Can't You See That?
The hostages couldn't catch sight of Joo Se-ah as she moved like a gust of wind. Even the fellow hunters captured alongside them failed to track her.
The goblins lost her from their vision as well.
But not everyone had missed her.
Only the hobgoblins' gleaming white eyes pierced through, spotting her.
A rare goblin born infused with mana in its body.
In truth, it was a mutant akin to an albino, but there was no doubt it was a monster that had transcended the goblin mold.
Three hobgoblins unleashed their magic, aligning it perfectly with Joo Se-ah's path. Massive stone hands erupted from the ground, grasping at her.
Joo Se-ah didn't flinch at the sudden barrier. She slammed straight into it.
The hobgoblins smirked, certain the reckless human was overplaying her hand—but they couldn't close their jaws at what happened next.
The stone hand shattered before her like a cracker.
The hobgoblins hastily conjured stone spears, aiming to skewer her like a kebab. But it was futile.
"Magic Killer."
The epithet that set her apart even among the world's top tanks.
It was earth-attribute magic that wielded physical force, yet even that boasted top-tier defense against Joo Se-ah.
Iron Body
"Kiek...!"
Shattering the incoming stone spears with her fists, Joo Se-ah closed the distance in one breath and crushed the hobgoblin's skull. She didn't even give it time to scream.
The remaining two hobgoblins on either side desperately reached out to cast spells, but she seized their wrists, crumpling them, then slammed their heads together like cymbals.
Skulls burst and nasal bones shattered as the hobgoblins went limp. She tossed the corpses aside, only for arrows from goblin snipers to rain down next.
Joo Se-ah reinforced her body with mana, tanking the arrows. She crossed her arms in an X to shield her vulnerable face.
A basic skill, but paired with her traits, it became an invincible barrier.
Each arrow striking her body rang out with a clang clang, like beating on a tin can. Peering through the gaps at her wrists, she checked on the hostages.
Fortunately, despite her assault, the goblin matriarch hadn't killed any of them. Instead, it was pulling them back, as if refusing to let them go.
'Good. It won't touch them until it's truly cornered. Smart for goblins—not killing hostages rashly.'
Joo Se-ah eyed the path to the goblin matriarch. Four burly goblins with feathers banded around their heads stood guard between her and it, like escorts.
'A tribe with four goblin chieftains. And these aren't the final boss—they're mid-bosses. How did we miss these until now?'
Four goblin chieftains meant four advanced tribes merged into a massive one.
From that, the great chieftain Warhead would emerge.
Yet North Pocheon's goblins had birthed a matriarch—one step above Warhead—instead.
Such a massive tribe not descending into South Pocheon?
It was odd. North Pocheon was a confined zone, limiting quantitative growth. It compensated with qualitative evolution, but tribal monsters instinctively prioritized breeding. Even with a matriarch, waiting patiently clashed with their explosive nature.
And the real issue wasn't just failing to expand into South Pocheon. Freelance hunters traversing North Pocheon hadn't spotted them either, which was even stranger.
'The matriarch's influence?'
Joo Se-ah suspected the matriarch might be craftier than expected and resolved to go all out.
She leaped into the midst of the four goblin chieftains.
Amid their massive frames—unthinkable for goblins—Joo Se-ah looked frail and delicate.
Axes and spears in the chieftains' hands battered her. She took them bare-bodied, no dodging needed. Unlike regular goblins, their raw power shook her frame.
Through the tatters of her guild jacket gleamed inky armor.
Custom-fitted to her build.
It looked like leather—no loud clangs even when struck—yet tougher than most metal plate, resisting scratches.
As Joo Se-ah tensed her whole body, the armor tightened like muscle.
Kang! Ka-kang! Klang!
The changed impact sounds flustered the chieftains.
Seizing the moment, Joo Se-ah snapped the axe-wielding chieftain's wrist, snatching its weapon.
Then hurled it straight at the matriarch.
Thud!
"Tch!"
Aimed at its head, the axe embedded in its shoulder. One chieftain had grabbed her ankle, throwing off her aim.
It happened in a flash; the matriarch only realized it was under attack belatedly, then shrieked as if being torn apart.
That scream ignited the goblins. They charged Joo Se-ah without regard for front or rear.
She mechanically lashed out at the ant-swarm clinging to her.
One per strike, steadily culling monsters.
Goblin corpses piled up, shrinking her space. Layers of them buried her like a sandstorm.
A mound of gore rose, yet more goblins clambered atop.
But.
"Can't stop her."
The matriarch deemed the sacrificial assault futile. Even mobilizing all her minions would only buy time; the outcome wouldn't change.
Fleeing offered no escape. This was the humans' world. Outside the gate, survival demanded growing stronger.
Groaning in pain, the matriarch clung to her fading mind and eyed the hostages.
Threatening them wouldn't make the foe yield easily.
"One way."
The matriarch opted for her final gambit.
She scanned the hostages, selected one hunter, and plunged a dagger into his chest.
The utterly unforeseen strike claimed him before he could dodge.
"Sacrifice."
The matriarch hoisted the dead hunter overhead, bathing in his blood.
"Ughhh..."
"Jun-gu!"
Screams, wails, sobs, and groans fueled the ritual's fervor.
Blood streamed from her head, soaking face, neck, chest—her entire body.
"Impure. Evil. Pure. Conflicting faces. Never to meet."
The matriarch chanted. Less language, more beastly growl—yet laced with mana.
Whoosh!
Then a shockwave hit, crumbling the goblin mound.
Joo Se-ah burst from the grave of goblins just in time to witness the matriarch's ritual.
A monster drenched in human blood.
Familiar, yet never familiar enough.
A past scene flashed: mom, friends, neighbor grandpa. Death remained alien.
Fire sparked in Joo Se-ah's eyes.
"You goblin bitch!"
She charged, dragging chieftains clinging to her limbs. Dead but gripped by duty to guard the matriarch.
Ripping free, she barreled forward.
"Nameless one."
Before the matriarch in an instant, Joo Se-ah punched for its heart. Her fist pierced chest to back.
The matriarch murmured its final breath.
"Reveal thyself here. Existence."
Black miasma welled from the hole in the goblin matriarch's heart.
* * *
Suddenly, the goblins went berserk, howling madly.
Lethargic until now, they screeched and assaulted the hunters.
'Something happened to the matriarch.'
The obvious culprit: Joo Se-ah's exploits.
Kang Moo-hyuk assumed she'd endangered it.
Otherwise, these time-buyers wouldn't rush to die before their external forces returned.
"Guild master, fall back."
Strategic team leader Jo Choong-hyeon stepped up. He was handling raid orders.
Kang Moo-hyuk shifted to the rear. Pyo Beom-hee followed.
"Party tanks, forward!"
At Jo Choong-hyeon's shout, hunters in heavy plate grabbed shields and advanced. Ranged DPS drew bows atop the right hill per prearranged signals, securing positions. Some goblins targeted those 'ranged dealers' and climbed; light-armored melee DPS met them with sub-tanks leading.
Iron Will members tensed.
They'd run joint ops with three or four parties before, but a 100-man raid force was new.
Not a boss raid—a war raid of massed troops clashing.
Even tier-1 guilds rarely faced war raids; excluding the Great War era, cases were countable on one hand. Few veterans beyond old-timers.
As hunter-monster positioning turned fierce, a heavy voice buzzed in Kang Moo-hyuk's right earset.
He wore earsets from two channels, one per ear. Left for raid comms, right linked to his sole rearguard hunter.
Kang Moo-hyuk touched his right ear.
"Team Leader Yeom. Can you hold?"
The voice belonged to Yeom Soo-hyung, ex-Titan supporter he'd scouted.
Kang Moo-hyuk's second card, excluding Pyo Beom-hee.
"Apologies. Didn't bring you to fight."
"Understood."
Overhearing the exchange, Pyo Beom-hee tapped her sword sheath.
"What? Ambush? My turn?"
"No. Leave the rear to the rear guard."
"Then why stick me here as your 'escort'?"
"Team Leader Pyo isn't suited for defense. Even in Titan, you were attack-only—useless outside gate-heavy ops. Your tactical scores tanked outside gates."
"If hunters advanced by trash talk, you'd be S-rank already."
"Guarding isn't your role."
"Then why me? Specifically?"
"Insurance. For if—truly if—the plan goes south."
"Insurance for goblin hunting? You're too paranoid, guild master. Cautious is good, but I'd go nuts living like you."
Pyo Beom-hee shook her head with a joke, but Kang Moo-hyuk stayed tense. Wiping her grin, she asked,
"The matriarch?"
"Yes."
"Nah, relax. It's Joo Se-ah. Indomitable Witch. Walking Disaster. Even to monsters. Plus, matriarch's a caster-type, right? Our guild master's loaded with resistances. Magic Killer. Matriarch's a gimme."
"Logically, yes. Perfect counter to casters. Hunter Joo Se-ah... But something nags."
"What?"
"The first goblin matriarch in the Amazon. A-grade guild wipe in the end, but the process had fishy bits."
"Just a massive tribe?"
"That's what I thought. Guild Master Joo Se-ah agreed after reviewing data."
"But?"
"Early-mid raid, Brazil guild was winning. Late records are spotty from the wipe."
With incomplete data, Kang Moo-hyuk planned this op, filling gaps with experience and intuition. Joo Se-ah as cheat key made it feasible. But the unrecorded late phase? Fog shrouded something tickling his instincts.
"Still goblins. 'What if' gates kill, but goblins taking S-rank...? Huh? What're you staring at?"
Pyo Beom-hee sensed oddity in Kang Moo-hyuk, who'd trailed off mid-chat, gazing elsewhere.
She followed his line of sight.
Clear sky greeted her, unlike the grim monster warzone.
"What? Scared me. Nothing there."
She caught his strange stare.
"Nothing? You can't see it?"
"Both eyes 2.5 vision. What're you seeing?"
Kang Moo-hyuk looked away from her, back to the distant sky.
Toward Sanjeong Lake.
'Can't see that?'
His eyes caught ominous black energy surging skyward.