A shining light, too bright for the eyes to look at, dimmed down, and a verdant forest revealed itself in front of Kim Woo-Jin's eyes.
"Woah."
After a few seconds, a clamor poured out from behind.
"Oh my god!"
Exclamations came from Bang Joo-seop and his companions, who were all awestruck.
"Impressive. Doesn't it feel like we are really in another world?"
"I feel like I am playing a virtual-reality game."
"Virtual-reality games can't even compare to this, this is indistinguishable from reality."
After such exclamations, they all began to talk.
"This is a cruel place where the rules are vastly different from the reality we are used to. If someone were to die here, it's a world where we can't even retrieve their dead body."
Bang Joo-seop, who was talking, drew his sword from the sheath that was hanging on his waist.
Shiinng!
The sound of the sword he drew from the sheath was very ominous.
"Everyone, do not relax your guard."
Bang Joo-seop, who brandished his sword, wore a very grim expression.
Gulp!
Faced this situation, his party answered by nodding their heads, and nervously swallowed their saliva. On the other hand, Kim Woo-jin was unruffled. Kim Woo-jin didn't even try to manage his expression. He had no interest in the current situation nor Bang Joo-seop and his party's behavior at all. It did not concern him that Bang Joo-seop and his companions were making enough noise to provoke the goblins that may be nearby, nor did he care about how Bang Joo-seop was arrogantly brandishing his sword to soothe his companions' nerves. Kim Woo-jin did not have the slightest interest in them at all.
It was for the best.
Kim Woo-jin was only interested in the information given by his surroundings.
'This tree is a Dumpree tree. Quite a bit of sap comes out from it. The terrain is a forest but there are many slopes.'
Identifying the surrounding terrain was the very basics of dungeon hunting.
'If you look at the footprints left behind by the goblins near that tree... the goblins must be in groups of more than three. That means there's quite a number of goblins, and by looking at the surrounding terrain, they would mostly like be occupying a den. There were also traces of goblins around there. But the particular smell of a goblin was not present, meaning there weren't any goblins over there for the moment.'
Then...
"Did you say your name was Kim Woo-Jin?"
Bang Joo-seop asked Kim Woo-jin.
"I heard that this is your first time hunting and that you used to be a mercenary."
Without replying, Kim Woo-jin just nodded his head.
"Then you must be familiar with monster behavioral patterns. Could you possibly act as a scout?"
This was Bang Joo-seop's proposal. It was not difficult to grasp the real intention behind his proposal.
'So he wants to use me as bait, huh.'
Bang Joo-seop intended to use Kim Woo-jin as bait and lure the goblins.
'As I expected.'
Such a proposal was already within his expectations. Kim Woo-jin already realized what kind of players they were from the moment he first met them. No, to Kim Woo-jin, there were only two types of players... They were either committed to saving the world or intended to devour the world as much as possible.
Had Bang Joo-seop and his party been willing to devote themselves even a little to make the world a better place, they would not have chosen to join the Phoenix Guild.
'I guess it would be even stranger for them to be friendly to me given the way I acted.'
It should be noted that Kim Woo-jin never displayed his abilities to his party; it an expected outcome for them to not have any confidence or trust. If Bang Joo-seop was friendly to him in any way, he would have gotten suspicious of him.
"Sounds good."
Regardless of his intentions, Kim Woo-jin had no reason to refuse him.
"How should I search?"
After hearing that question, Bang Joo-seop replied as if he had waited for such an answer.
"I want you to search over there while we clear up the area. You can rejoin us at any time if anything goes wrong."
"Got it."
That was the end of their conversation. It was more than enough. Kim Woo-jin left his seat, and after he disappeared, Bang Joo-seop turned towards his colleagues and spoke.
"I thought he would resist but that was surprisingly easy."
Everyone smiled at his remark.
"Right? I thought he would cry and try to cling to us much as possible."
"Maybe he is happy that he was given a role to play?"
"Well, I guess you can look at it that way."
"Everyone, let's focus again," Bang Joo-seop said to them with a serious expression. "Listen, from here on out, we are about to engage in a bloody fight."
The goblin hunt had begun.
The roles of the players were determined by their halo. It could be said that the Undying Fighters were the warriors, the Keepers of Knowledge were the mages, and the Totems of Prayers were the priests. More than 80 percent of the players had one of these three jobs, and as a result, these three jobs became the standard composition for a party when attempting to clear a dungeon. Basically, Bang Joo-seop's four man team had one more warrior than that of a standard party. Their composition had no particular problem. In theory, it was a composition without serious faults.
As usual, however, the problems were in the people themselves. Bang Joo-seop realized this fact the moment his sword got stuck in a goblin's body.
Pu-ukk!
The sword he swung dug almost half way into the body of a Goblin. It was an impressive display of sharpness and power.
'Huh? Uh!'
Such power became a vulnerability.
"I...I can't pull it out!"
The sword went too deep into the body of the goblin. Therefore, it could not be removed quickly.
'Shit! Shit!'
The unexpected situation startled him, and another goblin rushed towards the back of the flustered Bang Joo-seop.
Kaya!
"AARRGH!"
The goblin in front of Bang Joo-seop crashed into him, causing both of them to fall onto the ground. Then, at that moment, the other goblin attacked Bang Joo-seop from behind... that goblin took advantage of the opportunity exposed in that moment. The goblin struck Bang Joo-seop's head with a stone in his hand.
Kaang! Kaang!
Fortunately, Bang Ju-seop's helmet mitigated the bulk of the attacks.
"Aarrrgh! Aarrrgh!"
However, Bang Joo-seop's rationality was a mess due to the intense noise resounding through his helmet.
"Help! Help me!"
Bang Joo-seop screamed for help from his colleagues, who were still fighting the other two goblins. In response, Bang Joo-seop's distressed cry aroused the hearts of his colleagues.
'What, what do we do?'
'Won... won't he die like that?'
Instead of resolving the situation, his call for help caused everyone to panic. In such a situation, all the education and training they received was useless. If it weren't for the items that they had prepared... that is, if they had been like the early players who had entered dungeons naked, they would have already been killed by the goblins. In other words, it was thanks to their items that they survived so far.
"You fucking goblin bastards!"
Bang Joo-seop and his colleagues were finally able to beat the six goblins after over 30 minutes of intense struggle. They immediately sat down as they collapsed in exhaustion. Without any complaint or conversation, they began to rest. It was too bad the dungeon did not allow even that.
Kieeehh!
"Wha, what is that?"
"Su, suddenly what the heck is happening?"
The forest overflowed with the screams of goblins.
Warrior type players usually started with a sword as their main weapon. Humans had many different kinds of weapons but most modern people had strong preferences for the sword. Moreover, in games, movies, cartoons, and novels, swords were depicted as very powerful. For ordinary people who had been exposed to such media, the sword was the strongest, most versatile, and most effective amongst all weapons.
However, in reality, a sword as a weapon was not as effective as people may have envisioned. It was even less effective than imagined against actual monsters. The distance to the monster would have to be shortened, which was defiant of common sense. Kim Woo-jin could not accept such irrationality.
Kim Woo-jin did not intend to avoid a melee dog fight against the monsters, but he would never intentionally brawl with ridiculously strong monsters unless he had no choice. It was prudent for Kim Woo-jin to choose a whip as his weapon. Of course, a whip had its own limitations, and was even more restrictive than a knife. However, if all the conditions for using a whip were met, it could show unparalleled effectiveness compared to most other weapons. Kim Woo-jin proved this fact when fighting against these three Goblins.
Jjwaak!
The end of the whip produced a horrifying crack as it cut through the air.
Kieeehh!
The snapping sound was followed by the continuous scream of a goblin.
Tuuk!
Amidst the scream was the sound of the goblin's left arm falling on the ground. It was as described. The whip cut off the Goblin's arm.
Kieeehhhh...
That was the power of the whip. The whip was a slashing weapon. Kim Woo-jin took the whip and swung it toward the second Goblin.
Jjwaak!
The whip made a terrifying sound as it hit and slashed the Goblin's stomach.
Kieeehh!
The moment the goblin started its scream, the bulging stomach of the Goblin opened up and its intestines started to leak out. The goblin fell onto ground while holding onto his stomach and collapsed.
Now, only one goblin was left.
Kieee, Kieee!
Unfortunately for that remaining goblin, it was only able to shriek and scream, and unable to take any meaningful action.
Kieee!
It was because the goblin could not understand Kim Woo-jin's attack through his common sense. From the goblin's point of view, something invisible from Kim Woo-jin's body flew out and killed his allies. So, the goblin could not even choose to run.
Kieee...!
The fear of something invisible cutting him down if it turned its back made the goblin behave as if it were a statue. Kim Woo-jin swung his whip at the goblin.
Jjwaak!
Along with the sound of a gust of wind, the whip cut off the goblin's head.
Keck!
The third goblin could not even scream as it collapsed onto the ground.
[You have Leveled Up.]
A notification rang inside Kim Woo-jin's head at that very moment.
[You Have Gained The Interest of The Emissary of The Underworld] [Achievement 'Noticed One' Has Been Achieved]
Kang Woo-jin also heard some new notifications. At such an announcement, one end of Kim Woo-jin's lips rose into a smirk.
'To think I would gain his attention just by doing this something as mediocre as this...'
Noticed One.
It literally meant that the player had gained attention from his halo. A simpler explanation would be that he was like a rising star.
'This achievement has a lower requirement than I expected.'
It was the second time that Kim Woo-jin had achieved this feat. He had achieved this feat even when he used to have the Undying Fighter as his halo.
'It increases the player's stats by 1%.'
For this reason, it was not necessary for him to check the effect of the achievement.
"Status Window."
Therefore, Kim Woo-jin only activated his status window.
[Kim Woo-jin]
Kim Woo-jin invested all of his unallocated points into constitution right away.
'After all, whether it's now or later, you can't do anything without physical ability.'
That was why he was planning to invest all of his points into constitution even in the future.
'Lee Se-joon, it's even more important when I fight against him...'
Furthermore, his prey, Lee Se-joon, boasted the most powerful constitution out of everyone in the world. Without enough physical strength, forget about tearing him apart, one's teeth would break as soon as you tried to bite him. If he was going to face Lee Se-joon alone, constitution was even more important in order to kill him. After all, he planned to do everything on his own.
'Who in the right mind would help me kill a hero who is trying save the world? No, even if I were to find a colleague, its existence is something I cannot trust. There is no one in the world who wants to kill a hero and has the right morality or sanity.'
"Stat allocation is done."
After finishing everything he had to do, Kim Woo-jin headed towards the last goblin, who had fallen down after trying to run away when its arm was cut off. The fallen goblin reacted after sensing Kim Woo-jin's footsteps.
Kieee...
Its reaction was filled with fear. It appeared very cowardly and it did not sound like a goblin that would bare its teeth until the moment it died.
'As expected of a Unique Item.'
It was due to the special option of the Goblin Champion's Whip. There was no better option than that fear when hunting goblins. To be honest, looking at the item's options, it was definitely worth its cost. In fact, the fear effect on the Goblin Champion's whip was a very expensive option. If this option had been on popular player weapon type like a sword, spear, or bow, Kim Woo-jin would not have been able to afford it even if he drove himself into debt. However, because extremely few people knew how to handle a weapon like the whip, which had little to no demand, he was able to buy it.
Kim Woo-jin stood in front of the terrified goblin, and stared at it. However, Kim Woo-jin did not kill the Goblin, the real hunt was about to begin.