The Second Tutorial (4)
“Fuck! Where the hell did Yoon Iseo go?!”
Lim Do-geon roared in fury as he thrust his wooden spear into an incoming goblin, skewering it through the throat. It had been thirty minutes since the second invasion began. Yoon Iseo, who they thought would show up if they just held the line, was nowhere to be seen. The tide of goblins kept pouring in, and the number of injured among their group was growing by the minute.
“Kyaaaak! No! Oppa, save me!”
“Hye-yeon-ah!”
Everyone squeezed their eyes shut and turned away as Shim Hye-yeon was dragged off by the goblins. They couldn’t bear to watch their junior and classmate suffer such a horrible fate at the hands of monsters.
“What are you doing?! Are we just going to stand here like this?!”
There was no time to be stunned into inaction. Even in this moment of pity, the goblins were still surging toward the village. Looking at the sheer number flooding in, it was clear their current group couldn’t hold them back. If they wanted any chance of survival, they’d have to fight while using the houses as cover, so they ran for it.
“Uwaaaaah! Get the fuck away, you bastards!”
Watching yet another person fall to the goblins, Lim Do-geon clenched his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
“Fuck… this is insane…”
Their numbers had already dwindled dramatically. Only thirty minutes had passed, yet quite a few people were already missing. Even a rough count showed their forces had been cut in half. That alone told him how dire the situation had become.
If they’d all died fighting, he wouldn’t be this angry. He remembered the faces of those who’d been captured like Shim Hye-yeon or had fled mid-battle—there weren’t many. Maybe five or six at most. Which meant the rest had run away before even engaging.
Honestly, he realized he’d miscalculated from the start. Even when Han Seung-woo was in charge, there had been plenty who ran without hesitation. There was no way they’d listen to him properly. And above all else, the most critical problem was—
‘Where the fuck did Yoon Iseo go?’
No matter how much he hated it, they couldn’t do this without that bastard. He was the only one with a proper weapon, and the strongest fighter among them. The guy could easily pull his weight for ten people. Without him, the battle wasn’t even a battle anymore.
He’d definitely gone outside the fence when he threw them the bread earlier. So was he still not back yet, or was he deliberately staying away so they could all get fucked? People were dying out here, and he still wouldn’t show up.
“Please, just hurry up and appear already, you son of a bitch!”
At this rate, they were all going to die.
After leaving the cave, I immediately looked for a place to hide. Logically, I should have gone back to the people who remained. But—
Why should I?
It wasn’t like I had anyone I particularly needed to protect. Right now, finding the hidden piece was far more important.
Of course, if they all died, the second tutorial would essentially be a failure. But would they really all die? They were just goblins. No matter how pathetic their skills were, they’d already fought them several times. There was no way they’d all get wiped out.
Besides, it wasn’t just Lim Do-geon’s group. There was also the survivor group I’d been with. That group at least knew how to fight a little, so they should be holding out well enough.
Still, if they really were all dead, then this tutorial was hopeless anyway. I could just cut my losses cleanly.
“Alright. Let’s see how this plays out.”
Checking the timer, I had about an hour left. With those short goblin legs, they should be coming out around now…
Kerek. Kerek. Kerek…
As expected of monster bastards, they had no manners. Watching the enormous swarm of goblins pouring out of the damp cave while making those disgusting kerek noises wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. There’s a limit to how gross something can be.
The sight of those filthy green monsters crawling out in a horde, all screeching together, was easily the most bizarre thing I’d ever seen in my life. Still, I watched until the end. I didn’t particularly want to, but I needed a rough estimate of how many were living inside the cave.
Tap.
“About a hundred and fifty, give or take.”
It wasn’t an exact count, but it was close enough. Damn, counting them nearly drove me insane. Staring at nothing but green heads from atop a tree the whole time had been pure torture.
Time to head inside, then.
The goblins seemed to have all come out, so I slipped back into the cave. Assuming the coast was clear, I quickly made my way to the wide clearing I’d seen earlier. I’d wondered if the cave would change once the goblins left, but fortunately that didn’t seem to be the case. I reached the clearing without seeing a single goblin shadow.
Even after searching the clearing again, there wasn’t a goblin in sight no matter how hard I looked.
“Ugh, filthy bastards.”
The moment I stepped into the clearing, a horrific stench hit me and I quickly pinched my nose shut. I hadn’t noticed earlier because of all the goblins swarming around, but this place was truly disgusting. Piles of shit and piss were everywhere, and streaks of dried yellow semen were caked onto the ground. I never wanted to come back here again.
Worried I might step in something and ruin my only pair of shoes, I moved carefully while searching the area, but nothing useful turned up.
I was sure it would be here if it existed anywhere…
This was starting to make me feel a little bad. Not for Han Seung-woo and his gang, of course. But I did feel a slight pang of guilt toward the others who had fought alongside me. Some of them might have survived if I’d been there.
Well. It wasn’t that much guilt. Maybe the same level of sorry you feel when you’re ten minutes late to a promised meeting. That was about the extent of it.
After all, even though we were doing a mission together, we weren’t actually a real team. We’d only worked together briefly. There was no reason to feel too sorry.
Thud!
“Is there really nothing hidden here?”
Frustrated and disappointed about the hidden piece, I walked around in a circle, tapping on the walls here and there. Of course, it only made my hand hurt with no special reaction, so I was about to head back when—
Tong!
“Hm?”
I stopped at the distinctly different sound. Up until now, hitting the walls had produced the solid, full sound you’d expect from cave rock. But this one rang out hollow, like there was empty space behind it.
Tong! Thud! Tong!
Just to be sure, I tapped the adjacent sections a few more times. The sounds were clearly different.
If it sounds like this, there’s definitely something here.
Whew.
My heart started racing with the thrill of finally finding something. I forced my wildly beating heart to calm down and stared at the wall in front of me, wondering how to break through it.
It might be hollow inside, but a wall was still a wall. It was too solid to smash with my bare hands. I looked around for anything that might open it, but nothing obvious stood out. Looked like I’d have to do this the straightforward way…
I clicked my tongue in mild regret and drew my sword. It was a shame, but there was no other choice. I couldn’t exactly punch through it.
“This is crazy…”
The moment the invasion started, Song Da-yeong had hidden inside a house and was now trembling violently at the sounds of goblins coming from outside.
Lim Do-geon had forcibly gathered people, insisting they had to fight. But Song Da-yeong, who had already lost all will to fight after the first battle, had sprinted to the house she’d scouted in advance the second the invasion began.
She felt sorry for the others, but she was too scared to fight. After witnessing her classmates being raped by goblins and hearing their final screams, the thought that she could end up the same way made her body shake uncontrollably. She simply couldn’t summon the courage to face the goblins.
Kerek!
Bang!
“Kyaaaaak! Hup!”
When a goblin suddenly pounded on the door as if trying to break it down, Song Da-yeong couldn’t hold back her scream. She belatedly clapped a hand over her mouth, but the sound had already leaked outside. The goblin pack, with their large ears and keen hearing, immediately rushed toward the house where she was hiding.
Kerek! Ke! Kererek!
“Please! Please!”
As the number of goblins multiplied in an instant, Song Da-yeong’s legs nearly gave out. She frantically dragged over anything she could move to barricade the door, then hid inside the closet of the farthest room.
Bang! Bang!
“Stop knocking, damn it…”
The horde of goblins was throwing itself at the door like it would break any second. Song Da-yeong bit her nails in anxiety. She knew she should be thinking positively at a time like this, but it was impossible.
Every time the goblins made that kerek sound, the image of her classmate being dragged away and gang-raped flashed through her mind. And every time, her own face overlapped with her classmate’s.
“Ugh…”
Every time she imagined herself being violated in every hole and eventually bitten to death, an extreme wave of anxiety hit her, making her stomach churn and forcing her to dry-heave over and over.
“It’s all over.”
Song Da-yeong gripped the wooden spear in her hands tightly. Wouldn’t it be better to just kill herself now and avoid the worst possible outcome? She absolutely did not want to be gang-raped by those goblin bastards.
Cornered like that, hiding in the closet while clutching her spear and agonizing for a long time, Song Da-yeong suddenly came to her senses. She thought the goblin noises outside had decreased, so she carefully opened the closet door a crack.
Along with the faint light came the sound of goblins, but it was definitely quieter than before.
“Did they… clean them up?”
There had definitely been people fighting outside. Although she had run away, the male classmates including Lim Do-geon had been fighting, and so had the people who succeeded in the first tutorial.
Wondering if they had taken care of the goblins, Song Da-yeong crept out of the closet and cautiously approached the window. She poked her head out slightly to assess the situation.
And that’s when she saw it.
Yoon Iseo, single-handedly slaughtering the goblins like he was harvesting crops.