Week 2 Conquest Run (2)
I had two goals for this conquest run.
The first was the quest that had arrived during class.
▸ Title:Week 2 Conquest Run
▸ Objective: Clear the conquest dungeon
▸ Deadline: Until Sunday, midnight
▸ Reward: Scaled by remaining time (? / 5 min)
The more time left on the clock when you cleared, the better the reward.
On top of that, though the quest description didn't mention it, posting a strong result in both the solo dungeon and the duo dungeon would boost the reward even further.
My goal, naturally, was the very best reward.
Clear both within a minute.
If I pulled that off, I'd walk away with one powerful class trait.
Compared to the other students, the number of skills and traits I currently possessed was woefully inadequate.
Copy let me borrow my way through one crisis after another, but if I kept leaning on other people's skills forever, I'd hit a wall sooner or later.
To climb beyond a certain point, I needed a skill and trait set that was entirely my own.
A set whose pieces linked into each other and generated real synergy.
The trait I was about to earn would be the first piece of it.
The second goal was Seo Ye-in's growth.
Having run the Goblin Swamp into the ground in my past life, there was nothing here that could surprise me. Seo Ye-in, on the other hand, would be experiencing this dungeon for the very first time.
It being a "duo dungeon" and all, I could have simply dumped every shortcut and trick in her lap and finished the run in record time — but that way, Seo Ye-in herself would never accumulate the experience she needed.
A true veteran doesn't sprint ahead alone. A true veteran waits for the newbie to find their own way, then pulls them along.
So I intended to support her with patience and earn a high score together.
After a quick lunch, Seo Ye-in and I headed for the Dungeon Building surface level, which was already bustling with first-years.
Unlike the PvP assessment, where losing meant instant point deductions, the conquest run rewarded you purely on your own performance — nothing to gain from worrying about anyone else's eyes. So anyone with time to spare would have done the math: even one more practice run was worth it.
"Anyone want to run the duo dungeon together!"
"Um... would you do just one round with me?"
"Wait, then we'd have two mages?"
"Can anyone here take on a Formidable Foe with me?"
Students who hadn't secured a partner in advance scoured the crowd with desperate eyes. One shout blended into the next until the whole place sounded like an open-air market.
Off to one side, teams were already stepping in and out of practice mode.
"No, seriously, why would you charge straight at that thing..."
"How many times do I have to say it! If you don't take it down, you have to go all the way around the other side!"
"Then go around! Can you even beat it if you fight it?"
From the way they were bickering, it looked like a difference of opinion. Common enough when two people are trying to cooperate.
"Shall we head in too?"
"Yeah."
We took turns scanning our student IDs on the terminal, and a teleport portal yawned open nearby. I stepped through first, and Seo Ye-in followed.
The moment the portal sealed shut behind us, the clamor cut off all at once and silence settled in.
The Goblin Swamp.
Crooked trees tangled overhead and strangled the light, while swamps large and small stretched all the way to the edge of sight.
[ ↑ ]
An arrow etched into the ground at our feet was giving off a faint glow — the bare-minimum guidepost for beginners. Follow it however you liked, and eventually the conquest run's objective, the totem, would appear.
Then the notification popped up.
Time attack will begin shortly.
Time remaining: 5:00
"Ignore the timer. This is your first attempt, so don't rush — take it slow."
"Okay."
Just as I'd told her, Seo Ye-in swiped the notification away.
Racing the clock in an unfamiliar place only narrows your vision further. Time attacks are something you think about after you've grasped the whole picture.
And so, while everyone else would be running themselves ragged, we walked.
Not quite a leisurely stroll — a brisk pace.
Since there was no swimming through the swamp pools, we curved around one, then bent our path to skirt the next. Naturally, our route twisted into an S.
"..."
Seo Ye-in moved without a word, yet she seemed to be examining the surroundings with care.
So far, so good, then.
"Kerruk."
"Kekeck."
Sensing our presence, goblins began surfacing one by one — heads poking out of the swamp before sloshing laboriously ashore, their bodies caked in sticky, clammy filth, sharpened bone knives clutched in their hands.
Five in all.
"What do you want to do?"
Fight or avoid — I left the call entirely to Seo Ye-in.
She drew the pistols holstered at her hips, one in each hand.
"Let's kill them."
"Sounds good. I'll take the front line."
I pulled out the Staff of Earth and rested it across my shoulder. My role this time was simple: hold the line so the ranged damage dealer could unload in safety.
"Keeek!"
It started with one goblin shrieking and charging, and from there Seo Ye-in's pistols spat blue light in alternation.
Tutututut!
Machine-gunning Magic Bullets, she dropped one, then two... four in total. The fifth and final goblin lunged to skewer her with its bone knife —
"Not today."
— and I punted it squarely in the ribs, sending it splashing into the swamp. A Magic Bullet smacked into the half-submerged thing as it flailed, finishing the job.
"Keruk keruk."
"Kiruk."
Drawn by the commotion, more goblins began emerging from every direction. Dozens of them, by a rough count. The place was finally starting to live up to the name Goblin Swamp.
Again, I left the decision to Seo Ye-in.
"Run, or fight?"
"Kill while running."
We pushed toward our objective, intercepting only the goblins that closed in on us.
Tutututut!
"Kereek!"
Some of them hurled sharp bone fragments like daggers. Anything Seo Ye-in could dodge on her own, I let her dodge; I only batted aside the shots that looked genuinely dangerous.
Guarded and supported like this, a ranged dealer simply grinds the enemy down with overwhelming firepower.
Though "grinds down" might be generous — with nothing but goblins for opposition, it was an unremarkable fight so far.
Things are about to get interesting, though.
Whump!
Almost on cue with the thought, a massive shape dropped down onto the path ahead of us.
This goblin stood a full head and shoulders above the others, its limbs thick slabs of corded muscle. One hand gripped a huge, broad kitchen cleaver, its rusted blade slicked with a rippling film of blue mana.
"Grrrrruk..."
The Beheader Goblin.
The boss monster of the Goblin Swamp — and this conquest run's Formidable Foe.
Tutututut!
The instant Seo Ye-in spotted it, her twin pistols opened up. The Beheader angled its cleaver flat like a shield and batted the incoming Magic Bullets aside, taking a few on the body — yet it seemed barely scathed.
"Fight it?"
"I think avoiding it is better."
"Then let's do that."
Without a word passing between us, we swapped positions: Seo Ye-in punching through the goblin pack in the vanguard, me hanging back to keep the Beheader at bay.
She turned and broke into a run. Just as the Beheader geared up to give chase, a lightning-embedded hummingbird shot toward it.
"Gruk?"
Without breaking stride, the goblin whipped its cleaver around, trying to slice the Hummingbird out of the air. The movement was so fast — so controlled — that I almost couldn't believe it belonged to a mere monster.
I had to give a small nod of respect.
You're better than Yang Jihong.
He never even figured out what was hitting him.
Of course, that didn't mean the Beheader actually managed to cut the Hummingbird down. Just before the bird touched steel, it bent lightly around the blade and thudded into the goblin's forearm instead.
Crackle!
"Grrrruk...!"
Some built-in resistance, perhaps — the thing wasn't fully paralyzed. Its movements had clearly sluggish all the same. Better to open up some distance now, I figured, and sprinted to rejoin Seo Ye-in.
Running shoulder to shoulder, I asked, "Why did you want to avoid it?"
"Killing it would take too long."
She hadn't shied away just because the thing looked strong or hard to kill — she'd weighed the situation and picked the more advantageous option. That answer deserved a passing grade.
In a time attack, what matters isn't whether you can kill something. It's how long the killing takes.
Almost there.
At the far end of my vision stood a crudely carved goblin totem, sunlight pouring down on it alone as if a spotlight had been trained on the spot.
Destroy that totem, and we were done.
"Kerruk!"
As if to refuse us even that, goblins came swarming in a seething mass around the totem. We'd have to carve through dozens to reach it.
"..."
Seo Ye-in stopped dead.
The two pistols snapped back together into the rifle in the blink of an eye.
"Cover me."
"Got it."
She planted her feet, took aim at the totem — and I bought her time, smashing the charging goblins with the Staff of Earth, kicking them into the muck, and paralyzing others with Hummingbirds.
All the while, a heavy presence was closing in on my back. The Beheader Goblin had almost certainly caught up with us.
But before the thing could reach us —
THOOM—!
The rifle blazed blue, and the round slammed into the goblin totem.
The statue's upper and lower halves separated and burst apart — and in the same instant, every goblin in the horde simply evaporated.
Dungeon clear.
"Nicely done. Let's check the time."
"Mm."
On the first attempt I'd deliberately kept her from fixating on the clock, but now we needed to see how the run had actually stacked up.
⏱ Time remaining: 0:17
☠ Goblins slain: 22
🎁 Clear bonus: +500 pts
We'd burned through nearly the entire five-minute limit. Then a second was added for every goblin killed, and each remaining second converted into one point. All told: thirty-nine points.
The good news was that simply clearing the run paid out a whopping five hundred. Being the first week of the conquest run, the scoring was generous.
Of course, since this was practice mode, none of it would be saved.
"Let's head out."
The instant we rode the teleport portal outside, the roar of the crowd crashed over my eardrums. Seo Ye-in silently clapped both hands over her ears.
"Were we actually supposed to kill that Beheader thing? It's way too strong."
"What did you expect? It's basically telling you to run for your life."
"Ugh, I hate how it messes up your route."
"Let's just practice until we get used to it."
Casualties at the hands of the Beheader Goblin were mounting fast.
Judging purely by the PvP scale, the thing was worth 900-plus points. Its base stats alone towered over the common goblin, its body was mana-reinforced, and it even carried a trait that boosted all its abilities while inside the swamp. Anyone who blindly traded blows with it was asking to get flattened.
The Formidable Foe tag wasn't there for decoration.
"Want to rest before we go back in, or straight away?"
"Straight away is fine."
Not a hint of sleepiness on Seo Ye-in yet. She'd slept soundly through class, after all.
We entered the dungeon for the second time.
The exact same Goblin Swamp, down to the last blade of grass, greeted us.
Time attack will begin shortly.
Time remaining: 5:00
"Alright, from here on we start picking up the pace a little."
"Okay."
[3]
[2]
[1]
[START!]
Time remaining: 4:59
Seo Ye-in and I took off at the same moment, tearing along the winding path while dodging the swamp pools.
Second time around meant far less hesitation.
"Kerruk."
"Kruk."
Tutututut!
A baptism of Magic Bullets rained down on the goblins still crawling out of the swamp, barely registering our presence. We'd been through this once already — no reason to wait politely for them to get settled the second time.
Goblins surfaced from all directions at the crack of the mana rifle's report. And then —
Whump!
"Grrrrruk..."
The Beheader Goblin dropped down from the one spot that was different. Every other element of the run repeated identically no matter how many times you attempted it, but this thing's timing and spawn point were randomized every single try.
"Avoiding it again?"
"..."
Seo Ye-in spent about three seconds glancing between me and the Beheader. Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she asked back:
"...Do we get points for killing it too?"
A smile crept onto my face before I could stop it. It was a wonderful question to hear.
Quick on the uptake.
Most people get so fixated on how strong an enemy is that the realization comes late — but Seo Ye-in was questioning it on only her second attempt.
Killing a common swamp goblin added one second per kill. So how many seconds would you get for downing a Beheader Goblin — a monster stamped with the Formidable Foe tag?
"120 seconds."
"...!"
"So? What'll it be?"
A bonus of a full two minutes.
Seo Ye-in swapped her pistols for the rifle.
"...Let's kill it."