The boss goblin's room was filled with creepy atmosphere.
The half rotten human corpses and a mountain of skulls were placed in disarray in front of the entrance as if they are for the purpose of decoration
It was such a cruel sight that ordinary people would have turned their heads away.
However, for Vulcan, whom have had seen it 20 times over, it was no longer evoking anything out of him.
'I get rid of those corpses every time because they smell bad, but they are always here when I come. Do these things also regenerate along with the monsters?'
Vulcan thought about such trivial matters as he kicked open the boss goblin room's door.
KUANG!
KIRURUK? KIRUK!
Vulcan could see the same ones that he was growing tired of seeing for almost a week.
The boss goblin sat at the throne made of a gigantic monster's bones, and there were five other goblins in front of him, each wielding various weapons.
[Devil Goblin Puhuturu]
[200Lv]
*The strongest goblin that rules over the goblin dungeon. He prides himself for surpassing the goblin race.
[Goblin Royal Guard]
[160Lv]
*Elite goblin that guards the devil goblin. Stronger and more violent than an ordinary goblin.
The goblin royal guards just stared at Vulcan for a while, looking confused about the situation, but then they started making fearsome sounds. Their muscles became tight and tense as if they were ready to charge at Vulcan at any moment.
Of course, Vulcan wasn't going to just sit and let the goblins have the first attack.
"Fire Wall."
KIRUK? KIRURURUK!
A wall of fire suddenly appeared and surrounded the goblins in a circle.
Flame reaching almost to the cave's ceiling was closing in on the goblins, blocking their sight. Suffocating heat choked and pressured in the goblins inside the Fire Wall.
Even if Vulcan left things be, the goblins would have suffered substantial damages while trying to escape the flame, but Vulcan wasn't intending to stop here.
"Fire Shower."
A square shaped door burning red with flames appeared above the goblins and poured down rain of fire.
KIRUK KIRIK!
KUK.
[Experience points increased.]
[Experience points increased.]
[Experience points increased.]
The sounds of experience points rising were like music to Vulcan's ears.
However, the battle was not over yet.
KUHURRRNG!
With an incredible roar, loud enough to shake the flames of the Fire Wall, the devil goblin Puhuturu revealed himself from the flames.
Puhuturu's entire body was already burned all over from the Fire Shower. His facial expression, filled with pain and rage, told Vulcan just how much damage he had taken.
Puhuturu looked completely different, about as different as night and day, from just a moment ago when he was leisurely sitting in his throne.
However, the fearsome and violent fighting spirit exuding from his body was still the same.
The way Puhuturu looked right now clearly explained why he was called the devil goblin.
With his left hand, Puhuturu dusted off the fire on his cloth and took out a battle-axe. Its murderously blue edge was layered over with bloodstain-colored energy blade.
This was no surprise considering all the monsters that Vulcan encountered in Asgard up to this point.
However, Vulcan knew what would happen if he allowed more time for Puhuturu.
'No matter how I think about it, this is just too much.'
Vulcan thought about how it went when he hunted the devil goblin for the first time.
Even then, the devil goblin was no match for Vulcan. Back then, after single handedly defeating the royal guards, Vulcan decided to just lay back and observe the combat abilities the first boss monster in Asgard he ever encountered had to offer.
Puhuturu completely neglected defense and focused on energy blade technique, and then the unimaginable happened.
Even Vulcan, who thought he saw and experienced everything, was caught off guard by its destructive power.
'He compressed the energy blade once more...'
It was a highly concentrated energy blade that was produced by the compression of a high concentration energy blade once more. Vulcan never thought a mere goblin would be capable of such an incredible technique.
'This is really a crazy world.'
Of course, Vulcan was not going to just sit and watch Puhuturu complete the technique, regardless of how amusing it was to watch. It appeared that Puhuturu did not perfect the technique yet to the level of it being combat ready, and he was taking a very long time.
Vulcan readied his new 150 level blade and swiftly charged toward Puhuturu. The distance between the two narrowed, and Vulcan could see Puhuturu's eyes begging for more time.
"Thunder God's Strike."
[Experience points increased.]
[Level Up!]
This was the 20th time Vulcan sliced the devil goblin in half.
Vulcan yawned and stretched as he exited the dungeon, but his relaxed attitude turned sore when he ran in to the faces he was sick of seeing for past five days at the dungeon entrance.
Of them all, the one Vulcan was most sick of seeing was approaching him with a shabby smile.
"Haha, you are getting faster and faster at making rounds through the dungeon!"
"You are truly incredible! I have never seen any player that can grow so fast! You are the first!"
"That's what I'm saying. I can't even imagine how amazing your skills must be."
'This is not because of some special skills. I achieved high masteries by working my ass off.'
Vulcan sighed inside and looked at the people who were busy praising him.
The middle-aged men with lit eyes full of expectations were staring at Vulcan.
Vulcan opened the inventory and took out all of the items from today's hunting.
URURURU.
Blades, axes, armors and etc., all sorts of equipments poured down to the ground.
"I roughly sorted all of the ones that I do not need, so please take them. Also, please stop with embarrassing compliments."
"Ah, all these, I cannot thank you enough... Thank you so much!"
"Thanks! I will return this favor when I make it big later!"
"There is no need for such. When you come across useful information, please tell me those instead."
"Of course! Although we are low on levels, we know a lot!"
'Yeah, that's surely something to boast about.'
Vulcan made a bitter smile as he watched the seven players.
Vulcan got mixed up with Anderson and the bunch since the day after Vulcan started hunting.
They have been waiting at the dungeon entrance and staring at Vulcan with expectations since.
They made Vulcan feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't like they were coming over to pick a fight, so Vulcan couldn't say anything to them. Vulcan just ignored them and continued hunting.
Anderson and the bunch started approaching Vulcan when he came out of the dungeon.
Whenever Vulcan came out of dungeon after he finished hunting, they showered him with compliments, saying he is amazing, great work, etc., and they even tried to wash Vulcan's equipments for him using water magic.
Vulcan started to feel suspicious of them because they were acting like managers caring for their talent, but Vulcan didn't refuse them, so similar situation repeated for two days.
After being subjected to constant compliments and care from them, Vulcan roughly figured out their motives and what they want.
"Misters, are you all… by chance… expecting me to help you with power leveling?"
The bunch avoided their eyes from Vulcan and twisted their bodies.
Their pretentious and age inappropriate behavior was making Vulcan want to throw up.
"I am not going to do that for you."
Vulcan said in a coldly.
Vulcan was already like this since the days when he played video games in the past. When it came to clingy newbies, he always thought that he should cut them off immediately to avoid any pain in the butt.
Vulcan made no exception to these middle-aged men doing soaked-in-rain puppy look.
In order for Vulcan to return home, he had several hundred more levels to go. Vulcan had no time to spare for anyone.
Vulcan returned to the goblin dungeon without any rest, and Anderson and the bunch were left on the field.
However, their effort toward Vulcan did not end there.
They took care of Vulcan for three days without any reward.
Vulcan knew all along that they were doing it to get something out of him, so he had been refusing to reward them with anything so far, but their care was too much even for Vulcan. To be precise, Vulcan was getting sick of their care.
Vulcan wished they pick a fight with him by saying things like 'Now that you are at a high level, shouldn't you be generous to low levels?' or 'We should cooperate! It's not right to do well by yourself, don't you think?' but they never complained.
In fact, they were at a point where their faces merely said 'We expect absolutely nothing in return from you,' and there was not even a hint of disappointment in their expressions. Such were all erased long ago.
'If they have time for this, why don't they spend their effort on raising their masteries?'
Vulcan could not stand them anymore, so he made a proposal.
"I do not have time, and I don't have responsibility to take care of you all either. Still, I can at least hand over items that are of no use for me."
Anderson and the bunch jumped in all excited when Vulcan brought out the items he collected from hunting.
"But,"
"...?"
"I will give them as reward for giving me information about Asgard that I do not know about yet. If you try to take the items without giving me anything..."
Electrical sparks surrounded Vulcan's body.
"You will have to fight me."
Sounds of people gulping could be heard.
Since that time, a strange symbiotic relationship between Vulcan and the Anderson bunch was formed.
From the Anderson bunch's perspective, this was something to be welcomed greatly.
They were not able to level up because they didn't have enough people in the party. Because they have been wasting time away while not being able to do anything, helping Vulcan in exchange for items was like a highly profitable side job for them.
Equipments that were not up to Vulcan's rapidly rising level were handed down to the Anderson bunch, and thanks to this, their specs improved substantially.
Now the Anderson bunch were capable of hunting by themselves nearby the dungeon entrance, but they postponed hunting for the sake of Vulcan's expedient level up.
Vulcan was already at level 179, and he told the bunch that he will move on to other hunting grounds after becoming level 190, so the bunch only had to support Vulcan for a little while longer.
Also, Vulcan had nothing to complain about the arrangement.
The stool merchant Jake already told Vulcan that 100 level items almost never sell and it is not a loss for Vulcan even if he gave away everything except equipments that has the special attributes related to increasing training efficiencies.
Also, Vulcan was gaining pretty good information from giving away junk items, so he was starting to think that he made the right call to employ the Anderson bunch instead of tossing them aside.
"Ah, so Murim or Powel are like that."
"That's right. At least ours follow the format of being transported here after beating the final quest so we can at least roughly figure out the situation, but for those people, can you imagine how confused they must have been? Haha."
"I never thought about that. I figured they were here to become transcendent beings but the truth is that they too were just dragged here..."
Vulcan got to hear the most common reason for people from Murim and Powel coming to Asgard.
They are martial artists with the goal of becoming transcendent being, yet they ended up in Asgard instead of World of Gods.
"Well, transcendent beings are like becoming a demi-god. I heard that once they clear the Act 1, they could wish to go to World of Gods."
"Hum, that means instead of thinking that they were tricked, they can just consider their stay in Asgard as a part of the journey toward becoming transcendent beings."
"You can look at it from that perspective... sigh."
Anderson sighed and continued.
"As for me, I'm not interested in becoming a transcendent being or returning home. I just want to go back to the world I was in before Asgard..."
"Me too..."
"Me too... Ah, I wonder what my concubines are doing right now..."
"I should have never went to beat the final quest... If I have known that I would end up here, I wouldn't have beaten it..."
Vulcan looked at the Anderson bunch while telling them they are fools with his face.
They told Vulcan that they use to be a jobless loser, college entrance exam student, or someone who just started their adulthood in the society.
When they were like that in their original world, they suddenly got transported to new dimensions, received the power of SYSTEM, and lived in life of luxury until coming to Asgard. Even Vulcan could understand how they felt.
Vulcan woke up the Anderson bunch from falling into nostalgia.
"Now, please indulge in nostalgia when I am not around. Do you have any more useful info?"
"Useful info..."
Anderson sat and thought about it for a while, beating his head with his hand once in a while.
"Ah right. By chance, do you know about 'the player alliance'?"
"No. What is that?"
Realizing that Vulcan is completely unfamiliar with the subject, Anderson continued his explanation.
"You really don't know about it. You said you trained under Filder right?"
"It has been about two weeks since I left."
"That geezer work people to death but didn't tell you something this important."
'But you guys are like this because you did not bother with his training...'
Also, Filder gave Vulcan various information. It was just that most of them were about Act 2, which was a problem.
Vulcan chose not to say anything and looked at Anderson quietly. Anderson also steadily gazed upon Vulcan.
After a brief pause, Anderson continued, but with caution.
"Player alliance is... a group formed by a son of a bitch."