When a secondary awakening happens, it’s said that stats generally increase by around 30%. It wasn’t that much, but it was still an amazing change.
The moment excitement surged, and a sensation similar to dizziness began, Yeon-hee, who had been watching my transformation, cautiously approached and stared at me.
“Il-wol… wh-what did you do? Job change? Skeleton Bombardier?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
“I don’t know what it is, but you got super strong? Like, bombs going boom everywhere?”
Hearing Yeon-hee made it sound kind of cute, but in real combat, it would likely be different. I raised my arms to show off my newfound strength.
“Whoa… then should we challenge the Hobgoblin dungeon tomorrow? It’s considered easier than the Lizard Swamp!”
Nod, nod—
Hobgoblins. Although the etymology is far from being an enhanced version of goblins, they had been referred to as a variant of goblins for some time.
If you imagine a large and strong Goblin Boss gathering in groups, it becomes easy to understand. If the regular goblins are 5, and the Boss Goblin is 10, then Hobgoblins would have a stat of around 9. The annoying part is that they are said to have higher intelligence than regular goblins, so they use poison as well.
There are guys who shoot out poison darts from within tubes, and of course, during battles, it’s not easy to spot and avoid those thin darts.
So, it’s essential to wear specially made goggles for eye protection and to bring plenty of antidotes.
“Lizard, do you guys want to try wearing the goggles?”
Churururak!!
“Don’t want to? Should I just give up on making them wear anything…? I don’t want to force them, but I need to increase my dominance.”
‘These cocky lizards, they should just do as told. Once a dart gets in their eye, they’ll change their minds, those little brats.’
“How many antidotes do we need? Since we have a lot of family… A basic antidote costs 2,980 won…”
As I spread my arms wide to request purchasing as many as possible, she nodded and endlessly raised the quantity arrow for the purchase. Because buying 100 gives a discount.
‘We don’t need that much, but it wouldn’t hurt to stock up for that time…”
In the end, Yeon-hee invested all her remaining money from moving into buying antidotes. Since we bought them at the Hunter Market, the items would be at our door by dawn the next day.
I approached Lizardman 1 and poked it on the side to convey my message.
(Protect Yeon-hee tomorrow. Don’t do anything unnecessary, got it? Make sure to block all sides effectively.)
(Kill… the enemies. Strike them down…)
(Sigh… I should keep my mouth shut.)
Initially, they follow commands exactly, but as time goes on, they tend to move according to their own will, so I had to give them prior instructions.
But seeing them already excitedly thumping their tails, I couldn’t hide my uneasy feelings.
The next day.
The Hobgoblin dungeon is over an hour away from other dungeons, so we woke up early.
‘I have to walk quite a bit on the subway… Shouldn’t Yeon-hee learn to drive? Sigh… I can’t even drive, feeling frustrated at times like this.’
I suddenly resented my skeletal body.
“Ahh!! Should we have fun running today!!”
Unlike me, she radiated bright energy.
When Yeon-hee stretched and just stepped into the living room, her phone began ringing loudly.
Didi didi didi!!
Yeon-hee hurriedly opened her phone.
“…Oh no… this is bad! Il-wol! There’s a dungeon break in Guchang-ro!!”
What—?!
‘No matter how fuzzy my memory gets, I still have about a week left, right?’
“I think we need to support this one. It’s right in the middle of the city!”
Nod—
We quickly prepared and headed outside, tearing open the package in front of the door to stuff a tiny brown vial in our inventory.
It was a 10-minute drive to the site of the dungeon break.
It wasn’t far, but we had to hurry.
*
Guchang 2-ro 17
A dungeon break in one of the busiest streets in South Korea.
Sometimes, monsters from dungeons that formed underground pile up until they finally explode, leading to one of the worst disasters in terms of human casualties.
And today’s incident was worse than it had ever been.
The suddenly bursting giant sinkhole, along with the monsters that popped out from it, was just the same, but unlike before, it was a weekend, and they were holding an art festival, painting on the street by blocking off the eight-lane road.
There were thousands of citizens enjoying family outings, and the moment Yeon-hee received the news and stepped outside, the casualties had already exceeded 1,000.
The first to arrive on the scene, around 500 D and E-rank Hunters, had no choice but to become tense upon seeing the horrific chaotic sight. But after a few minutes, they managed to suppress the monsters with relative ease.
Kekek!! Kekek!!
Just goblins and kobolds in the hundreds.
And since it was a dungeon that erupted from underground, there were just a bit more slimes than usual?
In any case, it was a feeble combination.
Given the number of Hunters converging there, it was almost a 1:1 ratio, making it a straightforward battle.
Among the gathered Hunters, there were some who were particularly putting on a wild performance.
Kekeh!
Kieek!!
Hann Eul-min, who was the party leader, was smashing the head of an injured goblin with a hammer, completely robbing it of its combat power.
“Crack, crack— Hey, capture this well, you brats. I need to get some views out of this.”
“There are many filming from the surrounding buildings; should we just leave them be, team leader? We need to get copyright for this.”
“Good, let it be.”
“How about packing them in and blasting them all at once? How about raining down Magic Missiles on those trembling ones?”
Hann Eul-min paused for a moment at his teammate’s suggestion but shook his head.
“Hmm- Isn’t it a bit weak?”
“It is weak, team leader. You can suggest it, kid. Isn’t that what the Wind Guild did recently? Don’t stir up trouble, you idiot.”
“Following what gets good views is the safest, you nincompoop.”
Although the situation was gradually stabilizing, it was a place where significant casualties had already occurred. Their conversation felt incredibly light given the weight of such circumstances.
They belonged to the Guardian Guild.
In South Korea, the top three guilds were the White Knight, Dwarf, and Vision, and when expanded to five, the Guardian Guild was acknowledged as a large guild as well.
While they didn’t have top-tier Hunters like the big three, they had a solid number of competent mid-tier Hunters.
However, the Guardian Guild’s image hadn’t been very good recently. As they expanded their size with the number of Hunters, they faced numerous criticisms. The biggest issue was the misbehaving Hunters who relied on the name value of the Guardian Guild.
Bullying civilians was a passive act; it wasn’t rare for them to go beyond verbal abuse to violence. And in that regard, Hann Eul-min contributed significantly to that image.
Maybe it was because his father was the vice-guild leader of the Guardian Guild and he was confident in his own abilities, but it made him all the more reckless. Plus, being a magician with a 3 out of 100 chance of awakening, even if he could only use basic spells like Magic Missile for now, it was enough to make him feel special.
Kyaaaak!!
Even as a citizen cried out in pain, having twisted their leg while trying to escape and unable to get away, there was no one rushing to help them, proving that their purpose wasn’t to rescue people.
As they watched four members of the Guardian Guild giggling, Helen shook her head disapprovingly and led Hyeon-seok and Jin-kyeong, who had come with her, to evacuate those in peril.
“Aren’t those the guys who caused a ruckus and got shut down after hunting for girls in a pub last time?”
“Right? With Han Eul-min in the mix, back then his white knight crushed the attackers effortlessly.”
“Oh my, those guys should be sent to corrections.”
Hyeon-seok and Jin-kyeong tossed remarks at the Guardian Guild members with discontented looks.
“Let’s not worry about them and start moving inward. With so many casualties, it seems likely they’ll upgrade to Disaster Level 2 soon.”
“Well, people have evacuated, and it looks like goblins are the main threat, so let’s take it slow. They don’t pay more for catching more.”
“Watch what you’re saying.”
“You should catch more than I do, then you can say that.”
About 500 Hunters who had initially been deployed began to gradually converge toward the gate, as if they had a plan.
While there were a lot of goblins, their power would significantly weaken in a surrounded position. Despite the goblin species having a trait that strengthens them when they band together, they couldn’t overcome the situation.
After about ten minutes of pushing, monsters began emerging from the gate, and on the other side, other Hunters were also closing in.
And not far to the left, there was a group of Han Eul-min casually strolling toward the gate with their hands behind their backs, accompanied by three parasites filming him on their phones.
Tsk—
Though it didn’t sit well with me, even Helen, usually cautious, seemed amused enough to ponder what to eat, just before the situation ended.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing, screeching sound echoed around the area.
“Ah, damn, what the hell is this noise?”
“Aooh!! This is worse than nails on a chalkboard!!”
The neurotic reactions of Han Eul-min’s group made even Helen nod along absently, it was that unpleasant of a sound.
And a few seconds later.
“Ahhh!! Ugh!! My ears…!!”
The sound became so powerful that it made around 500 Hunters kneel and cover their ears.
As the Hunters who had been closing in broke formation, more and more began to flee from the gate.
A group of monsters, whose forms had never been seen before, began to climb out of the giant sinkhole.
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