When Dingo barked loudly, the goblins quickly ran towards him. Meanwhile, the hobgoblin who stayed back at the nest smashed his club to the ground while roaring. Seems like heâs issuing orders to his lackeys.
Kyaaakk-!!
Woof-!! Woof-!!
Dingoâs bark and the goblinsâ roar went back and forth, filling the forest with roars. No matter how fast the goblins can run, they can never catch up with Dingo. He skilfully kept the distance between them constantly. I even wondered if heâs not a wolf but a shepherd dog. Unfortunately, even though he had done what I wanted wonderfully, I couldnât give him beef anymore. Hopefully, there will be a wild boar cub caught in the trap.
As I started walking at the west side of the nest, I saw a mark written with the marker.
âAs expected, those guys are smart.â They put the marker exactly at my eye level. It seems like it was best to maintain a friendly relationship with them. But it was something to think about later, as for now, I need to focus on the matter at hand. I checked my equipment for one last time. As long as I didnât make any mistake, I should be able to subdue the nest without a scratch.
When I walked further, a goblinâs shiny bald head entices me. Giving up to temptation, I pulled the bow out of the quick slot and pulled the string. The arrow slithered through the air and buried itself deep in the goblinâs head. With a thud, it fell to the ground. But since the nest was quite chaotic and noisy, it was barely noticeable.
With bow in hand, I moved closer and closer to the nest. When I killed two more goblins, the hobgoblin finally noticed something. Though, he didnât know where I was. I moved as carefully as possible. While Dingoâs bark went further and further, I took 2 firecrackers out of the bag and threw them into the nest.
With a boom, dazzling fire blazed in the nest. The goblins instantly froze in place, completely confused and didnât know what to do. Itâs only natural, since thereâs a wolf howling outside while fire, smoke, and death were raging inside the nest. Without giving them any moment to think, I continued to shoot arrows around the nest. A group of goblins rushed out from the nest a moment after the hobgoblin roared. However, they all fell to my arrows.
âMy aim is pretty good today.â
I only practiced for one hour today, though?
Then suddenly, as if it couldnât stand the situation anymore, the hobgoblin personally came out of the nest. Then, it immediately rushed towards where I was.
âCome on.â I said with a smirk as I unsheathed the orichalcon long knife and took out the shield from the slot. The hobgoblinâs brows furrowed. It seems like the guy was pretty surprised because I suddenly had another weapon with me. But the surprise didnât last long as he rushed at me once again with a shout.
Roar-!!
âWhy do you guys always roar?â Unfortunately for him, I was a different person from my past self back in Mt. Gaya. I had regained some of my old gamer senses after fighting for so many times. Itâs not as good as RaPwiâs fighting sense, a man who fought by literally breaking everything, but it was still something which I had honed for 5,541 hours.
I jumped sideways and deflected the trajectory of the hobgoblinâs club, staggering it. Thanks to that, the hobgoblin opened a gap in its defense. I dug into the gap and swung my long knife, cutting through its shoulder and stomach in the process. However, even though the wound was wide open, itâs too shallow, not fatal at all.
The hobgoblin, who seems to be taken aback by my attack, retaliates by swinging its club wildly. However, it was too late. I already stepped back and went out of its range. When it saw that it didnât manage to hit anything, the hobgoblin roared before rushing towards me again. I jumped to the side a moment before the hobgoblin tried to ram me. Without being able to stop, the guy slammed hard into the tree behind me.
Keuk-!!
The guy groaned.
âNow!â Without mercy, I stabbed the long knife into its back and twisted it sideways. Then, I rolled sideways and got away from it. The hobgoblin stumbled with a long knife still stuck in its body. In its current state, I only need one or two more attacks to kill it. Therefore, I took out the bow from the quick slot and aimed it towards its swaying head.
âGoodbye.â When the arrow stuck in the hobgoblinâs head, the guy fell to the ground, creating a slight tremor. However, even after taking out the hobgoblin, there are still a lot of goblins left. I wouldnât leave this place before I eradicated each and every single one of them.
.
.
.
âAigoo, my shoulderâŠâ I groaned.
Why does it feel like cleaning up the goblin corpses is more tiring than fighting them?
I gathered the goblin corpses in one place and cut their ankles off. If there were only one or two of them, I would just bury them without doing this extra work. But since there were 21 bodies, there was nothing I could do about it. Itâs better than having bone creepers crawling to my shelter.
Once I finished cutting all of their ankles, I finally got to the fun part: looting. I walked around with Dingo and the scarabs that rode on my shoulders as the navigator to the birdâs farm. When I went to the back of a certain hut, I saw a clumsily built coop. Inside, there were several fat birds which resembled turkey roaming inside. When I looked at them, a window came up at their body.
ăHwajoă
âThey are slightly smaller than turkeyâŠâ but still bigger than a chicken. Apart from them, there were also a few eggs rolling around in the corner. They were much bigger than special eggs you see at the supermarket. When Dingo barked, the birds all flailed and gathered in the corner.
âThey canât fly, huh?â Now I know why the goblins locked them up in a coop with no roof. Looking at their fat bodies, it seemed like they couldnât even jump high.
âHmmâŠâ I think their meat would be pretty tasty. Should I raise them? The reason I didnât bring chickens to this forest in the first place was because they were noisy. However, these hwajos fixed that problem as they were pretty quiet. On top of it, the shelter had also been completed, so I wouldnât have to worry about wild predators eating them.
âLetâs raise it well and eat fried chicken later.â When I left the coop and entered the hut in front of it, I was greeted by a pile of animal corpses. I got out of the hut quickly, holding back my vomit as well as the cuss words which were threatening to come out.
When I checked the goblinsâ pockets one by one, the contents inside were mainly the same. At best, it was decaying fruits, pieces of meat, and crude weapons. Fortunately, I found four poison frogs in the corner of the nest.
âThis is how they procured the paralysis poison in the darts.â I put each of the four poison frogs in the pocket. If there were five of them in the shelter, I would be able to gather their poison quickly. Now that the time for goblins and other monsters to appear in real life is looming closer, it would be better to develop my tolerance in advance. If not, I would need to prepare a lot of things if I want to fight against them.
I searched all over the nest, but couldnât find anything useful. Afterall, it was unreasonable to expect great things from a nest in the forest. Since the goblins in the game have their nest in the city, they used to have a lot of good things. However, it was difficult to farm such things in a forest. But at least thereâs many edible things in the forest.
âIâm glad I found the hwajos and the frogs.â And more importantly, I decided to be satisfied with my safety. I tore down all the huts and ripped all the dry grass to cover the goblin corpses. Finally, I picked up the hwajoâs eggs and tied a rope around the hwajosâ neck.
âCome on, come on.â These guys were surprisingly docile. They didnât make a lot of fuss on the road to my shelter.
âNow itâs your turn to fulfill your part of the deal.â I said to the Scarab Captain as I arrived at the shelter. The Scarab Captain nodded his head and jumped off my shoulder together with all the scarabs. Then they disappeared into the forest. Next time they come, theyâll bring 10 presents. After putting the hwajos and the frogs in a temporary place, I returned to the forest to check the trap. However, there was nothing there. When I returned to the shelter once again, I remodeled the warehouse, made a coop for the hwajos, and put them inside.
âItâs good that I managed to bring you guys here safely, but what should I feed you withâŠâ As a test, I threw some rice at them. And they eat it very well. There would be no food problem for the time being since I have stockpiled enough grainsâŠ
âBut Iâll have to look for some other food source soon.â If I go to the Garak Rice Center, it should still be full of things. After all, Itâs a place where no one goes in and out, so there shouldnât be any zombies. I could also use the chance to stockpile more rice. Thanks to spending a few hours hunting the goblins, the cabbages were fermented enough to be made into kimchi. Itâs a bit strange to make kimchi after clearing the goblinâs nest. But for a Korean like me, kimchi was just as important as clearing a goblinâs nest.
âIf only a wild boar was caught, Iâd be able to cook a Suyuk, right?â Dingo rested his front paw on my arm as I said that. I think heâs asking for something⊠I went into the hwajo coop and came out with an egg. When I broke it in a bowl, it looked so delicious, its yolk was dark yellow. Dingo then ate all of it quickly.
âIs it delicious?â
Woof-!!
As expectedâŠ
Iâm looking forward to the day where I would be able to eat both the egg and the birds.
.
.
.
In August, extreme heat comes. The air reminded me of a sauna. Even if I stood still, sweat kept dripping down to my body. Had the media still existed, they would have reported the current weather as the worst heatwave ever.
âThey are holding up very well.â Zombies were different from humans. Since they were dominated by spores, they could withstand the heat relatively well. Until July, there was still movement from survivors to hunt zombies. But now, it has completely stopped. In this hot weather, if someone was brave enough to hunt zombies, theyâre going to die because of the heat, not zombies.
âItâs cold in the forest and itâs hot in EarthâŠâ If I had to choose, I prefer to stay in the forest. Even if itâs cold, it could be solved easily by putting on more layers of clothes and making a fire in the brazier. But cooling off heat was difficult. Even if I brought ice from the forest to cool off the room in my house, it would only last for a short time. Even Dingo had no intention of coming out of the forest at all. After all, for a guy with long hair, Siberia would be better than a sauna room.
âJust stay there like that.â I said as I thought about Dingo. I emptied my backpack and headed to the Rice Centre in Gangseo-gu. After 30 minutes of running and hiding from the zombies, my body was wet with sweat.
âShort breakâŠâ After entering the portal, cooling off, and coming out again, I feel a little better. By the way, when I went out to the suburbs, the number of zombies around the area was low. Should I just move and live here?
âThough, it is difficult to farm here.â Even when all the buildings had collapsed and there were a lot of zombies, living in the city was comfortable. Thereâs a lot of places to hide and a lot of things to loot. But one day, I will have to get out of this city. Thereâs a limit to food availability in one city.
âI can buy food at the Store, butâŠâ Itâs too expensive so itâs not worth it. You have to kill 10 zombies to buy a loaf of biscuits the size of your palm. Even before that, it would only be purchasable after you kill a specific monster.
âWas it a goblin?â Moreover, itâs more convenient to loot the food that the goblins often carry in their pockets rather than to buy them from the store. But I wondered if people would actually try it. Itâs only expressed as a piece of meat in the game, but the actual meat carried by the goblins would be in very bad shape.
âStill, if you roast it, it should be quite edible.â If not, youâll have to search around for more food. After thinking for a little while, I arrived at the half-collapsed Rice Centre. It was located in such a secluded place, so no zombies could be seen around. It seems that the zombie apocalypse broke out when all the employees were at their respective homes.
âLetâs seeâŠâ Thereâs nothing to see in the processing facility itself. What I want is the rice, not the crumbled equipment. When I went to the warehouse, it was a jackpot. Hundreds of bags of rice were placed on a row of plastic pallets.
âNice! This is what I should be looting.â I quickly make rounds around the warehouse. It was overflowing with all kinds of food, not just rice. It seemed like I wouldnât starve to death if I managed to acquire all of this.
âI can also sell it later.â The problem was, the space in the shelter was limited. With so many things already stockpiled, thereâs not much space left. But, I still pushed all the pallets to the portal and lined it up in the warehouse.
âLetâs be satisfied with this today.â Seeing all of the materials piled up in the warehouse made me feel reassured. With this much grain and rice, even if there were about a thousand hwajo and any kind of birds, they wouldnât be starving. When I returned home, Yoohyeonâs paper airplane was waiting for me.
âHyung, Sooyeon noona came here. She said for the time being, she will be staying at the Rio officetel.
If itâs Rio officetel, itâs located in the crossroads. It was close to the gym-no, now it should be called academy since they arenât using the gym anymore,but the academy.
âThere is no reason for her to stay in that villa anymore.â I shrugged. By the way, itâs really hot. I took off my suit and applied an ice pack on my body. I feel sorry that Iâm the only one enjoying this luxury when other people can only imagine it.
âWill people buy ice if I sell it?â a thought came to my mind. Even if they donât want to, when they see a lukewarm coke, they will immediately think of ice. So, why donât I try selling it at a minimum price? If it doesnât sell, I can just take it down. I went into the shelter in the forest and chopped the ice with a jigsaw. Then I put it in a plastic bag and tied it with a cable tie, and it became a makeshift ice pack.
âAuction registrationâŠâ
ăDo you want to register an ice bag?ă
The auction notification went up. I quickly agreed to it. After a while, some comments were posted in the ice bag post. Itâs all criticism. I really donât get why they cursed me. If you donât want to buy it, then donât.
.
.
.
A small commotion broke out in the Auction House with several people in it. The cause was because someone had put up an ice bag in the auction.
-OMG. Itâs ice
-Wow, did the seller really sell this at an auction?
-But where does the seller get this? There would be no cold place in Korea right now.
Initially, Survival Life was a game which was only playable in Korea. So even if there were people who survived in other countries, they would not be on the level to enter the Auction House. The chance is also high that they wouldnât even awaken at all. However, people didnât even think about that as they were busy accusing the seller because they have to pay 5 points for the ice bag.
-I will never buy it.
-Right! Do you know how hard it is to catch zombies these days? 5 points is ridiculous.
-But if you buy this, you can drink a cold cokeâŠ
-Oh, donât say that.
-Isnât the person who registered this cheating?
-Letâs go ahead and report this.
However, there was a person who just watched quietly as the others poured out their complaints. Her name was Choi Da-jeong. As she was enduring her heat among her zombie subordinates, she immediately pressed the purchase without hesitation. Five points disappeared from her balance and an ice bag appeared on her desk.
âItâs real?â Da-jeong tilted her head. The bag in front of her was filled with a very cold ice to the point she could feel the cold aura from a distance. Unknowingly, she placed the ice pack on her neck.
âAh⊠thatâs coolâŠâ It was the first cool feeling she felt after the zombie apocalypse. She quickly ordered one of her zombies to bring the lukewarm coke and a can of lukewarm water. âPut it there.â
While waiting for them to turn cold, Da-jeong checked the comments with a smile.
-Wow, youâre crazy to buy it.
-They buy ice for 5 points?
-Who are you really?
âFive packs may be big for you, but itâs only a spare change for me.â Da-jeong took off her shoes and dipped her feet in the tub.
âOhhhâŠâ A moan escaped her lips. Her feet seemed to melt. After enjoying it, a thought came to her mind. Who put the ice on the Auction House? She had never met people after the apocalypse began, so she imagined that people would have the ability to make ice.
âWonât it be useless in winter?â she thought. Or probably, it will change to another skill when winter arrives. Da-jeong continued to rub the ice onto her toes. As her unique ability enables her to control zombies, points will keep coming in even when sheâs standing still. If she can feel the fresh freezing sensation of ice in this kind of weather, even if itâs only temporary, she would gladly invest 5 points.
âItâs slowly getting cooler.â Da-jeong opened the cap of the coke and drank it with excitement like in a commercial. Foam ran down her neck and chest, but she didnât care. Once she finished, she burped out loud.
âAhâŠâ Now that she had put her feet in the cold water, she wanted to dunk her whole body into the cold water. Her body trembled as she imagined pouring the ice into a large basin. She couldnât stand it and quickly posted a comment on the ice bag post auction that had ended.
â Do you have any more ice?
However, no answer came. At first she was angry as she felt like she was being ignored. But as time passed, she began to plead inwardly. Iâll buy it for any price, so please sell it!
That day, Da-jeong waited all day for the ice to appear at the Auction House.