I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 148

Chapter 148

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 .