## Chapter 5 – Kobold Hunt
I gripped my sword tightly, surveying the surroundings. Kobolds, with their ant-like society, had higher-ranking individuals called [Kobold Warriors] in addition to the [Kobold Workers]. I searched for them, but it seemed there was no commanding presence.
That was a relief.
It was a bit strange that the stupid kobolds were doing this without being ordered. But considering that people with more brains than kobolds still do dumb things, it wasn’t a big deal. In fact, whether they were ordered or doing it on their own, what did it matter? There was no need to worry about such trivial things.
Come to think of it, could the kobold wearing the hood that I killed earlier have been the leader? I’m a man with frighteningly good instincts.
After roughly figuring out the escape route and the absence of a commanding presence, I immediately picked up a pebble and hurled it with all my might at the head of a kobold who was kneading mud.
“Magic Bolt!”
—BBAAK.
My Magic Bolt exploded.
Originally, pebbles were the most powerful weapon in human history after arrows. It was just my personal theory, but my full-force throw had the power equivalent to [Magic Bolt], a basic attack spell of a 1st circle mage. I had honed my throwing skills whenever I had the chance because it was the simplest and most effective attack. I used to play baseball, too.
—Gyureet!
The kobold, hit directly in the head with the pebble, screamed in all directions and collapsed.
As the guy screamed, the surrounding kobolds were distracted, and I took advantage of the fact that they hadn’t recognized me yet to rush towards the idol.
“Die! You rat bastards!”
Only then did one of the kobolds notice me, baring its teeth and turning its head towards me, but it was already too late. My full-force soccer kick, accelerated, had deeply embedded itself in the guy’s back.
—Kyureuk!
The guy vomited black blood and flew to the idol, crashing into it.
—Gyu, Gyusat! Gyusasat!
—Gyusatgyusat!
—Gyusaaaaaaat!
The panicked kobolds chattered among themselves and then charged at me. But these rookie bastards couldn’t stop Kim Katte, the human tank. I picked up the hind leg of the half-dead kobold that had crashed into the idol and started a giant swing.
“Trash!”
The charging kobolds flew away like bowling pins. After having some fun with the giant swing, I threw the poor kobold I was holding at the other guys. The guy flew like a missile, colliding with another kobold and rolling on the floor.
“Sister!”
At my signal, Eliza threw an oil flask at the idol. Clang! The bottle broke, splashing oil, and then a low prayer was heard.
“With the light, He shall come!!!”
That’s a powerful prayer.
“Light Bolt!”
—Puhbung!
The sphere of light that flew touched the oil, and flames soared with a small explosion.
Wait, was that skill fire-attribute? I was sure it was light-attribute. Before the idol completely burned down, I cut the wooden stick used as the flagpole with my sword and knocked the flag down.
—Gyu, Gyusaat…!
The kobolds’ reaction to that was pure shock.
—Kyussaaaaaaaat!!!
The kobolds, as if their own mother had been cut in two, let out a sorrowful cry and charged at me all at once in a rage. It was a far more ferocious charge than before.
As if they were in their own territory, a dungeon, the kobolds, with steam coming out of their heads, seemed to have forgotten that this wasn’t their cave but the open outdoors. I found that very amusing.
“You guys can’t beat me.”
Weakling Oppression.
On.
I’m an ultra-manly man who becomes infinitely strong in front of the weak.
There’s bonus damage when fighting the weak, but conversely, there’s bonus damage received when fighting the strong. I self-hypnotize myself in that way. That way, I can bravely rule in front of these weaklings! That’s Weakling Oppression! Adventurers who are looked down upon by those weaker than them die early! So, at least in front of the weak, I will become a confident Kim Katte!!!
—Gyusasat!
I fed the sole of my foot to the face of the guy running in the lead.
—Kwaang!
The guy couldn’t overcome the speed at which he was running and fell backward, his neck broken, and then I slashed the shoulder of the guy who followed him with a horizontal cut. After confirming that the guy’s upper body was half-cut and falling, I immediately stowed my sword and thrust forward.
—Pook!
I grabbed the mouth of the kobold whose carotid artery had been severed and threw him forward.
—Gyusaak…!
It was a massacre of the innocent.
It’s easier than I thought. I thought the limit was fighting about five at once, but I overestimated them because I was too worried.
But this isn’t because my combat power is high, it’s because these bastards are weak.
—Kyushwaat!
One of them jumped and tried to cling to me, but I crushed his balls with an uppercut, and he crashed to the ground while climaxing. Or was it not a climax but just a convulsion? I didn’t see a difference between the two.
“It’s over.”
I finished him off by stomping on the head of the guy crawling on the floor.
In an instant, five kobolds were wrecked by my hands. From the start, there was no need to be intimidated by guys who weren’t even half my height. Screw tactics, just push through with physical strength. I rampaged like a violent beast.
I relieved some stress for the first time in a while. As expected, people should only fight those weaker than themselves. That was the true nature of humans.
“Haha! Die, all of you!”
I swung my sword wildly again and cut down another guy.
This wasn’t the kobolds’ nest. It was open on all sides. It was still daytime, so it was bright all around, and there were no kobolds falling from the ceiling at all.
Since it was wide open, there was no need to worry about being surrounded, and above all, the surroundings were wide, so the escape route was perfect. The environment itself was different from an underground dungeon like an ant cave.
The guys who gave up that advantage were just insignificant existences, nothing more than pushovers.
I was excited and beat the kobolds up. I kicked them, punched them, slashed them with my sword, grabbed their hind legs and swung them around, and beat them all to a pulp. It was merciless. I had almost died when I entered a kobold cave in the past, so I had a lot of pent-up anger.
I unleashed that anger without filtering it.
They gradually turned into corpses in front of me.
“Techyaaaaaaaa!”
I let out a cry of joy. The surroundings were already full of kobold corpses.
“Katte-nim. This side is finished.”
After being excited and shouting for a long time, I heard Eliza’s voice.
“Huh? Already?”
I looked at Eliza, having just finished off the last kobold, and was shocked.
“Crazy…”
Eliza had set up a fresh meat shop, directly from the source, right on the spot.
The preparation was so perfect that it seemed like it would be perfect if she just hired a clerk to take orders… but no. Around Eliza, about ten kobolds with shattered heads and bulging eyes were wriggling on the floor, their brains oozing out.
It was nothing short of a slaughterhouse.
She had simply transformed the kobolds’ fun party into hell.
It could be said that she had a demonic talent.
“Sister, you’re very skilled! I’m impressed!”
I was genuinely impressed. Looking at the corpses, they all had their heads broken, so it seemed like she had dealt with them one by one. Should I change my weapon to a blunt one too? Actually, using a sword is a bit difficult.
Destroying and smashing might suit my temperament better than cutting and stabbing.
“Hehe… Katte-nim too.”
Eliza, smiling shyly, pulled out her dagger as usual and said. They say you’ll get your nose cut off even with your eyes open in Seoul, but Eliza was just cutting off the noses of the kobolds crawling on the ground. It was a truly terrifying religious ritual.
“Should I help you a little?”
I squatted next to Eliza, who was enthusiastically slicing off the kobolds’ noses, and asked.
“It’s okay. This is something I have to do myself. But thank you for your consideration.”
“Is that so?”
“More than that, Katte-nim.”
“Yes?”
“There’s blood in your ear…”
When I touched my ear with my palm, blood was on my hand. It seemed like a wound caused by a guy who climbed on my back during the fierce battle and scratched me. The wound was on the side of my head, above my ear, oh shit. This is bleeding more than I thought.
“Oh, oh shit! Blood, blood! There’s so much blood!”
“Wait a moment.”
—May the noble light atone for blood with blood…
“Cure.”
When Eliza, touching my ear, recited the prayer, light poured out and the pain subsided. It was Cure, the most representative skill of religious people. It was an innovative holy Madecassol that healed and disinfected wounds. I don’t know about the side effects, but anyway, it was a miraculous skill that healed wounds immediately.
To receive such treatment!
It’s so touching!!
“Ah! Such recovery power! Thank you, Sister!”
Touched, I expressed my gratitude intensely!
“It’s nothing.”
When I touched the wound, new flesh had indeed grown. Feeling infinite gratitude, I got up from my seat.
When I got up and checked my condition, it seemed like my armor had done its job well, so there were no other wounds. As expected, an adventurer’s success depends on their equipment. Because of the equipment, they kill well and don’t die easily.
“Anyway, they were bland opponents.”
“That’s certainly true. I didn’t think it would end this easily.”
“Well, it’s all thanks to the saintess’s virtue.”
I searched the kobolds’ corpses, but as expected, there was nothing to salvage.
If I had killed this many goblins, I would have hit the jackpot. Of course, if the opponent had been dozens of goblins, I would have been dead by now. They were smart enough to know how to use tools, so they were not easy opponents. Even if each one is a pushover, the ones with brains know how to gang up professionally. That’s what’s dangerous.
Eliza, who had finished cutting off all the noses, stood up. We looked at the burning idol.
“Can we just break this?”
“I agree.”
Certainly, at first, I was just planning to grab the flag and run away, but unexpectedly, the kobolds were so weak that I ended up killing them all.
“Ah, I’ll do it. Sister, please rest.”
“I can’t do that…”
“You used some spells too, shouldn’t you rest a little?”
I stopped Eliza, who was trying to break the idol. Now that I had received Cure, I couldn’t make Eliza do any more labor. Isn’t it the man’s job to do the heavy lifting?
“Th, that’s…”
“Yes?”
“I also want to break the idol… but…”
Eliza said shyly.
“Ah.”
Are you going to say it as if you’re breaking a sandcastle made on a beach?
“Haha! You’re so cool! Then let’s break it together!”
—Perbuck! Puck! Puck!
Eliza excitedly started breaking the idol. From the start, it was a crudely made idol by primitive guys, so destruction was very simple. With an unreadable smile, Eliza, unable to hold back her laughter, literally burst out and smashed the idol.
The sight of her being so excited made me stop halfway.
“Haa… haa… The God of Order will be pleased… Ah.”
In less than twenty minutes, the idol was completely smashed. Eliza, catching her breath, seemed to come to her senses and lowered her head, looking at me. Her face was very red.
“Did I show a little unsightly behavior?”
She’s just so cute.
“Unsightly behavior? People can get excited, you know.”
“…”
I unfolded the leather that was used as the flag and showed it to Eliza. I had taken care of it while Eliza was breaking the idol.
“Is this all we need to take?”
“Ah… yes.”
Eliza’s face brightened at the sight of the leather. I thought it would be good if Eliza got a good evaluation for taking this. Considering that I saved on medicine costs with Cure, Eliza seemed like my benefactor. No. She is my benefactor. From today, I will think of Eliza as my benefactor.
In the meantime, something else came into my sight.
“Hmm? Oh, right. Sister, should we take that too?”
I said, pointing to the kobold’s skull rolling on the floor. It was certainly an ominous thing that was placed on top of the idol like a star on top of a Christmas tree.
Seeing that there was a brain inside, it seemed like this was also part of the symbol.
“Of course. We will take this too.”
I wrapped the skull in leather and held both ends like a bundle. I tried to tie it, but it didn’t work out well. Anyway, the quest item is acquired. Now all that’s left is to return to the village. I desperately need the B key. Wow, shit, it’s so hard to make a living.
“Let’s go back now. But it seems a bit late.”
Looking at the sky, the sun was starting to set, it was already late afternoon. I need to go as far as I can. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do a night march. I should try to get to the castle walls if possible.
“It certainly seems late.”
“Hehehe. Time seems to have passed quickly because we were doing something enjoyable, Sister.”
Having finished preparing to return, we left behind the kobolds’ pagan gathering place, which had been transformed into a talent show and the bloody bottom of hell, and returned the way we came.
In that eerily transformed slaughterhouse, it seemed like the kobolds’ mournful cries and hateful curses could be heard.
