The Goblin Companies

Schlk. Squelch.

With a sticky sound, unidentified invaders slowly took shape inside the glittering portal. Two, three enormous green bodies. Anyone could see they weren't human. I'd already heard the briefing from the unit, but I recognized them at a glance.

Goblins. Classified as humanoid monsters, average height two meters, grip strength about thirty times that of an ordinary person. And they were intelligent enough to use tools.

Clack. Clack.

Metal rang cold against metal from the weapons and armor in their hands.

"Chuha... churrrrk..."

Murky spit dribbled between a goblin's thick fangs. Rolling their yellow eyes, they were coming out of the portal with unnerving calm.

"Stay calm!! Hold formation! Get comms up with the other units!"

At one Monster Special Forces soldier's shout, the rest snapped into stance. Until a monster fully left the portal, any attack was nullified, so they were waiting for the right moment to strike.

Except—

"Wh-what the hell are those bastards doing."

As if it knew exactly that, the lead goblin refused to bring its body all the way out and only scanned the surroundings.

A strange stillness settled. One of the Monster Special Forces broke it.

"C-Corporal Jin! Something's wrong!"

"Hey! You little shit! Eyes front! You think this is your first monster or two?! Ah—huh?"

I flicked a glance at the flustered soldiers, and by then the goblins had already vanished from the portal.

They went back in?

I threw an arm across Gyeol, tensed at my side like he might bolt at any second, and tried to read the situation. What were they scheming? Goblins were smarter than people gave them credit for. Smart enough to forge their own weapons and armor—and the gear on the gnoll pack we'd met yesterday had been goblin-made, too.

A dungeon secret that wouldn't come out until much later: by some method, monsters communicated with one another. Given time, goblins would study human society and start answering it cleverly. But not yet. Barely twenty-four hours had passed since the Second Open.

How could they already have figured out the portal's secret?

If this was a scheme—

A chime. A System alert sounded.

Ten goblin companies? Difficulty High? In an instant, the brows of all five of us—me included—drew tight.

"Get clear!!"

Almost the same moment I shouted, the portal began to heave. It churned like a stone dropped into a well, throwing out huge ripples.

"What kind of bullshit is that. You're not even in the unit, and you're running your mouth...!!"

The soldier at the front snarled at me.

I'd expected as much. An Awakener who'd trained for ages in the Monster Special Forces wasn't about to listen to some runt who'd Awakened only yesterday. But if he didn't listen to me, he was going to regret it. One hundred percent.

Fwaaap!!

A moment later, more than ten goblins burst from the portal at once, like chicks cracking out of an egg. No—not a mere ten. Like a dam giving way, goblins poured out of the portal without end.

"A-attack...!!"

The Monster Special Forces started using their skills. For trained soldiers, the assault was far too sloppy. One goblin slipped a soldier's attack and seized his skull in the same motion.

"G-gaaah!"

"Krrrr...!"

The horrible sound of a head cracking was swallowed by the screams of soldiers and goblins alike; I couldn't hear it properly. Watching that brutal scene past the bluish, translucent chains filling my vision, I spoke into Gyeol's back. He was pressed close in front of me, guarding me.

"Gyeol. We're fighting."

From the instant I'd shouted, I'd already been stacking Oppressive Chains. It was a debuff that bound a target, but layered enough times, the chains made a decent shield.

My level's low, so it's barely big enough to cover two people.

The goblins didn't even seem to have noticed we were back here. All their attention was locked on the three Awakeners standing right in front of them—no, the two Monster Special Forces left—who had started spraying skills.

"Back me up, little guy."

"Mureuk!"

The Dokkaebi Fire I'd summoned in a flash answered stoutly. Cute little thing. Having a pet made me feel a good deal steadier.

"Gyeol."

Tzt. In an instant I cast Soulmate and laid the buff on him. The sense of us linking hummed faintly through my whole body.

"Don't use lightning at range. This whole place could come down. The risk is too great. Hit them in short bursts, over and over."

"Got it. You..."

"Don't worry. I'll stay right here and not move. I know. These things are a lot stronger than gnolls."

I winked at him as he looked back. Gyeol drew a deep breath and shot out past the chain-shield.

Boom! Pazzzt!!

Through the translucent chains, I could see him moving.

Fast. Even an S-Rank who Awakened only yesterday shouldn't be able to do this. Unless a guild had him under special management—then maybe.

Because of my order he couldn't use ranged lightning and had to close in to a dangerous degree, but he was far too fast for the goblins to keep up. Wherever he passed, weapons cleaved empty air and charred goblins dropped. Even my eyes could barely follow him. Right now, Gyeol was lightning itself.

Was he like this before the regression, too?

I dug through my memory. Gyeol had always been incredible. Born for a fight from childhood, tougher than anyone his age, agile and fast. Even when his fists were small they were vicious—he'd once laid out an older kid at the facility. Of course, that had brought something far worse down on us later.

Anyway, Gyeol being strong was only natural. But if I thought of him in the early days, before the regression... he'd been much stronger than me, sure, but not this skilled. The longer I tracked his movements, the more certain I became. This wasn't a trick of the eye.

Is it Soulmate?

My skill, Soulmate. It bound the caster's soul to another's and produced synergy. Strictly in terms of ability, it was a buff that raised attack, defense, and the like. But there was a strange sensation to it. It didn't connect us far enough to read each other's thoughts or share pain, and yet it clearly exerted some influence both ways.

What should I call it? A state where even the unconscious we couldn't perceive had drawn closer? While Soulmate was active, we could read each other's intent without a long explanation, and our teamwork was far tighter than when the skill was off. It wasn't quite the feeling of fusing into a single body, but...

Maybe my regression is affecting Gyeol.

For a moment I stared, spellbound, at his fight. Gyeol really was strong. If things kept on like this—if I helped a little more—he would grow far stronger than he had before the regression. Growing strong enough to stop humanity's extinction might not be impossible.

"W-waaah!! Somebody hold those things off!"

One operative screamed, terrified. He couldn't compare to Gyeol at all, but he was still putting out a usable attack. Now, though, the goblins showed no sign of thinning, and he looked sick of it. Remembering how he'd looked down on me and Gyeol until a moment ago, I wanted to snort at him—but this wasn't the situation for it.

Even with Gyeol cutting goblins down at a tremendous pace, far too many enemies were pouring from the portal. At this rate, everyone's mana would bottom out. Ten goblin companies, out of nowhere. I hadn't been here before the regression, so I couldn't have predicted it at all. Something like this should have made the news. I must have been more mentally gone back then than I'd thought.

"Kieeeek!! Kerrk!!"

"Hup!"

KWAANG!!

A tremendous roar and a shockwave rolled out. Through the scattering dust I saw a massive goblin, boss-monster class, and Gyeol, who had blocked its attack.

"E-eeeek!!"

The soldier who'd been screaming started scrambling away behind Gyeol's back.

"That rotten bastard! Gyeol just blocked that for us, and he runs?! Ungrateful piece of—! That hit alone must've burned fifteen percent of Gyeol's health!! And you still call yourself Monster Special Forces?!"

Before I knew it, I'd yelled. At that, several goblins who had been focused only on Gyeol and the soldiers turned their heads my way.

"Kerrk?!"

"Krrraaaah!!"

"Ah... huh..."

We had our backs to the wall, tucked in a corner with every direction blocked, and they were only noticing now. I couldn't tell whether these things had gotten smarter or not.

Ssshh. A goblin standing behind the ones that had turned toward me reared its body back hard. A spear—a huge spear was in its hand.

"Ah...!"

Shwiiik!! The spear flew with a tremendous sound.

Thud! There was a noisy crack like a watermelon splitting, but the chain barrier in front of my eyes was completely unharmed.

"Ah..."

The spear hadn't been thrown at me. When I turned my head, the goblin's javelin had struck the skull of the soldier fleeing toward me. The spear had been so powerful that dark red blood ran down from his body, pinned to the wall.

Damn it. That's already two of them dead.

Rotten personalities, sure, but they hadn't been trash bad enough to deserve dying. The damage had gotten far too big in the blink of an eye. There was no more time to delay.

"Ha-jun!"

Gyeol's urgent voice reached me. He must have been startled for a second, too. But that worry's wasted, friend. This was exactly the moment to pull a hidden move, like a protagonist.

"System. Dump every Soul Point into Agility."

A chime.

Charrrrk!!

The System made a clamorous sound. At the same time, I felt the energy flowing through my whole body change completely.

Right. All I need is Agility. With this, I won't be a burden on Gyeol.

Another chime, and letters floated up before my eyes.

Done.

With that, my Agility was 108. Roughly on par with Gyeol's stats. Now I could see every movement as he shoved the giant goblin back, unloaded several powerful attacks, and sprinted toward me. I could keep up.

When it came to attacks, dodging was enough. Dodge, and the damage is zero. In games, classes like assassin and thief dumped their stats into Agility, slipped a pile of enemy attacks, and landed criticals for absurd damage. My main role was support from the start. What mattered was not becoming a burden on Gyeol, so it was fine to focus on Agility alone. He'd been restricting his own range far too much just to watch out for me.

I didn't need to get close to monsters, and I didn't need to attack, so rather than padding a low attack stat, I was investing in the stat that let me move far more advantageously as a supporter. My main support skill was Soulmate, and that didn't eat much mana either, so I didn't have to waste extra points on a mana stat the way a mage would. Besides, I had the Dokkaebi Fire, recovering mana in real time.

For mana, I can sort out equipment later.

Tztzt!

I released the Oppressive Chains I'd formed into a barrier. Past the translucent chains vanishing in an instant, I saw Gyeol's startled face. He was probably thinking, Why? This guy—he'd watched his hyung handle gnolls and still hadn't caught on.

I grinned and ran straight for the side facing him. The moment I brushed past, he changed direction and followed.

"I'm going to use the space."

"Hm?"

Lightning was at a disadvantage in a narrow place boxed in above, below, and on every side. It was too powerful. Watching him fight the goblins, I could tell he'd learned the range of his lightning at incredible speed. But he still couldn't fully control the intensity. If the building came down, we'd be buried alive. Better to end it in one shot.

"Get ready to make an electric roast. We're doing this in bulk. You wait by the portal."

The suspicion on Gyeol's face brightened, as if something had clicked. Yeah—Soulmate really was doing its job. He caught on perfectly. That's my Gyeol.

"Oppressive Chains."

Charrrrk. Chains surged up, and I moved at a speed that couldn't even be compared to before. As I scrambled madly over walls and ceiling, the goblins began to panic.

"Kwereuaaaah!"

The giant goblin swung a longsword to catch me, but my chains blocked it, and the blade only scraped ceiling and wall. In that time I cut through them in every direction.

"Hey! Smash the building and you're bad goblins! You're about to bring this whole place down! You know what happens to naughty goblins?!"

No answer was coming, but I shouted at them with a bright smile.

"They get tied up tight!"

Clank!!

With the surge of chains, the goblins looked down at their own bodies in a single instant of panic. Chains were tangled all over them.

I hadn't climbed the walls like a madman to show off the Agility I'd raised with Soul Points. I'd done it to lay a trap that would catch every goblin as effectively as possible with only a handful of chains—like a web woven in three dimensions.

"Keeek! Kreeek! Kwaaek!"

"Kirk! Kiiiik! Kirrik!"

The goblins thrashed. But no matter how they moved, they couldn't escape my Oppressive Chains. I'd only gone up about one level, and yet my chains had grown stronger than I'd expected. The portal mouth, which had been stubbornly shoving them out in a flood, had no choice but to go quiet. Right—if the car in front doesn't pull out, the one behind can't come through.

"Gyeol, they're noisy. Let's fry them."

"Don't get caught in it."

Gyeol went straight for a goblin that couldn't move an inch and laid a hand on it.

Flash! A glare burst out, bright enough to blind me.