Demon King
chapter-36

Tower of Jinma (4)

After that, I counted the number of times I died.

A hundred.

Again, a hundred times, perhaps another hundred times more.

I could not escape the terrible pain; I was covered in blood, despair, and faint hope.

And unconsciously, my Martial Arts skill grew until it reached the Intermediate level.

[Lower Martial Arts has become Lv10 and evolves to Intermediate Martial Arts. You will be able to move your body to the maximum possible capacity. You will be able to handle weapons that you see for the first time as skillfully as a soldier. The power of your weapon increases and the power of the enemy’s weapon decreases. However, martial arts skills scale with enemy level. Lower level enemies will result in a reduction of skill effectiveness.]

Finally, I had the confidence to defeat the troll.

When I was a Goblin, my level and strength increased by 1 when I leveled up. When I became a Goblin Fighter, it changed to 2, and when I became a Hob Goblin, my strength and stamina increased by 3, and my magic increased by 1.

Lastly, when I became a Hob Goblin Assaulter, it climbed by 4.

Therefore, as I degenerated to a Hob Goblin, I lost 25% of my muscle strength and 50% magic, and when I degenerated as a Goblin Fighter, I lost an additional 25% strength, 33% stamina, and 80% of the remaining magic.

Right now, my strength and stamina were just over 140.

Naturally, my movements are slower than the troll’s.

The Leap and the Beast Charge have to be used together to give instantaneous superiority in speed, but since they reduce my stamina, I couldn’t use them blindly.

I’ve passed over a hundred deaths to analyze all that I have and to figure out how I could win.

I decided I need to raise the skills to the level I wanted.

Even if in the next moment I’ll get hit by his weapon, and my head breaks again, even though the wounds I have inflicted on the trolls disappear when I get resurrected, the growth of my skills the next time I resurrect is sure.

[Intermediate Detection has become Lv3.]

Death is terrifying. I don’t want to go through it again.

That’s why I need to die in this place continuously in order to escape death in the real world.

I have to endure terrible pain, but the growth I get is worth it.

[Intermediate Resistance has become Lv2.]

[Beginner Beast Charge has become Lv10 and evolves to Lower Beast Charge. You can move faster, and more power is added to an attack following the charge.]

When I get out of this place and meet Rain, I promise I will swear at him.

[Intermediate Martial Arts has become Lv2.]

Martial arts, the more you fight, the faster the level up. The growth rate is faster compared to other skills. I’m glad. Martial arts is my primary skill that can be used to defeat the troll.

But that is not enough.

No matter how strong my skills were, a Goblin Fighter’s body simply does not have the strength the swing a sword enough to cut the troll’s head off.

So, how will I beat him? What options do I have that will compensate for my lack of strength and stamina?

I realized the answer was in Trap Creation.

[Lower Trap Creation Lv2]

[You can create the kind of trap you want by staying where you want to make it. The larger the size of the trap you want to build, the more time you need.]

[You will be able to create two traps at once. The higher the level, the more types of traps you can create, the more the power, and the less time you need to create them. Consuming material items can shorten the time to create a trap and increase the power of the trap. The generated trap will disappear if unused after a certain period of time.]

Among the skills that I can attack the target, the only skill that does not consume my stamina or magic was the creation of a trap.

Instead of magic or stamina, it needs time and materials.

This was a particularly unique skill. It was special enough to be in the special promotion at the dedicated store, and a skill I needed right now.

With my Intermediate Martial Arts, as well as my Surprise and Fairy Tale skills, I was able to gain the ‘time’ I need.

With these three skills active, the troll couldn’t find me anymore, even if I was in front of him.

It was like my situation with A.

“Oooh oh?”

The Trap Creation skill has reached a Lower level, but the time required to build an effective trap was still long.

No matter how my skills developed, I needed the help of luck to make a sneaky trap without being noticed by the troll.

I have already died dozens of times being caught making a trap.

“Oooh, oh, oh, oh!

When the troll couldn’t see me, he swings wildly in every direction. I moved cautiously, avoiding his attacks, focusing on not revealing my presence, as I create my traps.

I can’t help but admire myself to be able to use this skill even if the enemy is right in front of my nose.

Finally, I succeeded surrounding him with traps, similar to mouse traps.

Suddenly, his foot was caught in one.

For the troll, the trap was just a trivial, annoying thing, and he just tried to shake it off, but the time I earned while he is distracted was precious.

“Koo-oh-oh-oh!”

The moment his foot was caught, I used the Leap and Beast Charge that I have saved up for this very moment.

“Oh, wow!”

I aimed for his little finger. It was the only thing I was confident I could cut off at once.

With it alone, it would become possible to recover my stamina.

I chewed on his little finger as I stepped out of his reach. I didn’t have much range to move as I’ve created a lot of traps surrounding him.

I can hide my presence from him anyway, so the only thing I have to do was avoid getting hit. I don’t have to run away.

[Beginning Fairy Tale has become Lv10 and evolves into Lower Fairy Tale. It becomes more and more natural to melt into the surrounding environment and increases the damage corrected by surprise.]

Finally, Fairy Tale, whose growth was so slow, finally evolved into the Lower level. As I rejoiced, I used its increased power to hide, and the troll jump angrily, not knowing where I was.

Not yet, I thought. Not yet…

I’ll only attack when he’s trapped. That’s when I am sure that he wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

“Ooooh oohh oh oh”

Now.

Anytime the conditions were met, I dive in for my counterattacks. Hiding, creating more traps, cutting off the troll’s fingers and toes… I worked mechanically; all other thoughts were forgotten.

The only thing I was focused on was not dying, and the target I was attacking.

When three fingers off his right hand have been cut, he dropped his weapon.

Meanwhile, I maintained my stamina because I kept eating his fingers and toes one after the other.

With the loss of his blood, his stamina decreased gradually as well.

“Koo-oh-oh-oh!”

Without his weapon, he tried to kick me around and swing his arm, trying to get my position.

However, without his weapon, the range of his attack was much shorter.

I was fully confident I could avoid him even with my Goblin Fighter’s body.

I cut off one more finger. And another. Suddenly, he got caught in another trap and fell down.

Of course, I was there to punish him.

“Kyaap!”

I struck straight at him. The Leap and Beast Charge were also more powerful, and I was even able to catch him before he even hit the ground!

I lifted my sword, stabbing the troll’s stomach. Then, I struck off the last two toes on his feet!

“Koo-oh-oh-oh!”

The troll’s pained screams really made me happy.

I crossed over to the other side of his torso, with his toes on my mouth, and stabbed my sword on his leg.

Naturally, it was impossible to cut his leg, but the blood that soared in large quantities from him wetted my whole body and restored the durability of my sword and armor and my stamina.

“Oh, ah ah ah ah ah!”

The troll screamed and tried to get up, but even if he was an intermediate monster, it’s impossible to get up without his toes.

I kept slashing at him while I chew. He’s starting to slow down.

He couldn’t regenerate missing parts. He’s able to connect his head back to his neck, but could not grow another head. The same goes with his toes ad fingers/

Finally, I turned to his neck as he lay helpless.

It took countless of slashes, but finally, he lost his life against a Goblin Fighter.

I exhaled with exhaustion and pride.

“Huh, whoa…”

“… Now, only one trajectory left.”

A said in his usual calm voice as he watched me chewing the troll’s flesh.

One more.

A goblin’s body.

The first body I had when I opened my eyes from the first time after I died; the very body that gave me hopelessness and despair.

I slowed down and ate the troll slowly.

Compared to the Hob Goblin Assaulter, my stomach’s size has decreased a lot, but I had to keep eating.

[Lower Regeneration has become Lv3.]

After fully consuming the troll’s body, I opened my eyes.

All my injuries and fatigue were gone. It was good somehow that the opponent was a troll. There will be no other monster than would make Predation more efficient.

“Now, the first trajectory. Are you ready for battle?”

Only

At last, A thought to confirm with me. I wondered if he felt remorse when he watched me die countless times.

I replied.

“Okay.”

Another troll appeared. Unlike the ones I have defeated, this one was more energetic, and his weapon felt more threatening.

As he ran to me, I felt my miserable Goblin body and laughed bitterly.

This was unreasonable. The Goblin’s body is far below that of the Goblin Fighter.

[Lower level Trap Creation has become Lv.3]

The troll soon reached me.