NOVEL NEXT C3
Keeee…
An unpleasant beast-like sound spread across the ruined open space. Brenda frowned, feeling her head ring.
“Where’s the Major?”
Brenda, who had easily subdued a goblin rushing at her, turned her head to look for Iberis. However, she couldn’t see Iberis, who had been near her just moments ago.
“He… went inside ahead of us.”
“What? When?”
Brenda’s eyes sharpened at the squad member’s answer. The squad member involuntarily flinched as her demeanor turned fierce.
“About 5 minutes ago. Right after he heard the report that contact with the reconnaissance team that entered the rift was lost…”
“Why are you only telling me this now!”
The squad member closed his mouth at the sharp rebuke. He wanted to argue that how could he have said anything with hundreds of goblins rushing at them from all directions, but that would only reveal his incompetence.
“Damn it.”
Brenda cursed, glaring at the squad member who was fumbling with a bewildered expression. Even while doing so, she didn’t stop attacking the monsters. With a single gesture from her, the goblins’ shadows rose from the ground like living creatures and attacked their owners.
“Kieek!”
A goblin that had its body slashed by its own shadow fell with a scream. Seizing the opportunity, Brenda planted a mana bullet in the fallen goblin’s head.
“What terrible timing.”
Brenda bit her lower lip, suddenly feeling a tightness in her chest. A battle when they should be resting—knowing Iberis’s physical condition, she felt uneasy. But there was no choice. Rifts appear without warning.
Today was no exception. Right after returning to the base with Iberis, the ground shook. An earthquake was a sign that a rift was about to occur. As soon as the alarm sounded, Iberis’s team was immediately deployed to the site. Heading to the location provided by the Intelligence Department, they saw hundreds of goblins pouring out from between the cracked earth. The battle began immediately.
“When we get back, I’ll deal with those Intelligence Department bastards first.”
Brenda muttered, grinding her teeth as she surveyed the chaotic surroundings. The Intelligence Department had clearly rated this rift as C-grade, because the monsters coming out of the rift were goblins.
But upon arriving at the scene, the situation was more serious than the Intelligence Department had reported. The size of the rift and the number of goblins pouring out were easily B- grade scale. It wasn’t just a simple goblin horde, but a tribe.
The difficulty of dealing with a tribe that had formed a community was different from a mere horde that moved together. Variables occurring during mission execution were nothing new, but this was undoubtedly a mistake by the Intelligence Department.
If the Intelligence Department had reported it as B- grade, they would have brought more personnel for the operation, and the situation would have been more manageable.
“Everyone’s discipline is slipping.”
Brenda recalled the smug face of the Intelligence Department team leader as she cut a charging goblin warrior in two. The duty of the Defense Force guarding the border was to suppress rifts in their early stages when they occurred, to prevent them from developing into dungeons.
When a rift forms and a gate opens, a dungeon—a space of a new dimension—is created. If the gate connecting Earth and the other world isn’t closed in time, in the worst case, a dungeon break could occur.
That’s why the role of the Intelligence Department was crucial. They needed to provide accurate information about the rift’s grade and monster types so that the deployed units could respond appropriately to the situation. Apart from cases where “unknown” monsters appeared without data, misjudging the grade should never happen.
“Damn it!”
Cursing once again, Brenda drew up her mana. After taking the lives of about a dozen goblins at once, she quickly assessed her surroundings. It seemed like it would be okay for her to leave now.
“Teams 3 and 4, stay behind and clean up these guys. Teams 1 and 2, come with me inside!”
“Yes, Lieutenant!”
“No time! Move quickly!”
Brenda ordered urgently. The squad members followed without a word, though they showed signs of bewilderment at her seemingly anxious demeanor.
“Phew.”
The inside of the rift was dark and damp. Brenda took a short deep breath, closed her eyes, and heightened her senses to the maximum. It was to find Iberis.
“…! This way!”
Soon after detecting a presence, Brenda dashed forward. The squad members diligently followed her. Although it was pitch black inside the rift, too dark to see even a foot ahead, it wasn’t a problem for Espers with senses superior to ordinary people.
Kieeee…!
As they passed through stalactites jutting out here and there and went deeper inside, they heard a ear-splitting roar.
Boom!
Following that, there was a loud noise, the earthen walls shook, and a cloud of dust rose. Feeling urgent, Brenda ran towards the source of the cold air. Soon, she saw Iberis facing off against a huge hobgoblin.
“Major!”
Despite Brenda’s call, Iberis didn’t take his eyes off the hobgoblin. Instead, he raised his right hand in a signal, as if telling them not to approach and stay back. At his gesture, Brenda stopped abruptly. Meanwhile, the squad members who arrived behind her discovered the hobgoblin and drew in their breath.
“Is that… a hobgoblin?”
“Yes. It’s an evolved form of a goblin. Looks like it’s the boss of this rift.”
Brenda answered briefly while examining the hobgoblin. Though not as big as an ogre, the hobgoblin boasted a size easily three or four times that of a regular goblin. Behind it, the air shimmered like a heat haze. It was a dimensional distortion phenomenon.
“Have you found the reconnaissance team?”
“Not yet…”
A nearby squad member answered Brenda’s question in an embarrassed voice. Clicking her tongue, she quickly surveyed the surroundings. Numerous goblin corpses were strewn around Iberis and the hobgoblin.
“There!”
As Brenda was examining the traces of fierce battle, she soon discovered a form different from the goblins. It was the reconnaissance team whose communication had been cut off. Brenda quickly approached the reconnaissance members who had fallen, covered in blood.
“…They’re alive.”
Brenda muttered in relief after hurriedly checking their pulses. Though their wounds were deep, all four reconnaissance members were alive. It seemed Iberis had provided emergency treatment.
“Max! Brown!”
Realizing there was no time to waste, Brenda hastily called for the medical officers. At her call, the medical officers who had been on standby with the guide team rushed over.
“Can you treat them here?”
“Two of them should be fine if we give them recovery potions and treat them immediately. The other two seem to have wounds contaminated with goblin poison. They need purification before treatment.”
Max answered calmly as he poured potion into an unconscious reconnaissance member’s mouth. Brenda’s eyes twisted at the mention of contaminated wounds. If not purified in time, amputation might be necessary.
“Let’s hurry and move them outside.”
“Yes. Fortunately, it seems the Major provided temporary treatment. The wounds are frozen, preventing the contamination from spreading further.”
Brown spoke with a voice of relief. As he said, the wounds of the two reconnaissance members contaminated with monster poison were covered in pure white ice. It was to prevent the contamination from progressing and to keep the body tissue from being damaged.
“That’s no reason to relax. Let’s quickly evacuate the injured…”
Just as Brenda was about to give the evacuation order, the air shook with a fierce roar. The hobgoblin facing off against Iberis had launched an attack.
“Everyone, get down!”
Sensing danger, Brenda shouted as she ducked. An intense shockwave passed over their bodies.
Kwaaang!
Brenda turned her head, wincing at the deafening explosion. She saw the ice shield that had collided with the hobgoblin’s axe shatter with a crashing sound. Iberis, unfazed, retreated backward to avoid the hobgoblin’s attack.
“Phew…”
As white breath flowed between his slightly parted lips, his mineral-like eyes glimmered with a cold light. At that moment, ice spikes began to appear in the air one by one. Iberis, who had summoned the ice spikes, stretched out his hand as if aiming at a target. As he flicked his fingers upward like firing a gun, sharp icicle-shaped ice simultaneously flew towards the hobgoblin.