The End of the Second Tutorial
Besides the euphoric sensation rising from below—slurp, suck, smack—a horrific scene was unfolding on the screen. The goblins empowered by the shaman’s sorcery had grown faster and stronger. They rampaged with murderous intent toward the Hero Candidates, while the candidates fought desperately just to hold their ground.
“Can this even be cleared?”
When I asked Luniel if the difficulty looked impossible for them to overcome alone, she nodded as though the answer were obvious.
“It won’t be easy, but it is possible. If they make use of the underground warehouse that Hero Candidate Yoon Iseo discovered.”
“Then that’s the same as saying I can’t do it. Ugh.”
I nearly came right then. Luniel looked up at me with a questioning gaze, so I stroked her head once and continued the conversation.
“No, the key is with me. How the hell are they supposed to open the underground warehouse?”
“There is not only one key. More keys definitely exist, but because clearing the stage is still possible even if everyone hides during the five invasions, no one has ever tried to find them. That is why their existence and purpose remain unknown.”
“Again, it’s on me?”
This was a problem even if I tried hard. I had surged so far ahead and begun monopolizing everything that, without realizing it, I had become the bus driver. I’d only been carrying one person on my bus, but at some point the number of freeloaders had swelled past ten. That was how we’d ended up in this mess.
Well, it’s comfortable and nice for me.
Sitting here like this, receiving service from a woman who looked exactly like an angel while watching other people suffer through hell. With an actual angel right beside me, it was practically paradise. Of course, it was a rather obscene paradise.
“Still, it is not impossible to clear. If they combine their strength, it remains feasible. As Hero Candidate Yoon Iseo knows, goblins are not physically superior creatures. If the other candidates work together, they can manage.”
“What about the goblin shaman?”
“Despite appearances, its physical abilities are roughly equal to a human’s. What makes it difficult is its ability to command the goblins with sorcery. The shaman itself does not possess particularly strong physical prowess.”
Was that so? Hearing it explained that way, it did make sense. Come to think of it, even in the first tutorial—before I could use aura—goblins had never been that hard. Of course, that was partly because I had trained like a madman in preparation for days like this.
Goblins were simply a low-tier species. Their only real advantage was numbers. The key was to know that and quickly gather together to do something about it.
Will they manage?
Looking at the current battle, there were two groups: the survivors holding the line against the endless wave of goblins pouring in from the village, and the dropouts who were already clashing with goblin forces that had reached the church—probably thanks to Luniel’s preemptive arrangements. Honestly, both sides looked like they would collapse soon.
“Yoon—Iseo! When the hell are you coming, you son of a bitch!”
As the battle turned against them, both Im Do-geon and Kim Dae-kwon began desperately calling my name. And they weren’t the only ones.
“Uwaaaaah! Yoon Iseo, you trash bastard! You promised to help!”
Watching Song Dayeong swing her sword at the goblins flooding into the house while constantly cursing my name, I felt a slight pang of guilt.
“Are you stopping?”
“Even I can’t stay aroused while watching something like this.”
It wasn’t because I felt sorry for Song Dayeong. I simply wasn’t enough of a pervert to get hard while blood sprayed and goblins rampaged right in front of me. Even though Luniel had been working hard to keep me erect, it only lasted a moment before it wilted again, so I had her stop for now. I had endured at first with the thought of getting my money’s worth, but now that it kept going soft, stopping felt genuinely regrettable.
“Can we keep this on hold? Not now—later.”
“It feels somewhat unpleasant, but… I will do as you ask for now.”
Poof!
With a wave of Luniel’s hand, the clone vanished, leaving only a wisp of smoke. Still feeling a little dirty, I quickly washed up in my room’s bathroom, sat back comfortably in the chair, and resumed watching.
In the short span of about five minutes, the situation had changed drastically. First, Im Do-geon had died. He had tried to hide inside the church when things turned bad, but that proved to be a fatal mistake. He couldn’t handle the endless swarm of goblins pouring in and ended up becoming both their meal and a breeding vessel.
Next was Song Dayeong. She had swung the sword I gave her with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough. She tried to escape by running back into the house, but there was nowhere to run. In the end, she made an extreme choice.
“Is this really okay? Is it fine for them to just keep dying like this?”
“If they are going to taste despair anyway, it is better that they taste it here, Hero Candidate Yoon Iseo.”
“Because this is still the tutorial?”
Luniel nodded, and I let out a deep sigh.
“Yeah, it’s better to lose in a practice match. But if they die like that, how do you handle their mental state?”
“When they resurrect, we greatly reduce the negative stress caused by death or rape and such, so it is fine.”
“You should have been that thorough when I was in the tutorial.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that?”
She had heard me perfectly. I ignored Luniel as she pretended not to understand and looked back at the screen.
With one of the largest groups—the dropouts—wiped out, it was essentially over. The survivor group led by Kim Dae-kwon had been losing people one by one for a while now and was basically just waiting to die. On the other side, the goblins were searching the houses one by one under the shaman’s orders, hunting down the hiding rats and killing them.
Honestly, watching it made my stomach churn. No matter how much of a dog-eat-dog world it was, anyone who wasn’t a psychopath still had some degree of human empathy. Maybe that was why. Seeing people—not even other humans, but these worthless goblin vermin—being brutally slaughtered made my insides boil. Even if the ones dying were people I didn’t get along with.
“Such things happen constantly in Aeteria. That is precisely why we summoned all of you here.”
“Then at least hand out points generously.”
“That is beyond my authority.”
“Yes, yes, low-ranking angel. It looks like it’s all over anyway, so why don’t you bring the people back here.”
By now, the only things left in the village were green heads. The failure was obvious to anyone watching. There was no reason to keep viewing this footage.
“Indeed. There seems to be no reason to continue watching.”
Snap.
Luniel nodded in acknowledgment, then flicked her fingers. One by one, people began appearing around me. The waiting room filled up so quickly that it became packed in an instant. Luniel fluttered her wings, rose into the air, and spoke to the people who had just revived and were now looking around in a daze.
“Everyone worked hard, but unfortunately, the second tutorial has ended in failure.”
“Aah…”
At Luniel’s declaration, those who had died first let out groans, while those who had survived until the end breathed out long sighs as if they had expected it. Maybe because they had just died and come back, the atmosphere was exactly like a funeral parlor. Well, that made sense—it basically was a funeral. Every single one of them had just died once.
“Before we immediately begin the third tutorial, I will explain to you Hero Candidates—who will head to Aeteria after completing this final tutorial—what kind of support you will receive.”
What a cruel woman. She was going to explain this at this exact timing? These people had just returned from death. Even with some mental care applied, they were mentally and physically exhausted. I wondered if it was really appropriate to talk about something so important to their survival right now, but it wasn’t like I could stop her, so I just listened.
“First, the goddess will guarantee the identity of every Hero Candidate…”
The content sounded like a sales pitch I had heard somewhere before. If this were modern times, I would have run away saying I didn’t believe it, but here it was crucial. First, identity guarantee. That was obvious since they had dragged us here. Second, financial support. That was also obvious, so I skipped over it. The third part was what mattered.
“Hero Candidates can obtain points by killing demons and monsters and offering the byproducts to the goddess, just as you have been doing. You may then use those points in the shop to grow stronger.”
Growth. In a way, it was the most important part. To protect myself and eventually kill my enemies, growth was absolutely necessary.
“Does that mean if someone loses their Hero Candidate qualification, they will no longer be able to use the point shop?”
“That is correct.”
“And identity guarantee as well?”
“Some guarantee will remain, but its influence will be minimal.”
Unlike the relaxed survivor group, the dropout group fired off questions urgently. They had no choice. The moment the second tutorial failed, losing their Hero Candidate status was practically right in front of them. It was as if their feet were on fire.
“Once Hero Candidate qualification is revoked, can it never be regained?”
Han Seung-woo, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, asked the question. He looked noticeably more timid than before he died. It seemed even he was scared.
“Hero Candidate qualification can be regained if you work hard to kill enemies and offer them to the goddess. The process will not be easy, but it is possible. And you must keep this in mind: if you do not periodically kill enemies and offer them to the goddess, your qualification may be revoked.”
The room fell into heavy silence at the warning that qualification could be stripped at any time if they were careless. From their reactions, it seemed none of them had considered that their status might be revoked once the tutorial ended.
If it can be revoked in the tutorial, then obviously it can be revoked after moving on. Isn’t that the logical way to see it?
They hadn’t been resurrected out of volunteer work. They had been brought back to fight. If they did nothing, it only made sense that they should expect to lose their status.
“It seems everyone has more or less understood, so I will now explain the third tutorial.”
Snap!
With a gesture from Luniel, a video appeared just like it had for the second tutorial.
“The third tutorial is a recapture operation.”