Tower of Paradise

I picked up the rusty spear and began walking forward again, hoping to find a goblin weaker than myself.

Time passed.

I couldn't determine precisely how much time had elapsed, so I moved forward with discretion. I didn't want to feel physically exhausted like before, but I couldn't afford to rest.

Unlike my previous life, I was willing to sacrifice anything just to stay alive.

I had already experienced death before.

It was cold and frightening. Losing my sense of permanence was a terrifying experience.

I didn't want to die again. I wanted to live. I wanted to live in any form and in any way.

I caught and killed five more goblins, the number of soul fragments I possessed had reached eight. A calculated progress, but not without risks.

I realized how insufficient my imagination had been, despite having thought I was "prepared."

How ridiculous!

I simply hadn't been able to imagine the reality of the screams and roars of the predators I had to kill, the putrid stench of the goblins and the metallic smell of their blood, and the terrifying speed of these creatures.

I shuddered at the fury and hunger of the goblins, and I was horrified by their frenzy to tear and rip my abdomen, to feast on my soft entrails. It wasn't a battle between good and evil, the Tower was a war of survival.

The room beyond was full of monsters, and my mental preparations didn't work.

The screams and savagery of the creatures that wanted to kill me were hell. And in hell, instead of fire, there was darkness, and monsters screamed instead of sinners. Bodies of bleeding monsters still writhing and thrashing piled up in front of me.

It wasn't easy in the slightest. Still, that didn't mean I wasn't making progress.

I only needed two more goblins to complete the awakening and receive its benefits.

But at the same time, it made me more nervous. Some goblins had a higher level of existence and I could encounter a much stronger goblin.

I had to hunt all the goblins carefully unless I knew their level beforehand.

As I walked silently down the new hallway, I found prey.

Goblins are clumsy. Their hearing is excellent, but they lack other senses. They lack the so-called sixth sense, perception. A weakness I could exploit.

It wasn't armed and was much smaller compared to the other goblins. Better yet, it was sound asleep.

Sleep wasn't a sin. Unless you have a special ability and your stamina can be restored infinitely, drowsiness approaches all creatures, weak or strong.

I found many goblins hiding while sleeping and, with calculated coldness, I killed them all.

I approached carefully and drove the spear into its neck. It was enough to pierce the sleeping opponent's throat.

That was it.

After pulling out the spear, I looked around to see if it was safe, as I always did. Seeing that there was nothing strange, I approached to absorb the soul fragment of the monster floating above me.

[Soul fragments: 9/10]

After absorbing the soul, I turned around. In front was a strange-looking goblin which stared at me intently.

My heart seemed to stop. There was a knife in the goblin's hand. It was a crude and rusty knife, but it was a knife nonetheless.

Its skin was an unusual green, its body defined muscles with a height similar to mine, along with large fangs and red eyes.

The goblin laughed. Its confident attitude made my heart sink to my stomach.

Perfect, just what I needed.@@novelbin@@

Damn it, I could really tell how different hell was from other difficulty modes just by looking at the monster.

Until now, I had only been fighting with short goblins, less than 100 cm tall that were unarmed.

Undoubtedly, it was stronger than me, much stronger.

A shiver ran down my spine. My breathing seemed normal, but my heart was beating hard. My throat felt so dry and wet that I thought it would break into pieces at any moment.

I immediately threw the spear toward the monster and started running, hoping the spear would buy me some time.

I had no other choice. If I didn't throw the spear, the monster would catch up to me in seconds and kill me.

I ran desperately.

Fortunately, the distance between the goblin with the knife and me was getting bigger.

However, having learned from my techniques, the goblin threw the knife at me. It was a clumsy gesture, but the blade aimed at me with precision.

It couldn't be helped.

It was a miracle that, desperate to escape, I dodged the knife thrown by an enemy with physical capabilities superior to mine.

I had a knife stuck in my thigh. It wasn't very deep, but I couldn't stop and pull out the knife now, and running hurt a lot.

It felt like a flame was coming from my thigh. I felt like I was going to fall.

But what would happen if I fell? I would die. That guy would kill me without hesitation, just as I killed all the other goblins. It was the nature of the food chain.

If I fell, I would die. Had I survived hell only to die again in a more pathetic way than when I was an adult?

I hated this. I felt deeply regretful with myself for naively believing that I could challenge hell mode difficulty without dying in the attempt. I felt stupid.

The more I tried to analyze my actions, the more foolish I felt.

The bad decisions I made took their toll and I almost lost my life. In reality, being able to return alive and in one piece was already a miracle in itself.

A pain I had never felt before tormented my body.

I knew I could have stopped and died quickly. In the first place, why was I suffering so much?

I knew it, greed had blinded me.

Meanwhile, I didn't even stop to consider what kind of location I might find myself in after teleportation.

In reality, I was weak. I literally had nothing and was nothing.

I wanted more. I wanted to have a pillar on which I felt I could support myself, in which I could take refuge.

I wanted to trust myself. I wanted to believe that I could be more than I ever became.

I wanted to stop being weak.

It took me once to know that I didn't want to feel the helplessness I felt that day again.

If my suffering would give me the strength I desired, then I would go as far as my body could endure.

In the end, my mind was to blame. I pretended not to be relaxed. I pretended not to be too confident. My mind, my greed, blinded me with the need to strengthen myself as quickly as possible.

Still... I didn't want to die. I had to survive, I wanted to live.

I had to live.