The Goblins' Moving Castle

"A Giant Sandworm is coming!"

The Goblins quickly backed away, pulling poison darts from their shirts. The Goblin race fundamentally possessed innate bonuses to both Engineering and Assassination skills!

Pft! Pft! Pft!

"Argh!"

"Ugh!"

"...?"

The Goblins had fired their poison darts as they always did. The only problem was that Cain was currently charging straight into that exact spot!

"Wait, why are you running over there...?!"

"Hey! Can't you guys aim straight?!"

Cain was furious. He didn't even have any armor on, so why were they poisoning him...?

Even for Cain, who had taken his fair share of poison during his time playing Pandemonium Online, this was on a completely different level.

Tae-hyun was genuinely impressed. "Wow, you guys are amazing."

He had underestimated them, but the Goblins' skills were far better than expected!

"Urgh... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Don't just stand there admiring them, help me..."

"I'll heal you right now!"

Lee Da-bi spent gold to cure the poison coursing through Cain.

Seeing this, Tae-hyun chimed in. "Did you really need to spend gold? He has a ton of HP anyway, he would've been fine."

"Cough, how can you say that..."

"...Hmm."

"?"

Tae-hyun noticed something strange. Cain had suddenly flinched.

"What is it?"

"O-nothing. Nothing at all."

"Cain. Seeing you flinch like that... a message window must have popped up in front of you. Am I right? And since you're trying to hide it from me... Ah! Did you get stat experience from taking poison with your bare body?"

"!??!?!?!"

Cain was horrified. What is this guy, a psychic?!

"Cain. Didn't I tell you? Just wearing thick armor isn't everything! A tank can grow in so many other ways!"

"N-no, but growing by stripping off your gear and getting hit is just wrong..."

"Break your prejudices!"

"Excuse me, Your Majesty..."

"?"

"The Giant Sandworm has appeared, but..."

While Tae-hyun and Cain were bickering, Heuk-heuk was already beating the Giant Sandworm to a pulp.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

-You bastard! I! Am! A! Dragon! Where do you think you're! Huh! Huh!

For some reason, he seemed extremely angry!

"Hey, come to think of it, isn't he a Vampire Dragon right now?"

"Right?"

No matter how high his level was, since he was in a vampire state, he should be receiving debuffs under the sunlight...

Yet he was so energetic!

"I see. He overcame it through sheer effort."

-N-no, Master. Wouldn't it be better if I just went out instead?

Yong-yong was also dumbfounded. Overcoming sunlight through effort? What kind of nonsense was that? It just looked like Heuk-heuk was so pissed off that he forgot about the debuff and was fighting through it...

Anyway, Heuk-heuk defeated the Giant Sandworm all by himself.

The Goblins marveled at his majestic display.

"As expected of a hero of Your Majesty's caliber! Even the pet you keep has such magnificent dignity!"

-Who are you calling a pet!

Heuk-heuk was furious. He was a divine beast in his own right!

"Ah, this is wonderful. Normally, we couldn't eat the meat of a Giant Sandworm because we killed it with poison darts, but since it was caught like this, we can eat it."

"......"

Cain got goosebumps at the Goblins' words.

"W-wait. You're going to eat this?"

"Haha. You don't have to say it, we will give you a generous portion."

The Goblins winked. They thought Cain was being greedy, worried he wouldn't get any meat.

"N-no! I'm fine!"

"So humble. As expected of the heroes who travel with Your Majesty..."

The Goblins smiled warmly and pulled out knives to butcher the Giant Sandworm. Their movements were highly skilled!

Come to think of it, that chef bastard who spread Bizarre Food was also a Goblin...

Cain glimpsed an inescapable despair in that sight.

"Hmm... maybe if I cook it together with Uipoatl's bones..."

"......"

Beside him, Tae-hyun was muttering weird things again.

"Eat more. Eat up."

"I-I'm full..."

"In Pandemonium Online, you can eat more even if you're full."

"Blegh. Gag."

The rest of the party turned their heads away. Don't make eye contact!

Of all things, Giant Sandworm meat gave massive bonuses to Constitution and Defense. In other words...

It was the perfect meal for a tank!

The Goblins nodded in satisfaction.

"Your Majesty is great at cooking, great at Engineering, great at assassination... there is truly nothing you cannot do."

"You are so goblin-like!"

"Haha. Such praise makes me a bit embarrassed."

"The young Goblins really need to look up to Your Majesty and learn..."

"Cough, cough. Cough, cough, cough."

Instead of answering, Cain choked and coughed, his mouth stuffed with meat.

How frustrating! Cain thought. If the effects were terrible, he would have rejected it somehow, but since the effects were this good...!

The Avatar of Archisus's Slave class and Abnormal Cooking created a terrifying synergy.

"But how do we craft that Magic Sword Slayer?" Tae-hyun asked, curious.

Usually, legendary items had to be received or stolen from someone. Creating a legendary item from scratch was almost impossible!

Yet, this quest clearly stated to "craft" it. No matter how great the Underground Alliance Goblins' technology was, it wouldn't be an easy task.

"First, we must gather the metals."

"Oh... it wouldn't be Adamantium, so is it Orihalcon?"

Adamantium usually had properties suited for armor, while Orihalcon had properties suited for weapons. Of course, even if it was Adamantium, putting it in a weapon was always better than not. It was just too rare to waste like that.

"No, Your Majesty. There is an extremely, extremely rare and precious metal known only to us Goblins."

"!!!"

Tae-hyun was startled. Really?

There were countless metals in Pandemonium Online. There were probably many metals Tae-hyun didn't know about. Even though Tae-hyun had been the server's top blacksmith in Pandemonium Online 1, new metals he had never heard of kept appearing. Even for steel, there were dozens of variations depending on attributes like low-grade, intermediate, advanced, holy, fire-attributed, and so on.

It wouldn't be surprising if a new rare metal he didn't know about appeared. In fact, blacksmiths would risk their lives just to get information on one such metal.

However, despite the existence of so many metals, there were two metals that firmly held the throne: Adamantium and Orihalcon.

While other metals might be better for specific stats, there was no metal that surpassed these two overall.

Yet, there was an extremely precious metal known only to Goblins? His heart pounded.

If only I can get my hands on a ton of that metal...!

"What metal is it?!"

"Haha. I knew Your Majesty would be interested. We call it Blue Metal."

"Blue Metal... Is it lightning or ice-attributed?"

"It has no such attributes. However, it possesses terrifying attack power."

"Ohh...! More than Orihalcon?!"

"In my opinion, it is stronger than Orihalcon."

"!!"

Adamantium and Orihalcon were metals created by the gods themselves. It was obvious their performance was superior to other metals.

So what on earth was Blue Metal that it was stronger than those two? There had to be some kind of side effect.

But Tae-hyun, whose eyes had already rolled back in greed, couldn't hear it. He had to get his hands on it no matter what!

"In the underground of the Great Desert, Blue Metal appears in small amounts. We were planning to gather those metals to forge the sword."

"I see! Then I just need to help you with that, right?"

This was the first time Choi Sang-yun had seen Tae-hyun so eager to help others! He was amazed. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Anyone else would have thought this wasn't Tae-hyun.

"Don't worry. I'll find it for you."

Though I might pocket a little bit of it in the process!

However, the Goblins, worried for Tae-hyun, tried to stop him.

"Your Majesty. You must absolutely not go alone. The place where Blue Metal is found is dangerous, and there are many fierce monsters, so even we Goblins rarely go there."

"No! My party and I are experts at that kind of thing!"

"No! Please accept our help!"

Tae-hyun trying to hog it all vs. the Goblins trying to help him at all costs!

On the surface, it was a heartwarming conversation, but underneath, it was incredibly dark and calculating.

The Underground Alliance Goblins. They were fundamentally weak. Compared to a monster like Uipoatl, they would blow away with a single breath.

How did they manage to escape and survive? It was all thanks to their Engineering skill.

Clank, clank—

For an Engineering player like Tae-hyun, the Goblins' nation was a land of opportunity. Just breathing here increased his Engineering skill and brought in crafting recipes!

Normally, to get a single recipe, one had to go through all kinds of trial and error, banging their head against a wall. But seeing how the Goblins had already completed everything, there was no need for that.

"Is that the hero who assassinated the Emperor?"

With a clank, the head of a clanking golem popped open, and a Goblin popped out from inside.

Then, the Goblins who had guided Tae-hyun's party shouted excitedly, "That's right! We barely managed to bring him here!"

"You have to see for yourself what an incredible hero he is!"

"Hearing about our situation, he offered to gather the Blue Metal all by himself... sniff!"

At that, the Goblin riding the golem got angry.

"Do you guys have no conscience?! To dump such a burden on a hero! Even the nobles of the Asbian Empire wouldn't be so shameless!"

"N-no! We tried to help him..."

"Do not worry, Hero! The elites among us Goblins will ride golems to assist you!"

"Uh... no, really, I'm fine..."

Tae-hyun had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally convinced them, only for a new Goblin to suddenly appear and ruin it!

"First, please come inside! Let me introduce you to our Alliance Leader."

"Where?"

Swoooooosh—

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of desert sand being dug up echoed.

And something rose from beneath the sand.

It was a massive entrance.

Crazy!

The other party members didn't have the Engineering skill, so they just reacted with, "Oh? Is it just an entrance leading underground?"

But to Tae-hyun, who had the Engineering skill, the entire outline of the castle was revealed.

A massive mobile base moving through the underground sand!

That was the Goblins' Moving Castle.

The moment Tae-hyun saw this, two thoughts crossed his mind.

Wow. How on earth did they build this?

An overwhelming scale that even a blacksmith like Tae-hyun wouldn't dare attempt! It felt like they had to grind down an entire kingdom to build it.

And the next thought?

I... I want to build one too!!

The inescapable soul of a blacksmith! I want one too!