NOVEL NEXT Chapter 59
Chapter 59: Goemi Cave (3)
The food storage of Goemi Cave.
There were over ten pieces of torn clothing scattered on the floor.
The heroes speculated that those who had gone missing recently from Gye-yang Mountain might have been here.
“Here’s another one.”
“Over here too!”
When combining the pieces of fabric that were torn beyond recognition, it was clear that at least 20 humans had been here not too long ago.
Moreover, there was another major problem.
“This doesn’t look like regular clothing. It appears to be a hero’s equipment.”
“Oh my goodness…!”
Not only ordinary clothes, but even specially crafted hero equipment was strewn across the floor.
This meant that heroes had also been dragged here.
Realizing this, everyone raised their weapons and heightened their vigilance.
It was uncertain when the creatures that had consumed both humans and heroes would appear.
“Si-wook hyung.”
“……”
Kang Si-wook, who was staring down at the clothes with a stiff expression, lifted his head.
“Is anyone here able to use a mobile phone right now?”
There was no response or raised hands in answer to his question.
Since entering the Goemi Cave, all communications devices had ceased to function.
Ultimately, Kang Si-wook made a decision within himself and spoke.
“The size of Goemi Cave and the extent of the damage are greater than we anticipated. Therefore, I suggest we prioritize survival over exploration and return the way we came.”
“Understood!”
“Should we take the clothes with us?”
“No. Let’s leave them; they’ll just hinder our movement.”
People put down the clothing they had been holding.
Yoo Ji-han raised his hand, holding his mobile phone, and said, “I’ve taken pictures of the clothes and equipment here with my phone’s camera. That will suffice for identifying victims later on.”
“Well done,” Kang Si-wook nodded, looking satisfied.
Just as they were about to retrace their steps…
“Gasp, gasp!”
“……!”
From outside, rough breathing could be heard.
All the heroes immediately stopped in their tracks and focused on the entrance of the food storage.
‘Is it a person?’
‘Could it be a Korean?’
Entering through the entrance was a white-haired woman clad in pink hiking gear.
She suddenly dashed inside and fell forward.
Using trembling hands, she grabbed the shoe of the nearest hero and pleaded, “P-please save me!”
“It’s okay now. Just calm down.”
“My friends are all dead. They’re dead…!”
With tears streaming from her clear eyes and dirt covering her body, along with her cracked lips, the heroes did their best to calm the hysterical woman.
Through brief conversation, they learned that she had been dragged into the Goemi Cave over two weeks ago.
“You’ve been here for over two weeks?”
“……Has it really been over two weeks? I’ve mostly just been hiding and sleeping, sneaking bites of food.”
It seemed her sense of time had gotten distorted from being trapped underground.
Kang Si-wook decided to accept her as a victim of the Goemi and move together.
‘Too suspicious…’
However, Yoo Ji-han found her questionable.
He judged that it was impossible for an ordinary person to survive in the Goemi Cave filled with monsters.
Moreover, she claimed to have eaten every visible thing for the past two weeks, yet failed to specify exactly what she had eaten.
It reminded him of the encounter with a person who had fled a golf course.
“Oh dear…”
But even Kim Si-hu from the same party looked sympathetic toward her story.
Knowing that expressing opposition would yield no good results, he stayed silent.
*
The team had begun to head back through the Goemi Cave.
However, they hit a snag within just 15 minutes.
“The way is blocked?”
The tunnel that had been carved out with magic was so tightly packed that even a Goemi couldn’t get through.
From the looks of it, it hadn’t been filled long ago.
“There are footprints from the Goemi.”
There were several fresh footprints on the floor.
It was clearly the doing of those beasts.
“What do we do now?”
“……”
The exploration team had lost direction.
At that moment, the woman who had been kidnapped by the Goemi spoke up.
“I know the way…”
“Excuse me?”
Having survived here for a long time, she had a rough understanding of the Goemi Cave’s layout.
While she vaguely knew the entrance, she also mentioned that going out alone would expose her to danger, so she had continued to hide.
“This way.”
The heroes, somewhat skeptical, had no immediate alternatives and followed her lead.
Strangely, they encountered no Goemi for the next 30 minutes.
“Seems like you’ve memorized this wide path.”
“Exactly.”
“Next is over there!”
The heroes began to trust her more and more.
Then, at another fork in the path, as she indicated the next direction…
“Wait a moment.”
Yoo Ji-han stopped everyone.
Curious glances were directed at him.
“I don’t want to go that way.”
“Excuse me?”
He refused to go the route indicated by the woman in hiking gear.
She frowned and asked, “Why not?”
“Why are you suddenly saying this without prior warning?”
“You planning to act up again like before?”
Moon Kyung-jin’s acquaintances mocked Yoo Ji-han.
They trusted the woman guiding them more than they disliked Yoo Ji-han.
“Look over there.”
Yoo Ji-han pointed to a spot ahead that hadn’t been widened by magic.
Kim Si-hu’s light magic illuminated the area he pointed to.
“If you look closely, you can see dark gray powder scattered around on the floor, right? That’s the secretion that fell from a newly molted Goemi.”
“Of course, there’d be stuff like that inside the Goemi Cave!”
“The problem is that the traces are getting clearer the closer we follow you. That secretion usually changes color to blend in with the surrounding soil over time.”
“But we haven’t encountered any Goemi yet!”
“Which makes it all the more strange. Given the visible traces and the distance we’ve traveled, we should have run into a Goemi at least once or twice.”
“Oh, it sounds like you’re hoping we’d meet a Goemi.”
“It’s often more dangerous when it’s quiet like this.”
“Such baseless speculation…!”
Kang Si-wook, who had the final say in the exploration team, turned to Yoo Ji-han and asked, “Are you being serious right now?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it. I’ve researched many materials related to Goemi while preparing for this MA. And from earlier, I’ve felt that we’re not escaping the Goemi Cave but instead going deeper underground.”
“Hmm…”
While Kang Si-wook, the decision-maker, was deep in thought.
Yoo Ji-han checked the sampling results again.
<— If we take the left path, the chance of my life being in danger is:>
<29%>
If they went in the direction the woman indicated, the chance of being in danger was as high as 29%.
Each time they followed her guidance, the risk percentage had gradually increased, and at this intersection, it was nearing 30%.
Regardless of not having encountered a Goemi, the situation was increasingly precarious.
‘No more than this.’
With a risk level like that, it was something to reconsider, even if it meant receiving some backlash from Kim Hyun-tae’s party.
“They say there’s an exit over there.”
“Before that, we could be in danger.”
“That’s just your opinion.”
“I trust my instincts as a hero.”
Yoo Ji-han then looked at the woman.
“Since we’re on the topic, I’ll be honest. I find you extremely suspicious.”
“W-why am I suspicious?”
“Forgive me, but it’s hard to believe that an ordinary person could survive over two weeks in the Goemi Cave.”
“Do you have to say it like that?!”
A verbal sparring match ensued between Yoo Ji-han and the others.
But he remained firm in his thoughts.
“If you’re going to insist on following her, then from now on, my party will separate from the exploration team.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“We are heroes. Blindly following an ordinary person’s opinion, without knowledge of how much time has passed outside in a place like this, isn’t a smart choice.”
“Phew…”
Kang Si-wook sighed, faced with Yoo Ji-han’s firm stance.
Upon reflection, his argument wasn’t entirely wrong.
Kang Si-wook glanced back and forth between the woman in hiking gear and Yoo Ji-han.
“Let’s follow Ji-han.”
“But…!”
“I will not accept counterarguments. Ji-han’s reasoning has merit as well. However, do keep in mind that if any harm occurs while exiting this Goemi Cave, we may hold your party accountable to some degree.”
The woman, ignored in the discussion, glared at Yoo Ji-han.
But with the decision-maker standing firm, there was nothing she could do.
“Next is this way…”
“No, it’s this way.”
“……”
From then on, the paths chosen by the woman and Yoo Ji-han diverged.
Each time, Kang Si-wook sided with Yoo Ji-han.
Since they would be held responsible for any damage incurred, it made sense to support him further.
Thanks to this, Yoo Ji-han could only press forward in the direction indicated by the sampling.
And then it happened again.
“Damn it, seriously!”
Another fork in the road had appeared.
As the previously subdued woman in hiking gear suddenly shouted and dashed ahead.
All were astonished by her sudden action, and Yoo Ji-han spoke to her.
“Why are you cursing?”
“Are you really going to keep doing this?”
“Yes, I will.”
“You crazy bastard…!”
Her tone and behavior had become oddly bold.
Shaking her head in exasperation, she sprinted ahead.
That was the direction Yoo Ji-han had been trying to avoid.
Tsu-tsu-tsu—
It was a passage so narrow that a person couldn’t possibly fit through.
But holding something in her hands, she passed right through the tight gap.
‘Artifact?’
Given the magical aura emanating from it, what she was holding was likely an artifact.
At that moment, the heroes, still failing to comprehend the situation, tilted their heads in confusion.
Whip! Whip! Whip!
Strange whistling sounds emanated from the direction she had entered.
Sensing an odd atmosphere, the heroes held their breaths and looked forward.
Rustle—
Though still invisible, they could hear the sounds of Goemi approaching from the front.
It was not just one or two.
“Back up!”
At Kang Si-wook’s urgent shout, everyone retreated.
It would be disadvantageous to fight Goemi in such a cramped space.
Fortunately, there was a wide room behind them, like the food storage.
The heroes took positions there and awaited the Goemi that would soon emerge.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
The Goemi appeared, making clattering sounds with their jaws.
Among them were soldier Goemi, regular Goemi, and worker Goemi mixed together.
And from the innermost part, as the narrow passage was being destroyed, emerged…
“The Queen Goemi.”
She was the queen of this Goemi Cave.
With a notably gigantic form and wings attached to her back!
Indeed, she was the highest being in this Goemi Cave.
“Aha! The wicked heroes shall back down!”
“……?!”
The woman in hiking gear who had darted ahead a moment ago was perched atop the head of the queen Goemi.
‘What’s that?’
She looked completely delighted and was not attacked by the other Goemi.
Instead, it felt like she was commanding them from the highest position.
Kim Si-hu doubted his own eyes.
“Is she really human?”
“……”
Whether the woman riding on the queen Goemi was human was a question Yoo Ji-han couldn’t easily answer.
Perhaps she was a monster wearing the guise of a human.
“I’ll fight here.”
Kang Si-wook made the decision to confront them.
At a glance, there were 40 to 50 visible Goemi.
Even the Rank 4 party, who had been observing from the back, couldn’t refrain from joining the fight.
“I’ll move with my party members.”
“Understood.”
“Si-hu, cast a light spell on me.”
“Yes!”
Yoo Ji-han split away from Kang Si-wook’s party to stick with Kim Si-hu.
Kang Si-wook’s expression was somewhat regretful about it but did not object.
Clack! Clack!
Due to the number of Goemi, the clattering sounds echoed together.
As Kang Si-wook kept a close watch on their movements, he yelled, “Attack!”
[Light]
While the Rank 4 Mages lit up the interior with Light magic, the warriors rushed toward the Goemi.
The Rank 3 Mages prepared for multi-casting, using light magic while simultaneously conjuring other spells.
Swish!
The first one to hunt a Goemi was Yoo Ji-han.
Looking down at the creature he had taken out, illuminated by the light magic Kim Si-hu had cast…
“……!”
It resembled a regular Goemi but had a slight reddish hue to its body.
Had his uneasy prediction come true?
Recalling past memories, as he identified the creature, he shouted, “There’s a Fire Goemi mixed in!”
“What?!”
That was none other than a Rank 3 Monster known as the Fire Goemi.
A monster that expels a far more potent acid than the ordinary formic acid emitted by common fire ants.
‘These guys are too dangerous.’
Just a single drop upon contact could cause a burning pain like being set ablaze.
They might be even more dangerous than the Queen Goemi!
If they weren’t eliminated first, they would pose a significant threat.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Wait…!”
Yoo Ji-han charged forward, not waiting for Kang Si-wook’s response.
Rustle—!
Within the dark Goemi Cave.
Relying on the faint light, Yoo Ji-han’s sword accurately sliced at the Fire Goemi’s weak point.