A Legendary Korean Gamer Stuck in a Japanese Isekai – Chapter 26

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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“I… I can’t do it.”

“You must, Hero Hosono.”

The woman called Hero Hosono shook her head with tears welling up in her eyes as she held a short sword.

Kieeek! Move! Human!

Below her, a small green monster – a goblin – was thrashing about and screaming at Hosono.

“Eek-!”

The goblin pinned under Hosono was struggling, but its condition wasn’t very good.

It was covered in dirt as if it had been rolling on the ground, and its crude clothing barely covered its private parts. Though not dead, blue blood was flowing from deep cuts all over its body.

It was a situation where Hosono, who had subdued the goblin, could end its life just by driving the short sword into its neck.

However, Hosono couldn’t bring herself to strike down with the short sword, but neither could she release her hold on the goblin that was glaring at her with killing intent and spitting while covered in wounds. She was caught in an impasse.

Kkeuk-!

The situation that had been maintained briefly ended when Gregory sighed and cut the goblin’s neck.

“Hik!”

Hosono jumped up in shock as she saw the goblin’s head roll to the side, painting the ground with blood.

The training ground had turned into a mess with blood spilled from the monster the size of a medium-sized dog after what could be called a desperate struggle.

At first, I thought cleaning up would be a hassle, but surprisingly, this part wasn’t something to worry about.

When the goblin’s death was confirmed, its body turned to ash and scattered.
The same happened to the blood stains everywhere.

The only traces that the goblin had existed were a cloudy, nail-sized magic stone that had rolled near where the goblin’s head had been before the corpse disappeared.

And a single piece of what looked like smelly cloth that had covered its private parts.

Unlike humans, they say that beings classified as magical beasts, born under the influence of foreign gods, disappear like that when they die.

Occasionally, special specimens would leave behind useful material items like bones, horns, or hide.

It’s quite convenient, isn’t it?

No matter how much they increased the reality, actually butchering monsters to loot items would be too much even for someone with a strong stomach. It would be troublesome too.

Though it was a convenience-oriented setting conscious of mass appeal, I thought it was a reasonable compromise.

However, apart from such compromises, the reality didn’t seem very reasonable for other people.

The faces of the users around were all pale.

Some people actually finished training or vomited during watching the training content.

“Heroes, in three weeks, you will be going outside. And you will face many magical beasts and strong enemies. However, fighting strong enemies from the start is dangerous. Today, we will practice ‘killing’ using the goblins we’ve captured.”

This was the answer given by one of the instructors to someone’s question about why such training was necessary.

But I thought there were other reasons as well.

Among the training that users were doing, sparring was the closest to actual combat.

However, because it hurt when they got injured during sparring, there were quite a few users who went easy on each other while being mindful of one another.

Unlike users who could communicate, these wild-eyed goblins showed no mercy to hesitant users.

‘Though it seems the destructive power was stronger than expected.’

I watched the goblins rampaging in their iron cages.

The goblins were going even more berserk, perhaps because they were watching their kind being killed by humans beyond the iron bars.

By feeling, it was like being charged at by a medium-sized dog like a Welsh Corgi or Border Collie gone mad.

On the users’ side, they had weapons, and in terms of build and strength, these magical beasts weren’t even comparable to them in a one-on-one situation.

Even female users could subdue them without much difficulty.

If they could just keep their wits about them.

But keeping those wits was not easy for most users.

This game was far too realistic to be dismissed as just a game.

Even though they were small, expecting ordinary people who would be startled even by a small dog suddenly running at them to be unfazed by goblins charging with bloodlust and crazed eyes was too much to hope for.

Many became flustered when entering actual combat and got wounded by goblins that were merely a bit quick.

Of course, as battles dragged on, users who gradually regained their composure overwhelmed the goblins.

Almost all users passed this stage.

However, at the stage of ‘killing’ the goblins, a truly large number of users failed.

‘That damned reality.’

Whether this was a game or reality didn’t matter.

We’d be trapped here for a while anyway, unable to leave, and the sensations felt just as real as reality.

Maybe because they were from the birthplace of subculture, there were many users who were adapting quite quickly, treating it as reality.

Because it was so real that some considered it reality rather than a game, users who reached the ‘killing’ stage seemed to realize something.

Among them, how many would have experience wringing a chicken’s neck in the countryside or handling live fish at home?

Even among people who cooked their own meals, most had only seen prepared ingredients from the supermarket, with few having experience actually killing the creatures that became those ingredients.

As a result, when it came to the killing stage, regardless of their hero rank, a considerable number trembled helplessly like that Hosono woman, unable to act either way.

Even those who closed their eyes tight and managed to stab their weapons into the goblins’ necks seemed to feel the sensation of cutting flesh and crushing bone transmitted through their weapons – after killing, many either vomited or stared blankly at their hands as if their souls had left them.

Watching this, the remaining members became like students waiting their turn to jump over the vaulting horse, knowing they couldn’t jump well.

‘Still, this is definitely useful training.’

Even in the early stages, heroes weren’t summoned just to scuffle with single goblins.

In actual combat, if they trembled like this at the crucial moment when they needed to kill, it would lead to major accidents.

Though it felt somewhat similar to how they make child soldiers get used to killing in some third-world countries.

‘…Fundamentally, is it really that different?’

Although we were heroes according to the setting, fundamentally speaking, we weren’t much different from being dragged here without any real consent and sent to fight on battlefields without any benefit.

It seemed not much different from being forcibly raised as child soldiers.

‘When this situation is resolved, I wonder if there will be some major lawsuits?’

If this were in America, it would probably be enough to bring down the entire company.

I wonder if compensation amounts would be large for such lawsuits in Japan too?

Even just this situation of fighting goblins is enough to cause PTSD in normal circumstances.

And what we’ll experience going forward will be even worse.

Of course, while most struggled with their first experience of killing a goblin, there were exceptions.

In the case of the Japanese lunch kid, he immediately beheaded the charging goblin at the start.

No aftereffects from killing whatsoever.

‘Well, he’s someone who tried to cut down even me, a human, in the first place.’

Honestly, when we return to reality, his personality is somewhat concerning.

Though he’s become a bit more docile after being defeated by me, the delinquent with a pretty face also showed no particular resistance to killing goblins.

Additionally, there were a few others like Saito who, although frowning at the unpleasant sensation on their hands after killing goblins, calmly moved on.

A significant portion of such users were men in their 30s and 40s.

‘Older men definitely have a different level of mental stability.’

Even if they were C or D rank heroes, those types would probably be able to pull their weight.

The loser groups watching the training with pale faces seemed to have similar thoughts, as their eyes lit up while looking at the users who calmly killed goblins and hadn’t joined parties yet.

For magic users, training was provided to volunteers.

After witnessing the previous carnage, most didn’t step forward, but among them, Hirao stepped up with a stern face. Not a bad choice.

Even for rear positions, since safety couldn’t be guaranteed, Hirao also needed experience fighting without protection.

And killing too.

Whoosh-!

Kiya-! Kiya-! Kiy…a…

“Uweeeek.”

He vomited after watching the goblin screaming and burning to death from his magic right before his eyes.

While killing with cold weapons has an unpleasant tactile sensation, killing without touching isn’t particularly clean either.

I covered my nose as a foul smell started to spread.

As the disgusting smell of burning meat filled the surroundings, most people retched and glared at Hirao, the cause of this horrific scene.

The person in question seemed unaware, being completely preoccupied with vomiting.

When a court lower mage cast a wind spell to ventilate the area, Gregory, who had been frowning at the foul smell, gave a thumbs up to the court lower mage in thanks and looked at the groaning group of heroes.

“Among the remaining magic users, is there anyone else who would like to participate… no… and among other non-combat classes…”

The frequently darkening alchemist who met Gregory’s eyes shook his head vigorously.
The other hipster production classes did the same.

When he shifted his gaze to the priests, naturally no one stepped forward from the priest group that was 80% female except for me and one other person.

Even the men turned their heads to avoid making eye contact with Gregory as much as possible.

Finally, Gregory met my eyes and smiled broadly.

It had a feeling of ‘Would you like to try?’

His face was full of anticipation.

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“…Hero Yoon Sihu. I think you can end it now.”

I came to my senses seeing Gregory’s expression, which had become somewhat less enthusiastic than at first, and the users around watching with nauseated looks.

I got too focused.

I turned my head to look at the goblin in front of me.

The goblin that had initially charged at me like a madman was now pointing a poison-coated dagger at me, but not a trace of fighting spirit remained on its face.

‘…Have I tested everything I wanted to test?’

I looked down at my ruined uniform.
Clothes torn and stained with blood from cuts everywhere.

‘…Adela’s going to have something to say about this.’

I recalled the personal maid who had grimaced when receiving my clothes that were ruined after yesterday’s duel with the Japanese lunch kid.

‘Still, it was necessary.’

The experiment had been sufficient.

From what I’d learned, goblins had undisputedly the highest reproduction rate among all magical beasts.

They could appear in any place, any situation, and if one goblin was found, there would be at least 50 goblins in the vicinity – truly the cockroaches of the magical beast world.

They were quick-witted and clever, often launching surprise attacks while others were fighting different magical beasts.

‘So I did get a feel for their capabilities and analyzed them a bit…’

Following Gregory’s words to finish it, I walked forward, causing the goblin to flinch and step back.

At this sight, small exclamations came from the knights’ direction.

Conversations like ‘The goblin’s spirit is broken.’ ‘Understandable. Mm’ reached my ears.

At first, it had been about allowing the goblin to land a hit.

Even without HP or damage indicators, it was to get a physical sense of how dangerous a goblin’s attack could be.

Whether an ambush would be dangerous, or if it would end with just a bit of pain.

Since you could survive ‘as long as you don’t die,’ it was about calculating damage using the basic monster.

If it was truly dangerous, there were knights and priests around anyway.

A bare-handed goblin wasn’t anything special.

Its build and weight weren’t much.

Though its teeth and claws were sharp, unless it was targeting the neck or eyes, it was just a stinging sensation at most?

Though it was only the size of a medium dog, its strength was much weaker.

I could subdue it without much difficulty even in close combat after discarding my staff.

Then I tested healing.

Whether it was possible to heal or bless entities classified as ‘enemy’ ‘monster’ ‘magical beast.’

While it wasn’t something generally practical to use, there might be situations where ‘just maybe’ you needed to know.

When first analyzing a game, it was good to approach with the attitude that nothing was obvious.

The result was that the goblin’s wounds healed without difficulty.

The same went for blessings.

After that came learning about patterns based on the goblin’s immediate display of aggression.

Things like their turning speed being faster than expected, or their field of vision being narrower than expected.

When I had learned enough about unarmed goblins, I requested the poison needle that goblins commonly used.

Though they showed a puzzled expression at first, they allowed it after seeing me toying with the goblin without any problems.

37 seconds.

That was the time until my vision started to blur and my body began to feel heavy after being hit by the goblin’s poison needle.

Though it got progressively worse over time, from a certain point it was accompanied by high fever symptoms like a severe cold.

‘I’ll need to check if the speed of reaction to poison feels different depending on stats.’

The time it took to recover using a status-clearing spell was less than 1 second.
It was instantaneous.

Though this would need to be thoroughly tested to see if other status effects worked the same way.

Finally came the dagger.

Since humans were large prey for goblins, perhaps because they couldn’t kill with claws and teeth alone, they often used daggers.

However, their use was crude, and it seemed that without fear of bladed weapons, one could subdue them bare-handed without much damage.

Similarly, while it would become quite dangerous if they targeted above the neck with the dagger, being in such a situation essentially meant things had already gone wrong.

Still, being a creature with intelligence, it screamed as if knowing it was about to die.

But unlike before, it wasn’t a sound full of killing intent, but closer to a frightened wild animal screaming to keep others away.

A person who remained unaffected by all means it could use, who repeatedly broke and healed its body.

“You know it’s over. Let’s make this easy. I’m sorry too, so I’ll let you go peacefully.”

Whether it understood the meaning of the words was unclear.

However, when the tip of my staff flew toward its neck, the goblin that had been screaming threats seemed to resign itself and dropped the point of its dagger.

Squish-!

Gak… gak…

The goblin clutched its pierced neck, soon went limp, and not long after turned to ash and disappeared.

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