10. Crisis
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Crisis
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A floating sensation washed over him as he passed through the red portal.
Thud.
He landed on the ground and looked around.
The same darkness.
The same narrow cavern.
Just like the first level.
“Oof!”
A flash of red light, and Karl landed beside him, still clutching his sword. The rest of the party appeared soon after.
Karl chuckled.
“Let’s go, we have a long way to go.”
The formation changed slightly. While Jeong Yoo-shin was still in the lead, Karl was right behind him.
“We’re in luck this time. We’ve been transported to the central area.”
Dean spoke cheerfully as he examined the map.
“Let’s finish this quickly. I haven’t been able to wash properly or sleep well all this time. Ugh.”
Marie grumbled.
“Just a little longer, everyone. Let’s do our best.”
Karl tried to soothe Marie.
“Keh keh keh.”
“Kee kee kee.”
Creepy laughter echoed from ahead though he couldn’t clearly make out what it was.
“Enemies!”
Whether he liked it or not, he was with them now, so he decided to do his best.
Jeong Yoo-shin immediately raised his shield and shouted.
Whoosh!!
They weren’t arrows.
Javelins.
He couldn’t dodge. If he did, the people behind him would get hit.
He braced himself and gripped the handle of his shield tightly.
Bang!
The impact staggered him and he stumbled backward.
Fortunately, his shield held. However, the force of the impact made him drop his torch.
Just then, Karl dashed forward, taking the dropped torch in one hand.
“Marie!”
“[Light]”
The cave brightened.
Three goblins were turning to flee.
“They run when they’re outnumbered!”
Karl shouted, quickly catching up to one of the goblins and slashing its back.
“Kiiieeeek!!”
The goblin collapsed with a mournful cry.
“After them!”
Karl chased after the fleeing goblins.
“Karl!”
Anne shouted urgently, but Karl, who looked too focused on the pursuit, didn't seem to hear her.
He didn’t even have time to recover the feeling in his numb hand. Jeong Yoo-shin hurriedly followed Karl.
He saw Karl run out of the range of the Light spell. The passage curved to the right, and Karl disappeared from view, leaving only the flickering torchlight visible.
And then…
“Aaaaagh!!”
Karl’s scream echoed throughout the cave.
“Shit.”
He ran with all his might and turned the corner.
There, in the torchlight, he saw Karl frantically swinging his sword while fighting against five goblins. He was limping.
‘A trap!’
Karl swung his sword like an enraged beast, but the goblins just chuckled and feinted with their daggers and spears instead of attacking.
They intended to wear down the injured beast.
Classic predator hunting tactics.
The dropped torch lay on the ground.
Karl’s shadow flickered on the cavern wall as if dancing. The goblins’ shadows danced alongside it.
Jeong Yoo-shin charged forward.
But it was too late.
Thud.
A goblin’s spear pierced Karl’s abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Karl gasped. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it was enough to momentarily paralyze him.
Another goblin rushed in and swung its wooden club.
Crack!
Blood splattered from Karl’s head. His body swayed and was about to collapse.
Whack!
Crack!
With each blow of the club, Karl’s head caved in and contorted.
The confident young man was gone.
Only a prey animal, its face smashed in, eyes bulging, body trembling, and awaiting death, remained.
It all happened so fast.
Too fast for Jeong Yoo-shin to intervene.
Still, he ran forward.
He plunged his sword into the neck of the goblin about to finish Karl off.
“Gah!”
With a choked cry, the goblin clutched its neck and collapsed.
Two goblins lunged at Jeong Yoo-shin’s shield.
Their weight made it impossible to move the shield.
He was caught off guard by the unfamiliar tactic and lost his focus.
“Shit.”
He saw it then.
A goblin leaped over his shield and swung its club at his head.
Clang!
The club struck his iron helmet.
The impact reverberated through his skull, blurring his vision.
Instinctively, he thrust his sword forward, piercing the club-wielding goblin’s stomach.
Had he thrust too deep?
He couldn’t pull his sword out.
He released his shield, and the two goblins tumbled to the ground.
A spear was then thrust towards him.
He had no shield and no sword.
“Ha!”
He took a deep breath and grabbed the spear just in time.
“Keeek?”
He yanked the spear, pulling the goblin off balance. He punched the goblin in the jaw.
Crack!
A clean straight punch.
The goblin collapsed unconscious without a scream. He took the spear and stepped on the unconscious goblin’s neck.
Crack.
His iron-reinforced work boots crushed the goblin’s neck.
He then threw the spear, killing another goblin that was rolling on the ground.
One left.
Just then…
“Aaaaagh!”
Marie’s scream echoed from behind.
“Marie! No! Dean, come back!!”
Anne’s desperate cry followed after.
What happened back there?
“Kee kee kee.”
The last goblin in front of him chuckled darkly.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
Arrows flew from the darkness. He moved to dodge, but they still struck his shoulder and thigh.
“Son of a bitch!”
The burning pain made him flinch.
There were more. Other goblins had been drawn by the sound of the fight.
Marie’s screams and Anne’s shouts continued from behind.
The newly arrived goblins in front of him laughed.
A sudden crisis.
His mind went blank, but his body moved instinctively, driven by the will to live.
He grabbed a charging goblin by the scruff of its neck and used it as a shield against the incoming arrows.
Thud!
Thwack!
Arrows embedded themselves into the goblin’s body.
However, he couldn’t block them all.
One still hit his arm, but he was able to protect his vital points.
‘I won’t die.' A burning sensation spread through his arm as blood rushed out of it.
He threw the arrow-ridden goblin aside.
Limping, he retrieved his shield and wrenched his sword free from the other goblin’s stomach as fast as he could.
He then retreated.
He needed to see what was happening in the rear.
Blocking the incoming arrows with his shield, he ran back to the curved passageway.
He saw the carnage just before the Light spell faded.
Marie, her clothes torn, was being dragged away into the darkness by a goblin who had grabbed her by the hair.
Dean was nowhere to be seen.
Anne was pinned beneath several goblins, struggling and screaming.
“No! Stop it!!”
The goblins laughed, enjoying the female’s desperate screams.
And so…
They didn’t notice Jeong Yoo-shin’s cautious approach.
His sword pierced the back of a goblin’s neck.
“Gah?!”
One of the three goblins on top of Anne collapsed.
“Keeek!”
The goblins were startled.
He retrieved his sword, slashed another goblin’s throat, and then smashed the last one’s neck with his shield.
Crack.
The goblin collapsed, its neck bent at an unnatural angle.
“Sob! Ugh.”
Even though the last goblin was dead, Anne continued to thrash about in a panic.
The Light spell faded, and darkness filled the cave.
It was a critical moment. He didn’t know when more goblins would arrive. He was especially worried about the passage where Karl had been.
Jeong Yoo-shin quickly lit the last remaining torch. It cast a narrow beam of light in the cavern.
“Anne, get a grip.”
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her a few times, but she remained unresponsive.
He slapped her hard across the face, and finally, a spark of awareness returned to her eyes. Whether she was fully conscious, he didn’t know.
“Marie! We have to save Marie! And Karl?! Dean?!”
“Karl’s head got caved in, and I don’t know about Dean. Marie was being dragged away by her hair the last time I saw her.”
“We have to save her!”
Anne tried to stand up, but she collapsed while clutching her abdomen. Dark red blood oozed from multiple wounds where she had been stabbed with poisoned daggers.
Jeong Yoo-shin took two bottles of antidote from his bag. He had learned in class that goblins used poison. He brought some just in case, and now, for better or worse, he needed them.
“Not now.”
He said, handing her an antidote. They had to leave immediately. They already stayed here for too long, and he didn’t know when the goblins would return.
They needed to reach safety first. He then needed to remove the arrows from his body and drink the antidote. The wounds were already turning black.
“Don’t be ridiculous! We have to save her! Please! Help me.”
Anne prostrated herself before him.
He understood.
They were from the same village, so they must have spent years together.
Their friendship must have been deeper than time itself.
As Karl said before, they had overcome every hardship together, so they must have believed they could conquer the labyrinth together as well.
They made a bold decision based on that belief, but their luck had, unfortunately, run out.
He understood.
“Alright. Let’s go somewhere safe and treat your wounds first. We’ll look for them after that.”
It was a lie.
He had no intention of looking for them.
Anne was bait.
If they were overwhelmed by goblins, she would serve as a distraction and buy him time to escape.
“W-We have to go now.”
“You’ll die first if we do that. Even if we find them, you’re in no condition to fight. Are you expecting me to do everything?”
Anne bit her lip.
“Alright.”
Jeong Yoo-shin helped Anne to her feet.
Strangely, the goblins didn’t pursue them.
If he was a goblin, would he ignore prey that had been hit by three arrows?
Were they scared?
Just in case, he collected the dropped torches, lit them, and threw them down the branching passages.
It was a temporary measure, exploiting the goblins’ tendency to attack sources of light.
And…
He was dying.
Carrying the weight of a woman who could barely walk while arrows were still embedded in his body was taking its toll.
He didn’t even know where he was going.
Dean took the map with him.
“Gah!”
Anne coughed up black blood.
‘She can’t go any further.’
They hadn’t found a rest area or even anything remotely resembling one. However, they were already some distance away from the ambush site, and there were no signs of pursuit.
He leaned Anne against the cavern wall and gave her an antidote.
He lifted her clothes and saw multiple puncture wounds in her abdomen. He poured some wine on them to disinfect them and applied another antidote.
Jeong Yoo-shin took a small glass bottle from his bag.
A low-grade healing potion.
Red liquid sloshed inside the Yakult-sized bottle.
This single bottle cost him three silver coins.
‘Should I just leave her?’
He hesitated for a moment.
‘Just a little. Enough for her to walk. I need time to escape.’
He carefully dripped the potion onto her wounds.
Smoke rose from her flesh as the wounds began to close.
Finally, he bandaged her up.
“Ugh!”
Anne groaned and writhed.
Now it was his turn.
He took a swig of wine.
With trembling hands, he snapped off the arrow shafts.
Now he just had to remove the arrowheads embedded in his flesh.
He didn’t need to worry about excessive bleeding.
He had a healing potion.
He used his dagger to probe the wounds.
“Agh! You fucking bitch!”
Unable to bear the excruciating pain, Jeong Yoo-shin glared at Anne.
The burning agony fueled his rage.
Guan Yu played Go calmly while undergoing surgery for an arrow wound, but Jeong Yoo-shin still needed to curse to endure the pain.
“Fuck! I knew it from the moment these arrogant country bumpkins got lucky. Do you know how Karl died? A spear in his gut and his head caved in by a club. His face got fucking flattened with his eyes bulging out. I told you guys not to go! Why did you have to drag me into this hellhole?!”
He pulled an arrowhead from his arm. Blood spurted out. He applied an antidote and the healing potion.
‘When did I get my last tetanus shot? Was it at the boot camp?’
His mind was hazy as he cursed and pulled out the remaining arrowheads.
After finishing his first aid, he looked at Anne.
Tears streamed down her face.
Jeong Yoo-shin stood up.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Anne clutched her abdomen and stood up.
“Let’s go.”
Without waiting for a reply, Jeong Yoo-shin turned and walked away.
He heard the sound of unsteady footsteps behind him.
‘I will survive. I'll escape this goddamn labyrinth.’
He gritted his teeth and raised his torch.
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T/N - Well, that went about how I expected it to go. Still, props to the MC. He was pretty good considering he's still new to this.
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