Chapter 43
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Evolution
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[Warning! Warning! Intruders detected! Repel the intruders!]
The orc horde had finally invaded. I grabbed my weapons and hurried to the interception room.
“Gruk! Gruruk!”
“Man, there’s a ridiculous number of them.”
The orcs had filled the interception room to the brim. Even though the room wasn’t small, the orcs were huge and there were so many that it was packed tight.
“Krarak!”
The ones that looked like orc warriors pointed their axes at me and shouted something. At that, the orcs started charging forward one after another.
Thud thud thud!
An enormous charge that shook the ground like an earthquake. They were sprinting at full speed even before climbing the hill.
“Three.”
The ground shook like there was an actual quake. Well, more precisely, the branches I’d disguised as ground were shaking.
“Two.”
“Gruk!?”
A few orcs tilted their heads, sensing something off. But it was too late to notice now.
“One.”
The bastards had already fallen into the trap.
Splurt!
“Gweeiii!!”
A heavy thud of something sinking into the mud came with screams like a pig being slaughtered.
“That’s the orc horde for you. I knew they’d come charging in brainlessly from the start.”
I smirked at the scene unfolding before me.
The front-runners plummeted straight down three meters onto the sharpened stakes, getting impaled. The ones right behind trampled their vanguard and barely survived.
‘Not that it didn’t hurt them, though.’
“Gweeiii!”
The third group fell in succession, crushing the second. Thanks to that, the tips of the stakes pierced through the corpses and embedded into the second group’s bodies.
In an instant, over ten orcs were dead or incapacitated in the pit. And with that came the messages.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Cha In-hyeok. Lv 14. (7.2%)] [Mana 5/18]
[Strength 42, Agility 42, Vitality 33, Intelligence 30]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 20]
“Well, damn. Leveling up is this easy?”
It used to take raiding dozens of goblin villages, but a handful of orcs did it instantly. Twice in a row, no less.
“Thanks. Saved me from the level grind.”
I invested the stat points into vitality and intelligence, then reached out toward a healthy orc.
‘Illusion.’
The orc under illusion started rampaging. It amplified the chaos even more.
In the meantime, the Goblins spun their slings diligently, attacking the orcs in the pit.
“Krak! Krarak!”
I was having a field day with the illusions when an orc warrior stepped forward and decapitated the hallucinating orc.
The orc’s head flew off in one swing. The shock of the illusion breaking made my head throb.
“Still, it bought us some decent time.”
By then, most of the orcs in the pit had been pelted to death by slings. The pit was now filled with orc corpses.
But thanks to that, the remaining orcs could climb the hill without falling in. Of course, that was still a win for me.
The pit and hill had neutralized their racial skill, Charge.
The orcs slowly climbing the hill were nothing but sitting ducks for the goblin throwers.
“Gruk! Guk!”
Endless sling shots left their bodies black and blue. A hit to the knee sent them tumbling back down.
“Kuooh!”
Even those who barely reached the top faced Pork and the orc guards holding firm.
The orcs, drained of stamina and speed from the climb, were no match for the orc guards waiting above.
Plus, we had the high ground advantage. When skills were even, attacking from above was always better.
Whoosh-!
A simple overhead smash. But for the orcs leaning awkwardly on the slope, it was hard to block.
“Gweeiii!”
One had its skull split by an axe, another was kicked tumbling back. I even saw one die to a hobgoblin’s combo attack.
“Whoa! Since when were my kids this good?”
The battle was turning in our favor without me even stepping in.
Impressive, even with the new weapons and terrain help.
But it was too early to celebrate. Two orc warriors were still unscathed.
One was shrugging off every attack with its thick hide, the other was scaling the hill with un-orc-like speed.
Clearly variants specialized in vitality and agility.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I rushed to block the orc warrior’s path. If that thing got up here, it’d be a bloodbath.
Clang!
But the agility-specialized orc warrior casually parried my attack and counterattacked swiftly.
“Whoa!”
Caught off guard by its orc-defying speed, the other orc warrior reached the top.
“Damn it, everyone fall back! Focus on blocking the path to the throne room!”
My minions retreated in a group, clearing space on the hilltop. Enough room to fight the two orcs.
I stood in a triangle formation with them—one hand with Gentle Breeze, the other a plain tomahawk axe.
Throws wouldn’t work. One was too fast, the other’s hide too thick; it’d take forever.
‘That one won’t just watch.’
The agile one was trickier. Too fast to shake off.
The vitality one was slow-footed, so I could kite it.
‘I’ll circle around Tubby while fighting Slim.’
Luckily, I was a tad faster than Slim. But handling both meant few counter chances.
How much time passed? Suddenly, Tubby snorted long and hard, scraping the ground with its foot.
Charge prep motion. And right when I was cornered.
‘It’s been waiting for this!’
Dodging Charge wasn’t hard, but what came after was.
After leaping aside, Slim’s attack would follow for sure.
How to dodge that too? As I grew anxious, an idea hit me.
‘Wait, why am I just thinking about dodging? Idiot! Use your head. Lately, I’ve gotten strong and started solving everything with brute force.’
Crisis was opportunity. Play this right, and I could turn the tables.
Tsssh!
Right on cue, a deflating rice cooker sound as Tubby charged.
‘Now!’
I cast Illusion on Tubby. Rank gap meant it wouldn’t last long, but that was fine.
‘It’ll end quick anyway!’
I moved the illusion as if dodging. Tubby charged after it.
‘Idiot.’
It’d never guess that was actually Slim.
Thud thud thud!
“Gruk?”
Slim turned at the ominous noise, eyes widening at the incoming Tubby.
Too late to dodge. Slim got rammed like a roadkilled boar, launched into the air.
“Gweeiii-!”
“I’ll avenge you!”
I hurled the tomahawk at Tubby’s head as it halted from hitting its ally.
Ting!
Tubby-style, it just left a scratch and bounced.
“Once doesn’t cut it…….”
I pulled axes from inventory and threw in rapid succession. Aiming for the scratched spot.
“Twice.”
Whirr-
The spinning axe hit the exact same spot again. Bounced, but the wound deepened.
“Three times.”
I threw the third like a darts pro.
But this time different. Not plain—Gentle Breeze, with full power throw.
“Aim true.”
Whoosh- whoosh- whoosh-
Gentle Breeze whipped up a gale despite its name, slamming into Tubby’s forehead dead-on.
“Gruk!?”
It pierced the skull slightly. Not deep yet.
‘Recall!’
Gentle Breeze vibrated ‘wuuung-’ in the skull, then ‘crack!’ pulled free.
“Vengeance for Slim!”
I grabbed the returning Gentle Breeze and smashed down on Tubby’s head.
“Kuh!”
Four hits to the same spot in a row—Tubby let out a final screech and died.
With Slim shaking from the roadkill impact, another level up message appeared.
[Cha In-hyeok. Lv 15. (47.9%)] [Mana 7/20]
[Strength 42, Agility 42, Vitality 43, Intelligence 40]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 10]
Turning crisis to opportunity netted another level. And a special reward.
[‘Illusion’ advances to E-rank. Can now cast on two targets simultaneously. However, your Intelligence must exceed the sum of their Intelligence.]
Skill rank up lifted a major limit: target cap.
‘If it’d ranked up before battle, this would’ve been easier.’
Pit them against each other, assassinate one by one.
‘Anyway, it’s wrapping up.’
“Gruruk…….”
The last orc croaked. At that moment, the Gobling sisters glowed, bodies growing larger.
‘Digimon evolution-!!’
Felt like I heard that somewhere. Light faded, revealing new forms.
Two meters tall, gray skin, a single horn—perfect hobgoblins.
‘Lost some cuteness, but damn cool.’
Pride swelled like watching grown kids.
‘Grroo~ These the same lacking Gobling Trio? Chest swelling with pride.’
Checked status to see their stats.
[Goblin. Lv 10.] [Hobgoblin(★)]
[Strength 12, Agility 20, Vitality 10, Intelligence 15]
Something off. Evolved to hobgoblin, but physical stats mediocre.
Just as I wondered if something was wrong, the high Intelligence jumped out.
“Intelli, special?”
“No, intelli-gence.”
“What? Did you just talk? Bling-ah?”
“Master. Bad.”
“…….”
Still didn’t grasp words fully. Anyway, Gobling was talking. Marbling and Ppurirng Ppurirng too.
All three were Intelligence-specialized.
A bit disappointing. High Intelligence on goblins—what’s the point? They can’t even cast spells……
‘Wait, keep going like this, they’ll rank up to goblin shamans?’
Easing my regret, their next actions shocked me.
“This, sling.”
The dumb Gobling was proudly showing off her sling to other hobgoblins. And not just showing.
The Gobling Trio clustered like the Hanson brothers, teaching slings to the rest.
“Hit hard, embed.”
“Intelli, gence. Miserable.”
Mimicking my speech patterns subtly.
‘When did I ever say that…….’
Separate from reflecting on my words, them handling sling training eased one worry.
‘No need to grind teaching slings myself.’
Subordinates would multiply hugely; couldn’t teach each batch personally.
With Goblins handling thrower training, I could focus on my tasks.
Plus, their change influenced Moemoe Kyun’s subtly rebellious attitude.
Shocked that her #1 subordinate status was upstaged by Goblins hitting level 10 first.
“No can do. Master, take me on next hunt!”
“Huh? Didn’t you say remote work suited you better?”
“No. Thought about it—staying home makes the ghost gloomy. Needs occasional sunlight…….”
“Ghosts sunbathe?”
“Anyway, I’ll shatter bones and grind them to dust. Master, please take me!”
A boneless one talking bone-shattering.