Chapter 149.

Essence of the Strait’s dispatch mission team slowly entered the building used as a goblin settlement .

…Cough, cough .

The acrid fog inside the abandoned building made Rachel’s throat sting whenever she breathed . Without any other choice, Rachel covered her face with magic power .

Yohei asked as he cut the fog apart with his katana . His archaic manner of speech was a bit annoying, but Rachel was wondering the same thing .

They were in Incheon, even if only its outskirt . With residential districts and shopping districts tightly packed only 2 km away, how could goblins have settled in this building?

“The settlement was reported two weeks ago . By the looks of it, someone’s been doing ‘goblin business’ here . Since the military is concentrated around the coastal area, it must have been easy for the culprit to avoid guilds’ eyes . ”

Im Joongjin murmured with a low sigh . He didn’t seem happy with how things looked .

“…Goblin business?”

“Yeah . Goblins are specialized in crafting . If they’re managed properly, they can be used to obtain all sorts of items and materials . But by the looks of it…”

Im Joongjin pulled his hair back roughly and kicked a human corpse that was lying on the ground . Mushrooms and spores were already growing on the body .

“They must not have thought that goblins could trick them instead . What a bunch of fools . ”

Rachel finally understood what happened .

The human corpses lying inside the building must have belonged to people who reared goblins but ended up being killed by them instead . There were many such instances recorded in Cube’s textbooks . As the saying went, human greed had no bounds .

—Air, here, bad .

At that moment, her elemental whispered . Rachel glanced at her shoulder . A winged, slime-like elemental was coughing .

—I want to leave .

“… . ”

After painstaking effort, Rachel finally learned to talk to elementals . Although she even gave a pretty name like ‘Sunday’ to this cute wind elemental, she had one complaint .

That was that Sunday talked in Korean . It didn’t make much sense to Rachel who was a native-English speaker .

“Hang in there . ”

Rachel spoke in English .

—What, was, that?

However, the elemental couldn’t understand her . Was it because her master, Shin Yeohwa, was Korean?

“…Just hang in there . ”

“According to the local patrol force, there are about 200~300 goblins in this building . ”

Im Joongjin stopped in front of the abandoned building’s entrance and gave a quick briefing . A goblin settlement with a population of 200~300 was similar to the ones that naturally occurred in the wild .

“There are mercenaries waiting outside, but it’ll be troublesome if goblins escape to the city . Like I said before, we’ll split into two teams with Team 1 going right and Team 2 going left . Don’t forget, our priority is to prevent goblins from escaping . ”

Then, the eight members separated into two teams . Rachel and Rose were in Im Joongjin’s Team 1, while Yohei was in vice-leader Jeon Yohwa’s Team 2 .

“In the case of an emergency, send a signal immediately . ”

“Yes, sir . ”

Each team wished each other good luck before splitting .

Rachel headed to the right side of the building with Im Joongjin .

Although the first floor’s goblins were easily taken care of with light attacks, a problem arose as soon as they entered the second floor .

—Krrk .

—Keeek .

As though they were waiting in ambush, dozens of goblins suddenly rushed in and surrounded them .

“Front and flank! I’ll handle the front!”

Along with Im Joongjin’s quick order, a battle began . Im Joongjin took out his greatsword and sent sword waves flying out . Ten or so goblins were instantly cut apart by his attack .

However, the trouble was on the other side, where a group of goblins were using their most threatening weapon, poisonous darts .

“…Sunday . ”

However, Rachel remained calm . No matter how threatening they were, they were only blow darts in Rachel’s mind .

—Un .

Sunday unleashed a blast of wind that changed the course of the darts . As the darts they shot flew back to them, the goblins panicked greatly . Without missing this opening, Rachel stormed forward and cut them down .

“…Right side is done . ”

“Left is done too . Thank you for taking care of the darts . ”

The other apprentice hero, Rose, spoke .

The two girls smiled at each other . Perhaps because they were both from England, they became close friends .

“Good, well done . ”

With Im Joongjin’s praise, their first battle came to an end .

Afterwards, they continued to sweep through the goblins on the second floor’s hallway .

Although the building was full of all sorts of traps, Rachel’s earth elemental, Okja, easily saw through them .

After smoothly clearing the second floor, the group went up the stairs to the third floor .

“…Eh?”

Then suddenly, the ground rumbled . At the same time, Rachel’s earth elemental conveyed its thought to her, that a huge explosion was rising up from the basement .

Rachel could feel it as well .

“Everyone, jump outside!”

Rachel quickly alerted everyone else and ordered her elementals through thought . The numerous elementals under her control flew towards other members and formed barriers .

KWANG—!

Soon, a huge explosion rang out and the concrete floor crumbled down . The entire building was collapsing .

But as expected of Heroes, everyone was quick .

They jumped out of the building before the explosion erupted and safely landed on the ground .

“…Team leader!”

Team 2 seemed to have escaped as well, as the other four members soon appeared .

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yes, all thanks to Yohei’s sixth sense . ”

“Haha, thank you for compli… eh?”

“W-What is that!?”

Destroying the entire building was their plan B . It was also why they weren’t as surprised when the building suddenly collapsed .

However, an incredulous scene was playing from the rubble of the building .

All members of the dispatch team gawked at the building .

“…Well, I’ll be damned . ”

The team leader, Im Joongjin, smirked .

Goblins were climbing out of the rubble . Digging through the solid ground, an army of goblins was rising .

There were too many of them to count .

“Would you look at that, they even have a goblin warrior . ”

—Krrr… .

One particular goblin stood out from the masses . With a vicious club in one hand, it was breathing out puffs of smoke from its nose .

A goblin warrior . Even among the various species of goblins, a goblin warrior was the strongest, boasting an intermediate-rank grade-3 rating . As far as grades went, grade-1 was the strongest with grade-9 being the weakest .

To make matters worse, there wasn’t just one goblin warrior . A total of 15 goblin warriors stood in front of the army, leading smaller groups of goblins as though they were centurions .

Koong, koong, koong .

Their tiny footsteps came together to cause a huge rumbling sound .

“Team leader, it looks like this settlement was made a long time ago . ”

“…I already sent a request for reinforcement . Don’t be afraid and just prevent them from reaching the city . We’ll only have to hold out for 5 minutes, or 10 at most . ”

—Krrrk!

—Kueeeek!

There weren’t just 200~300 goblins . No matter how one looked at it, there had to be thousands . In terms of number, the dispatch mission team was completely dominated .

However, they didn’t give up and got into a formation that was most efficient for taking on many enemies . They stood with a decent distance between them and prevented the goblins from heading to the city .

—Kueeeek!

As expected, goblin warriors led the charge .

An especially strong goblin warrior rushed towards Rachel . It was a troll-sized goblin that was emanating a red aura from its body .

Rachel’s rapier started an exchange with its club .

KWANG!

As soon as they made contact, Rachel was thunderstruck . The difference in power between them was too great .

“Be careful!”

Team leader Im Joongjin shouted before it was too late . He was fighting four goblin warriors by himself .

“The warriors are using drugs!”

The red aura emanating from their bodies was proof of the potions the goblins made .

—Kuoooo!

The goblin warrior fighting Rachel swung its club once again .

“Kuuk!”

In an instant, a weight of several dozen tons pressed down on Rachel through her rapier .

For now, Rachel took a huge leap back .

Close combat didn’t seem like a good idea .

Goblins were null-attribute monsters . She planned to unleash the power of elementals inside her weapon, Galatyn .

…However, she didn’t have time .

The goblins practically threw their bodies at her . Not only goblin warriors, but even tiny goblins jumped on her legs, hindering her from movement . To make matters worse, there were archer goblins shooting poisonous darts from the back .

Even at a glance, Rachel could tell that these goblins were well-organized for battle .

“Huup!”

Rachel unleashed her magic power in all directions, blowing off the goblins sticking to her body .

—Kuoooo!

The goblin warrior didn’t miss this opening and swung its huge club down at her .

Rachel held up Galatyn .

However, the impact she was expecting never arrived .

“…?”

Instead, she could see strange flashes of light from the sky . A blue streak of light struck the goblin warriors’ head .

KOONG!

Instantly, the goblin warrior froze .

It was bleeding from all of its orifices, but it glared at Rachel without dying . Even as its hands trembled, it tried to swing its club down at Rachel .

It didn’t matter who the reinforcement was . Rachel swung Galatyn and beheaded the goblin warrior .

Now that the biggest threat was down, she turned to help others fight .

—Kueek!

—Krrrk!

—Kuoooo!

However, the other goblins fell before they could reach her .

The causes were streaks of light similar to the one that struck the goblin warrior .

Rachel put Galatyn down and fell in a daze .

“…What’s going on?”

Sssss—

From the sky, blue raindrops began to fall .

Thick streaks of light dyed the sky blue as they rained down . Almost like shooting stars, they left behind a trail of light as they struck thousands of goblins .

The goblins’ dull weapons were incapable of blocking the streaks of light .

“Ho?”

“…Wow . ”

Seeing the mysterious reinforcement, all eight members of the dispatch team stopped battling . Almost as if they promised, they all turned around at the same time .

Immediately, they became speechless .

“…Ha . ”

Hundreds of blue streaks of light were falling from the sky . It was as though the stars in the sky were falling down or as though a heavy rain was pouring down .

They only targeted goblins .

None could escape their reach .

“Um, team leader, this is… . ”

“It must be magic . So pretty…”

Unbefitting of the situation, the shooting stars shining down from a lofty height were beautiful and mystical, like they just came out of a fairytale .

“It must be the reinforcement team . Let’s go, we can’t just sit around . Looks like goblin warriors can withstand this attack . We have to deal the finishing blow . ”

Seeing the overwhelming firepower of their reinforcements, the group regained their smiles .

Rachel was the only one with a serious face . She had an idea as to who the reinforcement was .

Feeling a bit of nostalgia, Rachel turned to the direction the shooting stars were coming from .

“…A helicopter?”

…In the distance, a helicopter was flying in the sky .

**

Chuf, chuf, chuf—

The spinning propeller roared, and my clothes fluttered from the sweeping wind .

Sitting on the edge of a helicopter 2000 ft in the air, I aimed my anti-material sniper rifle at the goblin warrior in front of Rachel .

Click .

I immediately pulled the trigger . The recoil pushed my shoulder back, and the fired bullet pierced through the goblin warrior’s head . However, it didn’t die instantly, making Rachel deal the finishing blow .

“Mm, I guess not all goblins are weak . ”

A six-year-old settlement was surely enough to produce some monstrosities .

Still, they were irregulars . A goblin settlement rarely lasted for more than a year before they were destroyed by guilds or other monsters . However, this one managed to grow with the help of humans .

===

[We were rearing goblins and screwed up!]

—I’ve been rearing goblins in an abandoned building in Incheon’s outskirt . I must have been in this line of work for 7 years . At first, I was wary of everyone and cautious about everything, but as I gained more experience, I got more and more careless . I made over a billion won from the business, which only hindered my judgement…

…

…

The damned goblins were too clever . Without any of us noticing, they dug a tunnel underground and expanded their settlement! My employees and I found out about a month ago, but the goblins immediately killed everyone . I was the only one who escaped .

I’m afraid of dying to goblins, but I was even more afraid of being arrested . In the end, I ran away without reporting to the police…

…

…

I am writing this request with what little conscience is left of me .

I am offering 3 million Violet Banquet points .

Please destroy the goblin settlement in Yotongho’s abandoned building .

===

This was the request I recently received .

In truth, this was one of the episodes I quickly glossed over without detail .

“I didn’t expect this… . ”

I changed the Desert Eagle into its assault rifle form . I didn’t feel anything in particular from the goblin army . Looking at the ground with my Thousand-Mile Eyes, I simply pulled the trigger . Hundreds of bullets clearly shot forward in the sunset .

Tudududu—

I could say with utmost certainty that my firing speed exceeded even the standard of superhumans .

===

[Rapid Fire]

*The ability to shoot something quickly .

*Using a portion of Stigma’s magic power, your weapon exceeds its structural and mechanical limits .

===

This was one of the low-rank Gifts I obtained with Master Sharpshooter and Dexterity’s linking . Although it only had the first effect when I got it, I added the second line with quite a bit of SP .

As a result, I could now empty two clips in 1~2 seconds .

“…There . ”

When I snapped out of my daze, the army was cleaned up .

Elapsed time: 4 minutes .

Used magazines: 48 .

I thoroughly slaughtered every goblin, even the ones trying to escape the settlement . Goblin warriors, which were a bit more difficult to kill with the assault rifle, were taken care of by the other Heroes .

“About 1300 bullets . ”

Purely in terms of profit, I didn’t gain anything from this mission . Cost was also the reason that I didn’t use the machine gun form . I used 1320 bullets to kill about 4000 goblins… assuming that each bullet was 100,000 won, that was still 132 million won .

I wouldn’t be surprised if Yoo Yeonha was starting to regret giving me a black card . After all, I was using close to 500 million won per month in just the cost of bullets .

—Oi, Hajin, is this stone tablet the item you wanted?

At that moment, Khalifa’s voice rang out from the transceiver in my ear .

“Stone tablet? Can you video call me?”

Khalifa was helping me today in exchange for expanding his room and setting up a pool table .

—Okay, take a look .

I put the Desert Eagle down and looked at my smartwatch .

“Ah, yes, that must be it . ”

—There are other things too . I’m grabbing whatever I can get my hands on .

“Just make sure you leave some behind . It’ll be weird if there’s nothing in the settlement . ”

—OK .

Immediately afterwards, a Portal appeared behind me . Soon, Khalifa walked out with the stone tablet I asked for, along with a cane, urn, bottles of potions, a magician’s hat, and others .

“So what does this do? I can see what the other items are for, but this is the only one I can’t grasp . ”

Khalifa muttered as he examined the stone tablet .

“You know how goblins like to do ceremonies and rituals? This is a ritual item they created . ”

The goblins in this settlement dreamed of a rebellion . Although they started out by being reared by humans, they secretly dug an underground tunnel and almost achieved an unachievable dream .

This stone tablet contained their grand dream .

That dream should have been… Incheon conquest .

They were too ambitious, and their opponent was none other than the Korean government . They simply stood no chance .

In any case, I was happy since I got to obtain this unique stone tablet .

“I see . ”

Khalifa gave the stone tablet to me without further questions .

“Anyways…”

Then, he stared at me with interest .

“You sure took care of them quickly . I can see why you’re a specialist for mass slaughter . ”

“…You don’t need to praise me . Even without me, those high-intermediate rank Heroes would have been fine . ”

Though, they would have taken more time, with some goblins running off to the city or hiding nearby .

However, I slaughtered them without leaving a single one behind .

That was the one thing I was good at .

“Anyways, don’t forget your promise . ”

“Of course not . ”

“Great . ”

Khalifa smiled and waved his hand before disappearing .

I looked down at the ground once again .

At that moment, my eyes met Rachel’s . No, I was the only one who saw her . Rachel shouldn’t be able to see me from this distance .

Seeing her after such a long time, my heart beat slightly .

“…Haa . ”

A sigh came out .

Was this caused by luck too? Something came up, and I had to bring a helicopter here as well . My original plan was to take care of it quietly with just Khalifa…

“Hmm . ”

Well now that it was over, there was no reason to stay . I should go home and look at the items I obtained .

I sat down on the driver seat of my super helicopter, which had a 43% boost from Random Consolidation System .

For the record, piloting a helicopter was easy .

===

[Horse Saddle] [Antique]

A horse saddle used by a nameless cavalryman 500 years ago .

If you sit on this saddle, you will be able to handle rides better .

===

The saddle I bought in Clancy Islet applied to every rideable object . A helicopter, of course, was one of them .

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