Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Haejin was lazy, but he wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.

Maybe his previous shot had missed, but this time, the bullet he had carefully aimed did not.

Kieeeek!!

A clean headshot!

The Red Goblin’s skull was pierced, and it crashed face-first onto the ground.

Haejin brought over his long spear to check it, and his mouth slowly fell open.

“Holy shit... You’re still alive like that?”

Even with a bullet hole through its head and blood mixed with brain matter pouring out.

The Red Goblin kept stubbornly breathing and twitching.

Its vitality was astonishingly tenacious.

He almost felt sorry for the other ‘ordinary’ Hunters who had to fight these things in close combat.

“Tch. Go on, then.”

Safety always came first.

From inside the safe zone, he repeatedly stabbed it with the long spear until it finally stopped breathing.

Afterward, he and Pasu hooked the corpse with the spear and dragged it back as well.

The entire hunt had taken barely three minutes.

And in that time, he had earned ten million won.

“Kyaa... Beautiful.”

Coming back into the dangerous Dungeon had definitely been the right choice.

One monster secured.

But one at a time was far too unsatisfying.

‘One by one is too slow. I need to herd them.’

Red Goblins normally moved in groups.

The one he had killed was only a scout.

There had to be a larger group nearby.

‘Meaning I need bigger aggro.’

The camper van’s horn alone wouldn’t be enough to call the entire pack.

Which meant he needed something bigger and more spectacular.

After thinking briefly, Haejin pulled out one of the magic scrolls he had bought in the Hunting City.

‘I’m not a Mage, so I can’t use magic normally. But with this.’

He gulped down a mana potion and proudly raised the scroll.

It contained one of the basic elemental spells, ‘Light.’

Gathering the mana he had forced into himself with the potion, he tore the scroll apart.

At that moment.

Fwoooosh--

“Agh!”

The Light spell activated, exploding with far more brilliance than he expected.

The cavern instantly brightened.

Squinting through the glare, he tried to inspect the structure as much as possible.

What the light revealed was far larger and more complicated than expected.

Rather than a mere cave, it was a sprawling, winding space almost on the scale of an underground city.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

‘Holy shit. What is that?’

The instant the area brightened, something became visible in the distance.

Red Goblins.

But there weren’t only one or two.

There were at least ten.

And even worse, in their center stood a much larger individual. A vicious-looking monster holding a staff.

‘A Red Goblin Shaman... Isn’t that thing basically a mid-boss?!’

They spotted Haejin.

And then.

Kerurururuk!!

At the Shaman’s command, they charged like mad.

“OH SHIT!!”

Apparently, he had pulled a little too much aggro.

* * *

Red Goblins were infamous for killing many Hunters.

Their tenacious vitality was dangerous enough, but what made them truly frightening was their intelligence.

They possessed intelligence comparable to a seven-year-old child, so instead of blindly charging like beasts, they thought and coordinated attacks.

Humans weren’t the only intelligent creatures in a world filled with monsters.

Exactly like now.

-Keruru, kerura, keruri!

The Goblin Shaman raised its staff and began chanting something.

Mana flashed, and soon the movements of the other Goblins became noticeably faster and sharper.

‘A buff? Damn it!’

The Red Goblins came rushing forward at terrifying speed, shrieking keruk-keruk.

Haejin and Pasu hurriedly ran back into the safe zone.

Keruk-?!

Within seconds, the Goblin swordsmen caught up.

They stabbed with sharp obsidian blades reinforced by mana, but fortunately, they couldn’t pierce the safe zone.

But it was far too early to relax.

“Kerrak!”

When the swords failed, the Goblin Shaman issued another command.

Archers hidden in the rear stepped forward and drew their bows.

Fwishfwishfwish---!

Dozens of arrows flew toward Haejin.

Obsidian arrowheads said to easily penetrate enchanted armor.

But these, too.

Clatterclatter.

Simply shattered helplessly against the invisible wall.

‘Oh-ho.’

Neither sword strikes nor arrows could get through.

Unable to watch any longer, the Shaman stepped forward itself.

Mana swirled together at the end of its staff, then formed into a blazing ball of flame.

‘Fireball?!’

A 1st-Circle spell possessing destructive power that couldn’t be ignored.

And if detonated inside an enclosed cave, the damage would be even greater.

“Pasu, get back!”

“Whine!”

Haejin took Pasu and ran behind the camper van for cover.

The Shaman finished chanting and fired the enormous fireball.

BOOOOM-!

The explosion was loud enough to shake the entire cavern.

Even the shock alone left Haejin’s ears ringing.

But when the cloud of dirt and smoke finally settled.

-Keruk?!

“Whoa, holy shit!”

The Shaman and Haejin both stared wide-eyed.

Amazingly, the camper van had suffered no damage at all.

Not even the heat of the Fireball—or a single speck of dust from the blast—had entered the safe zone.

Complete protection.

A level of absurdity more than worthy of the word invincible!

“Kyaaaaaaa!!”

The furious Shaman went berserk and fired spells again and again.

Another Fireball, gravity magic that dropped stalactites from the ceiling, even a debuff curse chanted directly at Haejin.

Every kind of attack was completely nullified.

Haejin watched with his mouth hanging open.

“This really is... actual invincibility.”

Without intending to, he had even tested the full performance of his Skill.

The Shaman had frightened him badly at first, but looking at it now, there was absolutely no reason to be afraid.

‘This is great. Really great. This is an opportunity!’

The Goblin Shaman had exhausted all its mana and was panting heavily.

The Red Goblins that had continued attacking also looked tired.

‘A chance for a mass hunt and power-leveling. Right now!’

You bastards stay right there.

Haejin shouted boldly at them before running into the camper van.

He disappeared completely, then came running back out around five minutes later.

The confused Goblins tilted their heads, question marks practically floating above them.

In Haejin’s hand was a glittering magic scroll.

‘Being able to go back and forth this easily is so convenient.’

In the meantime, Haejin had quickly visited the Hunting City.

He had boldly spent a staggering fifty million won to buy one precious scroll.

An advanced 2nd-Circle spell.

A scroll containing ‘Lightning Storm.’

‘They said it was an incredibly powerful wide-area lightning spell.’

But high-level scrolls weren’t merely expensive.

Ordinary Awakened couldn’t use them.

Only Hunters awakened into Mage-type classes—and even then, only those with matching mana attributes—could activate them.

Why? Because it required electrical energy to operate.

And an absurd amount of electricity at that.

But Haejin had a method.

“Whew... Let’s do this.”

Gulp- Gulp- Gulp-!

He began drinking mana potions like crazy.

A revolting taste and smell filled his mouth.

Since he wasn’t a Mage and was forcing mana into himself, mana sickness struck and his head spun.

Even through the dizziness, Haejin kept drinking until he was just barely below the point where his mana would go out of control.

‘Whew... Good. This should barely satisfy the conditions needed to activate the scroll itself.’

He had forcibly met the requirements.

But using the scroll right now would still be equivalent to throwing fifty million won onto the ground.

Haejin wasn’t a Mage and had no mana circuits.

At best, forcing it would produce a few thin bolts of lightning. At worst, mana backlash could make him bleed from every orifice and die.

But? This was where the trick came in.

‘Fully Operational Property.’

[Fully Operational Property]

-Electricity, gas, water, and other living infrastructure function normally without limit in property owned by the user.

-However, energy charges and utility bills must still be paid separately.

A Skill that let him use unlimited electricity, gas, and water.

What if he used that?

“Good. More of you gathered in the meantime, huh?”

Given a little time, the number of Red Goblins had increased.

They were furiously attacking the impenetrable barrier again, practically foaming with rage.

Haejin calmly counted them.

‘One Shaman. Twelve Red Goblins. If I kill them all?’

Even if he sold them cheap for a quick sale, that would still be at least 150 million won.

Greed gleamed in Haejin’s eyes after he finished the calculation.

‘LET’S GOOOOOO!!’

Riiip-!

Staring at them, he tore the scroll apart.

The ‘Lightning Storm’ magic stored inside activated immediately.

Rumble!

Massive storm clouds gathered overhead, electricity crackling within them.

At the same time, the camper van’s engine began making an incredible amount of noise.

Electricity far beyond its original output was being generated and drained away at once.

‘Normally, it would’ve broken down ages ago.’

But breakdowns weren’t permitted while it was Haejin’s property.

The moment something failed, ‘My Comfortable Home’ repaired it, fuel automatically replenished, and the battery continued operating without end.

This was true perpetual motion.

Perhaps I’m the one who deserves this world’s Nobel Prize.

‘Hold on, my luxury camper van!’

The storm clouds grew even darker.

The battery kept operating despite spewing thick black smoke.

The Red Goblins merely screamed, unable to understand what was happening.

And then Haejin saw it.

“Keruk?!”

The Goblin Shaman’s expression twisted horribly as it realized something had gone terribly wrong.

But it was far too late.

Haejin gestured toward them and pulled the spell’s trigger.

“Strike.”

KRA-KA-KA-KA-BOOOOM-----!!!

Bright and dazzling enough to blind the eye.

Golden lightning poured down like a summer cloudburst.