Chapter 10
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: First Tournament (3)
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The minimum passing criteria for this tournament was for each cadet to take down at least ten goblins.
Cadets who failed to meet that standard wouldn't earn a single point in the tournament.
No one wanted that outcome.
Of course, Tae-hyun didn't want it either.
So he decided to shoulder the entire burden alone.
"I'm going to head up to the third floor by myself. You all hold out here as long as you can in the meantime."
Class C fell silent at Kang Tae-hyun's words.
It wasn't agreement or disagreement.
They simply wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
And understandably so. Due to the nature of the tournament, the number of monsters on the first floor was limited.
For all eight cadets to pass, they had no choice but to cooperate and push toward the upper floors.
In that sense, Kang Tae-hyun's proposal was no different from suggesting they all cheerfully flunk out together.
"W-Wait! You're seriously saying that right now?"
Tae-hyun leaned in close to Jae-yeol's face.
Then he whispered into his ear.
"Just sit back and watch."
Lee Jae-yeol's body trembled at the hushed whisper.
It wasn't fear born from terror of Kang Tae-hyun.
It was chills rippling through his flesh from the sheer conviction and confidence in his voice.
"…"
Lee Jae-yeol and the other cadets said nothing more.
Tae-hyun drew a mana dagger from his combat vest.
He dipped it in goblin blood and began drawing something on the ground.
Yoon Ah-young recognized it immediately.
…No way. A magic formation? From a first-year cadet…?
Swish—slash—.
Tae-hyun drew the magic formation without a hint of hesitation.
The magic formation.
It was an advanced technique that involved infusing a special pattern with spells to trigger specific effects.
The mana cost was only around ten, but that wasn't why it was considered advanced.
The real reason was the need to memorize countless intricate, finicky patterns perfectly, without even the tiniest error.
Yet Kang Tae-hyun reproduced it flawlessly, as if copying from a template.
"Alright. That should do it."
Tae-hyun sheathed the mana dagger and dusted off his hands.
In truth, drawing formations like this was child's play for him.
Even on expeditions, he'd always handled all the formation work himself.
Mages of B-Rank and above trusted him with it.
In my past life, I worked hard to be useful with stuff like this at least…
Back then, knowing he had no mana, he'd still desperately wanted to live as a hunter.
So he'd absorbed every bit of knowledge that could help the expedition team.
That's how he'd scraped by, surviving in the group.
Memorizing a formation manual over a thousand pages long had paid off.
"…Tae-hyun… how…?"
Ah-young asked cautiously, but Tae-hyun just smiled without a word.
He drew his sword.
"Your job is simple. Guard this area until I activate the formation."
Confidence overflowed in his voice.
No one raised any objections.
The expedition team already had more than half its members injured from the recent goblin assault.
And these were among the weaker cadets in Class C.
There was no other way.
Tap.
Tae-hyun lightly slapped Ah-young's forearm.
"You got this, right? Yoon Ah-young."
That's why he'd told her to conserve her mana.
Her magic would be more than enough to protect the formation from monsters.
"…Wait."
Lee Jae-yeol grabbed Tae-hyun as he started to move.
He barely managed to stand.
Blood trickled from the ankle he'd injured earlier against the goblin.
"How can we trust you? …We barely even know each other."
Tae-hyun paused at the question, then gave an awkward smile.
"…Don't trust me if you don't want to. But you got any better ideas?"
Tae-hyun's response stabbed like a dagger into Jae-yeol's chest.
Getting a good score in the tournament with a bunch of injured cadets was next to impossible.
Thud.
Lee Jae-yeol collapsed back to the ground in despair.
"Right then. I'm off."
With that, Tae-hyun stepped into the deep, dark dungeon depths.
"Kieek!! Kieek!"
"Run! Run away!!"
"Where do you think you're going."
Mitsuda's group massacred every goblin in sight indiscriminately.
"Good. Real good."
Mitsuda's grip strength could shatter a goblin's skull.
Every swing of his arm felled three or four goblins effortlessly.
Cadet No. 0357
Current Kills: 14
Mitsuda, already surpassing the benchmark, grinned slyly.
"Puhahaha!!! This is too damn easy."
"Right? Bet those losers are already out by now."
"Yeah, you psycho. You deliberately herded the goblins their way."
"Psh. If they're hunters, they can handle a little something."
Most of the cadets from Class C had met the quota.
They'd already cleared up to the second floor.
Mitsuda sat atop a pile of goblin corpses.
"They should be crawling back, begging for help any minute now…"
He smacked his lips.
His plan was to deliberately put Class C in a bind until they all came groveling to him for aid.
"Mitsuda. Should we let the crawlers join up?"
"If they grovel enough, sure. Their fault for picking wrong."
A chill wind howled through.
It carried the stench of blood.
Slash!
He cleaved a goblin lunging from a rock crevice.
Cutting down goblins was no challenge.
They had the intelligence of mere children.
Their weapons were just stone knives or rusted daggers.
Simple work.
…Yeah, about here.
He ventured deeper into the dungeon.
Having cleared it before, navigation was easy.
Soon, he spotted the portal.
A portal leading to the 2nd floor has opened.
"Move."
His body floated up, warping him instantly to the next floor.
On the second floor, numerous hunters were already hunting goblins.
To reach the third floor, one needed the Stone of Wisdom from a specific goblin.
Lucky hunters might snag it from the first one, but the unlucky—like him—had to slaughter goblins for hours.
Damn. Wasted stamina for nothing.
Ten hours into the tournament.
Time for the elites to rampage.
'Elite'-rank cadets excelled in solo play over team fights.
Hong Ga-yeon and Lee Jung-tae were prime examples.
Fighting with peers only got in the way.
Unless combat prowess was perfectly matched, it hindered more than helped.
"Hey, you!"
A man covered head to toe in goblin blood approached as he entered the second floor.
The massive shield on his back marked him as a tank.
"We're Class H. You a dropout too?"
"…Dropout?"
"Yeah, dropout. If you are, help out our class. As you can see, the enemy attacks aren't a joke—we're struggling."
Behind him, Class H fought desperately against a goblin squad.
He pondered briefly.
He'd already hit the ten-kill minimum, so no need to group up.
But he needed numbers.
"Fine. I'll help. But if you spot a goblin shaman, tell me first."
"Goblin shaman? Easy enough, but why?"
"No reason you need to know."
The shield warrior hesitated, then nodded agreeably.
"Deal. You're a swordsman, so join the front line."
"No need."
Whoosh—!
A flaming sword sliced through the air.
The fire-wreathed blade cleaved empty space.
The slash struck the goblins, igniting them.
They crumpled, burning.
"Don't get reckless! What if you hit our guys?!"
The shield warrior barked.
Long-range skills like slashes were for when allies were safe.
But manuals were made to be broken.
Few proper hunters followed them to the letter.
"I'll clear the path. Get your spearmen ready."
"What? How're you gonna handle that many goblins alone?"
"Consider it a favor."
"…?"
He charged past Class H's shield wall straight at the goblins.
Dozens thrust wooden shields at him.
He swung his sword without flinching.
Roar!
A massive flame pillar shattered the goblin line.
They dropped burning shields, frantic to extinguish the fire.
Now was the time to break through.
"Now!!!"
His shout echoed through the dungeon, and the shield warrior yelled back.
"Charge!"
Boom! Thud! Thud!
Led by spearmen, the party bulldozed the goblin ranks.
Stray goblins were blocked by swordsmen and shieldbearers.
The clogged goblin defense crumbled in an instant.
"Now! Kill 'em all."
Flailing on the ground in disarray, the goblins couldn't even counter.
The team massacred them wildly.
The dungeon filled with goblin screams and hunters' roars.
Over thirty goblin corpses littered the floor.
Including escapees, they'd repelled a fifty-strong unit.
"Thanks a ton. Name's Tom Hines. Don't recognize you. Yours?"
"…Kang Tae-hyun. Class C."
"Class C? Didn't Mitsuda ditch, scattering you all?"
"Unfortunately, yeah…"
The situation boards given to cadets revealed other classes' plights.
With rumors spreading to the second floor, denial was pointless.
"Oh, right. We saw a goblin shaman over there."
"You found one???"
Music to his ears.
Tom fetched a goblin corpse from afar.
It dangled limply, bleeding out.
"Dead, but definitely a shaman."
Goblin shamans always wore the Stone of Wisdom as a necklace, unlike others.
He yanked it free.
This was his key to the third floor.
"So, wanna stick with us? The others'll love having you."
He pocketed the mana stone necklace and checked the corpse's inner pocket.
Sure enough, a faintly glowing stone.
A locator stone.
A magic stone that pointed to designated locations.
He picked it up and looked at Tom.
"Sorry, got business. This is where we part."
"Fair enough. Good luck on the test. You're damn good."
"Thanks. You too."
Tom's party pressed onward.
He warped straight to the third floor.
A portal leading to the 3rd floor has opened.
He placed the stone on his palm.
It slowly pointed east.
East, huh.
He headed that way.
His stomach growled, but he had no appetite for rotting goblin meat.
Almost there, though—he could swipe their rations.
Goblins looked grotesque, but they ate like humans.
Plant roots and small reptiles—better than goblin flesh.
Humm.
The stone finally stopped.
…No wonder the cadets missed it.
A passage overgrown with massive cave vines, dungeon-scale despite being indoors.
The stone clearly indicated this spot.
He drew his mana dagger.
Slash!
He severed the vines in one go and pushed inside.
Mushy ground gave way to a narrow tunnel.
Light shone ahead.
He crawled through, slicing the final vines.
The room revealed itself.
"?!"
He couldn't help but be stunned.
(To be continued next time)