Chapter 58
I felt my body floating and then I landed with a moderate amount of force on both legs and one hand on the ground to distribute the impact.
-Thud!
After landing perfectly, I looked around.
“Hmm, just like I saw in the game.”
Hordes of goblins surrounded me. Each one of them holds a vicious weapon in their hands: staves, rusty daggers, giant animal bones, bone picks, and stone maces.
No matter how crude their weapons were, they could be considered intimidating enough for a normal person.
“You know what?”
I’ll tell you this.
I immediately pull out Al Capone’s Tommy from the cube and point it at the goblins surrounding me.
“You can’t stop a gun with that crude weapon.”
──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!/──!
In an instant, blood, bones, flesh, and screams echo through the dark hollow.
Panicked by the overwhelming violence and firepower, the goblins immediately turn and try to flee into the hollow, but try as they might, they can’t outrun a bullet. And so, waving the Tommy forward as if to brush them off, I was about to move on when one of the goblins stood out in front of me.
“Found…….”
It was a strange goblin with a glowing golden body, unlike the skinny, green tea-colored goblins.
Realizing that this was the ‘golden goblin’ I was looking for, I quickly lunged at it and grabbed its head with my left hand, which wasn’t holding the Tommy.
“Chhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
“One for now.”
I snap its neck, preventing it from screaming anymore.
The Golden Goblin was a goblin mutant, a sort of bonus mob that lurked throughout the dungeon.
Unlike other goblins, they were characterized by a faint golden tinge to their magic stones, and in the game, you could earn extra points in the “Class Ranking Battle” by submitting them to the Academy.
“They should know I’m working hard down here…….”
There was only one reason why I would do this, even though these monsters were insignificant.
The class ranking match was an important event and the higher the class rank, the more support you get from the Academy, the better the facilities, and the curriculum itself.
In the game there were some routes that you couldn’t take depending on how you played this event.
This is why the term “ranking recess” was coined, as the Academy route would lead to a series of semi-decisive battles.
Even if all other conditions are met, you can’t do it because of this first step, what kind of discrimination is this……but it was also allowed because the Academy is an organization that trains heroes.
Cultivating heroes meant cultivating people for humanity, not just ordinary students.
“I should just get the magic stone.”
I reached into the golden goblin’s chest and pulled out a gemstone that unlike the others, this one glows a brilliant golden color.
After placing it in the cube, I remembered the golden goblins collecting various treasures and looked in the direction the goblin was heading.
“Is the nest that way?”
One of the traits of golden goblins is that they have a treasure-loving instinct, so much so that they collect treasure in their own nests.
This meant that the hidden reward in this dungeon was in his nest.
It’s a shame that there are only a few usable items in the beginner dungeons…….but given the events that would follow, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to collect them.
I closed my eyes and concentrated, and I could feel the creatures around me, fearful of me.
Is it because this is their nest? They were afraid of me, but they were lurking here and there, ready to attack me.
“So, on the subject of goblins.”
I continue to advance, firing bullets wherever I think the goblins are.
Halfway through, I feel a spell that seemed to detect me, but it’s a familiar sensation, indicating that the kids upstairs have realized I’m gone and are exploring.
“They’ll take care of that.”
In the past, Ji-hyun had flown them to a deserted island with a goblin dungeon just for this day, so why wouldn’t they be able to capture it?
Even if they made any mistakes, with the children of Familia by their side, they would be able to defeat the goblin dungeon without me.
I walked in silence, picking off the goblins I saw, pulling out their magic stones as I moved forward.
“Okay, just as I remembered.”
Finally, the entrance to the supposed nest of golden goblins came into view.
There were three golden stones inside the cube.
It was normal for there to be about ten golden goblins in a dungeon, and since most of them would hide in the nest when an intruder appeared, there was a good chance that the rest of the golden goblins were hiding inside the nest.
In other words, it was a treasure trove.
And more importantly.
“FBI OPEN UP!!!”
Kicking the crude bone door open, I stepped inside and saw a peculiar-looking creature amongst the furious Golden Goblins.
“Found it.”
A real treasure.
It was a golden hobgoblin, the hidden boss of this dungeon.
“Kiek! Kiek! Human! Human! Human! Human!”
The golden hobgoblin squeals and starts jumping around in place when it sees me.
“Yes, I’m a human. Have you gathered all my treasures?”
“Human! Trespasser! Kill! Kill!”
He’s already over excited from seeing me, and he’s shouting at the top of his lungs.
I didn’t expect to be able to communicate with him anyway, so I pulled out my Tommy and pointed it at him.
“Yeah, dance.”
I squeeze the trigger, sending a stream of bullets flying at him and the surrounding golden goblins.
The golden goblins fall to the ground in a heap. There were six of them in total.
“I see……it’s not going to go down easily.”
Suddenly, I see a figure hanging from the ceiling, glaring at me.
Another nickname for the Golden Hobgoblin in the game was “golden flashes,” a reference to the fact that when they shine, they disappear in an instant.
This ability is optimized for running off with treasures.
I guess that’s what it takes to be the King of the Golden Goblins.
There’s no point in wasting time here so I decided to make it quick.
I tuck my gun into the cube, raise my arms, and look at him, who was glaring at me like he’s going to pounce at any moment.
“You said you’d kill me, come on in.”
I holster my gun, snapped my fingers, and in a flash of light, he was in front of me.
“Now, come on in here.”
I taunted, snapping my fingers at him.
The creature crackles as expected, and in a flash of light, it’s in front of me.
“Die, human!”
The dagger in its hand plunges into my sternum.
They say force is proportional to speed and mass, right?
I don’t know the details but what I do know is that a dagger thrust into my chest at that speed is instant death. That is, of course, if I get hit.
“That’s why I struggled in the game.”
But anyone who had faced him a few times knew something: his first strike is always for the heart. And nothing is easier to block than a punch with a predetermined destination.
I grab his dagger with the hand I’ve already placed near my heart and it seems like he’s trying to pierce my heart with his other hand, but it’s very disconcerting to realize that my leather-gloved hand is impenetrable.
“Yes, welcome.”
Of course, it wasn’t that his dagger didn’t do damage.
It just didn’t pierce the armor, but the force of his blow was transferred to the hand inside the glove, and I was worried that it might have punctured it. So, with all the force I could muster, I tried to give him a counter.
“Eek!”
My fist comes down on his head like a mace but he’s so good at dodging that I barely manage to land a blow so I quickly let go of the dagger and rolled.
He stumbles backwards, pulls the dagger out of the ground, and points it at me again.
“The instructors outside are going to lecture me.”
This guy was way beyond the level of a rookie and if I hadn’t told instructor Ji-hyun beforehand, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had called me back just to be safe.
“Okay, let’s play for real.”
I punch the wall next to me to block the door.
The best rule of thumb when dealing with this guy was to leave no escape routes. After all, I have to ransack his treasure room to get back upstairs, so there’s no reason for me to back down.
A flash explodes in front of my eyes and I swing my fist.
“Eek──!!!”
My fist smashes into the guy’s face.
“You’re only coming from the front anyway.”
The moment he sped up in front of me, the fight was already decided but just as I reached out to grab him by the throat, there’s another flash and he fled backwards.
“Where.”
I lunge for him, and another flash.
He’s gone, but I don’t panic; instead, I simultaneously duck down and swing my foot behind me.
“Kiek?!”
“Yeah, I know you can come up behind me.”
I’ve tried to grab his neck so many times but he didn’t even recognize the pattern.
His body rolls away from my back, and I climb on top of him.
“Now you can’t run anymore, can you?”
“Hey, human, don’t kill me, there’s a treasure–”
“The whole country knows it’s in your treasure trove.”
I swung my fist like a sledgehammer at his face, crushing it.
“Pooh-ooh!”
His teeth fly into the air.
Most, if not all, CS players knew where his treasure trove was.
“Not here! Don’t bother! Trust me, if you let me go, I’ll take you to the warehouse!”
I smash his face in so hard that he can’t say any more bullshit.
“Asshole, you’re reminding me of the old days.”
I was once in a negotiation with an asshole like that.
When I was on the Vyssal route I thought that if I gave him a good beating and then negotiated he’d hand over the key but instead he just opened a portal and ran off into the warehouse. It was so frustrating.
Eventually, I remember beating him half to death and taking the key.
“I’ll take the key.”
With that, I grabbed the flailing creature’s right arm and snapped its thumb.
“Keys……keyehhhhhhhhhh!”
“Shut up.”
With another blow, I seal his mouth once more, then examine his thumb where a small sentence is written.
[You have found a new item!]
[Name: Two-Dimensional Warehouse]
[Rank: Unique]
[Type: Engraved]
[Description: A key to open a 13 m² two-dimensional warehouse. Hold it up and circle it to reveal the door to the warehouse. You can imprint it on your body or an item.]
“──Found it.”
My Precious.
