Dark Item Drop
“Gremlin First Model. Listen carefully. You don’t need to kill the ordinary goblins. Just take down the big ones. Got it?”
- Grem, grem! (Yes, yes!)
“If you can, go for the throat, but don’t push it too hard. Cutting the tendons in their ankles will be enough.”
- Grem! (Grem!)
Even just putting them out of the fight would be a huge gain.
“Good. Camouflage cream... or should I call it powder now? Anyway, let’s put on the camouflage powder.”
Ho-yeong shook stone dust thickly into the fur, then tucked Gremlin No. 1 into the Bakgyeokpo. He wrapped the gremlin snugly in sandbags.
“Heave-ho! Gremlin drop! Fire at power 3!”
Thanks to the low-power launch and the sandbags, the gremlin flew out without a scratch. In midair, it slashed at the sandbags with its dagger, ripping them apart.
- Goob!
The goblins shut their eyes as sand sprayed down out of nowhere, and the gremlin landed unseen.
What was more, the fog Meyril had raised and Baunal’s sandbag barrage had turned the entire area into a gray-white blur.
- Goooob?!
The goblins looked thoroughly rattled.
The black mist they had seen while advancing had been more like a cloud floating overhead, but this fog now lay thick across everything, blotting out their sight.
- Gop! Gop-gop!
The goblin shock troops cracked their whips at them, and the gremlin, ears twitching at the sound, scampered off at a trot.
“Wow. It’s practically cloaking. He’s invisible, completely.”
The gremlin had blended into the fog so well that its outline was almost impossible to spot. It was tiny to begin with, and now it was coated in stone dust besides, so to a goblin with mediocre eyesight it simply didn’t exist. And because its whole body was covered in fur, it made almost no sound at all.
Thud.
One by one, the shock troops collapsed, their throats slit by unseen blades.
“Perfect for an assassin.”
Goblin Shock Troop #009 has been defeated. Gained 3 KP.
Goblin Shock Troop #015 has been defeated. Gained 3 KP.
....
Seeing the gremlin slice across the battlefield and cut down the shock troops made Ho-yeong grin with satisfaction.
- Gooooob?!
The goblins were afraid, even as they rejoiced at the sight of their hated shock troops dropping one after another. Their low intelligence and narrowed field of vision meant they had no idea what was happening.
“All units, listen up! Attack only the enemies that come close. Do not cross the barricade unless given a separate order!”
“Yes, sir!”
The goblins just milled around in place.
This wave doesn’t have any archers, so they’re not a threat... Let’s leave them for now and focus on our allies.
By then, Gremlin No. 1 had either killed or crippled every shock troop.
“Good! Gremlin, withdraw!”
The gremlin, blessed with excellent night vision, managed to slip away safely.
“Well done. Gremlin First Model!”
- Gre... grem! Grehehhek.
“You’ve earned a break. Have some hornleaf tea and rest.”
The gremlin was a wreck, having been kicked around by goblin feet.
“Meyril, you did very well too. The thickness and placement of the fog were just right.”
Ho-yeong handed Meyril a cup of hornleaf tea as well.
“R-really? Hehe. I’m glad I could help yoooou.”
She smiled so broadly her huge eyes nearly disappeared beneath her eyelids.
“Meyril, could you move this fog over the other side of the hill? Or maybe call up a new fog bank on the far side?”
“I... I think that would be too much for meee. Eeeh... I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Just rest for a bit.”
After checking on her condition, Ho-yeong climbed over the hill with the Bakgyeokpo.
“Baunal. You’re doing well. Good.”
Baunal was in the middle of a fierce assault, hurling stones with his sling. Knowing that aiming for the shock troops’ heads would only get them swatted away by glaives, he was targeting their knees instead.
“Here, take this. When I signal, throw these one by one into the roadside.”
“Got it.”
“Only when I signal. Okay? If you start tossing them around at random, it’ll cause a disaster.”
After handing him two explosive stones, Ho-yeong ran toward the allied defenses.
- Goooob! Gop-gop!
There, the goblins, driven on by the shock troops’ encouragements—whips and glaives alike—were desperately trying to reach the barricade.
“Hariad, who watches from the lowest places, protect us!”
Rubia was casting individual shields over the front-line soldiers. They were sturdy enough to bounce off goblin attacks without issue.
“Hah!”
Thanks to that, the soldiers could focus entirely on offense, slaughtering goblins with swords and axes wielded in both hands.
“Front line, rotate!”
Of course, the shields were not invincible, and as attacks piled up, they weakened. Lilian called the soldiers whose shields had been spent back to the rear.
“Captain of the Guard, do you not need a shield on your side?”
“No.”
“You’re a tough one, aren’t you.”
As Rubia had said, Lilian was swinging her spear with complete disregard for defense. She had wrapped aura around her armor, but the amount she used was tiny compared to what she poured into offense.
“We’re fighting well enough... but there are still too many of them.”
Ho-yeong bit his lip.
The final wave will begin in approximately 30 minutes.
“Thirty minutes? Already? Damn.”
It was a relief that the fourth wave was the last, but the gap was far too short.
I was planning to save this for the end, but there’s no way. We don’t have time. This is exactly how you blow the game by hoarding your ultimate until it’s too late.
Ho-yeong decided to use his trump card. For the preparatory work, he gave Berneval his orders.
“Mister Berneval! Could you split up some of those brittle rocks for me? If you load them into the Bakgyeokpo here, that’ll do. Any old way is fine.”
“Now I can’t tell if I’m a dwarf or a mason anymore. All right, then.”
“Ah, and could you also make this into a funnel shape for me?”
“...And what exactly are you planning to use this for? Starting a junk shop?”
What the Byeonbangbaek had pulled from the hill’s clutter was a broken frying pan. Berneval looked dumbfounded, but still beat it into shape with a hammer.
“No. A little uncomfortable, but keep this in your mouth for me, No. 8.”
- Lana? (Yes?)
After clamping the metal funnel into the mandragorani’s mouth, Ho-yeong climbed back up the hill.
“Let’s go too! Body slam!”
- R-ani?! (Yes?!)
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you!”
He charged downhill with all his might.
“Uwaaaah!”
He wrapped aura heavily around both himself and the mandragorani, using it not as a blade but as force.
- Goooob?!
With a body the size of a giant deer, something that was only called a deer in name alone, he barreled into them and sent goblins flying.
“This is basically a bumper car. Now back up the hill!”
When the momentum died, he simply turned and ran back uphill.
“Down again!”
The Byeonbangbaek repeated the charge.
- Gop! Goooo-gop?! (This is insane, aaagh!)
The goblins, looking as though they’d seen a Death Knight, lost all will to fight and fled.
- Gop!
They were soon cut down mercilessly by the shock troops’ glaives.
“Wow, thanks for thinning the enemy ranks for me.”
True to the name gobblin, the shock troops were larger than ordinary goblins by a good margin. Then a particularly massive specimen emerged. It was so huge it came close to matching Ho-yeong, who stood well over 185 centimeters tall.
“Look at the size of that thing. It’s almost as big as me?! What do you call that, a shock troop captain or something?”
Warning. You have encountered the named monster Dual Glaive. If the guardian personally defeats it in a one-on-one engagement, a large reward will be granted.
“Dual Glaive? Did they name it that because they want me to duel it and win?”
It is not “duel.” It is “dual.”
“Oh, whatever. If it says one-on-one engagement or whatever, that means I can’t just kill it with the Bakgyeokpo or some other trick. I have to beat it in a straight-up duel, right?”
As its name suggested, the Dual Glaive carried a blade on both ends of its polearm.
“Well, look at that. A double-bladed spear. What is this, the top glaive?”
Its stats were only slightly higher than those of the other shock troops.
“Fine. I’ll wreck you.”
Tempted by the large reward, Ho-yeong charged at it.
- Goooob!
The instant the creature raised its Dual Glaive high overhead—
“No. 8! Scream your lungs out!”
- Kyaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
The mandragorani let out a thunderous shriek.
The metal funnel stuffed into No. 8’s mouth worked spectacularly. The scream was concentrated and amplified like a megaphone, striking with pinpoint force. Best of all, it prevented the scream’s debuff from affecting allies as well.
- Gooo... b!!
Clutching its ruptured eardrums, the Dual Glaive collapsed to the ground.
“Thanks for the reward.”
Ho-yeong’s charging slash took the creature’s head with it as it rolled away.
First named monster defeated! Achievement I’m a Monster Like That unlocked! Reward: 100 EP.
“Oh. 100 EP? That’s pretty generous. Up until now, the achievement rewards were only around 20.”
Ho-yeong was pleased by the unexpected windfall. But there was a problem.
- Gop gooooop!
Seeing the named monster of their kin die, the other shock troops did not lose heart. Instead, they burned with fury and charged.
“Ah. This is not great. No. 8, back behind the barricade!”
“...You ordered us to hold our positions, yet you yourself keep charging in and then countercharging. Why is that, my lord?”
“Countercharging? Let’s call it a tactical withdrawal.”
Lilian greeted the Byeonbangbaek warmly as he returned after cutting down the enemy commander.
“Anyway, everyone! Fall back!”
Ho-yeong hurled the stones and dirt clods from the Bakgyeokpo up into the air.
- Goooob?!
The goblin horde panicked as the dust spread thickly through the air.
“If you can’t call up fog, then make it yourself. Baunal! Now!”
At Ho-yeong’s shout, with the mouthpiece pulled from No. 8, Baunal detonated the explosive stone and hurled it into the pile of corpses by the roadside.
- Gooooob!!
- Gop-gop!
Flames began to leap up from the goblin corpses he had soaked with oil earlier.