"AHHH!"
"There's a trap ahead! Everyone behind, don't ru—"
"Retreat! Retreat! Ah..."
The Yellow-Cap Goblins near the front panicked when they saw the goblins ahead of them dropping to their knees one after another.
They immediately tried to stop themselves and shouted for the endless stream of goblins behind them to stop as well.
Unfortunately, the chaotic footsteps and shouting completely drowned out the voices of the goblins in front.
On top of that, the bomb had kicked up a huge amount of dust, blocking the vision of the goblins in the rear. They had no idea what was happening ahead and simply kept rushing forward one after another to their deaths.
Pfft! Pfft!
Goblin after goblin dropped to its knees.
Only when so many goblins had died at the front that the passage was completely blocked did the goblins behind finally start realizing that something was wrong.
However...
Ethan, hiding in the shadows, was not just there for decoration.
He kept placing new miniature Spatial Gates behind the goblins trying to retreat.
"Spatial Gate!"
"Spatial Gate! Spatial Gate! Spatial Gate..."
Even the creator of the Spatial Gate probably never imagined that Ethan would use it like this.
After all, the skill had been invented for transporting things or quickly traveling somewhere.
But Ethan was using it to send parts of monsters' bodies somewhere else.
'What a talent!'
[Experience: 485/500]
[Experience: 486/500]
[Experience...]
"Retrea... urgh!"
One goblin that reacted quickly managed to stop just before killing itself and avoided moving forward.
However, the instant it turned around to retreat, it ran straight into a Spatial Gate that Ethan had specially prepared behind it.
In an instant, the Yellow-Cap Goblin couldn't even finish its sentence before dropping to its knees.
The goblins beside it stared in shock.
For a moment, they didn't know whether to advance or retreat.
There was no need to mention advancing, the mass of bodies piled up ahead had already explained enough.
As for retreating, their companion had just become the latest example.
The Yellow-Cap Goblins all froze in place, not knowing what to do.
Naturally, Ethan wasn't about to let them go.
He casually threw out several Great Fireballs and directly killed those goblins, preventing them from blocking the goblins behind from coming forward to kill themselves.
[Experience: 499/500]
Without realizing it, the experience bar for Level 2 Spatial Gate was almost full.
Ethan's eyes lit up.
"Once more!"
"Spatial Gate!"
[Spatial Gate: Experience 500/500]
[System Notification: Spatial Gate Level 2 → Spatial Gate Level 3]
[Level 3 Spatial Gate can choose an upgrade path: 1. Miniaturization, 2. Enlargement]
"Hm?"
When Ethan saw the notification, he was somewhat surprised.
This was the first time he had encountered a skill upgrade with selectable paths.
However, neither path came with a detailed explanation. There were only short names.
Choosing at random involved a certain amount of luck.
One was Miniaturization.
The other was Enlargement.
Based purely on the names, continuing down the miniaturization path seemed more suitable for him.
After all, he had always preferred sneaky methods.
If the Spatial Gate became larger, it wouldn't be as convenient for setting traps.
Besides... the Enlargement path seemed better suited for a mage like Nini, who could create a Spatial Gate the size of a hat right from the start.
If she continued enlarging it, she could probably use it as an Anywhere Door before long.
Meanwhile, even after Ethan had worked hard to raise Spatial Gate to Level 2, it was still inferior to her Level 1 Spatial Gate.
What did that mean? It clearly meant he had no talent in the Enlargement direction.
In that case, he might as well focus on what he was good at.
Skills were only tools. How they were used depended on the user.
For example, if someone held a small steel ball in their hand and threw it, it could barely count as a weapon.
But if the same steel ball was put into a slingshot, its power would obviously be much greater. At the very least, hitting a bird wouldn't be a problem.
Some people would simply load the steel ball into a BB gun.
That would be much stronger than a slingshot. Punching through a can or a bottle of cola would be easy.
But, if someone loaded a small steel ball into a shotgun...
Boom!
Forget people, it could even punch through a small tree.
So the direction of a skill did not determine its power.
What truly determined a skill's power was how it was used.
Ethan decided to trust his own judgment.
'Choose Option 1, Miniaturization.'
[Upgraded to Level 3 Spatial Gate (Path: Miniaturization) → Spread Across the Sky Like Stars]
'Spread Across the Sky Like Stars?'
'What kind of skill is that?'
Ethan decided to use the remaining dozens, or perhaps a hundred, Yellow-Cap Goblins to test it out.