NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60
Chapter 60. Goemi Cave (4)
The dampness of the underground and the sweat dripping from the heroes soaked their clothes.
Yoo Ji-han’s sword, chasing after the Fire Goemi, was becoming increasingly covered in the creatures’ bodily fluids.
That transparent yet sticky substance clinging to his weapon was far more unpleasant than his clothes being drenched in sweat.
However, the fact that his weapon was getting dirty was also a testament to the number of enemies he had defeated.
Pfft!
“Waaah—!”
“Ow, it’s hot!”
The Fire Goemi that appeared for the first time in Incheon.
Those hit by the exhaled Goemi acid couldn’t endure the pain and rolled on the ground.
Most of them were the Rank 4 Warriors fighting frantically.
Kang Si-wook sent the affected warriors as far back as possible.
Among them was someone who passed out even after receiving healing magic.
Pfft!
Then, a Fire Goemi that Yoo Ji-han hadn’t noticed sprayed Goemi acid at him as well.
Thanks to the darkness around, he only spotted the creature after it emitted the acid.
Judging that he couldn’t avoid the attack, he held his breath and protected his eyes.
He could bear the pain of it touching his skin, but his actions would be restricted if his vision was blocked.
Szzzzz—
A stream, similar to the Goemi bodily fluid but even more dangerous, touched his armor.
The acidic Goemi fluid slightly corroded the magic coating covering the Angry Yak’s leather surface.
However, it didn’t damage the leather itself.
‘I have to thank Ho-yeol.’
The leather from the Angry Yak had excellent defense, able to withstand the Goemi acid repeatedly, even aside from the coating.
Moreover, there was no infiltration of liquid through the gaps in the leather.
Yoo Ji-han felt grateful to Nam Ho-yeol for crafting good equipment, even if it had pushed him a bit.
Crack!
He pulled out the Goemi Ghost cocoon powder from his pouch.
“Everyone, watch out for the smell!”
He seemed to almost break the lid of the container as he opened it fiercely.
Then he sprinkled the powder towards the Goemi.
The room in Goemi Cave, which had poor air circulation, was instantly enveloped in a terrible stench.
“Ugh!”
“Stinky!”
Everyone but Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu, who had already somewhat gotten used to the smell, grimaced heavily.
It could have been a distraction in the midst of battle.
But then, it happened.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
The Goemi staggered backward, avoiding the yellowish powder that Yoo Ji-han had sprayed.
They seemed to be so disgusted that they were terrified.
‘Definitely effective.’
A temporary lull in the battle followed, marked by the powder scattered around.
Yoo Ji-han took a moment to catch his breath.
Kang Si-wook approached him, blowing air out of his nose due to the odor.
“Ahem! Is that the Goemi Ghost’s cocoon?”
“Correct.”
“You thought to bring that here…”
He looked at Yoo Ji-han with an amazed expression.
There weren’t many companies selling it to individual consumers, and aside from the research institute, it was rare to use such items in actual battles.
“We’ve almost dealt with all the Fire Goemi.”
“That seems to be the case.”
The reddish Fire Goemi had mostly been taken out by Yoo Ji-han.
Although several Rank 4 Heroes had been hit by Goemi acid and fainted, the heroes still held the advantage.
It was largely thanks to Kang Si-wook’s party effectively holding off the Queen Goemi.
Yoo Ji-han gazed at the woman riding atop the Queen Goemi and said, “It’s time to take down the queen.”
“The legs are quite sturdy, so they won’t cut easily. It’s also tough to chase her when she’s flying.”
Kang Si-wook’s party attempted to chop off the massive legs of the Queen Goemi.
However, the hard exoskeleton covering her entire body prevented them from even cutting off a single leg.
Moreover, they had no special means of attack other than magic when she soared upwards.
When she committed to flying, even Kim Si-hu would struggle to chase her down with magic.
“I’ll make her fall.”
“…Is that actually possible?”
“Yes.”
It was an extremely risky move.
But having seen Yoo Ji-han’s remarkable feats of defeating many Goemi, Kang Si-wook was convinced he could trust him.
“And the woman up there will be regarded as an enemy.”
To regard her as an enemy meant that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, just like a monster.
Kang Si-wook nodded in agreement with his opinion.
It was hard to consider whatever was riding the monster to be human.
“What are you all doing?! Attack!”
The woman screamed at the Goemi that had retreated.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
The Goemi, realizing that the powdered Goemi Ghost’s cocoon was merely a threat, sensed danger.
Thinking a predator had appeared, they became furious upon realizing they had been tricked.
“I’m going in!”
Boom!
[Haste]
Yoo Ji-han summoned a Sylph from his pocket and nimbly jumped toward the wall.
Then, using his foot to kick off the wall, he attempted to leap higher onto the back of the Queen Goemi.
Flap!
However, the Queen Goemi fluttered her wings and rose to a height above him.
“Haha! Where do you think you’re climbing on?”
The woman riding the queen laughed at Yoo Ji-han.
By then, the chance to land had already floated away.
At that moment, Yoo Ji-han used Wind Bomb beneath his feet.
[Wind Bomb]
Whoosh—!
His body, which should have fallen, was lifted upwards for a brief moment.
It was as if he were flying in the sky, if only for an instant.
The startled queen flew off in another direction.
But Yoo Ji-han, continuously using Wind Bomb, finally managed to stomp on the queen’s back.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
How dare a mere human climb onto the body of the precious queen!
The Queen Goemi, annoyed, revved up her flying speed with a growl from her jaw.
Flap flap flap—!
She darted around the room at an incredibly fast speed with her wings spread wide.
She dove quickly, then soared again, spinning in the air several times…
She made every effort to shake off the human from her back.
“Ugh!”
But Yoo Ji-han held on with both hands, clinging to her body.
It felt like riding a dangerous roller coaster without a seatbelt!
Even amidst this, his recently enhanced sense of balance allowed him to maintain his center of gravity.
And whenever there was an opportunity, he approached her left wing slowly and grasped his sword with his left hand.
Slash!
As Yoo Ji-han swung the sword, a small wound appeared on her wing.
Not stopping there, he continued to swing the sword until multiple holes were pierced into her transparent wing.
The air whooshed through the torn holes, preventing her massive body from soaring high enough.
Ultimately, the queen’s body began to sink slowly toward the ground.
“Now!”
The moment they had been waiting for, Kang Si-wook’s party rushed toward the location where the queen was descending.
As soon as her legs touched the ground, they focused their attacks on the leg that hit the ground first.
Crack!
Then, with a surge of aura, Kang Si-wook’s sword buried itself in the queen’s leg.
Once a wound was made, it wouldn’t be that difficult anymore.
The leg of the Queen Goemi was swiftly severed.
Clap! Clap!
With her unable to fly or walk, the other Goemi made desperate attempts to protect their queen, but couldn’t break through the defense line set by the other heroes surrounding her.
“Die already!”
Bam!
A storm of attacks rained down upon the Queen Goemi from the heroes.
The highest-ranking Goemi in the cave released her final breath and passed away.
“Ah, ah…!”
As the other heroes hunted down the remaining Goemi, Yoo Ji-han and Kang Si-wook’s party approached the woman who had been riding the Queen Goemi.
“Don’t come! Don’t come—!”
On the ground, she screamed in a frightened voice as she sat down.
Trying to crawl backward with her bottom dragging, she had already come up against the corpse of the deceased Queen Goemi behind her.
With a pitiful act of trembling, Kang Si-wook frowned and said, “Feels like we’ve become the villains here.”
“…”
Yoo Ji-han silently approached her.
Kim Si-hu’s magic, still illuminating the area around him, shone over the woman.
When she had been with the Queen Goemi, she had shouted excitedly, but now she couldn’t even meet Yoo Ji-han’s gaze.
“P-please… spare me…”
“How did you control the Goemi?”
“…”
“Why were you not attacked by the Goemi?”
“…”
Yoo Ji-han aimed his sword, dripping with Goemi bodily fluids, at her.
But she flinched in surprise yet ultimately remained silent.
“Nothing else to say?”
“…Please spare me.”
“Anything besides that.”
“Please spare me!”
It felt like talking to a machine.
Further conversation felt pointless.
Thud.
Yoo Ji-han dropped the sword to the ground.
“Please spare me!”
“I will spare you.”
“Spare me…!”
Thunk!
Yoo Ji-han’s upward swing landed a punch on her chin.
A textbook-perfect uppercut.
The moderate amount of force caused her to faint instantly.
‘He didn’t lie.’
Kindly, he had granted her request in a way.
After all, he didn’t kill her.
*
After the situation settled.
The raid party moved once more to exit the Goemi Cave.
“This way.”
Yoo Ji-han took charge of the navigation.
Since Moon Kyung-jin’s acquaintances knew that Yoo Ji-han had played the biggest role in the previous fight, they didn’t express any complaints.
Thus, the raid party exited the cave through a different hole from the entrance in about thirty minutes.
“Let’s head to the entrance.”
They quickly moved toward the location of the MA entrance.
Even though they had defeated the Queen Goemi inside the cave, they couldn’t say that all the Goemi hiding in the mountains had been dealt with.
With all the commotion from earlier, something must have happened outside too.
And as expected, there were piles of Goemi corpses at the MA entrance.
“There are many injured.”
Kim Si-hu looked at the medical personnel running around.
He also spotted heroes using healing magic on severely injured patients.
It was evident that a significant number of Goemi had attacked this place.
Sirens—
The loud sound of ambulances slowly faded away.
They were already transporting other patients away from here.
‘Were there genuinely survivors?’
Yoo Ji-han spotted people in hiking gear being carried on stretchers.
They seemed to be real survivors who had escaped the Goemi Cave, not like the woman they encountered.
“Ji-han! Si-hu!”
As Kang Si-wook handed the unconscious woman over to the Hero Department, the retired soldier Won Yeong-guk ran toward Yoo Ji-han.
Kim Si-hu asked him, “Did you fight here?”
“Yes! The Goemi attacked from both sides.”
The Goemi that had dug tunnels leading outside did not flee but instead overwhelmed the MA entrance with the rest.
The remaining heroes and soldiers fought back and emerged victorious.
“Look at this!”
Won Yeong-guk pointed somewhere.
It was a space piled high with Goemi corpses.
He proudly tapped his chest a few times and said, “I took out all of those.”
“Wow….”
“That’s quite impressive, even compared to any hero.”
Won Yeong-guk had captured more Goemi than any other soldier dispatched to the site.
It was said that combining the number taken by other soldiers wouldn’t even compare to what he had soloed.
“The Hero Department will definitely grant you some sort of award vacation! Combining with your remaining leave, it seems the moment you return to base, you’ll be heading out again.”
“That’s great to hear.”
“Thanks to all of you for teaching me well.”
Won Yeong-guk bowed his head towards Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu.
“I’ll continue to support you even after I’m discharged. I’ll create a fan cafe!”
“Haha… sure.”
Just a fan cafe for a guild with only two members.
It felt like an undeserved honor for their ranking.