I Never Run Out of Mana-Novel

Chapter 148: Goblin Talk

“Commander! The Gate is vibrating!”

“……”

“What shall we do?”

“Have all forces prep for battle. It seems that the war will resume.”

“It was calm for awhile, but now……”

“The vibrations are getting stronger. Everyone, do let down your guard! The battle is not yet over!”

“Yes, commander!”

“Understood!”

At the general’s command, all forces readied themselves for battle.

A couple days ago, a massive number of monsters poured out the Gate.

Due to that event, several Awakened lost their lives, and many more were heavily injured.

However, humanity was able to stop the wave of monsters with their own strength.

No one knew how much longer this war was to last.

On top of that, no one could be certain who the victor of this war would be.

However, everyone worked together with one goal and purpose, relying on each other every day to stay alive.

“All forces, cast your shields and buffs! Sang-Ho and Geon.”

“Yes, commander.”

“Hm?”

“Please take the front.”

“What’s up with gramps? Have you not recovered yet fully?”

“I shall do my best to prevent casualties in the backline.”

“Gotcha. Let’s go.”

“……”

At the general’s command, all forces cast their buffs and shields.

Due to thousands of Awakened casting their spells at once, the sound was deafening.

The sound filled the entire mountain area, which could even be described as grand.

The wait for the monsters to exit the Gate was short.

Geon, who had been standing in the frontlines, urgently sought after the commander.

“C… Commander! The situation is a bit strange!”

“What’s the matter! Just what monster appeared that has you in such shock!”

“T… That’s……”

“Old man! I think this is something you should see for yourself?”

“Damn……”

Abandoning his position, he ran up towards the Gate.

His direct subordinates in his squad were Sang-Ho and Geon.

Their combat prowess were not only one of the highest in Korea, but in the entire world as well.

These were the same two that were looking for his guidance with such confusion evident in their faces.

The commander had thought that the monster that had appeared was far stronger than expectations.

The commander arrived near the Gate.

And then merry laughter broke the silence, echoing through the mountains.

“Kuhhuhuhuhuhuh! Kahha! The sight couldn’t be more welcoming! Kuhuhuh!”

Three goblins stood in front of the Gate.

Holding a makeshift white flag, they showed that they had no intentions to fight.

How did the goblin monsters know what it meant to wave a white flag, or why did they carry the duffel bags that Min-Cheol and Jong Ho had taken with them.

The commander could figure it out in an instant.

These goblins were servants sent by Min-Cheol.

The goblins carefully approached the commander.

They all dropped the large duffel bags before the commander, and then one of them spoke up.

“The great Karin sent us here.”

“Karin?”

“Kururu. He has told us to send you these.”

“Karin… Have you perhaps seen any humans next to the one named Karin?”

“Kuruk. There were two who called themselves Min-Cheol and Jong Ho next to him.”

“Kuhhuhhuh! Right. You all have come here under their directions.”

“Yep. Kuku. But firstly, this……”

The commander looked at the duffel bags that they had laid at his feet.

The bags were filled with bloodstones in numbers far beyond what he could guess.

All of the stones were S or S+ tier, far superior to what was found on Earth.

The commander smiled while playing around with one in his hands.

Was it because he had obtained very rare high tier bloodstones? No.

These stones meant that Min-Cheol and Jong Ho were safe.

After they had entered the Gate, he could only guess that they were safe due to the lack of monsters coming out from said Gate.

Now, however, he could be positive of it.

One of the goblins who had been eyeing the commander all this time pulled out something from his pockets and spoke while handing the item in question to the commander.

“Kururuk. He asked me to give you this as well.”

“I see. Thank you.”

The item that the goblin gave to the commander was a letter.

It was a letter with messages that Min-Cheol and Jong Ho each wanted to send back to everyone on this side.

Due to the lack of paper or pen, indentations on rough monster leather was used instead to form the letters for the message.

“They’re holding their own well…… Thank you……”

“Kururu. There is a message that Lord Karin has told us we must send.”

“What is it?”

“Kukuku. Then…… ‘Keruru! Humans! Give up your steak!’ is what he said.”

“Kuhhuhhuhhuh! Will you all be returning back to them?”

“Kuruk. That’s is correct.”

“Alright. I shall prepare the items at once.”

****

After finishing our meal, Jong Ho and I went towards the Gate.

With our luggage on our backs, we took a nice little stroll.

We walked without the slightest hint of worry.

While the two humans went about their business in a relaxed carefree manner, there was one that was on the floor, working with sweat pouring out from his body.

That one was Karin.

Until Belkoseu arrived, we had plenty of time.

While we waited for that, Karin was going through all this trouble to find a way to use the Gate that connected the demonic realm with Earth.

The monsters that Karin were looking for with his ability to detect magical energy signatures were monsters with intelligence.

We planned to use monsters that, while carrying intellect, did not possess any special powerful Authorities or were just weak in general and had difficulty surviving alone.

In short, monsters in a similar situation as Karin.

“Keruk!”

“Did you find any?”

“Found one!”

“Oh… But who were you looking for specifically when you were using your search ability? How did you know that the monster you were looking for had intelligence?”

“Keruu. The monster is someone who had been serving Berdan with me until recently.”

“Aha! Coworker?”

“Keru?”

“Whew. Are you really using that term. He won’t understand at all. Rin, ignore him and keep going.”

“Since they worked under the same boss, they’re coworkers……”

“Keruru. He was my one and only underling that made it possible for me to bear the brutal life of the demonic realm. We’re separated right now, but I accurately remember his magical energy signature.”

“Hm…… You’re on friendly terms with him? Then I don’t think this will work out……”

“Kel? Why is that?”

“I’m going to send them through the Gate. He’s going to act as our messenger, traveling between Earth and demonic realm.”

“Keruruk. Are you worried that they’ll be lost in the crack in time?”

“Yeah. You said that you are fond of this monster. We can’t have that.”

“Kel kel! It doesn’t matter in his case.”

“Why is that?”

“His name is Barun. He’s a pathfinder goblin.”

“A pathfinder goblin?”

“That’s right. I do not know about other monsters, but he won’t be stuck in the crack between dimensions.”

“Oho……”

“He cannot do what I do, which is having a pocket dimension and being able to search out targets based on their magical signatures, but he was born with that special ability instead.”

“Good. Let’s go find this Barun fellow.”

“Keruruk! Understood!”

****

We found the goblin named Barun that Karin was talking about.

Goblins are so weak that you could even consider their attack capabilities to be nonexistent.

In such a hostile realm, they lived quite miserable lives.

After all, instead of working for demonic leaders like Berdan or Ladin, they were working for what essentially was the local thug equivalent of a monster.

I did not know what they did to become so hated by Berdan, but they were barely surviving in their own ways.

Taking down the monster that was the boss of these goblins with ease, I offered them a deal.

It would be better for them to work for me as servants rather than being the underlings of other monsters, being treated like disposable peasants.

Barun accepted the offer immediately with gratitude.

He gathered a few goblins that would follow his orders and followed after me.

Using Barun as a messenger, I sent the bloodstones we’d been discarding without a care to Earth.

Here, the bloodstones were nothing more than rubble on the ground you’d trip on, but it would be very useful back on Earth as energy resources.

I also added messages on a letter that I wanted to send to my mother and the commander.

Obviously, the message also included a report of our situation and plans for the future.

In this suffocating life in the demonic realm, finally a way to contact Earth had been discovered.

I could finally breathe a little easier.

A little after Barun and the goblins entered the Gate, Karin detected the magical energy of Belkoseu from afar.

“Keruu. Min-Cheol, Belkoseu is coming.”

“Is that so? Pfft!”

“Keruru. I am also no longer afraid of Belkoseu! After all, he cannot even hold his own against you.”

“Of course, that’s obvious. Just because you’re in front of him, don’t be scared!”

“Kel kel. Understood!”

Until now, just hearing his name made me frustrated.

The feeling reminded me of not having done homework that was due the next day.

However, I no longer felt that way at all.

Just a couple hours ago, the situation had completely changed.

After moving closer to me, Belkoseu spoke.

“Kuhu. Today wasn’t an easy day to hunt.”

“Seems so. To think that we had to run from the demon king twice in a single day.”

“This is just a feeling I’m getting, but I think we’ll be running into them more often from here on out. What I mean by that is that we could be in far greater dangerous situations than what we faced today.”

“Hm… It did seem that he was hunting me down with everything on the line. Still, all I have to do is run away using Warp. Isn’t that so?”

“Kuhmm…… That’s true……”

“Don’t worry about us and focus on gathering magical energies. It won’t be long before you should be able to face Ladin at the least.”

“……”

“The biggest challenge would be getting them to separate them though.”

“If all goes according to your plan, then of course I’d be happy. However, if Jamon unseals the Chimera, it will become messy.”

“Chimera?”

“Keruruk! C… Chimera……”

“It seems that the goblin that serves you is aware of its existence.”

“Chimera…… Is he able to call forth summoned creatures as well?”

“Belkoseu, don’t beat around the bush. What’s a Chimera?”

“Jong-Ho… The Chimera is……”

“Kuhoot. I shall explain for you.”

“……”

“One of the countless Authorities that the demon king possesses is the Unsealing. With that, he summons forth the strongest monster in the demonic realm.”

“Its strength?”

“For the Chimera, the concept of allies and enemies do not exist. You could say that it’s a monster that only follows its instincts.”

“So you’re saying that it’s a monster that will just run about wildly? Is it that dangerous?”

“I have not faced it myself. I have merely heard stories of it, passed down as legends in the demonic realm.”

“……”

“The Chimera had existed since the creation of the demonic realm. You can say that it ruled the prehistoric demonic realm. And since it’s still alive even now, just imagine how strong it would be.”

“And you’re saying that this monster is under the thumb of the demon king? Something doesn’t add up.”

“Kuhoot. You can call it a mischievous prank by a god. The one who takes the throne of the demonic realm gets it as his or her property.”

“……”

“Of course, the demon king would not be exactly the most comfortable unsealing the Chimera. Even he could meet his end by the hands of the Chimera, after all.”

“So you’re saying that the list of opponents to run away from is going to increase.”

“The Chimera will instinctively search after those with high amounts of magical energy. You might be okay if you could hide from its prying eyes, but if you cannot……”

“Isn’t this the worst case scenario though?”

“Kuhuhu. That’s true.”

“Then we’ll deal with it then if it comes down to it.”

“As expected, you’re anything but normal. However… why have you been smiling at me like that?”

“Hm? No… Nothing really. I think I’m getting more comfortable being around you.”

“……”

“You’re just imagining it. Just your imagination. We’ll be going to sleep now, so please keep a good eye out for the demon king.”

“Kuhoot. Will do.”

Why am I laughing?

I’ll let you know after the Demon King becomes a cold corpse.