Chapter 18
“So what are we going to do?”
At Jeong Yushin’s question, the party fell silent.
Regardless of whether they were discussing goblin chiefs or learning theory, what ultimately mattered was the plan going forward.
“We can handle a short fight.”
“Even if the Negative Engraving left me like this, I used to be a mid-ranked explorer. It’d be laughable to get scared and run away on just the second floor.”
Del and Dito raised their voices. The mage and dwarf, on the other hand, remained silent.
“Einhofer, what are you going to do? Amateur.”
“We keep going. I’m fine.”
“Let’s at least collect some goblin ears. We need to make money.”
Dito said as he rose.
The party diligently cut off hobgoblin ears amid the smell of blood and burning flesh.
Only chunks of mangled flesh remained where the fireball had exploded, so there wasn’t much to salvage. Still, there were quite a few ears in the rear, where Del and Dito had been.
“Ugh. This one’s still alive?”
Dito recoiled in disgust at the sight of the writhing goblin.
“It really is. It’s still alive even with its mouth ripped wide open.”
Del said, slowly edging closer with his dagger.
“Look at this. Barbaroi, this is your handiwork.”
When Del called him over, Jeong Yushin approached.
The hobgoblin was gasping and making strange groaning sounds.
Jeong Yushin looked down at it for a moment, then crushed its neck bone under his boot.
Crack.
Del looked put off by Yushin’s unflinching action.
“Be honest. You’re not a novice, are you? Were you an adventurer?”
“What is an adventurer? Is it different from an explorer?”
“There are people like that. Annoying bastards.”
“He’s a Barbaroi. Where would he have learned to fight?”
When Dito cut in to admonish him, Del shrugged once and said,
“Yeah. Virgin or not, who cares? As long as he does his job.”
“This Barbaroi is a virgin. Just remember that.”
Dito’s serious declaration made Yushin’s face flush slightly.
“Let’s cut the ears.”
“What? Your face is red. Are you embarrassed?”
Del snickered.
“There were ears here too.”
At Yushin’s rough gesture, Del recoiled in horror.
The three bickered as they gathered the ears.
After combing through everything except the goblins shattered by the fireball, they obtained thirty pairs of ears in total.
“There’s a shelter a little farther ahead, so let’s camp there.”
Dito led the way with the torch.
Jeong Yushin sheathed the arming sword and walked with a club in hand. He had wiped the grease from his sword, but just in case, he had picked up a club as a backup weapon.
The longer a fight went on, the more his stance would deteriorate and his weapon’s edge would dull. He thought a club he could swing freely would help. Besides, it was free.
They passed through the darkness and discovered a small cave.
There was no sign of anyone.
Dito peeked inside and signaled that it was safe.
The party went inside, unpacked their belongings, lit a fire with firewood, and hung a screen over the entrance to keep the light from escaping.
They gathered around the campfire and ate.
The menu was unchanged: jerky and biscuits.
He broke the hard biscuit in half, put it in his mouth, and rolled it around. It was fine once he softened it with saliva.
“How are we dividing the watches?”
“Kelton will use an alarm spell. Get some sleep.”
Del said as he crunched on some nuts.
That night, they managed to sleep for a long time, if lightly.
* * *
After sleeping for about eight hours, they got up and packed their belongings.
They put out the campfire, which had burned slowly through the night, and picked up the torch.
His whole body felt stiff, but it was bearable.
Dito led the way with the torch.
The party traveled for several hours, making their way through the darkness. But they couldn’t find any hobgoblins.
All they found were a few crude traps.
“That’s strange.”
Dito muttered.
“Where did all those goblins disappear to?”
“We should rest a bit. Is there a shelter or something nearby?”
Del glanced at Einhofer and spoke. The dwarf was breathing heavily.
With a Stamina Reduction Engraving, heavy armor, and a huge weapon in hand, it was no surprise that Einhofer was exhausted and panting.
Dito scratched his chin and thought for a moment.
“Hmm... We just need to go a little farther. About ten minutes?”
“Yeah. Hang in there a little longer, Einhofer.”
Del encouraged him.
“Whew, sorry.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Just then.
Dito’s ears perked up.
“Wait! Quiet, everyone.”
Dito lay face down and pressed his ear to the ground. The others silently watched him.
“They’re coming!”
Dito sprang to his feet and shouted.
His face, illuminated by the torch, was as white as a corpse’s skin.
“At least a hundred! They’re charging this way! Fuck, we have to run!”
“Where to?!”
“The shelter!”
“The shelter only has one entrance. Won’t we be completely surrounded? Amateur.”
“If they attack us from the front and back here, we’re done! They’ll mow us down before your spell is even cast!”
“They’re coming!!”
Del shouted.
Sounds began coming from far away. An immense number of footsteps and shouts, more than he had ever heard before, resounded through the cavern.
“Run!”
Dito screamed and ran forward. Jeong Yushin and the others ran as hard as they could. They didn’t even have time to check for traps.
They ran at full speed, fast enough to nearly shake off their helmets, but the monstrous howls behind them didn’t fade. They only grew louder.
In the midst of it, Einhofer fell to the ground.
“Guh. Huff. Go on without me.”
The dwarf barely managed to force the words out between gasps.
“Hey! You dwarf!”
Del was horrified as he pulled on Einhofer’s arm, but the dwarf didn’t budge.
“Fuck! We don’t have time for this! We have to go!”
Dito’s face was filled with fear.
Jeong Yushin quickly approached and carried Einhofer on his back. True to a dwarf’s build, he was so heavy that it felt like carrying a lump of iron.
“Let’s go. Del, carry the axe.”
“Yeah! Thanks, Ska!”
Del thanked him.
“Sorry.”
Einhofer muttered.
“Don’t mention it.”
Carrying Einhofer, Jeong Yushin ran at full speed.
“Hoo. Hoo.”
His breath was burning up to his throat. It felt as though he would die from exhaustion rather than be killed by goblins.
‘I can’t run anymore.’
‘No, I can. Think back to when I first entered the labyrinth. This is nothing.’
‘Fuck. I can’t run. You’re no good at anything, and you’re going to die helping someone else like a sucker? Leave him.’
‘Do you think you can survive by abandoning him? Shut up and run.’
His sense of self split in two, and the two sides argued with each other.
His inner conflict reached a breaking point. He reached the shelter’s entrance just before his sense of self split completely.
Everyone entered the shelter, with Jeong Yushin coming in last.
They set down the dwarf and their packs.
His whole body was drenched in sweat, but there was no time to catch his breath.
He gripped the handle of his shield and raised his club.
Kelton immediately moved far away and began chanting.
Del snatched the torch from Dito, planted it in the center of the shelter, and fixed it in place. Then he took all the spare arrows from the packs and put them in his quiver.
Dito was still trembling. He held a loaded crossbow, but he didn’t seem to know what he was doing.
“Dito! Pull yourself together.”
Del approached Dito, slapped his cheek, and shook his shoulder.
“Huuurgh!”
‘What’s wrong with him? Wasn’t he a mid-ranked explorer?’
Seeing Dito foaming at the mouth in terror left Yushin speechless.
“Damn it! This is a Fear Engraving. Damn it, if you had one like this, you should’ve told us!”
“You had more Negative Engravings?”
“Yeah. Still, this is fortunate. Anyone with this Engraving loses their reason at the slightest hint of fear. It’s amazing he didn’t go mad and run off somewhere. Hoo.”
‘Now I see why they call it a bottom-tier party.’
The sounds of loud chatter in the hobgoblin language, running footsteps, and every other noise combined and drew closer to the shelter.
“Kikiki.”
“Kilkili.”
Sinister sounds came from outside the cavern. There was no mistaking it. They were all waiting outside the shelter.
One hobgoblin poked its head through the entrance.
Swoosh!
Del’s arrow lodged itself between the hobgoblin’s brows.
Thud.
It died instantly and collapsed onto the ground.
Enraged howls surged outside the shelter.
Jeong Yushin and Einhofer stood near the entrance. They shifted slightly to the side so Del would have a clear angle to shoot from.
Jeong Yushin stood on the right.
Einhofer stood on the left.
The dwarf held the single-bladed axe against his shoulder and tensed his whole body, ready to cleave an approaching enemy in a single blow.
Jeong Yushin was no different. He raised his shield and lifted the club above his head.
Block the entrance.
If the entrance was breached, they would die.
They had to somehow hold out until Kelton finished chanting.
Smack!
A goblin came charging into the shelter.
Einhofer’s axe shattered the goblin’s skull and split its body in half, its blade like a guillotine.
Squelch!!
Blood and entrails splattered everywhere.
Another goblin pushed in immediately afterward.
Jeong Yushin brought his club down.
Smack!
The skull shattered, and brain matter splashed onto his helmet.
A goblin came in before he could even raise the club again.
Swoosh!
Del’s arrow struck the goblin between the brows.
Stepping over the fallen corpses, goblins continued to push in one after another.
This time, Einhofer swung his axe.
Next, Jeong Yushin brought down his club.
Then Del fired an arrow.
The party’s coordinated attacks continued endlessly, like interlocking gears.
Breathing in and out with each breath rising to his throat, he smashed goblin skulls.
‘If we just keep doing this.’
Maybe they could get through this crisis without much trouble.
But disaster came quickly.
Einhofer’s axe missed. He had reached the limit of his stamina.
Clang!
The axe blade struck the floor uselessly. At the same time, a goblin threw its entire body at Einhofer. The dwarf and goblin rolled across the ground.
“Damn it! Einhofer!”
The goblin had gained the upper hand. It sat on the exhausted dwarf and brought down a rusty iron sword. Einhofer raised the axe handle to block it.
Jeong Yushin couldn’t spare any attention for the dwarf.
The goblin horde was still pouring in.
Now he had to handle them alone.
Smack!
He crushed the head of a hobgoblin pushing its way in.
“Fuck!”
The club broke.
He threw the club’s handle at the hobgoblin’s face. The hobgoblin clutched its eye and rolled on the ground. Stepping over it, an even larger horde of hobgoblins pushed inside.
He quickly drew the arming sword and stabbed it into a hobgoblin’s neck.
“Gurgle!”
There was no time to check whether it was dead or alive. He yanked the sword free and stabbed it into the next one’s chest.
“Einhofer!”
Del’s scream echoed through the shelter.
After the goblin struck repeatedly with its rusty iron sword, the wooden axe handle was finally severed.
Del fired an arrow that pierced the head of the goblin straddling Einhofer.
It was only a brief moment, but Del’s absence had serious consequences.
Two goblins slipped past Jeong Yushin.
He tried to stop them, but he couldn’t.
Three goblins clung to his shield and pulled on it.
One goblin thrust at him with a rusty longsword.
He let go of the shield and turned his body aside to dodge the longsword.
He survived, but it was the worst possible choice.
The goblins holding the shield tumbled across the ground.
He smashed a goblin’s skull with his elbow and seized the longsword.
“Ready! Clear the entrance! Amateur!!”
“Just a moment!”
He abandoned the arming sword and gripped the rusty longsword tightly with both hands.
A goblin charged at him with a mace.
The target was its heart.
He kicked off the ground and thrust the longsword forward.
SHNK!!
He could feel it beyond the hilt—the sensation of tearing through flesh and digging into a heart.
“Kkieeek!!”
The sword pierced through the goblin’s back and came out the other side.
“Hraaah!!”
With a battle cry, Jeong Yushin drove forward with all his weight. Swords, clubs, and maces battered and tore at his body, but he paid them no heed.
He used his strength to push the goblins pouring in like a current back toward the entrance.
‘Done.’
He released the longsword. The goblins impaled on it like skewers writhed in agony.
He kicked the sword’s hilt, driving it in even deeper, then stepped back.
“Fire!”
[Fireball]
The blazing ball of fire fell onto the horde of hobgoblins outside the shelter’s entrance.
KABOOM!!!
Heat and a shock wave swept into the shelter.
Jeong Yushin covered his face and flattened himself against the floor.
Chunks of flesh and horrifying screams brushed past his back.
The magic wasn’t over.
[Ice Wall]
A massive wall of ice rose up and blocked the entrance.
[Light]
Brilliant light that banished the darkness’s madness filled the shelter.
Jeong Yushin staggered to his feet.
They had bought some time.
Looking around, he saw burned and torn pieces of flesh scattered everywhere.
Even so, neither Einhofer nor Del seemed injured.
Del was tending to Einhofer, while Dito was curled up in a corner.
He was clutching his crossbow, but it wasn’t loaded.
‘At least he fired.’
Jeong Yushin approached Kelton. The mage had drawn his sword, and two hobgoblin corpses lay scattered around him.
“Thank you. You saved us.”
Kelton nodded once at Yushin’s words of thanks.
“We bought some time. I’m going to rest for a moment. Amateur.”
“Yes.”
Then Kelton collapsed.
Thud.
Jeong Yushin’s eyes widened.
A bolt was lodged in Kelton’s back.