Free Web NovelChapter 18: Ascending (3)
Before long, the sun began sinking beyond the horizon, and the forest that had been shaking from explosions all afternoon finally grew quiet.
A few moments later, a figure emerged between the trees.
Misha’s eyes widened when she saw Nyxie, looking like she had personally declared war against every goblin on the Second Floor and won.
Green blood covered her armor from head to toe. It stained her boots, splattered across her arms. The massive claymore resting on her shoulder wasn’t any cleaner. The problem was that Nyxie already had green hair. Her short pixie-cut hair had turned several shades darker beneath all the goblin blood. Only those bright blue eyes remained untouched. Those eyes stood out so much that Misha found herself staring.
Behind her floated a notification.
「 〔 FLOOR QUEST 〕
Goblin Extermination (100/100)
Time Remaining: 61:32:45 」
「 Congratulations! Floor Quest Cleared! 」
"I finally beat my record!" Nyxie flashed a bright grin. The cheerful expression didn’t match her appearance at all. She looked like she crawled out of a goblin graveyard.
Nearby, Gerbaut glanced at Nyxie once before silently offering her the towel he took out from his subspace.
"Thanks, Gerby!" Nyxie accepted it happily.
"You got carried away again," Yara said, rubbing her temple.
Nyxie immediately gulped. She rubbed the back of her head as she let out an awkward laugh. "Maybe a little?"
"That’s what you said last time."
"This time I beat my record."
"I don’t think that’s the point."
"A little...?" Misha quietly repeated the words to herself.
The woman killed a hundred goblins herself. Misha wasn’t sure if they shared the same definition of the word.
Meanwhile, Elyes let out a long, suffering sigh before he slowly pushed himself off the ground. "Here we go again..."
He lazily raised his staff and began tracing something in the air while his lips moved in a quiet chant. Seconds later, a pale-blue magic circle formed above Nyxie’s head.
Splash!
A column of water crashed down from above Nyxie.
Nyxie immediately jumped. "Cold! Cold! Ely!"
Elyes looked completely unmoved. "You should be used to this already. You’ll survive."
"I survived goblins! That’s totally different!"
Elyes ignored her complaints and waited until most of the blood washed away.
The mage lifted his staff once more. A faint green light gathered around the crystal of his staff before warm air swirled around Nyxie.
Her damp green hair fluttered gently as the wind rushed past and water droplets scattered into the air before disappearing one after the other. Within a minute, she stood completely dry.
"There," Elyes said. "Back looking like a person."
Nyxie crossed her arms. "I always looked like a person."
"You looked like a swamp monster..."
Misha couldn’t help but agree. Completely.
Her attention soon shifted towards Elyes instead and a strange feeling crept into her heart. Envy.
The man could summon barriers, could wash blood away, and could dry clothes.
Misha stared at the staff he was holding. Why did that ability suddenly seem so attractive?
She imagined never having to hand-wash clothes again. That alone sounded worthy of being a legendary ability.
Ding!
「 〔 SYSTEM NOTICE 〕
Contributions Calculated. 」
Then several notifications appeared before quickly fading away.
「 Floor Quest Rewards Distributed. 」
「 Top Contributor: Nyxie 」
Misha wasn’t surprised. Nyxie had practically completed the entire quest herself, so most of the rewards naturally went to her.
The swordwoman stretched her arms overhead. "Let’s head to the Third Floor now."
Misha blinked a few times. "A-already? Shouldn’t we... prepare or something?"
Gerbaut secured his things before he glanced toward her. "We already know what’s in there."
"... Right."
Misha looked around again. Nobody seemed concerned or seemed excited either. They looked like office workers heading toward another day at work... one that happened to involve monsters. At this rate, Skyreach looked determined to speedrun their way to the Seventh Floor.
In the end, Misha could only follow after them.
===
Evening had already settled in by the time they arrived.
The scenery changed completely. Dense forest stretched as far as Misha could see. Towering trees rose high into the darkness, their branches blocking much of the moonlight overhead. Shadows blanketed everything. Cold air brushed against Misha’s skin.
The forest barely made a sound, unlike the Second Floor which somehow felt lively.
She unconsciously moved closer to the others.
A familiar window appeared.
「 〔 FLOOR QUEST 〕
Hunt the Chief Goblin (0/1)
Time Limit: 48 Hours 」
A second notification appeared immediately afterward.
「 Time Accumulated From Previous Floor:
+60 Hours 」
「 Total Remaining Time: 108 Hours. 」
"Huh?" Misha stared at the screen for a few seconds. "There’s additional time?"
Beside her, Jules nodded. "T-The remaining time from the previous floor carries over. Some floors take longer than others to clear."
"Oh..." Misha stared at the numbers again. One hundred and eight hours suddenly felt much more generous.
"This one takes a while," Nyxie said with a sigh. "We’re hunting something annoying."
"The Chief Goblin doesn’t stay in one place," Gerbaut added.
Elyes reached into his subspace and pulled out two pairs of glasses before he tossed one to Gerbaut. "We should start tracking it immediately."
"No." Yara’s voice cut through the conversation, making everyone look her way.
"This time, Gerbaut and Misha will handle it."
Elyes frowned. "We’ll waste time."
"Misha needs experience, or she’ll never improve." She folded her arms. "She needs to increase her level."
Elyes opened his mouth before closing it again. His lips stretched into a thin line before he continued, "I understand that, but this floor isn’t the same as the 2nd Floor."
Before Yara could answer, Gerbaut spoke. "She’ll learn faster here."
Elyes turned toward him with his brows furrowed together.
"We’re not fighting immediately. We’ll be tracking. She needs to understand how monsters move." He wore the glasses Elyes gave.
For several moments, Elyes remained silent. He was rather hesitant with the plan they had, especially when they already knew what kind of Floor they were on. Then he sighed. "... Fine."
The amount of effort in that single word nearly impressed Misha.
"We’ll head to the usual cave," Yara said.
Misha tilted her head in confusion. "The usual cave?"
Nyxie laughed. "We’ve cleared this floor several times and we eventually found a safe spot nearby!"
Misha honestly wanted to go with them. Following Gerbaut alone sounded terrifying. She wasn’t convinced she would be useful.
Noticing her nervous expression almost immediately, Nyxie grinned and patted her head. "You’ll be fine!"
"I don’t think I will..."
"Gerbaut’s babysitting you."
"..."
Misha looked at Gerbaut, and he stared back. His face remained completely expressionless. For some reason, that didn’t make her feel better.
Elyes stepped forward and handed her the other pair of glasses. "Wear this."
Misha accepted them and examined the lenses. The glasses looked ordinary enough. Thin frame, clear lenses, nothing particularly special. She was rather hesitant to wear them. Why would she need glasses?
Then again, this was Elyes. He wouldn’t give her something without a reason. She slipped the glasses on, and as she did, her eyes went wide. The dark forest vanished.
No, not vanished. The darkness simply retreated since it almost felt like broad daylight.
「〔 Nightvision 〕
Grade: Rare freewebnσvel.cøm
Description: A practical item created by a mage who dislikes unnecessary risks.
Effects:
• Allows the wearer to perceive their surroundings in darkness as though it were daytime.
• +15% visibility in dark environments. 」
Misha removed the glasses, and the forest immediately sank back into darkness.
"That’s an item I crafted. You’ll be able to see clearly in low-light environments."
She immediately put the glasses back on. Suddenly, Elyes looked much cooler than he did five minutes ago.
"Can I keep these?" freewebnøvel.com
"No."
"..."
"I’ll sell it to you, but those are expensive."
Misha’s shoulders slumped. Of course they were. Anything useful would probably cost more money than she had ever owned in her entire life.
===
After the group split up, Gerbaut led her deeper into the forest.
Leaves rustled overhead, and branches swayed in the darkness. Occasionally, distant cries echoed through the trees. Misha tightened her grip on her weapon, ready to pull out her rapier any moment a goblin appeared.
An hour passed, or maybe more.
The deeper they traveled, the more lost she felt especially when every direction looked exactly the same.
Then Gerbaut suddenly raised a hand when he came to a stop, and Misha immediately froze.
He crouched beside a patch of disturbed soil. "What do you see?"
She knelt beside him and leaned closer. "Footprints...?"
"Good." Gerbaut touched the dirt and rubbed it between his fingers. "It’s fresh."
His gaze swept through the surrounding trees. "They aren’t far."
Misha stared at the footprints once again, and honestly? They looked like random marks in the dirt. She couldn’t even tell how old they were or where they led. Yet, Gerbaut seemed to read them like words written on a page.
"Look closely at the edges. The soil around a fresh footprint stays loose for a while. The edges remain sharp because wind, insects, and small animals haven’t disturbed them yet." Then he picked up a small clump of dirt. "The soil is slightly moist underneath. Once enough time passes, the surface dries out and hardens. If it rained recently, check whether water settled inside the footprint. If the track formed before the rain, the shape will be partially filled or washed away. If formed afterward, the outline remains clear."
As they traveled through the forest, Gerbaut pointed out broken branches, claw marks, and signs she would have missed entirely on her own.
Once Gerbaut explained them, Misha couldn’t stop noticing them. The forest slowly transformed in her eyes. What looked like random scenery before now carried information like routes, warnings, patterns, and signs of movement.
Surprisingly, Gerbaut turned out to be a patient teacher. With him leading, he taught her how to identify patrol routes and how to avoid being spotted. Most importantly, he taught her restraint.
Several times, they spotted goblins, and in those several times, Misha felt tempted to attack. Each time, Gerbaut stopped her.
"A failed ambush is worse than no ambush."
The words stuck with her.
Misha recalled her first encounter with a goblin in the Basement Floor. Back then, she had rushed forward because she didn’t know any better. Only then did she realize how lucky she was.
Now she understood how dangerous that mindset could become.
"The Chief Goblin relocates every time he finds traces of intruders." Gerbaut pushed aside a branch.
No wonder Nyxie called it annoying. The thing practically ran an entire operation.
A question entered Misha’s mind. Why not simply attack it?
As though hearing her thoughts, Gerbaut spoke. "Before we cleared this floor, we failed repeatedly."
He pushed aside a branch. "We used our return stones several times."
Misha blinked. Even they struggled?
"The Chief organizes the others." He nodded towards a distant clearing. "Goblins normally scatter, but those don’t."
Misha crouched behind a cluster of bushes and carefully peeked ahead. Her breath caught. The Chief Goblin stood in the clearing. The monster towered ober every goblin she had seen before. Crude armor covered parts of its body, scars crisscrossed its green skin, and a massive axe rested across its shoulder.
Beneath it stood an enormous wolf. The creature looked enormous. Dark fur covered its body, and sharp claws dug into the earth. With the Chief atop its back, the pair moved together as they inspected the surrounding territory.
Misha swallowed nervously. They would have to kill that?
Gerbaut quietly studied them before he took a step back. "For now, get some rest."
"Rest?" She looked at him in confusion.
"We’ll observe first." His eyes remained fixed on the Chief. "We need every advantage we can get."
