Of course, before Damian truly set off, he still had to properly prepare his Inventory. That was especially the case now that he had many things inside.

‘Let’s see.’

His sharpest-bladed weapon, Iris’ sword, was thankfully still intact this time around. However, it did look like it would fall apart in one or two more strikes, so it still had to be kept for special occasions.

On the other hand, Damian’s collection of Goblin knives had already increased to eight. While they were still inferior to the sharper shortsword, they had their own uses as Status Ailment Appliers.

With a small jar of poison in his possession, Damian took the time to carefully smear each one of them with just enough poison before lining them back into the Inventory.

He could now give any tough monster a poison shot to loosen them a bit!

‘This will still have to be the main weapon for now.’

Naturally, the shortsword was still the star of the show. Not only was it handy to hold even for a newbie like Damian and Iris, but it was quite durable as well.

Its craftsmanship wasn’t anything like the shoddy one that made the knives, Damian suspected that this was something that the Goblins had plundered as well.

Until he found the weapon of his dreams or something easier to handle, Damian wasn’t going to give up this shortsword anytime soon.

‘This will have its uses too, but…’

Although the Goblin Bat did a crazy amount of damage in comparison, it was simply too heavy for Damian to drag it along, let alone use it as a main weapon.

Aside from the specific strategy that Damian had for it, the Goblin Bat was likely going to stay in the Inventory for a long time. At least until he found a way to increase his Strength.

‘That should be it.’

Despite doing some organizing work, Damian still refused to Save his efforts. While it might be common practice to do so in usual games, carelessly erasing time in Fate’s Guide usually made the difficulty spike 9 out of 10 times.

Though he would be returning to the epitome of tiredness, having the unknown amount of time that he slept as changeable preparation time could save him from a pinch.

“We are heading out again, Iris.”

{Oh, good.}

Contrary to her reactions so far, a small smile appeared on Iris’ face. Not much time had passed, but her mental state was currently evolving!

Until now, moving forward had always represented danger, pain, and death. However, not too long ago, she had experienced the thing known as growth which ultimately gave birth to hope.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Going out now also represented that hope. Perhaps after several more exploration trips, they could finally exit this wretched Labyrinth!

Of course, Iris wasn’t confident enough to feel excited as the scenes of her death remained in the corner of her mind, haunting her whenever they had the chance.

Nonetheless, these moments also evoked her memory of a certain face. This thought had yet to completely root in her mind, but maybe, just maybe… She could achieve anything as long as Damian was guiding the way by her side?

“Glad we are of the same mind.”

Without any further hesitation, Damian firmly held into the shortsword in his right hand and the torch in his left. Now that he had a source of light, proper exploration could finally start!

Tap. Tap. Tap…

The structure outside was still familiar, there rock walls on both sides of the tunnel were no different from those inside the Den.

Just like Damian had to walk quite a distance to reach the Goblin Den, he encountered nothing interesting for a long while… Well, not that long.

‘Wait… Was that really some sort of tutorial route.’

After some time had passed, Damian found the tunnel to be quickly expanding. He couldn’t help remembering how dungeons worked in Fate’s Guide, the scope always increased once the player got familiar with the territory around him!

If this aspect was still true in the reality patch, then Damian might not have been unlucky to encounter a fully armed Den out of the start… The level of difficulty was just becoming realistic!

‘Should I put it away?’

As Damian advanced slower and slower, a hint of worry manifested in his heart. There was still no room or cave openings in sight, but his light source didn’t cover that far.

Although it made it easier for him to walk and make proper observations, it also made him an obvious target that could possibly pass through!

‘No.’

Nevertheless, Damian still decided against it in the end. As usual, the first exploration had to be the most educational. Even if it ended up increasing his presence a bit too much, he still needed to take in everything to leave no regrets.

At most, he could be…

“Grahhhhhh!”

Just when Damian was imagining the worst-case scenario, a very familiar warcry pierced his ears as an even more familiar green figure appeared before him.

There was a Hobgoblin that was mindlessly charging at him!

‘I’m definitely out of the beginner zone.’

The first stray that he encountered just had to be a Hobgoblin. Although this one looked less muscular, maybe even a bit emaciated, it was equivalent to a few Goblins on its own.

‘If I had just run away from the Den…’

This Hobgoblin’s weapon was just a rough club made out of rocks, Damian would still have experienced what it was like to die with an exploded head.

In his current situation, however…

‘Might as well test it on you.’

Once Damian put complete focus on his target, each second felt longer and shorter at the same time. In either case, he didn’t raise his shortsword.

‘Inventory.’

Instead, Damian suddenly put away both the torch and the shortsword just when the Hobgoblin was only three steps away, raising both hands above his head before…

‘Inventory.’

Summoning his mightiest weapon, the Goblin Bat!

Splat!

[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. FP+2 ]

[ The Possessed Subject’s Level has risen. ]

After personally experiencing it twice, Damian finally exploded someone else’s head!