A Dance with Goblins
People stood gathered in the Keeper Association's auditorium.
Not the small hall I'd grown familiar with after a few visits, but a somewhat larger one — the so-called medium auditorium. The reason everyone had assembled in a bigger space was simple enough. This goblin expedition was a fairly large-scale operation.
Including Soyeon and me, twenty-three Keepers were waiting to cross through the Gate into another dimension.
"You've all read the manual thoroughly beforehand, I trust? Stick to the manual, and you should finish this expedition without any major incidents."
Would we, though?
The manual was packed with information. Gate terrain, weather patterns, the regen locations of the goblin settlements — right down to how to fight goblins, how to pressure a goblin unit, even how to distinguish goblin footprints. Practical content that would actually help in the field, all of it.
But it was so practical that reading alone didn't make it stick. I'd gone through it multiple times, even memorized parts of it, but would I actually be able to use any of it? It felt like I'd only absorb the manual's contents once I was inside and face-to-face with real goblins.
So what I really needed to trust wasn't the manual — it was the veteran Keepers who'd be leading each four-person team.
And then:
"Please use personal firearms only in emergencies. This expedition operates on a no-firearms principle."
In an emergency, I could just empty a pistol into whatever was coming at me. The Association had loaned us the handguns. I'd practiced shooting yesterday and today, but after so long away from a firearm, the cold, heavy feel of it threw me off — every round went wide. Honestly, this was my first time with a pistol, so I had no confidence in my aim. At close range I could probably hit something just by pointing and blasting, but still.
Surprisingly, Soyeon was a decent shot. Maybe her telekinesis gave her an edge in concentration.
Either way, all twenty-three of us were going in with a pistol each. But those guns were truly for emergencies only. We weren't bringing them to hunt goblins with.
There was exactly one reason Keepers didn't use firearms against monsters: personal firearms were barely useful against anything C-class or higher. That was why Keepers needed to get comfortable with their awakened abilities. F-class monsters made excellent sparring partners for honing those powers. If you just gunned down low-tier monsters with ease, Keepers never got the chance to grow. Some stagnating Keepers did eventually fuse firearms with their abilities to open new paths — but that had nothing to do with rookies like Soyeon and me. Same went for the other F-class Keepers on this expedition.
"We've been hearing reports of anomalous changes occurring inside Gates with increasing frequency. Should anything unexpected arise, don't hesitate — report it immediately to your team leader and to me."
The man speaking from the podium was the expedition's commander and the owner of this Gate: B-class Keeper Garam.
"All right. We'll do a final check and then enter the Gate. You've got three minutes."
As Garam finished speaking, Soyeon, standing beside me, opened her mouth.
"Sunbae, we're not going to run into something like that Metallic Hound again, right?"
"Probably not. That kind of thing isn't common."
Monster types suddenly proliferating inside a Gate was rare. If it weren't, Keepers who owned good Gates wouldn't hold the positions they did now.
"Lately it seems like it might not be so rare. Just last week, the terrain inside a Gate supposedly shifted overnight. And the week before that, a new monster type showed up."
"Really? Still rare, though. There are about a thousand teams running Gate expeditions every week. If a change happens in one of them, that's a tiny probability."
"That's true. This Gate should be fine, right?"
"It'll be fine. If anything happens, just trust me. I'll protect you, no matter what."
"...Tch. Coming from someone who can't even shoot better than me. I'll be the one protecting you, sunbae."
"Hold on — why have you been calling me 'sunbae' this whole time? What happened to the 'nim'?"
"It disappeared as of yesterday. Someone who shoots worse than me doesn't get a 'nim.' 'Sunbae' is more than enough."
The reasoning was so unexpected that I couldn't even come up with a counterargument. Before I could protest, the moment of Gate entry arrived.
"Everyone grab your gear and gather up."
Aside from personal weapons, Garam's side had prepared all the supplies. Most of it was food — nearly a week's worth, enough to last three times the planned expedition schedule. Association regulations required it. When something went wrong, food was the most critical resource.
Garam took his place at the center, and just like last time, every person linked hands with the next.
"All right. Let's go."
Hwaaah.
A blue veil swept over the auditorium.
So — what kind of creatures were goblins, really?
"This way."
A man in anti-stab gear studied the footprints, then pointed between the trees. Armed with a shield and sword, he was a D-class Keeper named Go Hangyeol — our team leader. We were currently scouting the area around base camp.
"Seonmi, take the front. Soyeon and Jungmin, cover the rear. Yes, just like that. Perfect."
The team was a four-person unit: me, Soyeon, team leader Go Hangyeol, and Lee Seonmi, a physical-reinforcement warrior. Aside from Hangyeol, none of us had any combat experience, so we were learning everything from him from the ground up.
"Seonmi covers the front, Soyeon the left, Jungmin the right. That's how you maintain all-around awareness. Vigilance is fundamental. Even against goblins — drop your guard for a second and you can die."
Go Hangyeol's voice sank cleanly into my ears. I'd heard all of this beforehand, but it didn't feel like nagging at all. Maybe it was the tension of a first battle. I was in a state of total focus.
About ten minutes passed like that. Hangyeol, leading from the front, raised a clenched fist. Halt. Then he pointed a finger ahead.
At the tip of that finger — goblins.
"Kiiik."
Pointed, protruding ears and a hooked nose. Eyes slit into thin lines, brown skin that looked dry and flaky even from a distance. Stick-thin arms and legs like dried cornstalks, and a short stature to match. Draped in something that looked like a rag, the goblin's first impression was indistinguishable from a beggar.
With a body like that, could it even swing a weapon?
Two goblins held clubs and shields. One held a bow. Crude weapons — and even those looked like more than their frames could handle.
"Mark the bow with telekinesis. The two of you each take one of the others. That should do it."
Hangyeol spoke in a low voice. We still had some distance, so the goblins hadn't noticed us yet.
"If things go sideways, I'll step in."
Gulp.
This was it. The first real fight.
At Hangyeol's signal, Lee Seonmi burst forward first. I followed, and Soyeon came last.
"Kieeek!"
"Kiiik!"
"Kiaak!"
The goblins spun toward us as if they'd been expecting us all along, shrieking at the top of their lungs. The ones screaming looked nothing like the ones from a moment ago. Before, they'd seemed like powerless beggars. Now they gave off the feeling that one wrong move would get you cut.
More than anything, the biggest difference was the hostility — raw, reasonless hatred. Those red eyes said they would kill me, no matter what. That alone made the goblins seem terrifyingly strong. I felt like the weak one.
Without meaning to, I hesitated for a beat. Seonmi must have felt the same — her speed dropped slightly. Because of that, both of us gave the goblins the first strike. Seonmi had to block a club with her arm, and I watched a shield come swinging at me and offered up my shoulder.
Wham!
My shoulder hurt, but not enough to break anything. Manageable. Taking that one hit seemed to finally kick the adrenaline into gear, because the goblin suddenly looked small again. It was small, actually. At least forty centimeters shorter than me. Weight difference of thirty kilos or more, easy.
"I've got the bow locked down!"
At Soyeon's voice I glanced back and saw the goblin frozen mid-draw, its bowstring stuck. Rear covered, then.
"Kiiik!"
I dodged the goblin's club and stepped back. The moment its club slammed into the dirt, I lunged in and thrust my military dagger. I thought the timing was perfect — but the goblin hopped cleanly backward and slipped my attack. Faster than expected. Those cornstalk limbs weren't just for show.
"Kiiiik!"
The goblin counterattacked immediately, swinging its club with mindless aggression to pin me down. Dodging the club wasn't hard. Dodging and then attacking — that was hard. I'd completed the Association's basic combat training, but I still wasn't used to real fighting. I needed to slip past by a hair and stay close, but I kept leaping too far back. Instead of thinking about my next move, my entire focus locked onto just not getting hit.
But that was fine for now. In this party, my position wasn't the front line — I was rear support. I just needed to hold on a little longer...
"Kieeek!"
A goblin's death cry rang out. Seonmi had finished off the other one.
"Coming to you!"
As Seonmi charged toward me, the goblin attacking me backed off. I yielded the position to her and fell all the way to the rear. The archer goblin was still wrestling with its bow. Soyeon had her brow furrowed in concentration, too.
This was the moment.
I raised my right hand and called a rune to mind. I pushed mana outward with the foundational black magic rune for Distance, then caught the displaced mana as magical power. Drawing the Ignite rune on top of that —
Hwaaah.
The lowest-tier black magic spell, Mini Fireball, took shape. But it wasn't fully complete. To launch it, I needed another rune: two stacked Distance runes forming Depart.
Swooosh.
A small fireball streaked toward the goblin, accelerating as it flew. The creature was so busy fighting its unyielding bowstring that it never even thought to dodge. The fireball slammed straight into its face.
Pung!
A small explosion, and the goblin's face caught fire.
"Kiek! Kyaaaak!"
It screamed, clawing at its face, thrashing on the ground — but the flames wouldn't go out. A moment later, the thrashing stopped.
At almost the same instant, Seonmi drove her dagger into the remaining goblin's throat.
"Hah... hahh..."
Seonmi pulled the blade free, breathing hard. It had been a short fight — five minutes, maybe — but the fatigue was clearly no joke. Same for me. The moment combat ended and the tension drained away, exhaustion crashed over me in a wave.
Great. We still have to hit the settlement later. Am I even going to be able to?
Clap clap clap.
"Well done, all of you. For a first fight, that was excellent — I expect great things down the road. Who knows, maybe you'll be A-class Keepers someday?"
"Come on, no way. You're overselling us just because it was our first battle."
I answered Hangyeol's praise. The other two still looked too worn out to manage a response.
"I don't say things I don't mean. If that day comes, do me a favor and look out for me too, Jungmin."
"If it actually happens, of course I will. We shared a first experience, after all."
"A first experience! Is that how we're framing it? Well then — shall we try another first?"
Hangyeol walked over to a goblin corpse. He drew his dagger and drove it into the creature's heart.
"Magic Stones are usually found in the heart, the dantian, or the head. If it's in the head, a dagger won't get it out easily... luckily, this one — hup — here it is."
He pulled a stone roughly the size of two finger joints from the heart. Wiping away the dark, sticky blood revealed a blue glow beneath.
A Magic Stone. The energy source of the new era.
"Lucky right from the start. Finding a Magic Stone in your first monster is uncommon. Congratulations. Want to take a look?"
I took the Magic Stone from Hangyeol and held it up to the sky. Sunlight passed through it and became a luminous, crystalline blue. Holding a Magic Stone in my hand, I finally felt like a real Keeper.
This was only the beginning.