It could be said that in the present day, there was no place on Earth free from the influence of Gate explosions.
Gates appeared everywhere. Aside from the high probability that the environment within a Gate would be somewhat similar to the environment where it appeared, there was virtually no regularity to the locations where they emerged.
And if left unconquered, these Gates would explode, spewing their contents outward. Like an overturned paint bucket, they would paint the surrounding area with their own colors.
Including the monsters within them. They were like clumps of paint that had been stuck inside the bucket. The world had changed, but the fact that this was their territory remained unchanged.
However, humans weren't a species lacking enough ambition to simply abandon these overwritten places. The fact that the Academy could only be built on top of a location overwritten by an explosion was proof enough of that.
The Harmony Academy stood where a place once called Yongin used to be. Now it was called Harmony City, but it wasn't as large as the former Yongin City. Compared to before, it was like a single, isolated island had sprung up.
Only major cities like Seoul or Busan in Korea could still maintain such a large scale.
Naturally, the surrounding areas were also riddled with terrain altered by Gate explosions. The Seokseongsan Mountain that Yeon-woo was heading to was no exception. It was called Seokseongsan Mountain for lack of a better name, but it was already practically a mountain range.
Among them, the western forest, which didn't even have a name, was a decent place for novice Hunters to operate. The fact that the monsters became stronger the deeper one ventured into the center of the vast forest, and that the monsters appearing in the outer areas were, at most, goblins or of similar threat level, was particularly appealing.
'Still, I need to be careful.'
What kind of monster was a goblin? The main characteristic of these small, humanoid monsters with green skin was that they possessed the intelligence of a child.
The more of them you faced at once, the higher the danger level, and if a leader appeared, the danger level would rise sharply. That part needed sufficient caution.
In that sense, a wooden sword was quite a flawed weapon for hunting, but...
The ten years he had spent rolling around in his past life hadn't disappeared.
In other words, taking down goblins without them even being able to scream was a piece of cake.
* * *
"Krrk."
Five small, ugly humanoids with green skin. They wandered through the dense forest, looking around. In their hands were crude stone spears and stone swords.
One of them, seemingly the leader, held a proper iron sword. Even that was rusty, but... On the contrary, that meant he needed to be careful not to get stabbed.
"Krrrk?"
They were small in stature and not very intelligent, but even then, they were among the better of the lower-ranked monsters. Only a handful of lower-ranked monsters possessed a level of intelligence similar to goblins.
Sniff, sniff, they twitched their noses and found rabbit droppings among the bushes. Once one trace was found, the second and third traces appeared naturally. Soon, one of the goblins spotted a rabbit nibbling on grass and successfully hunted it with a slingshot hanging from the rags around its waist.
"Kik!"
Considering the population of the village, just one rabbit wouldn't be enough, but it was a good start for today. With that thought, the goblin drooled and grabbed the ear of the unconscious rabbit, lifting it up.
"──Kugh."
Without even a scream, its spine was snapped, and it died.
'Thrusting is still awkward.'
The owner of the wooden sword, who had accurately stabbed and shattered the cervical vertebrae, was, of course, Yeon-woo. He carried the goblin's corpse, dripping with life from its mouth, into the bushes.
He laid it on the ground he had dug up beforehand and lightly covered the surface with soil. Goblins had a good sense of smell and could distinguish the scent of their own kind, so he covered it with a different scent.
Naturally, Yeon-woo had smeared mud from the forest all over his body before starting his work.
They could count. The moment he killed one, it became a time attack. Fortunately, a rough look around the area revealed no goblin hordes. He was just aiming for individual actions to take them down easily, but even if five of them attacked together, it wouldn't be a big problem.
'Then shall I wait?'
Time attack or whatever, he could actually just sit here and wait. The intelligence of goblins was comparable to that of elementary school students, but conversely, that meant it was only at the level of elementary school students. Moreover, since they didn't receive education like humans, their thinking was a bit lacking.
For example, while humans would go back and bring people to search, these guys would come to the place where the scent disappeared and look around.
[Wow, it's real.]
Shar, who had woken up at some point, spoke from above Yeon-woo's head.
Did you sleep well? A lot has happened while you were asleep...
As she said, a goblin appeared, parting the bushes and looking around. He deliberately left the rabbit's corpse as it was. This was because it made it difficult for them to grasp the situation. Yeon-woo held the goblin's stone spear in his left hand and gripped the wooden sword in his right.
He rarely used dual wielding in actual combat, but he always trained so that he wouldn't have any problems even if he lost one arm. Fortunately, this was also the case when he was fifteen. Of course, he hadn't considered such a gruesome injury, he just swung the sword with both his left and right hands because he held it with both hands.
[Then I'll go up high and see where the others are.]
'Thanks.'
Even if it became a melee, it wouldn't be a problem, but there was no reason to stop his daughter from trying. It wasn't like she would get hurt, either. He was a good father who actively encouraged his child's independence.
