ALL NOVEL chapter 36
36 – 2nd Floor, Griffin Hunting.
Just as one can roughly distinguish the dimension of an opponent by the feeling they exude.
Other players also distinguished their origins in a similar way.
Although he was pretending to be a renegade monk by activating the Iron Armor Technique.
The female mercenary leader, Scarlett, had no interest in him.
“Kerrk! It’s, it’s hard! Are you really a renegade monk? Kerrk!”
“To withstand my punch, you’re not an ordinary guy.”
“Churp. Can I lick it?”
Goblins, Orcs, Lizardmen.
While they were captivated and amazed by his non-martial martial arts.
Scarlett asked Luna, the black wolf beastman who approached her.
“Luna. How does it smell?”
Hoping her intuition was wrong.
Hoping he was just a renegade monk with a quirky personality.
She prayed earnestly inside.
Luna whispered in reply.
“He’s an Earthling.”
“…….”
Following Luna’s words, the ensuing question.
How could an Earthling be fine after being hit by the Orc Grash?
‘…Does he have a good skill?’
If he had a skill that increased his durability, it would be possible to endure for a while.
It’s a sufficiently plausible story.
But there was something bothering her.
The fact that he was an Earthling, that itself was the problem.
“Accept an Earthling who lies?”
It was hard to readily put him in the team.
You never know when he might stab you in the back.
Rumors about Earthlings were always filthy.
“Then, can we bring in another player…?”
Staring blankly at the backs of the two Greenskins and the Lizardman who were cackling, Scarlett objectively assessed the state of the team.
She shook her head.
No player who had even a rough idea of how the second floor worked would join this team.
“In the end, we have to fish out someone who is at least somewhat useful among the lacking ones…”
That Earthling might not be so bad.
Scarlett looked the Earthling up and down.
Their eyes met.
“……”
Scarlett turned her head without realizing it.
She avoided his gaze.
Was it because it had been a long time since she saw eyes that didn’t look at them with contempt?
Her heart seemed to sink.
“Scarlett? What’s wrong?”
Luna tilted her head as she looked at Scarlett.
Scarlett deliberately ignored Luna’s gaze and spoke.
“Ahem. He has good skills. He’ll be helpful in the upcoming griffin hunting competition.”
* * *
It wasn’t a thoughtless provocation.
There was a plan.
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone particularly strong.”
A week spent on the first floor of the Tower of Struggle.
She had done at least the basic study of which races were particularly strong.
Goblins, Orcs, Lizardmen, Beastmen….
They are not a race that belongs to the ranks of the strong, only slightly better than Earthlings.
While the Iron Cannon Triple Strike was in effect, I quickly calculated that I could withstand their attacks.
Thud-!
【149】
An orc’s strike.
My life force decreased by 1.
It recovered after 3 seconds.
“This is the martial art of Shaolin. Iron Body.”
“Oh!”
The orc exclaimed.
As confident as he was in his attack power, he couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Kerk! A renegade monk. A Shaolin renegade monk!”
The goblin gave a thumbs up.
The orc extended his hand to me for a handshake.
“I am Grash.”
“Oruin.”
The goblin interrupted.
“Kerk. Me too. My name is Gorak.”
“…Are all goblins named Go-something? What kind of Go are you?”
“Kerk?”
I didn’t expect much.
We took turns introducing ourselves.
“Ritol.”
A dwarf named Ritol.
I thought she was a dog-person, but she was actually a black wolf beastman named Luna.
A lizardman named Jade.
And two from the middle world.
“…S-Scarlett.”
“Sergei.”
The team consists of seven.
Including me, eight.
The number of people needed to participate in the Griffin hunting game is ten.
We needed to find two more.
“I can bring them quickly. Don’t worry too much.”
Ritol stepped forward confidently.
He actually brought them easily.
“What is this?”
But the reaction of those who followed Ritol was strange.
They glanced at the team members with a fishy smile.
It was an unpleasantly familiar look.
My brow furrowed.
“Tsk. Are you asking us to die together?”
“This is ridiculous. Get lost.”
They spat out a word each and left.
There were more players than expected who ignored the team joining proposal and turned their backs.
“……”
The team members didn’t say anything even though they were ignored.
They just stood awkwardly in a corner, waiting again.
‘What is this?’
The flowing atmosphere was strange.
It felt slightly resigned, as if they had given up on everything.
‘We need to find team members, so why is only Ritol moving? Wouldn’t it be faster if everyone looked for them…?’
The question was soon resolved.
Thanks to the group striding towards us, I could understand the situation.
“Hehe. Isn’t this Scarlett?”
“……”
A middle-aged man with a bushy beard approached.
More than a dozen players were following him.
“You’re still alive? I thought it was about time for you to be weeded out.”
“`
“…Bolt…!”
Scarlett glared at the middle-aged man, Bolt.
The exchange of glances was intense.
“If you don’t score this time, you’ll be eliminated, and yet you still hold your pride.”
“…I’d rather die. I have no intention of asking for your help. So shut up.”
Scarlett’s hostility was more intense than imagined.
Was it just Scarlett?
The other team members also gritted their teeth similarly.
It seemed they had some grudge against Bolt.
“Really?”
Bolt scanned the team members.
A gaze as if looking down on them.
Then he looked at me.
“This guy is new, isn’t he?”
Bolt approached and stood in front of me.
Our eye levels roughly matched.
The corners of his mouth twitched roughly.
A blatant sneer.
“Don’t tell me you joined this team?”
“Why. Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”
Informal speech for informal speech.
“……”
Bolt’s brow furrowed.
“You brat, you have no manners.”
“Better than being rude at first meeting.”
The scan was already complete.
Bolt and his team members’ level.
‘I felt like dying from boredom.’
Earthlings are idiots.
But that doesn’t mean you should assume Earthlings will always lose.
“`
Martial artists with dantian, mana lords and mid-worlders with circles, and various other races…
They too have ranks.
Just as there are differences in athletic ability and intelligence among Earthlings, there are geniuses and dullards.
‘The mid-worlder I saw in the first-floor team creation was a dragon slayer, a superhuman called a sword master, one of the few in that world.’
Bolt, standing in front of me, is classified as a mid-worlder, but in terms of skill, he is no different from us Earthlings.
Focusing on the human aspect rather than the mid-worlder, there’s no need to be intimidated for now.
‘He is just a human with the potential to become a sword master or a great mage in the future. That’s what a mid-worlder is.’
A mid-worlder without talent is no different from an Earthling.
They were just summoned from a slightly more barbaric world.
“What? Manners? This b*stard.”
Bolt’s shoulders twitch.
We haven’t exchanged many words, but he immediately tries to throw a punch.
‘Slow.’
I could see his movements clearly.
A very obvious and simple straight punch.
Even without agility stats, I could easily dodge this.
The kicks of the clumsy seniors in my high school sports club were much faster than this.
Whoosh-.
“…Oh. Dodged?”
I tilted my head to avoid Bolt’s jab.
Did he really think he would hit me?
An enraged Bolt followed up with a left punch.
Whoosh-!
“……”
The first time could be a coincidence.
From the second time, it’s not a coincidence.
As I kept dodging his punches, Bolt’s expression hardened more and more.
“…Are you perhaps a first-rate martial artist?”
The stats of a first-rate martial artist are roughly around 30.
Since my agility is 30, I can call myself a first-rate martial artist in terms of speed.
So I didn’t deny it.
Bolt arbitrarily concluded that I was a first-class warrior.
He spoke with a face that couldn’t believe it.
“A first-class warrior, why on earth would you join such a worthless team?”
“Worthless?”
From what I see, there’s not much difference in skill between you and Scarlett.
Bolt glanced at my face.
Then, as if he realized something, he continued.
“No way. Did you just come up?”
“Well.”
“…If you don’t know anything, I can understand why you joined that team.”
Bolt withdrew his fist.
He spoke naturally, as if he hadn’t just launched a preemptive strike.
“The team you joined. They only have one life left. There’s no chance.”
“…Life?”
When I expressed my doubt, Bolt continued.
“Gladiators in the Colosseum have to pay taxes. Once a month. If they can’t pay, they become slaves.”
“That wasn’t written in the guide.”
“That’s because item 1 is a higher rule.”
A structure that pushes players with taxes.
The game of the elimination prevention option becomes even more special.
Did he notice what I was thinking?
Bolt continued.
“Just because there’s an elimination prevention option doesn’t mean you can enjoy it indefinitely. The number of times is fixed. We call that life.”
“……”
“You can reset the number of times by offering victory points. But those who can earn victory points wouldn’t mess up a game with the elimination prevention option.”
“…The number of times is fixed?”
“Yes.”
My head is complicated.
‘…Was I tricked?’
Should I think of this as being taken advantage of?
From a player’s perspective, it’s structured so that you have to become a gladiator anyway.
It’s hard to see it as being taken advantage of.
‘I forgot that goblin is ultimately the emperor’s slave.’
He only said what needed to be said.
He scratched his head roughly.
“If you stay with that team, you’ll suffer. They’re worms who can’t even properly maintain the survival options. But we’re different. At least we don’t lose our options.”
Bolt suggested subtly.
“Join our team.”
“……”
As he looked at the hand extended towards him, a question arose.
Is this b*stard suffering from dementia?
“You b*stard. You threw the first punch and now you’re trying to move on naturally.”
I wrapped my right hand in a powerful strike and slapped his cheek.
Smack-!
Bolt’s neck snapped to the side.
Bolt couldn’t withstand the damage from the powerful strike.
He collapsed helplessly.
[Absorbing the soul of Bolt (a being from the middle world).]
[Strength increases by 0.01.]
Thud-.
“C-Captain!”
“This crazy b*stard!”
Shing-!
The opponent drew his sword.
Scarlett and the other team members also drew their weapons.
A situation on the brink of a knife fight.
“Everyone, calm down.”
Sergei stepped forward to calm the fight.
“There’s no good in fighting. The Ascendants are watching.”
“That b*stard killed our brother. And what? You want to stop?”
“Then are you thinking of fighting?”
“……”
Sergei continued.
“You know what happens when you face the Ascendants. Let’s back off for now.”
“……”
“If you can’t control your anger, let’s sort it out through the Colosseum matches. What do you think?”