LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 16
Chapter 16 – Ruin Guard Request (3)
—–CROW—–
It was definitely something from my childhood.
Around the time I was in kindergarten, the hero that captured the hearts of all children was Vectorman.
Now, I couldn’t even remember if it was a rerun or the second season—but the heroes in my childhood dreams were definitely those three Earth warriors.
Like all kindergarteners, my friends and I believed that the heroes on TV existed somewhere in the world. It was only natural that we became engrossed in role-playing, imitating them.
But the truth of the world was cruel.
Every child wanted to be Vectorman Tiger, but there was only one Tiger. Someone had to be Vectorman Eagle, and someone else had to be Vectorman Bear.
So, we would often fight each other, even before transforming, to become Vectorman Tiger.
─Children, don’t fight. Let’s decide with rock-paper-scissors.
And the one who answered the disputes of the innocent children was our kindergarten teacher.
She gently mediated between the children who were throwing Kamehamehas at each other with their small fists, arguing about who attacked first. Soon, we learned a way to duel without bloodshed.
─Rock, paper, scissors!
Thus, my rival and I always competed for the throne of Tiger, like cowboys in a Western duel, with rock-paper-scissors.
─Waaaah! I lost again!
One of my friends, who was bright from a young age, always chose Eagle as a safe bet, but I could never beat my rival, who was always Tiger.
Now, I vaguely suspected that the problem might have been that I always threw rock first.
Anyway, so I, a four-year-old at the time, was always Vectorman Bear.
I felt sad that I was that black, scary-looking Vectorman. In the basic color scheme of a child, black was the color of the villain.
But after I grew up, I understood.
Just like how Swordsmaster Kkokkiri-dong, who seemed like a villain in my childhood, appeared as a true hero after I became an adult, I could understand how Vectorman Bear must have felt fighting back then.
Bear must have known that he wasn’t very popular with children.
Nevertheless, he fought for the children’s smiles without ever complaining or feeling sad.
─The true hero was Vectorman Bear.
Even though Tiger, as the leader, hogged all the attention, and Eagle established his own position with his eagle coolness.
Bear didn’t receive, nor did he expect, any reward.
If we didn’t call him a hero, who in this world could be called one?
And above all—we are all descendants of Ungnyeo, the bear woman.
The tiger was a coward who couldn’t endure the ordeal of mugwort and garlic and ran away to the mountains. Moreover, after that, he chose to become a tiger demon, tormenting the descendants of Ungnyeo, who was chosen instead of him.
So, in a way, it was all natural.
That I, by using the magic that grants the power of a beast, gained the strength of a bear.
“You goblin bastards!! Come here and line up!”
I shouted, my whole body coated in sparkling green mana. The filthy green goblins, the same color as the green algae bloom in the Four Major Rivers, seemed to sense the gap in our power and trembled.
“Kkyak? (Dangerous?)”
“Kkyak? (Dangerous?)”
“Kkyak Ku! (Not dangerous!)”
“Kkyak Ku! (Not dangerous!)”
But they were still green brats. After a consultation, which could be considered a primitive form of conversation, they launched a reckless charge at us.
“Kyak!! (Kill!)”
“Kyak!! (Kill!)”
Rumble!
Goblins charging without formation or discipline! But those 19 brats were barbaric creatures who achieved their goals through ruthless and chaotic killing intent.
“Heh.”
I felt no fear at their pathetic charge.
Even if they were bodybuilders instead of brats, it would be absolutely impossible for them to defeat me, now an Earth warrior.
I was a little ashamed of myself for posturing as soon as I gained power, but I, Nord, had already decided to live as an otherworldly macho warrior.
It was a natural instinct for a living creature to assess the difference in power between itself and its enemy and adjust its actions accordingly.
And—those green brats were critically lacking in that ability.
“Kyak!! (Kill!)”
“Kkuk. No way.”
I swung my sword at the first goblin to charge. My enhanced strength had also increased my speed dramatically.
Whoosh!!!
Slice!!!
“Gak!!”
The sword, swung with enough force to create a gust of wind, sliced the goblin in half, killing it. Holy shit, did I really do that? I was momentarily stunned, my jaw dropping.
“Kek! Kkyak!! (Oh no! Dangerous!!)”
“Kek! Kkyak!! (Oh no! Dangerous!!)”
Having witnessed the same outcome twice, even the stupid goblins finally realized the reality of the situation. I seized the opportunity, as the green brats froze, and swung my sword wildly.
Slice! Slash!
“Gak!!”
“Gak!!”
The sensation in my hand wasn’t that of cutting through a living being. Perhaps it was due to the beast’s power? The feeling of cutting through goblin flesh was closer to smashing a snowman made by children with a shovel.
“I am your Kumon teacher!”
Every time I swung my sword, a goblin fell. As I slaughtered the enemies with overwhelming momentum, the green brats finally noticed the difference in our combat power.
The green brats started to look demoralized. Their attacks lost their vigor.
But I didn’t stop.
“—The only good brat is a dead brat.”
Riding the momentum, I swung my sword, held in one hand, around. Thanks to my immense strength, there was no need to wield the sword with both hands.
Thud!
But perhaps I swung it too carelessly. The fat-covered sword got stuck in a goblin’s torso.
“Oh, shit.”
“Kyak!! (Kill!)”
As soon as I tried to pull the sword out, a goblin swung a stone axe at me. Shit! There was no Old Man Gentrick here to act as a human shield and save me in the nick of time!
“Paragon! I’m trusting you for the heals!”
I extended my left hand to block the incoming stone axe.
It was an incredibly irrational act. The hand was one of the weakest parts of the human body, with fragile bones and joints. It was not suitable for blocking a stone axe.
I should have blocked it with the metal bracer on my arm! I had chosen the wrong course of action, thinking only about getting healed!
—Clang!
But it blocked it.
“Gak?”
“Huh?”
Honestly, I regretted it immediately after blocking with my hand. I thought the number of bones in my hand would increase by 1.5 times.
But the goblin’s stone axe was blocked effortlessly by the green mana coating my hand.
There was no pain or damage to the hand that blocked the attack.
“…Ah, I see. This increases defense too.”
There was Aesop’s fable about “The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin.”
In that story, the donkey, the protagonist, pretended to be a lion with a lion skin he had found by chance. He imitated the lion to deceive others and gain a psychological advantage, but he couldn’t hide his own voice and was exposed when he brayed.
I was like a practical, upgraded version of that donkey. I hadn’t just imitated; I had actually gained defensive and offensive capabilities surpassing a bear’s hide.
Bears had far superior defense than humans due to their thick skin and muscles. There was a story about a martial arts master punching a bear, but the bear thought the person was playing with it.
By the same principle, a crude stone tool made by a brat couldn’t penetrate my mana hide.
“Gyahk!!”
Then, the goblin, whose weapon was stuck in my hand, kicked me. There was no damage this time either, but I was quite impressed that it even attempted a kick.
“Amazing. A goblin capable of kicking.”
Perhaps because of that, a rhyming exclamation naturally escaped my lips.
Kicking was a unique human technique. Even the closest human relatives, the apes, didn’t kick. Monkeys and gorillas were ‘capable’ of bipedal walking, but they usually moved around on all fours.
There was no point in kicking for creatures whose passive was quadrupedal walking. The strength in their ‘hands’ and ‘feet’ was almost equal.
Therefore, true kicking was a technique exclusive to creatures that had lived their entire lives walking on two legs.
The power gained by humanity in exchange for using ‘hands’ instead of ‘forelegs’!
The essence of the technique delivered by ‘two legs,’ which had to become strong while supporting the body’s weight, was kicking.
But—this goblin lacked that ‘technique.’
“Kyak!! (Kill!)”
The weak kicks continued to pound on my mana hide.
The goblin’s kicks were truly those of a brat. Like a white-belt kid entrusted to a taekwondo studio, a brat-only kindergarten that every Korean boy attended at least once in their childhood.
“Pathetic.”
The goblin’s clumsy imitation of a human kick was truly unpleasant. I could feel the Taekwondo spirit within me boiling at this meager kick.
If they were really human brats, I, as a post-Vectorman, would have to discipline them properly, but goblins were ultimately just monsters.
Therefore, I declared,
“Green brat. That is not a true kick.”
—Whoosh!
I grabbed the goblin and threw it into the air, then assumed a high-kick pose with my sword in hand.
“I’ll show you an example.”
Behold.
“This—”
Is a true.
“—‘kick.’”
—The ultimate technique unleashed.
Crack!!!!
“Gyaaagh!!”
A spinning high kick, utilizing centrifugal force, exploded. The goblin’s spine bent sideways, and it flew several meters in that state.
Its body didn’t split in half because of the skin holding it together, but its spine was already folded in two. It was a fatal injury that even Hua Tuo couldn’t heal, even if he stopped time and performed surgery.
“This is a gruesome sight, even for a self-proclaimed Earth warrior.”
Raw, uncensored splatter!
It was a cruel sight that made my heart ache, but I didn’t show any mercy. If I left these brats alone, we would have become the stars of a snuff film.
There was no guilt in my righteous heart!
“Die, all of you! This is the law of nature, the principle of survival of the fittest!!”
“Truly a splendid sentiment!”
Paragon swung his staff like a club next to me.
Crack!!
The power of the stone staff was deadly. The goblins clutched the areas hit by the staff and rolled on the floor.
“Gyaaaaagh!!”
Such sorrowful screams! Even being hit with a cane hurt like hell, so being hit in the bone with a stone must have been excruciating.
“Hahaha! Paragon, you’re fighting really well! Are you actually a priest of the God of Hunting or the God of Combat?!”
Est also burst into laughter as she blocked the attacks of the charging goblins with her shield.
—Clang!
Stab!
She blocked the weapon with her shield to obstruct their vision and stabbed with her short spear. It was a simple yet difficult-to-counter combo. It was a fighting style that couldn’t be countered without breaking the shield.
“Kyak!! (Dangerous!!) Kyak!! (Dangerous!!)”
“Hiya!!”
“K—Gyak?!”
Meanwhile, next to me, a goblin aiming for an opening was struck by Francesca’s hammer and died.
Her weapon was a hammer with a claw-like head attached to a handle the length of a back scratcher.
It looked almost like a claw hammer, but its killing power was more than enough. It was a weapon that truly resembled its owner, Francesca.
Smash!
With her dwarven strength, the goblin’s head shattered like tofu, splattering gore. Oh shit. Francesca’s attacks seemed the most painful.
“See? I told you dying by my hand is the least painful and best option.”
“Kya, kyaaagh…”
A fleeing goblin. Thanks to my heroic performance and the support of my party members, the numbers had long since turned in our favor.
Only three brats remained. And now, one of them had been killed by Francesca’s claw hammer weapon.
“Gyah…”
The green brat, with a highway tunnel drilled into its head and its brain juice dam overflowing!
Thud!
The goblin facing me collapsed, its legs giving way.
“Gyah! Gak! Gak! Gak! Gak!”
Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!!
While it was down, the remaining goblin had its stomach repeatedly stabbed by Est’s “You go to Hawaii” combo and breathed its last. Est was terrifying in combat. I shouldn’t mess with her.
—Trembling.
The last goblin had completely lost its will to fight. It screamed at me as if telling me not to come closer.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaagh! Gyaaaaaaaaaaagh!!”
It was truly a ridiculous sight, considering they were the ones who attacked first and tried to make us their food. I stood before it with my melon-colored, gore-covered sword.
“Gya, gak, gak…!”
“—How pathetic.”
I muttered softly, looking at its weaponless form with contempt.
“Kkyaku kyaaa! (You no fight!) Kkyruk! (Coward!)”
“…Kkkya! Kkyaruk kyaruruuk? (You! Speak our language?)”
The goblin’s jaw dropped as I dubbed in goblin language.
It was a normal reaction. What kind of crazy person would study the goblin language and talk to them? This was something only I could do.
I deliberately provoked it for the honor of brats. This was my mercy towards them.
Although they were a different species, as fellow brats, I, the hero of children, couldn’t abandon them.
“What are you doing? Are you talking to a goblin?”
“No, what are you talking about? It’s not like that.”
I flatly denied it in response to my party member’s question. If I was caught chatting with monsters, I might be mistaken for a dark mage, the otherworldly equivalent of a communist.
“I’m just making random noises. Heh. Who cares what they think it means?”
“You’re mocking them. How cruel.”
“Wipe the blue blood off your staff before you speak.”
“Ahem.”
Anyway, I couldn’t tolerate them surrendering after attacking first.
With that in mind, I said to it,
“—Don’t live on your knees. Rise and die.”
Although there were limitations to sophisticated expressions in the goblin language system, I was sure my feelings got across.
“Kyaruruuk…”
Then the goblin muttered lowly. The groan it uttered wasn’t language.
It was a murmur filled with humiliation and rage. Anger towards us and an obsession with victory began to fill its voice.
I watched it and nodded solemnly.
“—Come. Goblin who knows the honor of the Horde.”
“—Kyaaaaaaaaagh!!”
The goblin hero, awakened to rage by realizing its honor, bravely charged at me—
“Brat cut.”
“Gyahk.”
Its head exploded with a *pa-kin* and it died.
“How dare a lowly creature with no human rights challenge a human lord.”
Ooze…
The goblin instantly died and collapsed before my bear punch. Intoxicated by the thrilling sensation of victory lingering on my fingertips, I basked in the sunlight streaming through the cave ceiling.
“Victory.”
It was a truly honorable battle.
—–CROW—–