episode_0010

After passing through the red portal, a floating sensation brushed against my body.

Thud.

I landed on the ground and looked around.

The darkness remained.

A narrow cave.

It was the same as the first floor.

“Heave-ho!”

A red light flashed, and Kaal landed on the ground. He still held his sword. Soon, the rest of the group appeared.

Kaal grinned.

“Let’s go, we have a long way to go.”

The formation changed slightly. It seemed Jung Yu-shin was leading the way, but Kaal was right behind him.

“This time, we’re lucky. We teleported to the central area.”

Dean said in a bright voice as he examined the map.

“Let’s finish this quickly. I really can’t even wash or sleep properly. Ugh.”

Marie grumbled.

“We only have a little further to go, let’s all cheer up.”

Kaal consoled Marie.

“Keh heh heh.”

“Kee hee hee.”

A chilling sound came from ahead. It wasn’t clearly visible.

“Enemies!”

Whether we wanted to or not, we had decided to go together, so we decided to do our best.

Jung Yu-shin immediately raised his shield and shouted.

Whoosh!!

It wasn’t an arrow.

A javelin.

I couldn’t avoid it. If I did, the person behind me would get hurt.

I put strength in my feet and gripped the shield handle with all my might.

Bang!

The strong impact staggered me backward.

Fortunately, the shield was intact. But the strong impact caused me to drop the torch in my hand.

At that moment, Kaal darted out. He was holding the torch Jung Yu-shin had dropped in one hand.

“Marie!”

[Light]

The cave brightened.

Three hobgoblins were turning their backs and running away.

“As expected, they run away when there are few of them!”

Kaal shouted and quickly caught up, slashing the hobgoblin’s back.

“Kieeeeeeek!!”

The goblin fell, making a sorrowful sound.

“I’m chasing them!”

Kaal shouted and ran after the goblins.

“Kaal!”

Ann cried urgently, but it seemed Kaal didn’t hear her as he was focused on chasing the goblins.

There was no time to recover my tingling palms. Jung Yu-shin hurriedly chased after Kaal.

I saw Kaal going out of the range of the Light magic. It was a place where the passage turned to the right, so Kaal’s figure completely disappeared, and only the flickering light of the torch was visible.

And.

“Kuaaaaaaack!!”

Kaal’s scream filled the cave.

“Shit.”

I ran with all my might and entered the passage that turned to the right.

Around there, Kaal was wildly swinging his sword, fighting five hobgoblins. He was limping on one leg.

‘A trap!’

Kaal swung his sword like an enraged beast, but the goblins only made bizarre laughing sounds and slightly extended their daggers and spears without rushing in.

It was an intention to sap the strength of the wounded beast.

The basics of hunting beasts.

The torch had fallen to the ground.

Kaal’s shadow, reflected on the cave wall, swayed back and forth. As if dancing, the shadows of the goblins also swayed in accordance.

Jung Yu-shin kicked off the ground and ran forward.

But it was already too late.

Thwack.

The hobgoblin’s spear pierced Kaal’s abdomen.

“Keuh!”

Kaal gasped for air. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it was enough to make his body stiffen for a moment.

Another goblin rushed in and swung a wooden club.

Bang!

Blood splattered from Kaal’s head. His body staggered as if about to fall.

Smack!

Bang!

Each time the club struck, Kaal’s head caved in and became dented.

The boy full of spirit was gone.

Only prey with its face caved in and its eyes bulging out as if about to pop was trembling and waiting for death.

It happened in an instant.

So fast that Jung Yu-shin couldn’t do anything about it.

Still, I ran.

I plunged my sword into the neck of the goblin trying to cut off Kaal’s breath.

“Kuek!”

With a short scream, the goblin grabbed its neck and fell.

Two goblins clung to Jung Yu-shin’s shield.

It was so heavy that I couldn’t move the shield.

I was flustered by the first-time strategy and lost focus.

“Shit.”

Only then did I see it.

The goblin jumping over the shield was swinging a club at my head.

Clang!

The club was blocked by my iron helmet.

My vision shook from the impact that rang through my head.

The sword, extended instinctively, was piercing the belly of the goblin holding the club.

Did it go in too deep?

The sword wouldn’t come out.

I let go of the shield. Two goblins tumbled to the ground.

A spear thrusting in.

I had neither a shield nor a sword.

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath and grabbed the spear in time.

“Kieeek?”

When I pulled the spear sharply, the goblin came along. I punched the goblin in the jaw.

Bang!

A clean straight.

The goblin couldn’t even scream and fainted. I took the spear and stepped on the neck of the unconscious goblin.

Crack.

A worker with steel-reinforced soles crushed the goblin’s neck bones.

I threw the spear. Eliminating one goblin that was rolling around.

One last goblin remained.

Right then.

“Kyaaaaaaack!”

Marie’s scream came from behind.

“Marie! No! Dean, come back!!”

Ann’s urgent shout followed.

What on earth is happening?

“Kee hee hee hee.”

The last goblin in front of Jung Yu-shin was smiling ominously.

Whoosh!

Swish!

An arrow flew from the darkness. I moved my body to avoid it, but it hit my shoulder and thigh.

“You son of a bitch!”

My body stiffened from the burning pain.

There were more of them. The goblins had come, hearing the sounds.

Marie’s screams and Ann’s shouts from behind.

In front, the goblins who had been reinforced were laughing.

A crisis that came in a single moment.

My mind became faint, but my body desperately moved for survival.

I grabbed the collar of the rushing goblin and blocked the flying arrow.

Thud!

Thwack!

The arrow was embedded in the goblin’s body.

I couldn’t block them all.

I was hit in the arm, but I blocked the vital points.

I wouldn’t die. My cerebral blood flow was spinning madly from the hot sensation.

I threw the arrow-stricken goblin to one side.

Limping, I ran to pick up the shield and shook the sword to pull it out of the goblin’s abdomen.

I retreated.

I had to check what happened in the rear.

I blocked the flying arrows with my shield and went back out of the twisted passage.

The tragic sight just before the Light went out.

Marie, with her clothes torn here and there, was being dragged into the darkness far away, her hair grabbed by a goblin.

Dean was nowhere to be seen.

Ann was being trampled by the goblins, struggling and wailing.

“Don’t! I said don’t!!”

The goblins seemed to be enjoying the female’s desperate screams, laughing and enjoying themselves.

So.

They didn’t see Jung Yu-shin approaching cautiously.

The sword pierced the goblin’s nape and popped out.

“Guek?!”

One of the three hobgoblins riding on Ann fell.

“Kiek!”

The goblins were flustered.

I retrieved the sword and slashed the uvula of another one, and bashed the neck of the remaining one with the shield.

Crack.

The goblin, with its neck bent at a bizarre angle, fell.

“Heeuk! Ah euuk.”

The last one fell, but Ann was in a panic and continued to flail.

The Light disappeared, and darkness filled the cave.

It was an urgent situation. I didn’t know when the goblins would attack. Especially the passage where Kaal had been was uneasy.

Jung Yu-shin lit the fire first. The last remaining torch narrowly illuminated the cave.

“Ann, snap out of it.”

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her a few times, but she didn’t come to her senses. I slapped her hard on the cheek, and only then did the light return to Ann’s eyes. I don’t know if she was in her right mind.

“Marie! We have to save Marie! And what about Kaal?! What about Dean?!”

“Kaal’s head was crushed, and I don’t know about Dean. Marie was grabbed by the hair and dragged away.”

“We have to save her!”

Ann tried to get up but clutched her abdomen and sat down. Dark red blood was flowing out, as if she had been stabbed several times with a poisoned dagger.

Jung Yu-shin took out two bottles of antidote from his bag. I learned in class that goblins use poison. I prepared it just in case, and whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the situation came where I had to use it.

“At least not now.”

I said, handing over the antidote. We have to leave right away. We stayed too long, and I didn’t know when the goblins would reappear.

We need to go to a safe place first. I had to pull out the arrows and take the antidote. The wounds where the arrows hit were turning black.

“Don’t talk nonsense! We have to save her! Please! Help me.”

Ann knelt down as if begging.

I understand.

They were said to be from the same village, so they must have lived together for a long time.

Their friendship must have been deeper than time.

As Kaal said, they overcame any difficulties by working together, so they must have believed that they could also explore the labyrinth.

With that belief, they made a bold choice, but luck wasn’t as good as before.

I understand.

“Okay. Let’s go to a safe place first and get treatment. Then we’ll look for them.”

It’s a lie.

I have no intention of finding them at all.

Ann is a bait role.

When the hobgoblins attack in a number that I can’t handle, Ann will become an excellent bait and buy me time to escape.

“We… We have to go now.”

“You’ll die first? Even if we can find them, you’re not in a state to fight. You’re not going to leave it all to me, are you?”

Ann bit her lip.

“Okay.”

Jung Yu-shin supported Ann and moved her feet.

Strangely, the goblins didn’t chase after us.

If I were a goblin, wouldn’t I chase after prey that had been hit by three arrows?

Were they scared?

In case of a possible chase, I collected the remaining torches and lit them, throwing them into two or three-way intersections.

It was a temporary measure that reversed the hobgoblin’s characteristic of attacking upon seeing light.

And.

I feel like I’m going to die.

There was a limit to moving while enduring the weight of a woman who couldn’t walk properly with arrows in her body.

I don’t even know where I’m going.

Dean had the map.

“Gek.”

Ann vomited black blood.

‘I can’t go any further.’

I couldn’t find a shelter, let alone a similar place. Still, I got some distance from the attack site, and there were no signs of pursuit.

I leaned Ann against one side of the cave and gave her the antidote.

I lifted her clothes and saw that her stomach was full of holes. I poured some wine on it to disinfect it and applied the antidote.

Jung Yu-shin took out a small glass bottle from his bag.

Low-grade recovery potion.

Red liquid sloshed in a glass bottle the size of a YakuXlt.

One bottle of this is worth three silver coins.

‘Should I just leave her?’

For a moment, my heart wavered.

‘Let’s pour a little. Just enough to be able to walk. I have to buy time to escape.’

I dropped it one drop at a time into the holes in her stomach.

Smoke rose from the flesh, and the wound healed a little.

Finally, I wrapped a bandage around it.

“Ugh!”

Ann groaned and twisted her body.

Now it’s my turn.

I took a sip of wine.

I grabbed the arrow shaft with trembling hands and broke it.

Now all that’s left is to take out the arrowhead buried in the flesh.

There was no need to worry about excessive bleeding.

Because there’s a recovery potion.

I rummaged through the flesh here and there with a dagger.

“Eugeugeugeuk!! You son of a bitch!”

Jung Yu-shin couldn’t bear the tremendous pain and glared at Ann.

The burning pain fanned the flames of anger.

Guan Yu was playing Go while getting surgery after being shot with an arrow, but I felt like I had to curse to endure it.

“Damn it! I knew it from the moment those pathetic country bumpkins were bragging about their good luck. Do you know how Kaal died? He was stabbed in the gut with a spear and his head was crushed by a club. He died with his eyes popping out. I told you not to go. Why are you stubbornly dragging people to hell?!”

I pulled out the arrowhead that had dug into my arm. Blood gushed out like a fountain. I sprinkled antidote and recovery potion on it.

‘When did I get a tetanus shot? Did I get it at the army training camp?’

I grabbed my hazy mind and spat out all sorts of swear words, pulling out the remaining arrowheads as well.

After finishing the first aid, I looked at Ann.

Tears were flowing from her blurry eyes.

Jung Yu-shin got up from his seat.

“Can you walk on your own?”

“Yes.”

Ann clutched her stomach and got up from her seat.

“Let’s go.”

Jung Yu-shin didn’t wait for an answer and turned his body and walked.

The sound of staggering footsteps was heard from behind.

‘I must survive. From this goddamn labyrinth.’

I gritted my teeth and raised the torch.