The goblins went for Geon-mu's vital points all at once.
Neck, heart, solar plexus, ankle.
As they closed on their trajectories, the elite goblins put their strength behind the blows.
SWISH—!
"Kek-kek!?"
The elite warriors faltered.
The strike they had aimed so precisely was as light as if it had cut empty air.
What they had cut was not the Cha Geon-mu standing there but Cha Geon-mu's afterimage.
CRACK—!
A sound like a boulder being struck.
One elite warrior was flung away by Geon-mu's fist.
The face his fist had touched was caved in.
CRACK-CRACK!
The head of the goblin that went for his ankle was stamped under Geon-mu's right foot,
the goblin that went for his thigh was sent flying skyward by a knee,
and the goblin that went for his neck had its arm deflected by his shoulder and made to run its blade through the neck of the one on the opposite side.
Every one of those motions was a counter carried out at the very moment Cha Geon-mu evaded the attack.
In an instant two elite goblins were dead, and two were beyond recovery.
"Kek-kek! Human dodged our attack!??"
"How?! How!?"
The elite warriors had steeled themselves for death, but something outside all common sense had occurred, so there was nothing for them to be but rattled.
[<Goblin King> is astounded.]
Even the Goblin King, who had set the trial, was thrown.
Geon-mu watched them mill about like a house on fire and answered.
"Children don't need to know."
"Re-form the line! Re-form the line!"
"Chance! We fight again! Kekit!"
The goblins' confusion did not last long.
They returned to the shape of warriors again.
They used exactly the same tactic as before.
They had never once doubted their own skill.
But Geon-mu knew.
There had been no chance in what he had just done.
What he had done was truly simple.
He had grasped the attackers' information in a short span of time and read the timing of their attacks.
And then discerned the subtle misalignment they did not know about themselves.
They had synchronized even their breathing, but a misalignment came out of the individuality they could not hide.
He had picked out that very brief gap and countered exactly as they attacked.
They would not believe it.
This was combat sense possible only for one who was the Heaven-Breaking Divine Lord, the Dragon-Slaying Emperor, and the Asura King.
There was no way to explain it except as chance.
"Kyeeeek!"
"Kyek!"
The elite warriors, who could never accept such a thing, threw themselves at Geon-mu, and they met exactly the same end as the ones who had come at him first.
By the third joint assault, half the elite goblins were dead.
Even for goblins, mere lowly creatures, the time had come to do a little thinking.
"Is that it?"
"Kek-kek......."
"If you will not come, I will come to you."
Geon-mu's turn was like bamboo splitting.
He gave himself to the flow, breaking with his fists, flicking them away with his palms, lashing out with his feet.
Making a mockery of the name elite, they became corpses rolling on the ground in an instant.
Twenty-five elite warriors were wiped out five minutes after the battle began.
'There's less feel to it than when I first ran into goblins.'
His physical condition then and now differed by tens of times over.
And in fact Geon-mu's stats had already surpassed those of the elite goblins.
Geon-mu looked down at the corpses of the elite goblins.
'They said these are worth money too. How much does an elite goblin fetch? The same price as any goblin?'
Even at a good rate it looked like little compared to killing eighty of them, so Geon-mu decided not to care.
Thinking of it that way, he settled on treating it as a trivial sum.
Even if they were not worth money, what they carried had a certain use.
[Sword Bestowed by Kachusa]
Type: Weapon Item
Rank: C+
A sword given by the Goblin King, Kachusa, to honored goblin warriors.
Forged by goblin artisans, it is harder than the swords of most human blacksmiths and does not dull easily no matter how many times it cuts.
For a goblin's build it was classed as a longsword, but for an adult male like Geon-mu it amounted to something like a short sword.
Just as described, he could feel the high durability and the good construction.
In fact it was a sword traded on the Exchange at around a million won in cash, so it was a fairly valuable item.
'Still, it doesn't escape being goblin-made.'
It lacked the decisive balance that could only be felt in an artisan's work.
Even so, it was better than nothing.
"It's just right for a kitchen knife."
[<Goblin King> is outraged.]
Though it was a pure assessment and not aimed at provocation, the Goblin King did not take it kindly.
Since a message had come up, Geon-mu asked it a question.
"So, is that the end of the trial?"
[<Goblin King> trembles.]
"Is it the end or not? Say it, quickly."
A moment later a long message came flying in.
[The <Trial of the Goblin King> has ended.]
[You have obtained the title <One Who Faced the Trial Alone>.]
[All stats have risen by 1.]
[You have obtained the title <Untouchable Man>.]
[When fighting an opponent of higher level than yourself, stats rise by up to 100% according to the level difference.]
"There are a lot of odd things around."
He had no idea what they were, but either way it meant he had grown stronger, so Geon-mu could not help feeling good.
Even having seized the achievement, the sense of dissatisfaction did not leave him.
'Are titles all this easy to obtain?'
It did not sit well with Geon-mu to call it a great deed.
Stats were, in the end, a means of strengthening this weak body.
He could produce results this way as well, but what Geon-mu wanted was something else.
'I want to meet an opponent who's a bit much for me, in this weakened body.'
To keep his sense of caution sharp, he needed a rival after all.
While Geon-mu was thinking that, messages began to appear.
[<God of Destruction and Creation> laughs greatly at the sight of you.]
[<One Who Leads Death with Claws> stares at you in silence.]
[<Benevolent Smile> watches you closely.]
The message window, where only <Goblin King> had appeared, had grown to hold other figures.
Geon-mu could vaguely guess that they were beings similar to <Goblin King> and <Sword Tiger>.
Without paying them any mind, Geon-mu asked the Goblin King a question.
"So where's the box? Why aren't you giving me a box? If I clear a trial, shouldn't a box come promptly?"
Geon-mu wagged a finger and provoked the Goblin King obnoxiously.
[<Goblin King> proposes a wager.]
A message appeared in answer to Geon-mu's question.
[Goblin King's Wager]
The Goblin King, who loves to gamble, proposes to you.
Succeed in the next trial.
Upon success, you may obtain the <Goblin King's Platinum Box>.
Upon failure, the <Goblin King's Golden Box> to be given as the trial reward will be recovered.
Geon-mu snorted a laugh at the terms.
"You must really begrudge that golden box."
[<Goblin King> does not agree.]
[<God of Destruction and Creation> agrees with your words.]
[<One Who Leads Death with Claws> nods without a word.]
"These other Patron Star bastards have some sense. What an ugly bastard you are, thrashing about to avoid handing anything over."
[Do you accept the wager of <Goblin King>?]
At the repeated question, Geon-mu nodded.
"Bring more of those shoddy goblins."
[<Goblin King> hates you.]
While the Goblin King made its preparations, Geon-mu roughly guessed what sort of monster would come out.
'Goblin Elite Warriors can't be the end of it. Above them there are Giant Goblins and Shamans.'
Giant Goblins were goblins of adult build, no different from elite warriors, but Shamans were troublesome.
They created dangerous variables, doing things like staying alive for a brief moment after a killing blow to land an attack.
Geon-mu was enjoying the prospect of such dangerous situations.
They were goblins in the end.
He knew it was not his fate to die to goblins.
Because he knew he would not die, he was able to enjoy himself.
No sooner had he accepted the wager than messages from the Patron Stars, the Goblin King included, began to appear.
[<Goblin King> is organizing an army.]
[<God of Destruction and Creation> sighs.]
[<God of Destruction and Creation> quietly gives advice.]
[<Goblin King> slaps its knee in delight.]
What the hell, these bastards.
They were off beating the drum and the janggu all among themselves.
Just as Geon-mu's patience was about to run out, a message appeared before him.
[Shortly, the <Goblin King's Second Trial> will begin!]
[Warning! You are far below the appropriate level! Please evacuate promptly!]
A line that had not appeared even when the elite goblins showed up came out for this trial.
To Geon-mu, who had been bored by elite goblins, that line was as good as foreplay.
[The <Goblin King's Second Trial> has begun!]
[Goblin King's Second Trial]
Trial Type: Boss Battle
Trial Difficulty: C+
Recommended Level: 50
Slay the chief.
Unlike an annihilation, this trial was a boss battle.
Geon-mu had studied the system a little, so he knew what a boss battle was.
'Instead of a swarm coming out, one chief comes out and fights, right?'
Being a chief battle, it was several times stronger than ordinary monsters.
Such a creature held abilities you could not trust the visible level alone about, so particular care was needed.
A gate formed in front of Geon-mu.
It looked several times larger than the gate the elite goblins had come out of.
What came out of it was,
"MOOOOO!!"
an ox.
[Red Horn, Nandi]
Race: Ox
Lineage: Beast
Rank: Chief
Level: 50
Strength: 320
Agility: 160
Perception: 180
Stamina: 350
Magic Power: 0
Skills
<Frenzied Charge>, <Spirit Beast>, <Boar-Charge Horn Spear>
It was the exact opposite of the direction Geon-mu had expected, and his eyebrows twitched.
"Not rats, but an ox......."
He could roughly tell what the Goblin King and the God of Destruction and Creation had been discussing.
'So he's providing the monster to be used in the second trial.'
It was on a different plane of level from Goblin Elite Warriors at 25.
From the specifications alone, he could tell it was on a different plane from a simple ordinary monster.
"Isn't this a bit underhanded?"
Geon-mu raised one eyebrow.
"This is the Goblin King's trial, so I think it violates fairness if some bastard other than a goblin interferes."
[<Goblin King> mocks you.]
"You stay out of this. The adults are talking."
[<Goblin King> is outraged.]
Calls himself a king and he's simpler than a child.
[<God of Destruction and Creation> asks your true intent.]
Geon-mu answered that question.
"What I mean is this, God of Destruction and Creation or whatever you are. Shouldn't you also stake something, in proportion to the help you gave?"
Geon-mu spoke in a voice heavy with complaint.
Raising doubts with a Patron Star was a dangerous matter.
They were absolute superiors who could hand down still harsher punishment to humans for the crime of insolence.
[<God of Destruction and Creation> falls into thought.]
[<God of Destruction and Creation> consents to your point.]
But the God of Destruction and Creation accepted that objection meekly.
A moment later another quest rose before Geon-mu.
[Wager of <God of Destruction and Creation>]
Win the <Goblin King's Second Wager>.
Upon success, you obtain a gift from the <God of Destruction and Creation>.
Geon-mu smiled inwardly as he looked at the quest.
'Didn't think it would work, but he's doing it?'
It was one of the entries in Geon-mu's handbook for living.
If you think something is unfair, it is best to complain about it first, whatever it is.
If you are refused for a reasonable cause, that is that, and if they offer to give you something more, you take it.
It was wisdom gained from living three lives with nothing at all.
"Good. This much makes it worth a try."
Geon-mu accepted the trial as though he were being generous.
Nandi, which had been standing still, snorted hard through its nose and scraped at the ground.
'Well, the terms have improved and something like a rival has appeared, so I'm satisfied.......'
Geon-mu turned his eyes to the trial facing him.
'One hit from that ox bastard and I'd die on the spot, wouldn't I?'
Geon-mu was tense.
It would be a lie to say he was not.
His opponent was Level 50, and its bulk was a good five times his own.
On top of that, from what was visible alone, it was on a different plane from any ordinary ox.
The size and muscle mass would make even cattle endlessly tempered against predators in the wild look like day-old chicks.
HUFF! HUFF!
Steam-like snorts blew from its red nose.
A heat as though it carried a furnace in its body made the whole area burn hot.
'This will be hard.'
Geon-mu smiled instead.
Hardship you cannot die from makes you strong.
This too would become a source of strength for him.
The red ox, Nandi, scraped the ground with a forefoot and displayed its sharp horns.
Geon-mu looked at that majestic sight and spoke.
"I've decided."
A strange light shone in Geon-mu's eyes.
"Tonight's dinner is a beef party."