The Third Tutorial (4)
After the group of four, including Cailen, had split off on their own, the remaining survivors moved along the castle walls, clearing out the rampaging goblins. By feel, there seemed to be even more goblins than during the second tutorial, but that wasn’t really an issue.
Slice!
“Don’t retreat against mere goblins!”
“Yes, sir!”
Everyone answered in loud voices as they watched Gilling slaughter the goblins with terrifying momentum. The situation was completely different from the second tutorial. Not only was Gilling here, but the number of people was far greater, and this time they had proper weapons. Most importantly, they were united.
During the second tutorial, everyone had scattered, acting separately with only those who got along. Now, including the soldiers, over a hundred people were moving forward with one heart and one mind.
That didn’t mean the hero candidates had no complaints about the current situation.
“Hey! That one was mine!”
“What do you mean yours? First one to kill it owns it!”
With so many people and Gilling massacring everything up front, the problem now was that there weren’t enough goblins to go around. Since they hadn’t earned many points in the second tutorial, everyone was desperate to make up for it here. Their greed began to show, and dissatisfaction started to build. That was when the accident happened.
“What’s that smoke?”
Black smoke rising from somewhere began to cover the sky. Everyone’s eyes turned upward as the area grew noisy.
“Everyone, focus!”
Gilling didn’t understand what was happening either, but he knew that a chaotic atmosphere like this would only make things worse. He roared to snap the soldiers back to attention.
In the meantime, the smoke continued to spread until it reached right above them.
“What the hell is wrong with these bastards!”
The goblins that inhaled the smoke had bloodshot eyes. They grew even more violent and their strength increased. They were still just goblins, but the sudden change left everyone flustered. And then—
Stab!
“You…”
A soldier with blood-red eyes had stabbed Gilling in the side. Unlike Cailen, Gilling’s armor was light, so he couldn’t block the surprise attack from behind.
“Graaaargh!”
“…”
Gilling stared for a moment at the soldier who was clearly out of his mind, grappling with him over the spear. Then he closed his eyes tightly and swung his sword.
Thud.
The soldier’s head fell with the same furious expression. The taste in Gilling’s mouth was bitter, but he had to stay calm now. There were many other soldiers showing signs of mental derangement besides this one. And quite a few had already been attacked by their sudden-turned comrades. The situation needed to be brought under control first.
“Those who are still sane, fall back and regroup! Those with room to spare, help the injured! Everyone, retreat toward the castle gate!”
Gilling, who had roughly stopped the bleeding from his wound using aura, gave the orders quickly. The silver lining was that none of the hero candidates seemed to have been affected by the mental abnormality. Perhaps because they were hero candidates, they appeared to have the goddess’s protection and were resistant to mental attacks.
After dealing with the goblins and soldiers that had tangled together, Gilling quickly turned and ran to the front to carve a path for their retreat. That was when it happened.
“Of all times…”
Orcs that hadn’t been visible earlier now blocked their escape route. Cailen’s group hadn’t killed every orc. They had slain many while quickly breaking through to the castle, but there were still plenty left. It seemed every last one of them had gathered here. An overwhelming number of orcs now stood in the hero candidates’ way.
Gilling could handle newly matured orcs by himself, but there were simply too many. Unlike goblins, orcs couldn’t be matched one-on-one by the soldiers or most of the hero candidates here, making it difficult to split their aggro.
In the end, Gilling made his decision and quickly turned back toward the goblins.
“I’ll break through ahead! Everyone, run to the castle and link up with Sir Cailen!”
He had simply missed too many orcs. Gilling didn’t believe Cailen could have fallen, so he decided it would be better to break through the easier goblins and regroup.
With fire in his eyes, he slaughtered the goblins with everything he had and pushed forward. That was when a figure came running from afar.
“Yoon!”
“We have to run!”
“What are you—”
Before Gilling could even question the sudden, cryptic words from Yoon, Cailen appeared from behind, trailing sword energy. Gilling urgently drew his blade to block.
“Ugh! Sir Cailen, what is this!”
“It’s a long story… but I was hit by the goblins’ sorcery.”
“A knight of your caliber, taken down by a mere goblin shaman? Cough.”
“Gilling!”
Cailen’s fierce attack tore open the wound Gilling had only temporarily stopped bleeding.
“I’m fine! Deal with Sir Cailen first!”
Yoon Iseo stepped in to face Cailen in place of the trembling Gilling. He had clashed with him several times while fleeing here, but Cailen’s strength remained monstrous. Yoon Iseo kept being pushed back, barely managing to receive the blows. While he held the line, Gilling quickly treated his wound again and rejoined the fight.
Two against one was much better. Since Cailen wasn’t in his right mind, he attacked with a single-minded focus on one target. That made it relatively easy for the others to land hits.
“Stab him!”
“I’m sorry, Sir Cailen!”
Matching the timing of Gilling’s strike from behind, Yoon Iseo forcefully raised his aura. The moment Yoon Iseo, who had been pushed back the entire time, suddenly met the attack head-on and restricted Cailen’s movement, the frenzied knight had no choice but to leave his back open.
But—
Stab.
Gilling’s sword pierced not Cailen’s heart or throat, but his side. Gilling had thought it would be enough to incapacitate him rather than kill his superior. He had severely underestimated the man.
The instant the sword sank into his side, the frenzied Cailen swung his blade at Gilling without the slightest hesitation. A shocked Gilling desperately let go of his sword and tried to dodge, but it was too late. Cailen’s sword energy completely shattered Gilling’s flimsy armor and tore open his chest.
Yoon Iseo didn’t miss the moment. He gripped his sword with both hands and stabbed with all his strength, but—
Clang!
Unlike Gilling, Cailen was properly armored. The blade only bit in shallowly. Realizing this, Yoon Iseo urgently tried to pull his sword free, but the accumulated damage from the fight with Kucharak and the fresh wound in his side finally brought Cailen to his knees.
Luck was on his side. Thinking this was the chance to finish Cailen, Yoon Iseo poured every last ounce of strength he had left and charged.
Clang! Clang!
‘Now that there’s a hole in his side, it’s finally manageable.’
He would have preferred to drag this into a war of attrition, but the situation around them was deteriorating rapidly. Goblins, orcs, and deranged humans were rampaging behind them. He had to end this quickly.
Having made up his mind, Yoon Iseo acted immediately. He lowered his sword and deliberately opened his chest wide, creating an obvious gap. Cailen, driven mad by the sorcery and obsessed with attacking, charged straight in without hesitation.
Yoon Iseo stared at him with wide eyes and raised his concentration once more.
In the slowed world, he dodged the blade that had nearly reached his face. His focus broke. A terrible headache struck, and the tip of his sword wavered, but he kept his eyes locked on Cailen’s throat and thrust.
Stab!
Even while shaking, Yoon Iseo accurately pierced Cailen’s throat.
Splurt!
“Haa… haa… That crazy bastard.”
Yoon Iseo dropped to one knee, looking at the blood pouring from his forearm, and let out a long sigh. Even as his throat was pierced, Cailen had somehow managed to swing his sword and slice Yoon Iseo’s arm. Shaking his head at that insane tenacity and madness, Shin Doohyun stood up and assessed the situation.
Surprisingly, the hero candidates were holding up well. Gilling had carved a path through the goblins, and the hero candidates along with the soldiers unaffected by the sorcery followed behind him. The orcs found their way blocked by the goblin horde. The goblins caught in the middle were being attacked from both sides—by the orcs trying to break through and the hero candidates—but with their eyes bloodshot and vision gone, they simply charged forward mindlessly.
It would have been good if Yoon Iseo could join them and push through, but his stamina had already reached its limit. Just standing made his legs tremble violently. His aura was depleted, leaving him with no strength to face the orcs.
Having made his decision, Yoon Iseo cleared his throat to shout a retreat order. That was when—
“Fuck! All the knights are dead! We have to run!”
“We can’t die here!”
At one soldier’s cry, the barely holding frontline completely collapsed. Yoon Iseo, watching this, shouted in panic, but—
“You sons of bitches! Don’t run, regroup!”
The soldiers didn’t listen to Yoon Iseo, who wasn’t a knight. He finally understood why desertion was punished so severely. Once one person ran to save himself, the rest followed one by one, each looking for their own way out.
Up to that point, Yoon Iseo could understand. To them, he was someone they had only met today. But he couldn’t understand why the hero candidates were running away with them.
Even though he had shouted for them to regroup, the hero candidates had fallen into panic and scattered in every direction. No matter how lacking he was in leadership, he was the representative and now the strongest fighter since the knights were dead. The fact that they ignored his words and fled made no sense.
‘I don’t know. They can fend for themselves.’
Sighing as he watched the unit break apart in every direction, Yoon Iseo first looked for Song Dayeong. He had promised to help her, so he intended to take her with him if she was still alive. But—
‘Where the hell did she go?’
Whether she had already run or was already dead, he couldn’t see her face anywhere. Eventually giving up on finding Song Dayeong, and unable to stay here any longer, Yoon Iseo headed toward the castle. It wasn’t the only safe place, but since he and the two knights had cleared the path leading there, it was currently the safest option.
Upon reaching the castle, the first thing I did was check on Logan’s condition.
“…He’s dead.”
He had seemed alive when I fled from the sorcery-crazed Cailen, but it looked like he couldn’t hold on in the end. I had checked just in case he could still be of use as fighting strength, but it seemed that was too much to hope for. No matter how much of a knight he was, surviving a wound that exposed his ribcage was impossible.
Still, remembering that we had fought together, I closed Logan’s eyes—he had died without even being able to shut them properly—then entered the castle.
“Fuck, I’m exhausted. So tired.”
The moment I entered the castle, I collapsed against the wall. This was my third time doing the tutorial, and as expected of the last one, it was by far the hardest. I couldn’t understand how the difficulty was set that this kind of shit kept happening. Honestly, was this even something that could be cleared without me?
Kucharak probably would have been killed by the knights even if I wasn’t there. But after that, there seemed to be no way to stop the deranged Cailen.
“I don’t know. Let’s rest for now.”
Despite what I said, I stood up. I could have just rested, but my instincts were telling me to search this castle. It was the castle of a baron, a noble. There was a good chance that things left behind in their haste to flee remained as hidden pieces.
The thought of hidden pieces gave me strength. I grabbed my trembling legs and forced myself up. I was about to start searching the castle thoroughly from the first floor when—
Creak.
The sound of a closed door opening echoed, and someone stepped inside.