Subedei struggled desperately to keep his eyes open, refusing to fall asleep.
At this moment, his body looked so weak that it seemed as though it might collapse at any second.
In the end, however, sleep claimed him, and his eyes slowly closed.
Just then, the image of his sister the only family he had left surfaced in his mind.
The thought of leaving her alone sent a chill through him, and in that instant, he seemed to see her standing by herself in a pitch-black place.
Subedei's eyes snapped open.
A crazed smile spread across his face.
The movements that had slowed moments ago suddenly accelerated.
The goblin archers continued retreating until their backs hit the cave wall, leaving them with nowhere to escape.
One of them trembled violently as he tried to draw his bow.
The others had already run out of arrows and stared at Subedei with eyes full of terror.
Subedei closed the distance and effortlessly slit the throats of three goblin archers.
The last one tried to seize the opportunity to flee.
But luck was not on his side.
A spear pierced straight through his chest from behind.
The final goblin archer's eyes widened in disbelief as he collapsed to the ground.
[You have killed "Goblin Archer"]
By now, the Goblin King exhausted from swinging his sword wildly dropped his weapon and screamed while clutching his eye, left alone in the cave.
The hand covering his eye was soaked in green blood.
Seeing this, Subedei clenched his teeth, stepped back with one foot, and hurled his spear with all the strength he had left.
The spear sliced through the air with a sharp whistle and plunged deep into the Goblin King's back, embedding itself in his flesh.
The Goblin King screamed as unbearable pain exploded through his body.
"Graah! Graaah!"
Panicked, the Goblin King struggled to stand and tried to rip the spear out of his back but it wouldn't budge.
With no way to remove it, he began flailing wildly.
His excessive movements caused massive amounts of blood to gush from his back, and his motions gradually slowed.
Watching all this, Subedei forced himself to remain standing, barely maintaining his balance.
Grinding his teeth, he slowly walked toward the Goblin King.
Blood poured down the Goblin King's body from the wound in his back.
By the time Subedei reached him, the Goblin King had collapsed to the ground, completely unable to move.
At last, enduring everything, Subedei grabbed the spear lodged in the Goblin King's back and pushed forward with all his remaining strength.
Yet the spear didn't move at all.
Subedei's head spun, his vision blurred, and he felt on the verge of collapsing.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to fall.
Until the Goblin King was dead, his mind refused to rest.
Slowly, bit by bit, the spear began sinking deeper into the Goblin King's back.
Suddenly, the Goblin King's blood-filled, sightless eye snapped open.
Startled and terrified, Subedei instinctively tried to retreat.
And at that very moment, a notification appeared.
[You have killed "Goblin King"]
[Congratulations. You have defeated the Floor 3 Boss]
[Do you wish to proceed to Floor 4?]
"Yes" "No"
Hearing this, Subedei finally relaxed and collapsed to the ground.
Having lost too much blood from his shoulder, he tore his shirt apart and prepared to bandage the wound.
After taking a deep breath, he quickly yanked out the arrow embedded in his shoulder.
Agonizing pain tore through his body, blood gushing out as he cried out uncontrollably.
"AAAH!"
But he didn't have time to scream.
Gritting his teeth, he raised his trembling hand and tightly wrapped the torn fabric around his shoulder, ignoring the pain.
When everything was finally done, he let out a long breath and relaxed.
Exhaustion overtook him, and Subedei closed his eyes and fell backward.
—
Suddenly, he awoke in complete darkness.
There was no pain anywhere in his body.
Startled, Subedei looked around and began walking forward.
He continued through the darkness until a small light appeared in the distance.
Drawn to it, he quickened his pace.
The closer he got, the brighter the light became, dazzling his vision.
When he reached it, his eyes instinctively closed from the glare.
Then he opened them again.
The world around him had transformed into a damp forest.
As he walked through the woods in confusion, he noticed a figure ahead.
Only the person's back was visible, yet an overwhelming sense of loneliness and grief washed over him.
When Subedei tried to approach, an immense killing intent and terrifying mana suddenly erupted from that figure.
And Subedei was effortlessly crushed.
Gasping, Subedei jolted awake.
His body was drenched in sweat, and his face was filled with terror.
After looking around and realizing he was still in the cave, he finally calmed down and took a deep breath.
He wanted to believe it had all been just a dream, but the overwhelming killing intent and the sensation of being utterly powerless before that figure made his entire body tremble.
"That didn't feel like just a dream…"
"Everything I saw especially that person felt too real."
Shaking his head, Subedei whispered,
"I shouldn't think too much about it right now."
As he slowly tried to stand, pain surged through his entire body, especially his shoulder.
His face had gone pale, and even his hands trembled slightly.
Gritting his teeth, he endured the pain and stood up, then forcefully pulled his spear free from the Goblin King's corpse.
He stared in shock at how deeply his spear had pierced the Goblin King's body.
Before, his strikes had only left shallow wounds.
But this time, the spear he had thrown with everything he had had embedded itself deep inside.
The realization astonished him and left him deep in thought.
He knew throwing the spear made it stronger but he hadn't expected such overwhelming power.
After pulling it free, he wiped the blood from the spear using the Goblin King's beast-hide shoulder armor.
The cave reeked of blood, and goblin corpses littered the ground in every direction.
He had no desire to stay here any longer and quickly headed for the exit.
It seemed he had been unconscious for several hours by the time he emerged, darkness had already fallen outside.
Now, he was left with two choices.
Stay here for a few days to recover…
Or proceed immediately to the next floor.
For him, staying here had already become meaningless.
He wanted nothing more than to escape this place called the tower as quickly as possible.
Though his injuries were severe, fighting goblins on the next floor would still be manageable.
Looking up at the moon, Subedei took a deep breath and pressed,
"Yes."
A small black hole formed in front of him, gradually expanding until it was large enough for a person to enter.
Subedei stepped forward and slowly walked inside.