Date: Five Days After the Dungeon Simulation Duel
Location: Outer Forest, Eastern Foot of Grisal Range
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They called it a C-rank mission.
They called it just goblins.
Three hundred bodies later, I call it something else.
We were sent to clear a goblin cave suspected to be a nest.
Suspected.
The report said a dozen. Maybe two dozen.
They lied. Or someone bribed the examiner again.
There were three hundred.
Two goblin mages.
And one Goblin King.
I felt their mana before I saw them.
The cave reeked of blood and rot.
---
We formed up the moment we entered.
Riya's spells lit the tunnel.
Leander muttered:
> "Oh good. I needed more trauma today."
Anna grinned wide and started layering illusions over the frontline like a mad painter.
Lily lit her palm with silver flame.
Alice didn't speak. She already tasted blood on the air.
> "This isn't a hunt," I said.
"It's a war."
---
The fight began at the second bend.
Elric cast a holy ward to block the first volley.
Gideon's shield roared with mana and held.
Then came the flood.
They crawled out of walls. Dropped from holes in the ceiling.
Rushed from the dark like rats.
My team didn't falter.
We broke their formation before it could form.
Alice vanished into shadows — her blade danced like a winter storm.
Riya burned half the tunnel, uncaring of the stone's screams.
Anna made ten of me appear at once — one of them insulted the goblins in four languages.
Leander laughed as he cut — each step a flourish, a counter, a firework.
Lily's silver flames didn't burn — they cleansed.
I stayed at the back.
Issuing signals. Watching the Goblin King.
He didn't charge in. Smart. Waiting.
He had mages at both flanks.
I changed our flow instantly.
Riya rotated right.
Leander took left.
Gideon blocked the center.
Alice moved in — and vanished again.
---
The Goblin King finally charged.
He was huge. A corrupted beast wearing bones of adventurers as armor.
His roar cracked the ceiling.
He lunged toward Gideon.
But by then, the real trap had already started.
> "Now," I whispered.
Alice fell from the ceiling like a ghost.
Her blade slipped through the King's neck like it belonged there.
The King saw her a heartbeat too late.
His eyes widened.
Too late to roar.
Too late to move.
Lily's spell detonated — a moon-shaped explosion that blinded and deafened the goblins for ten seconds.
Anna's illusion? Made it seem like we retreated.
They swarmed forward—
> Into Riya's landmine spell.
Into Leander's spinning blade.
Into death.
---
We killed them all.
Three hundred ears. Burned corpses. Cleared cave.
The rot would've bred disease.
Lily and Elric cleansed it with silver fire and holy light.
---
When we walked out, I collapsed under a tree.
Not gracefully. Just… collapsed.
My legs shook. I hated that.
I wasn't afraid — just tired of surviving like this.
Leander wiped blood off his cheek.
> "We lived. That's the funny part."
No one laughed.
Anna's grin was twitching — more forced than usual.
Riya leaned back against a boulder, still breathing heavy.
Even Lily looked shaken.
Alice approached quietly.
She didn't ask. She just sat.
Then she whispered:
> "You okay, Commander?"
I nodded. Then leaned slightly forward.
> "You earned it."
She bit gently, like always — never too deep.
Only enough.
Her magic needed it. And this time, she had overextended.
The more enemies, the more she thrives.
But that also meant her blood arts tore at her veins from the inside if left unbalanced.
She exhaled after a few seconds.
> "Thank you."
Her voice trembled a little. Just a little.
Like she was trying not to show how much the battle had taken.
---
We earned half a million jin.
Enough to live like kings for a week.
Or buy a month of decent sleep.
But I know what's coming next.
Success breeds enemies.
Especially when you make fools look even more foolish.
Let them come.
We're tired. But we're ready.
---
End of Entry.
> "Burn the rot.
Carry the weight.
Protect the team."
— Motto of the Silent Tactician