Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Goblin - 1
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The stag beetles brought the ten gifts they had promised.
Two chunks of emeras that resembled obsidian.
Two glowstones, two flints, three black coals, and one chunk of mithril ore.
Black coal was similar to charcoal but lit easily and burned for a long time.
Just one piece was enough to get through a cold winter night.
In short, it served as a substitute for firewood.
The mithril ore contained mithril.
It glittered with a silvery sheen, suggesting a fair amount was included.
Everything else was great, but what was I supposed to do with this mithril ore...
The stag beetles laid the items out neatly at my feet.
As if asking, Is this good enough?
"Yeah, this is fine. More than enough."
Man, these guys were seriously strong.
The flint was pretty heavy even for me, yet they had carried two of them.
They were intelligent stag beetles, so of course they were strong too.
I nodded in simple acceptance and gave them two sweet potato-flavored jellies.
"This is just a little extra gift, so take it."
Yay!
The stag beetles raised their front legs high and took the jellies.
The leader tapped the mithril ore and drew a picture on the ground.
A picture of a stag beetle holding a hammer and hammering the ore...
"You guys are offering to make something for me with this?"
Nod nod.
In that case, I wouldn't say no.
I drew a picture of the item I'd always wanted.
A climbing hook.
I figured I wouldn't have much use for it because of the Metal Plague.
But mithril wasn't affected by the Metal Plague, and the stag beetles could process it.
"Can you make it like this?"
The leader stag beetle tilted its head ambiguously.
A bit short on materials?
I pulled out the mithril knife I'd looted from the goblin.
"What if I throw this in too?"
Only then did the leader nod.
Good.
I could replace the mithril knife with a ceramic one anyway, so no issue there.
It wasn't something I'd bought with points—it was looted—so I didn't feel bad.
I sketched it out on paper right then.
It was a bit crudely drawn, but they should get the idea, right?
The leader stag beetle spread its claws.
Six hooks in total? Nod nod.
Length exactly like this? Nod nod.
"Mithril's pretty sturdy, right? Tougher than something like this."
Sturdy, it confirmed.
With that, the stag beetles got to work making the hooks.
When I told them to come inside the cave because it was cold, they scurried in and settled around the brazier.
"Stag beetles get cold too?"
One of them twisted its body stiffly.
Meaning its body wasn't moving well.
Well, it was this cold, so that made sense.
The stag beetles warmed themselves by the brazier.
I pondered.
These guys could live with me...
At first, their intelligence had scared me.
But I'd learned they were harmless and exceptionally capable.
Especially when it came to metalworking—they were transcendent.
Small-scale, sure, but they handled every process from extracting ore to forging metal on their own.
This was basically a cheat key.
Of course, the stag beetles had their limits.
They couldn't fly, and they were too weak to fend off goblins.
But I could cover for that.
We could help each other.
I sat down next to the stag beetles and asked.
"Want to come live here?"
They startled.
Needed more explanation, it seemed.
"I wiped out the goblin nest, but this forest is still full of dangers. More goblins could show up anytime. If you live here, you'll be safe. And it's good for me too, since you can make stuff like this."
I held up the mithril knife, and they huddled together, seemingly holding a meeting.
The short meeting ended, and the leader drew on the paper with my ballpoint pen.
A jelly picture... Asking if I could provide food, probably.
"Can't you eat anything besides jelly?"
I picked up the leader in my hand and showed it the food storage.
It picked out the edible stuff.
What? They could eat more variety than I thought?
They'd only stolen the sweet potato jellies because those were the tastiest, I guess.
In the end, the stag beetles decided to settle in my shelter.
They had no luggage, and once they pieced together a house from sandwich panels and packed it with dirt, they had a new home.
The stag beetles dug into the dirt and made rooms one by one to live in.
Cute little guys.
Now Dingo, the four stag beetles, and I shared the shelter.
Let's get along from now on.
.
.
.
The goblins showed up after I'd finished the shelter's vegetable garden and planted potato seedlings.
I'd made a crude vinyl greenhouse to protect them from the cold wave and stepped outside to find goblins wandering the streets.
They fired paralyzing poison darts at zombies but realized their numbers and temporarily retreated.
Goblins were in the streets, buildings, and houses.
No idea when they'd appeared.
"From now on, they'll start forming hobgoblin-led nests."
And they'll roam around stockpiling food for the nests.
Regular zombies ignored anything that wasn't alive, but goblins were different.
If something looked useful to them, they'd loot and steal it.
Human shelters were no exception, so the early days of Survival Life were always war.
"The gym folks should be fine since I warned them ahead of time, but..."
I checked the strategy guide distributed by the government.
Printed on a single sheet, the info was limited.
But it was so well summarized, even I couldn't have done better.
"This should be enough to handle them decently."
Now I needed to hunt down the early goblin nest events.
Success meant substantial rewards.
You got a lot of EXP normally, but from level 15, it was hell level territory—no big progress.
Hell level meant sections requiring way more EXP than before.
Like 10 EXP from 14 to 15, but 20 from 15 to 16.
One user had called it a bug, but the devs announced it was intentional, leaving everyone stunned.
"Rewards matter more than levels anyway."
There was always at least one unique item unavailable in the shop.
I set water to boil on the brazier and brewed coffee.
Days I could enjoy this were maybe two years at most.
I had vacuum-sealed the beans, but who knew if they'd still be good after two years.
I slurped the strong coffee, and my mind sharpened, eyes wide awake.
"Dingo, let's go."
I headed out the dimension gate with Dingo.
It was late evening.
Nightfall brought creepers and bone creepers, so I had to find the goblin nest fast.
"Where's the dimension gate..."
Eh? Here?
I was briefly flustered by how easy it was.
The dimension gate was tucked in the corner of a studio apartment building's parking lot.
Smaller than mine.
This led to the goblin nest, huh.
"Opening it from inside opens a gate to... where?"
Reality? Or the forest?
No choice but to test it.
I poked my club through the gate, confirmed no issues, and entered.
Dingo followed.
A narrow, dark tunnel greeted us.
"..."
Kikikik!
Goblin cries echoed nearby.
At least six, maybe more.
I quietly opened the dimension gate.
It led to a forest.
I set down a stake—it didn't crumble.
Not sure if it was the same dimension as the forest, but no Metal Plague at least.
Night vision goggles... Damn, can't see.
Too dark—my civilian goggles were useless.
Flashlight it was.
The tunnel was so narrow and twisty that the bow's range was hard to use.
Round a corner blind, and I'd kiss a goblin.
With Dingo's senses, no ambushes, but still.
"Need a shield."
In places like this, spear and shield were better.
Dodge projectiles behind the shield.
Paralysis darts ran out after two or three—block and charge.
Once space opened up, switch to crossbow.
Finally using the stuff looted from those thugs.
I slotted the needed weapons and gear.
Net gun was perfect for covering tight spaces.
Hobgoblin shows up? Whatever.
Net it and spear it.
"Dingo'll spot flankers or rear attacks."
Wearing my watch bumped Perception to 14.
Nice.
No night vision, so helmet time.
Taped the flashlight to the side.
This would give away my position, but combat was coming anyway.
I drew shield and crossbow from slots, one in each hand.
Helmet flashlight on—perfect visibility ahead.
Kiruk!
Goblins noticed the light and raised a racket.
Come on, I'll kill you all.
I advanced, shield forward.
Light hit the corner—a goblin jumped out.
Blinded from dark tunnel by the intense flash.
I fired the crossbow without hesitation and drew my spear.
Thud—the bolt sank into its side.
Kieek!
"One."
Scampering footsteps.
Two goblins burst around the corner.
One got its gut pierced on my spear shaft and died instantly.
The other charged with a club.
"Slot one."
I shoved it with the shield, drew my long knife from slot, and stabbed deep.
Kieee...
The goblin slumped lifelessly.
"Three."
A few more skirmishes followed, but I slaughtered the goblins without much damage.
At forks, I searched everywhere and marked with chalk.
Thanks to that, no backstabs in the goblin nest.
Event nests were small, so not too tough.
"Dungeons or mazes have traps everywhere..."
Net throwers, ceiling droppers—tactics galore, no easy advance.
After crushing over a dozen goblins, the space widened.
Hobgoblin's nest.
It had to notice the commotion.
Waiting inside.
Or...
I crept quietly, sensing something off.
Something around.
Dingo crouched, growling.
Something in the wall.
Small nests like this didn't have built traps—too cramped for goblins even.
But they often repaired natural collapses into ambushes.
Jump out with the wall when a user passes.
If my Perception were low, I'd be done.
"Where are you..."
I shone the flashlight on the wall and smirked.
Eyes in a hole.
Creepy, but knowing made it harmless.
I poked the wall with my long knife.
"What? Not coming out?"
Wall crumbled—a hobgoblin leaped out.
Kraaagh!
But I'd already slotted the net gun.
Pressed the button—compressed nitrogen burst the net.
Hobgoblin tangled in a blink.
It thrashed wildly, trying to tear free, but no use.
I dropped the knife, drew spear, and stabbed hard.
One, two, three.
Ruthlessly through the net mesh—it howled in agony.
Final thrust to the throat—hobgoblin died.
Level?
"Hell levels are a pain."
I calmly recovered bolts and weapons.
Level gap with hobgoblins too small now—no skills from them.
Needed stronger monsters, but that meant risking my neck.
"Ironic."
I entered the nest.
Rotted meat, crumbled food scraps, crude wooden weapons greeted me.
A quiver soon appeared.
Adamant Arrows: Enhanced Penetration
"Oh... Nice."
Penetration enhancement punched through most armor.
Even owl bears that bounced regular arrows.
Only ten arrows—kinda lacking.
"These would give werewolves trouble."
If you could land them.
Most users got shredded while aiming.
I swept the nest one last time and exited via the gate.
The dimension gate was still active.
"These last quite a while."
No one knew when they'd vanish.
Ignore it, and one day it's gone.
Cleared anyway, so useless now.
I slotted the adamant quiver and moved on.
Hmm...
Early event—someone else might know it.
Wait a bit.
.
.
.
30 minutes after Sung-ho left the dimension gate.
A few in hiking gear spotted it.
Members of the office where Kyung-hoon and Bora had joined.
Three men, two women.
Leader Kim Cheol-jung, a 30s user with long Survival Life playtime.
"See, Bora? I told you."
"It's real. Going in leads to a goblin tunnel?"
A woman tried to enter fearlessly, but Cheol-jung grabbed her.
"Hey, rush in and you won't even get your bones back."
"Then you go first, oppa."
"You... Know what's inside? Rule is, poke with a stick first. Like this."
The man thrust a stick through the gate and stirred—everyone chuckled lowly.
Seemed pervy.
Even Yeon-hwa, who tried first, realized and smacked the leader's back.
"So gross."
Cheol-jung chuckled, pulled the stick, then slipped inside.
Kyung-hoon and Bora sighed, exchanging glances.
They'd joined for hunting focus, but...
Something felt off.
Team vibe was toxic.
Leader Cheol-jung had a girlfriend Yeon-hwa but eyed Bora; the other guy too.
Even after clarifying their relationship, the creepy stares lingered.
Cheol-jung's "veteran" experience barely matched Kyung-hoon's.
He'd always bring up his 200 hours to shut him down; Yeon-hwa and the other guy backed him.
Disharmony thickened, but no leaving now.
All gear moved in.
Doubtful they'd allow a move like the gym folks.
Couldn't abandon gear and sneak out.
So Kyung-hoon and Bora endured, sticking with the team today.
"Hurry up. Bone creepers coming."
"Don't push."
Three entered; Kyung-hoon said quietly.
"Clearing this gate gives items..."
"Think Cheol-jung will share?"
Bora said worriedly.
"My turn this time."
"Yeah, but..."
Cheol-jung might pull some bullshit condition again.
He was clearly stronger, so they had to obey.
Should've scouted more...
Hyung-jun's caution felt stifling now.
Kyung-hoon was about to enter, but Cheol-jung shoved past and exited.
"Fuck, shit. Someone cleared it."
Kyung-hoon swallowed his anger.
"Who?"
"Who else? Maybe your old gym buddies, Kyung-hoon?"
"Them? Out at night? Cowards who don't hunt."
"Not them? Fuck, who then."
The other two came out, ranting about finding the culprit.
Cheol-jung glared around.
"Knows the goblin event, huh? Hunting other gates... Find that bastard and smash him."
"Killing makes you a murderer."
"One's fine. You don't know that?"
"Gotta remove rivals."
Kyung-hoon got shut down and clammed up.
Wanted to track rather than hunt goblins, but mood was murderous.
Bora comforted him.
"We'll find gates while looking. Convince Cheol-jung oppa then. Let's go in."
"...Okay."
They followed the trio.
Once gone, Sung-ho rose from behind a piloti pillar in the opposite studio.
"Not quality people."
Definitely the camping gear store guys.
Back then, looting mattered more than fighting, so he'd let them go.
But now was different.
They'd turn raiders anytime, attacking him and the gym folks.
"Gotta nip it in the bud."
Luckily, Sung-ho knew how to kill without becoming a murderer.
He vanished into the darkness.