A small shadow popped out of the darkness.
It was a goblin.
It stood about below my chest. Its skin was a murky green, its eyes gleamed yellow, and short fangs jutted from the corners of its mouth. In its hand was a rusty curved blade.
The moment it saw me, it froze.
For what felt like about one second.
Then it charged at me like a rabid dog.
“Kieek!”
I raised my arm without even having time to think.
‘Damn it!’
The dagger went out first.
Thuk.
The dagger sank deep into the lower left side of the goblin’s chest. By luck, it seemed to have pierced its heart.
Through my fingertips came the sensation of tough flesh and membrane being pushed through all at once. Dark red blood splattered across the back of my hand.
The goblin’s eyes flew wide, as if they would split apart.
Its body lurched toward me once, then collapsed.
I tightened my grip and pulled the dagger free.
The thing fell to the floor with a thud, its body twitching two or three times.
I froze on the spot.
I’d killed it. Just now, with my own hands.
“...Ha.”
My breath caught in my throat.
My hands trembled. I felt like I was going to throw up. The smell of blood suddenly grew overpowering.
‘Fuck. I really killed it.’
At that moment, another scream burst out from deeper inside.
“Mari! Behind you, behind...!”
My heart dropped.
‘Fuck, this isn’t the time to be caught up in this.’
The trembling in my hands wouldn’t stop.
‘People come first.’
It sounded like bullshit, but right now, those were the only words I had left.
Guilt, nausea, whatever it was—I couldn’t cling to it right now.
That could come later, after I survived.
I clenched my teeth and ran past the corpse, deeper inside.
I was less out of breath than I expected.
It was strange.
My heart was pounding like mad, but my head was calm.
Even though the floor was uneven, my body naturally found its balance. It didn’t feel like my feet found places to step first and my waist and shoulders followed late; from the start, my whole body moved smoothly as one.
‘Is it because of the Heavenly Demon Physique? My body’s moving exactly the way I think it should.’
As I turned into the inner passage, a faint scarlet glow came into view.
It was firelight.
At the same time, two goblins entered my sight.
Whether they hadn’t heard the commotion outside or had ignored it, the things were leaning toward the cavern chamber.
One had its back to me, and the other was in profile.
‘What do I do? Two wasn’t part of the plan.’
The instant I thought that, a flame flashed inside.
Fwoosh, boom!
With a short explosion, one goblin screamed. Both of them turned their eyes inward at the same time.
‘Now!’
I rushed straight at the one with its back turned.
I gripped the dagger as short as I could with both hands and drove it into the left side of its back.
Thuk!
The thing folded forward without even making a sound.
Before its mouth could open, I shoved its shoulder and slammed it to the floor.
Its body flailed briefly, then quickly went limp.
Hearing that, the other one turned around.
Our eyes met.
“Kik?”
“What, you fucker?”
I swung the dagger sideways.
The moment it dodged by reflex, heat mixed with wind poured in from inside.
Fwoosh!
Flame skimmed past my side.
The goblin’s shoulder was charred as if it had burst, and the thing screamed.
“Who’s there?!”
It was a woman’s voice. Sharp and tense.
A person.
That was enough.
I drove my dagger toward the half-burned goblin’s neck.
Thuk!
This time, it went deep into its throat.
The goblin let out a short groan, shuddered, and then soon stopped moving.
‘Fuck...’
From inside, the sounds of human breathing and goblin cries were tangled together.
Still gripping the bloodied dagger, I ran into the cavern chamber.
And in that instant, I saw everything.
A cavern chamber that wasn’t very wide.
Three people were gathered against one wall.
A man stood in front. No—rather than standing, he was forcing himself to hold back his own collapse.
He was tall and broad-shouldered. His dark brown hair, soaked with blood and sweat, clung to his face. His armor, a mix of leather and metal, was torn in places, and the area around his side was drenched in blood.
Even so, he stood there holding a sword.
A person on the verge of collapse, still guarding the front.
Behind him, a woman was kneeling.
She had ash-brown hair tied back short and a pale face. A faint golden light gathered in her hands, and that light was forcibly holding the wound at the man’s side together.
It wasn’t a full recovery. It felt like she was barely stopping the bleeding.
A healer.
And in the very front, near the middle of the cavern chamber, another woman was gritting her teeth with one hand extended.
Dark reddish-brown hair, a slender build, sharp eyes, and a face filled with both deep irritation and extreme tension.
Sparks flew from her fingertips.
Whoosh!
A fireball struck a goblin in the chest.
The thing toppled backward.
‘Whoa, magic!’
Two goblin corpses were already strewn across the floor of the chamber.
One had its chest charred black and caved inward. The smell of cooked, shriveled flesh still lingered in the air.
It was the same mark as the flame that had just grazed my face.
The other had been split deeply from shoulder to belly. A wound from a blade that had gone all the way through in one strike.
That must have been made by the man blocking the front.
But even so, there were still too many left.
There were five goblins remaining in the chamber.
Two were clinging to the front, one was circling in from the side, and the remaining two were only looking for an opening.
Including the three I killed outside, that made eight.
“One more came from the back!”
The mage shouted when she saw me. It was a voice that reacted before she could even decide whether I was enemy or ally.
‘So it’s six now. Good. Let’s stab one first so I don’t look like an enemy.’
I charged at the goblin that had just come in from behind.
It saw me too and raised a spear.
‘Fuck, a spear? How do I beat that?’
I had no idea.
I pretended to go in, then pulled back for a moment.
The spearhead shot out first.
The moment I twisted my body aside, the spearhead grazed my sleeve.
I heard the fabric tear.
I slipped right inside its reach.
A spear was long, and a dagger was short.
If I got close, I won.
I drove the dagger into the left side of the goblin’s chest.
“Kieeeek!”
Its body fell backward.
Beside me, flames burst again.
“Duck!”
I lowered myself by reflex. Fire passed over my head and slammed into the face of the goblin behind me.
The thing clutched its face with both hands and thrashed wildly.
The mage gritted her teeth and raised her hand again.
“Ha... seriously, this is such a pain!”
Even in the urgency, she didn’t curse. Instead, her tone came out sharp.
My hand was slippery. Because of the blood.
‘Ugh...’
Suddenly, the inside of the chamber felt far too close.
Ragged breathing, screams, the smell of blood, the smell of burning flesh—all of it rushed in at once.
Then, from the side, a low, short voice sounded.
“Right.”
It was the injured man.
He indicated the direction with his chin.
Almost by reflex, I turned my head.
One goblin was slipping toward the healer in the back.
‘Fuck!’
I felt my body move before my thoughts did.
My feet kicked off the floor first, and my waist and shoulders turned naturally.
I threw the dagger hard.
Whoosh!
The blade’s tip grazed the side of the goblin’s neck.
It was shallow. Not fatal, but enough.
The moment the thing flinched, the healer extended her left hand.
A brief light flashed.
Thud.
The goblin’s body twisted. Whether she’d stabbed its eye or something else, it clutched its face and toppled backward.
The healer gave a slight nod.
‘Was that thanks?’
I immediately rushed toward that goblin and stabbed beneath its neck again.
Thuk.
It could no longer move.
“Hoo...”
My breathing grew rough.
I was scared.
Even so, what I had to do was clear. If I wanted to save these people, I had to kill every goblin in front of me.
If I couldn’t, I would die.
That was all.
At that moment, the man blocking the front staggered heavily.
“Roy!”
The healer woman raised her voice for the first time.
It seemed the wound in his side had burst open.
Her light wavered.
The two goblins right in front of him aimed for that opening.
‘Fuck, this is too much.’
I slammed into the nearest one like I was body-checking it.
We both fell together.
My back hit the floor hard, and the breath was knocked out of me.
The goblin tried to climb on top of me. A rotten stench rushed out of its mouth.
I grimaced and forced up the hand holding the dagger.
Its claws scraped my neck.
It stung.
“Argh! Just die already!”
I couldn’t tell whether I shouted first or the mage did.
In the very next instant, wind gusted in.
The goblin’s body lifted slightly to the side.
In that brief opening, I shoved the dagger under its jaw.
Shluuk.
This time, the sensation was far too clear.
The thing twitched on top of me, then lost its strength.
I pushed the corpse away and staggered to my feet.
‘How many are left?’
There were three goblins remaining in the chamber.
Two were watching for an opening in front of Roy and the mage, and one a little farther back was swaying, gauging the angle as if deciding whether to come in or not.
Then Roy moved.
Even while blood poured from his side, Roy stepped forward without hesitation.
A faint light spread across his sword.
‘Whoa, what is that?’
Roy exhaled low and swung his sword in a wide arc.
Slash!
The two goblins in front were cut at the same time and sent flying backward.
Only one goblin remained in the chamber, the one in the back.
Only then did it seem to judge that an opening had appeared, and it charged toward the mage.
The mage gritted her teeth. It was too close for her to fire magic.
I moved almost instinctively.
I slipped behind the goblin and swung the dagger. A deep red line appeared across its back.
In that opening, flame grazed past. A short, condensed burst of fire blew away half of the thing’s face.
It staggered.
I didn’t miss that chance and cut its throat.
The goblin’s head struck the stone floor and rolled, and its body toppled backward.
Then silence came.
For a very brief moment.
No one spoke.
My breathing, Roy’s ragged breaths, the healer woman’s trembling breath, the flame still not fully extinguished at the mage’s fingertips.
And the goblins sprawled across the floor.
‘I saved them...’
I stood there, still gripping the dagger. My wrist was shaking violently. Blood ran down the back of my hand.
I didn’t know if it was mine or the goblins’.
The taste of iron spread inside my mouth. The tip of my tongue, which I didn’t even remember biting, reeked of blood.
“Haa......”
Someone exhaled for a long time.
The healer woman came to her senses first. She immediately placed her hands back against Roy’s side and drew up the light.
“Roy, don’t move. It opened again.”
Her voice was cold and brief. But her hands were fast and precise.
Roy clenched his teeth and only nodded. Even with his face soaked in blood and sweat, his eyes were still alive.
The mage woman looked at me.
Her gaze was wary.
“...Who are you?”
That came before a thank you.
Fair enough. I was a stranger who had suddenly appeared inside a goblin cave.
I opened my mouth, then immediately closed it.
I had nothing to say.
Who was I?
The owner of a seven-pyeong studio apartment in Seoul, a twenty-five-year-old unemployed guy, a man who had taken out a three-million-won emergency loan and, as a bonus, obtained the Dimensional Archive.
Baek Siyun.
—was not something I could say in this situation.
Then Roy spoke in a low voice.
“Wait...”
It was just one word, but it had weight.
He lowered his bloodied hand and sword. Then he looked straight at me.
After a short silence, Roy opened his mouth.
“I don’t know who you are... but thank you. We survived because of you.”
When those words ended, for the first time, the cavern chamber was left with only human sounds instead of goblin screams.