– Agility +5
Feeling my body become a bit lighter thanks to Ran’s buff, I moved for about five minutes and encountered a group of monsters early in the day. But unfortunately, they weren’t hobgoblins.
I signaled to the back.
(Just regular goblins? This is actually good.)
When Yeon-hee said it was good, she didn’t mean it was great for warm-ups. She probably planned to use them as bait.
Yeon-hee whispered quietly and signaled, and the summoned creatures charged forward all at once.
‘We don’t even need to use bombs for these guys.’
Swoosh- Slash!
Gahhh!
Using the momentum from my charge, I swiftly cut through a goblin’s neck. Its head wobbled at an impossible angle, spraying blood like a fountain.
‘Still not quite able to cut one-shot yet.’
Puhkk!! Gosh!
Kieeek!!
In less than a minute, we had dispatched all twenty goblins and swiftly started collecting silver and other loot they carried.
(Look closely. Stab it straight in this direction, turn it at an angle! And pull down as if slicing… )
I demonstrated the method of butchering to the summoned creatures, and everyone except Ddung-i started to imitate me somewhat.
Ddung-
Ddung-i, with its typical silly kobold expression, seemed to think it needed to contribute as well, pulling something out from the bag strapped to its back.
“Wow- a Low-Rank Mana Stone! Thanks, Ddung-i.”
Hehehe-
‘Is that guy trying to slack off and just throw stones around?’
Having rational doubts, I put all the goblin bones we had collected into my inventory, filled a hole in the ground with the blood that oozed from the byproducts, and took a position hidden a little distance away.
Around the nearby thickets, the summoned creatures, including Yeon-hee, were widely spread out, hiding their bodies.
‘Wonder when they’ll come…’
It’s known that hobgoblins treat regular goblins like their slaves. Being a greedy species, as soon as they realize their possessions were harmed, they’ll come rushing immediately. This is well-known among hunters.
Aah… My legs are cramping…
After about ten minutes, while Yeon-hee was fidgeting with her legs, five hobgoblins, noticeably bigger than regular goblins and closer to red rather than green, appeared.
‘No sign of a poison stinger. Good.’
Their jaws had unkempt beards that looked like they’d never been trimmed, and their ears, growing sharper horizontally, twitched constantly.
Flap-
Their ears moved rapidly up and down, indicating they had noticed the awkwardly hiding summoned creatures.
But I was already in hiding, about to throw the prepared bomb just before exploding it.
[Dagger Throw]
[Skeleton Bomb]
Boom!!!
Kraaaack!!
The hobgoblins took the brunt of the bomb exploding at their heads, losing a lot in that moment.
Not only did they suffer severe injuries to their heads that would be hard to recover from, but they were also thrown into mental chaos from a sudden attack, their vision blocked by the explosion, their movements dulled by pain, and their judgment impaired by rage. The benefits of the sneak attack were just too significant.
Zhuurrr—
Chaaaaa!
Then the summoned creatures that followed up rushed in to attack in overwhelming numbers.
Grrrgh—
Cough—!
The hunt ended rather trivial, almost anticlimactically.
“Wow… I didn’t do anything…”
Yeon-hee put her used arrows back in her inventory with a look that was somewhat complicated.
Having always been a significant contributor as an archer in battles, she could find this situation unusual. But she’d soon adapt to this kind of combat and figure out what she needed to do.
– You have defeated a hobgoblin!
– You gained a small amount of experience points.
– You have acquired a Low-Rank Mana Stone. The mana stone will be transferred to the summoner’s inventory.
– The trait [Thievery] activates.
– You randomly steal a skill from the hobgoblin.
– You have acquired the skill [Seething Poison Gland]!
Seething Poison Gland
– Generates a small poison gland that continuously drains health.
– Reduces maximum health by 0.01% per second when poisoned.
‘So that’s what they used to make poison stingers? Ridiculous, it’s not like they’re venomous snakes or anything.’
It was the first time I learned that hobgoblins could produce poison themselves.
As I immediately tried out the skill, a small tube began to form deep inside my mouth.
‘Ugh, why’s it forming at the corner of my mouth?’
As I put my hand in my mouth and popped off the formed tube, a green poison gland, about the size of my pinky, appeared.
‘What am I supposed to do with this…’
I decided to put it in my inventory and think about it later. It might be useful for something, whether thrown or otherwise. However, the produced poison gland quickly dried up and turned crumbly.
‘Hmm- So it becomes useless once detached from the body. No wonder I didn’t grasp hobgoblins’ poison before. If this organ breaks down upon death…’
There’s probably some unique method for them to directly extract poison from the glands attached in their mouths, right?
‘Sigh- It would be nice if it just mixed with contaminated breath…’
While I was thinking about this, a message suddenly popped up.
– The skill [Contaminated Breath] you possess is merging with [Seething Poison Gland].
Contaminated Breath Lv.4
– Spreads contaminated breath with poison/paralysis effects in a radius of 39m around the caster.
– Reduces maximum health by 0.02% per second when poisoned.
– The longer the exposure time, the stronger the effect.
– You can choose either the poison or paralysis effect.
‘Of course! It felt like they would merge somehow. My level just jumped by 3! The range increased by 9m, and the health loss effect doubled. With this, I can experiment a bit more!’
Due to the nature of Contaminated Breath, it was important to continue fighting in a confined space for it to be effective, yet most battles up until now happened in open areas, so I had few chances to use it.
‘I should use it often to gain experience.’
Zhuurrr—
Chaaaa!
Lizardman 1 and Dotti were still whispering to each other after the battle, and it was amazing how well they clicked despite being from different species.
‘The Lizard Squad is really stepping up. I need to give them a better rating.’
Thanks to 1, the distance between formations was well-maintained, and the Lizard Squad was becoming more organized in their movements.
In a way, it was like we were fighting with ten top-tier hunters in the E-class front position. That’s why the battles were ending so easily.
Zhuurrr-
And Lizardman 1 was already on par physically with a D-class.
“Il-wol, we can probably speed up our pace a bit more.”
Nod-
It was a rational judgment. Even I had approached conservatively before engaging in battle, but with the sneak attack on the skeleton bomb working so well, I realized we could take the lead in combat. It was time to be a bit more proactive.
And the reason for that capability was due to our sensory abilities to detect enemies first and the stealth skill allowing us to sneak up and take the initiative.
“Let’s move.”
Pshh— whoosh—
Storing: 49/54
During our movement, I kept making bombs with one hand, and when monsters appeared in the range of my senses, I’d initiate a sneak attack with the skeleton bomb followed by a pincer attack.
Fights occurred twice an hour, occasionally three times, and we kept winning using the same formula.
– Your level has increased!
=====
[Skeleton Bombardier Il-wol – Lv.28]
Strength: 60 Agility: 74(+3) Health: 71
Wisdom: 68(+3) Magic Power: 90 Resistance: 7
Sense: 34 Recovery: 20(+3)
=====
Thanks to ten battles, my level rose, and I invested in Recovery, which was increasingly necessary for bomb-making.
‘Can’t see any traits to steal from these either. Did I kill more than 15 of them?’
Well, what great skills could hobgoblins possess? Other than the goblin tribe’s unique trait of becoming stronger in groups, they likely didn’t have much going for them.
Magic Power: 33/90
‘Recovering around 30 an hour would be stable. 20 isn’t sufficient.’
Right now, the rate of magic recovery wasn’t keeping up with usage.
‘It’s also an issue to encounter monsters too frequently; should I adjust that a bit.’
Before I knew it, the sun was high in the sky, and after moving to a defensively favorable terrain, Yeon-hee settled for a late lunch with convenience store sandwiches.
‘This dungeon has no known hidden areas, and there aren’t any suspect locations either.’
I had been keeping an eye on the underground in case we ran into those blue-eyed ones again, but there was no success.
Pshh— whoosh—
Storing: 29/54
“Il-wol, how many bombs do you have left?”
Yeon-hee, not quite aware of my bomb count, frequently asked about it. Communicating continuously among team members is extremely important in dungeons, and in that regard, Yeon-hee was a diligent model student.
“The hobgoblins aren’t clustering as much as I expected? It said groups of over ten frequently show up… Ah!”
‘Whenever I say something like that, we’re bound to run into them…’
Sure enough.
After an hour of fruitless searching post-meal, what appeared was a group of a staggering 17 hobgoblins.
Yeon-hee quickly covered her mouth and gave me an apologetic look.
‘With this many, if we finish this battle well, we can head back right after.’
The ones with stinger-like protrusions on their necks were part of the poison stinger breed, totaling up to three.
‘If we can take them out first, it shouldn’t be too hard. The combination of stealth and bombs feels truly overpowered.’
Ssssh—
Now my body moved before my mind did.
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