Chapter 17 (2/2)

Plus, I didn’t really think I was in great need of items.

I had my dagger and the cloak, and that’s been enough.

“…”

She took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

She looked a little red from the misunderstanding.

“Ehem.”

It didn’t last very long and she turned back into her normal composed self.

“…Okay but, we’ll only be able to hold on for a little bit.”

That was something I expected.

“I know. All I need is an agility buff. I’ll take care of everything else.”

Lee Sunghoon and Lee Hayeon wouldn’t last that long against the other team so we had to find another way to gain an advantage.

Murder— in the first trial I was clearing with other challengers.

Lee Sunghoon wasn’t much help and Lee Hayeon was suited for the backline.

Hence, I was the only one who could do it.

‘I should put as much pressure on them as possible with the buffs.’

That’s the best we could do.

Lee Sunghoon probably wouldn’t care for this but…

‘He’s not here so…’

Lee Sunghoon was currently muttering beside a couple of goblin corpses.

He wasn’t even attempting to listen in on the conversation.

“I’ll take care of as many of them as I can while you fend them off.”

“So all I have to do is buff you from the back.”

“Yeah. You don’t have to prepare any offensive buffs if it’s too much. Just the agility one is fine.”

“I can give you other types of buffs…”

“You can give all the non-agility ones to Lee Sunghoon. He’ll need it to defend you.”

I couldn’t monopolize the buffs if I wanted them to stay alive.

Of course, he probably wouldn’t like how he’s being used right now…

But he probably wouldn’t say anything unless something big came up.

“Even if Lee Sunghoon complains, I’ll handle it.”

I threatened him once, I could do it again.

She stood there a little dazed, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.

“Why are you doing all this? You could just ignore us, but you…?”

I wasn’t sure. I’m not a very calculating person, but I knew one thing.

It was foolish to make more enemies for trivial reasons.

People like Lee Sunghoon are fine as enemies, but it was best to minimize friction with other types of people.

Lee Hayeon was a teammate at least deserving of that.

“Just think of it as a consideration for a teammate.”

She didn’t press any further.

“…”

Just a small smile.

Good thing she wasn’t as nervous anymore.

“I’ll be in your care then.”

I stretched my hand out and she did the same.

“Likewise.”

It finally felt like I was on a proper team.

***

We rejoined Lee Sunghoon outside and he tilted his head in confusion.

He must have realized we were both gone.

“…Did you guys go somewhere?”

“We just had some business to take care of.”

Of course, he didn’t ask any further and just turned the other way.

“…”

I opened my mouth after seeing him quiet down.

“Alright then. Let’s continue.”

Our teamwork had gotten better after fighting off the waves of goblins.

We kept our formation and made our way inward.

Toward the goblin king that Lee Hayeon detected.

I kept my guard up as much as I could, and there was something strange.

We were moving pretty fast but not a single goblin came out.

‘There were goblins coming out regularly till now…’

The goblins came in bigger and bigger waves.

But it was so quiet that it felt as if that was all imagined.

“The other team must have passed by here already.”

“That’s crazy, they got here faster than us?”

“…”

The floating goblin corpses in the fountain caught our eye.

Heavily armed corpses lying all around.

“But it doesn’t look like they’ve been dead for too long.”

I spoke as I crouched down to touch the corpses.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out.

‘It must be fresh because there’s still heat left in the body.’

That meant they weren’t too far from here.

We just missed them.

“They probably just entered the goblin king’s lair.”

A message from the tower arrived at the same time.

「 An intruder has infiltrated the tower. 」

「 All the goblins around the area are being called towards the king. 」

I didn’t know how strong the king would be, but we didn’t have any time to waste.

It would get worse when all the goblins got here.

“Prepare for battle.”

There’s only one correct response to that.

“We’re going in.”

The time to hunt just goblins was over.

It was time to fight against the other challengers.

____