Not long after Jinovan submitted his report on the Golem Core to Baron Dortagon, the fortress’s Commanding General—
“Just as expected, they’re gathering mercenaries in droves.”
Jun muttered as he surveyed the overall atmosphere of the fortress through the window.
The moment the Commanding General’s order was posted at the Mercenary Guild, the atmosphere throughout the Black Forest Fortress began changing rapidly.
Just like Jun, the other mercenaries were showing considerable interest in the upcoming subjugation.
“Judging by their higher-tier equipment, there seem to be Adventurers here too. ……Are those Mages? What are those people doing here?”
Chloe, who had been working on some documents beside him, answered Jun’s muttering.
“They must have come because they see this as a precursor to the Goblin Lord. The appearance of a Field Boss means an Area Lord will be appearing soon as well. Those Adventurers will probably have a hard time getting involved, though. An Adventuring Group called ‘Azure Cloud’ has already established itself in the Black Forest.”
“Azure Cloud? Ah. The Adventuring Group based in Level 3?”
“That’s right. They’ve been preparing to subjugate the Area Lord since last year. I heard they’ve already received permission from the Imperial Family.”
“Then what about the Mages?”
“The Area Lord is appearing earlier than usual. Wouldn’t they have come because of that?”
Chloe sent him a concerned glance while pretending otherwise.
Jun had never had particularly good experiences with Mages.
Jun noticed her concern and answered.
“My master went to great lengths to hide my existence in the first place. Then he went and died. So you don’t need to worry much about that.”
“Well…… I suppose that’s true.”
Apparently, the subject was not a comfortable one even for Jun, because he quickly changed it.
“So, what about the things I asked for?”
“I brought them. I managed to get them fairly cheaply too.”
Having finished her paperwork, Chloe began taking the prepared items out of her Subspace Pouch one by one.
There were ingredients for various potions and a new Spellbook.
“7.2 million Gold altogether.”
“Damn it. That’s obscenely expensive.”
Most of the money they had earned from robbing the goblin village disappeared without leaving so much as a trace.
Still, there was no helping it.
The Goblin Lord had appeared far earlier than expected, and Jun needed to prepare suitable spells for what lay ahead.
Perhaps finding Jun’s miserable expression amusing, Chloe smiled faintly.
“That’s why I told you to invest. You can just leave the money alone and watch it multiply. And Blackout’s next reset is still a long way off, isn’t it? This is the perfect time to invest.”
“There’s no point dying with a pile of money saved up. Right now, I need to invest in reputation rather than money.”
Chloe shrugged.
A merchant and a mercenary naturally had very different ideas about how money should be used.
“Still, it’s been a while since you last held a Spellbook, hasn’t it? Is this your first one since then?”
“More or less.”
Jun’s expression grew strangely wistful as he ran his hand over the Spellbook, which had been made from luxurious materials.
It was less a memory belonging to ‘Lee Jeong-jun’ than an instinctive reaction from the body he now inhabited.
‘Would you call this a love-hate relationship?’
According to Jun’s memories, the original owner of this body had possessed an extraordinary passion for studying magic.
Yet among the fragmented memories left behind, he had eventually grown disillusioned with magic.
More precisely, perhaps it would be better to say that he had become disillusioned with Mage society.
By then, he had already sensed, at least instinctively, that his master was after his heart.
‘Though I don’t know if that was why he made that choice.’
When Jun had first opened his eyes in this body, what he had seen was a snapped rope hanging from the ceiling and…….
‘Hmm. Maybe touching a Spellbook again after so long is bringing back old memories.’
Either way, none of that mattered now.
Jun quietly tucked away the Spellbook bound in smooth leather and rose from his seat.
“I’ll get going, then. See you later.”
As time passed, Jinovan volunteered for the Reconnaissance Unit just as planned.
Because reconnaissance duty carried such a high mortality rate, no one else had been willing to step forward.
Jinovan’s decision was therefore said to have greatly pleased Baron Dortagon, the Commanding General.
“Lord Jinovan. You seem to be the most eager among them. I’m counting on you to handle the reconnaissance properly.”
“Thank you for placing your trust in me, Commander.”
Unlike the two Assault Forces, which were still in the preparation stage, the Reconnaissance Unit was deployed first.
Their objective was to locate the Goblin Lord.
To accomplish that, the Reconnaissance Unit, including Jun and Aiden, entered the Black Forest.
The outskirts of the forest were relatively peaceful, but after approximately a day’s march, combat became dramatically more frequent.
“A swarm of Currow Bees ahead!”
“Defensive formation! Brace your legs!”
“Don’t raise your spears, you idiots! Those things will kill themselves! Keep those shields tight!”
Currow Bees were only about the size of dogs, but corrosive poison sacs ran along the lower halves of their bodies.
The method for dealing with them was simple.
As long as one held a shield properly, there was little else to do but watch as the creatures crashed into it and blew themselves apart.
But immediately afterward, Outer Wolves appeared from behind them.
Intelligent as they were, the beasts noticed that the rear of the Reconnaissance Unit had been left completely exposed.
Just as they were about to move—
YELP—!!
Aiden, who had been concealed in a nearby tree, launched a sudden ambush.
One of the three Outer Wolves suffered a deep slash across its flank.
At the same time, Aiden seized the wounded beast by the tail and dragged it away from the Reconnaissance Unit.
GRRRRRR!!!
AWOOOOOO——!!
As pack animals with an extraordinary attachment to their companions, the other wolves immediately charged after Aiden.
Unlike before, however, Aiden did not evade them.
He actively charged into their midst.
‘I can see them!’
During the interval before the Reconnaissance Unit was assembled, Aiden had entered the Black Forest with Jun every day to gain experience fighting various monsters.
Every piece of advice Jun gave him was worth its weight in gold, and Aiden absorbed the knowledge Jun passed on like a sponge, steadily making it his own.
Perhaps because of that, he could now read the Outer Wolves’ movements with remarkable clarity.
He felt as though he could kill them now without even using Mana.
‘As expected. He really is overflowing with talent.’
Jun watched Aiden’s performance for a moment before turning his attention toward the soldiers.
The Currow Bee swarm was just beginning to collide with them.
The instant the creatures struck the sturdy shields, their bodies burst apart.
SSSSSSSS——!!
At the same time, their poison sacs ruptured, spreading a vicious hissing sound and a horrendous stench across the shields.
“Urgh!”
“You idiot! Don’t get pushed back! Hold your ground!”
“Close the gaps between the shields! The poison’s getting through!”
When several soldiers who had yet to fully adjust were pushed backward, the veterans began shouting at the tops of their lungs.
No one had suffered serious harm yet, but many Currow Bees still remained ahead of them.
They could not allow the formation to collapse already.
At that moment, Jun’s [Shield] spread over the soldiers’ shields.
BAM-BAM-BAM!!
Jun had not poured enough Mana into it to reinforce it substantially, so the barrier quickly shattered beneath the bodily charges of the Currow Bees that followed.
Still, it bought the soldiers enough time to correct their stances.
‘For now, this much is enough.’
In truth, ranged attacks were the ideal method for killing those bees with their obsession for self-destruction.
‘Their defense is practically nonexistent because self-destruction is their specialty. A few [Wind Cutters] would wipe them out easily.’
Jun deliberately refrained from doing so.
The soldiers were still in the process of adapting to the Black Forest.
He had already discussed this with Jinovan beforehand.
“That’s it! There are almost none left!”
“We only need to hold them off one more time!”
“We did it!”
“Waaaaah!”
When the soldiers finally blocked every last Currow Bee, their morale soared.
The battlefield reeked horribly, but the soldiers’ faces were bright.
Jinovan promptly issued orders with practiced ease.
“Gather the Currow Bee carcasses and scatter them around the campsite. That should keep the other monsters away.”
They would have to endure the disgusting smell throughout the night, but the same applied to the other monsters.
The stronger the stench, the less likely they were to suffer another attack.
Around the time preparations for camp were completed, Jinovan called Jun over.
“Jun. How does the current situation look to you?”
“It seems the monsters’ territories have already begun shifting.”
“Hmm. So you think the same.”
Ordinarily, Currow Bees did not appear until one ventured much deeper into the forest.
Their appearance here was most likely the result of goblin territory expanding rapidly from the northeast.
As the goblin population increased, the Currow Bees had probably been forced to relocate their habitat.
It might have seemed like a minor piece of information on its own, but when combined with everything else they had learned, it pointed toward the same conclusion.
“It seems certain that the creature is somewhere to the northeast.”
“Then what do you intend to do about the pace of our reconnaissance?”
“We should probably slow down somewhat. Those men still need more time to adapt. And it will be quite a while before the main force finishes establishing the Base Camp.”
True to his reputation for caring about his subordinates, Jinovan made his decision cautiously.
Jun did not object.
After all, the slower pace also meant more opportunities for him to distinguish himself.
In fact, after steadily observing Jun and Aiden since the reconnaissance mission began, Jinovan brought up their contributions.
“At least thanks to you and your companion…… Aiden, was it?”
“Yes.”
“I can breathe a little easier. The two of you have been intervening at precisely the right moments.”
At Jinovan’s sincere praise, Jun awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
“Was your companion formally trained in swordsmanship?”
“……I heard he had some connections in the past.”
“Hmm. He may have served as the squire of a famous Knight.”
Jun smiled bitterly inwardly at the sight of Jinovan, who could never have imagined that Aiden carried imperial blood.
Perhaps because Jinovan was a Knight himself, he had noticed something in Aiden’s movements.
One tended to recognize what one already knew.
Still, Jinovan’s curiosity ended there.
“Continue buying us time from the rear as you have been. My soldiers should finish adapting soon enough.”
“Understood.”
And just as Jinovan said, the soldiers soon became thoroughly accustomed to fighting within the Black Forest.
Their experience from the previous goblin subjugation, combined with the battles they now fought every day, steadily honed them into seasoned soldiers.
At first, they had struggled even to establish formations amid the forest’s densely packed trees.
Now they moved naturally into their assigned positions as though they had always fought this way.
Despite all their efforts, however, the Black Forest showed no sign of becoming easy to conquer.
“Man-Eating Plants this time…….”
The shifts in monster territories were greater than expected.
Jinovan stared with a grave expression at the Plant-Type monsters the soldiers had killed.
He might have been a newly appointed commander, but he had graduated from the Imperial Military Academy as an elite.
His knowledge of the Black Forest was extensive, and the intelligence he had personally gathered was hardly lacking in quality.
Even to him, the current abnormalities within the Black Forest could only be called extraordinary.
Jun felt the same.
‘This…… feels bad.’
His instincts as a veteran player began sounding the alarm once again.
The third day of reconnaissance.
By now, the soldiers’ combat instincts had been sharpened considerably.
At the same time, monster attacks had become increasingly frequent.
Before long, the Reconnaissance Unit discovered a goblin village.
Around the village—
Just as they had expected.
Several totems signifying the presence of a Goblin Lord hung here and there.
“Finally!”
“We found their territory!”
“We’ll show those bastards what happens when they cross us! Hahaha!”
They had not yet found the enemy’s true stronghold, but confirming the existence of the Goblin Lord was encouraging enough.
Now they only had to wait for the main force being sent from the fortress.
After all, the last time a Field Boss subjugation in the Black Forest had ended in failure was several decades ago.
Confidence in victory filled the soldiers’ faces.
“……This is too close to the edge of the territory.”
In stark contrast to the soldiers, Jinovan looked deeply troubled.
And with good reason.
They had found these signs almost immediately upon reaching the northeastern region.
That meant virtually all the territory stretching beyond this point had to belong to the goblins.
It was far too vast.
“Jun. What do you think?”
Having received Jun’s assistance in countless ways throughout the expedition, Jinovan asked for his opinion.
Jun’s expression was no better than his.
If anything, he seemed to have sensed something even more troubling, because he had been lost in thought for some time.
“I…… suspect we may be dealing with an Irregular.”
Just as Jinovan had expected, Jun searched through his memories of <Blackout> from his days as a player and narrowed the possibilities down to one likely answer.
“An Irregular Goblin Lord……?”
A mutant monster.
An Irregular.
It was a term used for monsters that occasionally transcended the natural limits of their species.
If an ordinary monster appeared as an Irregular, players could consider themselves relatively fortunate.
For one thing, Irregulars had a chance to drop Skill Books.
And any Skill Book obtained that way tended to be extremely useful during the early stages of progression, both in terms of performance and monetary value.
‘There were even players on the community forums who specialized exclusively in hunting Irregulars.’
And if a Field Boss appeared as an Irregular?
A veteran player would have started cheering immediately.
Considering that Field Bosses had a one hundred percent chance of dropping a Skill Book, it was practically a jackpot.
However—
“Do you think we can subjugate it with our current forces?”
There was also the drawback that made Jinovan ask such a question.
The difficulty of the subjugation would rise dramatically.
“I have read records concerning Irregular Goblin Lords as well. Even with our current force, subjugating one should be possible. However…… that assumes we make thorough preparations.”
“You cannot guarantee victory completely.”
Jinovan thought for a moment before asking Jun another question.
“Do you know when an Irregular Goblin Lord last appeared?”
“I do not know that much.”
“It was seventy-two years ago. That was also the last time a Goblin Lord subjugation ended in failure.”
“…….”
Seventy-two years was enough time for several generations to pass within Blackout.
“Do you think command headquarters will take this possibility seriously?”
“…….”
“Phew. This is becoming a headache.”
But what else could Jinovan do?
For now, all he could do was submit a report to his superiors.