Akatsuki Translations

These creatures are individually strong, and they’re smarter than the goblins on the second floor. When they judge that their opponent is stronger in a one-on-one fight, they immediately gang up. Unlike the first floor, there are no reckless chargers here, making them suddenly much tougher.

“That’s what David and the others were saying,” I muttered to myself.

I generally took online information with a grain of salt, so I had made sure to confirm it with David and his group.

“On the second floor, even a military rifle was enough to make things easy,” David had told me.

“We thought going down one more level wouldn’t be a big deal,” another member chimed in.

“But by the third floor, guns start becoming less effective,” David continued. “In the Stone Area, modern weapons are supposedly still useful even on the tenth floor. But that probably means tanks, fighter jets, or military helicopters—that kind of firepower.”

“Yuuta, don’t let your guard down and die easily,” David had warned me. “We quickly went back to using rifles when we realized hand-to-hand combat was impossible, but even then, we barely escaped with our lives.”

I realized that relying on rifles in emergencies might soon be a thing of the past. More importantly, as my skills and magic improved, it was becoming faster to rely on those instead. In other words, I was losing my safety net for emergencies.

“There,” I whispered.

Lost in thought, I spotted a Goblin Soldier from behind a building. At first glance, I thought it was huge. Seeing it from the ground was much more intimidating than from the watchtower. It was even bigger than David and his companions.

I slowly approached the Soldier from behind.

Starting from Soldiers, monsters have higher vitality, and a single stab to the heart won’t kill them instantly. To incapacitate them, you need to slash their throat properly and sever the central nervous system. Even for a sneak attack from behind.

The Soldier was sitting on the ground, seemingly fed up with the dungeon’s heat. I crept up behind it. Stealth had become second nature to me. I stood directly behind the Soldier. It would have turned if it heard even the slightest sound, but I had become skilled at this.

Now then.

I silently covered the Soldier’s mouth from behind. The Soldier’s body merely twitched, caught completely off guard. I pressed the short sword[1] firmly against its neck and pulled it sideways, completely severing the spinal cord. I managed to do all of this in one fluid motion.

“Good,” I whispered.

The Goblin Soldier’s muscular neck was cut halfway through. I dragged its large body behind the building. After cleaning up to avoid detection, I peeked out from behind the structure. It was morbid, but it felt like a game, which made it oddly exciting.

“I used to play games like this a lot,” I mused. “Come to think of it, I wonder if the ‘stone throw’ trick would work here?”

I remembered something I often did in games. Finding a suitable small stone, I picked it up.

“Heh,” I chuckled.

Would this actually work?

Curious to see if a game tactic would be effective, I decided to try it out. I spotted two Goblin Soldiers walking side by side. I threw the small stone near one of them. Both reacted with a slight twitch.

Soldiers aren’t as intelligent as Mages. A Mage would probably alert all its companions at this point. Even if it didn’t go that far, it would likely contact others before coming to investigate.

“Gyagya?” one of the Soldiers grunted.

But the Soldiers did no such thing and simply walked towards the sound. However, there were two of them. At this point, it would be unwise to try taking on both simultaneously. Although I was tempted to push myself for the sake of improving my stats, I remembered how strong even the Mage had been.

The Soldiers must be even stronger. I had no desire to meet the same fate as David and his group due to carelessness. I quietly climbed up a wooden building near where I was hiding, making sure the approaching goblins didn’t notice me.

The two Goblin Soldiers were cautiously checking behind the building.

I visualized the killing sequence in my head.

If things didn’t go exactly as I imagined, it would surely become extremely dangerous. I made sure to activate my 【Great Strength】 skill as a precaution. I also didn’t forget to activate 【Acceleration】.

“Gya,” one Soldier grunted.

“Gyagya,” the other responded.

They seemed to be discussing that they couldn’t find anyone. I dropped silently from the top of the building. I landed softly on top of the head of the Goblin Soldier on the right.

Crouching, I stabbed its neck.

This should have severed its central nervous system for sure. The one on the left still hadn’t noticed me. It couldn’t have anticipated an attack from above. I took out another spare short sword from my magic bag.

“Gya!?” the left Goblin Soldier exclaimed.

The left Goblin Soldier noticed something above and looked up at me. But by looking up, it exposed its vulnerable throat. It was reaching for its greatsword, trying to draw it. Realizing my aim, it attempted to hide its neck.

“Heh,” I smirked.

I knew it would react like that.

It was oddly satisfying when things went exactly as predicted.

It felt strange to be enjoying myself while trying to kill a living being.

At the last moment, I changed my aim. I stabbed the short sword into its right eye, aiming for the brain, and immediately twisted it.

The Soldier’s body twitched and convulsed as it fell to the ground.

“Phew,” I exhaled.

Their reactions were indeed quick. If I had been even a little slower, they would have surely been fully prepared for battle. At this level, even with a sneak attack, it would be impossible for Lean to take on two at once. I started to worry about Lean. Maybe it was unreasonable to expect her to do the same things I could?

However, this would make it much harder for Lean to level up. As I pondered what to do, I hid the bodies of the goblins I had dispatched. I wondered how Misuzu was doing. Was everything going according to plan?

I continued piling up goblin corpses, four, then five.

I had just finished killing the twentieth when a notification appeared:

【Level Up Announcement】

The first level up when fighting new enemies usually comes quite quickly. After that, it demands you defeat many more. I opened my status screen and sighed with relief, confirming that my stats hadn’t increased poorly.

I felt my body become slightly lighter.

The difference between struggling and not struggling is really quite small, I thought. Now I could attack my opponent just 0.1 seconds faster. That small difference changes so much. I suddenly realized I could probably do a lot more now.

I continued stealthily killing goblins from the shadows. By the time I had killed over 30, I had stopped wondering whether humans or goblins were the evil ones. I just kept killing efficiently until…

“Yeah, this method probably isn’t good,” I concluded.

It had become like an assembly line, just killing goblins from the shadows. That might be fine for Misuzu’s job, but I’m a samurai. No matter how easily I could kill this way, I didn’t feel like I was getting good level-ups.

So…

“I guess it’s about time to change things up?”

Near the pile of hidden Soldier and Mage corpses, I carefully equipped all my gear. Perfect. Time to change tactics. Before everyone fought this settlement head-on, there was one thing I needed to confirm.

Could I actually win in a direct confrontation with Soldiers and Mages?

If I couldn’t win, there would be no point. We’d have to continue leveling up secretly. I had managed to reduce their numbers significantly with sneak attacks. Now I just needed to confirm this, and my first phase would be complete.

I spotted a building and checked inside. Then I boldly entered. There was only one goblin inside.

“Gya?” it grunted.

The lone occupant was a Soldier. I still wasn’t entirely sure of a Soldier’s strength.

“Gya!?” it exclaimed.

The Soldier was slow to comprehend at first, but when it realized I was human, its eyes changed.

“You. I need to make sure I can beat you properly. 【Acceleration】 【Great Strength】,” I muttered.

It opened its mouth wide, about to call for help. As if I’d let that happen. I drew Mikamaru. Closing the distance in an instant, I shouted, ” Stop whining with a build like that!”

I slashed at it. The Soldier, realizing it couldn’t call for help now, drew the greatsword from its back. Our blades clashed, sparks flying. Even with Great Strength, we were evenly matched.

But I see.

So I won’t lose outright in a contest of strength with these guys. That’s all I needed to know. Now then, next…

“Speed!” I yelled, pulling back my sword.

“【Double Strike】!”

Two attacks were launched simultaneously. The Soldier tried to block but made a mistake. It failed to parry, and I sliced its arm.

“Gyaa!” it cried out.

Its movements slowed, but it was still tough and tried to come at me.

I drew a short sword with my left hand. I could clearly see the Soldier’s movements as it swung down its greatsword. It wasn’t that fast. I dodged sideways, swung up my short sword, and cut off the Soldier’s arm. Then, without missing a beat, I beheaded it with Mikamaru.

“Good, as I thought, with Mikamaru equipped, one-on-one isn’t too difficult. If I can handle one like this, I might be able to manage two Soldiers.”

But I wasn’t sure what would happen if a Mage was involved. And group battles were still completely impossible. Still, this meant I could move on to the second phase. Misuzu and Evie would be moving in a group of four with Rin and Rai, so things should go as planned.

“Gya!?”

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

Just then, a Mage appeared in the house where the Soldier had been. Maybe it had heard the commotion. And from afar, I heard screaming. The Mage, about to enter the building, was distracted by the loud voice. Not missing this chance, I beheaded it in an instant.

“Oh. Seems someone’s been spotted. Well, that’s fine. I’ve made it to about the center anyway.”

I felt like I’d become oddly daring since killing Ikemoto. I stepped outside, no longer bothering to hide. Most of the goblins were rushing towards the source of the screaming.

But they stopped in their tracks.

A lone human had appeared in the middle of their settlement.

“Gya?” “Gyagyagya” “Gyaa?”

What’s this human doing here? Why is he in a place like this? I imagined that’s what they were saying. I opened my magic bag to initiate the second phase of my plan. Then,

“I filled this with plenty of mana yesterday,” I muttered.

I pulled out a piece of parchment inscribed with a glowing red magic circle. Among explorers, it’s said that “nothing from gold capsules is useless.” They’re all quite useful, whether specialized equipment, enhancement items, or even high-quality potions.

And then there are one-time use items. Many of these are excellent too. What I took out was a magic circle from a gold capsule. Magic circles from gold capsules are a cut above those from silver or copper ones.

【Lava】

This magic circle could be pre-charged with mana.

“Don’t get carried away and overcharge it with mana. You’ll definitely regret it,” I’d been warned.

That’s how much mana it could hold.

“Maybe the dungeon is especially cruel to you guys,” I mused. Monsters that keep spawning just to be killed over and over. At least humans have the benefit of leveling up. But you have nothing.

Not that I felt even a shred of sympathy.

We’re fundamentally incompatible, after all.

“To think I could store this much at this point. 200 MP worth.”

I truly pity you.

I threw the parchment with the magic circle onto the ground.

“【Lava】,” I invoked.

In an instant, a massive red magic circle about 10 meters in diameter appeared on the ground. The goblins, who should have attacked immediately, were watching me. They seemed bewildered by the appearance of such an enormous magic circle. Their faces seemed to say, “What the hell did this human just do?”

“I don’t want to wipe you all out with this, so you’d better run. I’m running too,” I warned them.

The ground began to shake. It shook so violently that it was hard to stand. The goblins, who would normally charge straight at a human, seemed to realize how dangerous this was and focused on escaping. Can’t blame them. After all, I was desperately fleeing too.

Deep cracks ran across the ground.

From those cracks, searing magma burst forth.

TL Note(s)

[1] Dagger changed to short sword