Chapter 55: Chapter 51: You Got Promoted?
The entryway corridor was a bit longer than they had imagined.
With no clocks, it was hard to tell the exact time, but it felt like at least ten minutes had passed, and still there was no end in sight.
This was partly because of the numerous traps along the way, which forced them to proceed with caution. But even setting those factors aside, the path itself was quite long.
Fortunately, aside from a few harmless traps, there were no other obstacles. The journey had been relatively smooth.
The overly tense atmosphere from before seemed to have dissipated somewhat.
"Look ahead..."
Bain suddenly stopped. The others followed his gaze. The narrow corridor finally opened up, and ahead of them was a large, dark gray door.
The group exchanged glances and temporarily backed away. Bain held his Shield in front of him and slowly approached the door.
The other side of the door was completely silent; at least, they couldn’t hear a thing from where they stood.
Bain tried tapping the door with his Shield. The iron Shield made a crisp sound as it touched the door.
Other than that, there was still no reaction.
Bain wasn’t in a hurry. He cautiously touched every corner of the door with his Shield, as well as the adjacent walls. After confirming there were no hidden mechanisms, he shoved the door open and immediately retreated several steps to create distance.
It was pitch-black inside the door, making it impossible to see what was within.
The next moment, several rats as long as a man’s forearm scurried out.
Evan jumped in fright and hastily swung his Sword. When he saw what they were, he spat. "They’re just rats."
Millian, her expression calm, kicked away a rat that scurried toward her feet.
During her years of wandering, she had grown accustomed to such filthy creatures. Far from being afraid, back then she would have been overjoyed to see a rat.
"Don’t let your guard down!"
After a false alarm, people tend to relax. Fortunately, Bain’s warning made the momentarily careless youths wary once more.
Just then, with a series of whooshes, something suddenly flew out from the dark room.
Bain, who had remained vigilant, immediately raised his Shield to protect the others.
"CLANG—THUD—!"
After a series of impacts, Bain looked down at the projectiles scattered on the ground.
There were stones of various shapes and sizes, broken bricks and tiles, snapped Arrows, shattered blades...
"GAAAH—!"
A familiar sound came from inside the room.
Immediately after, more than ten short, oily-Green creatures popped their heads out one after another.
Bain, however, breathed a sigh of relief. He had never felt that Goblins could seem so welcoming.
"Prepare for battle!"
He didn’t need to remind them; the moment the Goblins appeared, everyone was already prepared.
Evan corrected his stance and swung his Sword in a standard, by-the-book chop. Although the Goblin in front of him blocked it, as an adult human, he had no problem overpowering the Goblin with his Strength.
A nearby Goblin tried to help its companion, but it had just taken a step when a sharp Feathered Arrow pierced cleanly through its chest.
Bain remained at the very front, single-handedly blocking the attacks of four or five Goblins with ease.
Cody didn’t move until the perfect moment, and when he did, it was a killing blow. His body was like a slithering snake as he shot forward. His shortsword, an extension of his arm, flashed past two Goblins in the blink of an eye, effortlessly taking their heads.
The strike was clean and efficient, a perfect demonstration of an Assassin’s methods.
But someone who wasn’t an Assassin was even faster, and even more insidious!
Two successive flashes of sword light flared. The whistling wind from the blade drew a cross in midair. The Goblins had no idea when Lin Mo had circled behind them; before they could even turn around, the blade had already descended upon them.
They felt nothing. As if slicing through soft tofu, several Goblins were effortlessly cut in half at the waist!
The unluckiest one was in the middle. It was not only struck by the horizontal slash but also the vertical one, getting diced into four pieces.
[Stealth] Skill Level +6
[Cross Slash] Skill Level +6
That one move had taken out six Goblins.
’How should I put this... In terms of power, it’s just as the Skill description says—equivalent to using [Slashing] twice in a row. The burst damage is considerable, but the Physical Consumption is also about double that of [Slashing].’
’Against weak Demons, it might be a bit of a waste.’
’Take those Goblins just now. I could have easily finished them with [Slashing] or even without using any Skills. [Cross Slash] didn’t do much besides deliver an extra, posthumous blow.’
’But... I have to grind my Skill Level, right?’
’With [Warrior’s Heart], the Physical Consumption of using Skills is reduced. As long as I don’t use it too many times, I can just about manage.’
Lin Mo’s attack was witnessed by Bain, who was blocking at the front. The usually calm and steady captain almost bit his own tongue off.
Ever since entering this Secret Realm, he had felt that something about Lin Mo had changed and had mentally prepared himself for Lin Mo having gotten stronger again.
But seeing him in action, Bain still couldn’t suppress the shock in his heart.
Bain had, of course, met Professionals before. He had fought alongside them many times and had even personally witnessed a Warrior successfully acquire their Profession mid-adventure, displaying a completely different level of power than before the promotion.
That adventure had left a deep and lasting impression on the younger Bain.
And now, from Lin Mo, he was getting that same familiar feeling...
The Goblins were quickly wiped out. The group followed the unspoken rule of cutting off the left ear of each Goblin they killed. Bain, however, just sat where he was, staring blankly for a long time.
"Captain?"
Cody asked with concern.
It wasn’t that he was particularly warm-hearted or felt a sense of belonging to the team. Rather, if they wanted to get out of this Secret Realm, Bain, the team’s Knight and captain, was crucial.
If something happened to him, it would be a huge problem.
Bain shook his head, indicating he was fine. Then he looked at Lin Mo, hesitating to speak.
"You... you promoted?"
In the end, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked the question.
’Promoted?’
The other three were stunned, not understanding what Bain meant at first.
"You could tell?"
Lin Mo shrugged. Since the cat was out of the bag, there was no need to hide it. "It’s just as you think, Uncle Bain."
"*Huuuu...*"
Bain let out a long breath, finally calming himself down. "Congratulations!"
Only then did the three onlookers finally realize what was going on.
’The meaning of ’promoted’... it couldn’t be...’
Cody’s shortsword fell to the ground. He recalled what Bain had said just half an hour ago.
—*Perhaps in a few more days, he’ll become a Professional.*
At the time, Cody had been extremely skeptical. As it turned out, his skepticism was, in a way, justified.
It really wasn’t a few days later. It was the *same* day...
