Jeong-min used Spatial Movement to get near the gate and put on his armor.
Light emanating from the bracelet enveloped Jeong-min's entire body, and soon Jeong-min stood there wearing silver armor from head to toe.
Jeong-min moved his body around to test it out.
'Maybe because my strength stat increased, I barely feel the weight. I'll be able to fight much more comfortably.'
Jeong-min, wearing the armor, picked up his sword and slowly started walking towards the gate.
The goblins gathered around the gate noticed Jeong-min's presence and showed signs of wariness before roaring and charging at him.
'Alright, let's begin'
Jeong-min swung his sword at the charging goblins.
One goblin fell with each swing. The goblins dropped to the ground as they rushed in.
Even the goblin champions that occasionally attacked were no different from regular goblins, falling helplessly before Jeong-min's sword.
Jeong-min swung his sword in a trance-like state.
Goblins surrounded him on all sides, densely packed, launching attacks at Jeong-min.
But even in the tight space, Jeong-min avoided all attacks while swinging his sword, and each time without fail, one or more goblins fell to the ground with holes in their bodies or cut in half.
'I can see all their attacks. And they're slow... must be the effect of training.'
After swinging his sword frantically, the area around him was littered with goblin corpses.
The goblins that had been surrounding Jeong-min had now widened their encirclement and were watching him from afar with fearful eyes.
"Phew..."
Jeong-min felt sweat running down his body.
"Trying to handle this alone is definitely a lot... Just how many are there? It seems like there are way more than the monsters at the gate we attacked earlier in Daesung..."
Jeong-min opened and closed the inventory gate to designate an exit point, then looked at the goblins surrounding him and said:
"Let's take a break and continue later. You guys take a break too." Jeong-min opened the base gate and went inside.
Once inside the inventory, Jeong-min first removed his armor.
His whole body felt very uncomfortable, drenched in sweat.
Jeong-min roughly wiped off the sweat and drank some water to replenish his fluids.
When he opened the inventory gate, he could see the battlefield where he had just been standing moments ago.
The goblins seemed to be looking around in confusion at Jeong-min's sudden disappearance, apparently searching for him.
"There are definitely more monsters than at the gate in front of Daesung Shelter... That gate had been sending goblins to fight Daesung continuously...
I guess this is to be expected."
After drinking water, Jeong-min put his armor back on.
"Well, I've had my rest... let's end this in the next round."
Jeong-min used Spatial Movement to appear next to a goblin champion outside the gate.
As soon as he appeared, he swung his sword and decapitated the goblin champion. Only then did the surrounding goblins notice Jeong-min and scatter in all directions with horrific screams.
Jeong-min chased after the fleeing goblins one by one, swinging his sword to cut off their heads.
'Come to think of it, I should try using the skill attached to the sword... I haven't used it even once, have I? Should I give it a try?'
Jeong-min decided to use the 'Strike' skill attached to 'Ruunan's Sword'.
A goblin champion hit by Jeong-min's sword was split in two and fell.
'It doesn't seem much different from just swinging normally? I should probably try it on monsters with stronger defenses... It seems meaningless to use on these goblins.'
Jeong-min stopped using the skill and continued slashing his enemies.
After slaughtering goblins for a while, a flash of light came from the gate and something began to walk out.
'Goblin Lord! I can see the end now.'
Jeong-min looked at the Goblin Lord walking out of the gate.
'It seems a bit smaller than the Goblin Lord that was fighting Daesung Shelter earlier? What's that in its hand... a staff?!'
It was a different-looking Goblin Lord from the one he had seen in the battle at Daesung.
A tall Goblin Lord with a skinny body showing no muscles at all.
Its entire body was adorned with animal bone fragments and what looked like teeth, and instead of a sword, it held a staff in its hand.
The Goblin Lord saw Jeong-min and let out a horrific scream, then raised its staff forward.
"!!"
After muttering something briefly, a fireball shot out from the staff and flew towards Jeong-min at high speed.
Jeong-min was startled and threw himself sideways, rolling on the ground.
BOOM!!
The fireball that had landed where Jeong-min had just been exploded with a huge sound, and the impact caused several goblins to catch fire and start jumping up and down.
Jeong-min got up from the ground, gritting his teeth.
"A Goblin Lord that uses magic?! Aren't all Goblin Lords supposed to be the same?"
Jeong-min, who had expected a dual-wielding Goblin Lord like the one he had seen earlier in Daesung, was bewildered.
At that moment, the staff-wielding Goblin Lord began muttering again, preparing to use magic.
'I can't give it time to cast spells!'
Jeong-min tried to use Spatial Movement to appear in front of the Goblin Lord, but he couldn't achieve his goal due to the goblins rushing at him.
The goblins, who had been fleeing in fear of Jeong-min's prowess, had shaken off their fear and started actively charging at him after the Goblin Lord appeared.
Due to the goblins and goblin champions densely surrounding him and blocking his view, Jeong-min couldn't move anywhere and could only swing his sword in place.
And then.
A Fireball flew towards the goblins entangled with Jeong-min.
BOOM!
The Fireball exploded with a huge blast, tearing apart the bodies of the goblins, and Jeong-min was also caught in the explosion's aftermath, rolling backwards.
"Urgh..."
Steam rose from the armor and a searing pain rushed through the inside.
As Jeong-min raised his head while getting up, he saw the Goblin Lord chanting another spell with a triumphant expression.
"I've got a clear view now. You bastard!"
Before the goblins could swarm in again, Jeong-min used Spatial Movement to appear right in front of the Goblin Lord.
Jeong-min swung his sword at the Goblin Lord simultaneously with his Spatial Movement.
The Goblin Lord, who had been chanting a spell, looked at Jeong-min with an expression of shock.
'Got him!'
CLANG!
Jeong-min's sword, which he was certain would cut the Goblin Lord, was blocked by something semi-transparent and bounced off.
'A shield?'
The semi-transparent thing shaped like a shield soon cracked and then shattered, disappearing into thin air.
Seeing this, the Goblin Lord looked very flustered and threw its body backwards.
And in that gap, the goblins rushed in again.
'I can't see anywhere to use Spatial Movement. In that case...'
With his view blocked again by the goblins, Jeong-min looked up at the empty space above the Goblin Lord's head and used Spatial Movement.
Jeong-min appeared about 5 meters above the Goblin Lord's head in mid-air.
Jeong-min raised his sword over his head as he fell.
The Goblin Lord failed to notice Jeong-min falling from above, but once again, a semi-transparent shield appeared to block Jeong-min's path.
'A normal attack will only yield the same result as before. I need to use a stronger attack!'
Jeong-min activated the 'Strike' skill as he swung his sword.
CRACK
Jeong-min's sword, imbued with the Strike skill, broke through the semitransparent shield as it passed through.
And it continued on to slice through the Goblin Lord below.
CRASH
"Urgh!"
Jeong-min, who had swung his sword while falling from the sky, rolled on the ground with a loud noise.
Enduring the pain surging through his body, Jeong-min got up and could see the corpse of the Goblin Lord, split from the crown of its head, lying on the ground.
"Phew... Using the Strike skill was the right answer."
Looking around, he could see the goblins, having lost their lord, fleeing in all directions in confusion.
"Now that I've killed the keeper... I should be able to destroy the gate... But before that..."
Jeong-min leaped into the fleeing goblin horde.
'Time to clean up the stragglers!'
Jeong-min chased after the fleeing goblins, slaughtering them.
Even using Spatial Movement to chase them, he couldn't catch all the goblins scattering and fleeing in all directions.
"Phew... I guess this is as far as I can go." Jeong-min looked around, catching his breath.
By now, the sun was setting.
Looking around, he could no longer see any living, moving goblins.
Jeong-min slowly walked towards the gate.
Approaching the gate, Jeong-min raised his sword over his head and swung it down with all his might.
Just like when he had seen the gate attack in Daesung, there was a sound of something shattering, and the gate disappeared.
Jeong-min stared at the spot where the gate had been and then sat down on the ground.
"Ha... That was tough. But I managed to destroy a D-rank gate all by myself..."
Jeong-min deactivated his armor while sitting down.
His clothes were soaked with sweat and stuck to his body, and he felt an extremely stinging pain.
"Ouch... Did I get burned? It stings so much..."
Jeong-min took out a low-grade potion from his inventory and gently applied it to his skin.
Hiss
"Ow, it stings..."
The skin where he applied the potion bubbled up with a burning sound, but soon a cool sensation spread, and the pain disappeared.
"I guess that's the basic treatment done... Wonder if there's anything worth salvaging?"
Jeong-min approached the Goblin Lord's corpse, which was split in two.
"Ah... Even though I did it myself, it's really unpleasant to look at..."
Jeong-min examined the Goblin Lord's corpse with a frown.
"The staff and... is there anything else?"
As he searched the corpse, Jeong-min found a ring on one of the Goblin Lord's fingers.
It was a simple, thin silver ring.
Jeong-min first used Eye of Appraisal to examine the staff.
"This is just an ordinary staff..."
Jeong-min tossed the staff on the ground and used Eye of Appraisal on the ring as well.
[Ring of Protection: Summons a shield to protect the ring's owner twice a day. (0/2)]
"Ohhh?!"
Jeong-min was very surprised by the message that appeared before his eyes.
"So this ring was the shield that blocked my sword earlier! If it says twice a day, does that mean the usage count will be recharged tomorrow?"
Jeong-min muttered, recalling the moment when the shield was created.
"During the second attack, the Goblin Lord didn't notice me falling and attacking from above. But the shield was still created. That means... this ring doesn't require the owner's will to use it, but activates automatically when the owner is in danger? This is... pretty good... To think such an amazing item would come from just a D-rank gatekeeper."
Jeong-min put the ring on his finger.
The ring, which was slightly loose at first, shrank on its own until it fit perfectly on Jeong-min's finger.
Jeong-min looked at the ring on his finger with satisfaction and then opened his status window.
"Status window"
The status window appeared before Jeong-min's eyes.
[Choi Jeong-min
Strength: 93(+30)
Vitality: 92(+20)
Agility: 89(+30)
Intelligence: 70(+10) [MP: 13/129]
Gold Held: 5960 Gold
Skills Held: Gate(Lv.2), Spatial Movement(Lv.4), Clairvoyance(Lv.2), Eye of Appraisal(Lv.2), Strike(Lv.1), Mana Recovery(Passive)(lv.2), Detection(Passive)(Lv.1)]
Jeong-min's eyes widened as he looked at the status window.
"My stats... my gold... they've increased enormously!"
Jeong-min was very surprised by the increase in his stats and gold.
"To think my stats would increase this much... Well, I did wipe out all the monsters and the gatekeeper alone and destroyed the gate... I guess this is a natural result, if you think about it."
-Once you destroy a gate, you can gain a massive stat boost, so it will get easier and easier-
Jeong-min nodded, recalling what Leia had said.
"Certainly... conquering the next D-rank gate will be easier than today. With my stats increased this much... Destroying a gate alone is really an incredible feat."
Jeong-min felt grateful once again to Leia for giving him the power to destroy gates by himself.
"Now let's wrap things up and go to Leia. I need to resume the training I couldn't do yesterday."
Jeong-min looked around.
"...By the way, what should I do with all these corpses? It doesn't seem right to just leave them like this..."
Hundreds of goblin corpses were piled up around Jeong-min.
"It would be nice if they disappeared with a 'whoosh' like in games... What should I do? This is something to think about for the future. If I leave corpses behind every time I destroy a D-rank gate... Ugh, that's terrible."
Jeong-min shook his head.
"Should I gather them all and burn them?"
After pondering for a moment, a good idea occurred to Jeong-min."Ah...! Why was I even thinking of doing this alone? I have a loyal slave. Our slave must be bored, I should give him something to do."
Jeong-min decided to stop by the shelter tomorrow and decided to leave for now.
Jeong-min opened the base gate and entered the inventory, then crossed over to Leia's inventory.
Leia had already opened the inventory gate, and Jeong-min used Spatial Movement to move next to Leia.
Leia smiled and welcomed Jeong-min.