The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 43



Only Noblemtl

Episode 43

43. You can’t see that?

The hostages did not see Joo Se Ah’s movements, which moved like a gust of wind. The same was true for Hunter, who was captured with her.

The goblins also lost sight of her.

That doesn’t mean everyone didn’t see Joo Se Ah.

The hobgoblin’s gleaming white eyes saw through her.

A rare goblin said to be born with magical powers in its body.

In reality, it was a mutant like an albino, but it was clearly a monster outside the mold of a goblin.

Three hobgoblins cast spells in line with Jusea’s path. Giant rock hands rise from the ground and grab Jusea.

Joo Sea wasn’t surprised by the suddenly protruding wall and just bumped into it.

The hobgoblin smiled in satisfaction at the human’s trickery, but was speechless at what happened next.

The rock hand shattered like a cracker in front of humans.

The hobgoblins quickly made stone spears and tried to skewer them, but their attack was futile.

“Wizard Killer.”

A nickname that makes her one of the most special among the world’s best tankers.

It was an earth attribute magic that exerted physical force, but even this was Joo Se Ah who boasted the strongest defensive power.

《Kkiek… … !》

Joo Sea, who quickly closed the distance by smashing the flying stones with her fists, smashed the hobgoblin’s head. She didn’t even give him a chance to scream.

The two remaining hobgoblins on her left and right reached out to cast their spells desperately, but she grabbed their wrists and twisted them, causing them to clash against each other like cymbals.

The hobgoblin fell limply with his head exploding and his nose broken. As he dropped his body on the ground, he was attacked by arrows from goblin snipers.

【Iron Body】

Joo Sea strengthened her body with mana to block the arrows. She crossed her arms in an X shape to block the vulnerable part of her face.

Although it is a basic skill, it becomes an invincible barrier when combined with Joo Sea’s characteristics.

Every time an arrow struck her body, there was a tin-can-like thud. She peered at the hostages through the slit in her wrist.

Fortunately, despite her attacks, the godmother did not kill the hostages. Instead, she moved them to the rear as if she did not want them to be taken away.

‘Good. At this point, I guess I won’t touch you until you’re right before you’re cornered. As expected of a goblin, you’re smart, so you won’t kill a hostage so easily.’

Jusea scanned the route to the Goblin Godmother. Between her and the Godmother, four large goblins with feathered bands on their heads stood guard.

‘A tribe with four goblin chieftains. And they’re not the final bosses, but mid-bosses. Why haven’t I discovered them before?’

The Goblin Chieftain Net is a large tribe of four advanced goblin tribes.

Among these, the chieftain Warhead is born.

However, the goblins of Bukpocheon were a tribe that gave birth to the Great Mother, a higher-level evolved species than the Warhead.

Don’t these great tribes come down to Nampocheon?

It was strange. Bukpocheon was a narrow area, so quantitative growth was limited. It was replaced by qualitative growth, but the tribal monsters are a race that instinctively prioritizes reproduction. Even with a great mother, it was far from the monsters’ impetuous nature to quietly wait for the right time.

Moreover, the problem was not simply that they did not expand their influence to Nampocheon. What was even stranger was that they did not even catch the eye of the freelance hunters who frequented Bukpocheon.

‘Could this also be due to the influence of the godmother?’

Joo Seah decided to give it her all, thinking that her godmother might be a more cunning monster than she thought.

She jumped into the middle of four goblin chieftains.

Among the large creatures that were hardly recognizable as goblins, Jusea looked so delicate and fragile.

The axe and spear in Chiefton’s hands struck her. Jusea took them with her bare body as if there was no need to dodge. Unlike other goblins, her body shook back and forth as she was struck by a strong force.

A pair of dark armor appeared through the gaps in the rag-like guild jacket.

Custom armor made to fit your body perfectly.

It didn’t make much noise even when struck with a weapon, as if it was made of leather. It was as tough as any metal armor, so it was difficult to even scratch it.

As soon as Joo Se Ah put strength into her entire body, the armor tightened as if it were a muscle.

Kang! Kagang! Kang!

A different sound from before startled the chieftains.

Joo Sea took advantage of the gap and broke Chieftain’s hand holding the axe, taking the weapon away.

Then he threw the axe straight at the godmother.

puck!

“Tch!”

The axe, aimed for the head, sank into the shoulder, missing its aim because one of the chieftains was hanging on by his ankle.

It happened in an instant, so the godmother realized belatedly that she had been attacked. Then she screamed as if she was going to be torn apart.

Starting with that scream, the goblins rushed at Jusea without regard for direction.

She mechanically stretched out her arms and legs toward the goblins that clung to her like a swarm of ants.

Eliminate monsters one by one in each room.

As the goblin corpses piled up, there was less room to move. The goblins piled up one on top of the other, burying her like a sandstorm.

Even as the mound of blood rose, the goblins continued to climb.

but.

《Can’t stop it.》

The Great Mother thought that the goblins’ sacrificial attacks were useless. Even if she mobilized all the monsters she had at her command, she would only waste time and the result would not change much.

Even if I ran away, there was nowhere to go. This was the world of those humans. Once I got out of the gate, I couldn’t survive without becoming stronger.

The godmother looked back at the hostages, her mind wandering and groaning in pain.

It didn’t seem like the other person would listen to me obediently just because I threatened them with those things.

《There is only one way.》

The godmother decided to take a last resort.

He looked over the hostages. Then he chose one of the hunters and stabbed him in the chest with a dagger.

The hunter died without being able to dodge the completely unexpected blow.

《Sacrifice.》

The godmother lifted the dead hunter over her head and scooped up his blood.

“Ugh… … .”

“Jung-gu!”

The screams and cries, tears and groans of the people added appropriate excitement to the ceremony.

A trickle of blood flowed from the godmother’s head to her face, neck, and chest, soaking her entire body.

《The unclean. The evil. The pure. Different faces. Unable to meet.》

The godmother recited the spell. It sounded more like the growling of an animal than a language, but it was a voice that was clearly filled with magic.

Phew!

At that moment, the hill where the goblins had piled up collapsed along with the shockwave.

Joo Sea, who happened to be outside digging through the goblin tombs, witnessed the scene of the godmother performing the ritual.

A monster soaked in human blood.

A familiar, yet unfamiliar sight.

For a moment, memories from the past flashed through my mind. My mother. My friends. My grandfather, the neighbor. Death was still unfamiliar.

Sparks flew into Joo Sea’s eyes.

“This goblin cub!”

Joo Sea came out holding onto the Goblin Chieftain who was hanging on with his arms and legs still hanging on. He was already out of breath, but he held on with the determination to protect his godmother.

She rushed forward, forcibly tearing Chieftain’s hand away.

《Something without a name.》

Joo Se Ah, who arrived in front of her godmother in an instant, extended her fist toward her godmother’s heart. The fist pierced her chest and came out toward her back.

The godmother muttered as if she was breathing her last.

《Here. Reveal. Existence.》

A black current of air burst out from the Goblin Godmother’s pierced heart.

* * *

At some point, the goblins started going crazy and freaking out.

The goblins, who had been acting leisurely as if there was nothing urgent, suddenly screamed and attacked the hunters.

‘I guess something happened to your godmother.’

What comes to mind right away is Joo Se Ah’s performance.

Kang Moo-hyuk thought that she had put his godmother’s safety in danger.

Otherwise, those guys who had to buy time until the goblin unit that went outside returned would not have rushed to their deaths like that.

“Sir, please step back.”

Strategy Team Leader Jo Chung-hyun stepped forward. Jo Chung-hyun was supposed to be in charge of the attack team order.

Kang Mu-hyeok moved to the rear. Pyo Beom-hee followed him and fell behind.

“Each party tank forward!”

As Jo Chung-hyun shouted, hunters wearing heavy armor came out with shields. Following the signal agreed upon in advance, long-range dealers who were going to draw their bows went up the hill to the right and secured their positions. Some goblins who were targeting the ‘long-range dealers’ also climbed up the hill. In response, melee dealers armed with light armor took the lead and blocked them with auxiliary tanks.

The Iron Will members were nervous.

I’ve experienced joint operations by three or four parties a few times, but this was the first time I’d seen a raid with 100 hunters all gathered together.

It is not a raid to catch a large boss monster, but a war raid where large forces clash.

Even the large guilds known as Tier Guilds only experienced a handful of these war raids. Even then, outside of the Great War, there were only a handful of cases, so it was hard to find anyone with experience, except for some old-generation hunters.

Amidst the fierce battle for position between the hunter and the monster, a deep voice was heard from Kang Moo-hyuk’s right earset.

-Captain. As expected, the Goblin Riders are coming.

He wore two earsets with different channels in each ear at the same time. The left one was for direct communication with the raid party, while the other was connected to a single hunter guarding the rear.

Kang Moo-hyuk answered, putting his hand on his right ear.

“Team Leader Yeom. Can you stop it?”

The voice’s owner was Yeom Soo-hyung, a former Titan hunter who was scouted to the support team.

It was one of the two cards that Kang Mu-hyeok had prepared, excluding Leopom-hee.

-Isn’t that why you brought me here? It’s a bit different from what we promised, so it’s difficult.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t bring you here to fight.”

-I’m not in a position to argue, so I’ll make an exception this time. But I hope I don’t go hunting in the future.

“I will take note of it.”

-I’ll definitely stop it. You take care of the rest.

Pyo Beom-hee, who was listening to the radio transmission with Yeom Soo-hyung, tapped the scabbard on his waist and spoke.

“What? An attack? Is it time for me to step forward?”

“No. You can leave the rest to the person who comes later.”

“Then why did you keep me here as an escort?”

“Team Leader Pyo has no talent for guarding anything. Even on Titan, he was an attack tool, so he was useless outside of the gates where there were a lot of defensive battles. There were even times when his tactical evaluation outside of the gates hit rock bottom.”

“If you become a hunter like that, you’ll already be an S-rank captain.”

“It is not Team Leader Pyo’s role to protect.”

“But why me? Why me?”

“Just in case. It’s insurance in case the operation goes awry, even in the unlikely event that one in ten thousand chance occurs.”

“What’s the point of having insurance when catching goblins? Chief Kang is too much of a worrier. It’s good that he’s being brave, but if I live like Chief Kang, I’ll have a nervous breakdown.”

Even though Pyo Beom-hee shook her head and joked, Kang Mu-hyeok didn’t relax. Seeing his worried expression, Pyo Beom-hee wiped her smile and asked.

“Is it because of the goblin godmother?”

“yes.”

“Hey, don’t worry. It’s Joo Se Ah. The indomitable witch. A walking disaster. She’s a witch and a disaster to monsters. And her godmother is a sorcerer type, right? She’s the one who applies all kinds of resistance attributes like a paste. A magician killer. A godmother like that would be nothing.”

“Common sense would suggest so. The perfect counter to the wizard type. Jusea Hunter… But there’s something that keeps getting in the way.”

“What’s the problem?”

“The Goblin Godmother who first appeared in the Amazon. It was clear that the result was the annihilation of the A-class guild, but there were many parts of the process that were questionable.”

“Wasn’t it because there were that many goblins?”

“I judged it that way, and Guild Leader Ju Se-ah also had the same opinion after seeing the data.”

“however?”

“It’s a shame that the Brazilian guild was clearly winning until the first half of the raid. The second half was a waste of time, so the record is poor.”

Kang Moo-hyuk planned this operation with only insufficient data. He filled in the missing parts with experience and imagination. Of course, it was possible because of the cheat key called Joo Se-ah. But what was left in the latter half?

Something invisible, as if shrouded in fog, was touching Kang Mu-hyeok’s sixth sense.

“Even so, it’s just a goblin. I know it’s a gate that catches people, but a goblin wouldn’t catch an S-class… What the? Where are you looking?

Pyo Beom-hee felt something strange from Kang Mu-hyeok, who was looking somewhere else instead of talking.

She turned her head in the direction Kang Mu-hyeok was looking.

The clear sky welcomed us, a contrast to the desolate place where war against monsters was taking place.

“What? Surprise people. There’s nothing.”

Pyo Beom-hee felt a strange gaze from Kang Mu-hyeok.

“Nothing? Can’t you see it?”

“I have 2.5 vision in both eyes. What on earth am I supposed to see?”

Kang Mu-hyeok took his eyes off Pyo Beom-hee and looked up at the sky in the distance.

It was clearly in the direction of Sanjeong Lake.

‘You can’t see that?’

In his eyes was a black aura rising ominously into the sky.