Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Hobgoblin Chief
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“Status window.”
[ An Su-ho ]
- Lv : 8
- Class : Healer
- Strength : 12
- Vitality : 12
- Mana : 12
- Senses : 8
- Bonus Stats : 0
Su-ho checked his status window.
It had been quite a while since he entered the Gate.
His level was already 8.
‘Time to meet that guy soon.’
Su-ho knew everything about this Gate.
Even so, he had deliberately delayed his encounter with the Gate’s owner and boss monster.
No matter how you sliced it, absolute strength came from levels, and Sudden Gates like this didn’t offer many chances for solo grinding, so it was best to max out his leveling here.
But now, hobgoblins were hardly anywhere to be seen.
Su-ho had dried up their seeds.
After scouting around a bit more, Su-ho spotted a single group of hobgoblins.
Perfect.
These guys would be the last. Time to summon the big one.
He’d squeezed every last bit of experience he needed from this place.
With that thought, Su-ho picked up one of the swords the hobgoblins had and aimed it at them.
Then he threw it.
[ Your understanding of Throwing is exceptionally high. ]
[ The system is evaluating your talent. ]
[ Congratulations! You have acquired Throw (B). ]
He obtained the Throw skill at the same time.
It wasn’t even surprising anymore.
Crack!
The flying sword embedded perfectly into the forehead of one of the hobgoblins.
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
The creature died instantly.
That marked the start of the fight.
Four hobgoblins remained.
They pinpointed the direction the sword had come from and charged straight at Su-ho.
‘Yeah, come on!’
Su-ho didn’t dodge.
He was level 8 now, and he had acquired nearly all the skills needed for movement.
Soon, the distance between Su-ho and the monsters shrank to just a few steps. In that instant, Su-ho vanished.
“Kreek?”
The hobgoblins panicked noticeably as Su-ho, who should have been right in front of them, disappeared.
But Su-ho hadn’t used a stealth skill or anything like that.
Slash!
A sharp slicing sound.
The hobgoblins whipped their heads toward the noise in alarm, but it was already too late.
Su-ho had circled behind them with his superior footwork and began swinging his sword in wide arcs, butchering them in an instant.
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
He had sliced their throats precisely, killing three of the four.
The last one, not fully cleaved by the blade, clutched its throat and collapsed, trembling on the ground.
Su-ho kicked the sword the creature had dropped, sending it skidding far away.
Then he jerked his chin toward the rear.
“Go.”
He wasn’t joking.
Su-ho really let it go.
There was one reason.
It would bring its boss right to him.
No need to hunt it down the hard way. For Gates without special conditions like this one, this was tried-and-true veteran know-how.
At Su-ho’s gesture, the hobgoblin hesitated for a moment before slinking backward and then bolting away.
‘It’ll show up soon enough.’
Su-ho calmly collected the mana stones after sending it off. A short while later.
Rumble rumble rumble!
An earthquake.
No, it was the sound of stomping feet.
Made by countless goblins.
They were definitely the ones Su-ho was waiting for.
‘How many will come?’
The ‘Hobgoblin Chief,’ owner of this place and its boss monster, was true to its goblin nature and always traveled in packs.
In other words, it always had at least twenty underlings.
Soon, the bushes parted, and they appeared.
One, two, three, four…
Counting them, there were about thirty.
Among them was the one he’d sent on the errand earlier. Its wound had clotted, and it was hiding among its comrades, sneering slyly.
Cute little thing.
It didn’t anger him.
A bug was a bug, no matter how sly it acted.
That was why Su-ho’s attention was elsewhere—on the Hobgoblin Chief standing arrogantly at the rear.
The creature was 1.5 times larger than the others.
Its level was the highest among them.
As the chief, that was expected.
But Su-ho wasn’t afraid.
A boss monster was still just the leader of bugs.
What was a big bug but a bigger bug?
If anything, Su-ho was thrilled to meet it.
He had nearly died because of this Gate once before.
‘Almost got killed by the monsters that spilled out around the Gate.’
Back then, Su-ho had been a non-Awakener.
That was why the goblins that emerged from the Gate had nearly killed him.
In a way, this moment was a chance for payback.
Su-ho and the hobgoblins faced off for a while.
Then.
“Kreek!”
At the chief’s shout, they charged at Su-ho in scattered waves.
‘Yeah, that’s how you do it.’
Su-ho hadn’t expected a one-on-one duel.
Expecting monsters to have any sense of knightly honor was laughable.
So Su-ho charged right back.
When facing numbers in terrain you couldn’t use to your advantage, closing the distance faster to seize the initiative was better than running.
The moment he clashed with the lead one, Su-ho channeled his momentum into his sword and pierced the vanguard’s forehead.
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
With its head skewered, it died instantly, of course.
Su-ho withdrew his sword and swung it in all directions using the pulling force.
The faces of the next three charging hobgoblins were slashed open.
“Kieee!!”
“Kreek!”
“Kaaak!”
He hadn’t killed them outright, but he rendered them combat-ineffective.
Still, plenty of goblins remained.
Blood-mad berserkers, they swung their weapons at Su-ho without hesitation.
But their strikes met only empty air.
“Kreek?!”
He had been right there.
But now he was gone.
In that instant.
“Over here.”
A voice from behind.
Before they could register that their backs were exposed, the hobgoblins crumpled.
One belatedly thrust its spear that way, but at the tip was another comrade whose trajectory had tangled.
It had unwittingly stabbed its own ally.
The creature panicked but quickly recovered its weapon and swung again.
No, it tried to.
If not for the blind strike from another comrade coming from a different angle.
“Kyaak!”
“Kreek!”
“Kiaaaak!!”
A slaughterhouse.
Total chaos.
Su-ho didn’t move much.
Staying in a confined space, he exploited their openings, nimbly dancing around.
He turned their attacks into mistakes, baiting them into skewering each other.
Soon after, amid the kill notifications, another message appeared.
[ Your understanding of evasive movements is exceptionally high. ]
[ The system is evaluating your talent. ]
[ Congratulations! You have acquired Side Step (B). ]
Side Step.
Finally, the skill he wanted.
Then.
[ Your overall understanding of footwork is exceptionally high. ]
[ Dodge and Side Step combine into ‘Footwork.’ ]
[ Congratulations! You have acquired Basic Footwork (B). ]
By the system’s formula, Dodge and Side Step merged into ‘Basic Footwork.’
‘Now I have all the basics.’
Swordsmanship skills, footwork, and parrying.
The foundations for Su-ho’s original sword art, ‘Guardian Sword,’ were complete.
All that remained was relentless effort to earn the system’s recognition.
Su-ho closed the alert window and shifted his stance to an aggressive one.
The hobgoblins, scrambling just moments ago, began falling like leaves in the wind.
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. ]
…
They had been stabbing each other, so finishing them off was easy.
He targeted vitals for quick kills.
In an instant, most were down, leaving only the Hobgoblin Chief before Su-ho, still watching sternly.
That was the moment its last underling fell.
[ Your level has increased. ]
[ All stats increase by 1. ]
[ You have acquired 1 Bonus Stat. ]
Another level up.
Now level 9.
Su-ho allocated the Bonus Stat to Mana again, then raised his sword at the hobgoblin.
He flicked the blade in provocation.
“Kerruk!”
Did the taunt work?
Rage bloomed on the creature’s previously stern face.
Su-ho checked its level.
- Hobgoblin Chief Lv.20
More than double his own.
So what?
Levels measured strength, sure—but it depended on the opponent.
What did levels matter against bugs?
The creature hefted its signature massive axe and charged at Su-ho.
“Krraaaang!!”
[ The Hobgoblin uses Fear. ]
[ You fall into Terror status. ]
[ Your body stiffens. ]
The Hobgoblin Chief’s Fear.
Fear was a skill any high-level monster could spam, but in low-level zones like this, only bosses or at least named monsters could use it.
Its effect was muscle stiffness, a level-and-stat suppression technique. Even Su-ho couldn’t dodge it.
But he didn’t panic. Calmly, he raised his sword and stabbed his own palm.
Stab!
The blade pierced through the back of his hand, sending dizzying pain through his body.
[ You are freed from Terror status. ]
Something amazing happened.
Stabbing his palm canceled the debuff instantly.
But Su-ho withdrew the sword as if it were nothing.
Inflicting physical pain was the best way to shake off mental debuff skills.
‘This is just common sense.’
Of course, mental protection skills or items with related effects would be better, but he was fresh from his return with nothing to his name.
He didn’t have any.
Su-ho shook off the Terror quickly and fluidly dodged the creature’s axe swing.
At the same time, he activated Light of Healing.
[ You use Light of Healing. ]
[ The designated area begins to recover. ]
He’d taken the wound on his left hand, so he used the skill with it.
Mana drained as the wound started healing.
A piercing wound would take time to fully heal.
But that was fine.
This was why he’d invested in Mana stats.
Su-ho gripped the Light of Healing tightly in one hand and took up his sword with the other.
Using footwork, he closed the gap in a flash.
Stab!
He thrust the sword tip into the creature’s thigh.
“Kaaaaak!!”
Its shrill scream echoed everywhere.
Return of the Sword God Civil Servant