Dadadada―.
The creature was slowly growing larger.
'I must kill it before it completely finishes the ritual!'
If it completes the evolution into a Great Chieftain, I die first. And this entire area will probably be devastated.
Goblins usually move in separate packs, but it is known to be different when a Goblin Great Chieftain appears.
'When a Great Chieftain appears, the entire population obeys the Great Chieftain like a hive mind.'
Therefore, I must stop it unconditionally. Because the Goblin Great Chieftain showed tremendous power when it came out on the day Gates first opened in this world.
"Tch―."
Because the mana barrier is up, guns don't work. However, since it is in the middle of the final ritual to become a Great Chieftain, it couldn't use other magic.
'I'm going inside the mana barrier!'
A mana barrier cannot stop people from coming and going. It only blocks attacks.
So it is effective in defending against long-range attacks, but vulnerable to close-range attacks.
"Kereureuk!"
But the creature was sneering at me. As if asking what would change if I came in.
"?"
Bang—!!!
Ting—!
"Oh no."
It deflects bullets?
'Think, think, think....'
[Analysis Lv.2 $\rightarrow$ Lv.3]
"I remember!"
As the [Analysis] skill leveled up just in time, a blurry memory from the past clicked with the current situation.
—The Goblin Great Chieftain has skin that becomes harder upon strong impact.
'Non-Newtonian fluid!'
The reason handling a Goblin Great Chieftain was difficult was because it had skin that became harder upon strong physical impact.
Like a non-Newtonian fluid that hardens when strong force is applied. Then the solution?
"Just thrust it in slowly. Don't you think?"
Shing—.
I took out the goblin poison dagger from my waist and slowly thrust it into the creature.
'Please work...!'
"Ke, kereuk?"
Squelch—
"It worked."
It went in smoothly without any resistance.
In a normal combat situation, there is no case where one stabs a knife slowly and smoothly like this.
So the Goblin Great Chieftain evolved in that way. To withstand strong impacts well.
'Although it's not a guy who has fully evolved into a Goblin Great Chieftain yet....'
Its skin already bore the characteristics of a Great Chieftain.
"Kereuk...."
Since it's a dagger coated with poison, it must be quite painful. Now it's my turn to thrust the knife into the vital points visible to my eyes.
"Die."
"Kereuk!"
Squelch—.
Pu-shuk—!
Squelch—.
"Keeek―!!!"
They say attacking during transformation is foul play, but I don't care about that. Who told you to transform defenselessly?
[Beginner Dagger Mastery Lv.2 $\rightarrow$ Lv.3]
"Nice."
As I kept thrusting the dagger into vital points, the level of [Beginner Dagger Mastery] skill rose to 3 before I knew it.
"Kurureureuk...!"
The creature, who was just about to become a Goblin Great Chieftain, collapsed foaming bloody bubbles at the mouth.
Thud—.
"D-done... Wahaha!"
Only I remained in this place. All that was left were the corpses of goblins.
"Let's farm... and complete the request."
Everything here is money and experience points.
[Collection Lv.1 $\rightarrow$ Lv.3]
[Butchery Lv.1 $\rightarrow$ Lv.3]
[Beginner Dagger Mastery Lv.3 $\rightarrow$ Lv.4]
Farming completed, and what I obtained were 48 lowest-grade magic stones, 1 high-grade magic stone, 30 goblin poison daggers, and 1 Pyromancer's Staff.
[You have removed 1 Seed of Destruction.]
[Removed the 4th Seed of Destruction 'Goblin Great Chieftain Descent'.]
[Removed Seeds of Destruction: 1/?]
[Unique Ability 'Seeker of Destruction' is granted as a reward!]
[Seeker of Destruction: You can recognize existences that will become Seeds of Destruction.]
[You have acquired the skill 'Observation' due to the influence of Unique Ability 'Seeker of Destruction'!]
[Observation Lv.1: You can observe the desired target in detail.]
"???"
['Observation' reacts with 'Analysis'!]
['Observation' and 'Analysis' integrate into the Advanced Skill 'Analytical Eye'!]
[Analytical Eye Lv.1: Provides detailed analytical information about what is observed.]
"No, wait, two Unique Abilities...?"
[Unique Ability]
[Lord of All Creation]
[Seeker of Destruction]
"????"
An Awakened who has awakened two Unique Abilities does not exist until now.
'What is this....'
Was it that if the Goblin Great Chieftain was born here, it would be the beginning of destruction?
The guy I killed died before becoming a Goblin Great Chieftain, and the system judged that I removed a 'Seed of Destruction'.
"Ha...!"
A system that gives excessively.
"First let's organize the farmed things."
I put the things spread on the ground into the subspace pocket I bought with a huge sum of money.
"A Pyromancer's Staff and a high-grade magic stone...."
The rest are things I saw last time, and these two are things I'm seeing for the first time.
"These two are things the Goblin Chieftain had."
Certainly, the quality looks different.
'What should I do with this staff?'
Should I sell it? Or should I use it? When I don't know a single magic spell right now?
"Let's examine it slowly at home. And the high-grade magic stone...."
A high-grade magic stone with immense value. But I have already decided. To absorb it all without selling.
Crack—.
I applied force and broke the high-grade magic stone in my hand. And....
[You can raise one stat.]
"Nice."
[Stats]
[Strength: 2]
[Speed: 4]
[Wisdom: 9]
[Spirit: 8]
[Mana: 1]
"Shall I hit max level first?"
Since my main weapon is a gun, great strength isn't needed.
"Select [Wisdom]."
[Wisdom: 9 $\rightarrow$ 10]
['Wisdom' stat has reached the limit!]
[To break the limit, you must achieve specific conditions.]
"It's max level."
If the limit is broken, the concept of max level disappears, but that is an ability only a few Awakened possess. And ultimately, skills are more important than stats, and Unique Abilities are far more important than skills.
'Anyway, since I'm in a situation where I have to take everything, I'm not in a position to be picky.'
To stop the destruction, everything must be prepared in the best condition. Only then might I be able to stop it.
Just now, I barely won by finding the solution against a Chieftain, not even a Great Chieftain. If I hadn't found the solution, the Seed of Destruction would have sprouted as is.
"Request complete."
After taking photos of the scene and reporting the request completion, I approached the security guard guarding the building site.
"Uh, huh?"
"Why are you surprised?"
"Y-you were alive… honestly I thought you were dead…"
"Forget it. Goblin disposal inside is finished so please report to the higher-ups. And report that I requested additional payment too. Since there were overflowing details I wasn't informed of beforehand."
"Yes, yes?"
"If you say that, the higher-ups will take care of it. Good work."
"Yes... get home safely!"
I wrapped up everything and returned.
"Appearance of a Goblin Chieftain...."
The Untied management team held an emergency meeting due to the unexpected situation. Online.
"And they say it was just before evolving into a Great Chieftain. Is there credibility?"
"Isn't it just some new Awakened guy exaggerating to bluff?"
"No, there is evidence. The entire process of performing the operation was recorded on body cam."
"How did they think to attach a body cam? When they aren't even a veteran Awakened."
"You never know. Maybe a guy in the light performed the request as a hobby."
"This Cassandra guy... is quite something."
A new member using the nickname Cassandra.
He was someone who very rarely used a gun as a main weapon, and although he had only solved two requests so far, the resort construction site request solved last gave a very big shock.
"Wow... watching the video, it really is different from a typical Goblin Chieftain?"
"I told you? There is no Chieftain with that fast casting speed."
"Certainly… it's clear it was evolving."
"Was there such a case until now?"
"No. Not in the light, nor in the shadows."
"...."
If so, this is....
"Shouldn't we inform everyone?"
"KAMC contacted us a while ago. Telling us to participate as mercenaries in the government-led Kaema Plateau retaking operation."
"We have a contact number directly connected to them."
"Contact there and inform them. This is...."
Something that never happened before.
Moreover, a 'Goblin Great Chieftain' almost came out.
"We must inform them."
"Hey, hey! Did you know a new phenomenon was observed in Yangyang?"
When I went to work after the weekend ended, Ki-jun spoke to me excitedly.
"What new phenomenon?"
"Untied reported it… they said a Goblin Chieftain was evolving into a Great Chieftain?"
'???'
They reported that to KAMC?
'Huh. Still, do they share information like this right away?'
"Really?"
"Yeah! But the surprising thing is that the Awakened who killed it uses a gun as a main weapon. Really amazing, right? Who could it be? Is it Magic Gunner Kwon Hyeok-jun?"
Flinch.
That's me. Of course, I am not a Magic Gunner. Since I didn't imbue mana into the gun.
And in the end, I finished it with a dagger. Of course, I cleaned up all the remaining small fry with the gun.
'I realized there was another reason for not using guns.'
Because ammo consumption is high, maintenance costs are high. Before even talking about imbuing mana or not, supplying bullets was the problem.
'Still, I realized something from the Orc Warrior hunt yesterday too.'
I solved the Orc Warrior hunting request the day after catching the Goblin Chieftain. It was basic common sense that it isn't easy to inflict a fatal wound even if a bullet lodges because their skin is tough and bones are hard, but....
'Since [Beginner Firearm Proficiency] level is 4, I could pierce the skin and tear up the insides in just one go.'
[Beginner Firearm Proficiency], which directly affects shooting damage, hit Level 4. I could catch the Orc Warrior easier than I thought.
'Since I killed one Orc Warrior with just four shots.'
"Hey, what are you thinking about again?"
"Ah... maybe because I exercised too hard during the weekend, I'm tired."
"Exercise? You exercised...?"
"I have to if I want to live long."
'Now I don't have to go to the shooting range....'
Should I go to an archery dojo after work? Or a swordsmanship dojo for close combat?
Since Gates appeared, dojos teaching martial arts like swordsmanship and archery have increased like bamboo shoots.
And most of such dojos are set up by guilds for profit. If it is revealed that I am an Awakened and my ability is exposed to the world... it gets annoying so I have to attend pretending to be a non-Awakened for now.
'Revealing my ability should be done after I have become sufficiently strong.'
"By the way, anything changed today?"
"I was actually about to say that. The atmospheric mana concentration in Yangyang dropped severely. It seems...."
"...."
"It must be related to the Goblin Great Chieftain evolution incident. I feel like something ominous is about to happen...."
"I hope no unsavory incidents happen before the Kaema Plateau retaking operation."
"Exactly."
As expected, suddenly the alarm started ringing.
WEEEEEEEOOOOOO―!!!
"...Oh no."
"E-Emergency! It's an emergency! Unregistered monster appearance near Yeongdeungpo Times Square!!!"
Signs of destruction started to appear gradually.
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