14. A Prodigy of Hunting
Having received permission that didn’t seem like permission, Han Seol immediately moved swiftly towards the goblin lair.
He had hunted goblins so much in his previous life that he was sick of it, so there wouldn’t be any problems.
Rather, it was just a bit frustrating that he couldn’t hunt them as carelessly as in his previous life with this body.
‘I never thought the day would come when I would have to use my head while fighting against goblins.’
When Han Seol spotted the goblin sentries ahead, he hid his body nearby for a moment and created a bean-sized Magic Missile on the tip of his index finger.
It was a feat that was impossible unless one’s understanding and mastery of magic had reached the extremes, but what was even more surprising was that the Magic Missile was not a perfect sphere.
Han Seol made the slightly distorted sphere spin at ultra-high speed and shot it in a completely different direction from where the goblins were.
However, the amazing thing was what happened next.
The Magic Missile that was flying in a completely wrong direction turned like a pitcher’s breaking ball at high speed and penetrated the side of the goblin sentry’s head, not from the front.
Thwack!
Squeak?
Squeak!
Han Seol’s Magic Missile could shatter solid rocks in a single blow.
Naturally, it penetrated the goblin’s skull.
The problem was what came next.
Swish… Thwack!
The Magic Missile that came from a completely different direction and trajectory than before produced the same result without fail.
The surviving goblins were terrified.
They couldn’t tell what was flying from where to kill them, so it was natural for them to panic.
In the end, the fear-stricken goblins gave up their watch and tried to run inside, but they didn’t know that was exactly what Han Seol wanted.
Thwack thwack thwack!
There was no need to use multi-angle Magic Missiles on the ones who had turned their backs.
Han Seol fired three Magic Missiles in rapid succession, flying straight and fast, eliminating the fleeing goblins in an instant and infiltrating the lair.
If other mages had seen Han Seol’s Magic Missile hunting now, they would have been shocked.
Honestly, the way Han Seol controlled the Magic Missile could be imitated by overlapping the ‘Homing’ guidance magic on long-range magic.
However, calculating the mana consumption efficiency and the resulting effect, it was an absurd waste.
Han Seol was already creating compressed Magic Missiles, using only half the mana originally required for a Magic Missile.
But if other mages tried to imitate the result he produced now, they would need enough mana for twenty Magic Missiles per shot…
It showed that power wasn’t everything even in magic.
‘It’s this way.’
As he entered the 1st-floor lobby, he could feel the commotion coming up from the underground.
Han Seol followed the sound and found the stairs leading underground, but there were already goblins waiting with weapons.
Goblins were weak, but they were never stupid.
As soon as they realized there was an intruder in their nest, they didn’t all rush there, but they were meticulous enough to block the narrow entrances and stop additional forces.
The problem was that the person standing in front of them was none other than Han Seol.
Puff puff puff!
Since there was some distance, the goblins used blowguns to shoot poisoned needles at Han Seol.
The power of the poisoned needles themselves was weak, but they were fast and the needles were thin, making them difficult to see and deflect.
Above all, the problem was that as soon as you were hit, a neurotoxin would spread and paralyze the body.
Even skilled hunters often met a terrible end by getting hit by these poisoned needles if they were careless.
But Han Seol was different.
Woong.
Han Seol, who had coated his entire body with a thin mana shield less than 1mm thick, ignored the poisoned needles and swiftly threw his body towards the goblins.
Even in the 3rd circle, there was a magic called Mana Armor with the same effect, but efficiency was important as always.
The 1mm mana shield couldn’t block an arrow shot by a child, but it had enough defense to block thin poisoned needles.
Of course, if mages who had envisioned the mana shield as a one-dimensional form like a wall or shield had seen it, they would have been shocked.
He jumped into the crowd of goblins like a predator, ignoring their poisoned needles thanks to the mana shield wrapped around his body.
And what followed was truly a massacre.
Slash! Slash! Crunch! Swish! Slice!
He slashed with his sword, crushed with his fists, kicked with his feet, stabbed with his elbows, and smashed with his knees, mobilizing all available body parts to massacre the goblins.
The goblins had no way to stop Han Seol.
They resisted to the best of their abilities, swinging daggers and clubs, but it was just a futile struggle that didn’t even reach Han Seol’s toes.
The completely doomed goblins turned to ash and disappeared, leaving only money and items where they died.
Just like a game…
When a monster kills a monster, the laws of nature apply and the corpse remains, but when a human kills a monster like this, money and items are left behind.
‘But I don’t have time to collect these now.’
Han Seol had massacred all the goblins blocking the entrance.
There were piles of money and items left by the goblins, but collecting them was for later.
He hurriedly went through the stairs, broke through the pandemonium on the underground 1st floor, and headed straight to the 2nd floor.
From the corridor on the 2nd floor, numerous goblins had already occupied and were moving like a current towards somewhere.
There was no need to find out where their destination was.
The moment Han Seol’s gaze and the gazes of the goblins who spotted him overlapped, they threw their bodies at each other without hesitation.
‘I thought I had trained my stamina, but my breathing is already…’
Dealing with goblins was not a problem at all.
Even if they swarmed in groups, their simple methods seemed visible to the eye, and their movements could be predicted as accurately as future foresight.
If there was a problem, it was Han Seol’s stamina.
He had poured as much… no, more effort into stamina training than swordsmanship training.
However, unfortunately, due to inheriting genes from his ordinary human parents, Han Seol’s stamina, no matter how much he trained, had clear limitations, although it was far superior to his peers.
‘I’ve only killed about thirty goblins so far…’
It’s not just thirty.
Massacring thirty goblins alone was something that even decent hunters would stick their tongues out at.
But what if it were his previous self at the same age?
Thirty goblins wouldn’t even be a warm-up.
But what about now?
No matter how much he tried to hide it, his rough breathing was showing.
His whole body was soaked with sweat, and his aggressive offense had turned passive, killing only the attacking goblins with minimal movement at some point.
Fortunately, Cha Ha-neul, Gong Sang-hun, and Park Seong were also doing their best to reduce the number of goblins.
‘Has the support already arrived?’
They also felt that the goblin offensive swarming at them had drastically decreased.
Thanks to that, they, who had been defending the narrow entrance of the room, gathered their momentum and stepped out into the corridor.
“Triple Thrust!”
Swish swish swish!
As Cha Ha-neul’s action skill activated, three streaks of light burst out from his sword and created an opening by piercing the goblins ahead three times at an amazing speed.
And Gong Sang-hun perfectly shattered that opening.
“Charging Horn!”
Gong Sang-hun’s body, with his shield in front, glowed.
He threw his body towards the densely packed goblins ahead with a mirage of light.
As the goblins hit by the charge were shattered into pieces, they were finally able to escape the narrow room.
“Park Seong, you stay here and deal with any goblins that might slip in!”
“Understood!”
Although Park Seong was also very tired, he could handle that much, so he answered with confidence.
Meanwhile, Cha Ha-neul, who had annihilated the remaining goblins with the support troops and finally identified the identity of the support troops, couldn’t hide his exasperated feelings.
“You, don’t tell me you came all the way here alone?”
He looked around here and there while asking, but there was no one else except Han Seol.
“I received permission from the guiding instructor Oh Seong-hee to do as I pleased.”
“What? This woman finally…”
Hearing Han Seol’s words, Cha Ha-neul roughly understood the situation.
He let out a deep sigh and spoke to Han Seol.
“Regardless of the circumstances, it’s true that we were saved thanks to you. But let’s save the thanks for later. Right now, we need to get out of here quickly.”
Cha Ha-neul, Gong Sang-hun, and Park Seong, who went back into the room and came out carrying the naked women on their backs, appeared.
They all looked in very poor condition.
The woman Cha Ha-neul was carrying was even a corpse swarming with flies and maggots.
‘So that’s why they were caught up here.’
As Han Seol’s gaze turned to the women, Cha Ha-neul drew a bitter smile.
Park Seong bowed his head with a very guilty expression.
Before arguing about right or wrong, the fact that he had endangered them remained unchanged.
Cha Ha-neul briefly explained the situation to Han Seol as they moved to the surface.
“This also happens when novice hunters fall into a goblin trap. The men had already been killed as ‘food’ and couldn’t be saved, but fortunately or unfortunately, the female team members were still alive. So I used a little force.”
‘T-team leader?’
Park Seong was startled and raised his head.
He was the one who had used force.
If this fact became known to the academy, he would not only be expelled but also have to face legal lawsuits.
But Cha Ha-neul had taken the blame for his fault instead.
“That’s why we trust and follow him.”
“I’m sorry. And thank you so much…”
At Gong Sang-hun’s words, Park Seong apologized and thanked him at the same time with tears.
However, everything was not completely over yet.
“Damn it! As expected, they’re following us. Well, if I were them, I wouldn’t let us go easily either.”
An evil presence was felt rushing up from the underground 3rd floor towards the surface at a terrifying speed.
Even without explanation, anyone could guess that he was the owner of this lair.
If he was the owner of a lair where more than three hundred goblins lived in total…
“What do you want to do?”
“What do you mean? We have no choice but to fight here!”
When Cha Ha-neul made a decision at Gong Sang-hun’s question, Han Seol proposed a different opinion.
“Right now, the two injured people are in an urgent situation at a glance. Park Seong will also become the weakness that he will target first when the battle starts. If you two fight while protecting them in your exhausted state, I think the chances of winning will be slim.”
“So what do you want us to do? Do you have any other alternatives?”
“You three should immediately evacuate to the checkpoint as you are. I will handle things here. Instead, just promise me one thing.”
“Do you even know what kind of crazy nonsense you’re spouting right now…!”
Cha Ha-neul froze and couldn’t say a word when he saw Han Seol’s eyes looking at him.
‘What kind of human eyes are those…!’
“I am perfectly sane and proposing the method with the highest survival probability for everyone. So I demand compensation. Please allow me to take all the gains that can be obtained here today. Anything less than that wouldn’t be a fair trade-off.”
“…If you’re spouting such nonsense, you must be quite confident?”
Han Seol silently nodded.
“Alright. I’ll come back as soon as I get these people across safely, so just hold out until then. If you do that much, I’ll grant your request. So if you feel like you can’t do it, run away no matter what! Got it?”
“Very well.”
It wasn’t that he was leaving Han Seol behind based on guts alone.
He had examined the traces of his fights on the way up here.
There were traces that were definitely impossible for a student to have done… traces of a fighter who was at least stronger than himself, no matter how low he estimated.
‘Still, he’s a student. He won’t be able to hold out for long. Wait for me. I’ll definitely come back.’
“Increase the speed. Even if it’s tough, don’t cry and keep up!”
“Yes!”
“Got it!”
