The Second Tutorial (2)
The forces in the tutorial were largely divided into two groups. The first was the early-elimination group from the first tutorial, led by Han Seung-woo, who had been the class representative. The second was the survivor group—those who had made it through the first tutorial but lost their rooms to the others through what was essentially robbery disguised as a request. Aside from them, there were a few loners: Kwon Soyeon, who had recently left the elimination group, and the bus driver who had been kind enough to get us this far. For the most part, though, they leaned closer to the survivor faction.
Because of that, the second tutorial naturally split into the same two groups for combat. The result was, as expected, an overwhelming victory for the survivor group. The elimination group had greater numbers, but most of them had been knocked out early in the first tutorial. On top of that, their high female ratio meant their overall combat strength was lacking.
In contrast, the survivor group—without anyone even calling for it—quietly gathered around me. We ended up fighting together in a natural flow. Since things had come to this, I decided to make use of them. I handed out wooden planks scavenged from empty houses and positioned them on the front line. They looked at me with reluctant expressions, of course, but when I tapped their weapons with my sword, they stepped forward without complaint.
Thanks to that, we managed to hold off the incoming goblins without anyone getting hurt. It was a stable defense. I figured those people didn’t have it too bad.
“Everyone! Fall back toward Yoon Iseo!”
Until a variable appeared.
“That son of a bitch?”
Instead of just running away, he was trying to lure the entire mob over here?
I ground my teeth as I watched Han Seung-woo sprinting at the very front, leading a swarm of goblins behind him. Since both groups were blocking goblin waves coming from opposite sides, the distance between us wasn’t that great. If he ran, he could reach us in no time. It was obvious what he was planning—dump the goblins he’d been fighting onto us while we were occupied, then escape safely.
No way I’m letting that happen.
If the number of goblins here increased any further, we’d be finished.
“Let’s just run too! There’s no point trying to hold this line anymore!”
I didn’t have any deep bond with the survivor group, but they had followed my instructions without much resistance, so I at least showed them basic courtesy.
Slash! Slash!
I shoved the bus driver uncle, who had been standing in front of me, back to safety and took the absolute front line to buy time. Everyone else hesitated, shuffling in place at my action. So I swung my sword in a wide, deliberate arc, slicing three charging goblins clean in half, then shouted.
“I’m confident I can escape on my own, so just go already!”
I had no idea when they’d started listening to me so well. When I snapped at them with clear irritation, they finally started running in earnest. At the same time, Han Seung-woo—who had dragged his own pack of goblins all the way to our position—saw us trying to pull back and tried to change direction to flee himself.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I wrapped aura around both legs and burst forward with explosive speed. This was a body I had trained consistently for five years. My physical abilities had already been exceptional, but with aura added on top, the result was truly superhuman velocity.
“What the—?!”
Han Seung-woo’s eyes widened in shock as I closed the considerable distance in an instant and appeared right in front of him. He lost his balance mid-sprint and tumbled to the ground. Goblins weren’t merciful enough to let prey slip away right in front of them.
In the blink of an eye, Han Seung-woo was surrounded by a horde of goblins swarming over him like a pack of wild dogs. He let out a scream of pure agony.
“Kuaaagh! S-save me! Do-geon-ah! Ah…”
But everyone else was too busy trying to save themselves. No one even looked back.
“Iseo-ya! Yoon Iseo! I was wrong! Please, save me!”
Only after realizing that did Han Seung-woo look up at me with desperate eyes and cry out. But it was already too late.
Crunch! Crack!
The sickening sound of sharp goblin teeth sinking into living flesh echoed vividly through the air. A few of the creatures even charged at him with erections. I couldn’t bring myself to watch that part, so I turned my head away and wrapped aura around my legs again.
It was what I had intended, but seeing him suffer like that still left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I guess I haven’t fully shaken off my modern sensibilities yet.
I steeled my heart. In a dark fantasy world, the common sense was to repay anyone who targeted you tenfold. Even if that common sense came from web novels and couldn’t exactly be trusted, I had no regrets. That bastard Han Seung-woo had started it first.
Besides, I didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on such weak thoughts right now.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Han Seung-woo wasn’t the only one dying. Screams continued to ring out nonstop as we fled toward the village. The second tutorial had only just begun.
By the time we reached the village, the genre had completely changed. If blocking the goblins near the fence had felt like a grand battle straight out of a movie, what we were doing now was more like the tag games we played as kids. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as innocent.
The goblins acting as “it” chased humans with drool dripping from their mouths, while the hidden humans waited for any chance to kill the pursuing goblins.
Slash!
I pressed myself flat against the alley wall, and the moment a goblin entered, I swiftly severed its neck. Leaving the corpse behind without it even managing a final cry, I moved on.
It had already been two hours since the second tutorial began. The number of goblins had decreased so much that the constant keruk sounds that had once filled the village were now barely audible. At this point, it had become a race to see who could claim the points first by finding the remaining monsters. I moved diligently.
Kiiik!
After wandering around and finally spotting one, I cut down the goblin the instant I saw it.
“Ah, damn! I saw it first!”
A woman who came running from afar clicked her tongue in disappointment as she looked at the fallen goblin. This had happened several times since the goblin population started thinning. Hunting wasn’t done in reservation order, and simply seeing something first didn’t mean others would yield. That was common sense, yet some people still argued about it. They couldn’t argue in front of me, of course, but I sometimes heard fights echoing through the alleys whether I wanted to or not.
Still, those types were the better ones. There were others who had gotten scared after the first battle and were still hiding inside houses, refusing to come out. Most of them were women. In that sense, the woman in front of me seemed prepared to survive. She was actively coming out to hunt.
“Oppa, isn’t this a bit too much?”
I didn’t even have time to exchange greetings. I was about to shake the blood off my sword and leave when she suddenly picked a fight, forcing me to stop.
“Do I know you?”
“You don’t know the number one ranker?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“At this point, calling you sunbae-nim feels weird, right? So, oppa. My name is Kang Jun-hee, so you can speak comfortably. I’m your junior, after all.”
Watching Kang Jun-hee sparkle her eyes while shamelessly calling me “oppa” over and over, I immediately got the feeling. She was the type who would be incredibly annoying if I got involved with her.
“Yeah, well, Kang Jun-hee junior, keep up the good hunting. I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
“What could oppa possibly be busy with? It’s basically over.”
When I looked up at the sky after hearing her, the timer that had read 00:00 had changed to 04:59.
Five hours. That’s a pretty generous break time.
I didn’t know how many times this would repeat, but five hours of rest wasn’t bad at all.
“But oppa, isn’t this really too much? There’s such a thing as basic human decency. How can you just hog all the kills by yourself?”
“Then why didn’t you come out and fight when they were swarming everywhere?”
I snorted and shot back at Kang Jun-hee, who was suddenly preaching about decency. From the start, after we were pushed back in the first battle and forced to retreat, most people had been too busy hiding inside houses. Only a few had actually come out to fight the goblins. Even then, there had been so many goblins in the beginning that it hadn’t helped much. Only after I ran my feet raw reducing their numbers did things finally pick up. And now she was talking about decency? She could get fucked.
“Hehe, I worked pretty hard too, you know. Look at the blood on this spear. You don’t get this much blood just by nibbling on the leftovers.”
When I looked at the spear, it did seem like she had put in effort. The wooden spear made from a farming tool was stained black with goblin blood. She must have killed quite a few.
But so what? I could see she had tried hard, but it had nothing to do with me. Right now, I just wanted to find somewhere to rest. I didn’t feel like having a long conversation. I had scraped my aura dry every time it recovered, and the resulting fatigue was no joke.
“Good job. Keep it up.”
“Right? So, starting from the next invasion, can’t we fight together?”
She seemed to know exactly what her charm points were. Kang Jun-hee looked up at me with her large, sparkling eyes. I thought about it for a moment.
“Oppa, going alone must be hard too.”
She must have thought my hesitation meant I was tempted, because she kept pushing.
“No.”
“Why not? I’m a pretty talented person who survived the first tutorial, you know.”
“How many goblins did you kill there?”
“Fifteen…”
“That’s why it’s a no.”
I was slightly surprised that she had killed more than I expected, but a no was a no. First of all, she didn’t look like she’d be good in a fight. She couldn’t help being a woman, but she was short and had a small frame. Her chest and hips were quite impressive for her build, which were attractive points as a woman, but since I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend but a combat comrade, I left that part out.
“Really? Even though I can do anything…?”
“Anything? How far are we talking?”
“Huh?”
I deliberately narrowed my eyes and scanned Kang Jun-hee’s body as lecherously as possible. Startled by my blatant gaze, she shrank back. I stopped looking her over and shrugged.
“Looks like your resolve is lacking.”
“Oppa, you were that kind of person?”
“It’s not just me. Every man you meet from now on will be the same. And even if they aren’t, you should start by being suspicious.”
Leaving behind Kang Jun-hee, who was trembling—whether from being moved by my sincere advice or not—I moved on to find a place to rest. She probably hadn’t taken it as advice, but the moment she actually faced the situation, my words would definitely come to mind. In a medieval fantasy world, especially on a battlefield against the demon race, it was obvious how women would be treated.
“By the way, what’s been making that constant ringing sound?”
I had thought it would stop after a while, but the noise kept going. I stepped into the nearest empty house to check and saw a small letter icon in the corner of my vision. The moment I focused on it, the gift arrived.