Gigantic Forest.
The towering trees that seem to stretch into the sky block the sunlight, making the view somewhat dim.
The ground is covered in thick bushes that reach up to the chest, so it’s impossible to tell what might suddenly appear.
I was hunting monsters here.
“Senior Isiah, stop playing around and just kill it already!”
“Meow!”
More precisely, I was here with Park Hayeon and Isiah.
The giant cat was batting the paralyzed rabbit-like monster around as if it were playing with a ball.
The rabbit, covered in blood, rolled around on the ground. It looked as though a cat was toying with a mouse.
“Let’s go a bit deeper now.”
I casually dropped a bait, pretending to have “accidentally” discovered a hidden stage.
“Meow?”
“I told you not to go deeper.”
Isiah bit the rabbit’s neck and turned her bloodied face toward me. Park Hayeon spoke up with a worried tone.
“Don’t worry. I’m here, aren’t I? Honestly, when are we ever going to get stronger by hunting bunnies like these?”
“That does make sense.”
Persuaded by my reasoning, Park Hayeon nodded.
To begin with, it wasn’t fear that led her to make that earlier comment—it was more about questioning why we were doing something the teachers told us not to. Since I didn’t flinch either, she simply gave up.
“Then, let’s go.”
We packed our things and sprinted forward.
Normally, we’d have had to keep pace with the slowest, which would be Isiah, but since she had shifted into her cat form, her agility was now on par with Park Hayeon’s.
So, we moved toward the deeper part of the Gigantic Forest at a decent speed of about 15 km/h. This was possible because all of us were Awakened Ones, and the only baggage we carried were our backpacks and weapons.
“Something’s making me feel a little nauseous.”
Park Hayeon said, sticking out her tongue just slightly.
As we ventured deeper into the verdant forest, an unsettling feeling of unease increased.
I’d felt this before, but there was something strange about this forest. It felt as though I had been left alone on a deserted island, a strange sense of loneliness and disconnection overwhelmed me, leading to a feeling of fear.
“Hmm, it’s creepy.”
I didn’t know if it was related to the hidden stage.
Such descriptions were absent in the original storyline. Still, it was hard to imagine that the monsters from there could be responsible for this.
‘Finally, I’ve found it.’
The faint traces of mana began to emanate from somewhere.
I turned in that direction, certain of the target I was seeking.
“Lady Laura, is there any magic nearby?”
[There are some traces, but I can only sense what comes through your body, so I can’t be sure.]
‘That’s good enough.’
If there was anything, that would do. I knew what it was.
[Still, should we keep developing Alpha and Omega? Isn’t Omega’s skill about moving to a parallel world rather than time travel?]
‘For now, keep developing them. There’s no harm in doing so.’
[Hmm… it’s troublesome…]
This dragon-like laziness…
I need to dangle a carrot in front of her.
‘Oh, and by the way, I might soon get my hands on Dragon Bone. That means we’ll be one step closer to your revival, Lady Laura.’
[Is that true? I’ll look forward to it.]
‘Then, please keep working on Alpha and Omega.’
[Understood.]
While tracking the residual mana, I soon discovered the source of the flowing power.
This place was still the familiar scene of the Gigantic Forest, with its jagged trees and lush underbrush.
But there was definitely something unseen here.
“Why have you stopped? Do you sense something?”
As I halted, Park Hayeon hesitantly questioned me.
I nodded, raising my spear.
Although I didn’t intend to do anything immediately, I merely wanted to prod it a little.
On the dirt ground, devoid of trees or shrubs, a powerful mana could be felt.
I jabbed that spot with my spear.
Thud.
There was nothing visible, but a sensation—a pretty hard one—told me something was there.
The eerie feeling grew stronger.
Soon, scratch-like cracks began appearing in the world, revealing a Gigantic Forest darkened with ominous tones.
The atmosphere was unnerving.
“What, what is this?”
“Kyaaa!”
Park Hayeon and Isiah both grew highly vigilant.
The cracks grew larger, causing the forest’s surroundings to progressively darken.
I retracted my spear, and without warning, the forest returned to its peaceful state as if nothing had happened just moments ago.
“Was that just me, or did something happen?”
Park Hayeon asked, visibly startled.
“No. Looks like this area isn’t just a simple field dungeon. There’s definitely something here. Perhaps a dungeon within a dungeon.”
“Should we inform the teacher then?”
That presented a problem.
While our current group is vastly insufficient to handle what we might encounter, I’m planning to recruit more participants but still need to retain control of the raid if a teacher were around.
“Nope. Let’s gather a few more and handle the scouting ourselves. What could go wrong? By the way, I’m actually already at A-rank in strength and stamina.”
A rank higher than most teachers—excluding Son Si-yeol and a few others, most of the Academy instructors were B-rank level.
At the A-rank, one could easily earn higher pay for work anywhere; hence, it made little sense to accept a pittance to babysit.
“Alright, I get it.”
With that decision, we began making our way back to the base camp.
Tick—
At that moment, something hit my armor.
“Huh?”
The sound of the impact caught Park Hyun’s attention, and
“Ambush!”
I shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.
It matched exactly with the storyline from the original work.
‘Mess with the barriers, then get ambushed.’
I shielded Park Hayeon with my arms to bear any attack in her place.
The poisonous needles fell harmlessly after being blocked by my armor.
“Keh-leek.”
The attackers turned out to be a Goblino scouting party, a squad of about twenty creatures composed of Warrior Goblins wielding clubs and Stone-throwing Goblins.
The Goblins are D-rank monsters, individually weak but strong in groups due to their social nature—they form packs and know how to wield weapons. Furthermore, with Hop Goblins, their ranks can diversify into specialized units like archers, wizards, and cavalry.
“Let’s stick to the formation we discussed earlier!”
The Goblin group’s tactics are straightforward.
They hide somewhere, ambush with poison needles, and follow up with attacks by clubs and stones.
The needle attack having ended, now, we were moving to close combat.
“Okay!”
“Meow.”
I pushed off the ground, narrowing the gap between myself and the Stone-throwing Goblins.
“Keh-leek. Keh-leek.”
“Keh-leek.”
Each swing of my spear sent goblin heads flying into the air, leaving the stone-throwers paralyzed with fear. They couldn’t put up proper resistance and were quickly cut down.
“Keh-leek!”
“Keh-leek.”
Split into two groups responding to the requests from the stone-throwers, the club-wielding warriors scattered the formation we had established around Park Hayeon. They lacked a proper commander, it seemed.
“It’s too late. The ranged attackers are already dead.”
Indeed, none of the stone-throwing Goblins survived. The eight or so that were around had all fallen, their heads severed and bodies lying on the ground.
“Keh-leek! Keh-leek.”
The Warrior Goblins charged at me, swinging their clubs, but the sheer disparity in abilities made them move in slow motion to my eyes. I dodged easily while swinging my spear.
Upward from below, left to right.
They were mere moving targets for me to practice the spear techniques I’d learned from ‘Weapon Master.’
“I’ll help!”
Isiah and Park Hayeon joined in, surrounding the Goblins facing me. Despite having more numbers, the Warrior Goblins were confused and panicked from the start of the battle, eventually being surrounded by our smaller group.
“Keh-leek.”
“Keh-leek?”
The Goblins were now searching for an escape rout, their heads turning in all directions while maintaining their backs against each other to watch our every move. I circled them and picked off any that tried to bolt.
The warriors, having lost their fighting spirit, were thus cornered and slaughtered one by one.
“Phew, nice job everyone. Hyun did a great job pushing them in, and Senior Isiah was a solid tank.”
I gave some light compliments, then proceeded to rummage through the goblin corpses to farm items.
“No, you did everything.”
“Meow meow.”
Park Hyun gave me all the credit, and the giant cat nodded in agreement.
“Let’s farm together.”
They also joined in the loot gathering.
Soon, our farming was complete.
The spoils included 19 Orbs of Growth, 2 Horn Whistles, and 12 clubs. We didn’t count the rocks as loot.
“These Horn Whistles are likely used to call reinforcements! We were really lucky.”
Park Hyun carefully examined the horn whistle near her eyes as she spoke.
“Exactly. Lucky indeed. Even weak creatures can become dangerous when their numbers stack up.”
She was right. The Stone-throwing Goblins sometimes use their horn whistles to request aid. I knew this, so I always targeted those with horns first, regardless of their strength.
“The Orbs of Growth are split three ways between you, Hyun, and Senior Isiah, and we’ll sell the horn whistles.”
Isiah began eating the Orbs of Growth like a cat with treats, but I had already told her there were other ways for her to grow besides consuming these orbs.
“Yeah, but don’t you need any?”
Park Hyun raised a small concern.
“I’m fine. I consume a lot elsewhere. You know, I go dungeon diving every night for training.”
“Ah, so that’s why you’re so experienced. Can you take me next time?”
“The gate is managed by Laura’s dad’s company, so bringing extra people might be a bit tricky. Sorry.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing to be done, huh!”
She nodded in agreement. Park Hyun disliked being a burden to others, so she wouldn’t make such a request.
“Let’s head back for now. We’ll leave the clubs behind.”
“Yeah!”
“Meow.”
We returned to base camp. No one mentioned the Goblins.
We claimed to have coincidentally stumbled upon the horn whistles.
