The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 42



Only Noblemtl

Episode 42

42. I will pray for your peace.

The goblins’ response was faster and more active than expected.

“Sir, there are goblins huddled together in front of the road.”

Kang Moo-hyuk went forward to check the nervous hunter’s report.

The goblins were blocking the narrow passage in a square formation.

‘It’s like the military.’

Kang Mu-hyeok looked around.

The right side is high, and the left side is low. The elevation of the terrain to this extent was not a significant limitation considering the physical abilities of the hunters.

Besides, the goblins’ formation was perfect for a bypass and joint attack.

‘This is just too blatant and perfect.’

It’s a trap, so come if you want.

It didn’t seem to matter whether they noticed it or not.

Perhaps the godmother has hidden monsters under her control.

“What should we do? Should we attack?”

As Joo Se Ah took the top hunters, who could be called the leaders of each line, away, the chain of command naturally gathered around Kang Mu Hyuk.

For some reason, each force did not have a second person in charge.

I don’t know if the reason was lust for power or a trust issue, but it wasn’t a bad thing for Kang Moo-hyuk.

“No. I’ll wait until you come first.”

Anyway, the main role of the main unit was to attract attention.

It was enough to buy time until Joo Sea could hit the Goblin Godmother. If the monsters were willing to stay put, that was even better.

‘The variable is the goblin force outside the village. Should we return to the village and strengthen our defense, or should we attack from behind?’

Kang Mu-hyeok seemed to think he would choose the latter.

The godmother must know that this main force is the biggest threat right now.

‘They probably calculated that if they could just buy time, they would be at an advantage. In that case, they might be planning to use some of their forces to eliminate the threat.’

The most efficient method is a surprise attack from the rear to surround the enemy.

There happened to be goblin riders outside the village. That means they have enough mobility.

Wouldn’t they be running behind me like crazy by now?

‘That part was expected, so don’t worry about it. I prepared for it.’

The immediate focus was on the goblin units at the front.

Kang Mu-hyeok picked up his wristwatch and checked the time.

‘It’s about time to start. Since communication is not possible there, the hostage will have to rely on the guild leader’s quick wit. I can only hope that casualties will be minimal.’

Kang Mu-hyeok had no illusions that he would be able to safely rescue all of the people captured by the goblins.

He was more active in saving people than any other hunter, but he was also a person who faced reality more clearly than anyone else.

It was the same when looking at myself.

‘That’s my weakness. Making sacrifices without shedding blood. If the Hunters can understand this point, then moving forward will be easier.’

It is because I always kept the fact that I am a non-hunter inside that I can stand in front of a hunter.

Ironically, his failure to awaken became his weapon in some ways.

Kang Moo-hyuk kept repeating this part over and over again, never taking his eyes off the front.

* * *

Titi tidi dik! Titi tidi dik!

The wristwatch alarm rang. At the same time, Joo Se Ah moved.

“Let’s go.”

After that, we look at the hunters who follow.

The party consisted of five people, including Jang Deuk-gu, who had been together for a long time, Noh Song-rin, who was still cooperating with Kang Mu-hyeok, Do Kyung-hoon, who was still dissatisfied, and Baek Hyeong-gyu, a powerful figure who was maintaining neutrality as a minority within the guild.

All of these people are at least A-rank or higher.

‘Two tanks, two melee attackers, and one ranged attacker. It’s a shame there’s no supporter or magician.’

Jang Deok-gu took a bitter taste in the mouth of the party’s composition.

It was a difficult position to reach the A rank for all non-existent professions, and recruiting them in the current Iron Will Guild was like trying to reach a needle in a haystack.

In particular, the wizard class is a position that has been almost completely annihilated.

Even in large guilds, you might have to bring in promising players with talent and magic-related traits to raise them, and maybe even save one or two.

It would be safe to say that the future of the guild would depend on how many talents they could recruit for these positions.

‘Even if the goblin subjugation ends safely, the road ahead will be difficult.’

I glanced at the back of Joo Se Ah, who was running ahead.

Jang Deok-gu remembered what she had said to him when he was young.

-I’ll catch all the monsters. No one will die.

I thought that he was going through a really rough time.

At the time, I just thought it was presumptuous.

Joo Seah was already looking at the S-rank.

‘But that’s a difficult path even for an S-rank. It might even be impossible.’

The higher your rank, the more dedicated you become to hunting.

Joo Se Ah, who realized that it was difficult to achieve her goal on her own, wanted to borrow the strength of the guild.

But the guild wasn’t the just organization she had thought it was.

An interest group that prioritizes power and wealth.

In it her wind faded.

So I left the guild and decided to create a guild that I could lead.

Joo Se Ah, who knew that even that was not easy, bowed her head to her father whom she hated so much.

It was a guild that was obtained that way,

‘The Taesung Guild itself was a dead end. It was completely blocked off. All around.’

When she realized that, she was isolated.

A situation where it is difficult to advance or retreat.

In an industry structure dominated by politics and vested interests rather than ability and will, Joo Se-ah had no room to breathe.

That’s when Kang Mu-hyuk appeared.

As if I gave her another chance.

Jang Deuk-gu didn’t like Kang Mu-hyeok that much, but he acknowledged that he was a capable team leader.

‘That’s why he must be even more motivated. Captain Kang has laid the groundwork for him to get this far, but if he gets stuck in the place where he needs to work hard, he’ll have to throw away his dreams and everything else.’

Jang Deuk-gu’s thoughts could not continue any longer.

In an instant, Joo Se Ah increased her speed and soared up the mountain ridge.

As it struck the hill overlooking the road, the cliff collapsed with a loud bang.

Soon, goblins emerged from the hole that had been revealed.

Joo Seah blasted the goblins’ heads with flashing knuckles from her left and right fists.

It happened so quickly that no one could interfere. No, there was no need to interfere.

It was also a monster that was infinitely weak compared to the party’s power.

Rather than that… … .

‘What kind of tank is that fast? Even if he’s an S-rank hunter, he’s still like that. Doesn’t that guy’s reaction speed seem faster than mine?’

Even Do Kyung-hoon, a melee dealer whose weapon is agility, is astonished by his speed.

Who would think of Joo Sea as a tank?

The hunting records of the Tier Guild are confidential, so we don’t know all of Joo Seah’s splendid history beyond what the guild has promoted, but this was a move that confirmed that she was an ace hunter even in Slayer.

Unlike Do Kyung-hoon, who was simply shocked, Noh Song-rin was shocked once again.

‘If I had run away instead of accepting the captain’s offer back then… Gulp. I wouldn’t have even been able to pick up the bones.’

I never thought of myself as slow on my feet, but I had no confidence in running away from Joo Se Ah.

She was surprisingly fast for a tank.

Even as each person’s thoughts were playing around separately, Joo Se Ah continued to move towards her next goal without stopping.

I didn’t catch all the goblins hiding along the way. I just dealt with those that were in a troublesome position or showing signs of attack.

Even that was done in the blink of an eye, so I was able to quickly get through the mountain road.

“As expected, the west was unguarded.”

As we reached the mouth of Sanjeong Lake, we saw guard posts here and there.

It was a crude outpost with a goblin tribe’s mark made of haphazardly woven branches on an existing building, but it was quite well-equipped as they were armed with bows and axes.

As the Joo Sea Party appeared, the sounds of gongs and flutes rang out from all directions.

The goblins’ ‘kwak kwak’ cries could be heard, as if an emergency had been declared.

“It’s bigger than I thought.”

Joo Seah looked around at the goblins running towards her with their weapons drawn and then gave an order.

“Hunter Jang Deuk-gu. Make sure to keep the rest of the goblins in check.”

Do Kyung-hoon, who couldn’t stand to hear them say that they would go ahead with the plan even after seeing more goblins than expected, intervened.

“There are a lot of them. I see quite a few high-level evolved species, but if you fight them without any area-of-effect skills, you’ll get exhausted and fall. No matter how A-ranked you are, your stamina and magic power are limited, Gilma.”

“How much do you need?”

Jang Deuk-gu opened his mouth, ignoring Do Kyung-hoon’s opinion.

“You don’t need much. Five minutes. That’s enough time to break the goblin mother’s head.”

“Huh? Isn’t that a padrip?”

Baek Hyeong-gyu, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

For a moment, everyone’s eyes turned to him. Baek Hyeong-gyu, feeling embarrassed for no reason, scratched his head and shut his mouth.

It was a joke that didn’t seem like a joke, but it gave Joo Se Ah a chance to catch her breath.

It wasn’t a forced breakthrough, but it was a breakthrough that required too much force.

As evidence, the breathing of all party members except himself was disturbed.

Although he regained his breathing quickly, he had lost a considerable amount of stamina.

It was overwhelming just to chase after Joo Se Ah, who was so close to S-rank.

Although Joo Se Ah noticed the party members’ condition too late, she did not give up on the plan.

“Then, I ask you to do so.”

Jang Deuk-gu nodded and took out the weapon on his back.

“Please leave it to me.”

* * *

《Humans have taken our treasure. There is no forgiveness.》

The Goblin Matron called together the remaining high-ranking goblins in the village.

The humans’ spirit was quite extraordinary.

A human hunting a Watusi snake came to mind.

If the prediction was correct, the goblin village was now in great danger.

《Get ready.》

As he gave orders in a scraping voice, the goblins brought in the hostages.

People wearing shackles on their hands and feet and dog collars were brought in.

It was a group of Dodaesu and tourists.

The hunters walked out, remaining relatively calm, but the tourists, who were ordinary people, cried and crawled on the floor.

When his legs shook and he could not walk properly, the goblins dragged him out by the rope around his neck like a dog.

“Oh my. I don’t want to die.”

“Please save me. Just save me… … .”

Finally, the hostages were thrown before their godmother.

Dodaesu looked up at the giant goblin standing before him, kneeling on the floor.

‘What the heck is this? I’ve never seen this before. I’ve never seen it in the Pokedex before.’

He was tall, probably at least 3 meters tall, and his size was also large. His puffy cheeks, as if he had filled his mouth with food, reminded him of a pufferfish, and unlike other goblins, he had hair on his head. Judging by his long braided hair and the clothes he wore, he was presumed to be a female.

‘The goblin female is the tallest here? Could she be a warhead?’

Warhead, the chieftain of the goblin tribe.

Since I had never seen it, I could only guess based on information I had heard.

‘No. It’s completely different.’

The gate was an unknown world. The monsters that emerged from it were also unknown. The hunter was the one who fought against such unknown things.

Even hunters feel fear when fighting something they don’t know.

The reason why hunters can enter the gate and hunt monsters is because they have erased the unknown from the unknown being thanks to the information from senior hunters.

If you know, there is nothing to fear.

There’s a reason why the Unknown is the most difficult monster to deal with.

Even if a monster is already terrifying, if there is no known information about it, it approaches as an unknown fear.

Dodaesu trembled with an unknown fear.

《It’s noisy.》

The goblin godmother, unable to bear the cries of the humans, shouted threateningly.

Humans who could not understand Goblin language were startled by the monster’s screams.

The Goblin Godmother frowned and raised her hand in signal.

A nearby goblin soldier grabbed the human man by the head.

“Eww!”

The man’s head was held in his godmother’s hand. He felt sticky fluid in her palm.

“S-save me… Ugh!”

The goblin matriarch took out her dagger and cut the man’s throat as he begged for his life.

Blood gushing out of my throat like in a movie.

The godmother lifted the man up and put her mouth on his neck.

The sight of her sucking her lips on the bleeding wound was so bizarre that it felt unreal.

At this time, even the most courageous hunters could not help but be shaken.

A goblin that drinks blood while soaking its body in blood.

No, can you call that a goblin?

“It wasn’t a goblin, it was a vampire?”

The hostages turned their heads at the unexpected human voice.

A woman holding a goblin with its tongue hanging out in both hands.

The sight of them twisting the necks of the squirming creatures and throwing them left and right was creepy even to a fellow human being.

Do Dae-su realized that she was Joo Se-ah.

Because he is so famous.

Tourists also recognized her and screamed.

“Help me! I’ll give you as much money as you want!”

“Hunter Lord! Uh, my father is in the Blue House! I’ll tell him well. So please… … .”

I can understand why you’re saying that, since it’s your only lifeline.

Do Dae-su was dumbfounded when he saw the customers treating Joo Se-ah as if they were talking to themselves.

‘Do these guys think Joo Se Ah is some kind of hunter next door? Don’t they know that she’s someone that even their own parents can’t treat with contempt?’

The reason the powerful and the wealthy treat hunters well is not because of their social status.

The only thing on their minds is power.

To the common people, he may be a hero, but to those in power, the Hunter was a threat.

Because Hunters are potential terrorists who can commit violence at any time if they are provoked.

History has shown how Third World countries have fallen to hunters.

In that sense, these fools were seriously misreading people.

Of course, Dodaesu, who was familiar with the laws of power that apply in the Hunter World, also had the same misconceptions about the upper-ranked Hunters.

The high-level hunters that Dodaesu saw were not as reckless as he had thought.

No matter what people’s circumstances and thoughts were, Joo Se Ah looked embarrassed.

‘People are being held?’

Something unexpected.

‘Can I save you?’

Defeating the Goblin Mother wasn’t the problem.

Each hostage was being held by a goblin, so if you ignored them and rushed in, it seemed like someone would definitely die.

‘Save just enough to survive.’

It was one of the principles learned in the regular hunter course.

Hunters are called saviors and heroes of humanity by people, but they are not perfect.

If you try to save everyone for no reason, you may end up getting seriously injured or killing everyone.

Selection and focus.

It was a cruel strategy for the humans targeted, but it was also a pain for the hunters.

Joo Seah didn’t hesitate any longer.

A light of mana shimmered from the knuckles of both hands.

She looked at Dodaesu and said.

“There. Don’t worry, I’ll save you.”

“Go, thank you.”

“I might get hurt a little, but I’ll try my best.”

“Yes, please.”

“Well, even if something goes wrong and you die, I’ll pray for your soul to rest in peace.”

“Yes. Don’t worry… Yes? Okay, just wait a minute!”

In an instant, Joo Seah’s new form disappeared.