I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 87: Attribute Enhancement, Clearance Reward

Within the ghostly blue flame, yellow-green viscous fluid sprayed out from the charred wound, instantly igniting into a pungent green mist upon contact with the flame.

The cracks in the shattered carapace spread rapidly under the high temperature, emitting a crisp "kala" sound similar to tempered glass.

The once seemingly indestructible chitin armor began to peel off in fragments, exposing the rope-like fibrous muscle tissue underneath.

Under the gnawing of the blue flame attached with spores, it emitted the scorched stench of burnt protein.

"Can it be burned to death?"

Watching the mantis-man burn fiercely within the fireball, Gauss, who had yet to see the panel's kill prompt, could only first drag Edith—whose limbs had gone weak—further away.

After confirming that she was not injured, he casually grabbed the hand crossbow beside her and the scattered short arrows on the ground.

Arrow inserted into the groove, draw, aim, fire!

Just like that, he kept shooting arrows toward the mantis-man.

The others also came to his side at this point, equally not daring to approach the mantis-man.

Even though it now looked pitiful, especially those compound eyes, which had been shattered into countless tiny fragments by the shockwave from the Spore Bomb.

But due to the psychological shadow it had left earlier, no one dared to step forward and finish it off.

Afraid that the mantis-man, full of wounds from the explosion, still possessed the strength to kill.

"Careful, it’s not dead yet. Don’t go over," Gauss reminded.

This was also one function of the Attribute Panel.

As long as the panel did not display the kill prompt, it meant the enemy was not yet truly dead.

This prevented him from encountering enemies feigning death, then counterattacking in their final moments.

"Okay."

Upon hearing Gauss say this, the others became even more reluctant to approach.

Now that they could relax momentarily, they began to recall the details of the previous battle.

Just a little reflection made them realize something instantly.

In today’s battle, had Gauss not been present, the others likely would not have survived.

It was not self-deprecation, but a recognition of the huge gap between themselves and the mantis-man.

This was the terror of monsters with a Challenge Rating.

The front-line Warrior Apprentices were unable to effectively restrain or withstand the mantis-man head-on, while the rear archers and spellcasters couldn’t exert their full effect either.

Moreover, the mantis-man possessed unmatched mobility, capable of bypassing their relatively cumbersome front line and ambushing the more vulnerable spellcasters and archers.

If the mantis-man hadn’t focused all its attention on Gauss from the beginning—

Then Bianca might not have been the only one instantly killed.

At the thought of Bianca—

A trace of grief appeared on the faces of the few present, especially Lawrence, who now didn’t even dare to glance in the direction of her corpse.

Afraid to see the head that had fallen to the ground.

Edith wore the same look of lingering fear.

Had Gauss not intervened in time earlier, she might have ended up just like Bianca.

"!"

"Ka!"

Gauss was unaware of the mix of emotions in the hearts of his teammates.

He had merely turned into a cold, mechanical executioner.

The shockwave from the Spore Bomb had shattered the mantis-man’s sturdy armor, and the stubbornly clinging flames had widened the cracks further, exposing its internal flesh.

Now, each arrow he fired could pierce into the mantis-man’s bloody body.

Finally.

After one more arrow was fired from the hand crossbow—

A translucent prompt finally appeared before Gauss’ eyes, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Slain: Slikrin Mantis-man *1"

"Total Monster Kill Count: 179"

"[Expand: Common Monsters 178, Elite Monsters 1]"

 「First-time kill of Elite Monster. Reward obtained: Perception +1. Gained Skill: Enhanced Jump.『Skill【Enhanced Jump】: Upon using this skill, by consuming more stamina, temporarily enhance leg muscles to gain stronger jumping capability, allowing better terrain traversal and rapid mobility.』」

「You have accumulated 1 kill of Slikrin Mantis-man.」

「Title obtained:【Mantis Hunter】. This title will level up as the number of Slikrin Mantis-man kills increases.」

「Current Effect: Armor Break. In battles against Slikrin Mantis-man and related advanced species, the armor break effect caused by attacks is slightly increased.」

Strings of text flashed rapidly before Gauss’ eyes, like information overload, making it hard to take in all at once.

Meanwhile, following a particular notification sound—

His brain was enveloped by a cool, clear energy—exceptionally soothing.

Then came changes in perception of the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, etc.

With each blink, it seemed that more information was being captured visually—changes in color, pixels, speed of visual signal reception across every level; in terms of hearing, it felt as though an invisible veil had been torn away. After a soft "whoosh"—

The world became much quieter...：..

Gauss felt as if the world before him had been renewed.

Was this the world seen through enhanced Perception?

He stood dazed for a while before finally adapting to the changes brought about by the heightened senses.

He opened the panel.

Name: Gauss Strength: 6

Agility: 6

Constitution: 6

Intelligence: 7

Perception: 6

Charisma: 6

On the Attribute Panel, the final shortcoming had been filled.

He felt that calling himself a “low-spec Hexagon Warrior” would not be too much.

Suffering a bit of obsessive-compulsiveness, Gauss stared at the panel, finally feeling at ease.

Except for Intelligence being 7, all others were a clean slate of 6.

Next came changes in Skill Proficiency.

With the final room of the Micro Dungeon cleared, each skill had improved in proficiency.

Skills:

Tier 0 Cantrip Light Spell lv2 (7/20)

Tier 0 Cantrip Mage Hand lv3 (27/50)

Tier 1 Spell Magic Missile lv3 (17/50)

Tier 1 Spell Mage Armor lv3 (48/50)

Swordsmanship Basics lv2 (12/20)

Enhanced Jump lv1 (1/10)

Talents: Rapid Digestion, Magic Resistance.

Light Spell increased by 2 points, Mage Hand by 2, Magic Missile by 4, Mage Armor by 3, Swordsmanship Basics by 2.

And the newly obtained skill from the mantis-man:【Enhanced Jump】.

There were exploration-assisting skills, ranged spell attack skills, defense skills, melee weapon skills, and mobility-enhancing skills.

His abilities had gradually become more well-rounded and diverse.

He opened the second page of the Monster Encyclopedia.

Aside from the first page which contained only common entries, the elite section on the second page had finally revealed its mystery.

A tall, imposing dark brown mantis-man appeared on the first page of the Elite Encyclopedia.

As Gauss focused his attention on it, a profile card about it even popped up.

「？」

He was a little surprised.

Was this favoritism? Clearly, the normal monsters didn’t have this.

Creature Name: Slikrin Mantis-man

  Challenge Rating: 1

  Creature Type: Humanoid (Insect Subspecies)

  Body Size: Medium (Adult height 1.8–2.2 meters)

  Habitat: Desert, Grasslands, Savanna

  Social Structure: Solitary or small hunting groups (usually 2–3)

  Lifespan: About 30 years (lacks need for sleep, resulting in shortened life)

  Racial Traits: Chameleon Carapace, Powerful Jump, Four-armed Combat, Psionic Talent (manifested in few)

Looking at the Slikrin Mantis-man data card in the Encyclopedia—

Gauss gained more understanding of this once unfamiliar monster.

This one that had appeared in the dungeon as the final “BOSS” should be close to 2.2 meters in height.

Which meant that, judging by size alone, it should belong to the higher echelon of its species.

However, since this was Gauss’ first encounter with a mantis-man, he still couldn’t be sure whether this one was considered strong or weak among its kind.

After exiting the Adventurer’s Handbook, Gauss began to feel a wave of hunger.

The earlier casting of Magic Missile had drained quite a bit of magical energy, and his body was urging him to eat quickly to replenish the depleted magical reserves.

"It’s over now. It should be dead." While eating, Gauss noticed that his teammates were still on high alert.

Only then did he realize he had forgotten to share this intel.

"Ah—finally dead, huh?" Lawrence plopped down on the ground.

His back was completely drenched in sweat.

That mantis-man earlier had placed immense psychological pressure on him. For a weak Apprentice Spellcaster, once it got close, death was nearly certain.

Of course, Gauss didn’t count.

Gauss was the only one in the team who had endured several exchanges head-on with the mantis-man.

And almost all the effective damage had been dealt by him.

The power gap between Gauss and his teammates wasn’t obvious in low-level situations—everyone could more or less kill low-tier monsters. But in these “high-level scenarios,” the difference between Gauss and other Professional Apprentices became starkly clear.

"Is that the exit passage?"

Gauss noticed that a slanted upward tunnel had appeared on the side.

Judging by the slope and direction, it likely led back to the surface—but for now, there was no rush to leave.

There were still many things at the scene that needed handling.

He walked over to the side of the mantis-man.

The ghostly blue spore flames entwined around its body had burned for a long time and had now weakened significantly.

The mantis-man had been burned pitch black by the flames.

"What a pity." Gauss sighed.

If the mantis-man’s corpse had remained intact, it could have yielded a considerable amount of valuable materials.

Its tough insect carapace, four scythe-like forelimbs sharp as blades, the intricate compound eyes on its body, and so on.

Unfortunately, a single explosion and the continuously burning fire had caused severe damage to its organs and materials—most of their value was likely significantly reduced.

But on the other hand—

If it hadn’t been for the shockwave and flames from the Spore Bomb, it might not have been brought down so easily. If danger could be reduced, then everything was worth it.

"! Watch out, something’s happening!"

Just as Gauss was expressing regret, Edith’s startled cry rang out from the distance.

"Boom boom boom!"

He followed his teammate’s gaze.

After a series of rumblings, a massive elevated platform rose from the previously flat ground.

"So startling—turns out it’s just the room reward?" Lawrence was startled by her sudden exclamation.

Once he saw it was just the reward platform similar to the previous clearance reward—only on a larger scale—he let out a breath of relief.

What would this time’s reward item be?

The others also gathered around with curiosity.

Upon the square platform—about a meter wide—stood silently a black metallic staff, a little over a meter long, completely smooth and unadorned.

At the top of the staff was embedded a dust-covered Leylines Quartz.

"Unbreaking Staff."

Just like before, information about this reward item suddenly appeared in everyone’s mind.

"Steel's spine unbending, the bearer’s will unyielding."