Fork in the Road
Hobgoblin. A formidable enemy with massive build and monstrous strength.
<Hobgoblin> / KP: 10
[ Stat | Rank | Base Value ~ Maximum Value ]
Martial Power A: 71 ~ 78 (the strongest among goblinoid species)
Intelligence D: 28 ~ 32 (that does not mean its intelligence is the strongest of its race)
Mana F: 1 ~ 2
Command B: 59 ~ 62 (the alpha male of goblins)
Charm F: 0 ~ 1 (and no, that does not mean handsome alpha male)
Willpower C: 42 ~ 51 (quirk: dislikes retreating)
Edification F: 0 ~ 3 (cannot be edified by any method other than immediate edification through the skill)
"What? A boss monster can be converted too? That wasn't possible in the game. Well, then, thank you very much. Let's see how much EP it takes... 1,000?"
Seeing the number, Ho-yeong spat to the side.
"I’ve got 200 EP right now, and you want me to cough up 1,000? So it is a boss, but that's ridiculous. Screw this."
Edification had effectively vanished from the list of options.
"The Hobgoblin's KP is 10... If a monster with a total KP of 10 or more infiltrates the District Office, the stage ends, right? Or if I die."
Ho-yeong recalled the stage defeat conditions.
"Then the only answer is to kill the boss."
The conclusion was clear enough, but there was still a problem.
"Left or right. I need to know that. Damn it! This is a total no-win situation. Say I dump all my forces on one side. But what if the boss shows up on the other?"
He scratched the back of his head hard enough to make his hair stand on end.
"If I guess wrong, that's the end of us."
"...Pardon?"
"No, I mean the fate of the territory depends on my choice. Ugh. What do I do? Left or right? Trusting it to luck is too much. I should just..."
As the lord fretted in agitation, Lilian cautiously offered an opinion.
"Would it not be necessary to gather the troops in only one place?"
"Hm? You mean keep forces on both sides? Then our strength gets split."
"It does not matter which side the Hobgoblin emerges from. If it attacks the left force, the right force can simply lower the barricade, advance, circle around to the left, and strike at its rear."
"Oh, I see. A feint. No, wait. That tactic won't work."
Ho-yeong's eyes had brightened, but now he looked troubled.
"Why not?"
"Look over there."
He pointed toward the black fog beyond. It had not spread, but it had not thinned either; it lingered there in a heavy pall.
"Just looking at it, doesn't it feel like some seriously bad energy is seeping out? If we breathe it in or touch it for no reason, who knows what might happen?"
"But the goblins came through that fog without issue, did they not?"
"They did. That's true. But the mandragora we sent in first reacted badly when it touched that fog."
"Are you saying the fog discriminates between friend and foe and harms one side?"
For Lilian, who knew nothing of game mechanics, it was a perfectly reasonable question.
"And if it does?"
"Pardon?"
"What if that is not merely a natural phenomenon, but some sort of curse or magic?"
Ho-yeong gave the most sensible answer he could, but Lilian refused to give in.
"Then we need only cover our breathing passages with cloth and push through at once."
She was firmly in favor of a frontal breakthrough.
"Given that the mandragora we sent earlier suffered no major harm in the end, it seems unlikely that a brief exposure to the fog would be fatal."
"Mm..."
At her words, Ho-yeong fell into thought for a moment.
"No. Still no."
He answered with a hard expression and a shake of the head.
"Until I know exactly what that fog is... I can't make a dangerous gamble."
"But you sent the mandragora...
"How can a monster and a person be the same!"
Ho-yeong cut Lilian off decisively.
"Even if it has been converted, a monster is still livestock at the end of the day. Livestock can be lost. You can send them into suspicious places instead of people. But you can't do that with family."
"Family...?"
"Yes. You, Lilian, and all my subordinates are no different from family."
Lilian looked up at her resolved superior, and her eyes trembled with emotion.
The loyalty of the "livestock," seeing their owner suddenly act as if none of it mattered, also wavered.
- Raaang? Rani?! Rani-rani! (Excuse me. This livestock can hear you, you know? And when was it that we were all family!)
Mandragoran No. 8 had plenty to say, but it read the mood and shouted only inside its head.
"We'll keep the troop deployment as it is. Thanks to you, Lilian, I've thought of a fallback plan."
Ho-yeong ordered the soldiers to dig pits at regular intervals, then carefully buried Berneval's dwindling supply of explosive stones.
"No, no, make sure the flat side is facing up. Yes, and don't bury them too deep."
"Uh, Lord? What exactly is this work for?"
"Mine emplacement. In other words, a trap."
The Byeonbangbaek answered one soldier's question kindly.
"If that Hobgoblin just stomps along with its house-sized body, the explosive stones will go off on their own."
"Jorai, it's a good idea, but did you maybe forget something? It takes a few seconds after impact before they explode."
"A valid point, Mr. Berneval. As expected, you're really a proper expert. Of course, I have considered that. You there, remove the palisade."
The wooden stakes they'd set up in front of the cart barricade had their pointed tops cut off.
"So the palisade is the bait, and the real kill is the explosive stones."
"Exactly. You catch on fast."
"Leave the follow-up work to me."
Lilian immediately grasped her lord's intent and threaded the palisade pieces between the explosive stones.
"That Hobgoblin won't want splinters in its feet, so it'll carefully step around the palisades, right? Then it'll land on the explosive stones of its own accord. And while it hesitates, trying to step over the next palisade, boom."
Ho-yeong grinned after setting the double trap on both attack routes.
"If you don't know where it'll come from, prepare for both."
It was troublesome for the soldiers, but it was the surest method.
"Captain Lilian and the three under her command, mount the mandragora and wait on the hill. If the Hobgoblin appears on either side and gets caught by the mines, circle around immediately and hit its rear."
"Yes, sir!"
Lilian was pleased. Her earlier suggestion had been adopted, even if in revised form.
The Tamer Territory just barely managed to fill the remaining time and finish its preparations.
Shortly, the boss of Stage 1: Blocked Path, the Hobgoblin, will appear. It will try to clear away everything that stands in its way.
In the game, the Hobgoblin had a pattern of hurling whatever unit or obstacle it faced. If things went badly, the wall meant to hold back the enemy could end up blocking the path of the allied hero instead, and disaster would follow.
"Come on, then. We've left the path wide open instead of blocking it."
Ho-yeong projected calm confidence. The carts meant for the barricade had already been cleared away.
"Left or right."
He stood on the hill, staring toward the region covered in black fog.
The Hobgoblin has appeared.
"Prepare for battle!"
The soldiers also clenched their jaws and raised their weapons.
"What? Why isn't it coming out?"
But even as time passed, the Hobgoblin did not appear.
"What the hell? A bug? No, there's no way."
He rubbed his eyes and then even opened them wide with aura in his pupils, but the black fog only rippled lazily in place.
* * *
"Hm. Just how long are the goblins planning to keep coming?"
Duo-nora, the former finance officer of the city of Aupuklipse, watched the battle from the roof of the ruined eastern District Office.
"Talking like it's somebody else's problem again, are you? Do you have any idea who we're suffering because of?"
Kins, the captain in charge of the reserve force stationed for contingencies, was displeased with the situation. It was one thing if Duo-nora alone had been there, but curious citizens had also gathered, watching the whole thing as though it were a fire to be enjoyed from a safe distance.
"Hm. Since the one who will become lord and lead us has finally appeared, isn't it only natural to want to see his abilities with our own eyes? Hm."
"Just stay somewhere safe, would you?"
"Hm. Isn't this safe enough? The monsters can't even get close."
Kins sighed and turned his head.
'So this is really the end? The goblins aren't coming anymore.'
And then what came into his view was...
"H-Hobgoblin?!" A monster of enormous size was walking in from a point far removed from the attack routes.
* * *
"Random spawn position... that meant the whole map, not just one of the attack lanes?!"
Ho-yeong tore at his hair.
That is correct.
"Why didn't you tell me that!"
If he could, he would have loved to rip the head off that status window too.
I informed you of the maximum amount of information I was able to provide, Guardian-nim. I could not tell you anything beyond that.
"Damn it!"
Ho-yeong took a deep breath and forced the anger down.
'Focus. Right now, the important thing isn't chewing out the status window. Think. Think. What do I do...'
The boss had suddenly burst out from nowhere, not from the attack lanes.
'The reserves?!'
It had been a blessing to have prepared reserve troops, but they were being knocked aside with no real way to resist.
'It's not killing the soldiers or delivering a finishing blow. It's just tossing them away like they're annoying flies.'
The Hobgoblin walked straight toward the eastern District Office.
'Just like in the game. It flings aside whatever blocks it, then charges straight for the defense objective.'
By then, Lilian had already mounted up and looked ready to rush out.
"Lord! Give the order to charge!"
The distance from the spawn point to the eastern District Office was hopeless.
'No. Even if we ride now, we still can't make it in time. Is this how we get trapped in this world? There has to be some way... Damn it. If the mount had been a pegasus instead of a roe deer, we could have flown there. Flown... Huh?!'
Ho-yeong, who had been about to send Mandragora Deer racing forward, came to an abrupt stop.
"Bakgyeokpo. Bring me the Bakgyeokpo! Now!"
The soldiers who had been about to charge with him hesitated, but in the end they obeyed.
"Jorai, what are you planning? We've run out of both stones and explosive stones, so what in the world are you going to fire?!"
Ho-yeong ignored Berneval's shout and hurried on.
"Everyone who can handle aura, come to me!"