Episode 6. A New Hunting Style (2)
Though he only realized it now, Ted, connected to the Hexagram, could not change his weapon.
Ted’s body, reborn through reincarnation, was one with Black and White.
Normally, a weapon’s attack power was separate from the user’s status, but Ted was in a state where the musket’s attack power was applied directly to the user’s stats.
“Hey, guys.”
Kkigik?
“Use these from now on.”
Ted collected the shields he had distributed to the goblins and instead placed muskets in their hands.
The passive skill
He had tried giving them a pistol and hand cannon he had as junk items, but with those weapons, Ted’s stats were not applied to them.
Only the musket was applied through Mimicry.
“From now on, we’ll fight differently than before. Don’t run away. Just shoot whatever you see with your guns. Got it?”
Kkik!
Kkiik!
“And from now on, I will designate you as the Goblin Musketeers (Three Musketeers). Got it?”
Kkiik!
The Goblin Musketeers plunged into battle at Ted’s command.
Ted and the Musketeers headed deeper into the temple. There, monsters disguised as walls lurked—Earth Intermediate Spirits,
Possessing tough bodies with defense in the hundreds, they were the ultimate kings of physical resistance.
“Open fire.”
At Ted’s command, the Goblin Musketeers fired their muskets.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Mere Normal-grade weapons.
However, their attack power, buffed by the
Groooooar!
The six Golems that had been sleeping like walls hurriedly opened their eyes and began approaching the goblins.
Six Golems that would give a typical five-man party of level 180s a hard time!
Bang bang bang—!
Yet before the continuous gunfire of the Goblin Musketeers, the monsters died before they could even take a few steps.
And this was without Ted even joining the fight.
‘To think it would come to this.’
A level 200 user wielding a Rare weapon had attack power around 700.
Yet here was a level 100 goblin outputting 1,302 attack power.
And that was 1,302 per goblin!
‘Besides, if Mimicry’s proficiency rises like this going forward, their attack power will climb to a maximum of 30% of mine.’
This was a rediscovery of the goblins he had been ready to discard just moments ago.
Ted pulled out the calculator in his head and punched in numbers.
If
‘If that happens! I’ll order Ilkkigi to shoot Langwa in the head. And I’ll have Dukkigi shoot Wang Zhongqing.’
As expected, the +19 Black and White was the greatest boon of Ted’s life.
To think even an insignificant additional skill he had obtained could be made so great. A self-satisfied smile formed on his face.
However, that was a story for the distant future.
For now, Ted felt the need to teach combat techniques to the goblins, who staggered uncontrollably from the recoil every time they fired a shot.
“You guys. Good job.”
Kkiik! Kkigik!
Excited by the first praise they had ever heard after listening to nothing but irritation and scolding.
“Shall we fix your posture?”
From then on, Ted taught the goblins the techniques of handling muskets.
Ted sometimes fired his musket with one hand as needed. Perhaps because of that, the goblins had been following suit, shooting with one hand.
But that was only possible for Ted, who had a thorough understanding of recoil and muskets.
“Hey, hey, don’t get cocky shooting one-handed. Get that stock firmly against your shoulder.”
Starting with the basic stance.
“Hey. Samkkigi. From there, you need sense. What’s the point of looking through the scope when the enemy’s right in front of you? Think you’ll get hit and die? Just shoot like crazy. Even if your aim’s off, if it’s point-blank, just shoot.”
And even the sense to handle various situations.
A cheerful message appeared.
Then, a title surfaced for Ted as well.
When fighting alongside all summons, subordinates, and retainers, simple statuses are shared through your mind.
Passive skill acquired:
< Empathy [Exclusive] > Passive
You can share simple emotions with your summons.
The skill
Ted had obtained Empathy, a skill that Summoners or Spirit Masters could acquire.
‘Oh, all sorts of things are coming out.’
Ted tested it out by patting Ilkkigi on the head.
Kkigik!
Kkiik….
While Ilkkigi was in a good mood, Dukkigi—who, unlike the other two goblins, loved attention—felt jealous.
‘This is fun.’
Ted thought of other applications for this
‘Depending on how I use it, this could be incredibly useful.’
Reconnaissance, errands, assassinations, and so on.
Since the goblin summoning duration was 30 minutes, they could be used extensively.
“
Kkiik!!!
After that, Ted used the Goblin Musketeers for several days to level up explosively.
Now his combat style had changed from before.
Drawing aggro and taking them down with his own strength?
Such troublesome methods were no longer necessary.
It was now pure crushing combat—thorough pulverization, smashing everything in sight with overwhelming force.
Ted would shoot, and the goblins would shoot from the sides. That was all there was to it.
Flanks and rears were easily handled, and even damage dealers protected by tanks could be dealt with effortlessly.
With cheat-level damage, nothing stood in their way.
Ted judged this efficient and led the goblins accordingly.
And it was truly as efficient as Ted had thought.
Recently, after surpassing the 130s, leveling up 10 times a day had become difficult. That was because the required experience rose exponentially.
Yet now, in the 150s, he could raise 13, sometimes as many as 15 levels a day. Even after giving the goblins 10% of the experience each, his hunting speed had risen dramatically.
Ted made efficient use of the one-hour cooldown.
The Goblin Summon lasted 30 minutes. When he summoned them, he hunted explosively.
During the other 30 minutes, he maintained relatively fast hunting by stubbornly teaming up with Mosquito.
In the meantime, the Goblin Musketeers’ skills gradually improved, and by the third day, they were even mimicking aiming to some extent.
Bang bang bang!
Kkiik kkiik kkiik!
Around that time, the goblins would often get excited and fire their guns without listening to Ted’s orders.
‘I need to fix this immediately.’
“Goblin Musketeers. Attention.”
Kkik!
Kkik!
“You do not engage in combat until I give the order. Got it.”
Kkik!
The Silver Goblin Musketeers raised their hands in salute.
Even though they had become Silver Goblins, they were still low-level. As simple, repetitive monsters, the goblins followed Ted’s orders without a word of protest.
Even when combat situations arose, Ted deliberately refrained from giving attack orders.
‘They mustn’t shoot unnecessarily.’
Only with a hilt does a blade become a useful sword.
“Go.”
Ted designated the word
Kkiiiik! Bang bang bang!
The goblins were completely obedient to Ted. And before battle, they would only begin attacking once Ted uttered the word
When his level rose, Ted headed to a higher-level hunting ground. On the mountain ridge, there were monsters called
But for the Musketeers, including Ted, they were no problem at all.
Through several consecutive days of hunting like that, Ted finally achieved level 199.
‘Whew, this is tough.’
Around that time, the Goblin Musketeers’ Mimicry proficiency had broken through 30%.
They had synchronized with 16% of Ted’s attack power! Thus their damage exceeded 2,087. A single goblin had begun to surpass the attack power of a level 350 user.
Moreover, their levels had risen to the 140s. Now they were considerably fast, and their speed was decent.
‘Let’s go back, goblins.’
Ted conveyed that intention to the goblins he had sent out to herd monsters. Through the power of the
Soon Ilkkigi and Dukkigi returned.
But Samkkigi was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Samkkigi?”
Kkik?
Kkiik?
Ilkkigi and Dukkigi seemed not to know either.
Just then, a status window popped up.
‘What the hell.’
Surprised, Ted took the two goblins and ran in the direction Samkkigi had gone.
In the bushes, Samkkigi was under attack by users, its HP fallen below 5%.
“Hey! Stop! He’s my summon!”
“What?
Boom—!
Right before Ted’s eyes, Samkkigi was hit by the user’s Fireball magic and unsummoned.
Ted glared at the users with a scowl.
Two men and two women. A typical-looking party.
Ted snapped and lashed out at them.
“This was my summon. What the hell do you think you’re doing attacking him when his master is right here?”
“What, oppa? This teddy bear head? It doesn’t look like an NPC?”
“Hey, teddy bear. If it was a summon, its master should’ve kept a better eye on it. But we’re meeting for the first time, and you’re talking rudely with that curt tongue? What, so you’re demanding compensation or something?”
‘Hah, what a bunch of punks….’
Being unsummoned wasn’t death. It could revive after an hour anyway.
But watching his summon get attacked right before his eyes—for the narrow-minded Ted, it was an unbearable rage.
“You guys are all really going to die….”
Kkiiik… kkiiik….
Ted was about to raise his musket to vent his anger in absurdity when he looked at Ilkkigi and Dukkigi.
Weren’t the two of them clenching their little fists in anger?
Rage. The characteristic skill of goblins living tribal lives.
The skill of goblins that swarmed in groups, enraged when their comrades were attacked, seemed to apply to the Goblin Musketeers as well.
Ted watched the status window that had appeared for a moment before looking at the goblins again.
They were trembling as they watched Ted’s expression.
They were furious but holding back because their master had not given the order.
They were waiting for Ted’s permission.
“Guys. Let’s go collect some compensation.”
Soon, Ted’s permission dropped.