back, I took out the secondary weapon I'd prepared in my inventory.

[+4 Hawk Dagger]

Attack Power + 45 (Slash)

Critical Damage: x 2.5

Durability 100/100

Enhancement Attempts Remaining: 0

Unlike my main weapon, the short dagger had four [Sharp] enhancements and no [Durability] enhancements. I gripped it in a reverse grip and plunged it into the bastard's back.

-Stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab!!

Using my Strength stat to its fullest, I hung on. Using my Agility stat to its fullest, I stabbed its back again and again.

The Goblin Lord screamed, "Graaah!" and struggled to shake me off, but I clung to it like a leech and kept stabbing with the dagger.

Now I was sure. There might be a disadvantage in size and a difference in attack power, but when it came to raw physical strength, I was stronger.

-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Maybe it realized struggling by itself wouldn't shake me off, because the Goblin Lord started running with all its strength.

Ahead of it was the sturdy wall of the boss room. So if I didn't let go, it was going to ram me into it.

"Fine, I'll let go."

-Boom!

I jumped off just before it hit the wall. The Goblin Lord ended up stupidly slamming itself into it.

I backed away and checked the time. The second summoning pattern should be coming soon.

Just as I expected, three Goblin Royal Guards leaped down from something like a watchtower on the wall and joined the battle.

-Thud.

At the same time, the Goblin Lord threw away its Bone Greatsword and pulled an axe from its waist.

The moment it took out a bone axe that looked much heavier, its muscles swelled massively.

"So it's phase two."

Just as I'd read in the strategy guides, it entered phase two quickly. Its attacks with the bone axe would be much stronger than before.

Its muscles had swelled, making it even stronger, so trying to block it half-assedly with my shield from here on out would get me killed.

And just my luck, all three of the summoned Goblin Royal Guards were Crossbowmen.

It was a seriously troublesome situation, leaving me completely exposed to ranged attacks, but it was fine.

"Come at me, you bastard."

All the effort I'd put in until now wouldn't betray me.

I would win.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried