The Last Adventurer

Chapter 22

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 22: Unique Items (1)

1.

There were many reasons why adventurers were ecstatic about the appearance of the Mystic Gates.

For one thing, most adventurers – that is, ordinary adventurers – were thrilled about the convenience it brought to their adventures.

Before the Mystic Gates appeared, it was incredibly difficult for adventurers to have a proper adventure.

Veteran adventurers, however, were different.

“Beyond the Mystic Gates, there are monsters and items never seen before in Maple World.”

They were thrilled by the unknown that could only be encountered beyond the Mystic Gates.

And that was understandable.

‘The unknown is the romance of an adventurer.’

Adventuring into the unknown that no one else could dare to touch, that was the true romance of an adventurer.

‘But the unknown is a nightmare in war.’

The problem was the moment monsters leaped out from beyond the Mystic Gates.

Among the many in Maple World – adventurers, hunters, and Cygnus Knights – there were plenty of incredibly strong individuals.

Among them were those who could display abilities far beyond their own in battle against monsters.

However, that wasn’t simply because of their individual strength.

‘Knowledge is power.’

It was thanks to their accumulated experience and knowledge.

The experience and knowledge they had gained from hunting monsters for hundreds, thousands of years allowed them to display abilities beyond their own.

Conversely, in the face of those without that experience and knowledge, they could only crumble far more easily than they had thought.

Maple World was like that.

Trusted adventurers, knights, and hunters fell helplessly before the unknown monsters.

“Green Hobgoblin, huh?”

The Green Hobgoblin that had just appeared before their eyes was also like that.

It wasn’t a monster that didn’t exist in Maple World.

However, it was a monster that was very rarely seen in Maple World. Only a handful of knowledgeable adventurers would recognize it.

“Yes, it’s a Green Hobgoblin.”

But El Paume knew this Green Hobgoblin.

“It’s strong.”

He knew it well.

“Stronger than any adventurer here.”

He knew how formidable a monster it was.

“And it’s not alone. That one is the vanguard. There must be at least ten more.”

And so, he understood.

‘So that’s why no one has been able to conquer this place.’

The Green Hobgoblin was a very intelligent monster. It had an incredible innate ability, especially in combat.

In fact, it could be considered on par with a veteran adventurer.

This meant that it was on a different level from monsters that simply fought mindlessly.

‘They’re smart enough to set traps.’

Even the Green Hobgoblin knew how to set traps, albeit crude ones, that were still effective enough.

‘It already knows about the adventurers who have entered here. But the adventurers are different.’

On the other hand, the adventurers who had come here were now in a situation where they had to fight each other in a deathmatch because of the trolling.

‘And so, they’ll be wiped out.’

It was only fitting that a disastrous outcome would follow.

The bigger problem was what came next.

‘The Green Hobgoblin must have secured the items of the adventurers who were here after that.’

The adventurers who came here were all recognized for their abilities by their respective groups, and were armed with incredibly powerful items as a testament to that recognition.

What if that armament had simply fallen into the hands of the Green Hobgoblin?

From that point on, it wouldn’t have been a matter of simply dealing with a tough opponent.

Most importantly, El Paume knew:

‘The goal of the second group to enter the 100-man Mystic Gate has become item recovery.’

That the adventurers who had entered the failed Mystic Gate didn’t want anything to do with adventure.

From the Green Hobgoblin’s perspective, it was simply more easy prey coming their way.

‘Whatever happens now, I don’t care.’

Of course, El Paume didn’t dwell on that thought any further.

What was important now wasn’t figuring out the circumstances before he returned to the past.

What was important was one thing:

Could El Paume and Dibo defeat that Green Hobgoblin?

His deliberation on that matter wasn’t long.

“Dibo.”

“Yes, boss.”

El Paume had already made up his mind the moment he saw the Green Hobgoblin.

“Not a minute.”

“Can we hold out longer? I’ll just try… . .”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“Just hold out for 30 seconds.”

2.

Easy!

A green-skinned Hobgoblin with long ears and a nose, similar to a human’s, was strolling through the reeds, making a rough snorting sound.

Its appearance was completely different from that of a typical monster.

Easy!

The Hobgoblin was extremely cautious and quiet.

Its attempt to minimize its presence was more like that of a skilled hunter than a monster.

At that moment, the Hobgoblin’s footsteps stopped.

Sniff, sniff!

After a while, the Hobgoblin, sniffing like a pig, turned its head and looked around.

And then it saw it.

Whoosh!

The blade of the Polearm, like a thunderbolt, descended towards the Hobgoblin’s head.

It was an impeccable surprise attack.

The Polearm’s blade should have shattered the Hobgoblin’s skull.

However, the Hobgoblin had already drawn its longsword and deflected the Polearm.

Clang!

A loud clashing sound erupted.

Smack!

At the same time, over the clashing sound, the gritting sound of Dibo, the adventurer who swung the Polearm, could be heard.

‘Crazy!’

With just one exchange of blows, Dibo realized:

‘This little guy is no joke?’

The fact that the Hobgoblin before him was a warrior far surpassing even a veteran adventurer.

That was how shocking the result of the previous exchange of blows was.

‘And he’s strong too.’

Dibo slammed the Polearm down.

Of course, the power of the Polearm swinging down was on a different level from that of a sword.

It was like a huge boulder falling from above.

But the Hobgoblin blocked the surprise attack with just one longsword.

To be precise, it didn’t block it.

‘His technique is no joke.’

He deflected it.

Just as I said earlier, he did something like deflecting a boulder falling from above to the side.

Gulp!

At that moment, Dibo’s throat dried up.

He knew why.

‘It’s coming.’

The fact that now, since the surprise attack had failed, he would have to engage the Hobgoblin in a frontal battle.

Easy!

As expected, the Hobgoblin narrowed the distance between itself and Dibo, holding its longsword.

It attempted close combat.

It was a wise choice.

‘Damn it, this clever bastard.’

In other words, it was a disadvantageous situation for Dibo.

The Polearm as a weapon was never advantageous against an opponent wielding a longsword, especially one who was stronger.

Normally, it would be better to drop the Polearm and raise a shield instead.

But Dibo didn’t do that.

“Come on!”

He willingly faced the Hobgoblin, holding the Polearm.

There were two reasons for this.

‘If I can’t catch this thing, I’ll have to quit being an adventurer and open a bar.’

One was that if he couldn’t even do this much, if he was too scared to do this much, then he had no business being an adventurer.

Of course, the second reason was the biggest one.

“I am Dibo, the Polearm Hero!”

He had confidence in himself.

Confidence that he could defeat the monster before him with his Polearm.

And it wasn’t just blind confidence.

Swish!

Dibo thrust his Polearm out like a spear at the approaching Hobgoblin.

Swish!

It was fast and accurate, aimed at the Hobgoblin’s head.

Creak!

Surprised by the attack, the Hobgoblin hastily stopped in its tracks and rolled to the side.

Dibo followed the rolling Hobgoblin, still thrusting.

This time too, the Hobgoblin was caught off guard and rolled around on the ground, unable to get into a proper stance.

Whoosh!

The Hobgoblin rolled over and over again, and the reeds fell over.

This was Dibo’s plan.

‘It’s not enough to just poke and prod.’

He was honing his thrusting technique.

Of course, it wasn’t a technique that he could learn just because he wanted to.

It usually took years to master the Polearm swing, let alone the thrust.

However, Dibo was no ordinary talent.

With just a short period of training, he had achieved a level of proficiency that was enough to produce effective results against the Hobgoblin.

He displayed a genius-like ability.

The results before him were proof.

However, it was only in the sense that he had achieved effective results.

It was not that he had achieved the ability to overwhelm the Hobgoblin with just a few days of training.

Above all, the Hobgoblin was a clever monster.

Creak!

In the midst of Dibo’s repeated attacks, the Hobgoblin quickly read the timing and took action as soon as it read it.

Swish!

The moment it dodged Dibo’s thrust, it took advantage of the split second it took Dibo to recover his thrusting Polearm and rose to its feet.

Creak!

It then raised its longsword and glared at Dibo.

At that sight, Dibo was unable to easily continue his attack.

It was clear that if he misjudged the timing and thrust, he would be counterattacked.

Above all, the Hobgoblin was much stronger.

If they fought head-on, in a strength-on-strength clash, it was too obvious who would emerge victorious.

In fact, if they fought like this, it was already clear who would win.

‘If I fight head-on, I will lose.’

Dibo was also aware of this fact.

‘Well, whatever.’

However, he was not worried.

’40 seconds.’

Everything was ready.

“Boss!”

Whoop!

The moment Dibo shouted, a rope suddenly flew out like a snake and wrapped itself around the Hobgoblin’s neck.

Cack!

The sudden attack caused the Hobgoblin to gasp for air.

No creature can adapt to the experience of having its throat constricted.

On the contrary, that’s why the Hobgoblin instinctively moved. It grabbed the rope that was constricting its neck and tore it off.

The rope was tightly constricting the Hobgoblin’s neck, but the Hobgoblin’s strength was much more powerful.

So the rope came loose easily.

Wheeze!

The Hobgoblin instinctively began to inhale with all its might.

At that moment, a lump of poison appeared in front of the Hobgoblin’s nose, and of course, the Hobgoblin inhaled it.

Without leaving a trace.

Kee-yaaack!

The Hobgoblin who inhaled the lump of poison spat out blood in one breath.

It was not an instant death.

“Little bastard.”

However, the only outcome that the Hobgoblin, who was spitting up blood and had lost all sensation in its body, could face in front of the poisoned Dibo was one.

Kwack!

And so the hunt was over.

And the moment the hunt was over, El Paume and Dibo moved quickly with even more tense expressions.

“Dibo.”

“Yes, Boss.”

In a situation where there was no room for relaxation even with the sound of battle, there was not much they could do.

“Let’s gather the items first.”

So El Paume and Dibo decided to gather the items first. Dibo immediately grabbed the longsword that the Hobgoblin had been holding and then began to take off the Hobgoblin’s boots.

At the same time, El Paume searched the Hobgoblin’s fingers and body.

Then, El Paume’s eyes lit up when he found a ring on the Hobgoblin’s finger.

‘Is it a warrior skill item?’

It was never bad to have any kind of income.

That’s when it happened.

“Ugh!”

Dibo let out a startled cry.

“Fire Arrow.”

At the sound, El Paume instinctively cast a Fire Arrow and turned his head.

“S-sorry, Boss.”

El Paume, who was in a battle stance, was told by Dibo.

“A s-snail suddenly jumped out.”

Dibo’s expression as he spoke was full of regret, annoyance, anger, and embarrassment.

It was understandable.

How could he be so startled by a snail?

Of course, the snails in Maple World were not just ordinary snails.

They were monsters that were the size of an adult man’s fist or even larger.

They were also more threatening than one might think, as they were classified as monsters.

There were snail monsters that were poisonous or had strong acidic fluid.

The most representative ones were the red snails and the blue snails. They would quietly seek out sleeping adventurers and leave them with dire consequences.

“Damn snails.”

Of course, there were no adventurers who liked snails.

Dibo was no exception.

He raised his foot. To crush the snail in its shell in one breath.

“Stop!”

“Huh?”

At that moment, El Paume shouted, stopping Dibo.

“It’s a flower.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a flower on the snail.”

“What’s that…….”

El Paume explained to the surprised Dibo.

“It’s a snail pet.”

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]