Level up the Colony

Timothy stared at the lifeless goblin shaman, its blood pooling at his feet.

Despite the exhaustion that had plagued him moments ago, he now felt strangely refreshed.

He almost proceeded to the next level when a faint clattering caught his

Turning around, he spotted Gray scurrying between his feet and the fallen shaman, frantically nibbling at the corpse.

Watching the termite eat its way through flesh was unsettling, but Timothy was more curious than disturbed.

Would Gray ever grow in size, or was leveling up purely statistical?

Did fatigue relief apply to it as well?

He had no way to check at the moment.

With a sigh, he pulled up his system screen.

---

[Status]

Name: Timothy Walters

Level: 5

Class: None

HP: 250/500

MP: 20

Fatigue: 0

Strength: 24

Stamina: 19

Agility: 20

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 10

Free Stats (FS): 5

[Skills]

King (Unknown) Lv. Max

Dash Lv. 1

Pheromones (Passive) Lv. 2

Clarity (Passive) Lv. 1

[Colony (1)]

Silverback Termite (Gray) Lv. 5

---

He rubbed his arms, noticing how quickly his wounds had closed.

The scabs left marks, but the pain was gone.

He even thought they made him look more intimidating.

Despite his newfound strength, the thought of Edward sent a fresh wave of anger through him.

His family, his home, everything had been thrown into chaos.

Timothy exhaled sharply and grabbed the goblin shaman's severed head, its spine dangling like a grotesque whip.

He called for Gray, not even needing to look for it.

The termite scurried up his body and nestled into his thick hair.

Would it stay with him if he advanced to the next level? If not, would he be able to return for it? He thought

"Proceed to the next level," he commanded.

The ground beneath him caved in, and before he could react, he was free-falling.

The descent felt endless, the walls around him stretching wider and wider until, suddenly, he was no longer inside a cave.

Instead, he was plummeting through an open sky.

He braced for impact, but when he landed, the force was completely nullified.

The ground beneath him was soft as if absorbing his fall.

Still, his face was buried in the dirt.

Timothy pushed himself up, dusting off his arms.

The moon illuminated the barren trees and the eerily quiet village ahead.

Unlike the paradise of the previous floor, this one was bleak and foreboding.

"This dungeon likes its village theme…" he muttered.

Before he could finish his thought, a thunderous roar shattered the silence.

A massive, green-skinned creature, nearly seven feet tall, emerged from the village with a rusted cleaver in hand.

Its yellow eyes gleamed with bloodlust as it sniffed the air and locked onto him.

Above its head, bold yellow text appeared:

[Hobgoblin]

Timothy barely had time to react before it charged.

He dodged the downward slash, rolling to the side.

The hobgoblin's cleaver embedded itself deep into the ground, kicking up dust.

Timothy circled the beast, analyzing its movements when he noticed its gaze fixate on the spine-whip in his hands.

A deafening, rage-fueled roar erupted from the monster's throat.

Before Timothy could recover, a powerful shockwave blasted through the air, stunning him momentarily.

His vision wavered, and his balance faltered.

The hobgoblin lunged again, its cleaver slicing down.

He barely managed to dive out of the way.

Panting, he quickly formed a plan.

His strength gave him an edge, but he lacked a weapon.

He needed to use his environment and his opponent's size against it.

The hobgoblin swung again.

This time, Timothy parried with the goblin spine.

The impact sent a jarring vibration through his arm, and he could hear the brittle bone cracking.

It wouldn't hold up much longer.

The beast retaliated with a horizontal sweep, but Timothy ducked beneath it and landed a solid punch to its jaw.

The hobgoblin stumbled, more from surprise than actual damage.

"Not enough," Timothy muttered.

The monster swung its free hand to swat him away.

Expecting this, he raised the spine to block.

The impact Clattered against his makeshift weapon, but the force was dispersed enough for him to remain standing.

Timothy grinned.

He immediately added all his free stats to Strength.

His muscles tensed as a surge of energy coursed through him.

Without hesitation, he broke the remaining halves of the spine into two sharp, jagged fragments.

The hobgoblin raised its cleaver for another attack.

This time, Timothy stepped in and activated [Dash]

Before the hobgoblin could realize what happened, he had jammed both bone shards deep into its ears.

The beast let out a high-pitched, almost human-like scream.

It thrashed violently, its cleaver dropping to the ground as it clawed at its head in agony.

Timothy didn't give it a chance to recover.

The hobgoblin groaned, clawing at its ears, desperately trying to pull out the bone fragments embedded deep within.

Each attempt sent jolts of pain through its body, leaving it distracted and vulnerable.

Timothy pushed himself up from the ground, wincing at his bruises.

His gaze shifted to the five remaining hobgoblins watching from the village entrance.

Three of them, judging by their features, were female, but they showed no signs of hostility.

That suited him fine.

He had bigger concerns.

Seeing his opponent's moment of weakness, Timothy sprinted forward and leaped, twisting mid-air to align himself with the hobgoblin's head.

Before it could register his presence, he struck its ear with a full-force palm strike, driving the embedded bone deeper into its skull.

With a dull thud, the hobgoblin collapsed.

[You have killed a Hobgoblin.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Silverback Termite (Gray) has leveled up.]

Timothy exhaled sharply, shaking off his exhaustion.

He turned to the remaining goblins and walked over to his fallen opponent.

Tearing out the shattered bone fragments from its ears, he inspected them.

Though too short to serve as proper weapons, they were still useful.

Everything can be a weapon.

He adjusted his stance, cracked his knuckles, and stretched out his arms in a taunting gesture.

"Who's next?"

---

Sometime later, Timothy sat atop a lifeless hobgoblin, surrounded by the remnants of his latest battle.

The ground was slick with blood, the air thick with the metallic scent of death.

He pulled up his system window...

[Status]

Name: Timothy Walters

Title: Goblin Slayer

Level: 10

HP: 1800

MP: 20

Fatigue: 30

Strength: 40

Stamina: 20

Agility: 23

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 20

Free Stats: 0

[Skills]

King (Unknown) Lv. Max

Dash Lv. 2

Pheromones (Passive) Lv. 3

Clarity (Passive) Lv. 1

Armament (Active) Lv.

[Colony]

Silverback Termite (Gray) Lv. 10

...

Timothy rolled his shoulders, feeling his fatigue fade.

So leveling up restores my stamina? He thought

He wasn't sure if this happened every five levels or only when clearing a dungeon floor, but he'd take the advantage.

Despite their superior numbers, the hobgoblins had refused to gang up on him, fighting in pairs or trios instead.

Whether it was out of pride or some twisted sense of honor, he neither knew nor cared.

He had slaughtered them all the same.

What he had learned, however, was the synergy between his stats.

His increased perception had been a lifesaver, allowing him to react instinctively to attacks.

It wasn't just about reflexes, perception helped him absorb subtle details, like the way Gray dodged attacks using its antennae.

Speaking of Gray…

Timothy glanced at his tiny companion.

The termite had been busy feeding on the fallen hobgoblins and, from the looks of it, growing smarter.

Whether it was from the pheromones skill leveling up or simply reaching level ten, Gray was showing clear signs of intelligence.

Both of them had unlocked new skills through

---

[Title: Goblin Slayer]

Effect: Increases damage against humanoid monsters by 10%, but significantly increases their hostility toward the user.

"A blessing and a curse. Given the goblin-themed nature of this dungeon, it was both useful and dangerous" he said

He got this title after defeating the last hobgoblin.

[Status: Gray]

Level: 10

Species: Silverback Termite

Skill: Scout Lv. 1

Gray's new skill seemed to revolve around reconnaissance, though Timothy hadn't figured out how to fully utilize it yet.

Then there was his new skill…

---

[Armament (Active) Lv. 1]

Effect: Enhances attacks by coating a chosen area of the user's body in a hardened layer, increasing both durability and impact force.

Mana Cost: 2 MP per second.

Can only be applied to what the user is in direct contact with.

---

Timothy clenched his fist.

"This could be useful... but it's also risky," he said in a calculated tone

His MP was absurdly low, he could barely sustain the skill for ten seconds before running out.

And worse, he had no idea how many worked.

Standing up, he dusted himself off, ignoring the drying blood on his body.

This time, he chose not to carry any body parts, doing so had provoked the Hobgoblins.

He had no interest in making things harder for himself.

[You have cleared this floor.]

[Do you want to proceed to the next level? Y/N]

Timothy exhaled, rolling his neck.

Gray scurried onto his head, settling in place.

"Yes."