Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Return (1)

「 Time left – 14 hrs 37min 」

Late night, inner city of the citadel.

The shining stars blended in with the beautiful night sky.

Normally, it would be a sight to admire, but now wasn’t the time.

“Kieeeeek!”

Puit!

I shoved my dagger in the heart of the screaming goblin and twisted my body.

Whoosh, tung!

A giant club smashed the floor as I felt a cool breeze behind my head.

I instantly took out a sword and swung my arm behind my back.

Shaack!

“Kr, krrrg…!”

Dammit, it didn’t slice all the way through again.

The one-handed fighting style wasn’t bad, but it felt wasteful to throw away those long swords in a time like this.

I swallowed my regret and finished the goblin off with a slash to the neck.

The goblin’s head hit the floor with the sound of the cut.

Maybe I’d really become a monster, considering how moving like that didn’t even phase me.

‘I guess… The goblins are done now.’

There have been two or so battles since then and every single one has been an overwhelming victory.

However, Lee Sunghoon and Lee Hayeon didn’t seem like they were having fun.

Maybe not Lee Hayeon, who was buffing Lee Sunghoon to the point where he could survive, but Lee Sunghoon looked like he was going to die.

“Fuck, what is this bullshit… Goblins shouldn’t be this strong…”

It sounded like Lee Sunghoon was having a hard time just fending them off from Lee Hayeon.

Although he did have a point.

Goblins weren’t typically this aggressive.

‘Most people don’t have trouble with goblins during the hunter exam as long as they don’t get too scared’

Tiny body, low stats, almost no intelligence… goblins had a lot of faults.

They could barely use their own weapons and weren’t physically strong.

They were only bothersome in a crowd.

「 You have absorbed the soul of the goblin warrior. 」

「 You have absorbed the soul of the goblin assassin. 」

「 You have absorbed the soul of the goblin knight. 」

…

…

「 Number of souls in possession – 8/15 」

「 Proficiency increased by 12% 」

The goblins of the 4th floor each had a profession and those professions all had different properties.

The goblin warriors were larger, the assassins knew assassination techniques, and the knights had clean swordsmanship as if it were using a skill.

‘They probably do have some related skills.’

The movements were far too sophisticated for them to not have one.

Of course, things like that only worked when your opponent had similar stats.

The stats I sapped from the goblins made it easier and easier to overpower them.

I couldn’t get any skills from them, but it wasn’t for naught.

At this rate, I thought we would reach the goblin king before the other team.

But the thought remained a thought.

The other two were taking twice as long as I was.

I could excuse Lee Hayeon because she was casting buffs and examining the area, but Lee Sunghoon was the problem.

‘One would think that he has some hidden skills from the way he was talking but…’

He was basically dead weight.

His innate ability was pretty useful, but that didn’t make it special.

Even if he were resistant to mana, he was nothing more than a moving meat wall.

Unlike most hunters, he didn’t seem to have that many skills.

Plus, not having a single weapon skill was a big contributor to his incompetence.

‘We probably won’t fall behind the other team but I doubt we will get ahead of them.’

That meant I would have to make some preparations.

I ignored Lee Sunghoon’s half-dead body panting on the ground and requested a conversation with Lee Hayeon.

“Can we go inside for a private conversation?”

I pointed to one of the abandoned houses as Lee Hayeon flinched.

I didn’t know why she was so tense but she even started stuttering.

“N-now?”

“Yeah, I think now is the most appropriate time.”

“I-I don’t know if I can now…”

“We don’t have a choice. The trial will go on soon.”

“…”

She had a dark look on her face for some reason but I didn’t want to say anything here.

The contents of the conversation may irritate Lee Sunghoon.

I mean, by the looks of it, it probably seemed like I was going to rob her…

‘I’ll just explain it when we get in there.’

I wasn’t going to do something like that to a teammate who was pulling their weight.

At least, not to a normal person.

Hm… maybe if they were like Lee Sunghoon.

Lee Hayeon reluctantly agreed and nodded her head.

“…Okay. But we can’t stay too long.”

“I know, the trial is still going on.”

She walked into the building with her head down.

I followed her in and stopped in the living room.

It was there where I finally opened my mouth.

“If we come face to face with the opposing team, can you use your buffs on me?”

“…Yes?”

“It may sound selfish but I think it would be the best use of them in that situation.”

She seemed to be caught off guard.

“I— no, it’s just… that’s what you wanted to say?”

She might be talking about getting robbed.

“No.”

It’s not like I didn’t have a conscience.

Plus, I didn’t really think I was in great need of items.

I had my dagger and the cloak, and that’s been enough.

“…”

She took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

She looked a little red from the misunderstanding.

“Ehem.”

It didn’t last very long and she turned back into her normal composed self.

“…Okay but, we’ll only be able to hold on for a little bit.”

That was something I expected.

“I know. All I need is an agility buff. I’ll take care of everything else.”

Lee Sunghoon and Lee Hayeon wouldn’t last that long against the other team so we had to find another way to gain an advantage.

Murder— in the first trial I was clearing with other challengers.

Lee Sunghoon wasn’t much help and Lee Hayeon was suited for the backline.

Hence, I was the only one who could do it.

‘I should put as much pressure on them as possible with the buffs.’

That’s the best we could do.

Lee Sunghoon probably wouldn’t care for this but…

‘He’s not here so…’

Lee Sunghoon was currently muttering beside a couple of goblin corpses.

He wasn’t even attempting to listen in on the conversation.

“I’ll take care of as many of them as I can while you fend them off.”

“So all I have to do is buff you from the back.”

“Yeah. You don’t have to prepare any offensive buffs if it’s too much. Just the agility one is fine.”

“I can give you other types of buffs…”

“You can give all the non-agility ones to Lee Sunghoon. He’ll need it to defend you.”

I couldn’t monopolize the buffs if I wanted them to stay alive.

Of course, he probably wouldn’t like how he’s being used right now…

But he probably wouldn’t say anything unless something big came up.

“Even if Lee Sunghoon complains, I’ll handle it.”

I threatened him once, I could do it again.

She stood there a little dazed, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.

“Why are you doing all this? You could just ignore us, but you…?”

I wasn’t sure. I’m not a very calculating person, but I knew one thing.

It was foolish to make more enemies for trivial reasons.

People like Lee Sunghoon are fine as enemies, but it was best to minimize friction with other types of people.

Lee Hayeon was a teammate at least deserving of that.

“Just think of it as a consideration for a teammate.”

She didn’t press any further.

“…”

Just a small smile.

Good thing she wasn’t as nervous anymore.

“I’ll be in your care then.”

I stretched my hand out and she did the same.

“Likewise.”

It finally felt like I was on a proper team.

***

We rejoined Lee Sunghoon outside and he tilted his head in confusion.

He must have realized we were both gone.

“…Did you guys go somewhere?”

“We just had some business to take care of.”

Of course, he didn’t ask any further and just turned the other way.

“…”

I opened my mouth after seeing him quiet down.

“Alright then. Let’s continue.”

Our teamwork had gotten better after fighting off the waves of goblins.

We kept our formation and made our way inward.

Toward the goblin king that Lee Hayeon detected.

I kept my guard up as much as I could, and there was something strange.

We were moving pretty fast but not a single goblin came out.

‘There were goblins coming out regularly till now…’

The goblins came in bigger and bigger waves.

But it was so quiet that it felt as if that was all imagined.

“The other team must have passed by here already.”

“That’s crazy, they got here faster than us?”

“…”

The floating goblin corpses in the fountain caught our eye.

Heavily armed corpses lying all around.

“But it doesn’t look like they’ve been dead for too long.”

I spoke as I crouched down to touch the corpses.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out.

‘It must be fresh because there’s still heat left in the body.’

That meant they weren’t too far from here.

We just missed them.

“They probably just entered the goblin king’s lair.”

A message from the tower arrived at the same time.

「 An intruder has infiltrated the tower. 」

「 All the goblins around the area are being called towards the king. 」

I didn’t know how strong the king would be, but we didn’t have any time to waste.

It would get worse when all the goblins got here.

“Prepare for battle.”

There’s only one correct response to that.

“We’re going in.”

The time to hunt just goblins was over.

It was time to fight against the other challengers.

____