Chapter 32
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Bait
As soon as 19 players entered the dungeon, a dry, barren stage welcomed them.
As if they’ve been brought to a corner of the Grand Canyon, cliffs made of dried soil surrounded them like a stadium.
It was an awesome sight that was worth mentioning.
However, none of the 19 players who saw this scene were interested.
“Over there!”
“What is it?”
“Over there, there’s a cave!”
What they were interested in were not the cliffs surrounding them, but rather the caves on its walls that looked like mouse holes.
There are 11 caves.
Each entrance was large enough to fit a SUV.
“Look at that.”
“There’s a mark next to the entrance of that cave.”
There was an artificial mark next to the entrance of the cave.
There was an X drawn using a sharp object. Some caves had two X marks in front them.
They were marks left by the players who visited the dungeon before them.
“X means don’t go in, right?”
“I think they just checked it off indicating that they already went in.”
There was a brief discussion on those traces.
“Well, does it really matter? It doesn’t change the fact that all we need to do is kill those goblin bastards inside… am I wrong?”
It was essentially a very short discussion.
“At the end of the day, all we have to do is kill some goblins. It’s not even a job when we just gotta go in the caves and kill them.”
“You’re right, the only thing annoying about hunting goblins is if they run away, but this is like catching a rat in a jar.”
“Having just one tanker at the front would be enough to end the game.”
“How stupid were the group of guys that came before us that they died before clearing this kind of dungeon?”
The players came here to hunt, not to comfort the dead and clean up their bones.
“Two X’s mean that two parties were wiped out, right?”
“That means there are two parties worth of items.”
Rather, they were much more interested in taking the items left behind by the dead players.
Actually, it was obvious that they came here that reason in the first place.
“We’re going in here! If you come in here without our permission, we’ll kill you without a warning. So don’t follow us!”
“Here, here, here. Don’t touch these three because we’ll be clearing them. Just know that we’ll cut at least one of your wrist if you try.”
“We’ll enter this one.”
The evidence was that the three parties started fighting for the caves with two X marks without any hesitation.
If they knew the characteristics of the hobgoblins and the caves, they would never have hastily chosen the caves that probably wiped out 2 parties.
“You four, you don’t have any complaints, right? Do you?”
If they were smart, they would never have tried to aggressively protect those caves from their competitors as if it was their food supply.
“No, I don’t.”
Kim Woo-jin, who gave his response, was able to confirm his notions.
‘No one here came prepared for the hobgoblin hunt.’
Kim Woo-jin’s eyes slowly turned to the three Skull Guild members in their skull masks.
‘These guys didn’t come to hunt hobgoblin in the first place.’
Based on the information, Kim Woo-jin went through a new simulation in his head.
‘The Skull Guild should know that they cannot hunt 444 hobgoblins on their own unless they are stupid… they will probably wait until the other players dwindle down the number of hobgoblins.’
As soon as he came to this conclusion, Kim Woo-jin stopped hesitating and approached a cave without an X mark.
Seug!
‘If you’re going to give me time, I’ll gladly use it.’
Then he marked the first X next to the cave and entered it without hesitation.
Thus, the Hobgoblin Cave hunt began.
Hobgoblin.
Their appearance usually didn’t differ much from the usual goblin.
The only difference between them were that a hobgoblin’s physique was smaller yet a tad bit more muscular than a goblin’s, and they also had a single horn about the length of a finger on their head.
But their personalities differed drastically in comparison to normal goblins.
Ordinary goblins were very timid. If their colleagues were to die, they would not look back and run away, using their colleagues as a sacrifice. Subsequently, they would even run away at the smell of his or her partner’s blood as well.
But hobgoblins were different. They were fearless. Rather, when just looking at their fighting spirit alone, they were not any less belligerent than orcs, and their fighting spirit rose even higher the more they were clumped.
If this was the case, how would you deal with hobgoblins in a dark cave with enough space for a car to drive through?
Most people would think like this.
Let’s put the warrior armed with armor and shield in the front and fight in an orderly fashion after blocking the road.
Yang Il-soo’s thoughts were the same.
He, who had Undying Fighter as his halo, prepared for the fact that he had to hunt goblins in a cave.
He got a bigger armor and a bigger shield to make sure his body could block the passage of the cave.
In fact, Yang Il-soo, who was just covered in armor and shields, was blocking much of the cave. In other words, he couldn’t block the entire passage of the cave.
Kaya!
“Uh, uh!”
That was why a hobgoblin could slip through the small gap left by Yang Il-soo.
“Oh fuck, be careful!”
Yang Il-soo was taken aback by the situation.
However, he wasn’t that flustered as there were two magicians, a healer, and one archer who believed in Yang Il-soo and were preparing to attack from behind.
However, the movements of hobgoblins seemed even more ominous when only the torchlight was lighting the cave.
“Urrgg!”
“Ru, Run!”
The two magicians took a step back upon seeing the incoming hobgoblins.
‘Ah, I can’t see.’
The archer, who had to engage in the fight, also failed to respond properly to the sudden turn of events.
Ting!
He shot an arrow, but it just stuck the ground.
Kaya!
“Ahhhh!”
A hobgoblin was already attached to the healer when the archer held an arrow for the second time. Kaa!
A hobgoblin, who clung to the healer, let out a shriek and bit him on the shoulder with its teeth.
Of course, there was no blood since the healer was wearing his protective gear.
“Ge, get away from me! Aahhh! Save me! I said help me! Aahhh!”
However, it was impossible to prevent the healer’s screams from demoralizing Yang Il-soo’s party.
‘What’s happening behind me?’
It was also impossible to prevent Yang Il-soo’s mind from being distracted by the situation he couldn’t see.
Kaya!
“Be, be careful!”
While Yang Il-soo was distracted by the situation behind him, the hobgoblins once again tried to storm out through the little gaps between his armor.
This time there were two.
Kayaa!
A total of three hobgoblins began to wreak havoc inside the party.
It was not just Yang Il-soo’s party.
“No, it slipped through!”
“Be, be careful!”
“Aaahh!”
The same thing was happening inside three caves.
Moreover, this was the third time for the hobgoblins there. There were three X marks next to those caves.
That was why the hobgoblins were able to move more aggressive and systematically.
Of course, there were places that weren’t like that.
The place where Kim Woo-jin was in.
Kaaa!
The hunting method Kim Woo-jin selected and what the others chose were essentially identical.
He also blocked the passage to stop multiple hobgoblins from advancing.
However, he did not block the passage by wearing armor or using shields.
Kang!
Instead of himself, there were metal bars placed in front of him.
He literally placed bars.
The metal bars, which looked like they must have been taken from a prison cell, blocked the passage between Kim Woo-jin and the hobgoblins.
In addition, the metal bars were placed in a slant, supported by a pole underneath them. This prevented the iron bars from falling to the floor.
It looked like a right triangle from the side.
Tteolgeuleog!Tteolgeuleog!
And behind the bars were skeleton soldiers holding long spears.
Puk!
The skeleton soldiers were stabbing the hobgoblins, who were clinging to the iron bars and shrieking, one by one.
This was Kim Woo-jin’s method of hunting.
‘It was worth preparing.’
Preparation was not difficult either.
He could easily melt the cheap items found in the dungeon as easily as assembling a tent. Besides, in a dungeon, there were lots of materials that were harder yet lighter than steel.
The cost of it was also negligible. It cost about as much as expensive drinks and cocktails players would gulp down at a bar in Gangnam.
But the value of the metal bars was awesome.
Kayaa!
Hobgoblins, who were blinded by anger from the repeated deaths of their comrades, rushed toward the metal bars without rest, but not even a single hobgoblin managed to change the situation.
They couldn’t break the metal bars and they didn’t have any weapons that were effective against the enemy beyond the metal bars.
Kang!
Although throwing stones was the one thing they could do, most of them were blocked by the metal bars.
Puk!
On the other hand, skeleton soldiers skillfully thrusted their spears through the gap between the bars.
Furthermore, skeleton soldiers weren’t just thrusting their spears.
They targeted areas such as the eye, where the wound would be as grievous as possible, and where they would bleed the most.
Puk!
They also remembered to use their spears to stab those who were hanging over the fence.
Of course, metal bars were not perfect.
Depending on the shape of the passages in the cave, there were sometimes gaps that could be used to slip through.
Kiiiii!
A hobgoblin just slipped through such a gap.
That was all.
With a clear understanding of where the gap lay, all Kim Woo-jin had to do was watch over the gap.
Puk!
Kik!
As soon as the hopgoblin came out of the gap, Kim Woo-jin’s arrow flew and pierced right through the hobgoblin’s forehead.
‘They are falling into the trap.’
In fact, for the hobgoblins, the gap left by the metal bars was nothing but a death trap.
That hope was what made it a trap.
In the first place, blocking the passage couldn’t really be considered a trap.
Though it seemed safe, there would no going back once one’s feet were in a real trap.
Like that, Kim Woo-jin and his skeleton soldiers hunted the hobgoblins one after another.
Soon came a silence, not even a hobgoblin’s scream or breath could be heard.
[You Have Leveled Up.]
Then there was a notification inside Kim Woo-jin’s ears.
It was a reminder that the hunt was over.
However, Kim Woo-jin’s eyes wasn’t that of a dog who finished hunting.
They were the eyes of a hunting dog that found its prey.
Skull mask.
“Remember.”
A beautiful voice came through the eerie mask.
“We’re trying to get him to throw up as much information as possible. So you can’t kill him no matter what happens. There would have been no point in coming to this ditch if we accidentally kill him.”
But the words she spoke were far from beautiful.
“If you think it’s risky, save his life even if you have to use a potion. Since we’ll probably have to torture him for at least two days before he begins to talk.”
Park Yi-yeon, a member of the Skull Guild, continued to make horrifying remarks.
The other two men beside her did not seem to care.
They did not question the gruesome order of getting information by torture.
It was the same as not questioning a fisherman for wanting to catching a fish.
Since this was her job before becoming a player.
As a former member of a secret self-defense force, she was already proficient in drawing information from people thanks to the experience of countless operations even before becoming a player.
“Let’s go in.”
It was not a matter going into the cave and dealing with the player who is fighting with the monsters.
“From now on, all conversations will be in sign language. Keep your senses sharp and be as silent as possible when you move.”
“Just keep one thing in mind.”
“Do not forget the teachings of the God Archer.”
God Archer Hijiro Noda, the owner of the legendary grade item, Achilles’ Bow.
Not forgetting the teachings of the hunter, whose name was better known as one of the heroes of the Messiah Guild rather than by his title.
‘We’re going in now.’
When Park Yi-yeon, who bore such teachings sent out a signal, the remaining two responded with signs of their own.
In such a manner, three people went into the cave.