Basement Dungeon ~Poor Siblings become the Strongest and Enjoying Exploration~

“Gugya!” (Hobgoblin)

　As soon as we enter the room, a goblin with a body size of about two meters screams in an unpleasant racket.

“Hobgoblin.” (Kei)

　When I saw the letters that came to my mind, I suddenly smiled.

“How nostalgic.” (Haru)

“Yeah, back then, as far as I’m concerned, attacks didn’t work and I was freaked out by this. And it’s been a long time since I’ve had a name pop into my head.” (Kei)

　The name of the boss is only displayed when you first see him. So this is the second time we’ve seen the hobgoblin in our mind.

　I saw Hobgoblin swinging his sword around as it approached me, and I just smacked the Wise Wolf’s dagger to it.

“Gugat!” (Hobgoblin)

　The goblin’s movement stopped with that one movement, and with a little effort, the goblin was flung backward.

“Hey, Hobgoblin’s Fighting Power is 45.” (Haru)

“Well, that’s about it.” (Kei)

　Our current Fighting Power is in the latter half of 180. This happened because there is a difference in our stats by 4 times. If you think about it, the ratio of this difference is smaller than the difference between us and Rimdobmur.

　The power of Rimdobmur is a little over 1,000. It was five to six times more than we are now. We can’t win. Because there is more difference between us and the Hobgoblin.

　With that in mind, I flicked the hobgoblin’s sword with my knife. Of course, the counterattack skill is used there, and it steadily reduces its Strength.

　Already, Hobgoblin’s body was swaying, and its hand holding the sword was trembling, almost dropping its sword every time it hits my knife.

　I continued to receive it without attacking at all. Yet Hobgoblin continued to swing his sword without rest, and finally, the sword slipped from its hand and its quivering body lay down on the ground.

“You can’t be fooled by a counterattack that doesn’t do any damage. So, Haru. Is there any difference between home and here?” (Kei)

“Yeah. I don’t see any at the moment. I don’t think there would be based on this. Oh.” (Haru)

　As a result of Haru’s [Analysis], when she judged that there was no difference, I felt a sense of discomfort behind me and swung my knife.

“Gagu.” (Hobgoblin)

　There was a hobgoblin with its whole body glowing and striking at me. There were no wounds on its body, but it must not have had enough strength left to move. If that’s the case, is this power the result of a skill? The skill may have increased its Fighting Power, but could it make up for the loss of Strength?

　Even as I thought about this, I firmly struck it with the side of my knife and flipped it away. The attack, which was much more powerful than before, was still too far away to reach me, and it rolled to the ground in the distance without being able to do anything.

“If there’s no change, it’s over?” (Kei)

“Yeah.” (Haru)

　I put away my knife, drew my sword, and approached the fallen hobgoblin. After all this time, the Black Wolf and the Minotaur seemed to have a high level of intelligence. If that was the case with this guy, he was born to be killed and tortured for experimentation. That’s what he’d say.

“I’m sorry.” (Kei)

　I couldn’t help but think of such words. Maybe it was because I was caught off guard by the situation. Was it because they weren’t the enemy in the first place? My mind was already far away from the battle. But that didn’t mean there were no chances. From the point of view of the weak, this is their last chance.

“Gyaaaa!” (Hobgoblin)

　It roared with all its might, using its exhausted and unmoving body. And its glowed body.

“Brother, move back.” (Haru)

　Still, unfortunately. It’s a good thing for us, I guess. The distance between the goblin and me was somewhat too far.

　The goblin’s glowing body came at me, breaking the upper limit of its speed. I hurriedly thrust my sword out in front of me, but it was bounced by its strangely rigid body, and its other hand passed in front of me.

　With the sword flipped to the side and out of its hand, I follow Haru’s instructions and step back, readying my knife. I thought it would give chase, and I would face it.

　But it didn’t happen. No, it couldn’t.

　It forcefully put one foot in front of the other as if chasing me and then stopped. Its eyes had lost their light and it was not looking anywhere.

“I guess it ran out of strength” (Haru)

　At the same time as Haru’s words of confirmation, its body disappeared into mist from above, and all that remained of it was an increase in our power and announcement of a level up.

“What was that about?” (Kei)

“Brother it was pitiful. The situation has obviously changed after my last report.” (Haru)

“Oh, it was weird. Maybe it became stronger than the minotaur. It’s both fast and tough.” (Kei)

“Yeah. The cooldown of the analysis has just ended, so I tried to analyze it when it put its foot forward just before it died.” (Haru)

“How was it?” (Kei)

“Goblin King. The Fighting Power was 197 at that time, and the Fighting Power itself was declining at a considerable speed. I think we might have died if it were able to hit us.” (Haru)

　Haru’s words caught me off guard. Haru said that we could have died. This means that you can never win by yourself. Well, that’s just the way it is. Perhaps the Goblin King hadn’t used his skills when my sword hit him. It’s all about repelling the sword with sheer hardness.

　It is definitely more powerful than the Earth-Dragon.

“Maybe more than 400 Fighting Power before the Fighting Power went down.” (Haru)

“Well, we won’t be able to win. What the hell is with that mysterious phenomenon of the dungeon?” (Kei)

　I can’t keep up with the dungeon based on my understanding. It’s impossible to understand the dungeon in the first place.

“It was like a hero. It wasn’t killed, we just kept being beating it up. In the end, it was about to be killed and I told it that it was pitiful.” (Kei)

“Squeezing its last power, raising its voice, cutting its life and evolving. Finally, rewarded even by a little. It still died after crossing its limits. it is like it lived the life of a hero, right?” (Haru)

　However, unlike us who only have power, it confronted the overwhelmingly strong enemy with its power. The way it was rewarded by the strong, who called it an experiment and tortured it, before it died standing up, exhausted. I was a little shocked to see that it was like a hero itself.

“But you know what?” (Kei)

“We look like villains.” (Haru)

　I’ve never thought that defeating monsters in dungeons was justice. I’ve never thought of it as being for the good of the country, society, or others. I’ve done it all for money and entertainment. And yet. We were children who were not ready to be part of society.

　Somehow, but for no reason. We have never been in the thick of society to be able to laugh at ourselves when we are accused of being the villains, the monsters.

　Once again, the meaning and depth of killing a living being have been deeply etched in my mind.

　Even so, I don’t want to stop exploring the dungeon, yet I can’t seem to straighten my thoughts.

“Are we going home today?” (Kei)

“Yeah. Let’s go.” (Haru)

　Haru’s expression was even more emotionless than usual. I’m not sure what to do. I walked over to the magic circle that had appeared after the Goblin King had fallen, took a step back, picked up the small drop items scattered around my feet, and shoved them into my bag.

　Then we got on the magic circle. We thought about getting on it, but we thought about what would happen if there were people on the other side of the transition area, so we transitioned back to the entrance of the fifth level and walked the shortest route back to the dungeon entrance.

“Hmm? Are you okay? Don’t be depressed because you couldn’t defeat the monster. At first, everyone is like that.” (Explorer 1)

“Gahahaha. You were scared of the slime at first. Wow, it’s moving. It’s moving. It’s moving, it’s disgusting.” (Explorer 2)

“You shouldn’t say that when I’m giving them advice as their senior.” (Explorer 1)

　I made my way up to the second level without being spotted and exited the dungeon with my face slightly raised, but it seemed that my face hadn’t returned to normal, and I was approached and encouraged by some friendly old men.

“Thank you.” (Kei)

“Yeah.” (Haru)

　I also thanked them in awkwardly and headed for the changing room. I glanced at the entrance to the Dungeon Dam and saw a thin layer of magic still buzzing around.

　I let out a sigh, wondering if I’d have to think about how to deal with that one, took out the things in my locker, and headed for the locker room.