Bolt Takes the Field
"Magic stones? That's all?"
"Indeed. It seems the rank 2, Han Seol-a, is in quite a bind without them."
"A skill that consumes magic stones?"
"Apparently they're fairly common. From the higher floors onward—especially the World Labyrinth—most people have one or two skills that grow stronger by expending magic stones."
"So it's like a trump card? A finishing move?"
"Something like that, I suppose."
The magic stone and point system of the labyrinth formed a rather peculiar ecosystem.
Magic stones only appeared on the fourth floor of the World Labyrinth or higher, or in special cases on the third. Unlike regular items, they could be converted directly into points and absorbed into the body. Those points then circulated throughout the community. Whenever cash was needed, they could be materialized and sold to the government, where they were used for barrier stones or power generation before being incinerated.
I sat in my armchair in the safe zone, watching the goblins on the third floor while continuing my conversation with Mongmo.
"The number three, Kang Dae-ho, has also been in contact. His requests are unique items suited to his traits and assistance selling items."
"Unique items are the key, then. By the way, Mongmo—couldn't Han Seol-a just find a unique item and sell it on the community market? That way she could supply her own magic stones."
"She says they don't sell. Even minimum billion-won items have such varied abilities that finding the right owner is difficult."
"...So if the compatibility is wrong, they don't fetch their true value."
"Precisely. That's why they've been left in endless community auctions until a suitable owner appears."
Because they were unique items, their owners were reluctant to sell below a certain price, yet that very reluctance meant no buyer ever materialized. They were truly items that were more trouble than they were worth. Even when put on the global market, the ones that didn't sell simply refused to sell.
But if we acquired them, we could simply grind them down into magic stones.
"Even the top awakeners have it rough."
From the fourth floor onward, information was so scarce it might as well have been unknown territory. There were simply too few Korean awakeners who had reached the fourth floor or higher, and nations were extremely reluctant to share information with one another. After all, sharing offered no benefit. If someone else profited, it could put your own life at risk.
"Unique items..."
I pondered for a moment. High-floor awakeners above the fourth level were said to have rare-grade equipment as standard, with one or two unique pieces among them. In the end, unless one was a special case like Han Seol-a, what most people wanted were unique-grade items.
"Let's think about that later. The unique item Han Seol-a brings might suit another awakener."
Our first member, Han Seol-a. Starting with her, we could gradually expand the supporter activities. For now, we just needed to supply her with plenty of magic stones.
"By the way... why hasn't the Harpy Queen shown up yet?"
It had already been a week since we entered the third floor. Our fourth noble candidate remained completely silent.
***
After Han Seol-a caused her commotion and left, Association President Kim Min-woo remained gloomy for quite some time.
"I suppose... in a way, I'm just a figurehead president... If the higher-ups won't allow it, what can I even do..."
He grumbled on and on. In the end, Mongmo's appearance had resolved things smoothly, but the Association had still taken losses. A portion of the magic stones that should have gone to the nation had been handed over to Han Seol-a instead.
A lump-sum payment of ten tons of magic stones, followed by periodic additional support. That was the arrangement the Blood Demon Group's supporters had made to assist Han Seol-a. All of it could have gone into barrier stones and power plants...
We could have lowered electricity bills even further...
With a sigh, Kim Min-woo operated his computer. A table summarizing the reported magic stone holdings and supply quantities appeared.
"...Hm?"
It was natural that total holdings and supply had increased. The Blood Demon Group was selling enormous quantities every month. Yet even excluding that, the graph continued its steady upward trend.
Tap, tap-tap.
Kim Min-woo checked the detailed sales records instead of the overall totals.
"Second floor, second floor, second floor, second floor... All second floor?"
The volume of magic stones sold was far higher than before, and the sellers were all second-floor users. The quantity exceeded the normal margin of error by a wide margin.
"...Has the number of awakeners increased?"
The average number of awakeners was 250,000—this wasn't a fixed figure. Sometimes it was 240,000, sometimes 260,000. The reason the number fluctuated so much was because that many died and that many awakened in their place. But the current number of awakeners stood at 280,000. And most of them were second-floor users, not first-floor.
Nowhere in Korea—or even the entire world—were there more second-floor users than first-floor users. The higher one went, the more dangerous it became, so naturally fewer people took the risk. But in Korea, that formula had been overturned. The second floor was safer than the first and earned more money.
They skipped the first floor entirely with a full set of Blood Demon Shrine equipment, then entered the second floor carrying Blood Demon Group's signal flares. From the second floor onward, they enjoyed comfortable and safe farming with Blood Demon Guards and Blood Demon Structures, additional loot from kobolds, and convenience from Blood Demon Inns and taverns.
"In... in just half a year?"
Korea's awakeners' average level, average production, and average survival rate—all graphs were trending upward. Even without the Blood Demon Group's magic stone sales, the barriers remained stable enough to ensure safety.
"Ah...!"
Kim Min-woo closed his eyes and smiled, his face refreshed as though he had enjoyed a week-long satisfying bowel movement. The Blood Demon Group was lifting Korea's labyrinth from the very bottom.
***
"No, where again?!"
Ten days after the goblins entered the third floor, the Harpy Queen still hadn't appeared, while the goblins kept dying sudden, meaningless deaths.
"Aigoo, my poor goblins...!"
"Master, are you actually sad?"
"Of course! I have to train them all over again! Aigoo!"
"...Your ruthlessness is truly worthy of a True Ancestor."
"No, I really am sad. But where are they even dying?"
Naturally, there was no way for me to know where the goblins had died. Once they died, I couldn't use the third-person subordinate view. Unless I happened to be watching their battle at the exact moment, how would I know where they perished if they suddenly dropped dead?
Excluding the one that had just died, 9,700 goblins were still active on the third floor.
"Should we pair them up?"
"Even then, it would be the same. There are simply too many, and it happens far too quickly."
"It seems the Queen keeps targeting them."
Wherever it was, our goblins weren't the sort to fall to ordinary harpies. In the end, it appeared the very Queen we were looking for was hunting the goblins one by one.
"Ugh... What do we do about this?"
At that moment, Bolt, who had been quietly sitting beside my chair, looked up at me.
"Aaa baaaa."
"Uh... no, why?"
"Me... go."
"Huh?"
"I... gooo..."
"You're going?"
"Woof!"
"..."
If Bolt went, there was no need to worry about him dying to the Harpy Queen. Gob and Bolt had already entered the closed field the moment their level 40 cap was lifted and reached level 40. Bolt's current specs were as shown above. His agility alone made him worth 0.13 Golden Goblins. Though his intelligence had only risen by 2 during the ten levels, in terms of physical specs he was the strongest among my subordinates. His combat ability even surpassed Gob's.
"Master, what are you pondering so deeply?"
"...Do I really have to send Bolt personally?"
"You grind subordinates so easily, yet..."
"No, you lot are different."
I patted Bolt's head. Even though they were all subordinates, I didn't feel the same way about all of them. Naturally, Gob, Bolt, and Mongmo—who spent the most time closest to me—were more precious.
"Me... go."
Bolt, who now spoke languages other than "Dad" thanks to his intelligence having risen by a mere 2, lay on the floor and looked up at me.
"...Then take the others with you and come back."
"Oh. Then?"
"Yeah, not the ones who already left in the Blood Demon Carriages—the ones on standby."
"Understood! I'll prepare them at once!"
Mongmo flew outside in a flash. Bolt rose to his feet as well.
"Bolt."
"...?"
"Come back safely."
Upon hearing my words, Bolt grinned.
"Uh... yeah!"
He strode energetically toward the outside.
***
A hillside in the third floor's rocky mountain range.
Hyun Jae-min extinguished the campfire with his foot inside a small cave and packed his belongings. It had already been a week since he began searching the rocky mountains.
"Whew, I'm the only unlucky one. How have I not run into a single goblin in an entire week?"
He had been genuinely delighted when he heard the Blood Demon Guards were entering the third floor. Finally! Even someone like me wandering the third floor gets to taste the Blood Demon Guard experience!
But what happened?
They had clearly entered the third floor, yet he hadn't encountered a single goblin for a week. Instead, an unusual number of items had dropped—items that normally never appeared—filling his bag to the brim.
Hyun Jae-min decided to rest for a day, then leave the cave and search for an exit.
"Aish. Isn't this Blood Demon Guard thing a scam?"
Even as he said that, he understood why he hadn't met them. He didn't know how many Blood Demon Guard goblins there were, but this was the third-floor labyrinth. The field was the size of Korea, so finding someone here was like searching for a needle in a desert. There were only harpies that sang sweetly before descending with ear-piercing squawks.
"Tsk. At this rate, nothing's really changed from before, has it?"
Hyun Jae-min left the cave and headed down the mountain range. Exits existed everywhere, but the lower areas had fewer harpies. Naturally, if one had to wander the field, the relatively safe lower regions were best.
As he descended slowly while searching for nearby exits—
Rustle, rustle.
"...Huh?"
A rustling sound came from one side, as though something was moving.
Harpies usually attacked from the air, so anything making noise on the ground could only be one of two things: a human, or a Blood Demon Guard goblin.
"Oh, maybe it's a Blood Demon Guard? Should I take a look?"
Hyun Jae-min turned toward the source of the rustling. After all, he was leaving anyway, so traveling together for half a day wouldn't hurt.
But after passing the trees and circling around a large rock, Hyun Jae-min froze on the spot.
"Hurk...!"
It wasn't a goblin that had been moving.
A massive hobgoblin and a high kobold. Not just one or two—dozens of them. Dozens of boss monsters armed with armor and maces that were clearly no ordinary equipment were following a single blood-red high kobold.
Normally he would have hidden, but he had frozen from the overwhelming pressure. At that moment, his eyes met those of the leading high kobold.
The high kobold immediately began walking toward him with heavy steps.
Its chest bore a blood-drop pattern with a star-shaped symbol. Behind it, the boss monsters wore armor emblazoned with a symbol of a shield and sword crossed.
The high kobold stopped in front of the frozen Hyun Jae-min.
"...Goo guest?"
"H-Have you come from the Blood Demon Guards... by any chance?"
The high kobold nodded.
"H-Haha. I was just about to head out... Well then, good work..."
Intimidated by the high kobold's tremendous presence, Hyun Jae-min forced a smile and slowly turned around. He didn't know what it was, but this was no ordinary Blood Demon Guard. He didn't want to get involved. It was terrifying.
"Waiiit..."
Hyun Jae-min instinctively stopped in his tracks. Trembling, he turned his head to look back and saw the blood-red high kobold beckoning with its finger toward another high kobold behind it.
"Youuu... come here."
One high kobold came running over in a hurry. The one wearing the star pattern pointed at Hyun Jae-min.
"Head... down."
"..."
"Carry himmm..."
"...?"
The high kobold instantly approached Hyun Jae-min and crouched down, as if telling him to climb on.
"...R-Ride?"
"Guest... go wellll..."
Leaving behind a single high kobold, the boss monsters resumed climbing the mountain. Hyun Jae-min stared blankly at the scene for a long while before looking at the high kobold crouched in front of him.
"..."
Had the Blood Demon Guards started a model taxi service as well?
***
The high kobolds and hobgoblins who had entered the third floor of the labyrinth to find the Harpy Queen. An elite group composed of the highest-ranking individuals among the boss-level superior entities. The Bloodwind Corps, named by Mongmo, had departed on their first mission.
Though they initially fell in different locations upon entry, the passive skill Blood Scent allowed stronger individuals to emit a distinctive aroma. Following the strong scent, the Bloodwind Corps gathered without difficulty and immediately began searching the surroundings.
Using the superior sense of smell of the high kobolds, Bolt moved toward the scent of goblin blood. After climbing the mountain for some time, he came upon goblin corpses. The goblins lay cold on the ground, their bodies crushed as though smashed against rocks.
Bolt looked up. In the sky above, a single Harpy Queen with pure white feathers—like an angel—and dozens of brown-feathered harpies were circling.
"Aah— So you've come again. What strange creatures—."
The Harpy Queen's voice echoed through the mountain range.
"You lot don't taste good— So..."
The harpies lifted rocks from the surroundings and took flight.
"Just die!"
Dozens of rocks plummeted from the sky at high speed, like a bombardment.
—The Harpy Queen travels with her subordinates. No wonder our kids couldn't do anything.
"A... baa..."
—Bolt. Kill them all. Just bring the Harpy Queen back.
"Uh... yeah!"
The moment the rocks fell right before their eyes, the Bloodwind Corps moved.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
The hobgoblins' maces shattered the rocks. Swish! The high kobolds' claws split the rocks in two. The attack might have been threatening to ordinary goblins, but the Bloodwind Corps were all boss-level. Moreover, they were level 40 boss monsters fully armed with rare items.
Kwaang!
The high kobolds and hobgoblins kicked off the ground and leaped. "Kyaaak!" "Kiyaaak!!" The harpies let out sounds like nails on a chalkboard, but those were their final screams.
Kwajik! Kwajik!
In an instant, the hobgoblins and high kobolds covered an enormous distance and turned the harpies into pulp in midair.
"W-What are you? What are you people?!"
While the Harpy Queen stood flustered by the overwhelming power, Bolt leaped into the air.
Kwaang!
Bolt kicked off the ground and arrived above a harpy's head. He crushed the harpy's skull and used the corpse as a stepping stone to leap again.
Kwajik! Kwajik! Kwajik!
Using the harpy corpses as platforms, Bolt performed an aerial feat and charged straight at the Harpy Queen. The Harpy Queen froze at the unbelievable sight.
"Youuu... Dad wants you!!!"
Bolt pounced on his prey.
"G-Get away! Get away, you monster!!"
The Harpy Queen came to her senses and frantically flew backward, but Bolt had already grabbed her wing. As they plummeted to the ground, she stared in horror at Bolt, whose expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Kyaaaaaaaak!!!!"
"Youuu... become my sister!!"
Kwadeuk!
Bolt's fangs pierced the Harpy Queen's nape.