15. The Goblin Chief
After sending off the five people and one corpse, Han Seol, who was left alone, adjusted his breathing while sensing the presence that was slowly approaching.
‘For now, I think I can sufficiently handle it with my remaining stamina, but…’
That also depended on the opponent.
The opponent who finally revealed himself… couldn’t be anything but the worst result Han Seol could think of.
Krrrrr!
The physique that was difficult to believe was the same goblin was a head taller than Han Seol, its build was like a bear, and wrinkled folds covered its belly and face.
And next to the huge physique were two dark pink goblins.
‘A goblin chief and two hobgoblins?’
Hobgoblins were elite monsters, a superior species of goblins.
A monster called a goblin chief, leading two hobgoblins like lieutenants, was classified as a champion monster, and it was no exaggeration to say that its combat power was on par with a young troll.
Kuku!
Perhaps because it was very angry, it pointed at Han Seol with its finger and shouted, and the two hobgoblins threw their bodies toward Han Seol.
Pat!
‘As expected, hobs are different, huh?’
If goblins had the image and strength of small rascals, hobgoblins were literally small warriors.
Their physique was only slightly larger than goblins, but their combat power was on a different level.
Moreover, they were equipped with middle swords, shorter than longswords and longer than daggers, and small round shields.
In that state, the two that approached Han Seol like an arrow tried to skillfully occupy Han Seol’s left and right sides and launch an offensive.
However…
Puff. Puff.
Thud… Saaaa…
The result was absurdly ridiculous.
The two hobgoblins, who were full of poison, were shot in the head by Han Seol’s compressed Magic Missile… also known as Magic Bullet, and collapsed, dying instantly.
This was the reason why Han Seol could confidently take this position despite extreme physical fatigue and stamina reaching its limit.
For him, ‘swordsmanship’ wasn’t everything.
Kruk?
When the opponent used magic to bring down his two cherished subordinates, the goblin chief’s expression immediately crumpled.
Thump thump!
As if threatening, it struck its spiked club on the ground a couple of times and then rushed toward Han Seol at a terrifying speed.
Tak.
At that moment.
When Han Seol flicked his finger, the magic Grease, which reduced the coefficient of friction on the floor close to 0, was activated.
Thud!
Then, the goblin chief stepped on the part that had instantly changed from an ordinary floor to an icy road and ungracefully fell backward.
With such a huge physique, just slipping and falling backward while running would have been a considerable shock.
But naturally, that alone couldn’t kill it.
Kraaaaah!
The goblin chief, who became even more enraged by the fact that it had fallen, got up from its spot, revealing its viciousness.
At that moment.
Fwoosh!
Cold sweat ran down the goblin chief’s forehead at the intense heat emanating from Han Seol.
It was because of the bright yellow ball spinning at ultra-high speed in Han Seol’s right palm.
‘The goblin chief has thick skin and solid muscles and bones, so my current level of Magic Bullet can’t penetrate its skull or heart.’
But it didn’t matter.
There were many other ways to kill it.
One of them was the Fireball spinning above Han Seol’s palm.
However, as always, it was quite different from an ordinary Fireball.
Because the surface of the sphere was bumpy, the more it spun, the more oxygen it could draw in through those protrusions, and as that oxygen burned, it repeatedly increased the power of the Fireball.
It was a way to use a more powerful Fireball without investing more mana than necessary.
“Your whole body is a lump of oil, so it will catch fire well.”
Swoosh!
Han Seol threw the completed Fireball at it.
The balance of the protrusions themselves was perfect, so it flew straight without drawing a curve like a modified Magic Bullet and hit the goblin chief.
Kwakwakwang!
There was no need for oil to catch fire.
The Fireball, with condensed thermal energy, exploded with tremendous flames, instantly incinerating it before it could even scream.
At the same time, not only Han Seol’s stamina but also his mana was depleted.
It was because he had used quite a few Magic Bullets during the battle so far, and the mana consumption of the Fireball was quite luxurious even by his current standards.
But now the time of endurance was over.
What remained was the sweet time of settlement!
First, Han Seol checked what the hobgoblin that had dropped closest had left behind.
“45 silver 10 bronze and 46 silver 22 bronze…”
With 100 silver equaling 1 gold, the two combined had earned almost 1 gold.
However, there wasn’t much in terms of items.
He acquired a few useless items and one middle sword of the hobgoblin, but even if he put them up in a hunter’s store, no one would probably buy them.
‘Still, I can’t neglect junk items. In this world, there’s also a system called the Exchange Box.’
The Exchange Box referred to an item that exchanged useless items for money.
They were usually available at each hunter branch and could be used under the condition of paying a 10% commission of the exchange amount.
The goblin chief gratefully dropped two D-grade skill books.
As expected of the nest’s owner, it also dropped a large sum of 1 gold and 78 silver.
One was an action skill related to blunt weapons called ‘Power Bash’, and the other was an action skill called ‘Guard Up’ that increased the defense of a shield.
Both were skill books that could easily fetch 2 to 3 gold, so it was truly a windfall.
However, Han Seol’s luck ended there.
The items left by ordinary goblins were quite shabby.
On average, they dropped 3~4 silver per individual in terms of money, and most of the items were junk, not to mention skill books, they didn’t even drop trashy equipment items.
Since the bag was not enough to collect all the junk items, he had no choice but to discard them.
If he had purchased an inventory skill in advance, he could have collected everything, but now he could only carry as much as the bag allowed.
‘When I save up money, I should also consider a portable Exchange Box. Although the price is high, if I can exchange the junk items that are discarded like this on the spot, I’ll be able to replenish quickly. Above all, there’s no commission fee.’
The pure money collected in this way amounted to 13 gold and 89 silver, and if he disposed of the skill books and acquired junk items, he could expect a profit of roughly 20 gold.
When converted to old currency, 1 gold had a value of about 1 million won, so just the profit obtained from this goblin lair was close to 20 million won.
Therefore, 20 gold was by no means a small amount of money.
If someone living in a poor neighborhood was given the large sum of 20 gold, it was enough money to easily survive for 2 years without doing any work alone.
However, for a hunter, 20 gold was by no means a large sum.
Rather, it was fine to think of it as pocket change.
‘Even calculating with the minimum team composition of a 3-person team, first, the 20 gold would have to be divided into thirds. Then, after treating injuries at the hospital, repairing equipment, stocking up on bandages or medicine, and using it for the family’s living expenses… forget about saving, it would be tight to even buy a single D-grade skill book.’
For a hunter, skill enhancement was indispensable.
But if one couldn’t enhance their skills, in the end, they would have no choice but to retire after only dealing with small monsters like goblins, kobolds, or gnolls.
This was precisely the reason why most hunters worldwide mainly possessed D-grade skills and had one or two C-grade skills as a hidden trick.
Even if you searched the whole world, there weren’t as many hunters with high-grade skills of B-grade or above as you might think.
‘This has made it clear.’
For Han Seol, who had been contemplating whether to form a team and operate after graduation or move alone, this experience provided a definite basis for making a decision.
He thought that if he formed a team and operated, he might be able to quickly challenge stronger monsters and expect fast results…
‘At this rate, it would be much faster to grow alone.’
He had already obtained permission from the leader, Cha Ha-neul, that all the income earned here would be Han Seol’s share.
Therefore, Han Seol could use the nearly 20 gold entirely for himself.
He hadn’t taken any damage, so there would be no medical expenses, and there was still time left until graduation, so there was no reason to prepare for the next hunt.
Equipment repair also wouldn’t cost much since he had used standard-issue swords.
Because of that, although Han Seol had quite a wide range of choices for using the 20 gold, his mind had already been made up on one thing.
* * *
“Oh my gosh…”
“You, you really defeated the lair’s owner alone?”
“There were three hundred goblins stationed here. With that many, the owner must have been at least chief-level, and there must have been a few hobs mixed in, but you handled all of them alone?”
“I was lucky.”
Cha Ha-neul’s teammates were still unable to close their mouths from the shock.
However, Cha Ha-neul had a vague expectation that it might turn out this way, so he was a bit less surprised than the other teammates.
“N-now, now, everyone calm down… What’s done is done, no one died and it’s over, so let’s wrap it up with that. And…”
Cha Ha-neul approached Han Seol.
“As promised, all the income earned here is yours. In the first place, this goblin lair was infiltrated to cultivate your exploration skills, and there was no plan for actual combat.”
The hunters who came for support began to search the lair, recover the victims’ bodies, and clean up the scene.
In particular, collecting data left on the surface while cleaning up the scene like this was also a big gain for them.
It was because when evacuating from the surface to the underground, they had no choice but to leave behind a lot of data and information from modern civilization.
“You have been specially granted permission from the academy to take a break during this training period… What do you think? Do you want to rest?”
Cha Ha-neul’s consideration was felt in his words that he had obtained permission from Cheongsol Academy for Han Seol to rest, but he politely declined.
“Thank you for your kind words, but I want to continue like this. Because being able to train under the guidance of skilled and capable hunters like Cha Ha-neul’s team is a good experience.”
“That’s a tearfully grateful thing to say, but… somehow I feel like it’s an experience you don’t need.”
Cha Ha-neul, who now somehow felt Han Seol was more of a veteran than himself, smiled brightly, hiding this ironic feeling.
“Still, take a break for now. The other guys decided to rest thoroughly until this week anyway. Above all, we want to rest. If there’s anything you want to do during that time, do it.”
“Yes.”
* * *
The first place Han Seol, who received a short vacation like that, visited upon returning was the hunter’s store located in the Sangam branch.
Surprisingly, the operator of this store was ‘God’, thanks to which things that seemed only possible in games were actually possible.
‘It’s definitely not an ordinary store.’
The store wasn’t an ordinary store, as the name suggested.
Entering through the store’s entrance, one could enter alone into one of the countless finely divided parallel spaces, where a huge monitor and keyboard existed.
By searching for desired items with this keyboard, the goods posted by hunters worldwide were neatly arranged on the monitor, and the arrangement could be customized as desired, such as price, quantity, and quality grade.
In short, it was like an online marketplace.
And the product Han Seol searched for there was none other than…
{Divinity(D)} skill book.
