Chapter 11: The Magi Project (3)

"Ha..."

A rough breath emerged from KangWoo's mouth.

There were tens of goblin corpses around him.

"Oof."

KangWoo tried to calm down and stood up. He dismissed the blade he had been maintaining for a while.

'As expected, with more monsters, it got harder.'

He'd struggled quite a lot, considering how confidently he leaped toward them while shouting about fried chicken.

First, there were a lot of them, and because they moved as a group, he couldn't mindlessly deal with them.

But the biggest problem was that, because his Ten Thousand Demon Core had been sealed, his constitution had weakened.

He'd quickly consumed his already low amount of demonic energy, and that made him consume quite a bit of energy.

After killing the last five goblins, he'd even struggled to maintain the Authority.

'But still...'

KangWoo smiled while looking at the corpses of the goblins around him.

"I was able to kill a lot of them."

He'd struggled quite a bit, but the result was positive.

'My level has also increased.'

After clearing up the monster hideout, his level had increased by four and gone up to 8.

'Although the demonic energy stat hasn't increased.'

They said, that once you level up, random stats were increased by one to three points.

He didn't know if it was because he was unlucky or there was some sort of rule, but all other skills except the one he needed the most had increased.

'Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I can increase demonic energy with Authority of Predation.'

Other players may have felt disappointed if the stat they needed the most hadn't increased, but that wasn't his case.

He had a cheat skill that allowed him to increase his main stat without leveling up.

"Predation."

Dark energy came out from his body and spread through the surroundings.

The Authority of Predation began eating the goblins that were closest to him.

Crunch-! Crunch-!

'If I had enough demonic energy, I would be able to use the Authority of Predation as an offensive attack...'

The biggest strength of Authority of Predation was its ability to devour the corpses of enemies, but it wasn't the only possible usage.

With enough demonic power, he could also use it in combat.

Since it was an Authority he had used for ten thousand years, he knew how to use it very well.

'I still need more demonic energy before I can use it offensively.'

With a somewhat disappointed expression, KangWoo devoured all the goblin corpses around him.

[Your demonic energy has increased by 2.]

'Good.'

It was a small amount, but after feeling that his demonic energy had increased, KangWoo smiled.

Stacking demonic energy little by little like that reminded him of the early days when he had just fallen to Hell.

Back then, just like he was doing right now, he'd gained strength by devouring the weakest monsters of Hell.

'But I'm different than the me from back then.'

When he had just fallen to Hell, he didn't have time to relax.

He desperately moved by following his natural desire to survive.

But it was different now.

He knew what to do to get stronger and faster more effectively.

It was like playing a game that you had already cleared.

The speed at which he was getting stronger couldn't be compared to before.

'My current demonic energy stat is 16.'

He didn't know the stat of other players on a similar level, but he was sure that it wasn't low.

"This is just the beginning."

KangWoo sat on top of a goblin's house that'd been destroyed from the fighting and rested a bit.

For the moment, it was just goblin hunting, but once he got stronger, he would probably be able to hunt in gates with a higher rank.

Then he would be able to gather more demonic energy and thus recover his old strength faster.

'I'm sure goblins aren't the only monsters with demonic energy.'

Since he hadn't faced any other types of monsters after returning to Earth, he felt slightly anxious, but he thought that the chances of that being true were low.

Rustle-

"Krrrrr."

"Hmm?"

While KangWoo was deeply immersed in thoughts, he heard a monster approach while making a ferocious cry.

KangWoo frowned after hearing a sound different from a regular goblin.

A giant goblin with brown skin emerged from the bushes.

Unlike the normal goblins that were around 150 centimeters, the height of that one was nearly two meters.

KangWoo remembered what he had heard from TaeSoo.

"I see, so that's a hobgoblin."

He had found it weird that the boss was nowhere to be seen while clearing up the monster hideout. It seemed like he had just gone out for a moment.

'I'm glad.'

He wasn't sure how strong the hobgoblin was, but if he'd fought against it while trying to deal with the tens of goblins, he would've struggled quite a lot.

Because time had passed, KangWoo had recovered demonic energy, so he created another blade made of demonic energy.

"GRRRRR!!!"

Stomp-! Stomp-!

* * *

After seeing that his hideout was destroyed, the hobgoblin angrily approached KangWoo.

Unlike the rusty knives that most goblins had, the hobgoblin had a grand sword with him.

And...

'Mana?'

He could feel a bit of mana on the hobgoblin's grand sword.

'So monsters can use mana too?'

The mana stone was their core, so it wasn't weird that they could control mana.

KangWoo lifted his left hand and blocked the hobgoblin's violent smash.

Bang-!

"Ugh..."

A sound similar to an explosion sounded, and KangWoo was pushed back.

'It seems like it's still a bit hard to block it upfront.'

The problem wasn't the mana that was in the sword.

In terms of raw power, demonic energy was stronger than mana, so that wasn't the reason why he was pushed back.

The reason why he was pushed back was because of the difference that there was between their specs—a simple difference in strength.

The explosive power coming out from the almost two-meter-tall hobgoblin was hard to withstand, even with his strength which had been buffed with demonic energy.

'Then...'

KangWoo's eyes sank.

He wasn't anxious because he couldn't fight against it upfront.

He was used to fighting in conditions that weren't favorable to him.

In the countless battles he'd gone through, there were more instances in which he didn't have the advantage.

"GRRRR!"

Stomp-! Bang-!

The hobgoblin kept shouting angrily after seeing that his hideout had been destroyed.

Since monsters were also living creatures with emotions, it was normal for them to be angry in that kind of situation. Its home was destroyed, and its underlings had been killed.

KangWoo smiled after seeing the hobgoblin approach him while blinded by rage.

'I'll be able to use this.'

KangWoo dodged the sword of the hobgoblin by a narrow margin and extended his hands toward it.

"Authority of Range."

It was the Authority of a demon called Crocell.

Usually, it was used to make yourself go berserk and deal massive damage. It was mostly used as a buff.

But KangWoo had used that Authority on the hobgoblin instead of himself.

The movements of the hobgoblin got faster and stronger.

Most people probably wouldn't understand why he'd done that.

—Because he had just used a buff skill on the opponent rather than himself.

"AARRGG!! GRRRR!!"

Bang-! Stomp-!

'This isn't really a buff.'

KangWoo watched with cold eyes at the hobgoblin that had gone berserk.

It was true that it had become stronger thanks to the Authority of Rage.

But that wasn't the point.

Slam-!

KangWoo was easily able to dodge the hobgoblin's attacks.

Now he could clearly see how the hobgoblin would move and attack.

"GRRRR!"

'This is a curse.'

KangWoo had never used the Authority of Rage on himself.

Getting stronger by becoming angrier was something that worked only in a manhwa.

When you get angrier, your reasoning becomes more diffuse, and thus your movements become simpler.

Getting stronger didn't mean anything.

KangWoo was able to read all the hobgoblin's movements easily.

Even if you're strong, it's useless if you can't land an attack on your opponent.

'It's coming.'

The hobgoblin swung the sword while making an eerie rumbling sound.

Was it because it had lost its reason?

That big movement was full of openings.

KangWoo bowed and dodged the sword; then he stabbed the hobgoblin's knees with his sword.

"GRRRRRR!"

The hobgoblin's posture crumbled.

Even while crumbling, it swung its sword toward KangWoo.

But there was no way he would be able to deal with a powerful attack in such a position.

A bigger opening appeared in the hobgoblin's posture.

Stab-!

"Grrr..."

KangWoo bounced back up and stabbed the hobgoblin in its chin.

After being pierced from his chin to the top of its head, the hobgoblin began to tremble and soon collapsed.

"Oof."

While trying to get hold of his breath that had gotten heavier, KangWoo looked down at the hobgoblin.

'Fighting with such an amount of demonic energy is definitely uncomfortable.'

He found it annoying that he struggled so much against an opponent that wouldn't have been a match against him before.

"I need to hurry up and rebuild my demonic energy."

KangWoo clicked his tongue and approached the corpse of the hobgoblin.

He looked down at the corpse of the hobgoblin expectantly.

'How much demonic energy is this guy going to give me?'

To be honest, the amount of demonic energy a goblin had was too low, so hunting them was bad in terms of efficiency.

While it was true that even a little amount was of great help, the fact that it was a little amount didn't change.

Since its strength couldn't be compared to a normal goblin's, KangWoo expected it to give him more demonic energy. He slowly extended his hand.

It was at that moment...

Ting-

A sound he had gotten used to rang in his ears.

[You've cleared a monster's hideout alone.]

[You've obtained 150% additional experience.]

[You've successfully killed a Hobgoblin, a C-rank boss monster.]

[Your level has gone up by 3.]

[You've reached level 10 and achieved the second awakening.]

[You've unlocked the 2nd awakening attribute.]