Stagnant Water of Apocalypse - Chapter 26

For a moment, while looking at the corpses of the goblins, I was conflicted. Should I get rid of them or not?

There were simply too many of them for me to throw into the portal one by one. I don’t have enough time to do it because I started to hear sounds of other people climbing up from below.

“I can’t do it.” Once the goblins’ corpses were found, it was clear that tomorrow morning’s news would be dominated by reports about these ugly creatures.

The gears in my head started to spin. However, no matter how hard I think about it, it was impossible to stop it from happening. If so, all I had to do was take what I needed and hide in silence until the curtain of the ordeal came down.

I patted Dingo’s back and followed him to the side of the mountain. If the goblins didn’t kill the police, it means they had escaped. Which means, aside from the goblin group, there were three more groups which were roaming around this mountain namely, the police, the group of four awakeners, and myself.

The outcome of this hunt would heavily depend on who meets whom first.

“If possible…” I hope that the goblin horde would only run into me after their power diminished considerably. It was such a selfish thought, but I couldn’t help it. For me, my own life was more important than others.

After running around for god-only-knows how long, Dingo and I stopped for a moment to take a brief rest. But at that moment, a loud noise echoed not too far away from us.

I quickly grabbed Dingo on the back of his neck and hid behind a big tree nearby. As I stuck my head out, from where the sounds came from, I could see awakeners clashing violently against the horde of goblins.

“Swords and bows, huh? It looks like they have the same thoughts as me.”

However, to my surprise, there’s several stones floating around one particular member of the group. The stone then flew towards the goblin horde.

“Is it telekinetic?” Just how many kinds of unique skills are there I wonder?

The flying stone struck one of the goblins on the back of its head, rendering it unconscious. Meanwhile, two awakeners worked together and shot their arrows from a distance. Their shot wasn’t as accurate as a real archer, but it was useful enough to make the goblins fall into disarray. The last awakened from the group was fighting two goblins at the same time, using a machete on one hand and a plastic-made riot shield on the other. It looks like he’s pretty confident in melee combat.

“Huap!”

Screeeech~!!!

The shouting of the man intermingles with the goblin’s high-pitched roar. By the way, are they the only ones here? Are there no other awakeners who come to this place?

A user with a moderate amount of experience would’ve come here… well, there’s a chance that they were reluctant to do so since they could be apprehended by the police as the case had become big. Though, if they had a stealth-based skill, they would be fine.

“Should I help…” However, since it would be a three-way battle if I were to interfere, there was a risk that I could be attacked by both sides.

As I was busy thinking, a high-pitched sound of whistle thundered from the area behind me. Dammit, it’s the police.

“Open the portal.” Without hesitation, I jumped towards the portal together with Dingo. Let’s just watch how things developed for now.

Tang Tang!

The arriving police fired several warning shots using blank bullets into the air. Because of the thunderous noise, the hobgoblin and its underlings got startled and froze on the spot.

At that moment, the telekinetic guy who was working hard to fly the stones tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.

“Ugh!”

“Ahjussi, be careful!”

While the group of awakeners get distracted for a moment, the goblin horde begins to flee from the battleground.

The group of awakeners rearranged themselves and tried to chase after them, but unfortunately for them, the police was a beat faster than them and rushed towards them to block them.

“Stop!”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“No, we…”

“How many times should I tell you? It’s dangerous here, so please go down.”

“Why are you doing this sir! Look there, because of you, the monsters are running away!”

“Just go down now! I was dispatched from the military base! Do you want to get shot and die?”

The group of awakeners flinched and fell silent at the mention of ‘shot’ and ‘die’.

“But Team Leader, isn’t there one more person here?”

“There is no one here! So, let’s go quickly!”

It looks like they had somehow seen me. But thankfully, they didn’t delve into the matter deeper and just went down quietly.

“Was that a real superpower, earlier?”

“Yes… It was some sort of telekinesis.”

“Wow…was that real?”

“But I have to catch the goblins…”

After a while, the area became completely silent.

“Dingo, let’s go.”

I came out of the portal and went to the direction where those goblins went with Dingo. Breezing through the inclined terrain, I found many traces of the hobgoblin and his underlings scattered all over the place. By the looks of things, it seems that they went deeper into the mountains.

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Darkness descended into the mountain. Thanks to this, Dingo and I were left wandering through the dark forest with only moonlight as our light source. Thankfully, because of Dingo’s excellent sense of smell, we were able to keep tracking the hobgoblin without losing our way. He was obviously tired, but he was still doing his job magnificently. Once this hunt is over, I’ll feed him a lot of beef. I promise!

From the foot of the mountain, I could see many lights flickering every now and then. It seems that the military had finally arrived and were busy searching for any traces of the goblins.

“They will be coming up soon…” Before that happened, I had to kill the hobgoblin.

“Dingo, stay strong.” I patted the guy’s ass and cheered him on. It would’ve given him some strength, but it seemed like he had decided to run a little more regardless.

Dingo, who had been running for a long time through the dark forest path, suddenly lowered his body to the ground.

I also knew intuitively.

Was it due to the increased Perception stat?

Seconds later, an unpleasant smell unique to goblins entered my nostrils.

“Dingo, get in.” I said to him as I opened the portal. Now it’s just me and a bunch of goblins.

Even though the forest was dark, my eyes could somehow see them as I was already accustomed to darkness from playing Survival Life for too long. Moreover, the increased Perception stat also helped me to understand the state of my surroundings.

The silhouette of the hobgoblin began to appear in the vacant lot in the distance. It would be great if I had night vision goggles in time like this… guess, i would have to buy one after this job was over.

“Are you building a nest?” Goblin was a creature which had a habit of returning to their nest after doing what they had to do. So, it must’ve been confusing for them since they didn’t have a nest here. Which means, the hobgoblin must’ve ordered his underlings to create a new nest for them.

They were quite smart to even dig a trap around the area. However, It were also stupid at the same time as they must’ve thought that their enemy wouldn’t chase after them. Their movement was quite quick amidst the darkness. Their night vision was supposed to be worse than mine, so, how could they move just fine?

However, I couldn’t back away just because of that fact alone. This was a golden opportunity.

“Six goblins in total, including the golden goblin and the hobgoblin…” Once the fight broke out, the golden goblin wouldn’t be able to fight properly because of its big pocket. And there’s a high chance that they had run out of paralyzing darts by now because of the many fights they had been involved in. Moreover, the hobgoblin wouldn’t get involved in the fight at the early stage, and would only order around his subordinate to fight, so my opponents, at least before the latter part of the fight where the hobgoblin would join in, should be the other four goblins.

It’s doable.

I threw my bow into the portal because it was useless as my vision is greatly reduced due to the darkness and brought out my machete and helmet. I didn’t bring the gun out because I wanted to save as much ammunition as possible.

“Damn, I can’t see anything.” I sighed as I put my helmet on. Though it’s better than having a paralyzing dart hitting me on the head.

My first target would be the guy who’s walking aimlessly far away from the group. I had to kill it swiftly and hid its corpse inside the portal.

Gripping the machete hard, I ran towards it. Because I didn’t even try to mask my footsteps, the goblin looked towards my direction. However, by that time, it was already too late for it to defend itself.

“Huep!” I raised my machete and swung it towards the goblin. It was a simple and ignorant attack with no technique whatsoever, but the end justifies the means. It worked well as the machete dug deep into the goblin’s shoulder and ripped it apart.

“Die!”

Without giving it time to recover, I once again swung the machete to cut the goblin’s head in half. For a brief moment, as if it was its last struggle, the goblin grabbed the machete with its hand and struggled. But a couple moments later, the hand lost its power and went limp.

I opened the dimensional portal behind the goblin and entered the portal together with the goblin corpse.

Meanwhile, in the distance, the hobgoblin roared. It seems like it already detected my presence. From the portal door, I could see the rest of the goblins except for the hobgoblin and the golden goblin slowly walking towards me while baring their teeth.

Looking at how they approached me instead of shooting paralyzing darts from a distance, it seems like my conjecture was on point. They already ran out of paralyzing darts.

Then there was nothing to be afraid of at all.

“Let’s go!” I shouted as I thrusted my spear towards the goblin through the portal. The goblin I targeted couldn’t even dodge and died immediately, since I aimed the spear to stab it directly on its heart.

When I pulled the spear, the goblin’s body collided with the portal and fell to the ground.

“Aha.”

It seems that it’s what the ability description means as ‘the only one who can use this ability is the one who has it’. If it is not in direct contact with me, humans or monsters wouldn’t be able to use my portal. I’m not sure why animals like Dingo were okay, but whatever.

The other two goblins quickly took a step backwards, perhaps frightened. Without any more delay, I ran out of the portal and thrusted the spear again towards one of the goblins. When the spear blade found its mark, an eerie sensation of the metal spearhead cutting through its meat and bones could be felt in my fingertips. It was very unpleasant, but still bearable.

With another one dead, there’s only three guys left. I tried to hide inside the portal again, however, to my surprise, the rest of the goblins started running away.

And at the same time, I heard a commotion from below.

Are the soldiers already here?

“Dammit!” In a hurry, I dropped the spear and took out the pistol I looted from Kwon.

I pushed back the slide and quickly ran to pursue them. Luckily, not far from me, I saw the golden goblin who could not even run properly because of the large pocket it carried. I tried to aim my gun at it, but as it was dark, I couldn’t see properly. Clicking my tongue, I ran as fast as I could to catch up to it.

“Huh, huh!” The combination of rapidly moving while wearing a helmet made it hard for me to breathe to the point where I could barely keep the golden goblin in sight. Then, suddenly, as if it’s a blessing from god, the guy fell to the ground while running. Without wasting any time, I closed the distance and pulled the trigger.

Tang~!! Tang~!!

Two bullets lodged themselves into the goblin’s upper body. Blood pooled beneath the goblin’s body. And when the point notification came to my eye, I quickly grabbed its pocket.

“Open portal!” Then, I threw it across the portal.

Now, there was only one hobgoblin and one goblin left. Standing still for a moment, I gave myself time to take a breath. However, suddenly, I felt goosebumps all over my whole body. As I lifted my head to check, I saw a huge black shadow rushing towards me.

It’s the hobgoblin!

GYUOOOHHHH~!!!

Its roar, attack, and my evasion were done at the same time.

I rolled to the side trying to distance myself from it. As I keep rolling, my body hits something. Maybe it’s a tree, but I’m not sure.

“Keuk!” A painful sensation travelled through my body. At the same time, I felt my head spinning. Seconds later, power suddenly surges through my body. Seems like Survival Instinct skill has kicked in.

I quickly stood and ran towards the roaring hobgoblin and pointed my gun towards it. When I pulled the trigger, a dull gunshot echoed. However, I didn’t stop there as I pulled the trigger several more times, just in case it survived the first shot.

Then, the huge body of the hobgoblin collapsed causing a small tremor. Slowly walking towards the hobgoblin, I put two more bullets in the back of its head when I arrived.

Then, I shot the last goblin, who seemed to be in a panic, in the head.

…

From that last kill, a delightful notification appeared in front of my eyes.

「Level has risen to 6」

「You have earned 18 Points 」

「You have acquired ‘Terrain Detection’ skill」

“Terrain Detection?” To think I got this skill here… It’s really a jackpot.

Just like its name, Terrain Detection is a skill which allows its user to detect his surrounding area. It’s such an amazing skill as it would be incredibly useful in the apocalyptic world where everywhere was filled with zombie corpses and fallen buildings. And for the item… this time, it’s my glove which got turned into an item.

「Gloves: Dexterity +2」

It was a good option. In Seola, Dexterity was related to some hidden stats such as Hit Rate and Critical Rate. The higher the Dexterity, the higher the chance of both to occur. And then suddenly, a lot of noises could be heard moving towards my location.

“It’s here!”

“Be quiet! Don’t you know how to track something? Keep strict boundaries! If something comes up, just hold out!”

I quickly hid in the shadow of a tree and opened the portal. As I entered, Dingo came over to me and started licking my hand. I gave him a pat on the head before sitting on one side of the cave and laid my back to the wall. And then the Survival Instinct skill immediately wore off and extreme fatigue flooded in.

I wanted to check what’s in the pocket…

“Let’s just do it tomorrow and just sleep for now…”

I forced my aching body to move towards the mattress and when I finally touched it, I could feel Dingo pulling up the blanket to cover my body.

Truly, what a weird guy.

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“Ugh.” As soon as I opened my eyes, my back throbbed violently. It was the pain that came from rolling in the dirt last night.

“I could live if it was only this much.” As I moved away from the embrace of the blanket, Dingo, who was already stretching, looked at me with his puppy eyes.

I know very well what those eyes mean. He’s asking me for a reward.

“Wait a minute, let me check the pocket first.” My heart was pounding like a child who was about to open a gift from Santa Claus on Christmas as I walked towards the pocket.

When I lifted the pocket and turned it upside down, various stuff came out from it and dropped to the ground.

“Kyaaahhh… as expected of the Golden Goblin!”

Amongst the miscellaneous stuff that came out, there’s 2 revolver guns on the mix. When I grabbed it and opened the chamber, there’s 5 bullets inside. One blank bullet and four live bullets.

“I don’t think whoever had this even got a chance to shoot it.”

Unfortunately, because the bullets inside the revolver were different from what Kwon’s automatic pistol uses, I wouldn’t have any spare once I shot everything. It’s not a big deal though, as I could just loot the police station on the day of the apocalypse.

I put the guns down and inspected the bunch of items once again. And when my eyes met a silver knife on the piles, I couldn’t help but to exclaim.

“Oh oh…”

To think I’ll see this knife here…

「Mithril Knife: Permanent」

‘Permanent’ option means that the item was indestructible. Even the corrosive disease wouldn’t be able to destroy it. Though, it didn’t mean that it was completely immune to physical force, which means it can still break if you apply too much force to it.

“This knife costs 100 point in the store… it was terribly expensive.”

Anyway, it’s a good item to have.

But just where did the golden goblin get this? Considering their level of civilization, it’s impossible that they made it themselves.

“It’s strangely rough on the surface…” Somehow, it looked like small grains were collected and glued together to make this knife unlike knives made by humans which had a very smooth surface that looks like a mirror.

I took the old goblin sword that I had picked up earlier and compared it.

“It’s similar.”

Although the craftsmanship level that’s focused on it was slightly different, it felt like it was made by the same person.

Who the hell made this?

And the rest of the items were… 5 solar apples, 5 shadow grapes, some guaca fruit powders and some vegetable oils.

“Oh… that’s not bad.”

Shadow grapes were fruits which would give a temporary night vision buff when eaten. Paired with Terrain Detection skill, I wouldn’t have to be afraid of tripping in the darkness at all.

All that was left was garbage such as rotting meats and dried fruits.

“Now that I have pistols and a mithril knife, I’m the new golden goblin.” I wonder how the dead goblins would react if they saw me like this…

“Status window.”

「Level: 6 Point(s): 77

Vitality:12 Strength:12 Agility:9 Dexterity:11(+2) Perception:10(+2)

Unique Ability: Dedicated Dimensional Portal

Skill: Survival Instinct, Terrain Detection

Active Buff:- 」

“Good.” As I was busy looking at my status window with joy, Dingo kept barking towards me. I guess he knew that by doing so he would quickly get his food.

I stroked the guy’s head.

“Let’s eat. And on the way home, I will buy you some beef.”

Once we finished eating, I changed into clothes similar to hiking clothes. It was a precaution if I met some soldiers while walking down.

“It seems that there are no soldiers around…” Even the hobgoblin and goblin corpses were already gone. It seems that it all had been collected by the soldiers.

I went down the mountain road. When I finally reached the foot of the mountain, the remaining soldier who had not yet withdrawn stopped me and threw me several questions. But when I said that I was a night hiker, they released me after a simple body check.

When I went down to the parking lot, I saw that the police had put down a police line all around the area. And outside those police lines, dozens of people are gathering. Several people whom I presume to be reporters ran up to me as soon as they saw me.

“Excuse me, but can I ask where you are coming from?”

“If you know anything about last night’s incident…”

“Uh, I’m just a hiker. I only went up to the mountain at dawn, so I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The reporters who heard me turned back while showing their disappointment.

Did the typical hiking attire I wore lessen their doubts to that extent?

“Whew…” I could only breathe out a long sigh when I went further down and got into the SUV.

And when I reached home and turned the TV on, my conjecture was once again proven to be correct. The world had turned upside down.