Gwiwolrang's Advice
With Gwiwolrang’s help, he had made it back to the Dungeon.
At the Dungeon entrance, the waiting shadows stretched long across the ground.
Geoung, the leader goblin.
And the goblins.
They were waiting.
It was an inefficient sight.
Do-hyun’s eyes darkened.
“Workers. Make weapons.”
“Prepare the bags.”
“Divide the food.”
“Orcs, all armed.”
“...It’s time to hunt.”
He issued correction commands to the inefficient behavior at once. The moment the orders fell, the waiting creatures moved.
The goblins scattered, the goblin warriors gathered their weapons, and the orcs sharpened and checked their gear. Geoung ate.
Spring had come, and with it the season for hunting. Preparations were more than sufficient.
Then Gwiwolrang’s words flashed through his mind.
“If you don’t want to lose your subordinates—”
“The guide...”
“...Do not touch the place I mentioned.”
Remembering that advice, the procession began to move.
Geoung took the lead. Behind him came the orcs with their weapons in hand, followed by the leader goblin and the elite goblins. Then hundreds of goblins fell into formation, each carrying a leather bag.
When hundreds gathered together, a fierce momentum rolled out until it seemed to shake the forest itself.
Depart.
...
The orcs and goblins marched through the forest without hesitation.
The rendezvous point is approaching.
Through Geoung’s eyes, within the forest scenery, a flower field came into view, white blossoms blooming there with unusual brilliance.
“Geoung... this is pretty.”
The orcs and goblins stopped before the flower field.
We’ve arrived at the rendezvous point.
Just as Do-hyun, watching from the Core Room, thought that,
Kko-
Kko-kko...
It was a low, rasping sound.
...A living thing... position...? Close!
Come to think of it, he had never really been introduced to whoever this was by name.
The grass shook.
Slowly, something stepped out.
A red comb.
Black, split talons.
A body held low.
A bird that could not fly.
...No.
It was a beast that trampled the earth.
The goblins flinched.
A few even took a step back.
The orcs tightened their grip on their weapons.
...That is...
White feathers, shining as if they held the sun within them, gave the creature an appearance vaguely reminiscent of a chicken.
Kiyaeek-!
Kik-!
The goblins all screamed at once.
...I remember now.
Without a doubt, when the goblin squad had wiped them out before, this had been classified as a dangerous target.
“...Kko-kko. Many.”
Its voice was thick and rough, as if scraping against the throat. There were old scars on its beak, its talons were sharp, and its body was lean. It resembled a fighting cock, but there were many rough scars on its feet.
A yokai. A battle-capable one, at that.
“Kko-kko. Dragon army?”
Let Geoung go ahead.
“Geoung...?”
The chicken looked Geoung over and, as if appraising him, said,
“...Useful.”
Its eyes moved over Geoung’s upper-body muscles with evident satisfaction.
“Geoung, master’s order, guide sent by Gwiwolrang?”
The fruit of the lessons Do-hyun had repeatedly drilled into him now bore fruit.
“Kko-kko, right. I am Gyetoo, warrior of the rooster yokai clan.”
He introduced himself.
“Geoung! Geoung is Geoung.”
“...I was told some brat would be coming to handle the insect yokai.”
“Geoung. Not a brat.”
“Kko-kko. Let’s go. Need many hands. Insect yokai... many.”
In an instant, the chicken’s body blurred, then snapped back into focus as it turned away.
Crack—
“Geoung?”
Geoung looked at the chicken in confusion.
“Flowers... die.”
Something that looked like an insect yokai had been crushed beneath the chicken’s foot, and a patch of white flowers a little farther away had been stained by black bodily fluid.
“...Come.”
Gyetoo turned his head and pointed the direction they needed to go with his eyes.
Following that gaze, the army moved once more.
The first thing they encountered was an old familiar enemy.
An invisible spider.
Invisible spider.
It was an insect yokai Geoung had hunted most often in the past.
The threat level was low.
That was the judgment.
But then—
Swoosh...
Up in the trees.
Layer upon layer of eyes.
More than a few hundred were visible.
There were so many that the red pupils dotted the nearby trees like scattered grains.
It was impossible to count them all.
“...Catch.”
Gyetoo said in a low voice.
At that moment—
He vanished.
Pabababububuk—!
Light flashed.
Anything it touched—
Exploded.
Geoung charged after him.
With his club raised high, he rushed forward as the spiders, blasted out of the air by Gyetoo’s attack, came tumbling down.
“Geoung—!”
Crack—!
The club swung as the shout rang out.
The wind kicked up, and black dust scattered through the air.
Quietly, right behind him, the leader goblin moved. With precise, disciplined steps, it followed up, while the other goblins supported from the flanks and thrust their spears. The spears kept the spiders from slipping past the reach of Geoung’s club.
The spider wave was cleaned up one by one at speed.
...Weak.
Do-hyun’s judgment was brief.
There were many of them, but they were still no threat.
The leader goblin kept stabbing in rapid succession.
Snap!
The spear could not endure and broke.
But another spear was thrown up from behind at once, and the leader goblin thrust again without hesitation.
Eleven times.
Do-hyun calculated it.
Durability limit.
If the hunter goblins had not supported from behind, there might have been dangerous moments.
Geoung was no different.
“Geoung—!”
Crack—!
The club broke.
The difference was that he did not hesitate.
He raised his fist.
“Geoung—!”
He swung like a storm.
Violence gathered in both fists.
The spiders burst apart.
With Gyetoo, Geoung, and the leader goblin all throwing themselves into the fight, the hundreds of creatures quickly thinned out.
It grew quiet.
Layers of corpses piled up, staining the area black.
It looked over.
Swoosh.
Reinforcements...?
More spiders were climbing the trees and appearing from somewhere else.
“Kko-kko... catch.”
As if it were nothing new, the rooster warrior sprang out again, and Geoung and the leader goblin hurled themselves after him.
...Strange.
Do-hyun narrowed his eyes.
Several suspicious things stood out.
No, to be precise, they stood out because he was Do-hyun.
The hunter goblins began collecting the corpses on the spot.
While that was happening, several questions passed through his mind.
First was the shape of the spiders he had been hunting all along.
They were the same. Their form, their appearance, even their internal organs.
It’s as if they were stamped out of a mold.
Even when goblins were produced at the source, there had been differences.
This was like factory work.
They had come in swarms for quite a while, but it seemed there was still a limit to the reinforcements.
“...Kko-kko.”
Gyetoo stomped down.
Crack—
The last spider’s body burst apart.
There was an end to it.
Kiyaeek...
Sweat gleamed over the goblin warrior’s body, and white steam poured from his mouth.
“Geoung! Cool!”
Aside from Geoung, everyone looked exhausted.
The hunter goblins who had only hauled weapons were exhausted too.
The leader goblin glanced back at them once.
Then it rested.
Rest, then move.
“Geoung, not tired.”
Though he grumbled, Geoung still knew what he had to do. He walked over to Gyetoo and said,
“Geoung rests.”
“...Understood.”
Geoung immediately turned around and went straight into the camp the hunter goblins had thrown together during the battle.
The emergency rations prepared in the Dungeon were laid out and waiting, and Geoung took his place there with obvious delight.
“Geoung! Eat!”
Geoung ate his meal, and the leader goblin, along with the goblin warriors, spoke with one another as they ate.
It sounded like they were discussing efficient use of martial arts.
Inside the camp, Gyetoo took a sip of water poured for him by a hunter goblin, then said,
“...Not bad.”
The warrior’s eyes curved slightly.
“Bird... doesn’t come down from sky.”
After saying that, unlike the warrior who had been rampaging before, Gyetoo looked at the yellow flowers commonly seen swaying between the blades of grass in the forest.
“Kko-kko... flowers will bloom here too.”
With a relaxed expression, he entrusted the watch to the hunter goblins and began to rest.
Watching the group resting in the Core Room, Do-hyun also replayed the battle from a moment ago in his mind.
...It’s going to take a fair amount of time.
There had been more than twenty points of contact.
Twenty was a fairly large number.
But it did not matter.
Do-hyun’s eyes fell on the spoils being carried by some of the hunter goblins.
Mass hunting like this was not common, even against a yokai.
And rewards were on the line too.
Do-hyun thought over his training progress.
He had already created most of the channels through which spiritual energy flowed inside the body.
He was still lacking if he wanted to rise beyond yokai and become a great yokai.
It would take time to eat better and fill out those deficiencies.
As he looked over the byproducts and considered distribution and use, something strange came into view.
...It disappeared?
It was a familiar sensation.
He sat in the Core Room and searched for enemies.
As the goblin hunter group moved through concealment, some of those at the rear vanished.
...
He shifted his gaze again.
This time his view changed to a hand gripping a spear, callused and rough.
A goblin warrior.
It wasn’t just the hunters he had sent out.
In the forest, there was a strong presence there, if not at Geoung’s level.
Fwaat-!
The spear plunged cleanly through the brush as though slipping into it.
Kyao-!
Something that looked like a feline beast burst out with blood on its lips.
Whump-!
The tip of the spear drew a circle and drove in, aiming for the throat.
The clean motion made it obvious how much effort had gone into even a single move.
Dead.
He could feel it.
The flow of the core was calm.
...As though nothing had happened at all.
So I really do need to go out myself.
If Do-hyun did not personally go on the exterior hunts, the core’s experience would not build up.
Of course, experience still rose through the life cycle inside the Dungeon itself.
But... it was slow.
For a moment, he looked through the system at the goblins active outside the Dungeon.
They were fulfilling their roles.
Do-hyun’s gaze paused briefly.
The conclusion is the same.
Do-hyun’s eyes grew cold.
I have to move.
Right then, he turned his attention to one side of the Dungeon.
The orcs were there, practicing hard with their clubs.
As spring arrived and the food situation improved, he had produced additional orcs.
The defenses are sufficient.
There was no great yokai capable of attacking the Dungeon, Do-hyun’s nest, which had inherited the forest.
Do-hyun’s eyes settled into a chill calm.
He rose from his seat.
Going myself is the most efficient option.