NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: (2)
“Kieeek!”
“Get out of the way, you bastard!” Kaiyan yelled.
Approaching the goblin who was trying to swing his dagger, Kaiyan swung his sword and brought it down on the goblin’s head.
Crunch!
The goblin’s skull shattered as the short sword struck it. Thanks to his increased strength, the sword’s speed and power had increased significantly compared to yesterday.
“Now, weak goblins like this are no longer my match. I have to aim for the Gnolls,” Kaiyan thought to himself.
“Kaiyan! Where are you going?” Jeff, who was passing by to go deeper into the battlefield, asked Kaiyan.
Due to the nature of the outer squad, even if they were fellow soldiers, there was no need to fight together, so Jeff always wandered alone to find stronger monsters.
“I’m trying to find Gnolls today,” Kaiyan said.
“Gnolls? It could be dangerous,” Jeff replied with a worried expression.
Kaiyan knew why. Fighting Gnolls was risky behavior, especially with the way he usually acted.
“It’s okay. I caught two yesterday,” Kaiyan reassured Jeff.
“Still, be careful when facing Gnolls. It could be dangerous if you get hit even once,” Jeff warned.
Kaiyan nodded in agreement, understanding the risk. Jeff continued to emphasize the danger.
“I mean it. I’ve seen hundreds of people die after saying things like you. Seriously, be careful,” Jeff insisted.
“Okay, you be careful too,” Kaiyan promised.
Jeff and the other soldiers moved quickly inside, killing goblins with unmatched skill. Kaiyan knew he had a long way to go to catch up with Jeff, who had been training for a long time.
“They’re good,” Kaiyan thought.
They progressed along the path cleared by the soldiers. Kaiyan remained alert, knowing that injured goblins could not retreat inside.
“Now, growth is a priority. Let’s not skimp on potions,” Kaiyan reminded himself.
He had gone crazy for potions in the first place because of the high prices they could fetch. As the money increased, he could equip better weapons and armor.
“Money will come to me as my skills improve,” he told himself.
Leveling up was Kaiyan’s main priority. It was the motivation that allowed him to catch Gnolls when he was struggling with goblins as a player.
Kaiyan heard a sound. “Creak! Creak!”
“Off to a good start,” he thought.
He found his first prey quickly. The Gnoll had a shabby wooden stick, perhaps lost his club somewhere.
Kaiyan knew the threat of a Gnoll’s powerful wooden club, but avoiding it would be easy.
“Hwuep!”
With the Swordsmanship skill, he instinctively knew the optimal movement when using a sword. He exhaled and extended his arm, the sword flew quickly and slashed across the Gnoll’s shoulder.
“Poohwang-“
“Kreung!”
The Gnoll made some strange noises.
“I was hoping to send you away with one hit without any pain.”
Initially, Kaiyan had aimed for the Gnoll’s neck, but he had to settle for grazing the Gnoll’s shoulder because the Gnoll had slightly tilted his body.
“Kwaang!”
Kaiyan became excited with the success of his hit, but the Gnoll was enraged.
The Gnoll’s first attack was a simple downward swing. Kaiyan raised the shield he had purchased yesterday after checking the Gnoll’s movement.
Pyeo-eok!
“Kryuk…crazy!”
Kaiyan intentionally took the hit to test the shield’s performance, and his arm, which had the shield, became numb.
“…Let’s just avoid it altogether. The shield is only for long-range defense.”
Judging by the pain in his arm, there seemed to be a problem with the shield. Even though he had successfully blocked the attack, the shock was transmitted so vividly that if the Gnoll’s weapon had been a proper club or mace, his arm would have broken.
“Kkreung! Kwaang!”
As he paused for a moment in pain, the Gnoll launched an additional attack.
Urgently, he lowered his waist and stepped back, feeling a cool breeze pass over his head.
Hoo-ung!
“Although it’s powerful, the preliminary motion is too big. If you make up your mind to dodge, it’s not impossible to avoid.”
From Kaiyan’s point of view, which was faster than the Gnoll’s movement, avoiding the opponent’s attack was easy as long as he paid close attention.
Bu-woong!
The attack resumed. The Gnoll swung his weapon continuously, taking advantage of his strong arms and the fact that the shabby club was lighter than a mace, and every time Kaiyan barely avoided the attack and tried to stab any gap he could find.
“Hooeup!”
Chwa-eaek-
Since he couldn’t get the right stance, it wasn’t a powerful stab, but it was a sufficient attack to dig into the opponent’s leather armor.
“Keheuk…! Kryuk…”
The Gnoll, who had been swinging his weapon for a while, coughed hard and stepped back, catching his breath.
Suddenly, the Gnoll’s green blood was smeared all over Kaiyan’s body.
“I’m getting tired too. So let’s stop now.”
“Kkreung…”
Using the strength he had saved up, he swung his sword fiercely toward the Gnoll’s neck. He swung it faster than before.
Sgak-
“Ke…”
The Gnoll fell to the ground, spewing blood into the air, with his neck halfway cut.
Fortunately, the increased strength helped and he did not need to have a full-blown fight, as he had initially feared.
After the battle, Kaiyan realized that the best way to deal with the Gnolls was through a counter-attack. It involved inducing their attack, dodging it, and attacking the opening. Fighting them head-on would be dangerous, especially if they became stronger than they were now.
“Phew… who’s next?” he said with some confidence as he continued to search for Gnolls, but only those who were alone.
“Kyaeng!”
“Good, that’s 13 already,” Kaiyan said to himself.
He had killed 13 Gnolls with his bare hands before he even realized it. Thanks to the experience he had gained from hunting them, he was able to do so. Otherwise, he would have had trouble catching 10, let alone 13.
“Hey!” someone said.
Kaiyan turned to see a well-dressed man approaching him. The man had a huge shield that was unusual for soldiers in the outlying areas, and partially white hair indicating that he was quite old. He looked like an elite soldier.
“Are you alone?” the man asked.
Kaiyan was confused for a moment, not understanding the soldier’s words.
“I’m asking if you’re alone,” the man repeated.
“Oh, yes, I’m alone,” Kaiyan replied.
The central area was where soldiers fought to defend the formation on this battlefield. The outskirts were obviously a personal fight between individuals. It was a strange question to ask.
The soldier, who seemed satisfied with Kaiyan’s answer, smiled and spoke.
“You look young but you have some skill. My name is Max Poland. You can call me Max.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Kaiyan.”
“Would you like to form a team with me?”
“If it’s a team…”
“Together, let’s hunt monsters.”
“Working together…”
It wasn’t a bad offer. Kaiyan was spending a lot of time looking for Gnolls who were alone because he was still nervous about facing two of them at once. But what if he formed a team with this soldier?
“It seems okay…” he replied.
However, Kaiyan was unsure whether he could trust Max’s skills. If he couldn’t do his part, he would be more of a burden than a help.
As Kaiyan looked at Max with suspicion, Max opened the pocket attached to his waist and revealed a fair amount of monster ears.
“Great! Let’s do it together,” Max said.
A monster’s ears were the best way to prove one’s skills on the battlefield. If one could catch as many Gnolls alone, it meant they had at least the same level of skill as Kaiyan did.
“How about we catch those two Gnolls over there for practice?” Max suggested, pointing his sword at the two creatures wandering around, looking for prey. Since there were no other monsters around, it was the perfect situation for practice.
Max and Kaiyan approached the Gnolls.
“I’ll go first! Haap!” Max shouted, swinging his sword at the Gnoll. The creature raised its club to block the attack, but Max’s swing was a feint. He quickly pulled back his sword and followed up with a stabbing motion.
Pook!
“Kkaeaang…”
Max’s successful thrust plunged the sword into the Gnoll’s chest.
It would have been an easy situation to handle if there was only one Gnoll left, but there was still one more.
“Kraaang!” Kaiyan alternated between his sword and the creature rushing towards him.
The feeling of the sword deeply embedded in the Gnoll’s rib cage was transmitted to Kaiyan’s fingertips.
Kaiyan hesitated for a moment, even though he knew he shouldn’t. He couldn’t decide whether to trust Max and kill this creature completely or face the oncoming Gnoll. It was a rookie mistake, as it was his first time working with someone else as a team.
“Kreureung!”
Woowooong!
When Kaiyan saw the Gnoll’s club swinging towards him, Mr. Jeff’s words came to mind.
“You can never hesitate on the battlefield,” Mr. Jeff had said.
Kaiyan asked himself, “What if I make the wrong choice?”
“There’s no wrong choice worse than just dying like an idiot. Just choose one side, trust, and run,” he remembered Mr. Jeff’s advice.
“Why did I only remember that now?” Kaiyan thought as the shadow of the giant Gnoll covered him in confusion.
Mr. Jeff’s earlier warning echoed in Kaiyan’s ears: “I’ve seen hundreds of people who said that and died at the hands of the Gnoll. Seriously, be careful.”