Kobold

After deciding on his next moves, Haru stared at the Kobold who in response began to emit screams painted of pure madness, and for a moment, only one thought remained in his mind while holding up his sword...

'The monsters here are really the embodiment of insanity...but that's what makes the Dungeon easier in the close-ups, so I should be happy with that.?'

Although he wanted to think about it, Haru's eyes were focused on the monster. Even just its momentum carried a completely different feeling behind it compared to the goblins, and it wasn't the result of pure physical power and difference in constitution, this was certainly given by the parameters of the monster itself, Haru had no doubts on this subject.

Avoiding a blow from the right, Haru was now in a counterattack position. Without hesitation, he tried to slash with his sword, however, he lost balance right before the slash, influencing the power behind the cut.

'I barely wounded it...!'

Although a monster stronger than a goblin, Haru didn't expect to encounter such resistance in the first floor. His parameters would normally be considered suitable to pass between the 1st and 4th floors with relative ease.

But being no longer in a position of attack, Haru didn't hesitate to back down to try again. He had lost the balance because his skill with the sword was still not enough to allow him to act freely, but Haru wouldn't give up on the first attempt...

---

In one of the rooms on the first floor, the one who appeared to be a monster laboriously gasped trying to support itself relying on the stick in its possession with both hands as several cuts throughout its torso were gradually regenerating because of the Dungeon's influence on it.. But besides it, in the room the figure of a boy with a sword aiming at the monster without the slightest sign of tiredness.

'...Have I overdone it?'

He had continued to dodge the attacks of the kobold, but Haru had difficulty showing all the power behind his cut immediately after a dodge because of his balance and especially the reactions of the monster. It may have gone mad because of the Dungeon, but that didn't mean that if Haru continued to use the same technique on the same monster without killing it, the monsters would make the same mistakes forever. The result was that the Kobold, although its wounds were slowly cured by the Dungeon over time, was mentally exhausted, and no matter how much the Dungeon pushed it to fight, if the Kobold believed it was now dying, not even the madness it felt passing through itself was enough to make it rise.

Thinking about what to do, Haru was going to kill it as he had to explore the other floors, but he could see something that made his eyes widen.

He was convinced that as soon as he showed hostility, the kobold who a few seconds ago had lost strength in its legs to the point of having to support itself with its stick that just before was considered a weapon would've raised, yet Haru could see how the monster had a different air around it. Although madness was always wrapped around it, the monster simply refused to fight any further. He could see how the Kobold let go of its stick, losing the last bits of force it had left.

Falling to the ground with an almost monotonous sound, Haru didn't lower his guard, but being able to see how it was slowly disappearing, he had no doubt any more. The monster had chosen not to proceed with that fight, which for Haru had become more of a training session.

'It managed to break free from whatever was controlling it to act, and then decide to end its own life..so monsters can have feelings after all.'

He was shocked. From what he understood the monsters seemed to be driven by sheer madness, but it seemed if pushed beyond what is normally a fight without killing them, they could escape from that condition, and then decide what to do.

'. Somehow, this seems similar to what the King did with the Minotaur, in the face of overwhelming power, the monsters' attitude can change, they can show something different from madness, but I'm certainly not going to prolong every fight for that reason. Although freed, the air of madness inside the kobold was more than present, there is no doubt, that moment was nothing but momentary.'

In fact, Haru had no intention of making other living beings suffer more than they should. Although the monsters were nothing more than mana constructs, Haru felt it was easier to kill an enemy who threw itself at him with the intent of killing him than to kill a being who prostrated before him and asking indirectly to die or to assist at how monsters who had enough of fighting chose to take their lives.

Although rather fast, Haru simply had better parameters than the monster, and no matter how much they fought, the outcome of the battle wouldn't have changed at all, this is what Haru had in mind as he picked up the kobold's magic stone, noticing it seemed to be a little larger than that of a common goblin.

---

After passing the previous area however, Haru found himself against a group of 2 kobolds, but since his counterattack was still imperfect, he wanted to avoid putting himself at risk unnecessarily.

'I'll have to use the foundation of a war of attrition again to defeat them without too much trouble.'

He chose to use the same tactics he used against the group of goblins for the Kobolds when he was faced with groups. His rather exhaustive fight against the first kobold had proved very useful for Haru as he could also record in his mind how it moved and attacked, also taking into account the ease with which it could twist its body, so that it could dodge attacks a goblin couldn't even dream to. The only difference was that to succeed in this feat was more difficult, and so Haru had to use more of his energies to defeat a group of Kobolds compared to a group of goblins, but shortly after Haru took out the second kobold, he remembered something important.

'...Right, as I recall, the system should be able to update my status by adding the excilia earned. I wonder if it's possible to do it so that fighting can be made easier?'

He didn't have any serious problems dealing with monsters yet, in fact it could be said that they were rather behind in parameters compared to him, but the fact was Haru wanted to be particularly cautious, so if there was a chance to lower the risk, he wouldn't hesitate to take the chance, however..

[Advice: Carrying out the action of updating the status will make the fights easier, but this will proportionally decrease the excilia obtained by defeating monsters of the same level, are you sure you want to upgrade?]

Updating the status when one wanted the most was convenient, but that didn't mean it was always the right thing to do. In this case, Haru would gain a greater number of excilia if he would instead face the monsters with everything he had at that time without relying on updating the parameters. In this case updating the status brought more disadvantages than advantages.

'I didn't count on that. Misha confirmed that with my parameters and plus my development ability [Swordsman] it would be very easy to cross the first 4 floors.'

During the week when he had taken the remaining lessons at the guild, Misha and Haru had discussed many times, and Haru had ended up revealing to her that he possessed most parameters at rank H and the development ability [Swordsman].

Misha was obviously surprised, but she had confirmed him that with those parameters and possessing an ability, which was rather rare to possess from the beginning, he could pass through the first 4 floors with ease, However, worried this might make him think recklessly while in the Dungeon, Misha also told him if he had any difficulties he shouldn't hesitate to retire just because of this.

Haru could almost notice how Misha had begun to look at him with admiration after revealing this information, but what she didn't know was that Haru had only swung his sword incessantly, to the point he could feel something simply different from before.

But this wasn't the time to get lost in thoughts, so Haru decided not to add parameters as right now, what he needed was to level up as quickly as possible, and since he had no way to speed up the process, all he had left was to use all his strength and fight until his body had to go against its own limits.

'I don't know exactly how much time I have before Bell Cranel arrives in Orario, but the fact Hestia is here can only mean it won't take long for him, and I certainly can't change the world if he's the one to do it first.'

Haru didn't know exactly how to change the world, but the first thing to do was get enough influence to be considered too important to be ignored. This would have provoked many enemies, and it certainly wouldn't be easy to succeed in coming out victorious, but another problem that had arisen in his mind in those days was related to the boy who looks very much like a rabbit, Bell Cranel. Being the protagonist of the entire story, Haru was sure he would always be at the centre of the world itself, and theoretically right now he had a myriad of ways to stop him, but Haru certainly wouldn't openly damage another person just because of his selfish desires. It could be said that Bell Cranel had done nothing wrong to him, so there was no reason for him to sabotage his fateful encounter with Hestia, but most of all, Freya would definitely have her eyes on him, and if there was anyone Haru wanted to avoid in this world at all costs, it was that woman.

Haru had time to reflect on these things as he descended from what were the stairs leading to the second floor, because after defeating the group of kobolds, it was enough a couple of steps to notice the previous floor had reached its end. Knowing that these areas were safe, Haru quickly pondered what he should have done in the near future, but the answer came on its own, as if an intense feeling gave him a motivation, Haru tightened the grip on the hilt of his sword as he entered the first room of the second floor.

'If I can't have a level up as fast as Bell Cranel's, then I have to surprise the gods and the world with sword techniques. For now I am still far from the goal, but that doesn't mean it is unreachable.'

He felt that if his growth wasn't amazing, then his sword would replace that point. Surely the fact that Haru already possessed a skill was something that even a character like Bell Cranel didn't possess in the beginning, and this would attract the attention of the gods regardless, once learned.

---

(I'm sorry. I keep adding important stuff and chapters come out longer than they should've. Next chapter really there's the conversation between Hestia, Hephaestus and Haru since I'm pretty much done with his 'growth' in the Dungeon for the day)