Chapter 24 - The Boss Is Too Weak (4)

“All right, Goblin Shaman. You need help?”

“... Kerrrk. Kerk.”

“... Why'd you stop talking?”

Where the hell had it learned to ignore someone after starting the conversation itself?

It felt like a girl had texted me first, and I'd fired back an instant reply, all excited and hopeful, only to get nothing in return.

Don't text me in the first place, then... Don't go poking your fingers into my heart...!

“Kerk...”

“...”

“Kerrrk... I know you're listening, human...! I need help!”

The Goblin Shaman repeated itself, as though it had gone senile.

Taking a closer look, I saw that its face was covered in deep wrinkles, and its eyes were white and blind.

If it entered an Old Goblin Contest, its looks alone would instantly make it a strong contender for first place.

“Human...! Kerk...”

“...”

At first, I'd thought it was rambling because it had gone senile...

But wasn't it just really hard of hearing?

I carefully stepped up beside it, as though approaching an elderly person, and spoke into its ear.

“... Can you hear me? Kerk?”

“Kerk...! Human! You were there after all! Cough, cough... Hrrk...”

“...”

... It really was hard of hearing.

“Kerk... Human...”

“Why do you keep calling me human?”

“Kerk... Don't you lot call me Goblin Shaman instead of using my name? Kerk.”

“...”

It had such a good point that I couldn't think of a comeback. Was this the wisdom that came with age?

“Kerk... Help... I need help...”

The Goblin Shaman kept murmuring that it needed help.

“That monster... We must kill the intruder... Kerk...”

With the hand that wasn't holding its staff, the Goblin Shaman laboriously pointed at the Minotaur.

Come to think of it, that was strange.

This island? Forest? Whatever this place was, there weren't any notable monsters here besides goblins.

Of course, there was no water or wildlife either, so it could hardly be called a normal ecosystem...

But regardless, every enemy that had popped up had been a goblin.

Then a Minotaur suddenly appeared out of nowhere as a hidden boss? Anyone would be curious.

“Kerk... Beneath this island... there was once an ancient labyrinth... Kerk...”

The Goblin Shaman slowly began to explain.

“The labyrinth had been closed off long ago... so no one thought much of it... Kerk...”

“...”

“Kerk... But a young goblin was playing tag in the labyrinth and broke the seal on an ancient demon... Kerk...”

The demon of the labyrinth, unleashed. Goblins, slaughtered.

As the leader of the goblin island, the Goblin Shaman had been forced to make a decision.

“Killing it was impossible... Kerk. Sealing it was the best I could do. And then... Kerrrk.”

The Goblin Shaman, once powerful enough to seal the Minotaur, was now at death's door.

It had probably kept the creature sealed for an incredibly long time, unable even to sleep properly.

“We must kill that monster... Kerk. I haven't much longer to live. Cough, cough!”

Green blood dribbled from the Goblin Shaman's mouth.

“I'd like to help, but... I can't kill that thing.”

I couldn't fight it in the first place.

“Kerk... Foolish human. I have a way. First, as much as possible...”

“Kim Junho.”

An icy voice cut off the Goblin Shaman in the middle of its impassioned explanation.

“We need to talk.”

It was Choi Jiwon.

She didn't take me very far.

“... What is it? Why so serious?”

“... Kim Junho.”

“What?”

Choi Jiwon.

My feelings toward her were... incredibly complicated.

She was the one responsible for making me regress dozens of times.

She was a crazy bitch who'd sliced the bridge of my nose with her sword just for asking what college she went to, and knocked me out with a blow to the back of my neck because I was acting suspiciously.

But she was also the teacher who'd taught me swordsmanship, and the guardian deity protecting the weak in the clearing.

Above all... Choi Jiwon was the goal I'd set for myself, my guiding milestone.

To obtain a trait from her and surpass her.

That was what drove me to keep regressing.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“... Kim Junho.”

She just kept saying my name.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

After repeatedly tapping her sword's hilt with her fingertips, she looked straight into my eyes, as though she'd made up her mind.

“Kim Junho.”

“What the hell is it?”

“Earlier, you talked about the destruction that killing the boss would bring.”

“... What about it?”

“You're deliberately leaving out one possibility.”

“...”

She was right.

I'd intentionally concealed one possible outcome.

She gave a faint chuckle.

“Under normal circumstances, killing the boss would spell doom. But our situation is different, isn't it? You have me.”

“...”

It was true.

In most cases, killing the boss could only end in destruction, but we were an exception.

Choi Jiwon... was strong enough to hold her own against the Minotaur.

She couldn't be sure she'd win, but that didn't mean she'd definitely lose, either.

“I'll buy time. Everyone can go through the portal while I do that, right?”

The words I hadn't wanted to hear came out of her mouth.

It was, in fact, the most rational solution.

Even if the Minotaur broke free of the seal, most people could use the portal to reach the next stage if she lured it far enough away.

“Once I've bought enough time, I can just come back and go through the portal too, right?”

She shrugged, as though trying to convince me.

She could say that, but she probably knew better than anyone.

There was no way she was coming back in one piece.

The strongest would be sacrificed. Everyone else would be saved.

“... No.”

I knew it was the most rational choice, but I absolutely couldn't agree.

Both reason and emotion opposed it.

First, reason.

I was going to regress after getting everything I could out of this run anyway.

That meant I had absolutely no intention of going through the portal right now.

So a plan where everyone else passed through the portal while Choi Jiwon bought time offered next to no reward for me.

We'd get better rewards by joining forces and defeating the Minotaur instead. Therefore, I opposed it.

Then, emotion...

I simply didn't like the very idea of having to sacrifice Choi Jiwon.

The death of a punk who'd tried to hurt others carried a different weight for me than the death of someone trying to protect everyone.

She might be rude and cold... but she was unquestionably a good person.

I didn't like a storyline where Choi Jiwon sacrificed herself. Therefore, I opposed it.

I wanted to explain that this logical decision-making algorithm had ultimately led me to the conclusion of “opposed”...

But since I was an introvert, I just screamed, “Fuck, I said no!”

“Ha... Did you just swear at me?”

She let out an incredulous laugh.

Ah... Had I gone too far? Was she going to slice me up now?

I involuntarily squeezed my eyes shut, but...

PAT.

What came wasn't cold steel, but a gentle hand resting on my shoulder.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

She gave me a smile.

“But I'm doing this because I want to. Firefighter Park Cheoljin has already agreed, too.”

“... What?”

“I've always wondered.”

Wondered? About what?

After that cryptic remark, she started walking away.

“... Where are you going?”

“To get the people in the clearing. They'll have to be nearby if they're going to take the portal while I buy time, won't they?”

She seemed to have prepared herself.

Prepared to make a noble sacrifice.

Seeing her like that made something boil in my chest for no good reason.

Was it an inferiority complex? Helplessness? Or some mixture of the two?

What mattered was that I felt fucking awful.

So I blurted it out before I knew it.

“Give me time.”

“What?”

She stopped walking.

“Until tomorrow morning. I'll think of a way. Wait until then.”

“...”

She turned her head and looked straight into my eyes.

“You really are... a strange guy.”

With that, she started walking toward the clearing again.

But I distinctly saw her give a small nod.

The sun rises.

It's dawn.

I haven't slept a wink, so there must be enormous dark circles under my eyes.

“Cough... Cough... Human. With my help, the Minotaur...”

“Shut up for a second.”

I ignored the Goblin Shaman, which kept urging me to take on the Minotaur head-on.

I couldn't fight it anyway. I was trying to figure out whether there was another way besides combat.

Maybe my head was too cluttered, because no good ideas came to me.

My head hurt and I kept dry-heaving, probably from lack of sleep.

To make matters worse, we were near the swamp on the outskirts, so the air smelled utterly revolting.

Right. I'd go into the forest and think things over in the fresh air.

Breathing in this foul stench was bound to give me nasty, negative thoughts.

“...”

... The swamp?

Minotaur.

Spherical barrier.

Can't hit it.

Swamp.

Minotaur.

Sphere.

“Hey. Shaman.”

“Cough... Cough... Hm? Human? Did you call me?”

“The barrier around the Minotaur... Can it move?”

“Kerk... It can move, yes, but... Are humans idiots? That Minotaur is incredibly heavy. Ordinary strength won't budge it.”

“Humans think they're so clever. Kerk,” the Goblin Shaman added, mocking me.

“But what if... I gathered a whole bunch of incredibly strong people?”

Choi Jiwon. Park Cheoljin. And the other people with high Strength stats I could find by searching this forest.

People whose superhuman strength surpassed human limits.

If I gathered them all and we pushed that spherical barrier with all our might...

Couldn't we bury the Minotaur in the swamp?

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

The announcement for Novelpia's “Please Write It” event is up...

And there, proudly occupying a spot among the required tags, was “tower-climbing stories”...

I haven't seen anyone writing tower-climbing stories for a while...

What if I'd started serializing just a little later...?

I feel like regressing...

Dear editor... How could you... How could you...

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