Record of a Thousand Lives c4

I guess I should move this to Projects soon… I’m doing stuff other than King Shura, because I did too much King Shura trans and is a little tired of it. I need something new to spice things up.

Author: Flatter
The Author of this story, Flatter, has full rights over this story, and I am translating this work with his permission.

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Chapter 4. Goblin Habitat (1)
Vuun–!

A 3 meter tall monster swung a giant warhammer with ease.
At the same time, Kang Yoonsoo lightly began walking.

He wasn’t that fast.
But the hammer was unable to even touch his clothing.
Crack–!
The warhammer struck the ground.
Kang Yoonsoo turned, and began to run.
The minotaur followed him with an enraged shout.

Koom. Koom.

The ground shook slightly when the minotaur walked.
Kang Yoonsoo ran around the workshop to the crafting section.
During this time, the s.p.a.ce between them shortened quite a bit.
It would only take a few seconds till the minotaur catched up.
When the minotaur took a final step that would let it catch up to Kang Yoonsoo.

Krrack–!

The ground it was standing on fell apart.
It was a trap filled with small, sharp pieces of iron.
The minotaur fell forward into the trap clumsily.

“Karka–! Konoll–!”

It didn’t end with the minotaur just falling, however.
The minotaur broke a part of the workshop as it fell.
When its st.u.r.dy body destroyed the old, frail walls of the workshop, a red-hot furnace was revealed.
The minotaur’s head smashed into the furnace.

Chii–!

“Kuruaaaaaa–!”

A sound of flesh burning began to spread.
The minotaur quickly lifted its head, but the furnace’s heat was much too strong.
It had already gotten an injury that burrowed deep inside its head.

At that moment, Kang Yoonsoo jumped up, and landed on the minotaur’s neck.
Due to Kang Yoonsoo’s weight, the minotaur was unable to lift its head.

Kang Yoonsoo used his sword and spear at the same time to slash at the back of the minotaur’s head.
The minotaur’s bones and skin were thick and strong.
It was hard to injure them with swords and spears.
But Kang Yoonsoo had aimed for a weak part in the minotaur’s muscles.
He was able to wield two weapons that even veteran mercenaries had trouble with with ease.

“Kimalk–! Marugot–!”

Every time the minotaur lifted its head, Kang Yoonsoo struck a powerful blow to it.
When the minotaur’s head touched the furnace, it got burned while emitting steam.
The flesh burned away, and the creature’s bones were revealed.
The minotaur resisted with much force as it could muster.
But due to having its body stuck in the trap, it was unable to even swing it’s hammer.

Kang Yoonsoo’s eyes were calm and uncaring, even when he was watching such a thing.
He stabbed the minotaur’s half-burnt head with his spear.

Crack–!

The skull broke away, and blood was splattered everywhere.
Soon after this, the minotaur’s resistance got weaker.

[You have killed the Cruel Minotaur (Level 33).
Due to having killed a strong monster alone, your experience rises significantly.
If you visit the n.o.ble who requested the death of this minotaur, you may be able to get a special reward.
Your level rose 8 times.]

Again, Kang Yoonsoo raised his strength. The weight of his sword and spear got lighter.
Normally, one would collect the minotaur’s hide or skin, or melt its warhammer to attain good steel, Kang Yoonsoo did not do this.

Kang Yoonsoo put his sword in its hilt, put the spear on his back, and walked.
He didn’t even look at the map displayed on his terminal.
Behind him, the moonlight and a stream of blood flowed together.

.
.
.

The Koreans of the real world became transferred into a new world.
The name of this place was ‘Sylphia Continent’, but it was normally called ‘Continent’ instead.
The size of this continent far surpa.s.sed that of Asia.
But since its naval technology did not advance much, it was unable to travel far beyond the continent.

Like Kang Yoonsoo’s world, the Sylphia Continent had people who lived there from the very beginning.
They called themselves the ‘People of the Continent’, and called those like Kang Yoonsoo ‘Travelers’.
The way to distinguish between the two was the terminal strapped onto the wrists of the Traveler.
Unlike the People of the Continent, who possessed an ability to raise their abilities from birth, the Travelers needed the terminal on their wrists in order to level up.

In this world, there was a peculiar system.

One may level up, and advance into a certain cla.s.s.

It would be easy to see it as a world where reality fused with a video game.
But the world did have some things that differed from games.
Level up wasn’t possible just for humans.
Most monsters were unable to level up, but named ones could always do so.

And the biggest difference of this world and games was the fact that one could not revive even after death.

Not even a great wizard could revive a corpse fully.
Even the Last Necromancer, Nacron, could only revive someone as an undead.
There occasionally appeared puppeteers who turned corpses to puppets, but that was completely outlawed.

Because of this, life was extremely important.
Both in real life and here.

“Do you get it? If we die, it’s over. We warned you.”

Choi Changsuk said this to the man carefully.
However, Kang Yoonsoo did not respond.
Choi Changsuk and his company looked at Kang Yoonsoo with a displeased face.

“Kyarak! Kyaruru!”

The cries of goblins could be heard from behind the rocks.
The small cave that was partially sealed was a habitat for goblins.
They had come all the way out here to go on a goblin hunt.

The times when people got transferred into this world was all different.
There was a case where a group of them got transferred at once, or there was a case where a single individual got transferred to a strange place.
There was even a high schooler who got transferred to a dragon’s nest to attain a powerful skill right from the get-go.

Choi Chang Suk had arrived here two months ago, as the 70th Traveler.
He had arrived at the outskirts of a town with his college friends.
They were lucky, compared to those who fell in the middle of nowhere, or a sealed dungeon.
And since they were all sports enthusiasts, they were used to harsh physical work.

Choi Changsuk’s cla.s.s was a mercenary.
When one invests time into this cla.s.s, he can wield weapons easily, and be able to get missions easily.
Once one gets power and money, he could create his own mercenary company.
Also, while Choi Changsuk himself might not know, the cla.s.s’ second cla.s.s advancement quest turned out to be the hardest of them all.

Choi Changsuk, who had been a student representative in reality, got a mission as a leader of his group.
The name of the mission was ‘Goblin Extermination’.
He had to get rid of 100 goblins, regardless of the type.
The killed goblin would be recorded in the terminal, and going back to the person who gave the mission would allow them to get rewards.

Like any other fantasy games or books, goblins were the weakest monster of the bunch. Their levels were 20 at best, and their intelligence was weak, as well.
There was a case where they grew rapidly, but that only happened occasionally.
But since their poisoned daggers and arrows were actually quite dangerous, it was critical for one to stay alert.
There were actually quite a lot of people who died due to underestimating goblins.

“As we have agreed earlier, Kang Yoonsoo will go first.”

Kang Yoonsoo got into the group quite later than everyone.
To be more specific, he got in just when Choi Changsuk arrived at the goblin habitat.
There were four people in Choi Changsuk’s group, and since their levels were quite high, there was no need to have a new member in the group.

But goblins love using traps and tricks.
No matter how high-leveled you were, spike traps and poisonous snakes were always dangerous.
Therefore, Kang Yoonsoo got the job of scouting out the area for the group beforehand.
Choi Changsuk’s group would follow Kang Yoonsoo from the back.

Kang Yoonsoo went into the habitat alone, and the group watched him from the back quietly.
Soon, Kang Yoonsoo’s figure faded into the darkness.
Lee Yuri, a first year undercla.s.sman, was about to follow him in.
Choi Changsuk grabbed her hand.

“Yuri, wait.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s just leave him be.”

Lee Yuri made a confused face, and Choi Changsuk shrugged.
Her two other uppercla.s.smen had a similar face as Choi Changsuk.
Lee Yuri thought for a bit, then sat back down, as she understood what they were talking about.

Kang Yoonsoo joined the group late.
To put it simply, they weren’t even familiar with each other.
There was no need to share the reward with him.
And adding onto that fact, Kang Yoonsoo was wielding a spear with his sword.
Unless he was an unparalleled expert, there was no way he could use two different weapons at once.
Even his equipment showed how much of a newbie he was.

A newbie would only cause trouble to the group.
That was why they were letting Kang Yoonsoo die in the cave.
While this world was similar to a game, it was still all real.
There was no reason to fight with trouble in their midst.

Lee Minsoo the swordsman let out a suggestion.

“Hey, about that sword that b.i.t.c.h was using. It didn’t look bad. Mind if I use it when he dies?”
“Sure, I’m getting the spear, though.”

When Choi Changsuk said this, Hong Garam, who had the same cla.s.s as him, frowned.

“What? I was thinking of using it already, though.”
“At least you have a decent axe. Look at my sword, it’s chipped all over the place. I need to make a mercenary company later, do you think I’d even look good with a sword like this?”

While they were talking, Lee Yuri tilted her head in confusion, and opened her mouth.

“Isn’t it too quiet?”

Indeed. It was too quiet.
It’s been twenty minutes since Kang Yoonsoo went in.
Hong Garam, who had the most amount of defensive equipment on him out of everyone in the group, stood up.

“I’ll go inside.”

A moment after he stomped into the cave, his surprised shout soon came from the inside.

“Hey! Guys! Come here! Take a look at this!”

Choi Chang Suk became a little confused, and went in.

All kinds of traps could be seen sprawled out in the cave, clearly showing how they missed their target.
On the floor of the dimly lit cave were corpses of tens of goblins.
Strangely enough, their skin was red.
Past the pile of corpses was Kang Yoonsoo, who could be seen sitting down with a b.l.o.o.d.y sword and spear in his hand.
He had no injuries whatsoever.
Choi Changsuk began to talk with a stutter.

“Y, you took out all of them in 20 minutes…….?”

Kang Yoonsoo nodded slowly.