'First, I need to make sure the extra enemies can't get to me.'
This was Bell's first time fighting many goblins alone, and it was really important for him to understand how they acted.
Bell didn't think he was strong just because he cut a goblin's neck with one strike.
As long as the weapon was sharp enough, any monster would die if hit in a vital spot. That's not because of his own power, but it's the weapon.
Bell immediately stepped forward and dashed toward the scattered goblins.
The goblins, hiding in the shadows, immediately noticed this and rushed toward Bell with their short daggers.
Even though low-level monsters in the dungeon lack intelligence, they still fight together because it's their instinct.
While running, Bell quickly spotted the slowest goblin and pulled out two short knives from his storage.
He aimed at the goblin and threw them without hesitation. Bell wasn't particularly skilled in throwing knives and just used all his strength to throw them.
Fortunately, the goblin he had chosen was indeed the slowest. It wasn't very fast, nor was it agile, and it had no choice but to take the full force of the knives.
"Clang!"
"Thud!"
The goblin instinctively reacted to the danger and blocked the first short knife that was flying straight for its head.
However, the second dagger, which had been thrown with a slight delay, embedded itself firmly into the goblin's leg.
The two sounds echoed one after the other, just like the order in which the daggers had been thrown.
"Gyaaaah!"
The goblin screamed in pain, and greenish-blue blood started pouring from its leg. Since it wasn't a fatal injury, the goblin didn't disappear into black dust. Instead, it glared fiercely at Bell with its blood-red eyes.
'It worked.'
Bell thought.
Bell, who had been charging forward, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He extended his right hand toward the four goblins that hadn't stopped moving.
In an instant, a fruit tree from his storage appeared in midair.
Then, gravity did its thing, and the massive tree crashed down on the goblins.
The goblins, rushing in at full speed, immediately sensed the danger and instinctively tried to dive forward to avoid it.
However, the tree fell too quickly, and two of the goblins couldn't move quickly enough, and they got squished underneath it.
Bell felt a tremor beneath his feet from the impact. He didn't pay any attention to the two goblins that had been crushed. Instead, he pushed off the tree trunk with one foot and jumped over it.
The goblin with the wounded leg instinctively tried to pull the dagger out of its leg. But before the goblin could, the goblin saw the human that it had thought was prey now charging straight at it.
The goblin immediately grabbed its dagger and thrust it toward the human.
Bell, already prepared, kept his eyes locked on the goblin. He raised his short dagger to block the attack while shifting his body's center of gravity to the left as he ran.
"Crack!"
The dagger in Bell's hand couldn't withstand the force, and it shattered instantly into pieces.
At the same time, a tremendous impact surged through the hilt into Bell's palm, causing a jolt of shock to run through him.
The hit might've broken his hand if he hadn't shifted his body beforehand.
'This is what a goblin from the upper floor of the dungeon is like.'
Bell thought.
'A goblin with a small body, good at hiding in the dark… and way stronger than I expected.'
Even though a goblin on the first floor can be killed with one good strike to the neck using an average knife, it doesn't mean goblins are weak.
The goblins weren't slow at all, and their strength was terrifying. Their only real weakness was their bodies didn't have a strong defense.
If not for that, they wouldn't be monsters that even a Level 1 adventurer could handle.
'A sharp weapon really is a must when facing these monsters.'
At that moment, Bell finally understood why adventurers spend so much money on weapons and equipment.
He immediately pulled out a dagger from his storage. Before the goblin could get ready to defend itself, Bell swiftly slashed across its neck.
"Splat!"
A spray of blue-green blood shot into the air, and Bell, unable to dodge in time, was splattered with the goblin's blood all over his face.
However, he didn't feel any burning or unusual sensation. It seemed that this goblin's blood didn't have any such effects.
'This is about the general situation of the goblins on the first floor.'
The goblin, whose throat had been slashed, turned to black ash and was absorbed back into the dungeon as Bell thought this.
Then, a goblin dagger and a small magic stone appeared on the ground.
This surprised Bell slightly, but he didn't dwell on the drop rate at that moment. He picked up the magic stone and dagger from the ground and immediately turned around.
After raising his hand, Bell retrieved the fruit tree and put it back into storage.
It was at this moment that Bell noticed something—anything stored in his storage would be marked.
Then, the marked items could be retrieved. He wasn't sure if there was a distance limit yet, but he'd need to test that later.
After retrieving the fruit tree, Bell immediately took two daggers from his storage with both hands.
He aimed and threw them at the back of the head of a goblin that was still trying to get up.
At the same time, Bell noticed that one goblin had moved a certain distance away while another had fallen face-first to the ground.
"This is my chance!"
As Bell continued running, the dagger he had recovered from a goblin again appeared in his hand.
He followed and reached the goblin, who had been lying on the ground, trying to get up and ready its stance.
"Splat!"
The moment the goblin lifted its head, Bell's dagger slashed across its neck.
A spray of blood shot up into the air, but this time, Bell didn't linger.
With a quick glance at the two goblins who had been struck in the back of the head, Bell swiftly turned and charged toward the remaining goblin that was still alive.
"Yaaaargh!"
Seeing the others being killed, the last goblin let out an angry roar. It gripped its dagger tightly and charged straight at Bell.
Bell's eyes sharpened, and he increased his speed. The dagger in his hand was already ready, and he began to subtly shift his weight carefully.
Just as he and the goblin were about to collide, Bell quickly adjusted his balance.
However, what Bell didn't expect was that the goblin also changed its stance during the attack, switching from holding its dagger with both hands to using one hand to slash at him.