Chapter 1407: Side Story 16
Chapter 1407 - Side Story 16
Soldier Tanks could not hide his excitement. He thought, ‘Lucky! My monthly salary is two million gold. You’re saying that you’ll give me 1.5 million gold monthly as a pension?’
The players in the area were in turmoil.
“That grandpa… I believe he used to be a member of the National Assembly.”
With this, Tanks was convinced that the old man's words were not false. From what he knew, being a member of the National Assembly was equivalent to someone at the level of a count. A person of such status was someone who never lied! Of course, he only thought about this because Tanks knew very little about lawmakers.
‘Denz Village has always been ranked last in the last ten thousand years.’
Was it because the instructors teaching the novices in Denz Village were incompetent? Not at all. Denz Village was just… unlucky.
As for the Goblin Subjugation, it was an event open to the public. As it was a tutorial for beginners and novices, broadcasting stations had sent drones to broadcast the entire process. Of course, there were only around five cameras, so it was impossible to capture the whole situation on the battlefield.
“Set the tip of my blade ablaaaaaaazeeee!!!” “Set my old age ablaaaaaaaaaazeeeeee!!!”
[No. Why are the grandpas… Lololololol.]
The viewers were left stunned.
[Wait. I came here to see the rookies~ So, why am I suddenly watching grandpas?]
[Can the grandpas even kill the goblins?]
They only heard about the appearance of the super rookies. They never received any information about their identities.
[The Goblin Defense Battle will begin soon.]
[Only after they successfully push back the goblin army will their hunting tutorial be considered a success.]
[The novices in the village with the highest score will receive 10,000 gold.]
“Kihyeeeeeeeeck!”
“Kihiiiiiiik!”
“Kihehehehe!”
The goblin army emerged from the distance. The goblins were only around 140 centimeters tall. However, seeing around 2,000 of them appear with rusty daggers, poisoned needles, and crude crossbows together made all of the novice players flinch and back away.
Ultimately, they were still novices. It had only been three hours since they started Athenae. Although they knew that they were inside a game, it was not that easy to just step forward and deal with the monsters just like that. As for the chairmen and presidents, they were shaking, but for an entirely different reason.
‘Ah. Let’s start this right away!’
‘I want to quickly let them know about how great we are! Let’s kill them right away and get some attention!’
‘My blood is boiling! I can feel my youth, my sixty-year-old youth!’
However…
“Grandpas! Please don’t get too scared. We will protect you!”
“Haaa… these old codgers. No matter how you look at this, they’re a bother.”
“What are you saying?”
“Ah. What do you mean by 'protect'? Take care of yourselves first.”
“For real? You guys are pretending to be strong again.”
The novice players, the same ones who laughed at them, were the first to choose to stand in front of them when they realized that things were about to hit the fan.
“Ah! These reckless bastards! We have to hunt!”
“Uwoooooooh! Let’s protect the grandpas!”
The novice players were strangely motivated.
[The goblins’ attacks will now begin.]
“Kihehehehehehe!”
The goblins charged forward, their eyes red and filled with frenzy. Among the novice players, some chose to block the chairmen and presidents while the others decided to shoot arrows with their bows from the back.
Alas, they couldn't hit the targets. After all, they were novices who could not accurately judge the distance and aim properly.
“A-aaaaaaaaaah!”
Those who stood at the forefront were left terrified. They even lost their will to fight. The soldiers stationed throughout the area grabbed their weapons tightly. Even Tanks did the same.
[Ah. Again?]
[The soldier hyungs will probably save the scared novices again, huh? Haaaaa.]
[Hey. You guys were like that too! Lololol.]
Every subjugation had always been like this. Whenever the novices lost their will to fight, they would be pushed back by the goblins. Then, the soldiers would step up and leave them half-dead. Then, they would bring them to the novice players, and encourage them while teaching them how to hunt. Considering the players' inexperience, their defensive power was higher than usual. This was so they would not die so easily.
The pack of goblins and the novice players clashed.
Swoosh!
“Kihehehehehe! Kek! Kek!”
“Uwaaaah! Don’t come here! I said Don’t come here! Heoook!”
The goblins jumped and stuck to the novices’ upper bodies and stabbed them with their rusty daggers. Some shot themselves with their poisoned needles while the others fired their crude crossbows.
“Uwaaah!”
“Keheok!”
“It… it hurts!”
However, the truth was that their HP did not fall that much. It was simply that the fear these monsters had instilled had left the players confused.
At that moment, a young man named Ji-Hoon gathered his courage. He looked back.
“Ah. Shit. Even so, we still have to protect the grandpas… Keheeok!”
Unfortunately, a stone axe hit him and made him scream. Despite the pain, Ji-Hoon still cried out, “G… Grandpas… please get out of here. We’ll buy time…”
“What’s with this kid’s tongue?”
“No. Why are you guys blocking the path?”
“What? Get out? Why? Ah, just don’t get in the way!”
Ji-Hoon pushed several of the goblins away with his own body.
“No matter what, I will protect you, grandpas!!! I will definitely protect you… aaaaahh!”
Ji-Hoon rushed forward. He had never been good at anything in his life. However, he learned ethics and morality! At that moment, several stone axes and poisoned needles flew toward Ji-Hoon. However…
Thwack!
Someone slapped Ji-Hoon on the back of his head. The force of the slap sent Ji-Hoon reeling. This resulted in him narrowly escaping the stone axes and poisoned needles flying his way.
In the end, Chairman 5 had to raise his voice and shout, “Argh! Young man, are your ears working, huh?! I told you to stop getting in the way!”
“Yes? No. What? But… but we have to protect the grandpas…”
“You’re the ones who need protecting. Oy, old friends, what are you doing?”
Clack!
At that moment, the sound of a bullet being loaded rang.
“Kihehehehehehe!”
“Kyaaaaack!”
One of the goblins ran toward a girl, who seemed to be still in middle school, with a stone axe in hand.
Thud!
With one shot, the middle of the goblin’s brows were pierced through. It died just like that.
Chairman 6, Park Tae-Soo, also known as the Godly Marksman, stepped forward. With every step he took, he would load his gun, aim, and fire another shot.
Thud!
Tae-Soo only needed around 0.8 seconds to complete the process of loading, aiming, and firing. With every pull of the trigger, he would shoot through the head of a goblin. He had killed six goblins just by walking forward.
“Heok! What the hell?”
“Oooooooh?!”
“Wow. Shit!”
The players who were about to die in the goblins’ hands were suddenly given a new lease of life. Finally, Tae-Soo stood in the forefront of the battlefield. He stood there and continued to fire his gun.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s Kim Du-Han looked at the goblins that got through the defense line and shouted, “You bastards! Are you picking on the babies!?”
For these old men, even those who were in their mid-forties, were nothing but babies. Pyongyang’s Kim Du-Han raised his fist and punched a goblin in the head, causing it to explode.
[Critical!]
Even novices could get a critical hit as long as they hit the correct spot.
“Just… just one hit?”
“Impossible…”
What was the difference between the grandpas and the other players? Novice players’ five basic stats were generally at five points. Many of the chairmen and presidents had created a record in the scarecrow training grounds and became the first to achieve full marks. As a result, they gained five additional points in each of their five basic stats. In other words, the grandpas were twice as strong as the other novice players.
Swoosh!
Fwoosh!
“Kihehehehe! Kueeck!”
The goblins were slowly being torn apart and dismantled in the hands of Pyongyang’s Kim Du-Han. It was astounding.
Then came Chairman 8, the former member of the National Assembly. He took on an unusual route.
“Soldiers!”
Tanks looked at him in confusion.
“Leave those goblins half-dead for me! I will give you 100,000 gold for every goblin that you bring here! It’s a promise! A promise!”
Of course, he had never kept a single promise in his life. Blinded by the money offered and promised by Chairman 8, Tanks and the rest of the soldiers moved out and incapacitated the goblins. They even brought the half-dead goblins before Chairman 8 proudly.
“You nasty squirts!” Chairman 8 shouted excitedly as he killed the already half-dead goblins one after another.
As for Flaming Arrow?
“Ah. This old friend, you must have forgotten what Minhoo told us, huh?”
Were they senile? Minhoo had told them to speak cool lines while hitting the enemies.
“I will take your lives…? Huh? What was it again…?”
Unfortunately, he could not remember.
“Anyway! Just take this arrow! Go!”
Thud!
The arrow pierced through the middle of the brows of a charging goblin. Flaming Arrow ran forward while shooting his bow, sweeping away any goblins that blocked his path.
Bang!
Thud!
Clack!
Clang!
The Godly Marksman, Park Tae-Soo, continued to load his gun and fire away.
Thud!
Thud!
Flaming Arrow did not get left behind as he continuously shot his bow. The two old men stood back to back in the middle of the battlefield as they continued to kill the enemies coming their way.
“Hey! Kill the bastards that pop out in that direction!”
“Old friends! Come to me! Hey! Have your fingers grown old too?!”
The chairmen and presidents gathered around Godly Marksman and Flaming Arrow. They surrounded the two and protected them while eliminating the goblins that were able to get past the raining bullets and arrows.
Just like that, an impenetrable fortress was formed, ready and waiting for the charging goblin army.
[Wait… What am I looking at…?]
[What the hell is this…?]
[I… I’m freaking blown away…]
An unbelievable scene was unfolding before everyone. The novice players, who were supposed to hunt, stared at the group of old men with blank expressions on their faces.
Meanwhile, the chairmen and presidents all felt a thrill run down their spines.
‘Ah! This is wonderful!’
‘So, this is what the attention-seeking that child named Conir was talking about?’
‘Hoho! My youth is blazing! It’s blazing!’
Then…
[You have successfully completed the defensive battle.]
[The goblins are running away.]
[Denz Village ranks first out of the hundreds of novice villages that participated.]
“Eh?”
“What?”
“No! What the hell?! We haven’t warmed up yet!”
The chairmen and presidents were all left dumbfounded.
One of the players shouted, “Grandpas! The Goblin Defense Battle is over now. We have to go back now…”
Alas, the chairmen and presidents did not heed their advice. They even started to run after the escaping goblins.
“Nonsense! It’s like the toilet breaking down while I’m taking a shit!”
“What the hell is this? Why does this look like someone cleared the table already when I only got the first bite of the meal that my daughter-in-law prepared?!”
“Ah. But is it alright to do something like this?”
“Old men generally don’t listen to their kids.”
“That’s not true!”
“We use the pedestrian lane when crossing the street!”
The chairmen and presidents suddenly stopped in their tracks.
“Anyway, it’s all because of this gasbag!”
“You punk! You’re the reason why we’re being humiliated!”
“You’re the only one who crosses the road carelessly! You gasbag!”
“Anyway, this traitor really can’t break his old habit!”
“A guy your age who still jaywalks is the problem! You even use your age as leverage!”
After scolding each other, they began to run again.
[What just happened…]
[I have never seen anything like this before…]
[No. They just slaughtered them when we told them that we would defend and protect them!]
[G… grandpas?]
Godly Marksman constantly pulled the trigger on his gun.
Flaming Arrow continued to shoot arrows.
Pyongyang’s Kim Du-Han chased after the goblins and beat them black and blue.
Because of this, the fleeing goblins suddenly turned around and ran back to where they were.
[Keok?!]
[What the…?]
[No! Why!]
Then, a notification rang in everyone’s ears.
[The Goblin Defense Battle has been changed.]
[The Goblin Massacre has started.]
[Please slaughter all of the goblins that come your way.]
[If you kill all of the goblins, all of the players who participated will obtain 1 STR and 10,000 gold.]
[The first fifty players with the highest contributions in the massacre of the goblins will receive five points in each of their five basic stats.]
[You will be provided with potions and items that will help you hunt more goblins.]
The viewers were all stunned.
[Oh shit… A +5 in all five basic stats?]
[Those old men are the super rookies, right? If they get the rewards this time, then they will have 10 additional points for every basic stat at just Level 1?]
[If they succeed here, will they be hailed as the Supreme Grandpas?!]
[Well, it won’t be easy… there’s still around two thousand goblins left.]
At that moment, Chairman 8, the former member of the National Assembly, stepped forward. He looked at the novice players who were still standing with blank looks on their faces. Then, he cleared his throat and said, “The people of our nation… Ah, that’s not it. Everyone! How about this? If you hunt the goblins with us, then I will promise that we will do something for you later?!”
“Ooooh?! Really?”
“Ah. Of course! Do you not believe me?”
“Uwoooooh!”
“Right! He’s a former member of the National Assembly. There’s no way that he would lie, right?”
The novice players became motivated.
“If you kill them all, then you will also get 1 STR and 10,000 gold!”
“Alright!”
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s be brave and do it!”
Chairman 8 walked next to Godly Marksman Tae-Soo.
Tae-Soo asked, “What are you going to do for them later?”
“Ah. Why are you asking something so obvious? Didn’t I say it? I will do it for them later.”
“When’s later?”
“After I die. Hohoho!”
With the participation of the other novice players, the goblins began to die at a faster rate.
[Wow. This is the first time I have seen something like this…]
[This is the first time that something like this happened in the Goblin Defense Battle…]
But that was not the end.
“Kehaaaaaaaaack!”
Ring!
[The Goblin King has appeared!]
[Goblin King. Level 23.]
[The one who will successfully hunt the Goblin King will receive rewards.]
With a rusty sword in one hand, donning ragged leather armor, with a completely different appearance than ordinary goblins, the Goblin King, who stood at 170 centimeters tall, appeared.
[OMG? What the hell is that?]
[Goblin King? I haven’t seen that before…]
Anyway, a scenario that no one had ever seen before was unfolding.